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Early Modern France (Atlantic History)

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  1. Introduction
  2. France is the largest, most populous, and richest country in Europe. Beginning in the Middle Ages, the monarchy tried to build a powerful state by multiplying its agents and reducing the autonomy of the provinces. Therefore, historians have usually focused their attention upon this cultural, social, and political homogenization. This long-term approach still dominates the historiography and literature in the field. More recently, however, scholars have also highlighted the forms of resistance to this centripetal force, the resilience of regional identities, and the peculiarities of local compromises. Although France belatedly began to establish colonies in the Atlantic world during the 17th century, they were not regarded as critical for the history of the colonial metropolis until the 18th century. Nevertheless, the French were not strangers to Atlantic trade. People and goods had been circulating there for a long time, reflecting a tendency to geographical mobility and revealing France’s economic dynamism. Thus, though this article favors the 17th and 18th centuries, it focuses on French social structures rather than on political events.
  3.  
  4. General Overviews
  5. There are many good books on French history. The most complex and most challenging is Burguière and Revel 1989–1993. For the early modern period specifically, see Goubert and Roche 2000. Many syntheses consider a century (Roche 1995) or a reign, or give a brief presentation of the main features of the Old Regime (Doyle 2001). Two Oxford Bibliographies in Renaissance and Reformation articles provide an excellent overview for the 16th and 17th centuries: “France in the 16th Century” and “France in the 17th Century.”
  6.  
  7. Burguière, André, and Jacques Revel, eds. Histoire de la France. Paris: Le Seuil, 1989–1993.
  8.  
  9. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  10.  
  11. Four thematic volumes that give a broad vision of the history of France in the long term.
  12.  
  13. Find this resource:
  14.  
  15.  
  16. Doyle, William, ed. Old Regime France, 1648–1788. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.
  17.  
  18. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  19.  
  20. Quick and very synthetic presentation of Old Regime France. A team of international scholars deals with the economy, society, culture, colonial empire, and the main characteristics of the state, as well as the trends of each reign.
  21.  
  22. Find this resource:
  23.  
  24.  
  25. Goubert, Pierre, and Daniel Roche. Les Français et l’ancien régime. 3d ed. Paris: Armand Colin, 2000.
  26.  
  27. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  28.  
  29. A general survey in two volumes that remains (since its first publication in 1969) a good account of the economy, society, state, and culture of Bourbon France. Its approach gives proper weight to the complexity of this society.
  30.  
  31. Find this resource:
  32.  
  33.  
  34. Roche, Daniel. La France des Lumières. Paris: Fayard, 1995.
  35.  
  36. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  37.  
  38. Broad examination of the social and cultural history of the Enlightenment in France. Unlike others, Roche considers that the Enlightenment didn’t grow out of specific forms of discourse or sociabilities, but rather insists on the social and economic changes that occurred during the 18th century. He particularly stresses the wider circulation of people, things, and ideas. Translated into English as France in the Enlightenment (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1998).
  39.  
  40. Find this resource:
  41.  
  42.  
  43. Reference Resources
  44. There are not many atlases of early modern France, apart from Boutier 2006. However, concerning the province of Languedoc, ruled by a provincial assembly, there is an online portfolio provided by the Departmental Archives of Herault, the Atlas historique de la province de Languedoc. While most of the English-language journals are specifically devoted to French history, such as French History or French Historical Studies, most of the French journals, such as Revue d’histoire moderne et contemporaine and Annales HSS, consider more general topics and wider fields. There are two main professional association websites: one, in French, for the Association des historiens modernistes des universités françaises (AHMUF); and the other, in English, for the English-language H-France.
  45.  
  46. Annales HSS. 1929–.
  47.  
  48. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  49.  
  50. The most widely distributed Francophone history journal, focusing on social history, historical synthesis, and dialogue between the various social sciences; English-language edition since 2012.
  51.  
  52. Find this resource:
  53.  
  54.  
  55. Association des historiens modernistes des universités françaises.
  56.  
  57. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  58.  
  59. The website of the Association of the Early Modern Historians of the French Universities (AHMUF) provides general information on early modern history: books announcements, meetings, and so on.
  60.  
  61. Find this resource:
  62.  
  63.  
  64. Atlas historique de la province de Languedoc.
  65.  
  66. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  67.  
  68. Presents over fifty maps illustrating the complexity of administrative divisions, in this case of Languedoc.
  69.  
  70. Find this resource:
  71.  
  72.  
  73. Boutier, Jean. Atlas de la France moderne, XVIe–XIXe siècle. Paris: Éditions Autrement, 2006.
  74.  
  75. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  76.  
  77. Much more than a collection of maps—it’s a historical synthesis by maps.
  78.  
  79. Find this resource:
  80.  
  81.  
  82. H-France.
  83.  
  84. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  85.  
  86. Provides resources for scholarly research on French history, society, and culture (book reviews, videotaped conferences, in-depth discussions).
  87.  
  88. Find this resource:
  89.  
  90.  
  91. French Historical Studies. 1958–.
  92.  
  93. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  94.  
  95. Official journal of the Society for French Historical Studies. Covers French history, including colonial and imperial studies.
  96.  
  97. Find this resource:
  98.  
  99.  
  100. French History. 1981–.
  101.  
  102. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  103.  
  104. Covers French history as well as colonial and imperial history. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for the Study of French History.
  105.  
  106. Find this resource:
  107.  
  108.  
  109. Revue d’histoire moderne et contemporaine. 1899–.
  110.  
  111. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  112.  
  113. The journal seeks to stimulate interdisciplinary dialogue and encourage interactions between French and foreign researchers.
  114.  
  115. Find this resource:
  116.  
  117.  
  118. Primary Sources
  119. A wealth of primary sources of all types exists on early modern France. They are several scientific websites that list primary source collections or provide transcriptions, issues, or just pictures of documents of every kind. Archive centers, museums, and libraries have digitized many French papers and books in recent years. There are thus many online resources. Gallica, Patrimoine numérique: Catalogue des collections numérisées, and Archim (Archives nationales) allow one to access most of these publications. Several websites offer good guidance on the use of sources. L’Histoire par l’image explores French history through art, Cour de France provides links to historical documents about court, and Theleme focuses on archival records. In English, EuroDocs identifies primary historical documents available online. There are few collections of texts translated into English, however. Among the French titles, Favier 1997–2001 is the most comprehensive.
  120.  
  121. Archim (Archives nationales).
  122.  
  123. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  124.  
  125. The National Archives has several digitized collections, with more about the early modern period, such as the Trudaine Atlas (L’atlas de Trudaine), which lists the main roads and provides information on French landscape history in the 18th century.
  126.  
  127. Find this resource:
  128.  
  129.  
  130. Cour de France.
  131.  
  132. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  133.  
  134. A project that provides a publication space for scholarly essays and historical documents. The site also provides a web portal with links to more than 2,000 articles and historical documents available free-of-charge on other websites.
  135.  
  136. Find this resource:
  137.  
  138.  
  139. EuroDocs.
  140.  
  141. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  142.  
  143. Identifies sites and primary historical documents available online.
  144.  
  145. Find this resource:
  146.  
  147.  
  148. Favier, Jean, ed. Archives de la France. 4 vols. Paris: Fayard, 1997–2001.
  149.  
  150. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  151.  
  152. Each volume provides nearly 150 commented documents of every kind, listed by topic.
  153.  
  154. Find this resource:
  155.  
  156.  
