The micro-historic and biographical investigation of various conflicts in Limoges between Lieutenant General Jean-Baptiste de Vincent and the administrative and urban elites represented an accurate test of central power and the relationships between local authorities within a French province in the late seventeenth century. This conflict confronts cadet legal officers, who were reluctant to accepting authoritarian monarchical control on the presidium and the town and a single judge, very favorable to and representing the state’s ruling upon the city. This officer embodied Louis XIV’s new policy and financial measures by promoting the reinforced control of legal and municipal authorities and by favoring venality of legal and municipal offices. Nevertheless, royal officers and urban elites in Limoges denied the forced and alien control upon the court and the town. They created a successful coalition against officers who manifested their deep opposition to the administrative monarchy’s strengthened domination upon the city.