oa De procureur-generaal bij het Parlement van Vlaanderen

Summary

Defending the King’s rights and affirming the sovereign authority was the important part of the activity of Ladislas de Baralle.

He worked tirelessly to manage the administration of the new territories of the French Crown and ensured their conservation. It intervened judicially and politically thanks to his conclusions given in trials affecting kingdom’s land and revenues but also by relaying the injunctions sent by the monarch. He definitely ensured respect for the authority of the King in the Northern provinces. Through his conclusions, he participated in Louis XIV’s alignment policy by transmitting and requesting the application of royal measures. Baralle also preserved the superiority of royal justice: the analysis of the archives carried out that the general-procurator fought against the claims of ecclesiastical and seigniorial courts against the royal authority. As the king’s man, the procurator-general appeared as a guide for the Flanders’ Parlement which was the symbol of royal sovereignty. Consequently, his role was quite different from that of his counterparts since he regularly asked the councillors to impose the authority of the court within the province.