State Formation in Early Modern Alsace, 1648-1789 - Couverture rigide

Lazer, Stephen

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 1580469531 ISBN 13 : 9781580469531

Editeur : University of Rochester Press, 2019

Synopsis

Alsace, a contested borderland region with a long and obdurate German heritage, first became part of France after the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. Stephen Lazer's deeply researched book analyzes this history, focusing on Alsace itself rather than on the usual dichotomy between periphery and center. Lazer's narrative reveals how the French monarchy transformed this fractured borderland, which possessed neither fixed borders nor representative institutions, into something resembling a province. With only weak claims, France had to negotiate sovereignty with Alsace's many individual rulers. Those rulers then legitimized French rule, providing the administrative institutions and borders that Alsace lacked. State Formation in Early Modern Alsace, 1648-1789, examines the wide range of power-sharing solutions the kings of France and Alsatian lords worked out between them through a close study of five territories ruled by the dukes of Pfalz-Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld. Some lands fell immediately to France; some required significant concessions; others contested the French bid for rulership. France eventually acquired all five territories. The dukes, members of the Holy Roman Empire, nevertheless maintained their autonomy, especially in the administrative and confessional spheres. Indeed, ducal officials proved decisive enacting Alsace's new, mixed political culture on the ground. Lazer's research makes a much-needed contribution to our understanding of the process of state formation in early modern Europe. STEPHEN A. LAZER is Lecturer of History at Arizona State University.

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur

Alsace, a contested borderland region with a long and obdurate German heritage, first became part of France after the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. Stephen Lazer's deeply researched book analyzes this history, focusing on Alsace itself rather than on the usual dichotomy between periphery and center. Lazer's narrative reveals how the French monarchy transformed this fractured borderland, which possessed neither fixed borders nor representative institutions, into something resembling a province. With only weak claims, France had to negotiate sovereignty with Alsace's many individual rulers. Those rulers then legitimized French rule, providing the administrative institutions and borders that Alsace lacked.

State Formation in Early Modern Alsace, 1648-1789, examines the wide range of power-sharing solutions the kings of France and Alsatian lords worked out between them through a close study of five territories ruled by the dukes of Pfalz-Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld. Some lands fell immediately to France; some required significant concessions; others contested the French bid for rulership. France eventually acquired all five territories. The dukes, members of the Holy Roman Empire, nevertheless maintained their autonomy, especially in the administrative and confessional spheres. Indeed, ducal officials proved decisive enacting Alsace's new, mixed political culture on the ground. Lazer's research makes a much-needed contribution to our understanding of the process of state formation in early modern Europe.

Revue de presse

Superbly researched and genuinely transnational, Stephen Lazer's book includes perspectives and experiences from both sides of the Rhine. Lazer builds on research conducted in an impressive array of French and German archives in Paris, Munich, Strasbourg, and Colmar to thoroughly and convincingly demonstrate how the French claim of royal sovereignty helped create a hybrid governmental system that shaped political culture in the province. --Darryl Dee, author of Expansion and Crisis in Louis XIV's France

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: University of Rochester Press
• Date d'édition: 2019
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 1580469531
• ISBN 13: 9781580469531
• Reliure: Relié
• Nombre de pages: 270
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible