2003 Number 51
ABAD, REYNALD. "Une première Fronde au temps de Richelieu? L'émeute parisienne des 3–4 février 1631 et ses suites." DSS 218 (2003), 39–70.
An historical analysis of the largely forgotten events of February 1631 involving "une violente émeute anti-fiscale, provoquée par un projet d'augmentation des droits sur le vin." The author seeks to unearth the facts of the uprising, analyze its origins, impetus, and outcome (including Richelieu's reaction), and finally to definitively establish "l'importance de cet épisode dans l'histoire politique du royaume."
ANTOINE, MICHEL. Le Coeur de l'état: surintendance, contrôle général et intendances des finances, 1552–1791. Paris: Fayard, 2003
Review: J. Rogister in TLS 5224 (May 16 2003), 26. Antoine breaks new ground in tracing the origins and development of the French finance model. Thesis is that "The history of the royal financial administration is a chronicle of the attempt to rationalize the machinery of state." Reviewer praises painstaking research and a helpful index of names. Only criticism is that Antoine devotes little attention to the bodies meant to check up on the financiers.
AVEZOU, LAURENT. Sully à travers l'histoire. Les avatars d'un mythe politique. Préface deBernard Barbiche. Paris: Ecole des Chartes, 2001.
Review: P. Fuchs in HZ 274 (2002), 752–754: Highly informative and interesting, this history of some 350 years has as its focus the posthumous destiny of Sully (historical, literary and iconographic). Avezou's 1996 thèse of the Ecole des Chartes is judged by Barbiche to be "d'une impeccable érudition" (vi).
BEAUVALET-BOUTOUYRIE, SCARLETT, Etre veuve sous l'Ancien Régime (Paris: Belin, 2001).
Review: A. Tallon, RHEF, 88. 220 (2002), 261–2: The author examines "le discours sur la viduité, et principalement le discours de l'Église. . . . [Elle] analyse avec beaucoup de finesse les modèles de veuves que l'hagiographie de la Réforme catholique propose aux fidèles." Also examines how "le théâtre et le roman propose une autre image de la veuve. [. . .] Une deuxième partie confronte à [des] stéréotypes les réalités démographiques et juridiques. [. . .] Par cette étude brillante, agréable à lire, qui reprend plusieurs méthodes historiques et les croise avec originalité, Scarlett Beauvalet-Boutouyrie a su restituer les multiples facettes du veuvage sous l'Ancien Régime."
BERNARD, BRUNO. "Loisir, paresse, oisiveté: débats idéologiques autour de ces notions (XVIIe-XIXe siècles)." RBPH 79.2 (2001), 523–32.
"Il vaut par conséquent la peine, pour l'historien, de s'interroger sur ce que ces notions recouvrent exactement, comme sur ce qu'elle pouvaient représenter pour les contemporains du grand bouleversement socio-économique que constitua, de la fin du XVIIe siècle à la fin du XIXe siècle, l'avènement progressif en Europe des sociétés industrielles et de leurs principaux corollaires: machinisme et productivité, capitalisme et salariat."
BERNIER, MARC ANDRE. Tangence (Rimouski, Québec), 65 (2001).
Review: F. Paré in UTQ 72.1 (Winter 2002/3), 51: "Dans ce dossier, dirigé par Marc André Bernier, la notion d'orientalisme est entendue dans un sens très large, ce qui lui confère une belle richesse. Maris-Christine Pioffet ouvre la question avec une excellente réflexion sur la figure du sérail dans la littérature de la fin du XVIIe siècle en France. Lieu d'interdit et de transgression, le sérail permet aussi de réorienter les références au jardin d'Éden."
BLANNING, T.C.W. The Culture of Power and the Power of Culture: Old Regime Europe, 1660–1789. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2002.
Review: D. Baxter in Choice 40 (2002), 697–98: Argues that the French revolution stemmed from a [governmental] failure to adequately adapt to a "newly emerging public sphere, based on individualism and the force of public opinion." While Prussia, Great Britain, and Austria proved sufficiently flexible, France clung to a culture of the royal court and representational absolutism.
Review: M. Rapport in FS 57.2 (2003). "This is an excellent cultural history," in the words of the reviewer. It opens with "a clear discussion of Habermas," but is "refreshingly devoid of impenetrable jargon." The book treats the culture of power and representational culture in many different countries, with an important section on Louis XIV. "Beautifully written and full of the jibes and wry asides which make. . . work by this author so enjoyable to read."
BLANQUIE, CHRISTOPHE. Les Présidiaux de Richelieu. Justice et vénalité (1630–1642). Paris: Ed. Christian, 2000.
Review: A. Jouanna in DSS 218 (2003), 162–163: The author seeks to understand "le fonctionnement de la monarchie d'Ancien Régime et la manière dont, sous un grand ministériat, le pouvoir royal affermit son autorité." A strong review praises Blanquie's "description précise des techniques administratives et des montages financiers mis en œuvre par la création d'un présidial."
BLANQUIE, CHRISTOPHE. Justice et finance sous l'Ancien Régime. La vénalité présidiale. Paris: L'Harmattan, 2001.
