Corps and Clienteles: Public Finance and Political Change in France, 1688-1715

This title was first published in 2003. Corps and Clienteles offers a unique approach to this debate by focusing on the intersection between institutions and personal relationships in the financial strategies surrounding Louis XIV's final two wars. It argues that, in appealing to the elite for financial support to wage war, Louis in return stabilised many of the structures on which the elite stood, entrenched elements of privilege throughout the political landscape, and devolved power to pr...