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Dissertation Information for Mattheew Allen Vester

NAME:
- Mattheew Allen Vester

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- History

SCHOOL:
- University of California, Los Angeles (USA) (1997)

ADVISORS:
- Geoffrey W. Symcox

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- Jean-Laurent Rosenthal
- Carlo Ginzburg

MPACT Status: Fully Complete

Title: Territorial politics in the Savoyard domains, 1536-1580

Abstract: This study distances itself from interpretations of political life in early modern Europe which privilege narratives regarding the rise of the modern state. Instead, it relies on microanalysis as well as macro-level synthesis to analyze the structure of political organization and specific techniques of territorial control employed in the domains of the dukes of Savoy during the sixteenth century. Both the interactions between political actors from various levels of society and the concrete means by which they asserted power are documented via a case-study approach. Four specific political developments, each tied to the problem of effecting practical dominion over space, provide the contexts for analyses based on a variety of sources, both literary and quantitative. Investigation focuses on the operation and political significance of a tax farm, the Nice-Piedmont salt gabelle; the role of dynasticism, institutions, and political networks in the construction of authority in a princely apanage, the Genevois; the extreme fragmentation of political power in the context of a border dispute between mountain villages along the Genoese-Savoyard border; and the fiscal influence of an ecclesiastical institution, the Bresse clergy assembly, in the provinces of Bresse and Bugey.

Close examination of these cases provides several results. For one, this study challenges historiographic interpretations of the reign of Duke Emanuel Filibert, revealing his significant weakness in practical terms and explaining how and why his power was limited. More generally, the evidence from the Savoyard domains illustrates an environment in which power was organized in polycentric fashion, a range of diversely autonomous actors asserting independent political authority. This Savoyard model of political structure, in which power configurations were multilateral and influence was negotiated not just between the ruler and regional agents, but among myriad actors, invites comparison with other European territories. In this model, techniques of territorial control were not monopolized by agents of the 'state', but were shared by political agents across all levels of society.

MPACT Scores for Mattheew Allen Vester

A = 0
C = 0
A+C = 0
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2008-10-14 13:58:59

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Students under Mattheew Allen Vester

ADVISEES:
- None

COMMITTEESHIPS:
- None