From Valor to Pedigree : Ideas of Nobility in France in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries

This study offers a new interpretation of how nobility was viewed in sixteenth-century France and the changes that occurred in that view as France moved into the period of religious wars and popular rebellions and the appearance of the absolutist state. Originally published in 1986. The **Princeton Legacy Library** uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905. Contents Preface Introduction PART ONE. Medieval Views in the Sixteenth Century 1. The Military Profession As a Social Class in the Sixteenth Century 2. Nobility As Virtue and the Medieval Origins of the "Feudal-Military" View 3. The Ancient and Renaissance Italian Traditions and the Continued Predominance of the Medieval View PART TWO. THE BEGINNINGS OF CHANGE 4. Troubles of the 1570s and 1580s and the Beginnings of the Prise de Conscience 5. The Crucial Years: The Early 1590s PART THREE. THE MODERN VIEW EMERGES 6. The Separation of Virtue and Nobility and The Absolutist State in the First Half of the Seventeenth Century 7. Old and New Marques de Noblesse and the Diminished Importance of Nobility in the First Half of the Seventeenth Century 8. Education, the Academies, and the Emergence of the New Image of the Cultured Noble-Aristocrat 9. Conclusions and Perspectives Bibliography Index This study offers a new interpretation of how nobility was viewed in sixteenth-century France and the changes that occurred in that view as France moved into the period of religious wars and popular rebellions and the appearance of the absolutist state. Originally published in 1986. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905