Power and Politics in Old Regime France, 1720-1745

This provides a sophisticated interpretation of high politics in the Age Louis XV . It will be stimulating reading for not only historians of ancien regime France, but all students of political life in pre-nineteenth century Europe.

First Published in 2004. Power and Politics in Old Regime France is a major history of the politics of the first half of the reign of Louis XV. It is based on exhaustive archival research and offers the first comprehensive analysis of the neglected ministries of the duc de Bourbon and the cardinal de Fleury. Peter R. Campbell deals first with court, faction and policy. A second section offers new interpretations of the crises provoked by Jansenism and the Paris parlement. By contrasting the methods and practices of political management in this period of successful government with the crisis of the old regime in the 1780s, he illuminates the underlying character of politics in the old regime and raises new questions about its collapse. An unusually substantial bibliography represents an invaluable resource to the researcher.