Loyalty in the French 17th Century Erudite Discourse

The formation of new bonds of loyalty in early Modern France, which were supposed to connect representatives of the noble estate of the kingdom directly to the figure of the monarch, bypassing traditional patron-client ties, reflected itself in the writings of French scholars. Institutionally connected with the French crown through the positions of historiographers and geographers at the royal court, as well as by their positions in the public service as officials and lawyers, the French erudites bore and expressed the ideology of the strengthening the French absolutism. Various genealogies and extensive genealogical histories of French noble families composed by the erudites were connected with the process of clarifying the boundaries of the noble estate, as well as with promoting an idea of loyalty to the crown as a highest value. Since the turn of the sixteenth and 17th centuries, the figure of the monarch in erudite treatises within the context of the idea of loyalty became increasingly abstract, names of the particular kings having almost completely disappeared from the dedications of erudite works. At the same time, the idea of loyalty to France as a whole was gaining strength, while France in itself was also designated as the “fatherland” (patrie) and was perceived not only as a unity of territories, but above all as a set of institutions and people. In addition to loyalty to a depersonalized homeland and to the more and more abstract figure of French monarch, a different kind of loyalty emerged in the 17th century erudite discourse, as the one which focused on the personalities of statesmen who often headed the institutions to which the authors of the corresponding works belonged. The service of these persons for the glory of France and the French crown was particularly emphasized. The topics of erudite writings ranging from the history of the various French institutions, the French monarchy and the French church to positions, dignities and titles, from the French language to the material remnants of French history (“antiquities”) also directed the reader’s mind to the idea of service and loyalty towards France. However, the formation of the idea of loyalty in the French erudite discourse was of dual and ambivalent nature. On the one hand, it is impossible to deny the trend of developing loyalty of a depersonalized nature, focused primarily on France and the French monarchy. On the other hand, the dedications of the erudite writings make it obvious that there was a network of personal connections of the erudites with leading statesmen of the era, who were often at the same time both their superiors in the service and patrons of their intellectual pursuits. These statesmen may be considered as personifications of the institutions of the same extraterritorial France, to which the loyalty of the French scholars has largely belonged.

Keywords

discours nobiliaire, erudites, France, genealogy, historical writing, identity, loyalty, 17th century, Claude Fauchet, André Duchesne, François Duchesne

Acknowledgment

The article is financially supported by grant of RSF No. 23-28-00267 “The Rise of the Social: Social terminology and Classifications in the Early Modern Intellectual Discourse”.

Received

14.01.2024

Publication date

15.07.2024

Number of characters

33370

Cite

GOST	Terenteva E. Loyalty in the French 17th Century Erudite Discourse // ISTORIYA – 2024. – V. 15. – Issue 5 (139) [Electronic resource]. URL: https://history.jes.su/S207987840031103-2-1 (circulation date: 23.07.2024). DOI: 10.18254/S207987840031103-2
MLA	Terenteva, Ekaterina "Loyalty in the French 17th Century Erudite Discourse." ISTORIYA 15.5 (139) (2024) DOI: 10.18254/S207987840031103-2
APA	Terenteva E. (2024). Loyalty in the French 17th Century Erudite Discourse. ISTORIYA 15(5 (139)) DOI: 10.18254/S207987840031103-2

100 rub.

When subscribing to an article or issue, the user can download PDF, evaluate the publication or contact the author. Need to register.

Number of purchasers: 0, views: 5

Readers community rating: votes 0

1. Vajnshtejn O. L. Zapadnoevropejskaya srednevekovaya istoriografiya. M.; L.: Nauka, 1964.

2. Vlast', obschestvo, individ v srednevekovoj Evrope / otv. red. N. A. Khachaturyan, sost. O. S. Voskobojnikov. M.: Nauka, 2008.

3. Koposov N. E. Vysshaya byurokratiya vo Frantsii XVII v. L.: Izdatel'stvo Leningradskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta, 1990.

4. Palamarchuk A. A. Tsivil'noe pravo v rannestyuartovskoj Anglii: instituty i idei. SPb.: Aletejya, 2015.

5. Palamarchuk A. A., Terent'eva E. A., Fedorov S. E. Rozhdenie natsional'nogo istoriopisaniya v Anglii i Frantsii. SPb.: Izdatel'stvo SPbGU, 2021.

6. Palamarchuk A. A., Fedorov S. E. Antikvarnyj diskurs v rannestyuartovskoj Anglii / otv. red. N. A. Khachaturyan. SPb.: Aletejya, 2015.

7. Pronina E. A. Istoriya na sluzhbe u korolya i kardinala: otets i syn Dyusheny // Klio. № 2 (53). 2011. S. 39–43.

8. Pronina E. A. Perom o shpage: genealogii frantsuzskogo i flamandskogo dvoryanstva Andre Dyushena // Vestnik Sankt-Peterburgskogo universiteta. Ser. 2. 2011. Vyp. 2. S. 111—117.

9. Sotsial'naya identichnost' srednevekovogo cheloveka / otv. red. A. Yu. Svanidze, P. Yu. Uvarov. M.: Nauka, 2007.

10. Terenteva E. Constructing the Nobility: the Noble Estate in the Works of French Erudites // ISTORIYA. 2022. Vol. 13. Issue 6 (116). URL: https://history.jes.su/s207987840021781-8-1/ DOI: 10.18254/S207987840021781-8

11. Terent'eva E. A. Osobennosti institutsionalizatsii istorii v Anglii i Frantsii rannego Novogo vremeni // Vestnik gumanitarnogo fakul'teta SPbGUT im. prof. M. A. Bonch-Bruevicha. 2020. № 12. Spetsial'nyj vypusk, posvyaschennyj XXII Mezhdunarodnomu Baltijskomu kommunikatsionnomu forumu 4-5 dekabrya 2020 g. SPb.: Izdatel'stvo SPbGUT, 2020. S. 289—294.

