Professional Documents
Culture Documents
This article is about the administrative, judicial, and ecclesiastic structures of the Kingdom of France in the prerevolutionary period. For a general history of France in
this period, see Early modern France. For the political
history of France in this period, see Kingdom of France.
The Ancien Rgime (French pronunciation: [ .sj eim],
One key to this centralization was the replacing of personal extquotedblclientele extquotedbl systems organized
around the king and other nobles by institutional systems around the state.[1] The creation of the Intendants
representatives of royal power in the provincesdid
much to undermine local control by regional nobles. The
same was true of the greater reliance shown by the royal
court on the noblesse de robe as judges and royal counselors. The creation of regional parlements had initially
the same goal of facilitating the introduction of royal
power into newly assimilated territories, but as the parLouis XIV, the Sun King
lements gained in self-assurance, they began to be sources
Old or Former Regime) was the monarchic, aristocratic, of disunity.
social and political system established in the Kingdom
of France from approximately the 15th century until the
later 18th century ( extquotedblearly modern France ex- 1 Terminology
tquotedbl) under the late Valois and Bourbon dynasties.
The administrative and social structures of the Ancien The term is French for Ancient Regime, but can also be
Rgime were the result of years of state-building, legisla- rendered in English as Old (or Former) Regime, Old
tive acts (like the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterts), inter- Order, or Old Rule. Most English language books
nal conicts and civil wars, but they remained a confusing use Ancien Rgime. The term rst appeared in print in
patchwork of local privilege and historic dierences until English in 1794, and was originally pejorative in nature:
the French Revolution ended the system.
Simon Schama has observed: virtually as soon as the
Much of the medieval political centralization of France
had been lost in the Hundred Years War, and the Valois Dynastys attempts at re-establishing control over the
scattered political centres of the country were hindered
organism within. Institutionally torpid, economically immobile, culturally atrophied and socially stratied, this
'old regime' was incapable of self-modernization.[2]
More generally, ancien rgime refers to any political and
social system having the principal features of the French
Ancien Rgime. Europes other anciens rgimes had similar origins, but diverse fates: some eventually evolved
into constitutional monarchies, whereas others were torn
down by wars and revolutions.
2.1
Territorial expansion
D. of CLEVES
B. of MNSTER
France in 1477
LIGE
L
CO
h. of
Arc
Zoom
Royal domains
D. of
Duchy
GUELDERS
Antwerp
Bruges
Calais
Other houses House of Burgundy
Capetian houses
Ghent
of
Horne
County of
Burgundy
Gravelines
Foix
Valois-Alenon
D.
Boulogne
Jlich
BRABANT
FLANDERS
Cologne
Burgundy-Nevers
Armagnac
Valois-Anjou
County
Brussels
Lille
of
County
Guinegate
Aachen
Albret
Valois-Orlans
Tournai
Genappe
Saint-Pol
of
Limbourg
Lige
JLICH
Douai
Namur
Other
Dunois (Orlans)
County
of ARTOIS
HAINAUT
County of
Arras
of EU
Valenciennes
Valois-Angoulme
LONGUEVILLE
Bapaume
P
B. of
ICA
Dieppe
Eu
Dinant
CAMBRAI
Bourbon
Chimay
RD
Arch.
Cherbourg
Picquigny
B.
Y St-Quentin Guise
Duchy
Longueville
Bourbon-Vendme Guernsey
Amiens
C.
Nesle Ham
C. of
OG
of
NE
AUNIS
Rochefort
Saintes
SA
IN
L. : Lordship
V. : Viscount
C. : Count
M. : Marquisate
D. : Duchy
K. : Kingdom
B. : Bishopric
Arch. : Archbishopric
Nevers
C. of
TO
Prigueux
Bordeaux
Castillon
Turenne
G U Y E N N E
Bazas
Tartas
C. of
FOREZ
R
BA
Duchy
Geneva
Duchy
Faucigny
Annecy
Lyon
Aosta
SAVOY
Valence
VELAY
DAUPHIN
Montlaur
Brianon
Montlimar
Als
Valais
inf.
