Abstract

This paper examines the phenomenon of intra-urban residential mobility in early 18th century Nantes. Drawing mainly on military sources (soldiers' housing lists from 1719 to 1734 identifying those authorized to house soldiers), it aims to describe this practice among the second peuple of Nantes, defined as precarious and unsettled inhabitants of the city. To do so, the paper focuses on three neighbourhoods in the city: the Saint-Léonard parish, "La Fosse" and the Bignon-Lestard faubourg. After having quantified and highlighted the high turnover characterizing this population, the article discusses some possible causes, including a failure to pay taxes, work that was not under guild control and seasonal mobility in the countryside. The paper then describes the most frequent instance of intra-urban mobility, door-to-door moves, and explains this practice in relation to the local oral circulation of information that resulted in a residential segmentation of the urban space.