Two years later, in , the King placed the canal seigneury up for auction. That is when Riquet acquired ownership and as such, became 'Lord of the Canal du Midi'. Along with this title, he also acquired numerous rights such as the exclusive rights to allow boats to transport goods and passengers, or the right to administer justice for any offence committed along the Canal du Midi route.
However, the toll fees and transport tariffs were set by Royal authority. The revenue generated was used for maintenance work to the canal, to keep it in perfect condition. Pierre-Paul Riquet. Construction of the Canal du Midi. When Pierre-Paul Riquet died, his two sons inherited his assets and therefore both gained the title of 'Lord of the Canal du Midi'.
He inherited the Bonrepos estate upon his father's death. The younger son, Pierre-Paul de Riquet, had embarked upon a military career. His father had bought him the county of Caraman and so he was given the title of Count of Caraman. But don't be fooled by the apparent wealth! In actual fact, Riquet also left significant debt behind for his heirs. To pay this debt, his heirs decided to sell a part of their shares in the canal. Financer Reich de Pennautier and the King's engineer, Antoine de Niquet, became co-owners of the canal.
However, the sale of these shares included a buy-back clause. In , the debts had been paid and business was flourishing for the Riquet heirs Jean-Mathias died in They bought back the shares they had sold 30 years earlier and became the masters of the canal seigneury once again! At the end of the 17th century, once the canal was completed, the Riquet family took on the management of the waterway. Very quickly, the family opted for a hierarchical structure of management which included the following: - a 'general manager of the canal' based in Toulouse - a group of individual managers, each responsible for a section of the canal.
Each manager was in charge of the maintenance work for their local area. The same structure was applied for financial management: a general collector based in Toulouse would be in charge of individual collectors in each department along the canal route.