Review: A. Jouanna in DSS 218 (2003), 164–165: Reviewer acknowledges Blanquie's earlier work and describes this elaborated study as "une analyse stimulante du rôle de la vénalité présidiale dans la construction monarchique."
BRANCHER, DOMINIQUE JOSIANE. Le voile de Poppée: Les ambiguïtés de la pudeur dans le discours médical (1570–1620). DAI 63/10 (2003), 3573.
Examines "the conceptual, generical and rhetorical reversibility of modesty, ... which conceals to better reveal and eroticize."
CABANTOUS, ALAIN. Blasphemy: Impious Speech in the West from the Seventeenth to the Nineteenth Century. Trans.Eric Rauth. New York: Columbia UP, 2002.
Review: D. Skopp in Choice 39 (2002), 2030–31. Concentrates on the Romance languages of early modern Europe, particularly on French. Studies religious and civil authorities' punishment of blasphemy as a perceived attack on their authority. Draws upon Ginzberg's The Cheese and the Worms, the work of J. Delameau, and previous work by Cabantous.
CARABIN, DENISE. "Deux institutions de gentilshommes sous Louis XIII: Le Gentilhomme de Pasquier et L'Instruction du Roy de Pluvinel." DSS 218 (2003), 27–38.
The author undertakes a sustained analysis of two educational manuals intended to cultivate a generation of "gentilshommes" in the context of the "cité moderne" under Louis XIII. "Pluvinel met l'accent sur les exercises équestres qu'il prolonge par la philosophie morale, mieux développée par Pasquier."
CARILE, PAOLO. Huguenots sans frontières. Voyage et écriture à la Renaissance et à l'Age classique. Paris: Champion, 2001 (Les Géographies du Monde, 3).
Review: B. Bray in PFSCL XXX, 58 (2003), 237–238: "Le grand intérêt de l'ouvrage réside. . .dans son ouverture interdisciplinaire, puisque les sciences historique, géographique, ethnographique et littéraire sont conviées dans ce parcours composite, conçu de façon irrégulière mais constamment attrayant et soutenu par une réflexion anthropologique de belle qualité. Un éloge particulier est dû à la partie bibliographique: l'information de l'auteur se porte aussi sur les problèmes qu'ont posés la mise au point et la publication de ces textes destinés à une faible diffusion, voire restés manuscrits. Quant aux références critiques, elle constituent un impressionnant et précieux répertoire, que complète un index des noms."
CARLIN, CLAIRE. "Misogynie et misogamie dans les complaintes des mal mariés au XVIIe siècle." La Femme au XVIIe siècle. Actes du colloque de Vancouver, University of British Columbia. Ed. R. Hodgson. Tübingen: Gunter Narr Verlag (Biblio 17), 2002, 365–378.
A reading of eight "complaintes des mal mariés" from the early decades of the century, using as critical apparatus the theories of Pierre Bourdieu. Carlin indicates how these misogynist texts differ from others in their expression of an awareness of the dangers of forced marriages.
CHRISTOUT, MARIE-FRANÇOISE. "Louis XIV et le ballet de cour ou le plus illustres danseurs (1651–1670)." RHT 215.3 (2002), 153–178.
This article details, along with many illustrations, Louis XIV's many appearances in the court ballets. Christout notes his growing interest and influence on the form and places the king's presence within a historical framework, and argues that his diverse artistic choices reveal a "profound" imagination that would eventually disappear behind impassive pride.
COGITORE, ISABELLE et F. GOYET, ed. Devenir roi. Essais sur la littérature addressée au Prince (Des Princes). Grenoble: Ellug, 2001.
Review : Br. Rochette in ECl 70 (2002), 290–291: Une collection d'essais provenant du seminaire "Discours pour les princes," dans laquelle sont analysés les rapports entre le pouvoir, la littérature et les arts. Les dix-septiémistes apprécieront surtout les chapitres consacrés à Jean de Sponde, jeune poète protestant écrivant au Henri IV, et à Charles LeBrun, peintre sous Louis XIV.
CONTAMINE, PHILIPPE, ed. War and Competition between States. The Origin of the Modern State in Europe, 13th to 18th Centuries. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2000.
Review: W. Reinhard in HZ 274 (2002), 137–139: The last of 8 volumes published by the European Science Foundation treats a diversity of important subjects from the perspective of comparative relations, for example: types of armies and recruitment, naval wars, control of space through travel, cartography, fortifications, the role of captured material, ransom, impetus of wars, etc.
CRAVERI, BENEDETTA, La Civiltà della conversazione. Milano: Adelphi, 2001.
Review: B. Piqué in PFSCL XXX, 58 (2003), 240–241. "Le double sens du mot italien civiltà — 《 civilisation 》 mais aussi 《 civilité 》 — évoque bien, dès le titre, la complexité des perspectives que comportait le projet de Benedetta Craveri: comprendre et illustrer 《 les motifs inspirateurs et les éléments constitutifs 》 de l'idéal de sociabilité mondaine qui s'élabore et se parfait en France au cours des XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles et dans lequel l'Europe des Lumières reconnaîtra le propre du 《 génie 》 français, lui rendant le double hommage de l'admiration et de l'émulation. [. . .] Le défi a été relevé avec succès. [. . .] Au lectuer non spécialiste la liberté de se promener dans La Civiltà della conversazione (dont une traduction française veint de paraître chez Gallimard sous le titre L'Age de la conversation) avec une delectatio teintée de nostalgie; au chercheur, celle de le consulter comme un guide et un outil indispensables".