of
Chambry
Grenoble
Mende
RODEZ
Montauban
C. of ARMAGNAC
Lausanne
Saint-Claude
Annonay
Apcher
Neuchtel
Pontarlier
Bourg
Le Puy
GVAUDAN
B.
of
BASEL
BURGUNDY
Vienne
Rodez
Lectoure
Besanon
Auxonne
Mcon
Beaujeu
Feurs
Carlat
County of
Cahors
Agen
Semur
Montbrison
Murat
Aurillac
Gourdon
Marmande
Albret
Thiers
La Tour
Duchy Issoire
of AUVERGNE
Vesoul C. Mulhouse
of SUNDGAU
MONTBLIARD
Poligny
L. of
BEAUJEU
Ventadour
V. of Tulle
TURENNE
Sarlat
L. of ALBRET
Clermont
V. of LIMOGES
PRIGORD
Montpensier
Salm
Luxeuil
County of
Beaune
C. of
CHAROLAIS
Charolles
Cusset
Riom
Limoges
Angoulme
Evaux
Bourganeuf
Blmont
Epinal
Mnster
Chalon
BourbonLancy
Duchy
of BOURBON
Guret
Chteau-Chinon
NEVERS
Moulins
LA MARCHE
C.
of ANGOULME
NG
Dax
BERRY
La Trmouille
Nancy
D. of
Langres
Duchy
of Dijon
BURGUNDY
of
ME
TZ
LORRAINE
Semur
County
Metz
of
Joinville
Tonnerre
C. of
TONNERRE
Sancerre
Bourges
Saarbrcken
B.
SWISS CONFEDERATION
La Rochelle
Niort
Troyes
Brienne
of
Trier
TRIER
B.
of TOUL
Bar
Sens
Auxerre
Poitiers
Benon
M
NE
B. of
VERDUN
Joigny
Chteauroux
Fontenay
of
R
OU
IS
ch
Gien
C. of
BLOIS
Thouars
Loches
V. of
L. of PARTHENAY CHTELLERAULT
Du
Luxembourg
Longwy
NA
TOURAINE
Chinon
Nemours
D.
Orlans
of ORLANS
Tours
Plessis
Saumur
C. of RETZ
C. of
DUNOIS
C. of
Chlons
C. of
VERTUS
Nogent
Chartres
Vendme
Blois
Vertus
Montlhry Melun
C. of Chteaudun
VENDME
Rethel
CHAMPAGNE
Saint-Maur
Montfort
C. of ERRE
SANC
Nantes
English
possessions
Ecclesiastical
states
Free Imperial
cities
Other
Le Mans
Duchy
of ANJOU
Ancenis
Paris
Laon
ON
Graon
Machecoul
C. of
MAINE
Laval
Rennes
Josselin
C. of
PERCHE
Mayenne
Gurande
Conflans
Breteuil
ALENON Nogent-leRoi
Duchy ofAlenon
Mortagne
Fougres
Vannes
Belle-le
Beaumont Senlis
LY
Argentan
Mortain
Dol
Duchy of
BRITTANY
Clermont
Beauvais
Harcourt
of
LUXEMBOURG
GUISE
Rouen
Caen
NORMANDY
Lamballe
C. of
CLERMONT
Bayeux
Coutances
C. of
PENTHIVRE
of
of AUMALE Aumale
Harfleur
Brest
Jersey
Trguier
Saint-Pol-de-Lon
Orange
County of
VENAISSIN
(Papal States)
Gap Embrun
Marquisate
of
SALUZZO
Sisteron
Orthez
Saint-JeanPied-de-Port
Maulon
V. of
V.
SOULE
Pamplona
NAVARRE
Pau
of
BARN
K. of
Auch
Bayonne
Toulouse
Mirande
Tarbes
C. of
BIGORRE
Kingdom
of ARAGON
Millau
Castelnaudary
C. of
COMMINGES
C. of
FOIX
Foix
ANDORRA
Principality
of ORANGE
Albi
L'Isle-Jourdain
Lavaur
Lodve
Castres
LANGUEDOC
Nmes
Beaucaire
Montpellier
Ste
Carcassonne
Maguelonne
Arles
Forcalquier
Avignon
Apt County of
PROVENCE
Aix
Draguignan
Narbonne
Mirepoix
V. of
NARBONNE
C. of
Perpignan
ROUSSILLON
Hyres
Toulon
2.2 Administration
Main articles: Provinces of France and Gnralit
Monaco
Nice
Cannes
Marseille
3.1
Taxation history
3
The desire for more ecient tax collection was one of
the major causes for French administrative and royal centralization in the early modern period. The taille became a major source of royal income. Exempted from
the taille were clergy and nobles (except for non-noble
lands they held in pays d'tat, see below), ocers of the
crown, military personnel, magistrates, university professors and students, and certain cities (villes franches)
such as Paris.
