Labour, Science and Technology in France, 1500-1620

By Henry Heller

Book Overview

For a generation, the history of the ancien r?gime has been written from the perspective of the Annales school, with its emphasis on the role of long-term economic and cultural factors in shaping the development of early modern France. In this detailed 1995 study, Henry Heller challenges such a paradigm and assembles a huge range of information about technical innovation and ideas of improvement in sixteenth-century France. Emphasising the role of state intervention in the economy, the development of science and technology, and recent research into early modern proto-industrialisation, Heller counters notions of a France mired in an archaic, determinist mentalit?. Despite the tides of religious fanaticism and seigneurial reaction, the period of the religious wars saw a surprising degree of economic, technological and scientific innovation, making possible the consolidation of capitalism in French society during the reign of Henri IV.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0521893801
• ISBN13: 9780521893800
• Release Date: May 2002
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.98 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.2" x 9.1"