CRAWFORD, KATHERINE B. "The Politics of Promiscuity: Masculinity and Heroic Representation at the Court of Henry IV." FHS 26 (2003): 225–252.
Uses close examination of numerous portraits of Henry IV, his predecessors, mistresses, and other court figures to shed light on Henry's dual public identity as "Vert Galant" and "Hercule Gaulois" and to show how the former may well have undermined the latter.
CRESCENZO, RICHARD, éd. Espaces de l'image. Nancy: U de Nancy II, 2002.
Review: F. Elsig in BHR 65.2 (2003), 424–25: "Troisième volume d'une collection issue du partenariat entre les Universités de Nancy II (Groupe 'XVIe-XVIIe siècles en Europe') et Metz, l'ouvrage rassemble les actes d'un colloque qui, dirigé par Richard Crescenzo, s'est tenu à Nancy sur les rapports entre le texte et l'image, celle-ci prise dans une acceptation très large." Parmi les 14 contributions, plusieurs se focalisent sur la France: C. Simonin sur des portraits d'auteurs-femmes comme Georgette de Montenay; S. Fabrizio-Costa sur François Grenaille de la Chatounière (1616–1680), traducteur de Pétrarque; C. Bouzy sur Jean-Jacques Boissard (1528–1602), poète, dessinateur; P. Eichel-Lojkine sur Charles Le Brun.
DINGES, MARTIN and FRITZ SACK, eds. Unsichere Großstädte? Vom Mittelalter bis zur Postmoderne. Konstanz: Universitätsverlag Konstanz, 2000.
Review: A. Schwarz in HZ 274 (2002), 404–406: Focus is on German cities, but several non-German ones are included in this treatment of safety and criminality. Praised for its numerous applications from history to economics, politics, anthropology, and so forth.
DIXON, ANNETTE. Women Who Ruled: Queens, Goddesses, Amazons in Renaissance and Baroque Art. London: Merrell, 2002.
Review: E. Menon in Choice 39 (2002), 1947: "Published to accompany an exhibit at the University of Michigan, this book identifies female archetypes from the Renaissance and Baroque periods and analyzes their ability to transmit or withhold information about women's empowerment." A solid introductory work to the subject. Includes treatment of Catherine de Medicis, Marie de Medicis, and Christina of Sweden. Considers a broad range of artistic media. Contains very fine plates.
DOYLE, WILLIAM, ed. Old Regime France. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2001.
Review: D. Heimmermann in Choice 39 (2002), 1653: "These eight essays on all aspects of French life challenge one of the founding myths of the French revolution—that the ancien régime was an age of immobility and changeless routine when nothing significant happened."
DUCHHARDT, HEINZ. "Die Absolutismusdebatte-eine Antipolemik." HZ 275 (2002), 323–331.
Masterful review of the debate on absolutism, taking into account Peter Baumgart's work which asks "Absolutismus ein Mythos?" as well as the analyses of numerous other critics such as Ernst Hinrichs (on European absolutism), Wolfgang Reinhard, Jean Meyer and Nicholas Henshall. After careful and wide-ranging consideration, Duchhardt's counsel is not to "universalize" the concept and corresponding terminology.
DUCHARDT, HEINZ, ed. Der Westfälische Friede. Diplomatie-Politische Zäsur-kulturelles Umfeld-Rezeptionsgeschichte. München: R. Oldenbourg, 1998.
Review: R. Lesaffer in RBPH 79.4 (2001), 1478–82: Proceedings of a 1996 interdisciplinary conference in Münich for the 350th anniversary of the Westphalia peace treaties. Thirty-nine articles from multiple perspectives treat the significance of the peace congress marking the end of the Thirty Years War; several papers on French diplomacy of the period.
DUCOMMUN, MARIE-JEANNE and DOMINIQUE QUADRONI. Le Refuge protestant dans le Pays de Vaud (Fin XVIIe-début XVIIIe s.). Aspects d'une migration. Genève: Droz, 1991.
Review: H. J. Schmitt in ZRP 118 (2002): 283–287: This historical investigation is valuable as well for specialists of lexicology. In four parts, each with three chapters, DuCommun and Quadroni examine numerous aspects (historical, political, demographic, economic, linguistic, sociological) of this forced migration. Volume includes maps, graphics and tables, reproducing original documents and annexes of important source texts.
EVAIN, AURORE. L'Apparition des actrices professionnelles en Europe. Paris: L'Harmattan, 2002.
Review: G. Boquet in RHT 215.3 (2002). This book investigates the "étapes de l'apparition de l'actrice en Espagne, France, Italie, Angleterre" in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Evain argues that the feminization of theatrical space has consequences for facial expression, a new dramaturgy and the decline of the heroic drama. According to the reviewer, however, the texte is "souvent confus" and suffers from a "méconnaissance de l'histoire générale."
