http://hdl.handle.net/10023/846 Tue, 21 May 2013 19:28:55 GMT 2013-05-21T19:28:55Z http://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:80/retrieve/3265/Centre for French History and culture.gif http://hdl.handle.net/10023/846 http://hdl.handle.net/10023/3052 Abstract: This volume seeks to investigate the testamentary practices of women in medieval and early modern France, examining the experience of a cross-section of the population, from artisans to the elite, in Aix-en-Provence, Avignon, Marseille, Montpellier, La Rochelle, Brittany, and Burgundy. The making of a will was perhaps the single most prominent moment in women’s lives for the assertion of agency. Though constrained to some degree by customary practice and the increasing influence of Roman law, women demonstrated remarkable initiative in the formulation of their last wishes. Wills permitted women to reward friendship and loyalty, to designate universal heirs as major beneficiaries, to stipulate conditions of inheritance so that last wishes were carried out, and, perhaps most importantly, to make pious donations to the Church for the salvation of the testators’ souls. They chose their burial sites and arranged for funeral processions, and they endowed anniversary masses for their souls in perpetuity. Individual testamentary decisions differed, as did spousal strategies, but the reinforcement of family ties, even the assertion of relationship, was possible in wills. Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10023/3052 2012-01-01T00:00:00Z This volume seeks to investigate the testamentary practices of women in medieval and early modern France, examining the experience of a cross-section of the population, from artisans to the elite, in Aix-en-Provence, Avignon, Marseille, Montpellier, La Rochelle, Brittany, and Burgundy. The making of a will was perhaps the single most prominent moment in women’s lives for the assertion of agency. Though constrained to some degree by customary practice and the increasing influence of Roman law, women demonstrated remarkable initiative in the formulation of their last wishes. Wills permitted women to reward friendship and loyalty, to designate universal heirs as major beneficiaries, to stipulate conditions of inheritance so that last wishes were carried out, and, perhaps most importantly, to make pious donations to the Church for the salvation of the testators’ souls. They chose their burial sites and arranged for funeral processions, and they endowed anniversary masses for their souls in perpetuity. Individual testamentary decisions differed, as did spousal strategies, but the reinforcement of family ties, even the assertion of relationship, was possible in wills. http://hdl.handle.net/10023/2159 Abstract: The late Robert Kingdon’s Geneva and the Coming of the Wars of Religion in France, 1555-1563 (1956) was not merely an engaging and challenging piece of scholarship, it came to dominate the study of Genevan Protestantism and the city’s relationship with other Reformed communities, particularly those in France. Based on the rich archival records in Geneva, Kingdon’s work would inspire many subsequent scholars to investigate the questions he first raised in the 1950s. This volume is testament to the breadth of material he first covered, and demonstrates the variety of fields in which he came to have influence, including printing history, the role of the nobility in the Reformation, the functioning of the Consistory and the lives of pastors. Born out of a conference celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of his original book, this volume now stands as a memorial to a life of exemplary scholarship. Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10023/2159 2012-01-01T00:00:00Z The late Robert Kingdon’s Geneva and the Coming of the Wars of Religion in France, 1555-1563 (1956) was not merely an engaging and challenging piece of scholarship, it came to dominate the study of Genevan Protestantism and the city’s relationship with other Reformed communities, particularly those in France. Based on the rich archival records in Geneva, Kingdon’s work would inspire many subsequent scholars to investigate the questions he first raised in the 1950s. This volume is testament to the breadth of material he first covered, and demonstrates the variety of fields in which he came to have influence, including printing history, the role of the nobility in the Reformation, the functioning of the Consistory and the lives of pastors. Born out of a conference celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of his original book, this volume now stands as a memorial to a life of exemplary scholarship. http://hdl.handle.net/10023/1881 Abstract: This study analyzes a hitherto unexamined group, the French diplomatic corps during the Revolution (1789 to 1799), and focuses on the question of loyalty and conscience. For some diplomats choice was an illusion as their status often determined their fate. Some supported the king and continued to do so in spite of the high cost, often creatively sabotaging the Revolution. Others put nation, as they defined it, above king. Because the definition of loyalty constantly shifted the corps, like the army and the bureaucracy, was periodically purged. Those who had worked for or been sympathetic to the old regime or those who had allied with