Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of illustrations
- List of figures
- List of appendices
- List of map
- Preface
- List of abbreviations
- Map: The duchy of Burgundy in the eighteenth century
- 1 Historians, absolute monarchy and the provincial estates
- 2 Ancien régime Burgundy
- 3 The Estates General of Burgundy
- 4 Nosseigneurs les élus and the officers of the Estates
- 5 The provincial administration: authority and enforcement
- 6 ‘It's raining taxes’. Paying for the Sun King, 1661–1715
- 7 Provincial administration in an age of iron, 1661–1715
- 8 The limits of absolutism: crown, governor and the Estates in the eighteenth century
- 9 Provincial rivalries: the Estates and the Parlement of Dijon in the eighteenth century
- 10 Tax, borrow and lend: crown, Estates and finance, 1715–1789
- 11 An enlightened administration?
- 12 The coming of the French revolution in Burgundy, 1787–1789
- Conclusion
- Appendices
- Bibliography
- Index
2 - Ancien régime Burgundy
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 July 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of illustrations
- List of figures
- List of appendices
- List of map
- Preface
- List of abbreviations
- Map: The duchy of Burgundy in the eighteenth century
- 1 Historians, absolute monarchy and the provincial estates
- 2 Ancien régime Burgundy
- 3 The Estates General of Burgundy
- 4 Nosseigneurs les élus and the officers of the Estates
- 5 The provincial administration: authority and enforcement
- 6 ‘It's raining taxes’. Paying for the Sun King, 1661–1715
- 7 Provincial administration in an age of iron, 1661–1715
- 8 The limits of absolutism: crown, governor and the Estates in the eighteenth century
- 9 Provincial rivalries: the Estates and the Parlement of Dijon in the eighteenth century
- 10 Tax, borrow and lend: crown, Estates and finance, 1715–1789
- 11 An enlightened administration?
- 12 The coming of the French revolution in Burgundy, 1787–1789
- Conclusion
- Appendices
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Today the very name Burgundy conjures up a rich tapestry of images, from the chivalric splendour of the courts of the Valois dukes to the wines and gastronomic delicacies that embody the bucolic charm of provincial life. Nostalgia for a lost golden age is always best treated carefully, but a grain of truth does lurk behind this rosy picture. At its height in the mid-fifteenth century, the Burgundian state stretched from the foot of the Alps to the North Sea in a broad arc encompassing the duchy and comté of Burgundy, part of Lorraine, Luxembourg, Flanders and the Low Countries. Rich from the taxes and subsidies provided by the prosperous towns of the north, the Valois dukes raised courtly life to new heights, dazzling contemporaries with the magnificence of their artistic patronage. Yet the life of this new state was as brief as it was brilliant, coming to an end in a muddy field on a cold January day in 1477, with the death in battle of the last duke Charles le Téméraire. His great rival, Louis XI, struck quickly, wresting the duchy from the fallen duke's heir, his daughter Marie, whose subsequent marriage to Maximilian of Austria ensured that her other possessions became part of the bountiful patrimony of the House of Habsburg.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Provincial Power and Absolute MonarchyThe Estates General of Burgundy, 1661–1790, pp. 26 - 40Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2003