  157. Gallica.
  158.  
  159. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  160.  
  161. The Bibliothèque Nationale de France (BNF) has digitalized vast quantities of published documents in French, numerous manuscripts, and lot of engravings, plans, and maps.
  162.  
  163. Find this resource:
  164.  
  165.  
  166. L’Histoire par l’image.
  167.  
  168. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  169.  
  170. L’Histoire par l’image explores French history’s events and major developments since 1643 through guided presentations of works of arts (paintings, sculptures, engravings, etc.).
  171.  
  172. Find this resource:
  173.  
  174.  
  175. Patrimoine numérique: Catalogue des collections numérisées.
  176.  
  177. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  178.  
  179. Describes over 3,000 collections of digitized cultural heritage, particularly those available online. Search by period or theme is available. Note that direct links don’t always work.
  180.  
  181. Find this resource:
  182.  
  183.  
  184. Theleme.
  185.  
  186. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  187.  
  188. The École nationale des chartes, which specializes in historical sciences offers classes, bibliographies, and various tools, and explains some administrative records.
  189.  
  190. Find this resource:
  191.  
  192.  
  193. The Monarchy and Moderate Absolutism
  194. The monarchical state of the Old Regime, especially under the Bourbon dynasty, has long been considered the model of the absolutist regime, which sought to direct everything. Colbertism was seen as the epitome of interventionism in economic matters. This historiographical myth has been profoundly challenged, not only with regard to its ideological foundations, but also regarding the measures taken by the monarch to enforce its decisions. Relatively powerless, the monarchy worked with pragmatism to make agreements with the elites. However, Louis XIV’s rule caused social dissensions that deepened during the 18th century. The concept of absolutism should not hide the complexity and the diversity of patterns and devices by which the monarchy saw itself and impacted the society, argues Richet 1973. Haran 2000 stresses that the mystic and universalist dimension of power was still strong in the 17th and 18th centuries. But political thinkers also insisted on the religious and ecclesiastical dimensions of royal power and pointed out the king’s image as a justice-maker (Cosandey and Descimon 2002). Emmanuelli 1981 argues that, in practice, the intendants were not always all-powerful, contrary to a widespread idea. The notion of “police,” which included a wide range of practices outside the legal framework, permitted a renewal of usages (Napoli 2003).
  195.  
  196. Cosandey, Fanny, and Robert Descimon. L’absolutisme en France: Histoire et historiographie. Paris: Le Seuil, 2002.
  197.  
  198. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  199.  
  200. Surveys the history and the historiography of absolutism. The authors contrast the creation of the theory of an all-powerful monarchy by political thinkers with the practical realities of government. They also explore how historians have constructed and employed the idea of absolutism.
  201.  
  202. Find this resource:
  203.  
  204.  
  205. Emmanuelli, François-Xavier. Un mythe de l’absolutisme bourbonien: L’Intendance du milieu du XVIIe siècle à la fin du XVIIIe siècle (France, Espagne, Amérique). Aix-en-Provence, France: Publications de l’Université de Provence-Honoré Champion, 1981.
  206.  
  207. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  208.  
  209. Reviews the historiographical myth surrounding the intendants. Demonstrates that the king’s agents were not as powerful as one might believe, especially because they had to deal with local interlocutors.
  210.  
  211. Find this resource:
  212.  
  213.  
  214. Haran, Alexandre Y. Le lys et le globe: Messianisme dynastique et rêve impérial en France aux XVIe et XVIIe siècles. Seyssel, France: Champ Vallon, 2000.
  215.  
  216. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  217.  
  218. The book tracks the French monarchs’ assumption to be Dominus mundi and analyzes their messianic and universalist ambitions, mainly in the Renaissance.
  219.  
  220. Find this resource:
  221.  
  222.  
  223. Napoli, Paolo. Naissance de la police moderne, Pouvoir, normes, société. Paris: La Découverte, 2003.
  224.  
  225. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  226.  
  227. Establishes that the broad field of practices of authority described as “police” recovered a pragmatic conception of action, outside strict legal constraints, but tried to avoid “despotism.”
  228.  
  229. Find this resource:
  230.  
  231.  
  232. Richet, Denis. La France moderne: L’esprit des institutions. Paris: Flammarion, 1973.
  233.  
  234. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  235.  
  236. Asserts that the real division in the society lay between elites and the masses, and that the orders (clergy, nobility, and the commons) obscured the real social hierarchies.
  237.  
  238. Find this resource:
  239.  
  240.  
  241. Relations with Elites
  242. The monarchy built its power through alliances with specific social groups, especially the nobility and magistrates (Beik 2005). Monarchy favored those groups by acting on family law and selling royal offices as private property (Hanley 1989). This state intervention shaped a distinctive nobility within the upper class (Descimon and Haddad 2010). In the 18th century, venality was challenged in all kinds of ways, but it seemed to be impossible to reform (Doyle 1996). But local elites were also enriched by the increasing royal taxes, as in Brittany (Collins 1994) and Languedoc (Beik 2005). However, the challenging of tax privileges in the 18th century undermined this social collaboration (Kwass 2000).
  243.  
  244. Beik, William. Absolutism and Society in Seventeenth Century France: State Power and Provincial Aristocracy in Languedoc. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1985.
  245.  
  246. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511583797Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  247.  
  248. The book focuses on the relationship between a regional aristocracy, represented in the provincial states, and the Crown in a context of increasing royal taxes. Beik shows that, in reality, the local elites received much of this money back in the form of royal grants.
  249.  
  250. Find this resource:
  251.  
  252.  
  253. Beik, William. “The Absolutism of Louis XIV as Social Collaboration.” Past and Present 188 (2005): 195–224.
  254.  
  255. DOI: 10.1093/pastj/gti019Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  256.  
  257. Surveys recent works on Louis XIV. Concludes that the absolute monarchy should still be perceived as a social compromise between the Crown and traditional elites.
  258.  
  259. Find this resource:
  260.  
  261.  
  262. Collins, James B. Classes, Estates, and Order in Early Modern Brittany. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1994.
  263.  
  264. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511562587Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  265.  
  266. While recognizing the particular status of Brittany (a province that had representative estates), Collins points out the complexity of the local society, both a society of orders and a society of classes, and its dynamism.
  267.  
  268. Find this resource:
  269.  
  270.  
  271. Descimon, Robert, and Élie Haddad, eds. Épreuves de noblesse: Les expériences nobiliaires de la haute robe parisienne, XVIe–XVIIIe siècle. Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 2010.
  272.  
  273. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  274.  
  275. Offers a sociological analysis of the ruling group of great magistrates and administrators, which was configured both by the venality of offices and by the very act of providing constant and varying “proofs of nobility.”
  276.  
  277. Find this resource:
  278.  
  279.  
  280. Doyle, William. Venality: The Sale of Offices in Eighteenth-Century France. Oxford: Clarendon, 1996.
  281.  
  282. DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198205364.001.0001Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  283.  
  284. Shows that in the 18th century, the nearly 70,000 venal offices of every kind (in the courts, the finances, or the army) did not succeed in raising sufficient revenues for the needs of the Crown. But they were still in demand for the privileges and power that they conferred.
  285.  
  286. Find this resource:
  287.  
  288.  
  289. Hanley, Sarah. “Engendering the State: Family Formation and State Building in Early Modern France.” French Historical Studies 16 (1989): 4–27.
  290.  
  291. DOI: 10.2307/286431Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  292.  
  293. Analyzes how the Crown and the French elites came together to create a “Family-State Compact” in which state authority supported the creation and reproduction of patriarchal families.
