Provincial Power and Absolute Monarchy
Douban
the Estates General of Burgundy, 1661-1790
Julian Swann
Sinossi
This is the first book in English to study the history of the Estates General of Burgundy during the classic period of absolute monarchy. Although not a representative institution in any modern sense, the Estates were constantly engaged in a process of bargaining with the French crown, and this book examines that relationship under the Ancien Regime. Julian Swann analyses the organization, membership and powers of the Estates and explores their administration, their struggles for power with rival institutions and their relationship with the crown and with the Burgundian people. The Estates proved remarkably resilient when confronted by the challenges posed by the Bourbon monarchy, and by the reign of Louis XVI they were seemingly more powerful than ever. However the desire to protect their privileges and to extend their authority had not been accompanied by an attempt to forge a meaningful relationship with the people they claimed to serve.
contenuti
List of illustrations page ix
List of figures x
List of appendices xi
List of map xii
Preface xiii
List of abbreviations xv
Map: The duchy of Burgundy in the eighteenth century xvi
1 Historians, absolute monarchy and the provincial estates 1
2 Ancien r´egime Burgundy 26
3 The Estates General of Burgundy 41
4 Nosseigneurs les ´elus and the officers of the Estates 91
5 The provincial administration: authority and enforcement 126
6 ‘It’s raining taxes’. Paying for the Sun King, 1661–1715 154
7 Provincial administration in an age of iron, 1661–1715 194
8 The limits of absolutism: crown, governor and the Estates
in the eighteenth century 230
9 Provincial rivalries: the Estates and the Parlement of Dijon
in the eighteenth century 262
10 Tax, borrow and lend: crown, Estates and finance,
1715–1789 295
11 An enlightened administration? 330
12 The coming of the French revolution in Burgundy,
1787–1789 365
Conclusion 400
Appendices 413
Bibliography 430
Index 447