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Under glittering lights in the Louvre palace, the French court ballets danced by Queen Marie de Médicis prior to Henri IV’s assassination in 1610 attracted thousands of spectators ranging from pickpockets to ambassadors from across Europe. Drawing on newly discovered primary sources as well as theories and methodologies derived from literary studies, political history, musicology, dance studies, and women’s and gender studies, Dancing Queen traces how Marie’s ballets authorized her incipient political authority through innovative verbal and visual imagery, avant-garde musical developments, and ceremonial arrangements of objects and bodies in space. Making use of women’s semi-official status as political agents, Marie’s ballets also manipulated the subtle social and cultural codes of international courtly society in order to more deftly navigate rivalries and alliances both at home and abroad. At times the queen’s productions could challenge Henri IV’s immediate interests, contesting the influence enjoyed by his mistresses or giving space to implied critiques of official foreign policy, for example. Such defenses of Marie’s own position, though, took shape as part of a larger governmental program designed to promote the French consort queen’s political authority not in its own right but as a means of maintaining power for the new Bourbon monarchy in the event of Henri IV’s untimely death.

In the first half of the 19th century, the “Descente de la Courtille” (la Courtille is one the popular suburbs around Paris) sets a term to the Carnival celebrations. From the newspapers articles, drama shows, chronicles, literary production which describe the parade, emerges the idea that the wild street procession acts like a visual dramatization of what is called, since the Revolution’s days, “Th e People” as the subject and actor of modern history. We propose to analyze a corpus of contemporary texts which document this perspective and indirectly give voice to political and philanthropic issues currently debated during the Bourbon Restauration and the July Monarchy.

This chapter examines the two revolutions that caused the downfall of the Bourbon monarchy in France in 1792 and again in 1830. It begins with an overview of the Parisian police and its responsibilities, along with the royal structure for public order. It then considers the use of the royal army to deal with public disturbances and goes on to describe the geography of Paris before Baron Georges-Eugène Hausmann rebuilt the city for Napoleon III in the 1850s and 1860s. It also discusses the causes of revolutions in France and the different patterns of behavior or types of threat that a regime might face. Finally, it explains the causes and events leading to the French Revolution that overthrew the Bourbons in 1792, the return of the brothers of the executed King Louis XVI to rule France under a self-imposed form of constitutional monarchy in 1814 and 1815, and the July Revolution of 1830 that led to the collapse of the Bourbon monarchy for the second time.

On the night of 25 June 1815, an angry mob surged through the streets of Marseille baying for Egyptian blood. The pogrom had begun as a settling of political scores with the Bonapartists, who had dominated this royalist stronghold under the Empire, and again during the Hundred Days of Napoleon’s return to power from his exile on Elba. But it rapidly took on a racial cast. Intoxicated by violence, the crowd accompanying the royalist militias began to focus their fury upon easier targets, those whose color or dress marked them out as guilty. Within hours, dozens lay butchered in the

When the brother of Louis XVI returned to France as Louis XVIII and head of the restored Bourbon monarchy, he knew that his monarchy must be founded on reconciliation, not revenge. By April of 1814, his brother’s death by execution, while still a signal event in the nation’s history and a matter of living memory for thousands, took its place among other spectacular moments in twenty-five years of revolutionary and Napoleonic rule. The Charter of 1814, which would provide the written basis for royal authority over the next thirty-four years, recognized basic civil liberties and created a bicameral legislature. It

In Friendship and Politics in Post-Revolutionary France, Sarah Horowitz brings together the political and cultural history of post-revolutionary France to illuminate how French society responded to and recovered from the upheaval of the French Revolution. The Revolution led to a heightened sense of distrust and divided the nation along ideological lines. In the wake of the Terror, many began to express concerns about the atomization of French society. Friendship, though, was regarded as one bond that could restore trust and cohesion. Friends relied on each other to serve as confidantes and men and women described friendship as a site of both pleasure and connection. Because trust and cohesion were necessary to the functioning of post-revolutionary parliamentary life, politicians turned to friends and ideas about friendship to create this solidarity. Relying on detailed analyses of politicians’ social networks, new tools from arising from the digital humanities, and examinations of their behind-the-scenes political transactions, Horowitz makes clear the connection between politics and emotions in the early nineteenth century, and she reevaluates the role of women in political life by showing the ways in which the personal was the political in the post-revolutionary era.

