Author: Stephen Miller
Publisher: Manchester University Press
ISBN: 1526148366
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 356
Book Description
According to Alexis de Tocqueville’s influential work on the Old Regime and the French Revolution, royal centralisation had so weakened the feudal power of the nobles that their remaining privileges became glaringly intolerable to commoners. This book challenges the theory by showing that when Louis XVI convened assemblies of landowners in the late 1770s and 1780s to discuss policies needed to resolve the budgetary crisis, he faced widespread opposition from lords and office holders. These elites regarded the assemblies as a challenge to their hereditary power over commoners. The king’s government comprised seigneurial jurisdictions and venal offices. Lordships and offices upheld inequality on behalf of the nobility and bred the discontent motivating the people to make the French Revolution.
Feudalism, venality, and revolution
Author: Stephen Miller
Publisher: Manchester University Press
ISBN: 1526148366
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 356
Book Description
According to Alexis de Tocqueville’s influential work on the Old Regime and the French Revolution, royal centralisation had so weakened the feudal power of the nobles that their remaining privileges became glaringly intolerable to commoners. This book challenges the theory by showing that when Louis XVI convened assemblies of landowners in the late 1770s and 1780s to discuss policies needed to resolve the budgetary crisis, he faced widespread opposition from lords and office holders. These elites regarded the assemblies as a challenge to their hereditary power over commoners. The king’s government comprised seigneurial jurisdictions and venal offices. Lordships and offices upheld inequality on behalf of the nobility and bred the discontent motivating the people to make the French Revolution.
Publisher: Manchester University Press
ISBN: 1526148366
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 356
Book Description
According to Alexis de Tocqueville’s influential work on the Old Regime and the French Revolution, royal centralisation had so weakened the feudal power of the nobles that their remaining privileges became glaringly intolerable to commoners. This book challenges the theory by showing that when Louis XVI convened assemblies of landowners in the late 1770s and 1780s to discuss policies needed to resolve the budgetary crisis, he faced widespread opposition from lords and office holders. These elites regarded the assemblies as a challenge to their hereditary power over commoners. The king’s government comprised seigneurial jurisdictions and venal offices. Lordships and offices upheld inequality on behalf of the nobility and bred the discontent motivating the people to make the French Revolution.
Venality
Author: William Doyle
Publisher: Oxford University Press on Demand
ISBN: 9780198205364
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 343
Book Description
In ancien regime France almost all posts of public responsibility had to be bought or inherited. Rather than tax their richer subjects directly, French kings preferred to sell them privileged public offices, which further payments allowed them to sell or bequeath at will. By the eighteenthcentury there were 70,000 venal offices, comprising the entire judiciary, most of the legal profession, officers in the army, and a wide range of other professions - from financiers handling the king's revenues down to auctioneers and even wigmakers. Though now yielding diminishing returns to theking, offices were more in demand than ever for the privileges and prestige, profit and power, that they conferred; and although it was widely accepted that selling public authority was undesirable, nobody imagined that those who had invested in offices could ever be bought out. The Revolutionbrought an unexpected opportunity to do so, but the legacy of venality has marked French institutions down to our day. William Doyle, one of the foremost historians of early modern Europe, has written the first comprehensive history of the last century of venality. He traces the evolution and dissolution of a system which was fundamental to the workings of state and society in France for over threecenturies.
Publisher: Oxford University Press on Demand
ISBN: 9780198205364
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 343
Book Description
In ancien regime France almost all posts of public responsibility had to be bought or inherited. Rather than tax their richer subjects directly, French kings preferred to sell them privileged public offices, which further payments allowed them to sell or bequeath at will. By the eighteenthcentury there were 70,000 venal offices, comprising the entire judiciary, most of the legal profession, officers in the army, and a wide range of other professions - from financiers handling the king's revenues down to auctioneers and even wigmakers. Though now yielding diminishing returns to theking, offices were more in demand than ever for the privileges and prestige, profit and power, that they conferred; and although it was widely accepted that selling public authority was undesirable, nobody imagined that those who had invested in offices could ever be bought out. The Revolutionbrought an unexpected opportunity to do so, but the legacy of venality has marked French institutions down to our day. William Doyle, one of the foremost historians of early modern Europe, has written the first comprehensive history of the last century of venality. He traces the evolution and dissolution of a system which was fundamental to the workings of state and society in France for over threecenturies.
The Republic for which it Stands
Author: Richard White
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199735816
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 964
Book Description
The newest volume in the Oxford History of the United States series, The Republic for Which It Stands argues that the Gilded Age, along with Reconstruction--its conflicts, rapid and disorienting change, hopes and fears--formed the template of American modernity.