The provinces were of three sorts, the extquotedblpays
d'lection extquotedbl, the extquotedblpays d'tat extquotedbl and the extquotedblpays d'imposition extquotedbl. In the pays d'lection (the longest held possessions of the French crown; some of these provinces
had had the equivalent autonomy of a pays d'tat in
an earlier period, but had lost it through the eects of
royal reforms) the assessment and collection of taxes were
trusted to elected ocials (at least originally, later these
positions were bought), and the tax was generally personal, meaning it was attached to non-noble individuals.
In the pays d'tat (provinces with provincial estates), Brittany, Languedoc, Burgundy, Auvergne,
Barn, Dauphin, Provence and portions of Gascony,
such as Bigorre, Comminges and the Quatre-Valles, recently acquired provinces which had been able to maintain a certain local autonomy in terms of taxation, the
assessment of the tax was established by local councils
and the tax was generally extquotedblreal extquotedbl,
meaning that it was attached to non-noble lands (meaning that nobles possessing such lands were required to pay
taxes on them). Pays d'imposition were recently conquered lands which had their own local historical institutions (they were similar to the pays d'tat under which
they are sometimes grouped), although taxation was overseen by the royal intendant.
State nances
4
latter was created in 1449; the other three were created
earlier), with the directors of the Languedol region
typically having an honoric preeminence. By 1484, the
number of gnralits had increased to 6.
In the 16th century, the kings of France, in an eort to
exert more direct control over royal nances and to circumvent the double-board (accused of poor oversight)
instituted numerous administrative reforms, including the
restructuring of the nancial administration and an increase in the number of gnralits. In 1542, Henry
II, France was divided into 16 gnralits. The number
increased to 21 at the end of the 16th century, and to 36
at the time of the French Revolution; the last two were
created in 1784.
The administration of the gnralits of the Renaissance
went through a variety of reforms. In 1577, Henry III
established 5 treasurers (trsoriers gnraux) in each
gnralit who formed a bureau of nances. In the 17th
century, oversight of the gnralits was subsumed by the
intendants of nance, justice and police, and the expression gnralit extquotedbl and intendance became
roughly synonymous.
Until the late 17th century, tax collectors were called receveurs. In 1680, the system of the Ferme Gnrale was
established, a franchised customs and excise operation in
which individuals bought the right to collect the taille on
behalf of the king, through 6-years adjudications (certain taxes like the aides and the gabelle had been farmed
out in this way as early as 1604). The major tax collectors in that system were known as the fermiers gnraux
(farmers-general in English).
The taille was only one of a number of taxes. There also
existed the taillon (a tax for military purposes), a national salt tax (the gabelle), national taris (the aides)
on various products (wine, beer, oil, and other goods), local taris on speciality products (the douane) or levied
on products entering the city (the octroi) or sold at
fairs, and local taxes. Finally, the church beneted from
a mandatory tax or tithe called the dme.
Louis XIV created several additional tax systems, including the capitation (begun in 1695) which touched every
person including nobles and the clergy (although exemption could be bought for a large one-time sum) and the
dixime (171017, restarted in 1733), enacted to support the military, which was a true tax on income and on
property value. In 1749, under Louis XV, a new tax based
on the dixime, the vingtime (or one-twentieth),
was enacted to reduce the royal decit, and this tax continued through the remaining years of the Ancien Rgime.
