Privilege and the Politics of Taxation in Eighteenth-Century France

PrivilegeandthePoliticsofTaxationinEighteenth-CenturyFranceoffersalucidinterpretationoftheAncienRégimeandtheoriginsoftheFrenchRevolution.Itexamineswhatwasarguablythemostambitiousprojectoftheeighteenth-centuryFrenchmonarchy:theattempttoimposedirecttaxesonformerlytax-exemptprivilegedelites.Connectingthesocialhistoryofthestatetothestudyofpoliticalculture,MichaelKwassdescribeshowthecrownrefashioneditsinstitutionsandideologytoimposenewformsoftaxationontheprivileged.Drawingonimpressiveprimaryresearchfromnationalandprovincialarchives,Kwassdemonstratesthatthelevyofthesetaxes,whichstruckeliteswithsomeforce,notonlyalteredtherelationshipbetweenmonarchyandsocialhierarchy,butalsotransformedpoliticallanguageandattitudesinthedecadesbeforetheFrenchRevolution.PrivilegeandthePoliticsofTaxationinEighteenth-CenturyFranceshedslightonFrenchhistoryduringthiscrucialperiod.