  294.  
  295. Find this resource:
  296.  
  297.  
  298. Kwass, Mickael. Privilege and the Politics of Taxation in Eighteenth-Century France: Liberté, égalité, fiscalité. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2000.
  299.  
  300. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  301.  
  302. The rise of direct taxation on the privileged elite and formerly exempt groups under Louis XIV (because of the introduction of new direct taxes) generated increasing criticism from the elites. The state’s “arbitrary taxation” eventually mobilized the nobility in opposition to the Crown.
  303.  
  304. Find this resource:
  305.  
  306.  
  307. The State and the Economy
  308. Traditions of state intervention in economic activity have a long heritage in France. But the famous colbertisme (the French form of mercantilism) is not significantly different from what is found in other countries (see Minard 1998, Hilaire-Pérez 2000, and Woronoff 1994). The relationship between the monarchy and the guilds or other professional organizations is explained either by the quest for common good or by economic control of the tax system. Sometimes, as in printing and publishing, the monarchy had a significant impact on the market structure (Chartier and Martin 1989–1991). The monarchy does protect the “right to work” of poor women (Crowston 2001); its most important function was to supply the people with bread (Kaplan 1984). The transformation of political philosophy into political economy provided new intellectual tools that enabled the monarchy to shape its actions (Perrot 1992).
  309.  
  310. Chartier, Roger, and Henri-Jean Martin, eds. Histoire de l’édition française. 4 vols. Paris: Fayard, 1989–1991.
  311.  
  312. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  313.  
  314. Explores the book market, considering books as the centerpieces of social practices and labor relations. In order to improve its control over this key industry, the Crown promoted the gradual concentration of printing privileges in the hands of a Parisian elite of printers and booksellers at the expense of provincial printers. Vol. 1: Le livre conquérant, du Moyen âge au milieu du XVIIe siècle (1989); Vol. 2: Le livre triomphant, 1660–1830 (1990).
  315.  
  316. Find this resource:
  317.  
  318.  
  319. Crowston, Clare Haru. Fabricating Women: The Seamstresses of Old Regime France, 1675–1791. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2001.
  320.  
  321. DOI: 10.1215/9780822383062Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  322.  
  323. Studying the most important female guild in France, Crowston offers an analysis of the gendered framework for the manufacture of clothing and investigates the myriad ways that women benefited from the guilds and their privileges.
  324.  
  325. Find this resource:
  326.  
  327.  
  328. Hilaire-Pérez, Liliane. L’Invention technique au siècle des Lumières. Paris: Albin Michel, 2000.
  329.  
  330. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  331.  
  332. Presents the contexts of invention in England and France and describes how the inventions were positively perceived by the state, and encouraged and controlled by institutions such as the Académie royale des sciences and the courts of law.
  333.  
  334. Find this resource:
  335.  
  336.  
  337. Kaplan, Steven L. Provisioning Paris: Merchants and Millers in the Grain and Flour Trade during the Eighteenth Century. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1984.
  338.  
  339. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  340.  
  341. In this part of his investigation of the “subsistence complex,” Kaplan turns to the practices and actors of the distribution of grain, from merchants to bakers, and examines how the monarchy managed them in order to maintain abundance.
  342.  
  343. Find this resource:
  344.  
  345.  
  346. Minard, Philippe. La fortune du colbertisme: État et industrie dans la France des Lumières. Paris: Fayard, 1998.
  347.  
  348. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  349.  
  350. By describing the organization of the inspectors of the manufactures, Minard uses the information contained in the inspectors’ reports to assess the part played by regulation in 18th-century French industry.
  351.  
  352. Find this resource:
  353.  
  354.  
  355. Perrot, Jean-Claude. Une histoire intellectuelle de l’économie politique, XVIIe XVIIIe siècle. Paris: Éditions de l’EHESS, 1992.
  356.  
  357. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  358.  
  359. Asserts that political economy was setting itself up for the prince as a science focused on good government. This science developed the use of statistics and enabled the state to assert control and management of its territory.
  360.  
  361. Find this resource:
  362.  
  363.  
  364. Woronoff, Denis. Histoire de l’industrie en France du XVIe siècle à nos jours. Paris: Le Seuil, 1994.
  365.  
  366. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  367.  
  368. The first part of the book provides an overview of the “ancien régime économique,” especially of the textile industry and charcoal-fired metallurgy. Confirms the assumptions about the state’s right to intervene in the economy, but also the resilience of small and family-controlled enterprises.
  369.  
  370. Find this resource:
  371.  
  372.  
  373. France as a Nation-State
  374. France has long been characterized as the model of the nation-state, in which a centralized state gave rise to the nation. Under the Old Regime, this process of cultural homogenization was nonetheless still fragile. Firstly, the division between Catholics and Protestants posed a political challenge to the monarchy, rather than a social problem (Luria 2005, Garrioch 2014). Secondly, the definition of French identity was at the crossroads between culture, law, and racial lines. Finally, aristocrat rebellions were replaced by popular uprisings, which were more dangerous for the foundations of the political and social system.
  375.  
  376. Religion and Religious Identity
  377. The Roman Catholic Church plays a key role in the French society. McManners 1998 provides an excellent overview focused on the 18th century. The early modern period was a time of change for the church and the religious culture, in France (Bergin 2009) as in the rest of the world (see the Oxford Bibliographies article “Catholicism”). Although the king’s subjects were all supposed to be Catholics, France was not entirely Catholic. The main religious minority, the Calvinists (or later Huguenots), were tolerated de jure by the Edict of Nantes in 1598 (see Luria 2005), then only de facto after 1685 and the Revocation of the Edict, despite sporadic persecution (Garrioch 2014). There were also many very different Jewish communities (Muchnik 2006, Oliel-Grausz 2004). These various groups usually maintained extended geographical social bonds with widely dispersed diasporic communities. Relations between these minorities and the local societies changed, on a larger scale, the relationship of the state with religious otherness and national inclusion (Berkovitz 2004).
  378.  
  379. Bergin, Joseph. Church, Society, and Religious Change in France 1580–1730. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2009.
  380.  
  381. DOI: 10.12987/yale/9780300150988.001.0001Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  382.  
  383. An interior history of the church and the clergy. Demonstrates that the Catholic Reformation in France was backed up by the Crown because of the church’s long-established roots in the political life of the kingdom. The change was therefore very slow.
  384.  
  385. Find this resource:
  386.  
  387.  
  388. Berkovitz, Jay R. Rites and Passages: The Beginnings of Modern Jewish Culture in France, 1650–1860. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004.
  389.  
  390. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  391.  
  392. Investigates the patterns of religious thought and structures of communal life in Alsace-Lorraine in the 17th and 18th centuries, and argues that no serious treatment of Jewish emancipation can ignore the cultural history of the Jews during the Old Regime.
  393.  
  394. Find this resource:
  395.  
  396.  
  397. Garrioch, David. The Huguenots of Paris and the Coming of Religious Freedom, 1685–1789. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2014.
  398.  
  399. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9781107252769Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  400.  
  401. Examines how Protestants managed to maintain their faith and identity. Garrioch analyzes the roots of the transformation of attitudes toward this minority as a consequence of a notable shift in Catholic religious culture.
  402.  
  403. Find this resource:
  404.  
  405.  
  406. Luria, Keith. Sacred Boundaries: Religious Coexistence and Conflict in Early-Modern France. Baltimore: Catholic University of America Press, 2005.