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199735816
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 964
Book Description
The newest volume in the Oxford History of the United States series, The Republic for Which It Stands argues that the Gilded Age, along with Reconstruction--its conflicts, rapid and disorienting change, hopes and fears--formed the template of American modernity.
Renaissance and Revolt
Author: John Hearsey McMillan Salmon
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521522465
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 324
Book Description
Including Professor salmon's pioneering and authoritative analyses as well as particular studies of french revolts.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521522465
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 324
Book Description
Including Professor salmon's pioneering and authoritative analyses as well as particular studies of french revolts.
The Modern World-System I
Author: Immanuel Wallerstein
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520948572
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 441
Book Description
Immanuel Wallerstein’s highly influential, multi-volume opus, The Modern World-System, is one of this century’s greatest works of social science. An innovative, panoramic reinterpretation of global history, it traces the emergence and development of the modern world from the sixteenth to the twentieth century.
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520948572
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 441
Book Description
Immanuel Wallerstein’s highly influential, multi-volume opus, The Modern World-System, is one of this century’s greatest works of social science. An innovative, panoramic reinterpretation of global history, it traces the emergence and development of the modern world from the sixteenth to the twentieth century.
Officers, Nobles and Revolutionaries
Author: William Doyle
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1441108521
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 255
Book Description
Since the 1950s a once-dominant interpretation of the French revolution has fallen to pieces. Elaborated by generations of distinguished left-wing French historians, this version was gradually undermined by the piecemeal criticisms of English-speaking scholars. Many of their doubts, and the controversies which they provoked, appeared in articles scattered over a wide range of learned journals and conference proceedings. This collection brings together the more important contributions of one of the leading British participants in these debates. Some of the essays explore the motivations and achievements of the old monarchy's aristocratic opponents. Others probe the development of venality of offices, one of the old regime's most distinctive institutions. A wide range of revolutionary reforms, their motivations and results, are also examined, and some of the achievements of a generation of revisionism in this field are reviewed.
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1441108521
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 255
Book Description
Since the 1950s a once-dominant interpretation of the French revolution has fallen to pieces. Elaborated by generations of distinguished left-wing French historians, this version was gradually undermined by the piecemeal criticisms of English-speaking scholars. Many of their doubts, and the controversies which they provoked, appeared in articles scattered over a wide range of learned journals and conference proceedings. This collection brings together the more important contributions of one of the leading British participants in these debates. Some of the essays explore the motivations and achievements of the old monarchy's aristocratic opponents. Others probe the development of venality of offices, one of the old regime's most distinctive institutions. A wide range of revolutionary reforms, their motivations and results, are also examined, and some of the achievements of a generation of revisionism in this field are reviewed.
Absolutism and Its Discontents
Author: Michael S. Kimmel
Publisher: Transaction Publishers
ISBN: 9780887381805
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 286
Book Description
Publisher: Transaction Publishers
ISBN: 9780887381805
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 286
Book Description
The Sinews of Power
Author: John Brewer
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 113499852X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 271
Book Description
First published in 1989. `The book is a distinguished work - of importance to students of governmental development generally. It is written in a fluent, non-technical manner that should reach a wide audience.' American Historical Review.
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 113499852X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 271
Book Description
First published in 1989. `The book is a distinguished work - of importance to students of governmental development generally. It is written in a fluent, non-technical manner that should reach a wide audience.' American Historical Review.
Expansion and Crisis in Louis XIV's France
Author: Darryl Dee
Publisher: University Rochester Press
ISBN: 1580463037
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 262
Book Description
Driven by a desire for glory and renown, Louis XIV presided over France's last great burst of territorial expansion in Europe. During the first three decades of his rule, his armies conquered numerous territories along France's borders. After 1688, however, the tide of conquest turned as the kingdom was plunged into crisis. For the remainder of his reign, the king and his people endured wars against grand alliances of European powers, ecological disasters, economic depression, state bankruptcy, and demographic stagnation. Expansion and Crisis in Louis XIV's France examines these central yet understudied aspects of the age of the Sun King through the experience of Franche-Comté, a possession of the Spanish empire with a long history of autonomy, conquered by Louis XIV in 1674. Dee's detailed research reconstructs the ensuing dialogue -- sometimes harmonious, sometimes discordant -- between the king and the elites who ruled this province. The integration of Franche-Comté into France proved to be a protracted process involving confrontation, negotiation, and compromise. The resulting regime was then severely tested by the challenges of Louis XIV's late reign; its survival demonstrated how the king had brought a distinctly early modern state to the height of its development. This study offers significant new insights on the growth of the territorial state in early modern Europe, the nature of the French absolute monarchy, and the political legacy of the Sun King. Darryl Dee is Assistant Professor of History, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Canada.
