Urban Protest in Seventeenth-Century France : The Culture of Retribution

This lucid and wide-ranging survey is the first comparative study of the interaction between crowds and public authorities in the early modern period. Through comparative analysis of eyewitness narratives from more than fifteen seventeenth-century cities, William Beik explores the full spectrum of urban French unrest.

This lucid and wide-ranging survey is the first study in English to identify a distinctive urban phase in the history of the early modern crowd. Through close analysis of the behaviour of protesters and authorities in more than fifteen seventeenth-century French cities, William Beik explores a full spectrum of urban revolt from spontaneous individual actions to factional conflicts, culminating in the dramatic Ormee movement in Bordeaux. The 'culture of retribution' was a form of popular politics with roots in the religious wars and implications for future democratic movements. Vengeful crowds stoned and pillaged not only intrusive tax collectors but even their own magistrates, whom they viewed as civic traitors. By examining in depth this interaction of crowds and authorities, Professor Beik has provided a central contribution to the study of urban power structures and popular culture.