Law, City, and King

An in-depth examination of political activities in early modern France that opens up new perspectives on the local workings of the French state and the experiences of those who participated in it.

Michael P. Breen

Michael Breen has written an important book that will do much to recast our understanding of seventeenth-century French society. Deeply researched and cogently written, it sheds new light on the development of the French monarchy, the changing status of French cities, the place of the law in French political culture, and above all, the transformation of a crucial social group: lawyers. Historians, historical sociologists, and anyone interested in the relationship between law and society will find it a very rewarding read. --David A. Bell, Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities, Johns Hopkins University, and author of The First Total War Once considered a "rising bourgeoisie," the merchants and lawyers who dominated the urban oligarchies of early modern France have been largely abandoned by historians in favor of regional aristocracies and robe nobilities as collaborators in the construction of French absolute monarchy. This welcome study of political culture and the legal profession in Dijon brings these influential urban figures back into focus and makes an important contribution to our understanding of their intellectual and political role in seventeenth-century French society. --William Beik, Professor of History, Emory University Law, City, and King ... is a fine contribution to an important set of ongoing debates, and a welcome instance of how a history of the French middle classes might be rewritten... These (The) arguments rest on impressive research, both in Dijon's civic records and in the surprisingly extensive records that the city's lawyers left of their private lives and thoughts; Breen also displays a wide and sympathetic understanding of other historical research on these issues. --Jonathan Dewald, H-France Review, March 2008