FOLLAIN, ANTOINE. L'argent des villages du XIIIe au XVIIIe siècle, Actes du Colloque d'Angers. Rennes: Bibliothèque d'histoire rurale, 2000.
Review: P. Jarnoux in DSS 218 (2003), 161–162: In this collection, the reviewer finds a new and highly useful resource on the vast subject of rural commerce over six centuries. He notes that the 17th c. holds a place of privilege in over half of the papers and laments only the total absence of discussion on the Eastern part of France and a general neglect of the Mediterranean region.
FORCE, PIERRE. Self-Interest before Adam Smith: A Genealogy of Economic Science. Cambridge UP, 2003, "Ideas in Context" series, 296 pp.
A history of the concepts of self-love and self-interest in France and England from 1650 to 1800. Discusses connections between 17th c. moralistes and the emergence of political economy in the 18th c.
FRIEDRICHS, CHRISTOPHER. Urban Politics in Early Modern Europe. London: Routledge, 2000.
Review: U. Lotz-Heumann in HZ 274 (2002), 207–209: This textbook offers a good systematic overview for "those studying and teaching history (Friedrichs iv) and has chapters on approaches, issues, politics, forms of political action, plus a helpful section of "Suggestions for further reading."
FUHRING, PETER. "Jean Barbet's 'Livre d'Architecture, d'Autels et de Cheminées: Drawing and Design in Seventeenth-Century France." Burlington (1203), 421–430.
Presents new information on the life and work of one of the most famous French designers in ornament and interior decoration in the early seventeenth century.
GARCIA, JOELLE. Les représentations gravées du cardinal Mazarin au XVIIe siècle. Paris: Klincksieck, 2000.
Review: Y. Loskoutoff in DSS 218 (2003), 166–167: Divided into five chronological sections (Avant la Fronde, Face à la Fronde, Après la Fronde, La Paix des Pyrénées, and Après sa mort), Garcia analyzes and contextualizes a large collection of Mazarin engravings. Loskoutoff identifies a number of careless errors (of both translation and interpretation), but maintains that "le livre de Joëlle Garcia intéressera les historiens, les historiens d'art, et aussi ceux de la littérature tant son sujet est indissociable du genre encomiastique, auquel elle ne manque pas de se référer."
GLAUDES, PIERRE et al. La Représentation dans la littérature et les arts. Toulouse: PU du Mirail, 1999.
Review: G. Jucquois in LR 55 (2001): 174–177: Useful anthology interprets "arts" widely and includes texts and commentaries by philosophers, critics and artists on the subject of representation. Glaudes and his collaborators provide integrative commentaries, exemplifying the multiplicity of perspectives possible on this theme.
GLOTON, MARIE-CHRISTINE, JACQUELINE PLANTIE & MONIQUE POMEY. "Un trompe-l'oeil théologique dans le chœur des prêcheurs, à Aix-en-Provence." DSS 219 (2003), 309–330.
As the title indicates, this article traces the history of the numerous "trompe-l'œil" aspects of the church at Aix while at the same time deciphering their theological intent and meaning. The text is accompanied by a series of descriptive photographs.
HARAN, ALEXANDRE Y. Le Lys et le globe. Messianisme dynastique et rêve impérial en France à l'aube des temps modernes. Seyssel: Champ Vallon, 2000.
Review: H. Duchhardt in HZ 275 (2002), 196–197: Duchhardt outlines several major concerns with Haran's study which keep him from recommending it, despite its ambitious scope.
HARRIS, ANN SUTHERLAND. "The Subject of Poussin's 'Landscape with a Woman Bathing' in Ottawa." Burlington 1201 (2003), 292–296.
Identifies the figures in this monumental Poussin landscape as Vertumnus and Pomona, who are being watched by a satyr. Connects these characters with themes of fertility and sterility present in Poussin's works and personal life.
HARTER, KARL, ed. Policey und frühneuzeitliche Gesellschaft. (Ius Commune, Sonderhefte: Studien zur europäische Rechtsgeschichte, 129). Frankfurt am Main: Klostermann, 2000.
Review: S. Brakensiek in HZ 274 (2002), 194–198: Early Modern policy receives attention in this collection of 20 studies which focuses on application, success and influence of policy decrees. Includes examination of 17th c. France from a comparative perspective; local and regional strategies as well as central ones are considered.
JERVIS, SIMON. "Decorative Arts under Louis XIII and Anne d'Autriche." Burlington 1192 (2002), 447–449:
A review of a June–July 2002 exhibition at the Grand Palais in Paris which describes the difficulty in locating surviving objects and cites some problems in the display of those objects included in the showing. However, Jervis also compliments the catalogue as an "essential guide to the period, with a full and useful apparatus of references, bibliography, and index," and notes that in spite of the aforementioned deficiencies, the exhibition itself is "full of wonderful things."
KNITTLER, HERBERT. Die europäische Stadt in der frühen Neuzeit. Institutionen, Strukturen, Entwicklungen. Wien/München: Verlag für Geschichte und Politik / Oldenbourg, 2000.
