List VIII

List VIII  1683

This is the last list from the Spanish era, although it has not been possible to discover exactly what motivated its drafting. During the election of the city's justiciar, on the eve of St. Andrew's Day 1682, no candidate came forward to run for this office. The reason: the "billetage" of soldiers to be housed that the justiciar had to carry out caused the incumbent more trouble than profit. Finally, it was Théod. Itzius who was persuaded to take on the thankless task. A piquant detail: his own mother, the widow of the bailiff Nic. Itzius, had violently protested to the Provincial Council on January 28, 1681, for having been, in her opinion, unduly entrusted with soldiers by the then justiciar, J.-Ad. Klein On March 19, 1683, the magistrate, led by Th. Itzius, drafted a memorandum that one of its members, Alderman Neunheuser, was to take to Brussels to present the grievances of the "Commune Bourgeoisie of the City of Luxembourg" to the new Governor General, the Marquis of Grana. This document also mentions military housing. Perhaps this list, drawn up at the beginning of 1683 (Part A being slightly earlier) and very explicit, at least for the upper town, regarding the name and unit of each soldier housed, provided the magistrate with the precise data for his complaints to the higher authorities.

With its 436 houses in the upper town and 136 in the lower town, this list once again provides a more complete overview of the city. But the information provided is of unequal value whether it concerns the suburbs or the upper town Although here too there are gaps. Thus the entire south side of Rue Louvigny, which in 1675 had 76 people, is missing. In addition, 15 names, 43 people, are added on two heavily damaged sheets. These are probably bourgeois who were absent at the time of the housing agents' visit and who were subsequently registered without regard to their address, since these names are scattered, according to the other lists, on at least 10 different streets. Elsewhere in Reg. 43 there are also a few scattered sheets covering more or less the fourth Canton of List VIII. As they date from roughly the same period, their information has made it possible to complete the sometimes imprecise data in this sector in the present list (e.g. the simple mention: children, without an indication of the number). They thus show, if it were still necessary, that the figures provided by the lists must always be considered cum grano salis and that we must leave them to the statistics which

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a certain margin results. As the convents of Munster, Dominicans, Holy Spirit and Congregation as well as the hospital St-Jean du Grond are not mentioned and as for 9 houses only the name of the occupant(s) is provided without further details it is once again impossible to find the exact figure of the entire population of the town. A comparative table of the inhabitants could only be established for the upper town and Grond, the list of Pfaffental not explaining the names indicated.