JUSTICE
4 Justice
4.1 Lower courts
4.2
Superior courts
4.2
Superior courts
5
Parlements eventually 14 in number: Paris,
Languedoc (Toulouse), Provence (Aix), FrancheComt (Besanon), Guyenne (Bordeaux), Burgundy
(Dijon), Flanders (Douai), Dauphin (Grenoble),
Trois-vchs (Metz), Lorraine (Nancy), Navarre
(Pau), Brittany (Rennes, briey in Nantes),
Normandy (Rouen) and (from 15231771)
Dombes (Trvoux). There was also parlement in
Savoy (Chambry) from 153759. The parlements
were originally only judicial in nature (appellate
courts for lower civil and ecclesiastical courts), but
began to subsume limited legislative functions (see
administration section below). The most important
of the parlements, both in administrative area
(covering the major part of northern and central
France) and prestige, was the parliament of Paris,
which also was the court of rst instance for peers
of the realm and for regalian aairs.
Conseils souverains Alsace (Colmar), Roussillon
(Perpignan), Artois (a conseil provincial, Arras) and
(from 155359) Corsica (Bastia); formerly Flanders, Navarre and Lorraine (converted into parlements). The conseils souverains were regional parliaments in recently conquered lands.
Chambre des comptes Paris, Dijon, Blois,
Grenoble, Nantes. The chambre des comptes supervised the spending of public funds, the protection of
royal lands (domaine royal), and legal issues involving these areas.
Cours des aides Paris, Clermont, Bordeaux,
Montauban. The cours des aides supervised aairs
in the pays d'lections, often concerning taxes on
wine, beer, soap, oil, metals, etc.
Chambre des comptes combined with Cours des aides
Aix, Bar-le-Duc, Dole, Nancy, Montpellier, Pau,
Rouen
Cours des monnaies Paris; additionally Lyon
(170471), and (after 1766), the chambre des
comptes of Bar-le-Duc and Nancy. The cours des
monnaies oversaw money, coins and precious metals.
Grand Conseil created in 1497 to oversee aairs
concerning ecclesiastical beneces; occasionally the
king sought the Grand Conseils intervention in affairs considered to be too contentious for the parliament.
5 ADMINISTRATION
Administration
5.1
Kings counsel
Under Charles VIII and Louis XII the kings counsel was
dominated by members of twenty or so noble or rich
families; under Francis I the number of counsellors increased to roughly 70 individuals (although the old nobility was proportionally more important than in the previous century). The most important positions in the court
were those of the Great Ocers of the Crown of France,
headed by the conntable (chief military ocer of the
realm; position eliminated in 1627) and the chancellor.
Conseil de Conscience
Financial Councils:
Conseil royal des nances (Royal Council of Finances) composed of the king, the chef du conseil des nances (an honorary post), the chancellor,
the contrleur gnral des nances and two of his
consellors, and the intendants of nance.
Conseil royal de commerce
Judicial and Administrative Councils:
Conseil d'tat et des Finances or Conseil ordinaire
des Finances by the late 17th century, its functions
were largely taken over by the three following sections.
Conseil priv or Conseil des parties or Conseil d'tat
(Privy Council or Council of State, concerning
the judicial system, ocially instituted in 1557)
the largest of the royal councils, composed of the
chancellor, the dukes with peerage, the ministers
and secretaries of state, the contrleur gnral des
nances, the 30 councillors of state, the 80 matre
des requtes and the intendants of nance.
The royal administration during the Renaissance was divided between a small counsel (the secret and later
high counsel) of 6 or fewer members (3 members in
1535, 4 in 1554) for important matters of state; and
Grande Direction des Finances
a larger counsel for judicial or nancial aairs. Francis I was sometimes criticized for relying too heavily on
Petite Direction des Finances
a small number of advisors, while Henry II, Catherine
de Medici and their sons found themselves frequently
unable to negotiate between the opposing Guise and In addition to the above administrative institutions, the
Montmorency families in their counsel.
king was also surrounded by an extensive personal
Over time, the decision-making apparatus of the Kings and court retinue (royal family, valet de chambres,
Council was divided into several royal counsels. The sub- guards, honoric ocers), regrouped under the name
councils of the Kings Council can be generally grouped extquotedblMaison du Roi extquotedbl.
as governmental councils, nancial councils and ju- At the death of Louis XIV, the Regent Philippe II, Duke
dicial and administrative councils. With the names and of Orlans abandoned several of the above administrative
subdivisions of the 1718th century, these subcouncils structures, most notably the Secretaries of State, which
were:
were replaced by Counsels. This system of government,
called the Polysynody, lasted from 171518.