  407.  
  408. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  409.  
  410. Under the rule of the Edict of Nantes (1598–1685), despite the prohibitions in law, the wall between Catholics and Calvinists was actually permeable. Both communities lived together relatively peacefully.
  411.  
  412. Find this resource:
  413.  
  414.  
  415. McManners, John. Church and Society in Eighteenth Century France. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon, 1998.
  416.  
  417. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  418.  
  419. The first volume deals with the question of church and state, including the alliance between the clerical and secular powers. The second volume covers the topics of popular religion and religious controversies (the Jansenist controversy; the expulsion of the Jesuits).
  420.  
  421. Find this resource:
  422.  
  423.  
  424. Muchnik, Natalia. “Du catholicisme des judéoconvers: Rouen, 1633.” XVIIe Siècle 231 (2006): 321–343.
  425.  
  426. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  427.  
  428. Demonstrates that Iberian new Christians (conversos) settled in Rouen were shaken by conflicts between Judaizers and devout Catholics. But all, for most traders, maintained close networks with the diaspora, independently of their religious belongings. Moreover, such conflicts were mobilized by the French authorities, ecclesiastical or secular, municipal or monarchical, on different levels.
  429.  
  430. Find this resource:
  431.  
  432.  
  433. Oliel-Grausz, Evelyne. “Droit et espace séfarade: Jacob Rodrigues Pereire et l’extension des privilèges. Du royaume à la Nation.” Archives Juives 37.1 (2004): 28–46.
  434.  
  435. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  436.  
  437. Reflects on an attempt in 1777 to establish a travel permit and an identity card for the Portuguese (i.e., Iberian) Jews from western Europe who wished to travel to Paris, and on the status of the other French Jews.
  438.  
  439. Find this resource:
  440.  
  441.  
  442. Nationality or “Frenchness”
  443. The issue of loyalty to the Crown and allegiance to the reigning dynasty is essential to defining French identity, especially for Protestants (Yardeni 2005), even if the exiles developed a new nationalism based on shared language and culture after 1685 (Lachenicht 2007, and see the Oxford Bibliographies article “Huguenots”). This new shared national identity was a distinctly 18th century phenomenon, which owed its existence to broader shifts in French political and religious culture (Bell 2003), and also, more specifically, to the experience of the Seven Years’ War against Britain (Dziembowski 1998). At that time, the colonial experience introduced new dimensions of exclusion (Vidal 2014), while the state was more closely concerned with the legal rules and documents that created or framed individual identity (Sahlins 2004, Denis 2008). For a more complete description of the European context, see the Oxford Bibliographies article “Nation, Nationhood, and Nationalism.”
  444.  
  445. Bell, David A. The Cult of the Nation in France: Inventing Nationalism, 1680–1800. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2003.
  446.  
  447. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  448.  
  449. Describes the process by which loyalty to the French Crown also meant a shared national identity. Shows particularly the continuities in French identity and the importance of religion in shaping what it meant to be French.
  450.  
  451. Find this resource:
  452.  
  453.  
  454. Denis, Vincent. Une histoire de l’identité: France, 1715–1815. Seyssel, France: Champ Vallon, 2008.
  455.  
  456. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  457.  
  458. Traces the 18th-century origins of the official documentation of personal identity as a new police technology. It formed both the basis of the state’s treatment of its citizens and, to a large extent, the individual’s own self-identity.
  459.  
  460. Find this resource:
  461.  
  462.  
  463. Dziembowski, Edmond. Un nouveau patriotisme français, 1750–1770: La France face à la puissance anglaise à l’époque de la guerre de Sept Ans. Oxford: Voltaire Foundation, 1998.
  464.  
  465. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  466.  
  467. Analyzes the relationship between public opinion and international relations. During wartime, the Crown attempted to use French hostility toward Britain to mobilize support. After the war, the Monarchy sought to strengthen this new patriotic movement.
  468.  
  469. Find this resource:
  470.  
  471.  
  472. Lachenicht, Suzanne. “Huguenot Immigrants and the Formation of National Identities.” Historical Journal 50.2 (2007): 309–331.
  473.  
  474. DOI: 10.1017/S0018246X07006085Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  475.  
  476. Post-1685, within the countries of refuge, Huguenots fostered a distinctive French identity that enabled them to remain aloof from the culture of their host society. They asserted themselves as a self-confident minority, convinced of the superiority of their language and culture.
  477.  
  478. Find this resource:
  479.  
  480.  
  481. Sahlins, Peter. Unnaturally French: Foreign Citizens in the Old Regime and After. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2004.
  482.  
  483. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  484.  
  485. During the Old Regime, birth on French soil (jus soli) was the dominant criterion for one to be considered French. But the monarch could give French citizenship by granting letters. Sahlins studies those letters of naturalization (lettres de naturalité) and attempts to determine common standards.
  486.  
  487. Find this resource:
  488.  
  489.  
  490. Vidal, Cécile, ed. Français? La nation en débat entre colonies et métropole, XVIe–XIXe siècle. Paris: Editions de l’Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, 2014.
  491.  
  492. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  493.  
  494. A team of French and North American historians explores different colonial contexts, examining who should be considered a French subject and the modes of legal exclusion. They assert that national identity was operated on different levels. Francité is considered as a coefficient of racialization, and therefore as a technology of power.
  495.  
  496. Find this resource:
  497.  
  498.  
  499. Yardeni, Myriam. Enquêtes sur l’identité de la nation France: De la Renaissance aux Lumières. Seyssel, France: Champ Vallon, 2005.
  500.  
  501. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  502.  
  503. Offers detailed studies on signs, symbols, and representations of the nation that became affective and ideological forces. Focuses on the relationship that the Huguenots had (or not) with a national religious identity.
  504.  
  505. Find this resource:
  506.  
  507.  
  508. Political Disputes
  509. After the religious and civil wars (1559–1598), Bourbon power remained relatively unchallenged until the Revolution, despite many popular riots (detailed in Nicolas 2002). Economic difficulties faced by the country during the 17th century were propitious to the claims of princes (Béguin 1999), and to the politicization of cultural practices (Jouhaud 2000, Maza 1993). Finally, in the 18th century, religious topics (Van Kley 1975) and indirect taxation became a major cause of dispute (Kwass 2014).
  510.  
  511. Béguin, Katia. Les princes de Condé: Rebelles, courtisans et mécènes dans la France du Grand Siècle. Seyssel, France: Champ Vallon, 1999.
  512.  
  513. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  514.  
  515. Political and economic study of the Condé household, whose chief took the lead in the Fronde in 1651, chose exile rather than submission, and joined Spain against France until the peace (1661).
  516.  
  517. Find this resource:
  518.  
  519.  
  520. Jouhaud, Christian. Les pouvoirs de la littérature: Histoire d’un paradoxe. Paris: Gallimard, 2000.
  521.  
  522. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  523.  
  524. The book investigates the interplay between political life and literary form in the aristocratic society of the 17th century. Jouhaud underlines the writers’ dependence on powerful patrons. This patronage was a form of political action, given that many of these writers were mobilized in support of their patrons.
  525.  
  526. Find this resource:
  527.  
  528.  
  529. Kwass, Michael. Contraband: Louis Mandrin and the Making of a Global Underground. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2014.
  530.  
