Louis XIV and Twenty Million Frenchmen
Pierre Goubert, author of Louis XIV and Twenty Million Frenchmen, is the President of the Societe de Demographie Historique and professor at the University of Nanterre. He previously wrote Beauvais et le Beauvaisis de 1600 a 1730, which is an important work in modern French history. His writing places the life, personality, and reign of Louis XIV in the context of the economic, social, and demographic characteristics of France between 1661 and 1715. Goubert's approach is that of an exploration of the relationship between a king and his people.
The book is written in an organized manner, following the chronology of Louis XIV's life. The main body of the book is preceded by a chapter describing conditions in France at the time that Louis XIV takes the throne and concludes with a summary chapter entitled, "Louis XIV: The Universal Man." This logical format is highly readable and moves in a reasonable manner. As Goubert describes each time period in Louis XIV's life, he stops to explore changes in the economy and culture which influenced events involving Louis XIV. This broad, rich approach to history gives the reader a deeper understanding of a man in a complex interrelationship with the French people and the conditions of the time. Goubert also includes an outline of significant dates and happenings and an appendix of French terms necessary to an understanding of the text.
The theme of the work is Louis XIV's passion for glory. All of his decisions--political, military, and personal--were to the end of celebrating and preserving the glory of his royalty. Goubert describes how this love for glory served the king well
in the younger and middle years but, in the end, served as a sort of character flaw because he could not see that the masses of people were bitter from poverty, heavy taxation, and war and were turning against him.
There are no obvious biases in Goubert's app...