Journal Article Tracing the Shadow of Secrecy and Government Transparency in Eighteenth Century France Get access Tracing the Shadow of Secrecy and Government Transparency in Eighteenth Century France. By Nicole BauerBasingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. 2022. 328 pp. £99.99. ISBN: 9783031122361. William Doyle William Doyle University of Bristol William.Doyle@bristol.ac.uk Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar French History, crad034, https://doi.org/10.1093/fh/crad034 Published: 19 August 2023

So far from the closed caste of revolutionary (and often historiographical) legend, the French nobility abolished by the National Assembly in June 1790 was the most open elite in Europe. Rich men of social ambition could enter the nobility by buying one of over 4000 ennobling offices. But full hereditary ennoblement was not usually instantaneous. Most families had to spend two successive generations of at least twenty years in office to be recognized as fully noble. When the revolutionaries abolished venal offices, a number of families had not completed the requisite service, so their nobility remained incomplete (inachevée). This might not have been of much consequence in the now nobility-free nation, but when the Bourbons returned in 1814 Louis XVIII declared that the old nobility would be restored. Venal ennobling offices were not. So there was no prospect for those former officers or their descendants, whose progress to full nobility had not been completed by the 1790s, of achieving the full status. Petitions from them to be recognized as noble were turned down. And when, in the twentieth century, the Association d’entraide de la Noblesse française (ANF) set itself up as the arbiter of noble credentials, it followed Restoration precedent and refused recognition to families whose ancestors had been caught out by revolutionary abolitions.

1789: The French Revolution Begins, by Robert H. Blackman 1789: The French Revolution Begins, by Robert H. Blackman (Cambridge: Cambridge U.P., 2019; pp. 287. £75). William Doyle William Doyle University of Bristol, UK William.Doyle@bristol.ac.uk Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The English Historical Review, Volume 136, Issue 578, February 2021, Pages 204–206, https://doi.org/10.1093/ehr/ceaa318 Published: 03 April 2021

HistoryVolume 105, Issue 365 p. 345-347 Reviews and Short Notices Reform Catholicism and the International Suppression of the Jesuits in Enlightenment Europe. By Dale K. Van Kley. Yale University Press. 2018. xii + 370pp. $38.00. WILLIAM DOYLE, WILLIAM DOYLE University of BristolSearch for more papers by this author WILLIAM DOYLE, WILLIAM DOYLE University of BristolSearch for more papers by this author First published: 24 March 2020 https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-229X.12961Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Volume105, Issue365April 2020Pages 345-347 RelatedInformation

There are many familiar images of the French Revolution garnered from Dickens, Baroness Orczy, and Tolstoy, as well as the legends of ‘let them eat cake’ and tricolours. The French Revolution: A Very Short Introduction chronicles the unfolding events of the French Revolution, from the quarrels of the first revolutionaries with the king, to the terror, to the rise of Napoleon, and explores why it happened, and what factors led to the initial outburst of violence. It discusses how and why the Revolution destroyed the age-old cultural, institutional, and social structures in France and beyond, and considers the legacy of the Revolution in the form of rationality in public affairs and responsible government.

HistoryVolume 104, Issue 362 p. 763-764 Reviews and Short Notices Violence and Honor in Prevolutionary Périgord. By Steven G. Reinhardt. University of Rochester Press. 2018. xii + 330pp. £95.00. WILLIAM DOYLE, WILLIAM DOYLE University of BristolSearch for more papers by this author WILLIAM DOYLE, WILLIAM DOYLE University of BristolSearch for more papers by this author First published: 21 July 2019 https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-229X.12840Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Volume104, Issue362October 2019Pages 763-764 RelatedInformation

Previous articleNext article No AccessBook ReviewsAdministrer les menus plaisirs du roi: L’État, la cour et les spectacles dans la France des Lumières. By Pauline Lemaigre-Gaffier. Ceyzérieu: Éditions Champ Vallon, 2016. Pp. 378. €28.00.William DoyleWilliam DoyleUniversity of Bristol Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The Journal of Modern History Volume 90, Number 1March 2018 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/695909 Views: 34Total views on this site For permission to reuse, please contact [email protected]PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

HistoryVolume 102, Issue 349 p. 149-150 Reviews and Short Notices Napoleon: A Concise Biography. By David A. Bell. Oxford University Press. 2015. x + 139pp. £12.99. WILLIAM DOYLE, WILLIAM DOYLE University of BristolSearch for more papers by this author WILLIAM DOYLE, WILLIAM DOYLE University of BristolSearch for more papers by this author First published: 20 January 2017 https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-229X.12351Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Volume102, Issue349January 2017Pages 149-150 RelatedInformation