Blood and Violence in Early Modern FranceThe rise of civilized conduct and behaviour has long been seen as one of the major factors in the transformation from medieval to modern society. Thinkers and historians alike argue that violence progressively declined as men learned to control their emotions. The feud is a phenomenon associated with backward societies, and in the West duelling codified behaviour and channelled aggression into ritualised combats that satisfied honour without the shedding of blood. French manners andcodes of civility laid the foundations of civilized Western values. But as this original work of archival research shows we continue to romanticize violence in the era of the swashbuckling swordsman. In France, thousands of men died in duels in which the rules of the game were regularly flouted.Many duels were in fact mini-battles and must be seen not as a replacement of the blood feud, but as a continuation of vengeance-taking in a much bloodier form. This book outlines the nature of feuding in France and its intensification in the wake of the Protestant Reformation, civil war and dynastic weakness, and considers the solutions proposed by thinkers from Montaigne to Hobbes. The creation of the largest standing army in Europe since the Romans was one such solution, but themilitarization of society, a model adopted throughout Europe, reveals the darker side of the civilizing process. |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
accused ambush ANJJ ANJJ 261 fo Anjony Antoine ANX2b arms assassination attack Auvergne baron blood BNMS Brantôme Bréauté brother Catholic challenge Charles château chevalier church civil clan combat comte comte de Rochefort corpse court crime death dispute duel duelling early modern early modern France elite enemy feud fight Floquet force fought France François French Gadagne God’s Gramont Guise Haute-Garonne Henri Henri IV honour hunting issued Jacques Jean June justice killed king king’s letters of pardon letters of remission livres Louis XIV marquis medieval Mémoires murder neighbour nobility nobles Normandy one’s opponent parish Parlement of Paris peace peasants Périgord Pierre pistol Poitou political Protestant provinces quarrel revenge Rouen royal seigneur Seine-Maritime Sept seventeenth century sieur sixteenth century social status supplicant sword tion Tournemire Upper Auvergne vengeance victim vindicatory violence vols Wars of Religion wounded