The State in Early Modern France

This major new book addresses the question, what is the state?, through an examination of the most important continental state of early modern Europe, France. Professor Collins combines a reinterpretation of early modern French society with a reevaluation of the French monarchical state, rejecting the absolute monarchy paradigm and offering in its place a more nuanced, balanced view of the monarchy. His revisionist focus is on the problems of the Old Regime within the context of their own political system.