  531. DOI: 10.4159/harvard.9780674369634Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  532.  
  533. By imposing a state monopoly on tobacco from America and an embargo on colored calico cloth from India (Indiennes), the monarchy unintentionally favored contraband, criminality, and underground rebellion. Kwass asserts that it was illicit commerce rather than commercial capitalism that corroded the structures of the Old Regime.
  534.  
  535. Find this resource:
  536.  
  537.  
  538. Maza, Sarah. Private Lives and Public Affairs: The Causes Célèbres of Prerevolutionary France. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993.
  539.  
  540. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  541.  
  542. Referring to the Habermas’s concept of the emergence of the public sphere during the 18th century, Maza establishes that the registration of private scandals by lawyers’ publications (mémoires judiciaires) had a critical effect on the way in which public opinion began to understand public issues.
  543.  
  544. Find this resource:
  545.  
  546.  
  547. Nicolas, Jean. La Rébellion française: Mouvements populaires et conscience sociale (1661–1789). Paris: Éditions du Seuil, 2002.
  548.  
  549. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  550.  
  551. The book, a synthesis of a broad collective survey, highlights the persistence of popular rebellions even after the establishment of authoritarian power. People rose up against indirect taxes, the General Farm agents, and manorial levies. But people also revolted for religious reasons.
  552.  
  553. Find this resource:
  554.  
  555.  
  556. Van Kley, Dale K. The Jansenists and the Expulsion of the Jesuits from France, 1757–1765. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1975.
  557.  
  558. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  559.  
  560. Shows how Jansenists and their sympathizers engineered the expulsion of the Jesuits from France. Their charges touched the Gallican sensibility of the parlements. Despite initial reluctance, Louis XV sanctioned the decision of his courts by dissolving the Jesuit order in France.
  561.  
  562. Find this resource:
  563.  
  564.  
  565. France as a Military Power
  566. France was a great military power, with a large and potent army. The high incidence of war produced significant innovations in the management of the army, mainly under Louis XIV. In Europe, the pré carré (sole preserve) was a territory to conquer, then to defend, but also to develop and exploit. However, war was very expensive and forced the monarchy into increasing debt. Historians are very interested in the transformation of the French army, mainly in the 17th century (see Osman 2013). The nature of royal power was deeply intertwined with the practice of war, which increased the monarch’s personal glory (Cornette 1993). But this practice of war had to be understood within a broader culture of violence that pervaded the entire society, especially the nobility (Brioist, et al. 2002). The increase in the size and sustainability of the army under Louis XIV was based on the growth in fiscal power (Lynn 1997). But it was also grounded on the commitment of the nobles to commissions as officers, which was economically and demographically expensive for them (Drévillon 2005).
  567.  
  568. Brioist, Pascal, Hervé Drévillon, and Pierre Serna. Croiser le fer: Violence et culture de l’épée dans la France moderne, XVIe–XIXe siècle. Seyssel, France: Champ Vallon, 2002.
  569.  
  570. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  571.  
  572. Historians have long been interested in noble violence in early modern France. This book studies the cultural history of dueling and looks more closely at swords and swordsmanship, paying particular attention to fencing talk, theory, politics, and law.
  573.  
  574. Find this resource:
  575.  
  576.  
  577. Cornette, Joël. Le roi de guerre: Essai sur la souveraineté dans la France du Grand siècle. Paris: Payot, 1993.
  578.  
  579. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  580.  
  581. War practiced on the battlefield also served to glorify the king, through the image of a “warrior king” that Louis XIII and Louis XIV sought to create. Secular and sacral symbolism of royal military power helped legitimize the king’s sovereignty and the strengthening of the state.
  582.  
  583. Find this resource:
  584.  
  585.  
  586. Drévillon, Hervé. L’impôt du sang: Le métier des armes sous Louis XIV. Paris: Tallandier, 2005.
  587.  
  588. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  589.  
  590. Analyzes the war from the perspective of the officers, and tackles the problem of reconciling the implantation of an administrative culture among military officer corps with a distinctive conception of noble honor.
  591.  
  592. Find this resource:
  593.  
  594.  
  595. Lynn, John. Giant of the Grand Siècle: The French Army, 1610–1715. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1997.
  596.  
  597. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511572548Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  598.  
  599. Lynn disagrees with the idea of a “military revolution” in the 16th century, and prefers a more evolutionary approach. He examines every aspect of the French army, but mainly considers the relationship between the state and the army, and especially the army’s place in the process of state-building and centralization.
  600.  
  601. Find this resource:
  602.  
  603.  
  604. Osman, Julia. “Early Modern French Armies.” In Oxford Bibliographies in Military History. New York: Oxford University Press, 2013.
  605.  
  606. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  607.  
  608. In-depth presentation of both the army and the navy, from the 16th century onward. Considers the military aspects, but also the administrative and financial issues.
  609.  
  610. Find this resource:
  611.  
  612.  
  613. Shaping the Territory
  614. In Europe, territorial expansion and consolidation of a “national” territory involved a change in the nature of borders. The French monarchy was primarily obsessed with natural boundaries (the pré carré), including achieving them with force and protecting them with fortifications, according to Bitterling 2009. The more peaceful 18th century promoted rectilinear border patterns and homogeneity of the inner territories, argues Nordman 1998, which sometimes disturbed the social practices of border populations (Sahlins 1989, Morieux 2008). Such a transformation paralleled the development of the colonial administration (Houllemare 2014). On the ground, however, colonial rule appeared much less bureaucratic; see the Oxford Bibliographies article “Empire and State Formation), and the recent review Hodson and Rushforth 2010.
  615.  
  616. Bitterling, David. L’invention du pré carré: Construction de l’espace français sous l’Ancien Régime. Paris: Albin Michel, 2009.
  617.  
  618. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  619.  
  620. Mainly concerns the reign of Louis XIV. Bitterling shows how the conception of a liberal economy promoting exchange was deeply rooted in the military notion of the pré carré.
  621.  
  622. Find this resource:
  623.  
  624.  
  625. Hodson, Christopher, and Brett Rushforth. “Absolutely Atlantic: Colonialism and the Early Modern French State in Recent Historiography.” History Compass 8.1 (January 2010): 101–117.
  626.  
  627. DOI: 10.1111/j.1478-0542.2009.00635.xSave Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  628.  
  629. Through a broad review, this article examines the complex relationships among indigenous peoples, French colonists, and the multifaceted French state, creating a nuanced portrait of early modern French colonialism.
  630.  
  631. Find this resource:
  632.  
  633.  
  634. Houllemare, Marie. “La fabrique des archives coloniales et la naissance d’une conscience impériale (France, XVIIIe siècle).” Revue d’histoire moderne et contemporaine 61.2 (2014): 7–31.
  635.  
  636. DOI: 10.3917/rhmc.612.0007Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  637.  
  638. At first, documents concerning the colonies were considered to be proof of the French possession of overseas territories. From 1750 onward, they were used as tools to acquire better knowledge of colonial agents, thus allowing proper central management of imperial agents.
  639.  
  640. Find this resource:
  641.  
  642.  
  643. Morieux, Renaud. Une mer pour deux royaumes: La Manche, une frontière franco-anglaise (XVIIe–XVIIIe siècles). Rennes: Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 2008.
  644.  
  645. DOI: 10.4000/books.pur.27505Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  646.  
  647. Aims to understand how the English Channel was constructed as a frontier between the two nations. Despite a strong military dimension, the sea made cultural and economic exchanges easier between both shores and peoples. Translated as The Channel: England, France and the Construction of a Maritime Border in the Eighteenth Century (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016).
  648.  
