Liberty and Locality in Revolutionary France: Six Villages Compared, 17601820 [Hardcover]

A comparative 'micro-history' for the period between the old and the new France, 17601820.This is the first 'comparative micro-historical' study to have been attempted for the period between the old and the new France, 1760 1820. It analyses in great depth six small localities in an attempt to explain how country dwellers cut themselves loose from the congeries of local societies that made up the ancien régime, and attached themselves to the wider polity of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic state. The result is a strikingly new perspective on the rural history of France during an epoch of momentous change.This is the first 'comparative micro-historical' study to have been attempted for the period between the old and the new France, 1760 1820. It analyses in great depth six small localities in an attempt to explain how country dwellers cut themselves loose from the congeries of local societies that made up the ancien régime, and attached themselves to the wider polity of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic state. The result is a strikingly new perspective on the rural history of France during an epoch of momentous change.This comparative micro-historical study for the transitional period between the old and the new France, (1760-1820) analyzes six small localities. It explains how country dwellers disengaged themselves from the congeries of local societies that made up the ancien régime, and attached themselves to the wider polity of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic state. The result is a strikingly new perspective on the rural history of France during an epoch of momentous change.List of illustrations; List of tables; Acknowledgements; Introduction; 1. Mise-en-sc?ne; 2. The structures of village life towards the end of the ancien r?gime; 3. Agendas for change: 17871790; 4. A new civic landscape; 5. Sovereignty in the village; 6. Church and state in miniature; 7. Land of liberty?; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index. Jones' expert knowledge oflÃT