Le Roi De Guerre

Old Duffer's Book Corner

Reviewed by Charles Vasey

Joël Cornette for Petite Bibliothèque Payot

Apart from being in French and eye-achingly small type this is a very good book. The subject is the metier of King in France in the Grand Siécle where three kings of the house of Bourbon rebuilt and elevated kingship to the levels of Saint Louis. As with the books of Braudel this is not just a book about Kings and War. It covers a lot of other areas. The place of war in the contemporary world, the attempt by the State to monopolise violence, the role of a republic in the kingly art (the Dutch in this case) all set the scene. Cornette then considers the importance of the Just War (something of great interest to Richelieu), the training of a king for war, and the importance of his presence at the head of his armies. The final section ranges even further. The sacral role of the King, the glorification of that role at Versailles, war as spectacle, the spin-doctors of the period and the concept of war, death and sacrifice as a part of French nobility compared to the horrid English nobility (shop-keepers to a man). The level of religious fervour and devotion that did hedge about a king amazed me. I finally understood the shock caused by the Revolution.

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