Review: H. Schilling in HZ 275 (2002), 185–186: A welcome and very needed manual whose usefulness will not be limited to students. The European city in the Early Modern Era is examined in relation to various institutions such as the State, the Church, and so forth. Structures are considered as well as politics and the development and growth of urbanization.
LASOWSKI, PATRICK WALD. Le Traité des mouches secrètes. Paris: Gallimard, 2003.
Review: G. Farasse in RSH 270 (avril–juin 2003), 200–201: Reviewer enchanted with this "petit livre délicieux," which resuscitates from oubli the Chevalier de Mouhy (1701–84), prolific writer (if judged mediocre by his peers) and seller of mouches. Chapters deal with his literary works, his work as a mouchard, and the coquet use of mouches, both visible and hidden, in the period. With rich and rapid prose, Lasowski shows great erudition, recreates the atmosphere of the time, provides a detailed treatment of the uses of mouches, and brings to life the vivid imagination of the Chevalier de Mouhy, until now condemned to the margins.
LAVERGNEE, ARNAULD BREJON DE. "Richelieu: Art and Power." Burlington 1202 (2003): 389–391.
A review of an exhibit shown first in Montréal, then in Cologne, which closed in April 2003 and included 180 works divided into six sections: "For the Glory of France," "For the Glory of God," "Richelieu and the Realm of Ideas," "From Eminences to Entrepreneurs," "The Life of the People" and finally, a postscript entitled "The Myth." While Lavergnée does not always agree with the exhibition's organization and structure, he admires certain "superb ensembles," particularly the "Galerie des hommes illustres," and declares that "France has done itself a disservice by not securing a French venue for the show."
LE GUILLOU, YVES. "L'enrichissement des surintendants Bullion et Bouthillier ou le détournement des fonds publics sous Louis XIII," in DSS, no. 211 (avril–juin 2001): 195–213.
Review: C. Torelli in S Fr XLVI, 136 (2002): 218: Treats precisely the private and public lives of Bullion and Bouthillier who acquire significant personal wealth (Buillon more so) during their public function as surintendant. Of particular usefulness for the history of patrimony in Champagne, Touraine and Ile-de-France.
LEMPEREUR, ALAIN PEKAR. François de Callières: De la manière de négocier avec les souverains. Edition critique. Les Classiques de la pensée politique, 19. Geneva: Droz, 2002.
Review: M. Moriarty in FS 57.4 (2003). The reviewer states that this "is a valuable edition of a most interesting work." If there are too many typographical errors, especially in the use of Greek characters, the author's obvious enthusiasm and his strong understanding of the topic (as displayed in the introduction), as well as Callière's own interesting text, of course, make this a strong addition to historical political scholarship. The reviewer also points out the text's "rich fund" of examples and good background research.
LIPP, CHARLES T. "Power and Politics in Early Modern Lorraine: Jean-François de Mahuet and the Grand Prévôté de Saint-Dié." FHS 26 (2003): 31–53.
Uses the example of a powerful Lorraine family to examine religion, power, and the politics of absolutism, primarily in the eighteenth century, with reference to events and personages of the seventeenth.
MARAL, ALEXANDRE. La Chapelle royale de Versailles sous Louis XIV: cérémonial, liturgie et musique. Sprimont, Belqique: Mardaga, 2002.
Review: BCLF 645 (2003), 79: Ouvrage en cinq chapitres formant deux parties: "Un lieu et des hommes" et "La Vie quotidienne à la chapelle royale." "Cette solide étude met en relief la nature des publics, les projets et les devoirs de Louis XIV."
MENTZER, RAYMOND, ed. Society and Culture in the Huguenot World, 1559–1685. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2002.
Review: A. Reeves in Choice 40 (2002), 699–700: Twelve essays discuss particular aspects of Protestant belief and experience, ranging chronologically from "the first synod of Reformed churches" (1559) to the revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685).
MINOIS, GEORGES. Histoire du rire et de la dérision. Paris: Fayard, 2000.
Review: G. Walther in HZ 274 (2002), 133–134: Judged a highly useful synthesis, rich in facts, of specialized material on laughter and derision. 17th c. students will appreciate and perhaps challenge what the reviewer summarizes as a controlling and restraining of laughter in the time of Louis XIV. If that was the main trend, certainly numerous examples of the unrestrained could be suggested, from the "tours" played in the salons to the riotous "rire" in Dassoucy (see Dominique Bertrand's work on the subject, for example). Informative compendium brings the methodology of the "histoire des mentalités" to bear on texts from Homer to Monty-Python.
MORICEAU, JEAN-MARC. Terres Mouvantes. Les campagnes françaises du féodalisme à la mondialisation XIIe-XIXe. Paris: Fayard, 2002.
Review: J. Duma in QL 845 (du 1er au 15 Janvier 2003), 22: "Il s'agit d'un essai qui se propose de réexaminer l'histoire rurale dans une optique dynamique. (...) Cette salutaire remise en cause de l'approche statique des campagnes françaises sait mettre en valeur les multiples voies du changement, elle s'attache à souligner les chronologies différenciées qui les caractérisent, joue en permanence sur des échelles différentes. Au débat continuité ou changement il répond continuité et changement non par un souci académique d'équilibre mais par la prise en compte de la complexité des sociétés rurales."