Governmental Councils:
Conseil d'en haut (High Council, concerning the
most important matters of state) composed of the 5.1.1 17th century state positions
king, the crown prince (the dauphin), the chancellor, the contrleur gnral des nances, and the Under Henry IV and Louis XIII the administrative apparatus of the court and its councils was expanded and the
secretary of state in charge of foreign aairs.
proportion of the noblesse de robe increased, culminat Conseil des dpches (Council of Messages, con- ing in the following positions during the 17th century:
cerning notices and administrative reports from the
provinces) composed of the king, the chancellor,
the secretaries of state, the contrleur gnral des nances, and other councillors according to the issues
discussed.
7
exerted a powerful control over state administration in the 17th and 18th century. The title principal ministre de l'tat was however only given
six times in this period and Louis XIV himself refused to choose a prime minister after the death
of Mazarin.
Chancellor of France (also called the garde des
sceaux, or Keeper of the Seals extquotedbl; in the
case of incapacity or disfavor, the Chancellor was
generally permitted to retain his title, but the royal
seals were passed to a deputy, called the garde des
sceaux[6] )
Controller-General of Finances (contrleur gnral
des nances, formerly called the surintendant des nances).
--- Secretary of State for Protestant Aairs (com- estate) and the extquotedbltats provinciaux (Provincial
bined with the secretary of the Maison du Roi Estates). The Etats gnraux (convoked in this period
in 1484, 156061, 157677, 158889, 1593, 1614, and
in 1749).
1789) had been reunited in times of scal crisis or conCouncillors of state (generally 30)
voked by parties malcontent with royal prerogatives (the
Ligue, the Huguenots), but they had no true power, the
Matre des requtes (generally 80)
dissensions between the three orders rendered them weak
and they were dissolved before having completed their
Intendants of nance (6)
work. As a sign of French absolutism, they ceased to
be convoked from 1614 to 1789. The provincial estates
Intendants of commerce (4 or 5)
proved more eective, and were convoked by the king to
respond to scal and tax policies.
Ministers of State (variable)
Treasurers
Farmers-General
Superintendent of the postal system
6 The Church
6 THE CHURCH
The church was the primary provider of schools (primary
schools and colleges) and hospitals (htel-Dieu, the
Sisters of Charity) and distributor of relief to the poor in
pre-revolutionary France
Although exempted from the taille, the church was required to pay the crown a tax called the free gift
extquotedblthe king touches you, but God heals you ex- (don gratuit), which it collected from its oce holders, at roughly 1/20 the price of the oce (this was the
tquotedbl).
dcime, reapportioned every ve years). In its turn, the
In 1500, France had 14 archbishoprics (Lyon, Rouen,
church exacted a mandatory tithe from its parishioners,
Tours, Sens, Bourges, Bordeaux, Auch, Toulouse, Narcalled the extquotedbldme extquotedbl.
bonne, Aix-en-Provence, Embrun, Vienne, Arles, and
Rheims) and 100 bishoprics. By the 18th century, archFor church history in the 16th century, see
bishoprics and bishoprics had expanded to a total of 139
Protestant Reformation and French Wars of Re(see List of Ancien Rgime dioceses of France). The upligion.
per levels of the French church were made up predominantly of old nobility, both from provincial families and The Counter-Reformation saw the French church create
from royal court families, and many of the oces had numerous religious orders (such as the Jesuits) and make
become de facto hereditary possessions, with some mem- great improvements on the quality of its parish priests;
bers possessing multiple oces. In addition to efs that the rst decades of the 17th century were characterized
church members possessed as seigneurs, the church also by a massive outpouring of devotional texts and relipossessed seigneurial lands in its own right and enacted gious fervor (exemplied in Saint Francis of Sales, Saint
justice upon them.
