A Social and Cultural History of Early Modern France

A magisterial new history of French society between the end of the middle ages and the Revolution by one of the world’s leading authorities on early modern France. Using colorful examples and incorporating the latest scholarship, William Beik conveys the distinctiveness of early modern society and identifies the cultural practices that defined the lives of people at all levels of society. Painting a vivid picture of the realities of everyday life, he reveals how society functioned and how the different classes interacted. In addition to chapters on nobles, peasants, city people, and the court, the book sheds new light on the Catholic church, the army, popular protest, the culture of violence, gendered relations, and sociability. This is a major new work that restores the ancien régime as a key epoch in its own right and not simply as the prelude to the coming Revolution.

William Beik is Emeritus Professor of History at Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia. His previous publications include Urban Protest in Seventeenth-Century France: The Culture of Retribution (1997) and Louis XIV and Absolutism: A Study with Documents (2000).

William Beik

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
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Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York

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Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521709569

© William Beik 2009

This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.

First published 2009

Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge

A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data

Beik, William, 1941–
A social and cultural history of early modern France / William Beik.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-521-88309-2
1. France–Civilization–1328–1600. 2. France–Civilization–17th century.
3. France–Civilization–18th century. 4. France–Social life and customs.
5. Social classes–France–History. 6. Social structure–France–History.
7. Social change–France–History. I.Title.
DC33.3.B45 2009
944′.03–dc22 2008053627

ISBN 978-0-521-88309-2 hardback
ISBN 978-0-521-70956-9 paperback

Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

For Carl Kauffman,

in loving memory of

Eric Kauffman

Contents