Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1781-01-01-1998-12-31 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
Global extent: unknown; extent of Series B: 6,70 linear meters, 199 files; the 71 first files of the series are described
Context area
Name of creator
Administrative history
In the 17th century, King Louis the 13th decided to appoint a French consul in Jerusalem, as he was urged to protect the Latin people and restore their threatened rights. But until 1842, the French presence in town remained occasional.
Before the French consulate being stable, French and Palestinian affairs were ruled by other French consulates first in Aleppo, then in Cairo and finally in Damascus.
On the 29th December of 1842, the French Foreign office established a consulate in Jerusalem, and first put in charge Count Gabriel de Lantivy. For quite a long time, consuls’ missions had been both religious and political. Consuls were directly under the authority of the French embassy in Constantinople.
In 1871, the defeat of France against Germany unsettled the protectorate and French prerogatives upon the Christian monks it had to protect. Therefore, the French Foreign office deeply reformed the consulate so that it could better serve the French interests in the area. At the end of the 19th century, the Consul of France used the powerful French Catholic missionary movement to enlarge his influence. Many French religious orders came and settled their houses in Jerusalem and around Holy places (Mytilene agreement in 1901 and Treaty of Constantinople in 1913). Thus, the French presence in the area increased just before the First World War. Furthemore, capitulations of the Ottoman Empire allowed France to gather more and more people under its protection. In addition, as a consequence of colonization of Northern and Sub-Saharan Africa, the Consulate also began to protect a larger number of Muslim and Jewish citizens who came and lived in the Holy City.
Franco-Russian Alliance (1891) brought some troubles to the Consulate. The diplomatic and political crisis the Ottoman Empire got through until the First World War unsettled its authority. When the Ottoman Empire collapsed in 1918, the General Consulate in Jerusalem enfranchised from the French Embassy authority in Constantinople and became General Consulate. In may 1941, The Consulate was closed upon mandatory British authorities.
Consuls of Jerusalem Post :
- Count of Lantivy (1843-1845)
- Mr. Helouis-Jorelle (1846-1848)
- Mr. Botta (1848-1855)
- Mr. de Barrère (1856-1870)
- Mr. Crampon (1871-1873)
- Mr. Patrimonio (1873-1881)
- Mr. Langlais (1881-1883
- Mr. Destrées (1883-1885)
- Mr. Charles Ledoux (1885-1897)
- Mr. Pierre Auzepy (1898-1901)
- Mr. Honoré Daumas (1901-1902)
- Mr. Jules Boppe (1902-1904)
- Mr. Georges Outret (1905-1907)
- Mr. Georges Gueyraud (1908-1914)
Archival history
The oldest documents of the Consulate fonds date back to 1840. Consul Boppe rearranged them in 1904. In a 1958 review, the Consulate was congratulated about its records organization : « Jérusalem peut actuellement servir d'exemple à d'autres postes » (Jerusalem can now be an example for other consulates).
The fonds is made of two subfonds which count 9 series :
Part 1, subfonds 1781-1948 :
- Series A « Holy places », 1840-1914.
- Series B « Thematic files of the French consulate in Palestine and Emirate of Transjordan », 1781-1941.
- Series C « Delegation of Free France and End of the British Mandate », 1941-1948.
- Series E « Registers » 1843-1947.
Part 2, subfonds 1848-1991 :
- Series 2, 1948-1966.
- Series 3, 1967-1977.
- Series 4, 1978-1991.
- Series 5, 1994-1998, thematic arrangement.
- Series F « Registers » 1948-1969.
The current series A and B were at first only one series : secretary Paulette Gustin organized and made an inventory of them in the 1956 (the canvas-binded inventory). In 1977, the 56 first boxes have been reorganized in 140 items by Agnès Pouillon, curator at the Foreign Office Archives : they now constitute the A series which has a dedicated inventory. The following boxes have been reassigned numbers from 1 to 299 and now constitutes series B.
Still currently used, the 1956 handwritten canvas-binded inventory has been reworked since 2014, as the B series files have been reorganized and better described. A new analytical inventory was published on February 12th, 2016, based on the new description of boxes one to seventy one. The upgraded description of the following boxes is on-going.
