Quand le peuple élit le roi

This book focuses on the political ideas and practices associated with the consolidation of royal power in the late Middle Ages and beginning of the Early Modern Period. The perspective adopted is to identify a 'democratic moment' in which the people became central to the reconfiguration of the monarchical state, particularly during the major crises of the 16^th century. The originality here lies in giving substance to the notion of the people's consent at the moment of confirming or challenging who should be the ideal sovereign, and in setting the limits of sovereignty. This book highlights the people’s capacity to elect their king and to participate in the renewal of monarchical systems in scenarios of succession crises, conquest and changes in sovereignty, and the dethronement of a tyrant, even taking on a revolutionary form. It also shows that this active role played by the people, in Europe and in Spanish America, bears witness to a vibrant political culture that the absolutism of the following century would seek to roll back.