A social historian of modern France, Robert Forster discovered a series of father-to-son letters that presented an unusual opportunity to trace in human terms the impact of institutions and cultural norms on eighteenth-century French society. From these letters and other family papers, Forster reconstructed a family biography of the Deponts of La Rochelle over four generations. Their story affords new insights into the workings of institutions-economic, religious, legal, administrative-the mentality of provincial notables, the world of Parisian high finance and salon society, and the response...
A social historian of modern France, Robert Forster discovered a series of father-to-son letters that presented an unusual opportunity to trace in hum...
In The House of Saulx-Tavanes: Versailles and Burgundy, 1700-1830, Professor Robert Forster examines the noble family of Saulx-Tavanes from the reign of Louis XIV to the Restoration. He provides readers with an account of a single aristocratic family's relationship to the changing political culture of the eighteenth century. Forster explores how an old aristocratic family promoted itself in the royal court, how the Saulx-Tavanes managed their estate remotely from Paris, and how the family's relationship to its creditors changed over time. Forster examines the ambiguities of one noble family's...
In The House of Saulx-Tavanes: Versailles and Burgundy, 1700-1830, Professor Robert Forster examines the noble family of Saulx-Tavanes from the reign ...