Julian Swann analyzes the organization, membership and powers of the Estates General of Burgundy during the classic period of absolute monarchy. Swann explores the activities of their administration and their struggles for power with rival institutions as well as their relationships with the crown and with the Burgundian people. His study reveals much about the government of Louis XIV, the history of Burgundy and the wider political history of eighteenth-century France, including the origins of the French Revolution.

Before the revolution of 1789, politics in France was based on the relationship between the king and the Parlement of Paris. After 1750, the two sides entered into serious conflict about Louis XV's religious, financial and administrative policies, and in 1771 the Parlement was abolished. This book examines the causes of what contemporaries called "the Revolution of 1771." It examines government under Louis XV, the role of the Parlement and how politics worked in eighteenth-century France.

Julian Swann analyzes the organization, membership and powers of the Estates General of Burgundy during the classic period of absolute monarchy. Swann explores the activities of their administration and their struggles for power with rival institutions as well as their relationships with the crown and with the Burgundian people. His study reveals much about the government of Louis XIV, the history of Burgundy and the wider political history of eighteenth-century France, including the origins of the French Revolution.

On the accession of Louis XIII in 1610 following the assassination of his father, the Bourbon dynasty stood on unstable foundations. For all of Henri IV's undoubted achievements, he had left his son a realm that was still prey to the ambitions of an aristocracy that possessed independent military force and was prepared to resort to violence and vendetta in order to defend its interests and honour. To establish his personal authority, Louis XIII was forced to resort to conspiracy and murder, and even then his authority was constantly challenged. Yet a little over a century later, as the reign...