The Birth of Absolutism
The Birth of Absolutism

Author: Yves Marie Bercé

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Published: 1996

Total Pages: 262

ISBN-13: 9780312158002

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Yves-Marie Berce's THE BIRTH OF ABSOLUTISM offers a refreshingly original approach to the history of France between the Edict of Nantes and the personal rule of Louis XIV, a period dominated by the names of two cardinals - Richelieu and Mazarin. Berce brings to the task not only familiarity with the sources and with French historiography, but also a thorough knowledge of the large body of English and American research on seventeenth-century France. This has enabled him to escape the diminishing perspective of the older French school, the 'grand history told from Paris' which reduced the course of events to an account of the inevitable triumph of the 'Royal state'. Berce emphasises the degree to which the French Crown remained beset by an aristocratic faction only too ready to avail itself of royal minorities, religious dissent or provincial grievances in the pursuit of its own ambitions.

The Origins of French Absolutism, 1598-1661
The Origins of French Absolutism, 1598-1661

Author: Alan James

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2014-01-14

Total Pages: 169

ISBN-13: 1317878906

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This controversial study takes the provocative line that the French monarchy was a complete success. James turns the idea of royal ‘absolutism’ on its head by redefining the French monarchy’s success from 1598 - 1661. The Origins of French Absolutism, 1598-1661 maintains that building blocks were not being laid by the so-called architects of absolutism, but that by satisfying long-established, traditional ambitions, cardinal ministers Richelieu and Mazarin undoubtedly made the confident, ambitious reign of the late century possible.

A History of Sixteenth Century France, 1483-1598
A History of Sixteenth Century France, 1483-1598

Author: Janine Garrisson

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 1995-06-14

Total Pages: 445

ISBN-13: 1349240206

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A masterful new survey of sixteenth-century France which examines the vicissitudes of the French monarchy during the Italian Wars and the Wars of Religion. It explores how the advances made under a succession of strong kings from Charles VIII to Henri II created tensions in traditional society which combined with economic problems and emerging religious divisions to bring the kingdom close to disintegration under a series of weak kings from Francois II to Henri III. The political crisis culminated in France's first succession conflict for centuries, but was resolved through Henri IV's timely reconnection of dynastic legitimism with religious orthodoxy.