The French Peasantry in the Seventeenth Century [Paperback]

Pierre Goubert (Author), Ian Patterson (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 25, 1986

Pierre Goubert is perhaps the foremost contemporary historian of the French peasantry, and in this book he synthesises the work of a lifetime to produce a vivid, readable, and uniquely accessible account of rural life in seventeenth-century France. Much of the very latest scholarship is incorporated in Professor Goubert's survey, which examines not only such crucial external relationships as those between peasant and priest, that existed within the peasantry themselves. In clear and uncondescending prose Professor Goubert paints a broad picture of peasant life as it was lived from the cradle to the grave, and depicts above all the multi-faceted variety (whether regional, social, or economic) of pre-modern France. As a further aid to students this English-language edition also contains a new supplementary bibliography.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'[This book] provides by far the most lucid summary of what is known about the environment and daily preoccupations of the peasantry, tempered by a constant awareness of the fact that the overwhelming majority never possessed very much and left little behind with which to reconstruct their world; Goubert's final chapter on Death and the Peasant, which in part is a rebuke at those who fail to recognize the acute limitations of the evidence, concludes with an emphatic reminder of the impenetrability of the peasants' deepest thoughts, in the face of which 'the historian can only remain silent'. It is this scepticism, harnessed to Goubert's formidable erudition, which enables him to distil from his own research and an extensive secondary literature the essential features of peasant life and its larger historical context ... His empathetic insight, balanced judgment and grasp of technicalities combine to produce a highly readable essay, offering the sort of rich and stimulating perspective which comes from a lifetime's reflection.' The Times Literary Supplement

Book Description

Presenting the regional, social and economic variety of pre-modern France, this survey of rural life examines the crucial external relationships between peasant/priest and peasant/seigneur as well as the not less important ones that existed within the peasant life lived from cradle to grave.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press; 1st Ed. edition (July 25, 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521312698
• ISBN-13: 978-0521312691
• Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 0.6 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #301,131 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars interesting and rational December 9, 2012

By Sandra E. Russell

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I like this book for the background sketch I need on evaluating some genre painting of the period. The author is clear, but of course I wanted even more details..but this is a good book. I am disappointed that the paper is of low paperback quality and so is yellowed and becoming brittle. I like to keep books for a long time if they are good ones, such as this one is.