How did kings govern? And how did governments rule their kings? This is the topic of a new book on ‘Government and Political Life in England and France, c.1300–c.1500’

Government and Political Life in England and France, c.1300–c.1500
Ed. by Christopher Fletcher, Jean-Philippe Genet, and John Watts
Cambridge University Press 2015
ISBN: 9781107089907

ABSTRACT:

How did the kings of England and France govern their kingdoms? This volume, the product of a ten-year international project, brings together specialists in late medieval England and France to explore the multiple mechanisms by which monarchs exercised their power in the final centuries of the Middle Ages. Collaborative chapters, mostly co-written by experts in each kingdom, cover topics ranging from courts, military networks and public finance; office, justice and the men of the church; to political representation, petitioning, cultural conceptions of political society; and the role of those excluded from formal involvement in politics. The result is a richly detailed and innovative comparison of the nature of government and political life, seen from the point of view of how the king ruled his kingdom, but bringing to bear the methods of social, cultural and economic history to understand the underlying armature of royal power.

An unprecedented cooperative project co-written by specialists on the kingdoms of England and France in the later Middle Ages offers a genuinely comparative and in-depth perspective on complex questions of historiography and sources

Tightly focused on royal government, with analysis informed by the lessons of social, economic and cultural history, the book promises a fine introduction to this scholarly field.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

1. The government of later medieval France and England: a plea for comparative history Jean-Philippe Genet
2. Courts Malcolm Vale
3. Kings, nobles and military networks Steven Gunn and Armand Jamme
4. Offices and officers Christine Carpenter and Olivier Mattéoni
5. Royal public finance (c.1290–1523) David Grummitt and Jean-François Lassalmonie
6. Justice, law and lawyers Michelle Bubenicek and Richard Partington
7. Church and state, clerks and graduates Benjamin Thompson and Jacques Verger
8. Political representation Christopher Fletcher
9. Grace and favour: the petition and its mechanisms Gwilym Dodd and Sophie Petit-Renaud
10. The masses Vincent Challet and Ian Forrest
11. In the mirror of mutual representation: political society as seen by its members Franck Collard and Aude Mairey
12. Conclusion John Watts.

ABOUT THE EDITORS:

Christopher Fletcher is a senior researcher (chargé de recherche) in CNRS (National Centre for Scientific Research) at the University of Paris I (Panthéon-Sorbonne), specialising in the history of late medieval political culture. He has taught at many universities in Britain and France, including London, Cambridge, Lille and ‘Sciences Po’ (Paris). His publications, in English and French, include Richard II: Manhood, Youth and Politics, 1377–99 (2008).

Jean-Philippe Genet has been professor at the University of Paris I (Panthéon-Sorbonne) for many years, specialising in European cultural and political history. He coordinated the CNRS ‘Genèse de l’État moderne’ and the ESF ‘Origins of the Modern State’ programs and more recently the ERC ‘Signs and States’ project. His publications include La Genèse de l’État moderne: Culture et société politique en Angleterre (2003) and Les îles britanniques des origines à la fin du Moyen Âge (2005).

John Watts is fellow and tutor in History at Corpus Christi College, Oxford. He has written extensively on politics, government and political culture in later medieval Britain and Europe. His main books are Henry VI and the Politics of Kingship (Cambridge University Press, 1996), The Making of Polities: Europe, 1300–1500 (Cambridge University Press, 2009), and an edited collection, The End of the Middle Ages? (1998). He is currently writing a volume in the New Oxford History of England series, entitled Renaissance England, 1461–1547.

CONTRIBUTORS:

Jean-Philippe Genet, Malcolm Vale, Steven Gunn, Armand Jamme, Christine Carpenter, Olivier Mattéoni, David Grummitt, Jean-François Lassalmonie, Michelle Bubenicek, Richard Partington, Benjamin Thompson, Jacques Verger, Christopher Fletcher, Gwilym Dodd, Sophie Petit-Renaud, Vincent Challet, Ian Forrest, Franck Collard, Aude Mairey, John Watts