Publisher: University Rochester Press
ISBN: 1580463037
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 262
Book Description
Driven by a desire for glory and renown, Louis XIV presided over France's last great burst of territorial expansion in Europe. During the first three decades of his rule, his armies conquered numerous territories along France's borders. After 1688, however, the tide of conquest turned as the kingdom was plunged into crisis. For the remainder of his reign, the king and his people endured wars against grand alliances of European powers, ecological disasters, economic depression, state bankruptcy, and demographic stagnation. Expansion and Crisis in Louis XIV's France examines these central yet understudied aspects of the age of the Sun King through the experience of Franche-Comté, a possession of the Spanish empire with a long history of autonomy, conquered by Louis XIV in 1674. Dee's detailed research reconstructs the ensuing dialogue -- sometimes harmonious, sometimes discordant -- between the king and the elites who ruled this province. The integration of Franche-Comté into France proved to be a protracted process involving confrontation, negotiation, and compromise. The resulting regime was then severely tested by the challenges of Louis XIV's late reign; its survival demonstrated how the king had brought a distinctly early modern state to the height of its development. This study offers significant new insights on the growth of the territorial state in early modern Europe, the nature of the French absolute monarchy, and the political legacy of the Sun King. Darryl Dee is Assistant Professor of History, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Canada.
Voices of Conscience
Author: Nicole Reinhardt
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0191008702
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 448
Book Description
Voices of Conscience analyzes how the link between politics and conscience was articulated and shaped throughout the seventeenth century by confessors who acted as counsellors to monarchs. Against the backdrop of the momentous intellectual, theological, and political shifts that marked this period, the study examines comparatively how the ethical challenges of political action were confronted in Spain and France and how questions of conscience became a major argument in the hegemonic struggle between the two competing Catholic powers. As Nicole Reinhardt demonstrates, 'counsel of conscience' was not a peripheral feature of early-modern political culture, but fundamental for the definition of politics and conscience. Tracing the rise and fall of confessors as counsellors reveals the parallel transformation of both, approaching a historical understanding of the modernisation of politics with the idea of an 'individual conscience' at its heart. Placed at the junction of norms and practices, royal confessors, directly or in oblique reflection, shaped the ways in which the royal conscience was identified and scrutinized. By the same token, the royal confessors' expertise and activities remained a source of anxiety and conflict that triggered wide debate on the relationship between State and Church, religion and politics. The notion of 'counsel of conscience', of which this book provides the first in-depth analysis, allows the reader to re-examine and challenge fundamental historical paradigms such as the emergence of 'absolutism', individualisation, and the division of public and private. Putting theological concepts and religious dimensions back into political theory and practice sheds new light, not only on the importance of counselling for early modern statecraft, but also on the reconfiguration of the normative frameworks underlying it.
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0191008702
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 448
Book Description
Voices of Conscience analyzes how the link between politics and conscience was articulated and shaped throughout the seventeenth century by confessors who acted as counsellors to monarchs. Against the backdrop of the momentous intellectual, theological, and political shifts that marked this period, the study examines comparatively how the ethical challenges of political action were confronted in Spain and France and how questions of conscience became a major argument in the hegemonic struggle between the two competing Catholic powers. As Nicole Reinhardt demonstrates, 'counsel of conscience' was not a peripheral feature of early-modern political culture, but fundamental for the definition of politics and conscience. Tracing the rise and fall of confessors as counsellors reveals the parallel transformation of both, approaching a historical understanding of the modernisation of politics with the idea of an 'individual conscience' at its heart. Placed at the junction of norms and practices, royal confessors, directly or in oblique reflection, shaped the ways in which the royal conscience was identified and scrutinized. By the same token, the royal confessors' expertise and activities remained a source of anxiety and conflict that triggered wide debate on the relationship between State and Church, religion and politics. The notion of 'counsel of conscience', of which this book provides the first in-depth analysis, allows the reader to re-examine and challenge fundamental historical paradigms such as the emergence of 'absolutism', individualisation, and the division of public and private. Putting theological concepts and religious dimensions back into political theory and practice sheds new light, not only on the importance of counselling for early modern statecraft, but also on the reconfiguration of the normative frameworks underlying it.