Governing Passions: Peace and Reform in the French Kingdom, 1576-1585
The French kingdom dissolved into civil wars, known as the "wars of religion", for a generation from 1562 to 1598. This book examines the reactions of France's governing groups to that experience. Their major political endeavour was securing peace. They attempted to achieve it through a religious pluralism not envisaged in any other state on this scale in this period. Its achievement would only be fulfilled, however, alongside a reform of the kingdom's institutions and society. Peace and reform went hand in hand —a moral agenda for restoration.

France's notables drew on reservoirs of classical and Christian moral philosophy and wisdom to find practical answers to the difficult problems of governance that confronted them. The resulting public introspection and vocal debates are difficult to match anywhere else in Europe at this time. They were an essential part of the profound sense of crisis that France's governing elites experienced during the later sixteenth century.

Drawing extensively on manuscript and printed sources not hitherto examined, this book analyses for the first time the debates at the Estates General of Blois (1576-7) and the Assembly of Notables at Saint-Germain-en-Laye of 1583-4. It shows the French polity in a fresh light, presenting major issues of political thought in their public and practical context. And it re-examines the crucial and little-understood reign of Henri III, the last Valois king, suggesting how Bourbon France could have emerged very differently from the civil wars of the late sixteenth century.
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Governing Passions: Peace and Reform in the French Kingdom, 1576-1585
The French kingdom dissolved into civil wars, known as the "wars of religion", for a generation from 1562 to 1598. This book examines the reactions of France's governing groups to that experience. Their major political endeavour was securing peace. They attempted to achieve it through a religious pluralism not envisaged in any other state on this scale in this period. Its achievement would only be fulfilled, however, alongside a reform of the kingdom's institutions and society. Peace and reform went hand in hand —a moral agenda for restoration.

France's notables drew on reservoirs of classical and Christian moral philosophy and wisdom to find practical answers to the difficult problems of governance that confronted them. The resulting public introspection and vocal debates are difficult to match anywhere else in Europe at this time. They were an essential part of the profound sense of crisis that France's governing elites experienced during the later sixteenth century.

Drawing extensively on manuscript and printed sources not hitherto examined, this book analyses for the first time the debates at the Estates General of Blois (1576-7) and the Assembly of Notables at Saint-Germain-en-Laye of 1583-4. It shows the French polity in a fresh light, presenting major issues of political thought in their public and practical context. And it re-examines the crucial and little-understood reign of Henri III, the last Valois king, suggesting how Bourbon France could have emerged very differently from the civil wars of the late sixteenth century.
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Governing Passions: Peace and Reform in the French Kingdom, 1576-1585

Governing Passions: Peace and Reform in the French Kingdom, 1576-1585

by Mark Greengrass
Governing Passions: Peace and Reform in the French Kingdom, 1576-1585

Governing Passions: Peace and Reform in the French Kingdom, 1576-1585

by Mark Greengrass

Hardcover

$220.00 
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Overview

The French kingdom dissolved into civil wars, known as the "wars of religion", for a generation from 1562 to 1598. This book examines the reactions of France's governing groups to that experience. Their major political endeavour was securing peace. They attempted to achieve it through a religious pluralism not envisaged in any other state on this scale in this period. Its achievement would only be fulfilled, however, alongside a reform of the kingdom's institutions and society. Peace and reform went hand in hand —a moral agenda for restoration.

France's notables drew on reservoirs of classical and Christian moral philosophy and wisdom to find practical answers to the difficult problems of governance that confronted them. The resulting public introspection and vocal debates are difficult to match anywhere else in Europe at this time. They were an essential part of the profound sense of crisis that France's governing elites experienced during the later sixteenth century.

Drawing extensively on manuscript and printed sources not hitherto examined, this book analyses for the first time the debates at the Estates General of Blois (1576-7) and the Assembly of Notables at Saint-Germain-en-Laye of 1583-4. It shows the French polity in a fresh light, presenting major issues of political thought in their public and practical context. And it re-examines the crucial and little-understood reign of Henri III, the last Valois king, suggesting how Bourbon France could have emerged very differently from the civil wars of the late sixteenth century.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780199214907
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Publication date: 12/05/2007
Pages: 448
Product dimensions: 9.29(w) x 6.45(h) x 1.24(d)

About the Author

Mark Greengrass specializes in the history of Renaissance France. He has published on the history of the Reformation, particularly in its French context, for which he has been twice awarded the Nancy Lyman Roelker prize by the American Society for Sixteenth Century Studies. He is Professor of Early Modern History at the University of Sheffield and is currently writing Volume V of the new Penguin History of Europe (Europe Reformed, 1517-1648).

Table of Contents

Preface1. Defeat and Reformation2. Comprehending Passions3. The Estates of Blois4. The Chemin de la Paix5. Dissent in the Country6. The Perfection of Peace7. France through the Looking Glass8. Restoring Virtue9. The Assembly of Notables10. ConclusionBibliography
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