  649. Find this resource:
  650.  
  651.  
  652. Nordman, Daniel. Frontières de France: De l’espace au territoire, XVIe–XIXe siècle. Paris: Gallimard, 1998.
  653.  
  654. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  655.  
  656. This groundbreaking book demonstrates how the concept of a precisely and mutual agreed-upon boundary line became dominant during the 18th century, whereas previously the language of limitations referred to the historical rights of the king regarding a particular village or town.
  657.  
  658. Find this resource:
  659.  
  660.  
  661. Sahlins, Peter. Boundaries: The Making of France and Spain in the Pyrenees. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989.
  662.  
  663. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  664.  
  665. From the case of Cerdanya, at the time perceived as a natural frontier, Sahlins studies how individuals came to relate their own lives to the wider French community. He examines the volatility of the creative process of national identifications as French or Spanish after the split of Cerdanya in 1659.
  666.  
  667. Find this resource:
  668.  
  669.  
  670. Public Debt
  671. The increasing cost of wars explains efforts on the part of the Crown to get money by any means possible. Despite their dramatic growth, taxes were not enough, and the monarchy had to borrow money until the Revolution (Bossenga 2011). The surge in public debt took two different forms: the sales of offices of all kinds (Bien 1987, Descimon 2006) and of rentes constituées (annuities). These loans interfered with a regular credit market, which was otherwise quite effective (Hoffman, et al. 2000). The handling of royal tax revenues led to the emergence of a class of financial intermediaries, studied by Dessert 1984.
  672.  
  673. Béguin, Katia. Financer la guerre au XVIIe siècle: La dette publique et les rentiers de l’absolutisme. Seyssel, France: Champ Vallon, 2012.
  674.  
  675. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  676.  
  677. Examines the elaboration of the legal framework for rente sales, purchases, and exchanges. But important aspects of the market remained unregulated, and throughout the century, France paid higher rates than some other states.
  678.  
  679. Find this resource:
  680.  
  681.  
  682. Bien, David D. “Offices, Corps and a System of State Credit: The Uses of Privilege under the Ancien Régime.” In The Political Culture of the Old Regime. Edited by Keith Baker, 89–114. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987.
  683.  
  684. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  685.  
  686. This crucial article describes how the king created offices in order to attract capital from their acquirers and from those who advanced funds for their purchase. The autonomous corps of officers established by the Crown was closely connected to the rest of society by the system of credit.
  687.  
  688. Find this resource:
  689.  
  690.  
  691. Bossenga, Gail. “Financial Origins of the French Revolution.” In From Deficit to Deluge: The Origins of the French Revolution. Edited by Thomas E. Kaiser and Dale K. Van Kley, 37–66. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2011.
  692.  
  693. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  694.  
  695. Explains why the debt crisis in 1789 was different from the earlier financial crisis. Examines the difficulty in combining the old financial system with a new one, which sought to attract investors on the international money market.
  696.  
  697. Find this resource:
  698.  
  699.  
  700. Descimon, Robert. “La vénalité des offices comme dette publique sous l’Ancien Régime français: Le bien commun au pays des intérêts privés.” In La Dette publique dans l’histoire. Edited by Gérard Béaur, Jean Andreau, and Jean-Yves Grenier, 177–242. Paris: Comité pour l’Histoire Économique et Financière de la France, 2006.
  701.  
  702. DOI: 10.4000/books.igpde.1834Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  703.  
  704. Focuses on the meaning of venality, both from the king’s point of view and that of buyers. Descimon also analyzes the changing values of the different offices throughout the Old Regime.
  705.  
  706. Find this resource:
  707.  
  708.  
  709. Dessert, Daniel. Argent, pouvoir et société au Grand Siècle. Paris: Fayard, 1984.
  710.  
  711. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  712.  
  713. Explains who the financiers were during the reign of Louis XIV, and how they were connected both to ministerial clans and wealthy aristocratic backers. Dessert demonstrates the mutual dependence between the financers, who were usually tax farmers and made loans to the Crown, and the royal finances. The financiers were also mediators for the aristocrats and magistrates, who managed to enrich themselves substantially thanks to this “fiscal-financial” system.
  714.  
  715. Find this resource:
  716.  
  717.  
  718. Hoffman, Philip T., Gilles Postel-Vinay, and Jean-Laurent Rosenthal. Priceless Markets: The Political Economy of Credit in Paris, 1660–1870. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000.
  719.  
  720. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  721.  
  722. Shows the growth of mortgage markets over two centuries, first in Paris and later throughout France, and the intermediary role filled by notaries. Indeed, notaries were able to concentrate a large amount of information about their clients, and they succeeded in centralizing credit in the kingdom. Demonstrates that a large impersonal credit market in annuities functioned prior to the development of an adequate banking system.
  723.  
  724. Find this resource:
  725.  
  726.  
  727. Sedentary and Migrant Populations
  728. Early modern France is usually seen as a stable, perhaps static society, divided by orders and deeply rooted in the “eternal villages.” Since the publication of Collins 1991, however, demographic and social studies have begun emphasizing relatively high population mobility. Sailors and inhabitants of littoral spaces are an emblematic case. Simultaneously, the cost and failures of social reproduction have been highlighted in order to delineate limitations of the nobility’s power and the “old-fashioned” solidarities of the bourgeoisie. France was said to be the largest nation in early modern Europe, with a population between 25 and 28 million at the end of the 18th century, when the population of Europe was about 180 million. Historical demography has long insisted on the stability of this population, within national (Dupâquier 1988) or regional (Poussou 1983) frameworks. Historians are now more interested in understanding the constraints and motivations of individual life-paths (Poitrineau 1985, Fontaine 1993).
  729.  
  730. Collins, James B. “Geographic and Social Mobility in Early Modern France.” Journal of Social History 24.3 (1991): 563–577.
  731.  
  732. DOI: 10.1353/jsh/24.3.563Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  733.  
  734. This seminal article argues that historians have grossly exaggerated social stability in the countryside, and have also underestimated the role of the market in social and geographic mobility. Collins studied tax records extensively in order to analyze those mobility patterns, especially in the province of Brittany, and argues that whereas village elites tended to remain in the same village for generations, wealthy tenants and small farmers were much more mobile.
  735.  
  736. Find this resource:
  737.  
  738.  
  739. Dupâquier, Jacques, ed. Histoire de la population française. Vol. 2, De la Renaissance à 1789. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1988.
  740.  
  741. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  742.  
  743. Provides a wide overview of historical demographic work on early modern France (mainly 1960s–1980s). Insists on the stability of demographic processes until the 18th century.
  744.  
  745. Find this resource:
  746.  
  747.  
  748. Fontaine, Laurence. Histoire du colportage en Europe, XVe-XIXe siècles. Paris: Albin Michel, 1993.
  749.  
  750. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  751.  
  752. With a comparative approach, Fontaine focuses on the merchant peddlers, often from mountainous regions, who established family-run businesses and trade networks that operated over vast areas. Many of them added to their trading using credit to maintain ties with clients. Translated as A History of Pedlars in Europe (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1996).
  753.  
  754. Find this resource:
  755.  
  756.  
  757. Poitrineau, Abel. Les Espagnols de l’Auvergne et du Limousin du XVIIe au XIXe siècle. Aurillac, France: Malroux-Mazel, 1985.
  758.  
  759. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  760.  
  761. In this unjustly forgotten book, Poitrineau made a pioneering attempt to analyze labor migration networks from the Auvergne mountain villages to Spain.
