Society and Culture in Early Modern France

This classic collection of essays has already established itself as a rich source of material for students of sixteenth and seventeenth-century France. Natalie Davis focuses on the lower social orders - peasants, artisans, the poor generally - and in a series of brilliantly penetrating cast-studies throws fresh light on some of the great issues of social change: the impact of printing, the rise of protestantism, the role of women, power-relations between groups and classes'.

Introduction. 1. Strikes and Salvation at Lyon. 2. Poor Relief, Humanism, and Heresy. 3. City Women and Religious Change. 4. The Reasons of Misrule. 5. Women on Top. 6. The Rites of Violence. 7. Printing and the People. 8. Proverbial Wisdom and Popular Errors. Notes. Index.