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MAYOR, ALDERMEN, BOURGEOIS AND ELECTIONS
We believe it is useful to provide here some information on the administrative staff and the bourgeoisie of Virton. This information is taken from the register itself.
The administrative body established by the Beaumont law was composed of the mayor, his lieutenant and six aldermen [échevins] or jurors, judges as we saw in the previous chapter of the bourgeois in all actions, whether real or personal, civil or criminal, except for corporal execution reserved for the Provost.
The mayor, his lieutenant and the aldermen managed the city's affairs and dispensed justice. The mayor was also responsible for the city's finances, for which he had to account at Pentecost before the expiry of his mandate. He or his lieutenant fulfilled the functions of public prosecutor before the court composed of aldermen. Hence the name jurors of men of justice and by abbreviation JUSTICE applied to the latter.
The six aldermen were appointed in a strictly observed hierarchical order: two old forties with the rank of 1st and 2nd aldermen, two returning aldermen who had been appointed two years previously with the rank of 3rd and 4th, and finally two new aldermen with the rank of 5th and 6th.
All these mandates were annual. The mayor and the 5th and 6th aldermen were indeed appointed for two years but they could only serve their second year after a year of ceasing to hold office. Their reign was therefore divided in two.
The law was general: no one could remain in office for two consecutive years and no one was eligible for re-election until he had been outside the city administration for at least one year.
These two conditions limiting the duration of a mandate to a single re-eligibility possible only after one year of cessation of all elections were almost always scrupulously observed. In the rare instances where this custom was infringed there were local intrigues powerful influences which provoked a reaction and the appeal to the superior or it was at this time of the 18th century when the brought by the force of time and things began to undermine de Beaumont and to predict its imminent fall. But it is no less incontestable that almost always one sought so much to ensure the permanence of the municipal functions in the same person that one avoided even reelecting mayors and aldermen who had left only a few years. This is proven by the great variety of names of elected officials cited in the tables of annual elections.
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Let us come to the bourgeoisie. There was the common bourgeoisie - vulgum pecus - and the body of forty. These two together formed the entire bourgeoisie.
What were the forties? Obviously the notables of the city. Whether this word was originally used to designate the bourgeois who had reached forty, therefore the old men, the fathers, or only the forty principals of the city, it is certain that later it was applied to all those who had fulfilled the mandates of mayor, lieutenant mayor or alderman. It was, therefore the elite of the bourgeoisie who had received this consecration of the universal suffrage of the community. And the number was unlimited since, according to the report of the mayor, Michiel Billy, more than forty men died in 1636.
This distinction of the entire bourgeoisie into a common bourgeoisie and into forties had a practical importance.
The bourgeoisie not only participated in the election of the mayor and the last four aldermen chosen from among its members, but it also had the right to vote on matters of general interest.
The forty appointed from among themselves the first two aldermen; they were consulted by the mayor and the justice who often referred to their opinion alone, because it was that of the mass, or because it was the only one with which one had to seriously take into account, or finally because one wanted to avoid sometimes interminable discussions and act quickly. Let us now see how one proceeded in the elections.
Every year on the day of Pentecost before the parish high mass, the people met at a place still known today as the Croix le Maire (1). The mayor was first elected by collecting the votes of the entire bourgeoisie. The elected mayor immediately began to exercise these functions, fulfilled them for the course of a year, then remained outside the administration for a year and then returned by right for his second year after which he could only become mayor again by a new election, but always after a new interruption of one year.
[1] Leaving Virton on the road to Montmédy there is still a cross surrounded by trees. The gallows was not far from there.
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The mayor chose his lieutenant probably with the consent of the bourgeoisie, and this lieutenant should not have been part of the outgoing administration.
The forty men then appointed the first two aldermen chosen from among themselves alone. The mandate of these first two aldermen lasted only one year.
Then the bourgeois commune elected from among its members the 5th and 6th aldermen. They were appointed for two years like the mayor, that is to say that after having exercised their mandate for one year they remained one year outside the administration of the city then returned by right for a new and final year as 3rd and 4th aldermen. Their mandate fulfilled, they had the title of forty.
The election of the 3rd and 4th aldermen was, therefore only the consequence of previous elections; they were only elected directly in the event of the death or departure of the incumbent.
The mayor and the aldermen then appointed their Dean [Doyen], who was later called the town sergeant; he had only one subordinate position, that of apparitor; he beat the drum, that says it all.
[Apparitors served as messengers or officers who executed the orders of the court, including serving summons, making arrests, and taking possession of property in dispute].
Finally, the mayor and the aldermen appointed for one year the rural guards, the forest guards, and the visitors of bread and
flesh (1)
Here are some tables chosen from the register which will immediately explain the annual rotation of elections (2)
1666
1666 On June 13, 1666, the morning of Pentecost, the justice of Verton was renewed according to the custom and usage of the said place and was chosen as mayor
Premier
Claude Marchal mayeur
Jacque de Couvier lieutenant
Jean de la Claireaulx vieu carante (3)
Nicollas Vaha (vieux quarante)
eschevins
George Couzet
François Thoumas
nouvaux eschevins
Jean Richy
Claude Gaspar
et Mathieu Gillet doyen
First
Claude Marchal mayor
Jacque de Couvier lieutenant
Jean de la Claireaulx old forty (3)
Nicollas Vaha old forty
aldermen
George Couzet
François Thoumas
new aldermen
Jean Richy
Claude Gaspar
and Mathieu Gillet, dean
(1) 1 The table of elections of 1620 informs us about the emoluments of the visitors of bread and flesh: And the said awarders for their right to visit the pulpit have a quarter of tripe for one year of each butcher killing flesh and for the visit of the bread have on the fairground for each two a loaf of bread of one sol or a pie at the same prices
(2) The elections were held in accordance with Article 4 of the Beaumont law. There exists in the archives of the town of Virton a title on parchment dated 31 May 1351 from the Lord of Laroche, Seneschal of Luxembourg and Lieutenant of the King of the Romans for Virton, from which it appears that the bourgeois of Virton had established by common agreement a sort of two-stage election by which three wise men appointed by the community elected in turn the mayor and the Justice but with a prohibition under penalty of fine and nullity to reappoint the outgoing members of the previous year.
This two-stage election no longer existed at the time of our register, but the limitation of the mandate to a single year was still in force.
See the recent memoir by Professor Kurth, LA LOI DE BEAUMONT EN BELGIQUE [THE BEAUMONT LAW IN BELGIUM], which gives this title in the supporting documents.
(3) The 1st and 2nd aldermen were called old forties, no doubt in contrast to the 3rd and 4th aldermen who were young forties.
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1667
On May 19, 1667, Whitsun morning, the mayor was appointed by a plurality of voices.
Gabriel FoulonGille Chenus, lieutenant