The Royal French State, 1460-1610

History of France #2

by Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie

In this second volume of the History of France series, Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie provides a masterful account of the early modern period combining a compelling narrative with broad analysis of events and wider comparisons with European history.

Genres: History, France, Medieval

336 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie was a French historian whose work is mainly focused upon Languedoc in the ancient regime, particularly the history of the peasantry.

Emmanuel Ladurie was professor at the Collège de France and, since 1973, chair, department of history of modern civilization. He has had a distinguished career, serving as Administrateur Général of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France (1987-94); member of the Institute (Academy of Moral and Political Sciences); Agrégé of the University, Doctor of Letters; Commander of the Legion of Honor (1996); and has taught at the universities of Montpellier, the Sorbonne, and Paris VII. Dr. Ladurie is the author of many historical works, including Les Paysans de Languedoc (1966), Histoire du Climat depuis l'An Mil (second ed., 1983), Montaillou, village occitan (1975), Le Territoire, de l'Historien (2 vols., 1973, 1978), Le Carnaval de Romans, 1579-1580 (1980), L'Etat royal (1987), L'Ancien Regime (1991), Le Siècle de Platter (1995), and Saint-Simon, le systeme de la Cour (1997).

Reviews

[Vince · Rating 4 out of 5]

Le Roy Ladurie described his childhood in Normandy growing up on his family estate in the countryside as intensely Catholic and royalist in politics.

In the first pages he decries Elizabeth I :-
"Even French kings with a reputation for persecution (such as Louis XIV) did not pursue a particularly heinous policy in comparison with other rulers........such as Elizabeth ...persistent discrimination against papists"
No mention of the 288 people estimated to have been burnt for heresy during the five- year reign of Catholic Mary Tudor (Smithfield fires)
No mention of Elizabeth's famous dictum "I refuse to make a window into men's souls".
Or that the Elizabethan Settlement was the model of toleration : basically the policy was don't ask.
The Venetian ambassador said, "In England they are neither Catholic nor protestant" such was the indifference in a country where Elizabeth forbade parliament discussing religion.

Now let's address the Papists.
Regnans in Excelsis ("reigning on high") was a papal bull issued on 25 February 1570 by Pope Pius V declaring "Elizabeth, the pretended Queen of England and the servant of crime", to be a heretic and releasing all her subjects from any allegiance to her, even when they had "sworn oaths to her", and excommunicating any that obeyed her orders.
The bull provoked the English government into taking more repressive actions against the Jesuits, whom they feared to be acting in the interests of Spain and the papacy.

Also France expelled Jesuits for their association with regicide "Until that point, Henri IV had succeeded in preventing the expulsion of the Jesuits, but this time the Gallican lawyers were able to point the finger at them using circumstantial evidence: namely that the assassination of Henri III in 1589 could be blamed on their advocacy of regicide. For the first time the Jesuits’ reputation as dispatchers of crowned heads was brought to bear to effect their expulsion from the kingdom."

This book is terrible, shameless Catholic propaganda and Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie
admits his family is intensely catholic and royalist.
Read it if you enjoy propaganda.

[Raffaele Felici · Rating 5 out of 5]

Il saggio ripercorre i regni e le dinastie che si sono succedute al trono di Francia dal 1460 (quindi poco dopo la conclusione della guerra dei 100 anni 1337-1453) al regicidio del 1610 di Enrico IV, primo sovrano Borbone. In questo secolo e mezzo il paese sarà dilaniato, sì, dalle
Guerre di religione, che faranno versare tantissimo sangue: ma porrà anche le basi per quella monarchia assoluta (ma mai veramente legibus soluta, come certa narrazione vuole) che contraddistinguerà Parigi almeno fino al 1789, quando quel trono vacillerà e cadrà vittima della rivoluzione.
Un saggio consigliatissimo per tutte le persone che intendano approcciarsi o ricordare questo pezzo di storia moderna senza dover ricorrere ai “famigerati” manuali di storia moderna che tanto hanno lasciato il segno su generazioni e generazioni di studenti.