In Friendship and Politics in Post-Revolutionary France, Horowitz brings together the political and cultural history of post-revolutionary France to show how French society responded to and recovered from the upheaval of the French Revolution. The Revolution led to a heightened sense of distrust and divided the nation along ideological lines. In the wake of the Terror, many began to express concerns about the atomization of French society. Friendship was regarded as one bond that could restore trust and cohesion. Because trust and cohesion were necessary to post-revolutionary parliamentary life, politicians turned to friends and ideas about friendship to create solidarity. Relying on detailed analyses of politicians’ social networks, new tools from the digital humanities, and examinations of behind-the-scenes political transactions, Horowitz makes clear the connection between politics and emotions in the early nineteenth century, and reevaluates the role of women in political life.

In May 1774, Louis XV died, triggering a sequence of rituals unseen in fifty-nine years. This book explores how these one-in-a-reign rituals unfolded fifteen years before the Revolution. From the deathbed of Louis XV, the book covers his funeral, the lit de justice of November 1774, and the coronation of Louis XVI and related ceremonies in June 1775, relating them all to the politics of the day. Threads of continuity emerge from this closely woven narrative to form a compelling picture of these ceremonies in the dynamic culture of 1770s France. Light is shed on the place of monarchy, the recall of the parlements and the conduct of the coronation. This study provides an overview of the current state of the field of ritual studies in English and French, situating ritual in relation to court studies as well as political history. It covers court life, the relationship between the monarch and the parlement, the preparation of large-scale rituals and the ways in which those outside the court engaged with these events, providing rich detail on this under-researched period. Written in a clear, lively style, this book is the ideal text for the non-specialist and, as each chapter deals with one ritual, it lends itself readily to undergraduate teaching of topics around monarchy, court society, ritual, and politics, including the Maupeou coup. More advanced students and specialists on the period will find new perspectives and information presented in an engaging manner.

Au cours du premier xix e siècle, la professionnalisation des consuls de France se poursuit. Nommés par le roi et rétribués par l’État, ils suivent désormais une véritable carrière caractérisée par des mutations fréquentes, souvent dans des espaces géographiques et culturels hétérogènes. Le ministère des Affaires étrangères exige d’eux des compétences généralistes. Des ordonnances fixent les règles de fonctionnement de la carrière, qui se ferme entre 1833 et 1845, le passage par le statut d’élève vice-consul devenant obligatoire. La professionnalisation ne met pas un terme à la pratique de la faveur. À partir des recommandations contenues dans les dossiers personnels des consuls, cet article étudie aussi les liens entre les consuls et leurs soutiens, l’objectif des recommandations et leur prise en compte par le ministère. Il en ressort que la mobilisation par les consuls de leur capital social est utile pour leur carrière, mais que leurs compétences constituent l’élément déterminant de leur réussite professionnelle, ce qui fait du ministère un espace relativement méritocratique. During the first xix th century, the professionalization of the consuls of France continues. From now on, all appointed by the king and remunerated by the State, follow a true career characterised by frequent mutations, often in heterogeneous geographical and cultural areas. The ministry of Foreign Affairs demands non-specialised competences. Orders fix the rules of functioning of the career, which closes up between 1833 and 1845, passage by vice-consul pupil’s status becoming compulsory. The professionalization doesn’t put an end to the practice of favour. From recommendations contained in the personal files of the consuls, this article studies also links between the consuls and their support, objective of recommendations and their consideration by the ministry. It emerges from it that the mobilisation by the consuls of their social capital is useful for their career, but that their competences constitute the decisive element of their professional success, what makes the ministry a space relatively méritocratic.

La administración de correos de Cartagena de Indias, creada en 1765 bajo el marco de la reforma borbónica del correo, se concibió como una institución productora de documentos en torno a la materia de la circulación de la comunicación postal hispanoamericana. En este artículo examinamos la génesis de la documentación producida por esta oficina postal, abordando las diferentes fases por las que atraviesa la elaboración de sus documentos tanto en la actio como en la conscriptio. Esta investigación revela cómo la estafeta cartagenera contaba con un procedimiento de confección documental normalizado y racional, en consonancia con las necesidades burocráticas del momento.