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Dissertation Information for David Mark Potter

NAME:
- David Mark Potter

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- History

SCHOOL:
- University of California, Los Angeles (USA) (1997)

ADVISORS:
- Robert P. Brenner
- Geoffrey W. Symcox

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- Jean-Laurent Rosenthal

MPACT Status: Fully Complete

Title: The institutions of absolutism: Politics and finance in France, 1680-1715

Abstract: This study focuses on the political and financial relationships between the French crown and the kingdom's privileged elite during the latter half of Louis XIV's reign, from 1680 to 1715. France entered into two long lasting and costly wars during these decades. The crown's financial needs multiplied during this period, and members of the elite were called upon to provide much of the support for the war effort. Their responses to these financial demands and the resulting political changes form the subject of this dissertation.

I follow a comparative and cross-temporal approach to lay bare the complex processes by which Louis XIV both coerced and cooperated with the kingdom's elite in his search for financial support. Louis' overall strategy toward the elite entailed erecting their privileged statuses as bargaining chips, playing groups off one another, and pressuring privileged corps to borrow money for the crown. With this approach, Louis managed to avoid the broad attacks against privilege that had sown political divisions and undermined social order in the first half of the century. Indeed, by turning to the financial mediation of privileged corps, Louis strengthened the elite's hold over offices and privileges and thus deepened the interdependence of the crown and the elite. Louis' strategies during this period of increased financial need highlight the underlying interests of the crown in securing the elite's hold over both property and privileges.

Within this framework, the experiences of elite groups diverged over space. Three factors combined to condition their financial ties to the crown: the historically determined privileged standing of the province, the institutions that were in place around which local leaders coalesced, and the predominant class make-up of the local elite. My findings demonstrate that the ruling elite of Burgundy enjoyed greater opportunity to benefit from royal finances while organizing themselves as a coherent political force. The elite of Normandy, on the other hand, were more exposed to the crown's divide-and-rule strategy. Yet there, the crown found that the institutions were not in place by which the elite could most effectively assert local autonomy and mediate finances with great success.

MPACT Scores for David Mark Potter

A = 0
C = 0
A+C = 0
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2008-10-14 17:28:33

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Students under David Mark Potter

ADVISEES:
- None

COMMITTEESHIPS:
- None