Absolute monarchy on the frontiers

This book deals with the French military occupations of Lorraine and Savoy during the personal rule of Louis XIV (1661–1715). It investigates the aims and intentions of the French monarchy in occupying these regions, the problems of administering them, and French relations with key local elite groups.

This book deals with the French military occupations of Lorraine and Savoy during the personal rule of Louis XIV (1661–1715). It investigates the aims and intentions of the French monarchy in occupying these regions, the problems of administering them, and French relations with key local elite groups.

French territorial ambitions and consequent military activity during the reign of Louis XIV ensured that a number of territories bordering on France were subject to military occupation for strategic reasons from the 1660s onwards. Drawing on extensive archival research, this study presents the occupation of two of these territories, Lorraine and Savoy, from a comparative perspective. It investigates the aims and intentions of the French monarchy in occupying these regions, the problems of administering them, and French relations with key local elite groups.Absolute monarchy on the frontiers makes a significant contribution to understanding this crucial era in the development of civil-military relations. It also places the occupations of Lorraine and Savoy within the framework of recent scholarship on early modern border societies and frontiers, and on the practice of ‘absolutism’ at the frontiers of the French kingdom. The book will appeal particularly to scholars and students of early modern France and Europe.

MapsIntroductionPart 1: The eastern frontiers of France in the age of Louis XIV1. Lorraine, Savoy and the frontiers of France2. Military occupation in French frontier strategyPart 2: Administration on the frontiers3. The structures of occupation4. The burdens of occupationPart 3: The local elites under French occupation5. The nobilities6. The administrative elites7. The churchConclusionAppendix: The officers of the sovereign companies of Savoy, 1690-1713BibliographyIndex