Vincent de Paul, etc.). Although the Edict of Nantes
At the start of the 16th century, the secular clergy (1598) permitted the existence of Prostestant churches in
(curates, vicars, canons, etc.) numbered around 100,000 the realm (characterized as a state within a state), the
individuals in France.[7]
next eighty years saw the rights of the Huguenots slowly
stripped away, until Louis XIV nally revoked the edict
Other temporal powers of the church included playing
a political role as the rst estate in the extquotedbl- in 1685, producing a massive emigration of Huguenots
to other countries. Religious practices which veered too
tats Gnraux and the extquotedbltats Provinciaux
(Provincial Assemblies) and in Provincial Conciles or close to Protestantism (like Jansenism) or to the mystical (like Quietism) were also severely suppressed, as too
Synods convoked by the king to discuss religious issues.
The church also claimed a prerogative to judge certain libertinage or overt atheism.
crimes, most notably heresy, although the Wars of Religion did much to place this crime in the purview of
the royal courts and parliament. Finally, abbots, cardinals and other prelates were frequently employed by the
kings as ambassadors, members of his councils (such as
Richelieu and Mazarin) and in other administrative positions.
The faculty of theology of Paris (often called the
Sorbonne), maintained a censor board which reviewed
publications for their religious orthodoxy. The Wars of
Religion saw this control over censorship however pass to
the parliament, and in the 17th century to the royal censors, although the church maintained a right to petition.
6.4
possessed upwards of 7% of the countrys land (gures classes. Its two main strongholds were south west France
vary) and generated yearly revenues of 150 million livres. and Normandy, but even in these districts the Catholics
were a majority. Protestantism in France was considered
a grave threat to national unity, as the Huguenot minor6.1 Gallicanism
ity felt a closer anity with German and Dutch Calvinists
than with their fellow Frenchmen. In an eort to cement
Louis XIV supported the Gallican cause that gave the their position they often allied with French enemies. The
government a greater role than the pope in choosing animosity between the two sides led to the French Wars of
bishops, and gave the government the revenues when a Religion and the tragic St. Bartholomews Day Massacre.
bishopric was vacant. There would be no inquisition in The religious wars ended in 1593, when the Huguenot
France, and papal decrees could operate only after the Henry of Navarre (15531610), who was already eecgovernment approved them. Louis avoided schism he tively king of France became a Catholic and was recogwanted more royal power over the French Church but did nized by both Catholics and Protestants as King Henry IV
not want to break free of Rome. The pope likewise recog- (reigned 15891610).
nized the most Christian king was a powerful ally who
The main provisions of the Edict of Nantes (1598),
could not be alienated.[9]
which Henry IV had issued as a charter of religious freedoms for the Huguenots, were as follows; rst) Huguenots
were allowed to hold religious services in certain towns in
6.2 Monasteries
each province; second) They were allowed to control and
Until the French Revolution, the monastic community fortify eight cities; third) Special courts were established
constituted a central element of the economic, social, and to try Huguenot oenders; d) Huguenots were to have
religious life of many localities under the Old Regime. equal civil rights with the Catholics.
From the end of the Wars of Religion to the French Revolution, Menat, a Cluniac abbey dating back to 1107,
ruled over the Sioule Valley in the northwest region of
the Clermont diocese. The monks were large landholders
and developed a diversied and complex set of links with
their neighbors; they received seigniorial rights, provided
work to the rural poor, and were in daily contact with
notaries public, merchants, and surgeons. While they
did not directly manage the religious life of the faithful
(parish priests did that), monks did constitute a motivating force in it through their setting up of a parish clergy,
providing alms and social services, and playing the role
of intercessors.
6.3
Convents
Communities of nuns in France on the eve of Revolution had, on average, 25 members and a median age of
48 years. Nuns were both entering the profession later
and living longer than before. In general, they had little wealth. Recruitment varied from region to region
and by convent lifestyle (active or contemplative, austere
or opulent, lower class or middle class). The nature of
male and female monasticism diered greatly in France
both before and during the revolution. Convents tended
to be more isolated and less centrally controlled. This
made for greater diversity among them than among male
monasteries.[10]
6.4
10
Downfall
NOSTALGIA
8 Nostalgia
For some observers the term came to denote a certain
nostalgia. Talleyrand famously quipped:
11
century French literature, with Balzac and Flaubert alike
attacking the mores of the new upper classes. To this
mindset, the Ancien Rgime expressed a bygone era of
renement and grace, before the Revolution and its associated changes disrupted the aristocratic tradition and
ushered in a crude, uncertain modernity.
