Les Bourgeois Gentilshommes: An Essay On The Definition Of Elites In Renaissance France
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Book: Good
Jacket: Very good
Pages: Good
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A rigorous work of Renaissance social history, Les Bourgeois Gentilshommes presents a compelling argument about the fluid and contested nature of elite identity in early modern France. George Huppert challenges the traditional boundaries between the bourgeoisie and the nobility, illustrating how a rising class of educated, ambitious commoners actively constructed and claimed genteel status through culture, law, and civic office rather than birth alone. With meticulous archival research and a sharp analytical tone, the work details the strategies by which these bourgeois gentilshommes negotiated their place at the top of French provincial society during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Huppert argues persuasively that the definition of elite status in Renaissance France was not fixed but was instead a dynamic social achievement, shaped by education, wealth, and the performance of noble virtues. This landmark study remains essential reading for historians of early modern Europe and anyone interested in the origins of class, social mobility, and the construction of privilege.
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Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Very good
Pages: Good
Markings: No markings
A rigorous work of Renaissance social history, Les Bourgeois Gentilshommes presents a compelling argument about the fluid and contested nature of elite identity in early modern France. George Huppert challenges the traditional boundaries between the bourgeoisie and the nobility, illustrating how a rising class of educated, ambitious commoners actively constructed and claimed genteel status through culture, law, and civic office rather than birth alone. With meticulous archival research and a sharp analytical tone, the work details the strategies by which these bourgeois gentilshommes negotiated their place at the top of French provincial society during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Huppert argues persuasively that the definition of elite status in Renaissance France was not fixed but was instead a dynamic social achievement, shaped by education, wealth, and the performance of noble virtues. This landmark study remains essential reading for historians of early modern Europe and anyone interested in the origins of class, social mobility, and the construction of privilege.
