The Ranums' Panat Times

A syllabus for a course entitled

French Government in Thought and Practice, 1648-1721

The Department of History • The Johns Hopkins University
History 322: French Government in Thought and Practice, 1648-1721
Thursday and Friday, 1:00 pm Professor Ranum

My aim in this course will be to (1) present an overview of a major Early Modern Political Culture, and (2) explore the relations between culture, power, and society.

There will be one short paper (3-5 pages) and one longer paper (10-12 pages), no mid- term examination, and a final examination. Students who have taken History 321 must write their short papers on the history of an object, painting, building, illustration, cartoon, etc., from the period. Students new to the course will write theirs on the source distributed in class for that purpose.

Many students did not do well on the final exam in History 321. I was dismayed by this fact, especially since high marks on the longer paper indicated real ability to do very strong work. We must work together to strengthen the ability to write strong exams; specifically, I must present material in a more structured manner, and you must read and think more attentively about the assignments. I shall be asking you for further suggestions about how to improve techniques in writing examinations–assuming that the reading has been done, that thought about the course has occurred, and that students have something to say. I also wish to reiterate that I have a healthy respect for historical fact as fact. Do you?

Week I: France in 1648: an Introduction
Students who have not taken the first half of this course should read J.B. Collins, The State in Early Modern France, pp. 1-65. All students should read Collins, pp. 65-78. The sources for this week are to be found in Ranum and Ranum, The Century of Louis XIV, on reserve, number 24 by Locke, number 28 by Wren, and number 31 by Lister. Compare these views with those by Moreri in number 13.

II: The Descent from Foreign War to Revolution: the Fronde
Ranum, The Fronde, a French Revolution, chapters I-II and IV-V.

III: Social and Political Dynamics in the Ormée and Princely Fronde
Ranum, The Fronde..., chapters VII-IX.

IV: Beginnings of the Personal Reign of Louis XIV
Collins, pp. 79-95. Louis XIV, Memoirs, ed. by P. Sonino, for any year. P. Burke, The Fabrication of Louis XIV, pp. 1-83.

V. The Fouquet Affair, a coup d'Etat?
R. Bonney, The King's Debts, pp. 242-271.

VI: Women in Salon and Court Culture: the Power of Women and Their Novels, Letters, and Memoirs
C. Lougee, Le Paradis des Femmes, pp. 31-55 and 113-137. F. Beasley, Revising Memory, pp. 162-189. E. Orleans, ed. and trans. by E. Forster, A Woman's Life in the Court of the Sun King, pp. 176-277.

VII: Social and Economic Engineering in the Mid-Reign
Collins, pp. 95-124. Ranum and Ranum, Century of Louis XIV, pp. 317-391. R. Schneider, Public Life in Toulouse..., pp. 255-299.

VIII: Versailles as a Site for Court Culture
G. Walton, Louis XIV's Versailles. Saint Simon, Memoirs (selections to be distributed in class). Ranum, "Islands and the Self in a Ludovician Fete," in David Rubin, Sun King, pp. 17-34.

IX: Jansenism and the State in French Culture in the XVIIth Century
Ranum, Paris in the Age of Absolutism, chapter XI. R. Knox, Enthusiasm..., pp. 176-230. Pascal, Provincial Letters (selection to be distributed in class).

X: Defining the State in the Dutch War and the War of the League of Augsburg
J. B. Wolf, Louis XIV, pp. 213-265.

XI: Patronage and Power in the Arts and Sciences
A. Stroup, A Company of Scientists..., pp. 3-33 and 200-217. Ranum, Paris in the Age of Absolutism, chapter XII.

XII: Louis XIV and Portraiture in French Political Culture
Burke, The Fabrication of Louis XIV, pp. 107-149. Louis Marin, Portrait of the King, pp. 206-214.

XIII: The War of Spanish Succession, Reform and Repression
Collins, pp. 124-175. Wolf, pp. 464-577. Ranum and Ranum, Century..., pp. 411-427. Churchill, Marlborough (the Battle of Blenheim).

XIV: The Death of Louis XIV: the Regency Perspective
Montesquieu, The Persian Letters. Nicolich, "The Spectacle of the Royal Funeral..." in Rubin, Sun King, pp. 50-64. Wolf, pp. 611-619.