The historian Alexis de Tocqueville argued against this
dening narrative in his classic study, L'Ancien Rgime et
la Rvolution, highlighting the continuities between preand post-revolutionary French institutions.
concourait la satisfaction des apptits physiques, intellectuels et mme moraux, au ranement de toutes les
volupts, de toutes les lgances et de tous les plaisirs.
L'existence tait si bien remplie qui si le dix-septime sicle a t le Grand Sicle des gloires, le dix-huitime a t
celui des indigestions. Charles-Maurice de TalleyrandPrigord: Mmoires du Prince de Talleyrand: La Confession de Talleyrand, V. 1-5 Chapter: La jeunesse Le
cercle de Madame du Barry.
10 Further reading
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References
Baker, Keith Michael (1987). The French Revolution and the creation of modern political culture. Volume 1, The Political Culture of Old Regime. Oxford: Pergamon Press.
Behrens, C.B.A. Ancien Regime (1989)
Black, Jeremy. From Louis XIV to Napoleon: The
Fate of a Great Power (1999)
Brockliss, Laurence and Colin Jones. The Medical
World of Early Modern France (1997) 984pp; highly
detailed survey, 16001790s excerpt and text search
Doyle, William, ed. Old Regime France: 1648
1788 (2001) excerpt and text search
Doyle, William, ed. The Oxford Handbook of
the Ancien Rgime (2012) 656pp excerpt and text
search; 32 topical chapters by experts
Goubert, Pierre. Louis XIV and Twenty Million
Frenchmen (1972), social history from Annales
School
Goubert, Pierre. The French Peasantry in the Seventeenth Century (1986) excerpt and text search
Holt, Mack P. Renaissance and Reformation France:
15001648 (2002) excerpt and text search
Jones, Colin. The Great Nation: France from Louis
XV to Napoleon, 1715-99 (2002). excerpt and text
search
--- Scholarly bibliography by Colin Jones (2002)
Kendall, Paul Murray. Louis XI: The Universal Spider. (1971). ISBN 0-393-30260-1
Kors, Alan Charles. Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment (4 vol. 1990; 2nd ed. 2003), 1984pp excerpt
and text search
Knecht, R.J. The Rise and Fall of Renaissance
France. (1996). ISBN 0-00-686167-9
Le Roy Ladurie, Emmanuel. The Ancien Regime: A
History of France 16101774 (1999), political survey excerpt and text search
12
10 FURTHER READING
McManners, John.
Church and Society in
Eighteenth-Century France. Vol. 1: The Clerical Establishment and Its Social Ramications; Vol.
2: The Religion of the People and the Politics of
Religion(1999)
Palmer, R.R. Catholics and Unbelievers in
Eighteenth-Century France (Princeton U.P. 1939)
Van Kley, Dale. The Religious Origins of the French
Revolution: From Calvin to the Civil Constitution,
15601791 (1996)
(French) Bluche, Franois. L'Ancien Rgime: Institutions et socit. Collection: Livre de poche. Paris:
Fallois, 1993. ISBN 2-253-06423-8
10.1
Religion
(French) Jouanna, Arlette and Philippe Hamon, Dominique Biloghi, Guy Thiec. La France de la
Renaissance; Histoire et dictionnaire. Collection:
Bouquins. Paris: Laont, 2001. ISBN 2-22107426-2
(French) Jouanna, Arlette and Jacqueline Boucher,
Dominique Biloghi, Guy Thiec. Histoire et dictionnaire des Guerres de religion. Collection: Bouquins.
Paris: Laont, 1998. ISBN 2-221-07425-4
(French) Pillorget, Ren and Suzanne Pillorget.
France Baroque, France Classique 15891715. Collection: Bouquins. Paris: Laont, 1995. ISBN 2221-08110-2
Viguerie, Jean de (1995). Histoire et dictionnaire
du temps des Lumires 17151789. Collection:
Bouquins (in French). Paris: Laont. ISBN 2-22104810-5.
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Images
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