Changing Identities in Early Modern France

Abstract

Changing Identities in Early Modern France offers new interpretations of what it meant to be French during a period of profound transition, from the outbreak of the Hundred Years War in the mid-fourteenth century to the consolidation of the Bourbon monarchy in the seventeenth century. These essays consider a period when medieval notions were gradually giving way to new definitions of the state, society, and family; when dynastic struggles and religious wars raised new questions about loyalty and identity; when the meaning of Frenchness was very much in flux. The collection begins by examining the interplay between competing ideologies and public institutions, from the monarchy to the Parliament of Paris to the aristocratic household. The volume then shifts to explore the dynamics of deviance and dissent, particularly as they involved women's roles in movements for religious reform, as well as topics such as the sensational phenomena of the witch hunts and infanticide trials. Concluding essays speak to the complex ways in which, in response to the discovery of the New World and the spectacular spread of Calvinism, regional and confessional identities reshaped French identity. Avoiding the historicist trap of imputing a certain inevitability or sense of progress to actions taken long ago, this important volume questions the notion that modern national identities represent the culmination of long developments that stretch back seamlessly to the Middle Ages. Changing Identities in Early Modern France will be valued for its incisive exploration of questions at the leading edge of the most recent historical methodologies and will be of particular interest to students and scholars of France, the early modern period, and the history of religion. Contributors: Charmarie Blaisdell, William Bouwsma, Lawrence M. Bryant, Denis Crouzet, Robert Descimon, Barbara B. Diefendorf, Richard M. Golden, Sarah Hanley, Mack P. Holt, Donald R. Kelley, Kristen B. Neuschel, J. H. M. Salmon, Zachary Sayre Schiffman, Silvia Shannon, Alfred Soman, and Michael Wolfe.