State and Society in Eighteenth-Century France: A Study of Political Power and Social Revolution in Languedoc

The old regime province of Languedoc provides the setting for Stephen Miller's rich analysis of state and society relations in eighteenth-century France. Continuing where William Beik's pathbreaking seventeenth-century study ends, this book sheds new light on the origins of the French Revolution and the social and political developments thereafter.

Beik's widely acclaimed study depicted Languedoc as the classic example of the ruling compromise between crown and the social elites established by Louis XIV. Building on this study, Miller shows that the monarchical state was far from being a neutral modernizing force. Rather it was committed to reinforcing not just fiscal inequalities, but also those of personal honor, authority, and rights.

Based on years of research in the National Archives of France as well as local archives, this book surveys recent scholarship on various aspects of political culture. It then sensibly stresses the importance of evaluating Languedoc in the economic and administrative context. Miller argues that the monarchy's search for revenue in the 1770s and 1780s led to close collaboration with the high-ranking nobles and ecclesiastics of the province.

The originality of Miller's research is its discovery that this devolution of power excluded the majority of the provincial elite from the circuits of royal authority. Impetus for opposition to royal absolutism in 1788 and 1789 came from nobles anxious to protect their privileges from the efforts of the crown and its allies to draw revenue from the province. This discovery, Miller shows, helps explain the difficulty the nobles had in winning political support from common subjects after 1789.

"Miller's work engages directly in an important debate over the nature of the absolutist state, an ongoing debate of interest to most serious scholars of eighteenth-century France. This book will advance the discussion."―Rafe Blaufarb, Florida State University

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Stephen Miller is associate professor of history at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. This is his first book.

PRAISE FOR THE BOOK:

"Miller's detailed study of elites and peasants triangulating power with a changing state through the 18th century and the revolution thus entails dialogue with scholars of today and classic observations by Montesquieu and Tocqueville. Miller carefully examines general and structural trends in income, investment, and social interactions within an uneasy dialectic of competing elites (nobility, hierarchical clergy, emergent merchants, local and regional institutions) grappling with the demands of the monarchy and the possibilities of revolutionary change. He enriches these portraits with numerous examples illustrating regional differences among ceremonial Toulouse, Protestants of Nimes, ports, and rural estates while paying close attention to the peasants and urban classes who challenged elites. . . . Readers. . . in history and French studies will appreciate its balanced review of ongoing debates and the questions and contributions the author advances. . . Recommended." ― G. W. McDonogh, Choice

"Miller thus addresses the important questions, and he does so with wide-ranging, imaginative research. He has explored tax rolls and wealth distribution, Old Regime political institutions, and the local unfolding of the revolution itself. The book is especially impressive for its reconstruction of the different levels of political action in the province, both before and after 1789." ― Jonathan Dewald, American Historical Review

"[A] detailed and informative scholarly study." ― James Hanrahan, French Studies

"Stephen Miller's erudite study of Languedoc explicitly builds upon the findings of historians of absolutism by affirming the cohabitation of aristocracy and Crown. . . . The vast canvas of Miller's book and his