  762.  
  763. Find this resource:
  764.  
  765.  
  766. Poussou, Jean-Pierre. Bordeaux et le Sud-Ouest au XVIIIe siècle: Croissance économique et attraction urbaine. Paris: Éditions de l’EHESS, 1983.
  767.  
  768. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  769.  
  770. Attempts to reconstruct regional migration systems in the context of economic development. Poussou measures the attractiveness of Bordeaux, a rapidly growing city that increasingly attracted regional, national, seasonal, and long- and short-distance migrations during the 18th century.
  771.  
  772. Find this resource:
  773.  
  774.  
  775. Seamen
  776. France’s relationship with the sea was extremely variegated (Cabantous, et al. 2005). The shores sheltered many coastal communities whose activities related both to the sea and the hinterland. The navy created by Louis XIV generated a specific management of the gens de mer (sailors). This humble population has generated great interest in reaction to an ongoing historiographical approach that concentrates on urban merchant elites and trading companies (Cabantous 1991, Haudrère 1989). Indeed, after Lepanto, galleys were used as detention facilities (Zysberg 1987).
  777.  
  778. Cabantous, Alain. Dix mille marins face à l’océan: Les populations maritimes de Dunkerque au Havre (vers 1660–1794). Paris: Publisud, 1991.
  779.  
  780. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  781.  
  782. Studies the crews and their mentalities, bringing out the role played by the sea in their everyday lives, from smaller fishing communities to the crew of the merchant ships. Many of the seamen were immigrants from the rural hinterland.
  783.  
  784. Find this resource:
  785.  
  786.  
  787. Cabantous, Alain, André Lespagnol, and Françoise Péron, eds. Les Français, la terre et la mer XIIIe–XXe siècle. Paris: Fayard, 2005.
  788.  
  789. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  790.  
  791. This essential book seeks to sum up the knowledge on the relationship between France and the sea over the past eight centuries including its social, economic, and cultural implications.
  792.  
  793. Find this resource:
  794.  
  795.  
  796. Haudrère, Philippe. La Compagnie française des Indes au XVIIIe siècle. 4 vols. Paris: Librairie de l’Inde, 1989.
  797.  
  798. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  799.  
  800. With the rise of global history, early modern Europe’s Asian trade has become a new focus of interest, but it remains relatively marginalized in French historiography. The principal French company of the Indies, the Compagnie Royale des Indes Orientales, was chartered in 1664 by Colbert with a monopoly of trade east of the Cape of Good Hope. Haudrère gives an overview on the history of the company until its suspension in 1769.
  801.  
  802. Find this resource:
  803.  
  804.  
  805. Zysberg, André. Les galeriens: Vies et destins de 60,000 forçats sur les galères de France 1680–1748. Paris: Seuil, 1987.
  806.  
  807. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  808.  
  809. Quantitative survey of the 60,000 men condemned to row on the galleys. Half of them were convicted for theft and sentenced for a short time (one or two years). But half of the galériens did not survive their term of service.
  810.  
  811. Find this resource:
  812.  
  813.  
  814. Social Mobility among the Elite
  815. As with other European countries, historians depict a relatively mobile and open society in France. But they also stress that social stability was not assured despite entrenched aristocratic domination. In fact, French society was confronted with political, social, and economic dynamics that weakened aristocratic supremacy (Haddad 2009, Dewald 2015). However, the Second Estate remained wealthy, thanks to their land (Meyer 1966). Such dynamics were also reformulated according to the logic of cultural distinction (Lilti 2005). Indeed, in many ways, the “bourgeoisie,” the urban middle class, was structured, like the second order, around local and family solidarities (Garrioch 1996, Marraud 2009).
  816.  
  817. Dewald, Jonathan. Status, Power, and Identity in Early Modern France: The Rohan Family, 1550–1715. University Park: the Pennsylvania State University Press, 2015.
  818.  
  819. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  820.  
  821. This microhistory of the powerful Rohan family throws a multifaceted light on one of the leading magnate families of early modern France. Dewald Surveys how this princely family intricated exchanges among king and other aristocrats undergirding the French monarchical state. But he also sheds light on the fragility of their social standing.
  822.  
  823. Find this resource:
  824.  
  825.  
  826. Garrioch, David. The Formation of the Parisian Bourgeoisie, 1690–1830. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1996.
  827.  
  828. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  829.  
  830. Using as a case study a popular district of the second largest city in Europe, Garrioch demonstrates that family, politics, belief, and power were intimately connected in a local context. He asserts that such commercial middle classes took independent political action in defense of their local status.
  831.  
  832. Find this resource:
  833.  
  834.  
  835. Haddad, Elie. Fondation et ruine d’une maison: Histoire sociale des comtes de Belin, 1582–1706. Limoges, France: Publim, 2009.
  836.  
  837. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  838.  
  839. This family of the provincial nobility was not poor, but it failed to acquire lucrative royal charges in the 17th century. Finally, the house of Belin ended because of the catastrophic state of their patrimony and their political weakness.
  840.  
  841. Find this resource:
  842.  
  843.  
  844. Lilti, Antoine. Le monde des salons: Sociabilité et mondanité à Paris au XVIIIe siècle. Paris: Fayard, 2005.
  845.  
  846. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  847.  
  848. Asserts that the historiography of the salons is wrong in focusing on a mythical egalitarianism, and proposes instead to study the salon as a form of aristocratic sociability, both in terms of social practices and their representations. Translated as The Society of Salons: Sociability and Worldliness (New York: Oxford University Press, 2015).
  849.  
  850. Find this resource:
  851.  
  852.  
  853. Marraud, Mathieu. De la ville à l’État: La bourgeoisie parisienne, XVIIe-XVIIIe siècle. Paris: Albin Michel, 2009.
  854.  
  855. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  856.  
  857. Analyzes the social and familial practices that defined the Parisian mercantile elites as a group. Marraud insists on the role played by kinship, and on a collective definition of the family, reconstructing their alliances, inheritance practices, and commercial activities.
  858.  
  859. Find this resource:
  860.  
  861.  
  862. Meyer, Jean. La Noblesse bretonne au XVIIIe siecle. 2 vols. Paris: S.E.V.P.E.N, 1966.
  863.  
  864. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  865.  
  866. Studies the nobility in Brittany from the great reformation of 1666 until the Revolution. Emphasizes that despite the existence of a poor nobility, there was an increase in the wealth of the whole group during the second half of the 18th century.
  867.  
  868. Find this resource:
  869.  
  870.  
  871. Economic Growth
  872. England is often described as the model of efficient economic growth in modern Europe, thanks to its international trade and the dynamism of its manufacturing. France, however, could rely on its growing population, a diversified agriculture, and numerous trade networks. Rural weaving was also very widespread, and from the 17th century onward, markets for French textiles increased significantly both in the kingdom and elsewhere—mostly in Spain and in the Spanish Empire. At the same time, its colonies became a major issue in public debates during the 18th century due to the French merchants’ monopoly on shipping to and from the colonies (l’exclusif). Models explaining economic growth, especially for the 18th century, are diverse (Grenier 1996). The Atlantic economy and, more generally, long-distance trade explains part of this dynamic, which is most apparent in the ports (see Daudin 2005 and the Oxford Bibliographies articles “Atlantic Trade and the European Economy” and “French Port Cities.” But growth also had a rural background, including an increase in yields, the diffusion of industrial work among the peasants, and other factors (Hoffman 1996). These changes benefited mostly big farmers and landholders, due to incomes from rural landholding, whereas small farms were impoverished (Moriceau and Postel-Vinay 1994). Inequality increased with economic growth.
