Synopses & Reviews
In this second volume of the
History of France series, Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie provides an account of the early modern period. Readers will discover a compelling narrative combined with a broad analysis of events and wider comparisons with European history.
After the traumas of the Black Death and the Hundred Years War, relative social and economic stability provided a backdrop for the splendors of France's great Renaissance Prince, Francois I, and then for the tensions and bloodshed of later sixteenth-century France. The Wars of Religion were not simply a religious conflict between Catholics and Protestant Huguenots, but encapsulated other tensions - between, for example, decentralized, representative government and the much more autocratic monarchical government which ultimately prevailed. The period also saw the development of many features which became hallmarks of French government. Above all, the two poles of proto-absolutism and Huguenot theories of legitimate resistance carried with them the germs of much greater future conflict, which were eventually to culminate in the French Revolution.
Extensively illustrated and containing helpful figures, this outstanding book will be of wide interest to specialists and general readers alike.
Review
"The world of the nobility is as vividly evoked as that of the humble, and the portraits of the kings reveal a virtuosity which would have been the envy of Michelet.
A History of France series is a work of immense quality."
Historama"Magnificent! The personalities of the kings and queens of the period, (among them Louis XI, Louis XII, Henri IV, Catherine de Medici) are admirably captured. The author also provides an incisive account of social, cultural and economic trends, explains with equal clarity the causes and outcomes of the wars with Italy and of religion, and shows that the reasons the Reformation failed in France were essentially political." L'Histoire
"This stimulating book has been translated with care by Juliet Vale, the bilbliography has been adapted for a British audience." Literary Review
"Readers of this second volume are unlikely to be disappointed." History
Synopsis
In this second volume of the History of France series, Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie provides a masterful account of the early modern period combining a compelling narrative with broad analysis of events and wider comparisons with European history.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. [299]-307) and index.
About the Author
Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie is the author of numerous books - including the immensely successful Montaillouand Carnival - and many articles. He is a researcher with a high international reputation, and the diversity of his work and range of his publications have made him one of the foremost specialists on France's monarchical period.
Table of Contents
Preface.
Introduction.
Part I: Valois Flowering:.
1. A Renaissance.
2. War and Recovery.
3. The Italian Adventure.
4. Humanist Strategies: Variable Outcomes.
5. Intolerance and its Aftermath.
Part II: Valois Decadence:.
6. Fracture.
7. War Games.
8. The Point of No Return.
9. The Tree of Justice.
10. The Guise and their Supporters.
Part III: Bourbon Spring:.
11. Broader Perspectives.
12. City, Finance and Office.
13. The Kingdom and the Nobility.
14. National Identity.
Chronology.