Conjugalités à la cour de France

Marriage and conjugal life at the French court have generally been considered a subtopic of political history. Royal and princely families have been the main focus of attention, with light being shed on the diplomatic and dynastic stakes involved in international alliances. What about the other actors of court life, such as aristocrats and officers of the rulers' entourage? The goal of this collective volume is to show how the court impacted the couple, and vice versa. While the court offered a favourable setting for family ambitions and social advancement, it was also a strictly regulated environment that constrained the choice of spouse and the organisation of married life. This perpetual ambivalence seems to have channeled the historical concept of the 'couple’ along a narrow path, between social affirmation, the fructifying of material and social gain, and ruin, or even disgrace.