Product Description
Scholars of early modern France have traditionally seen an alliance between the kings and the bourgeoisie, leading to an absolute, centralized monarchy, perhaps as early as the reign of Francis I (1515-47). In From Renaissance Monarchy to Absolute Monarchy, eminent historian J. Russell Major draws on forty-five years of research to dispute this view, offering both a masterful synthesis of existing scholarship and new information concerning the role of the nobility in these changes.
Renaissance monarchs, Major contends, had neither the army nor the bureaucracy to create an absolute monarchy they were strong only if they won the support of the nobility and other vocal elements of the population. At first they enjoyed this support, but the Wars of Religion revealed their inherent weakness. Major describes the struggle between such statesmen as Bellivre, Sully, Marillac, and Richelieu to impose their concept of reform and includes an account of how Louis XIV created an absolute monarchy by catering to the interests of the nobility and other provincial leaders. It was this "carrot" approach, accompanied by the threat of the "stick," that undergirded his absolutism.
Major concludes that the rise of absolutism was not accompanied, as has often been asserted, by the decline of the nobility. Rather, nobles were able to adapt to changing conditions that included the decline of feudalism, the invention of gunpowder, and inflation. In doing so, they remained the dominant class, whose support kings found it necessary to seek.
Rate Points :2.5
Binding :Paperback
Label :The Johns Hopkins University Press
Manufacturer :The Johns Hopkins University Press
ProductGroup :Book
Studio :The Johns Hopkins University Press
Publisher :The Johns Hopkins University Press
EAN :9780801856310
Price :$22.95USD
Lowest Price :$13.60USD
Customer ReviewsA Cure for Insomnia
Rating Point :2 Helpful Point :0
If you want a good history of this era, this is not it - unless you are an economist. Only then could you want all of the transactions that occurred in the history of French economics and that is what this book gives you. Everything is told in terms of taxes, fees, and more taxes.
I am currently reading "The Course of French History," by Pierre Goubert. It is much more enlightening!
lots of statistics
Rating Point :3 Helpful Point :12
The book should be called "from the Middle Ages, skimming lightly over the Renaissance to absolutism". There was a lot on the period of the 2-3 kings just prior to Francois I. Then the book glosses over Francois I through Henri III and fast forwards to Henri IV. Most of the book is not on the Renaissance period per se (which arguably started with Francois I). The Wars of religion are almost ignored... This book is of a type currently in vogue with academic historians: there is much statistical analysis of government data, e.g. 2 of 5 people in 1585 did blah-blah. A little dry for my taste. Also, terms are not well defined prior to use. Not a book for the beginner, but, in all fairness, I believe this book was written to be an academic text, not for mass consumption.
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