The Rise and Fall of Renaissance France 1483-1610

In the new edition of this fascinating history, R. J. Knecht clearly and authoritatively describes the rise and fall of France in the sixteenth century. Drawing on more than forty years of research into primary and secondary sources, he combines narrative with analysis, whilst also reflecting on the cultural, economic and social contexts in which events occurred. Now updated to take account of new research in the USA, Britain and France since 1996.

R. J. Knecht is Emeritus Professor of French History and a Fellow of the Institute for Advanced Research in the Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Birmingham. A Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a member of the SociTtT de l'Histoire de France, he has been Chairman of the Society for Renaissance Studies and of the Society for the Study of French History. He is a member of the Advisory Board of the Centre for the Study of the Renaissance at the University of Warwick. He has published extensively in the field of French history, and his Renaissance Warrior and Patron: The Reign of Francis I (1994) recently appeared in a revised French edition under the title, Un prince de la Renaissance: Frantois Ier et son royaume (1998).