Social Relations, Politics, and Power in Early Modern France: Robert Descimon and the Historian’s Craft, ed. Barbara B. Diefendorf

Abstract

This is a finely crafted and coherent collection, edited by Barbara B. Diefendorf, which explores the considerable influence of the published research as well as the scholarly exchange and collaboration of the French historian Robert Descimon. Little known perhaps to non-francophone early modernists, this volume provides an anglophone overview of Descimon’s methodological approaches and historiographical contribution to the field of early modern French history and, in particular, his impact on the work of North American scholars who make up the vast majority of the contributors. It is, therefore, both a personal and academic tribute to Descimon’s scholarship, borne of great affection as well as high regard, which is returned in kind by Descimon in the final chapter. Yet, as all such collections should, the chapters also go well beyond Descimon’s own work to reflect on recent research. Nevertheless, if anyone remains in doubt about the extent of his contribution, a bibliography of some 128 published works is provided, testimony to over forty years of academic endeavour.