Colbert de Castlehill, Raynal and the Provincial Assembly of Haute-Guyenne: The Bishop and the Abbé, from Reform Ideas to the Clash of Ideas

Bishop Colbert de Castlehill came to Rouergue following his appointment to Rodez on 28 January 1781, for a period characterized by great instability due to revolutionary events. He played an active role in the development of his diocese, presiding over the work of the Provincial Assembly of Upper Guyenne initiated by his predecessor Champion de Cicé. This innovative institution of the Ancien Régime, initiated by Louis XVI and his ministers, which put into practice the ideas of decentralization on the eve of 1789, disappeared with its instigators with the arrival of the new regime. Mgr Colbert de Castlehill was confronted with the implementation of the Civil Constitution of the Clergy. From his exile, he had to fight against the enemies of the clergy and respond to the expectations of his faithful in need of guidance. Abbé Raynal, both the first benefactor of the provincial assembly and propagator of the ideas that were to lead to its downfall with the advent of the French Revolution, was one of Mgr Colbert's correspondents when he presided over the institution. This article will examine the evolution and future of this institution in the light of the initiatives taken in its favour by Mgr Colbert and Abbé Raynal.