  873.  
  874. Daudin, Guillaume. Commerce et prospérité: La France au XVIIIe siècle. Paris: Presses de l’Université Paris-Sorbonne, 2005.
  875.  
  876. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  877.  
  878. Argues that profits from overseas commerce were more important for the French economy than their size suggested, explaining the brilliance of the French economy in the 18th century. Ports were the heart of growth and drained capital and investors. Daudin argues that the investment in the intercontinental sector encouraged the accumulation of capital in the domestic economy.
  879.  
  880. Find this resource:
  881.  
  882.  
  883. Grenier, Jean-Yves. L’économie d’Ancien Régime: Un monde de l’échange et de l’incertitude. Paris: Albin Michel, 1996.
  884.  
  885. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  886.  
  887. Seeks to describe the economic representations of the time and the economic thought of the period. It also offers conceptual models to explain the pattern of price in a context of highly segmented markets.
  888.  
  889. Find this resource:
  890.  
  891.  
  892. Hoffman, Philippe T. Growth in a Traditional Society: The French Countryside, 1450–1815. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1996.
  893.  
  894. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  895.  
  896. An econometric re-examination of the so-called immobilism of the agrarian economy under the Old Regime, based on a large body of data. Emphasizes the forms of the labor market in the countryside.
  897.  
  898. Find this resource:
  899.  
  900.  
  901. Moriceau, Jean-Marc, and Gilles Postel-Vinay. Ferme, entreprise, famille: Grande exploitation et changements agricoles: les Chartier (XVIIe-XIXe siècles). Paris: Éditions de l’Ecole des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, 1994.
  902.  
  903. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  904.  
  905. Looking at the history of a farming family throughout five centuries, the book points out both its success and enrichment over the long term, but also the catastrophic impact of hard times (crop failure, war, etc.) on the destiny of some wealthy farmers.
  906.  
  907. Find this resource:
  908.  
  909.  
  910. Consumption and Textile Manufacturing
  911. Textiles were the main industrial product of France. They mainly included woolen cloth, linen cloth, and, later, cotton cloth. The production process was mainly executed through rural manufacturing (Tanguy 1994, Terrier 1996) and some factories (see Gayot 1998). The history of clothing and textiles allows us to understand how agricultural productivity, rural and urban work, and merchant networks were linked through consumption, as seen in Roche 1989 and the Oxford Bibliographies article “Domestic Production and Consumption.”
  912.  
  913. Gayot, Gérard. Les draps de Sedan, 1646–1870. Paris: Éditions de l’EHESS and Terres Ardennaises, 1998.
  914.  
  915. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  916.  
  917. Traces the history of Sedan proto-industry, which produced luxury black cloth. Considers its merchants, entrepreneurs, and craftsmen (both Catholics and Protestants), and the various forms of work in the factories.
  918.  
  919. Find this resource:
  920.  
  921.  
  922. Roche, Daniel. La culture des apparences: Une histoire du vêtement, XVIIe-XVIIIe siècle. Paris: Fayard, 1989.
  923.  
  924. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  925.  
  926. Shows that the rising expenditure on clothing among a very significant proportion of the population and the transformation and downfall of a hierarchical culture relied on the sumptuary laws. Translation as The Culture of Clothing: Dress and Fashion in the Ancien Régime (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1994).
  927.  
  928. Find this resource:
  929.  
  930.  
  931. Tanguy, Jean. Quand la toile va: L’industrie toilière bretonne du 16e au 18e siècle. Rennes, France: Éditions Apogée, 1994.
  932.  
  933. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  934.  
  935. Covers the history of rural linen production (for clothing or sails) in certain areas of Brittany. In the 1680s, half of the total value of the linen production was exported to England; this lasted until the 18th century, when this market collapsed. This activity led to individual and collective enrichment in some villages and ports of shipment, like Saint-Malo.
  936.  
  937. Find this resource:
  938.  
  939.  
  940. Terrier, Didier. Les deux âges de la proto-industrie: Les tisserands à domicile dans les villages du Cambresis et du Saint-Quentinois, 1720–1880. Paris: Éditions de l’Ecole des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, 1996.
  941.  
  942. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  943.  
  944. Demonstrates the ongoing significance of rural weaving, and how it remained competitive thanks to the adaptability of small rural workers and urban merchants to change.
  945.  
  946. Find this resource:
  947.  
  948.  
  949. The Empire and the Economy
  950. Although colonial issues clearly appeared during the Renaissance (Wintroub 2006), mostly in the ports (see the Oxford Bibliographies article “French Port Cities),” the question of colonial possessions only assumed crucial importance for France in the second half of the 18th century. This was not only because this business was very profitable for the economic actors of the Atlantic world, as seen in Cornette 1986, but also because it contributed to the prosperity of the entire country. The colonial question has recently begun to attract attention, as in Cheney 2010 and Oudin-Bastide and Steiner 2015.
  951.  
  952. Cheney, Paul. Revolutionary Commerce: Globalization and the French Monarchy. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2010.
  953.  
  954. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  955.  
  956. Points out that throughout the 18th century, the growing importance of colonial empire created new tensions: conflict over the Exclusive (French merchants’ monopoly on shipping to and from the colonies) grew, and writers appealed more frequently to the common good and national commerce as ideals.
  957.  
  958. Find this resource:
  959.  
  960.  
  961. Cornette, Joël. Un Révolutionnaire ordinaire: Benoît Lacombe, négociant (1759–1819). Seyssel, France: Champ Vallon, 1986.
  962.  
  963. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  964.  
  965. Through a biographical account, Cornette shows how Bordeaux attracted traders and products from its hinterland. That is how Benoît Lacombe, who failed in his endeavors, was able to use his new status of ship owner to strengthen his social position in his hometown, a small rural town.
  966.  
  967. Find this resource:
  968.  
  969.  
  970. Oudin-Bastide, Caroline, and Philippe Steiner. Calcul et morale: Coûts de l’esclavage et valeur de l’émancipation (XVIIIe-XIXe siècle). Paris: Albin Michel, 2015.
  971.  
  972. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  973.  
  974. Studies the weight of economic calculations and arguments in the debate over French slavery between 1770 and 1848. Demonstrates that if most of the people involved in this debate took into consideration the economic interests of the slaves, planters, and the nation, it was essentially in moral terms.
  975.  
  976. Find this resource:
  977.  
  978.  
  979. Potofsky, Allan, ed. “Historiography/New Perspectives on the Atlantic.” History of European Ideas 34.4 (December 2008): 383–473.
  980.  
  981. DOI: 10.1016/j.histeuroideas.2008.08.006Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  982.  
  983. Seven articles forming a general introduction to recent research on Atlantic history. Most of them focus on the first French Empire and its impact on the metropolis, such as the real estate speculation in Paris just before and during the Revolution.
  984.  
  985. Find this resource:
  986.  
  987.  
  988. Wintroub, Michael. A Savage Mirror: Power, Identity, and Knowledge in Early Modern France. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2006.
  989.  
  990. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  991.  
  992. Case study of Henri II’s 1550 entry into Rouen, with the participation of Tupinambá Indians, rooted in local concerns. Throughout the New World, the royal entry offered a vehicle to promote both the commercial interests and the political claims of the merchants and the municipal elites.
  993.  
  994. Find this resource:
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