a certain political faction came under scrutiny. The turmoil in the diplomatic corps not only had international repercussions but also reflects larger societal trends, such as the attack on the aristocracy and the displacement of one elite by another. The French diplomatic corps was thus emblematic of many issues surrounding the revolutionary struggle of this decade. Sat, 01 Jan 2011 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10023/1881 2011-01-01T00:00:00Z Frey, Linda S. Frey, Marsha L. This study analyzes a hitherto unexamined group, the French diplomatic corps during the Revolution (1789 to 1799), and focuses on the question of loyalty and conscience. For some diplomats choice was an illusion as their status often determined their fate. Some supported the king and continued to do so in spite of the high cost, often creatively sabotaging the Revolution. Others put nation, as they defined it, above king. Because the definition of loyalty constantly shifted the corps, like the army and the bureaucracy, was periodically purged. Those who had worked for or been sympathetic to the old regime or those who had allied with a certain political faction came under scrutiny. The turmoil in the diplomatic corps not only had international repercussions but also reflects larger societal trends, such as the attack on the aristocracy and the displacement of one elite by another. The French diplomatic corps was thus emblematic of many issues surrounding the revolutionary struggle of this decade. http://hdl.handle.net/10023/967 Abstract: First published in French in 1974, David D. Bien’s essay on the nature of nobility in old regime France pivoted around the 1781 “Ségur regulation” that required four generations of nobility for most officers entering the army. Once seen as a classic manifestation of the so-called “aristocratic reaction” against commoners, the loi Ségur, in Bien’s deft analysis, instead emerges as a telling sign of tensions within an increasingly divided nobility. While exploding crude myths about class conflict and its causative role in the Revolution, Bien mounts a strong case for viewing eighteenth-century social tensions as the product of professional identity as much as social class. This study is presented here for the first time in English with a short preface by Rafe Blaufarb, and a wide-ranging introduction by Jay M. Smith that places Bien’s work in the wider context of historical thinking over the past half-century on the origins of the French Revolution. Fri, 01 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10023/967 2010-01-01T00:00:00Z Bien, David D. Smith, Jay M. Blaufarb, R. First published in French in 1974, David D. Bien’s essay on the nature of nobility in old regime France pivoted around the 1781 “Ségur regulation” that required four generations of nobility for most officers entering the army. Once seen as a classic manifestation of the so-called “aristocratic reaction” against commoners, the loi Ségur, in Bien’s deft analysis, instead emerges as a telling sign of tensions within an increasingly divided nobility. While exploding crude myths about class conflict and its causative role in the Revolution, Bien mounts a strong case for viewing eighteenth-century social tensions as the product of professional identity as much as social class. This study is presented here for the first time in English with a short preface by Rafe Blaufarb, and a wide-ranging introduction by Jay M. Smith that places Bien’s work in the wider context of historical thinking over the past half-century on the origins of the French Revolution. http://hdl.handle.net/10023/847 Abstract: Joseph de Maistre's reputation as a writer is legendary. His style, unique and alive, moulded the French language anew. It sabotaged his attempts at anonymous publication and earned him, through the centuries, the praises of enemies and admirers. Yet the relationship between Maistre's thought and writing remains ill-known. This collection is the first to examine how Maistre's ideas – including his denunciation of the written word – intersected with his writing practices and personas. The essays disclose an author formed by duty and affectionate relationships, by the conventions of public combat, by an intense sense of history, and by the imperatives of Revolution. Description: The essays contained within this volume were first presented at Reappraisals/Reconsidérations, the Fifth International Colloquium on Joseph de Maistre, held at Jesus College, Cambridge on 4 and 5 December 2008.; Series editor-in-chief: Guy Rowlands, University of St Andrews Fri, 01 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10023/847 2010-01-01T00:00:00Z Joseph de Maistre's reputation as a writer is legendary. His style, unique and alive, moulded the French language anew. It sabotaged his attempts at anonymous publication and earned him, through the centuries, the praises of enemies and admirers. Yet the relationship between Maistre's thought and writing remains ill-known. This collection is the first to examine how Maistre's ideas – including his denunciation of the written word – intersected with his writing practices and personas. The essays disclose an author formed by duty and affectionate relationships, by the conventions of public combat, by an intense sense of history, and by the imperatives of Revolution.