MUCHEMBLED, ROBERT. Passions de femmes au temps de la Reine Margot (1553–1615). Paris: Seuil, 2003.
Review: D. Goy-Blanquet in QL 861 (du 16 au 31 septembre 2003), 20–21: "Les femmes de son livre n'ont en commun que la passion, où l'historien veut voir une stratégie pour dépasser leur condition, valoriser l'Ego féminin, en s'opposant au mode proprement masculin de la Raison." Reviewer is unimpressed with Muchembled's historical methods. "Muchembled pour sa part nous promène d'aventures insolites en généralisations pour le moins hâtives, assorties de conclusions prévisibles sur les préjugés masculins, leurs justifications théoriques, et l'éternelle sujétion des femmes."
MUCHEMBLED, ROBERT. La société policée. Politique et politesse en France du XVIe au XXe siècle. Paris: Seuil, 1998.
Review: M. Dinges in HZ 274 (2002), 139–141: Wide-ranging study includes attention to the "founding phase" (1515–1715) as well as to the "mutation phase" (from the 18th c to the latter part of the 20th c.). 17th c. scholars will appreciate the examination from a social history perspective of Louis XIV's aristocratic pact, including, for example, the role of ceremony.
NORMAN, BUFORD. Touched by the Graces: the Libretti of Philippe Quinault in the Context of French Classicism. Birmingham, AL: Summa, 2001.
Review: C. Batson in FR 76.6 (2003), 1239: Though the massive work concentrates on the libretti themselves, Norman contextualizes them within their historical and courtly frameworks. Includes discussion of Quinault's prologues and a run-through of basic notions such as dramatic and lyric classification, vraisemblance, and le merveilleux. "[R]emarkably straightforward;" "traditional" while also demonstrating "an awareness of feminist concerns."
NYE, ROBERT A. Masculinity and Male Codes of Honor in Modern France. Berkeley: U California P, 1998.
Review: R. Muchembled in RBPH 78.3–4 (2000), 1061–62: "L'idée centrale développée dans ce livre est que le modèle bourgeois français de discipline personnelle du XIXe siècle repose sur la régulation de la sexualité et s'exprime à travers un code d'honneur hérité des vertus militaires nobles d'Ancien Régime. Le courage est de ce fait la principale composante de l'identité masculine, pour qui aspire à l'honneur."
OLSON, TODD P. Poussin and France: Painting, Humanism, and the Politics of Style. New Haven and London: Yale UP, 2002.
Review: Ch. Dempsey in Burlington 1195 (2002): 632–633: Primary thesis is that Poussin's French patrons were primarily of the noblesse de robe and that this is key to understanding his relationship with France. Dempsey: "Much hard work is in this book, and anyone interested in its subject will have to read it. But to reap its benefits the reader will have to bring to the book an intellectual discipline the author has been unable to supply."
PARROTT, DAVID. Richelieu's Army: War, Government and Society in France, 1624–1642. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2001.
Review: T. Worcester in SCN 60 (2002) 278–281: Although the reviewer criticizes this book for its unwieldy length and a certain lack of socio-historical interpretation, Worcester, nevertheless, finds it to be an interesting re-interpretation of the scope and reach of Richelieu's power. "Parrott does an excellent job of demonstrating the pragmatic and reactive nature of Richelieu's military policies." Central to Parrott's argument is the notion that "the Cardinal did not carry out—at least in the military sphere—a master plan that achieved centralization of power and subordination of unruly elites". The reviewer draws the following conclusion from Parrott's work: "if France ultimately emerged from the Thirty Years War in a powerful position, it must have been due to factors other than a brilliant Richelieu at the helm."
POUZET, REGINE. Chronique des Pascal: 'les affaires du monde' d'Etienne Pascal à Marguerite Périer (1588–1713). Paris: Champion, 2001.
Review: C. Baxter in FS 56.4 (2002), 517–18: An "interesting" study of the financial and legal transactions of the Pascal/Périer family including wills, marriage and baptismal registers that "[help] situate the interplay between the religious beliefs of Pascal's family and their interactions with the secular sphere." "This book offers a useful insight into the mentalités of the less-celebrated members of the Pascal family" and suffers only from the "lack of adequate concentration on Blaise Pascal."
PY, BERNADETTE. Everhard Jabach collectionneur (1618–1695): Les dessins de l'inventaire de 1695. Paris: Réunion des musées nationaux, 2001.
Review: A. Weston-Lewis in Burlington 1196 (2002): 696–697: Includes a biography of Jabach, a survey of the collections, the criteria for identifying each drawing, and detailed entries on each of the 1200 drawings, as well as two appendices of secondary sources. Weston-Lewis: "Py is to be warmly congratulated for her painstaking detective work in tracking down and verifying surviving drawings in print rooms and private collections around the world."
RAPLEY, ELIZABETH. A Social History of the Cloister. Daily life in the teaching monasteries of the old regime. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2001.
Review: B. Green in TLS 5213 (Feb 28 2003), 33. Life of teaching nuns in seventeenth and eighteenth century. "She moves from broad story to local particulars with enviable ease." Both "exhaustive scholarship" and "wonderful read."
