Description
Book SynopsisThis book deals with the French military occupations of Lorraine and Savoy during the personal rule of Louis XIV (1661-1715). It casts important new light on the aims and intentions (and also the limitations) of the French state in the seventeenth century, and makes a significant contribution to understanding a crucial era in the development of civil-military relations.
Absolute monarchy on the frontiers presents the occupations of Lorraine and Savoy from a comparative perspective, and draws on the experience of several other French occupations of the period, including those of Nice and Luxembourg. It places the occupations within the context of French frontier strategy and foreign policy in the seventeenth century, with particular reference to the French monarchy's relationship to Lorraine and Savoy as frontier states. It then charts the way the French government administered occupied territories, and how this differed from the practice of 'absolutism' wit
Table of Contents
Maps
Introduction
Part 1: The eastern frontiers of France in the age of Louis XIV
1. Lorraine, Savoy and the frontiers of France
2. Military occupation in French frontier strategy
Part 2: Administration on the frontiers
3. The structures of occupation
4. The burdens of occupation
Part 3: The local elites under French occupation
5. The nobilities
6. The administrative elites
7. The church
Conclusion
Appendix: The officers of the sovereign companies of Savoy, 1690-1713
Bibliography
Index
