Dissertation Information for Donna Jean Bohanan NAME: - Donna Jean Bohanan
DEGREE:
- Ph.D.
DISCIPLINE:
- History
SCHOOL:
- Emory University (USA) (1982)
ADVISORS: - J. Russell Major
COMMITTEE MEMBERS: - Rondo Cameron - George P. Cuttino
MPACT Status: Fully Complete
Title: THE NOBILITY OF SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY AIX-EN-PROVENCE (FRANCE)
Abstract: This dissertation is concerned with three interrelated historical problems: it asks whether the French aristocracy declined as a social, economic, and political force during the seventeenth century; whether there was a functional division between sword and robe nobilities that contributed to this alledged decline; and whether there were important regional variations among provincial nobilities. I approached these issues through a local study on the noble families of seventeenth-century Aix-en-Provence.
The dissertation looks specifically at the economic positions of this urban nobility, at its internal structure, and at assimilation of new noble families by old noble families. The purpose of such inquiries was to determine if the nobility of Aix was losing ground socially, economically, and politically to the middle class and to consider whether internal divisions contributed to the crisis. By comparing the distribution of incomes for nobles to that for nonnobles in the Quartier Saint Jean, I found that nobles continued to maintain a superior economic position at the end of the seventeenth century. At least within their local context they were still the wealthiest citizens.
From the origins and the histories of the noble families in Aix, it is obvious that this urban nobility was not created by the courts in Aix, that they were not simply parlementaires. Roughly half of the noble families were old families, that is, families that were part of the local nobility before the sixteenth century and the arrival of the sovereign courts. Such urban nobilities were peculiar to the south of France, varying in several ways from the provincial nobilities of northern France. . . . (Author's abstract exceeds stipulated maximum length. Discontinued here with permission of school.) UMI
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MPACT Scores for Donna Jean Bohanan A = 0
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calculated 2008-06-03 10:28:41
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