READ, KIRK D. "'What's a Mother to Do?': Maternal Advice from a Wise Woman." CdDS 8.2 (2003), 65–76.
Explores "the ways in which literary women of the late 16th and early 17th centuries spoke of childbirth and midwifery within the mother-daughter context."
REITH, REINHOLD. Lohn und Leistung. Lohnformen im Gewerbe 1450–1900. Stuttgart: Steiner, 1999.
Review: T. Pierenkemper in HZ 274 (2002), 402–404: Praiseworthy and wide-ranging examination of management and compensation from the late Middle Ages until the beginning of the 20th c. Review is particularly appreciative of chapter 4 which Pierenkemper terms the major section and of other chapters which systematically treat both technical and social aspects.
ROSSEAUX, ULRICH. Die Kipper und Wipper als publizistisches Ereignis (1620–1626). Eine Studie zu den Strukturen öffentlicher Kommunikation im Zeitalter des Dreißigjährigen Krieges. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 2001.
Review: H. Duchhardt in HZ 275 (2002), 746–747: Praiseworthy for its breadth and attention to original evidence, this study focuses on the structure of public communication during the period of the Thirty Years War. Treats some 100 pamphlets, 45 broadsheets of the era. An important contribution to the currently blossoming field of historical communications research.
SCHAUB, JEAN-FREDERIC. La France espagnole. Les racines historiques de l'absolutisme français. Paris: Seuil, 2003.
Review: J. Nicolas in QL 848 (du 16 au 28 Février 2003), 21–22: "Autant d'emprunts qui soulignent le passage de la prépondérance espagnole au Grand Siècle français, autant de captations thématiques dont s'abreuve l'absolutisme louisquatorzien, en un temps où la langue castillane et l'esthétique hispanique conservent un statut privilégié à la Cour comme dans la diplomatie et les salons lettrés. Une influence et un rôle négligés jusqu'ici par une historiographie cloisonnée, nous dit Jean-Frédéric Schaub, et si directement en prise sur l'archive immédiate (. . .) qu'elle en a oublié l'esprit d'une époque. Sans crainte d'ouvrir trop largement le champ des représentations et reflets—une histoire au second degré, nécessairement discursive—, l'auteur multiplie les exemples de détournements symboliques, puisés à pleines mains dans l'imagerie royale comme dans la littérature hispanisante."
SCHMALE, WOLFGANG. Geschichte Europas. Wien/Köln/Weimar: Böhlau, 2001.
Review: W. Loth in HZ 275 (2002), 406–407: Loth indicates a few reservations and would rename Schmale's study as follows: "Beiträge zu einer Geschichte der europäischen Zivilisation" [Contributions Toward a History of European Civilization], indicating its important focus on civilization. Includes surveys of myths, cartography, definitions, international systems of power, knowledge and economy, as well as a study of the Early Modern allegory of Europe as a woman.
SENIOR, MATTHEW. "Seeing the Versailles Ménagerie." PFSCL XXX, 59 (2003), 351–363.
Examines the importance of the visual in understanding the Ménagerie built at Versailles by Le Vau.
SIMIZ, STEFANO. Confréries urbaines et dévotion en Champagne (1450–1830). Lille: P U du Septentrion, 2001.
Review: V. Beaulande in BHR 65.2 (2003), 514–16: "Ce livre, issu de la thèse de doctorat de l'auteur, prend pour objet les confréries de dévotion des trois villes épiscopales de la Champagne, Reims, Troyes et Châlons. Le postulat de départ. . . est que la confrérie est un lieu de rencontre entre les aspirations dévotionnelles laïques et l'autorité cléricale, rencontre parfois conflictuelle, souvent souhaitée."
SOLL, JACOB. "Empirical History and the Transformation of Political Criticism in France from Bodin to Bayle." JHI 64 (2003) 297–316.
"This article shows how 16th and 17th c. arguments about historical evidence and elite humanist traditions of textual criticism and historical method evolved into the secular political theory of the 18th c. It shows how the French crown sponsored scholars who worked on empirical, source-based history as a tool for political prudence, but as this critical historical methodology became public, the crown realized it could be used against its interest" (abstract).
SZANTO, MICKAËL. "The Fortunes of a Northern Artist in Seventeenth-Century Paris: The Forgotten Years of Herman van Swanevelt." Burlington 1200 (2003), 199–205.
Describes in some detail the life of this once-renowned Dutch artist during this time in Paris, and speculates as to why so little is known or written about this period of his life, which seems to have been a fruitful one.
THILLAY, ALAIN. Le Faubourg Saint-Antoine et ses "Faux Ouvriers." La liberté du travail à Paris aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles. Seyssel: Champ Vallon, 2002.
