The Court of France 17891830 [Paperback]

The post-Revolution emergence of a stronger monarchy and larger and more elitist courts than had previously existed is shown in this descriptive account of the succession of courts in France from the revolutionary period to the fall of Charles X.The post-Revolution emergence of a stronger monarchy and larger and more elitist courts than had previously existed is shown in this descriptive account of the succession of courts in France from the revolutionary period to the fall of Charles X.This attractively illustrated volume describes the succession of courts and monarchies in France from the revolutionary period to the fall of Charles X. It shows decisively that the revolution resulted in a stronger monarchy and a larger and more elitist series of courts than had previously existed. The book is based on many years of research in public and private archives throughout Europe. New light is thrown on the nature of the French Revolution and on the character and policies of Louis XVI, Napoleon I, Louis XVIII, and Charles X, who led their courts through periods of unprecedented formality and splendor.List of plates and figures; Acknowledgements; Introduction; 1. Revolutions; 2. Crossing the desert; 3. Napoleon; 4 Power; 5. The year of two courts; 6. Reform; 7. The promised land; 8. Kings and courtiers; 9. Money; Epilogue; The Citizen King; Appendixes; Bibliography; Index. A shrewd observor of etiquette, a scholar thoroughly conversant with the subtleties of French Court life, Mansel gives us an invaluable source of information on an almost perennial trait of French official life. The Eighteenth Century Basing his work upon some 15 years of archival research, Mansel has written what should be the definitive work in English on the French court. Beginning with the court of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette just prior to the French Revolution of 1789, he follows with much care the role, function, and position of the enormous number of courtiers through the regimes of NalóÏ