Incorporating new material drawn from recent scholarship, this Second Edition offers a more complete picture of this crucial period. It also has a thoroughly updated and expanded bibliography.

          This book provides an overall interpretation of a decisive period in French history, from the chaos of the Wars of Religion to the death of Louis XIV. A clear but economical narrative of the major political events is combined with an analysis of the long-term factors which intrinsically moulded the evolution of both state and society.