Review: J. Nicolas in QL 844 (16 au 31 Décembre 2002), 20–21: Thillay "éclaire l'émergence d'un espace historique qui prend son envol au temps de Henri IV sur le territoire champêtre qui s'étale côté rive droite de la Seine. (. . .) Voici que le mouvement s'accélère quand les lettres patentes de 1657 accordent à tout le Faubourg un privilège inouï pour l'époque, l'entière liberté de travail. (. . .) Acte souverain, étonnant par son libéralisme en un temps colbertien où le roi prétendait tout contrôler. Hésitations du pouvoir, respect archaïque des puissances cléricales maîtresses des lieux, encouragement accordé aux institutions religieuses dans leur patronage des pauvres, alors que la misère aboie de tous côtés ? Alain Thillay propose la gamme des motifs, mais il suggère aussi qu'il s'agit peut—être d'un choix délibéré, une sorte de ballon d'essai, comme une amorce volontariste de libre concurrence dans un dispositif par ailleurs verrouillé—en somme une saine manifestation de pragmatisme étatique."
WAGNER, MARIE-FRANCE & CLAIRE LE BRUN-GOUANVIC, eds. Les Arts du spectacle dans la ville (1404–1721). Paris: Champion, 2001.
Review: M.-C. Canova-Green in MLR 97.4 (2002), 958: Ten essays "on large-scale public spectacle in early modern Europe describe the transformations of urban space from the Middle Ages to the Age of Enlightenment." Of interest to dix-septiémistes are articles on the transformation of the French royal entry into a political spectacle (Wagner), transplantation of the ritual to the New World (Fournier), the development of the foire and the cours in 17th-century Paris (Vaillancourt), and the "aesthetic transformation of a political myth (the killing of the Hydra/Python by Hercules/Apollo), from an automaton repeatedly used for firework displays to a static allegorical painting celebrating the transcendent power of Louis XIV (Siguret)."
Review: J. Clarke in FS 57.4 (2003). Though the articles in this collection actually have little to do with the notion of spectacle, according to the reviewer, it is nonetheless an interesting and worthwhile reading for its text-based analysis. The collection notably covers works by Corneille, Molière as well as more general themes: use of stage machinery, the comédie-ballets, pastoral theater and the Comédie-Italienne. Of particular interest, says the reviewer, is Guy Spielmann's concluding article on the "syntaxe du spectaculaire" during the seventeenth century.
Review: K. Schoell in RF 114 (2002): 500–503: The Acts of a Congress on performance arts, these two volumes arrange their texts and essays chronologically and thematically as the titles of the volumes indicate. 17th c. specialists will welcome stimulating and well-documented treatments of subjects as diverse as "entrées royales," "une syntaxe du spectaculaire," mechanical figures and monsters, the theology of sacrifice, the pastorale, Corneille's Illusion, Molière's comédies-ballets, among others.
WENLEY, ROBERT. French Bronzes in the Wallace Collection.
Review: V. Avery in Burlington 1206 (2003), 654: A "thoroughly researched, beautifully written and richly illustrated book" which fills an important gap by cataloguing 34 of the Wallace Collection's nearly 100 small-scale French bronzes dating from the late sixteenth to early nineteenth centuries. Includes "highly informative introductory essays," biographies of the sculptors, a bibliography, and an index of people and places, though it lacks a subject index and illustrated index of the 40 bronzes yet to be covered. Fulfills its goal of providing further study of French bronze statuettes as well as a layman's introduction to the topic.
WINE, HUMPHREY. The Seventeenth Century French Paintings. London: National Gallery, 2002.
Review: D. Posner in Choice 40 (2002), 460: A "lucid, thorough, up-to-date" catalog of the seventeenth-century French paintings in London's National Gallery.
WOLFE, PHILLIP J. and KATHRYN WILLIS, eds. Humanisme et Politique. Lettres romaines de Christophe Dupuy à ses frères (1646–1649), vol II. Paris-Seattle-Tübingen: Biblio 17/PFSCL, 1997.
Review: D. Course in CdDS 8.2 (2003), 103–04: Although Pierre and Jacques Dupuy's correspondence has long been studied by literary historians, that of their brother Christophe, who took vows, has remained overlooked. Collection is especially useful concerning relations between France and Rome, and on the acquisition of rare books. Reviewer compliments the editors' notes, and calls the volume a "rare opportunité d'entrer de plein pied dans la vie quotidienne des Curieux et autres savants du siècle."
WOLLENBERG, JÖRG. "Richelieu et le système européen de sécurité collective. La bibliothèque du Cardinal comme centre intellectuel d'une nouvelle politique." In DSS no. 210 (2001): 99–112.
Review: A. Arrigoni in SFr XLVI, 136 (2002): 219: Pertinent analyses convey the importance of theoretical elaboration for Richelieu's significant and modern reflections on European peace and security.
ZANGER, ABBY E. Scenes from the Marriage of Louis XIV: Nuptial Fictions and the Making of Absolutist Power. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1996.
Review: S. Toczyski in CdDS 8.2 (2003), 117–19: Challenges prevailing wisdom on royal representation (Kantorowicz, Marin, Apostolidès) by introducing the variable of the queen's body, both virginal and fecund. Examines the discourse surrounding the queen's body in occasional pamphlets, almanacs, and letters, as well as in works by Scudéry, Menestrier, and Corneille; all demonstrate how "the female body is deemed central to absolutist logic, although such collaboration must be concealed from public consideration" (ST). "A rich example of the best kind of cultural studies," reviewer concludes.