Customer Reviews

Mazarin: The Crisis of Absolutism in France

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Treasure's book while providing some biographical detail of Cardinal Jules Mazarin, Louis XIV's one and only chief Minister, takes a much broader sweep through the political, religious and social dynamics of mid-seventeenth century France and provides insight into the practical limits to royal authority; tempered often by power struggles between competing elites, Parlements, and local customs and rights. This book provides an excellent single volume account of this tumultuous period in the history of early modern France to both students and general readers, who will gain an understanding of how devolved royal power could be, as opposed to the the monolithic state so often portrayed in film. The book's excellent endnotes and bibliography will be of particular use to the student; as will the detailed chapters on the oft neglected Fronde, likewise Section IV concerning the culmination of the Thirty Years War. Overall a welcome addition to the libraries of serious students and francophiles alike. I suggest Francois Bluche's biography of Louis XIV as a suitable complement to Treasure's Mazarin.