12. Terent'eva E. A. Rassuzhdenie o metode Uil'yama Kehmdena // Dialog so vremenem. 2015. № 51. S. 300—309.

13. Terent'eva E. A. Traktaty o znati i blagorodstve vo Frantsii vtoroj poloviny XVI—XVII vv. // Srednie veka. 2023. № 4.

14. Terenteva E. The French Court Historical Writing as a Form of Manifestation of the Royal Power (Late 16th — First Half of 17th Century) // ISTORIYA. 2022. Vol. 13. Issue 1 (111). URL: https://history.jes.su/s207987840018884-1-1/ DOI: 10.18254/S207987840018884-1

15. Terenteva E. The French State in the Erudite Discourse in the 17th Century (the Example of André and François Duchesnes’ Heritage) // ISTORIYA. 2020. Vol. 11. Issue 10 (96). URL: https://history.jes.su/s207987840011665-0-1/ DOI: 10.18254/S207987840011665-0

16. Terent'eva E. A., Palamarchuk A. A. Rozhdenie natsional'nogo istoriopisaniya vo Frantsii: trudy i istoricheskij metod Andre Dyushena // Vestnik SPbGU. Ser. 2. 2015. Vyp. 2. S. 80—92.

17. Uvarov P. Yu. Frantsuzy XVI v.: vzglyad iz Latinskogo kvartala. M.: Institut vseobschej istorii RAN, 1994.

18. Fedorov S. E. Diskussiya ob istinnom blagorodstve i formirovanie sotsial'nykh klassifikatsij znati v antikvarnykh tekstakh XVI—XVII vv. // Vestnik Sankt-Peterburgskogo universiteta. Istoriya. 2023. № 3.

19. Fyodorov S. Nobilitas in the 16th — 17th Centuries Antiquarian Discourse and Emergence of the Social // ISTORIYA. 2022. Vol. 13. Issue 6 (116). URL: https://history.jes.su/s207987840021843-6-1/ DOI: 10.18254/S207987840021843-6

20. Fedorov S. E. Aristokratiya pri rannikh Styuartakh (1603—1629). SPb.: Aletejya, 2023.

21. Frantsuzskij ezhegodnik. 2001. Annuaire d’études françaises / pod red. A. V. Chudinova. M.: Editorial URSS, 2001.

22. Frantsuzskoe obschestvo v ehpokhu kul'turnogo pereloma: ot Frantsiska I do Lyudovika XIV. Prilozhenie k ezhegodniku «Srednie veka». Vyp. 3. M.: Institut vseobschej istorii RAN, 2008.

23. Tsaturova S. K. Ofitsery vlasti: Parizhskij parlament v pervoj treti XV veka. M.: Logos, 2002.

24. Shishkin V. V. Korolevskij dvor i politicheskaya bor'ba vo Frantsii v XVI—XVII vv. SPb.: Evraziya, 2004.

25. Aurell M. The Western nobility in the Late Middle Ages: a survey of the historiography and some prospects for new research // Nobles and nobility in Medieval Europe: concepts, origins, transformations / ed. by A. Duggan. Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2000. P. 263—273.

26. Bohanan D. Crown and nobility in early modern France. Houndmills, Basingstoke; N. Y.: Palgrave, 2001.

27. Constant J.-M. La noblesse française aux XVIe et XVIIe siècles. P.: Hachette, 1994.

28. Constant J.-M. La noblesse en liberté, XVIe — XVIIe siècles. Rennes: Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 2004.

29. Gilli P. La noblesse du droit: Débats et controverses sur la culture juridique et le rôle des juristes dans l’Italie médiévale (XIIe — XVe siècles). P.: Honoré Champion, 2003.

30. Haddad E. La construction sociale de la ‘noblesse d’épée’ dans le royaume de France à l’époque moderne // Noblesse oblige. Identités et engagements aristocratiques à l’époque moderne / sous dir. de Nicolas Le Roux et Martin Wrede. Rennes: Presses universitaires de Rennes, 2017.

31. Jouanna A. Le devoir de révolte. La noblesse française et la gestation de l'État moderne: 1559—1661. Fayard, 1989.

32. Jouanna A. Ordre social: mythes et hiérarchies dans la France du XVIe siècle. Poitiers: Hachette, 1977.

33. Les historiographes en Europe de la fin du Moyen Age à la Révolution. Sous dir. de Ch. Grell. P.: Presses Paris Sorbonne, 2006.

34. Pollet C. Nature, sang et noblesse: le débats relatifs à la transmission de la vertu et du statut social dans les traités nobiliaires parus en Europe de l’Ouest au XVIIe siècle // Dossiers du Grihl. 2023. № 3. [Ressource électronique]. URL: https://doi.org/10.4000/dossiersgrihl.10337 (consulté: 14.05.2023).

35. Schalk E. From valor to pedigree. Ideas of nobility in France in the sixteenth and seventeenth century. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1986.

36. Thuau E. Raison d’Etat et pensée politique à l’époque de Richelieu. P., 2000.