INTRODUCTION in the Seventeenth Century, the Government of France

INTRODUCTION

In the seventeenth century, the government of France embarked upon an ambitious agenda of centralization with the twin aims of taming the centrifugal forces of religious and provincial particularism, and im- posing a pervasive ﬁscal system capable of supporting the voracious de- mands of an expanding military establishment. All levels of French society resisted this process and the early modern French state was plagued by a near-constant series of popular riots, revolts, and rebellions of vary- ing scope, intensity, and duration. Scarcely a year passed without a vio- lent incident of some kind and the frequency of popular uprisings is a conspicuous characteristic of the early modern French state. Despite their signiﬁcance, seventeenth-century popular uprisings did not become the subject of serious historical analysis until the mid- twentieth century. In 1948, Soviet historian Boris Porchnev published a comprehensive study that examined popular uprisings in France from 1623–1648.1 Written in Russian, Porchnev’s seminal work remained in a state of relative obscurity until the publication of a German translation in 1954.2 In the mid-1950s, French historians began to question Porchnev’s Marxist-inspired assertions about the social character and the social dynamics of seventeenth-century popular uprisings.3 Even so, the subject did not achieve real currency among historians until a French translation of Porchnev’s book appeared in 1963.4 The publication of Les soulèvements populaires en France de 1623 à 1648 marked the beginning of a decades-long debate between Porchnev and French historian Roland Mousnier. The general subject of their sometimes acrimonious exchanges was the structure of seventeenth- century French society: was it divided horizontally along economic and class lines as suggested by Porchnev or, as Mousnier argued, were

1 Narodnie Vosstaniya vo Frantsii pered Frondoi, 1623–1648 (Moscow, 1948). 2 Die Volksaufstande in Frankreich, 1623–1648 (Berlin, 1954). 3 Roland Mousnier, “Recherches sur les soulèvements populaires en France avant la Fronde,” Revue d’histoire moderne et contemporaine, 5 (April–June, 1958), 81–113. 4 Les soulèvements populaires en France de 1623 à 1648 (Paris, 1963). 2 introduction societal groupings primarily vertical in nature, with different strata of society displaying a common interest in protecting their various privileges from the unrelenting, if sometimes clumsy, encroachments of royal authority?5 The controversy between these two formidable historians was instru- mental in generating a number of monographs examining seventeenth century peasant uprisings. The most significant contributions were those made by Mousnier’s own students: Madeleine Foisil investigated the revolts that occurred in Normandy during the summer and fall of 1639;6 Yves-Marie Bercé examined the series of disturbances that plagued much of southwestern France during the troubled 1630sand 1640s;7 and Réné Pillorget produced a study of insurrections in Pro- vence.8 Considering the circumstances surrounding their origins, it is not surprising that the works produced in this golden period of research on popular uprisings in France concentrated primarily on those that occurred during the first half of the seventeenth century. With few exceptions, the historiography remains barren of any discussion of revolts under Louis XIV.9 More significantly, each of the works men- tioned above is concerned almost exclusively with the origins and social dynamics of popular resistance to royal initiatives. None of these works undertakes a systematic and comprehensive analysis of what must cer- tainly be considered one of the most important stages in any popular revolt: the response of royal authorities.

5 The best summary of the debate between Porchnev and his primary opponent, French historian Roland Mousnier, remains J.H.M. Salmon, “Venality of Oﬃce and Popular Sedition in Seventeenth Century France: A Review of the Controversy,” Past and Present, 37 (July, 1967), 21–43. Also of interest is the review written by Daniel Ligou in the Revue d’histoire économique et sociale, 62 (1964) and Robert Mandrou’s review of the German translation of Porchnev’s work in Annales: économies, sociétés, civilisations, 14, no. 4 (October–December, 1959). The interested reader should also look at Porchnev’s introduction to the 1963 French translation of his work, to Mousnier’s introduction to his Lettres et mémoires adressés au Chancelier Séguier (1633–1649), 2 vols. (Paris, 1964), and to Mousnier’s La vénalité des oﬃces sous Henri IV et Louis XIII (Paris, 1945). Also important are Mousnier, Les Institutions de la France sous la monarchie d’ancien régime, 2 vols. (Paris, 1975 and 1980) and Mousnier, Fureurs paysannes: Les paysans dans les révoltes du XVIIe siècle (France, Russie, Chine) (Paris, 1967) available in translation as Peasant Uprisings in Seventeenth Century France, Russia and China, trans. Brian Pearce (New York, 1970). 6 La Révolte des Nu-Pieds et les révoltes normandes de 1639 (Paris, 1970). 7 Histoire des Croquants: étude des soulèvements populaires au XVIIe siècle dans la sud-ouest de la France, 2 vols. (Geneva, 1974). 8 Les mouvements insurrectionnels en Provence entre 1596 et 1715 (Paris, 1975). 9 Leon Bernard, “French Society and Popular Uprisings under Louis XIV,” French Historical Studies, vol. III, no. 4 (Fall, 1964), 454–474.