This work was the occasion to put the « Papiers Neuville » back in the fonds. These files had been sent to the French diplomatic National Archives in 1973 : they were found in the hotel room of M. Yves Neuville, son of a French Consul in Jerusalem (Consul from 1946 to 1952), who died in an accident in Palma de Majorque. They have been partly reintegrated on January, 20th 2016 :
- Documents reintegrated in January 2016 : the part of the files which did not concern religious issues and which dated from 1840 to 1914 was put back into the B series with, on each file, an explanation of its origin and the date of its reintegration.
- Documents still not reintegrated :
- a number of files dealing with religious issues and dated from 1840 to 1914 have been organized and are now waiting for their reintegration in A series.
- a number of files dated from 1915 to 1940 have been organized and a reference code has been suggested.
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Several missions took place in the Consulate to prepare the documents repatriation to French diplomatic National Archives. Curators Ms Pouillon and Mrs Pozzo di Borgo came and worked on a two months mission from october to november 1977.
- Series A « Holy places », 1840-1914 : files repatriated to Paris with series B in 1978.
- Series B « Thematic files of the French consulate in Palestine and Emirate of Transjordan », 1781-1941 : repatriated to Paris in 1978.
- Series C « Delegation of Free France and End of the British Mandate », 1941-1948 : repatriated to Paris in 1978 and 1998.
- Series E « Registers », 1843-1947 : repatriated to Paris in 1978 and 1998.
- Series 2, 1948-1966 : repatriated in 1983.
- Series 3, 1967-1977 : repatriated in 1998.
- Series 4, 1978-1991 : repatriated in 2005.
- Series 5, 1994-1998, thematic arrangement : repatriated in 2011.
- Series F « Registers » 1948-1969 : transferred in 2013.
Content and structure area
Scope and content
The consulate’s archives show how worked the representatives of France in Jerusalem since 1842 and reveal whom they interacted with : local authorities, the different communities living there, Consulates from other countries, the French Embassy and the French Foreign Office.
These documents are also a way to understand the political and religious conflicts that took place from time to time during that period (Crimean War in 1853).
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Restrictions of use and access to records created and received by the French Consulate in Jerusalem are those of the « public records » as defined in the French law number 2008-696 of July, 15th 2008.
Subject to the authorization of Centre of Diplomatic Archives in Nantes (CADN).
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
Script of material
Language and script notes
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
First inventory made in 1956 by Paulette Gustin, chancellery reporter : A and B series were described as one.
Analytical inventory (handwritten) of series A made by curator Agnès Pouillon in 1977 and upgraded in march 2007 by Sylvie Louis-Aublé.
Analytical inventory of items 1 to 71 from series B typed up on February 12th, 2016 by Adélaïde Laloux, on Open-Jerusalem Program (ERC European Research Council financed program, Starting Grant n°337895), supervised by Bérangère Fourquaux, curator at the Centre of Diplomatic Archives in Nantes (CADN).
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Publication note
LEMIRE (Vincent), « Histoire des réseaux techniques dans la municipalité ottomane de Jérusalem : Enjeux de souveraineté, conflits de pouvoirs, réseaux de mémoires », dans Denis BOCQUET et Samuel FETTAH (dir.), Réseaux techniques et conflits de pouvoir : les dynamiques historiques des villes contemporaines, Collection de l’École Française de Rome 374, École Française de Rome, 2007, p. 31-56.
Publication note
LEMIRE (Vincent), "Les lieux saints réinventés : les points d’eau comme points de repère (Jérusalem, XIXe s.)", dans Barbara HAIDER (dir.), Europa und Palästina 1799-1948. Religion, Politik, Gesellschaft, Vienne, janvier 2009.
Publication note
LEMIRE (Vincent), Jérusalem 1900, la ville sainte à l’âge des possibles, Paris, Armand Colin, 2013, 251 p.
Publication note
VRIGNON (Alexis), Le protectorat religieux de la France en Palestine (1852-1914), mémoire de Master, Université de Nantes, 2006.
Notes area
Alternative identifier(s)
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
Genre access points
Description control area
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
ISAD(G), Second Edition, Ottawa 2000.
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation revision deletion
Catalogue prepared on January 2016
Language(s)
Script(s)
Sources
Archivist's note
Inventory of a range of 71 items from “Series B, Repatriated documents from the French General Consulate in Jerusalem”, (1781-1941), held by the Centre of Diplomatic Archives in Nantes (CADN), made by Adelaïde Laloux, supervised by Bérangère Fourquaux, (based on Sylvie Louis-Aublé’s analytical inventory of April 2007), 2016.