Labour, Science and Technology in France, 1500–1620
, by Henry HellerNote: Supplemental materials are not guaranteed with Rental or Used book purchases.
- ISBN: 9780521893800 | 0521893801
- Cover: Paperback
- Copyright: 5/9/2002
For a generation, the history of the ancien règime 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 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 mentalitè. 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.