Because of their kinship with the sovereign, the “ blood princes Can succeed him. Raised above all the nobility, but held at a distance from the affairs of the state, they do not give up playing a political role.
The eminent modernist historian, Arlette Jouanna (1936-2022), was able to finish this book, published shortly after his death. After having mentioned, in her two previous works, absolute power in 2013 and the absolute prince in 2014, she looks at the parents of the King of France. The title is a little misleading: more than the blood of the princes, which certainly holds an important place here, it is a study on the princes called “ blood ».
A group of men
The French monarchy seeks to preserve itself over time by ensuring clear and effective succession rules, based on kinship alone. It also introduces the exclusion of women, then the descendants of women, to prevent France from being based in another kingdom following the marriage of a queen: it is the so -called salic law. This further reduces the number of possible successors.
The idea is also essential that blood transmits specific qualities, which makes royal blood all the more precious. The princes who have a kinship with the sovereign and can therefore succeed him are named princes of royal blood, “ blood princes », No doubt at XVe century. Arlette Jouanna describes the emergence of this group of men and studies their place in the political history of France.
As in her other books, she relies on a vast bibliography, often very recent, and her attentive readings come to nourish and qualify her words. She builds a subtle and mastered reasoning, illustrates it with examples which seem enlightening. She offers a story associating the greatest rigor and the most astonishing clarity and she deepens her approach in searched and original analyzes.
His style, very recognizable and inimitable, adds a lot to the pleasure of reading: the words never relaxes, he never weighs, however, the expression is obscured. Arlette Jouanna’s work is recognized by her approach that is both impassive and alert of the past.
Actors who count
Without declaring it, by following the object of its investigation, the princes of blood, the historian offers a rereading of the history of France over the very long duration and, at any time, it offers new lights on events and developments that it thus helps to better understand.
In a historical production which, for decades, has been gladly turned back to chronology, especially for modern times, Arlette Jouanna outlines a political history of the monarchy. The princes of blood, by their rank in the royal entourage where decisions are made, and by their power in French society, often assert themselves in public life as possible actors whose initiatives count a lot.
After having studied the genesis of the princes of blood, the historian applies to see how King Charles’ uncles Vi (1368-1422) seize power due to the minority and then the mental disorders of the monarch. She sees how a princely collegiality is organized, as if kinship with the sovereign gave a part of responsibility in the management of the kingdom.
This experience ends with dramas and fails in the upheavals of the Franco-English conflict. To get out of this so -called a hundred years war, the monarchy slides towards a more authoritarian government and, in front of it, the princes of the blood then exerted, from 1440 to 1650, the “ duty of revolt That Arlette Jouanna studied in a previous work. In 1576, they obtained a rank above all the nobility. These princes are becoming more important in several occasions the succession is made by calling on the throne of the parents distant from the deceased king, thus Louis XIIthen François Ier.
Remotely held
As a specialist in wars of religion, the Historian of Saint-Barthélemy shows how these princes also face, at XVIe century, the risk of religious division between Catholicism and reform. The crisis becomes sustainable when it appears that King Henri III Can have Henri de Navarre as successor, certainly descendant of Saint Louis, but cousin very distant, moreover Protestant. The latter ended up establishing himself as the first king of the Bourbon line under the name of Henri Ivby converting, the bond of blood giving it its legitimacy.
The princes of blood no longer cease to defend their exceptional situation, which does not however mean participation in state affairs. This exclusion displeases them: we thus see Henri de Condé standing against the government of Louis XIII And his son Louis, the winner of Rocroi to choose the Spanish camp against his young cousin Louis XIV. After the failure of the sling, the princes seem to resign themselves and are keen to serve the hierarchical order.
The analysis of Arlette Jouanna perhaps does not clearly emphasize the distinction that takes place over time, between the royal family on the one hand, with the sons and grandson of France, and even the legitimized children, sharing the life of the king, and on the other of the princes of blood held more at a distance. Louis XIV brings his son and then his grandson to the council of En-up, because it is his possible successors, but he dismisses his other parents from the circle of the decision. A chapter more specifically addresses the case of the princesses of blood, and this development is useful and enlightening.
Arlette Jouanna evokes the situation in foreign countries in passing, but her study remains with prudence centered on France so as not to complicate the subject. It should nevertheless be recalled that the small circle of the princes of blood is involved in European affairs, through marriages that these French lords sometimes contract with foreign princesses or who lead relatives of the king to win another court in Europe, bringing a real society of princes to life.
Quarrels between princes
All these princes still have the temptation to participate in the government of the kingdom, if they can. The nephew and son -in -law of Louis XIVPhilippe d’Orléans, became regent in 1715 and Arlette Jouanna underlines the “ ambiguous From the Regency, which allows the princes of blood to find the way to state affairs. On the death of his Dubois advisor, Philippe even took the title of Prime Minister. When he died, the Duke of Bourbon-Condé succeeds him in this job. It is only a parenthesis.
Arlette Jouanna studies closely the writing campaigns that accompany quarrels between Princes. When the princes of blood attack the legitimized princes, son of Louis XIVwhich in 1714 obtained the right to succeed the crown after the legitimate, they used a formula already used in the Queen’s rights treaty from 1667, evoking the “ Happy helplessness Kings who cannot abolish the laws of the state, paradoxical affirmation in a context of absolute power. This led to the edict of July 1717 breaking the decision of Louis XIV. Parliament took up similar reasoning in 1753.
The princes of blood take part in the debates that mark the end of the absolute monarchy. The Prince of Conti, cousin of Louis XVgo from the status of minister without portfolio to that of secret opponent. Louis-Philippe d’Orléans mixes with political discussions and becomes Philippe equality in the time of the Revolution: he wants to be a citizen like the others and a deputy among the others. Can we forget that his son Louis-Philippe took the crown in 1830 after the fall of his cousin Charles X ?
This work by Arlette Jouanna therefore completes an exciting trilogy. It offers a lively rereading of the history of the French monarchy by closely following these consanguinees of the king, always tempted to actively play, despite everything, a role of political figures in public life.