Introduction: French Princes and Princesses as Pillars of the Early Modern State and Core Actors of Court Politics
Recent scholarship has emphasized the extent to which royal power depended on monarch’s ability to collaborate with other authorities and intermediary bodies, as well as their ability to reconcile themselves with the various social groups that dominated French society under the Ancien Régime. Howeve...
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| Pubblicato in: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/crcv, |
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| Autore principale: | |
| Natura: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Lingua: | Anglais |
| Pubblicazione: |
Bulletin du Centre de recherche du château de Versailles
2026
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| Soggetti: | |
| Accesso online: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| Riassunto: | Recent scholarship has emphasized the extent to which royal power depended on monarch’s ability to collaborate with other authorities and intermediary bodies, as well as their ability to reconcile themselves with the various social groups that dominated French society under the Ancien Régime. However, the political role played by princes and princesses of the house of France (princes et princesses du sang or légitimés) has until now barely been re-evaluated. There is still a tendency to oppose royal authority and princely power, and to think that the two were incompatible. Armed uprisings in the first half of the early modern period are commonly considered to have been directed against royal authority. Conversely, the end of princely frondes after 1653 appears as a triumph of royal authority. Building on many insights from recent scholarship, this introduction will show that the tenets of this interpretation are wrong. The princes never rebelled against royal authority. Their very power was not a relic from feudal times, but a recent product of royal policy. And, if the civil wars stopped after 1653, it was because kings secured the princes and princesses a place in the top ranks of the State. This introduction thus explores the dynastic dimension of the French monarchy from Louis XIV onwards. |
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