Le Carnaval de Romans: De la Chandeleur au mercredi des Cendres

by Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie

Pendant quinze jours, en février 1580, les habitants de la cité de Romans (Drôme actuelle, Dauphiné d'autrefois) se sont déguisés, masqués de toutes les manières. Ils ont dansé à perdre l'âme, joué, couru, concouru, défilé. Ils se sont défiés entre artisans et notables dans le happening quotidien du Carnaval. Un théâtre populaire et spontané opposait rue contre rue, confrérie contre confrérie. Puis, au terme d'une embuscade, montée par le juge Guérin, personnage de Série Noire, les Romanais se sont entre-tués.Un événement aux significations multiples, que décrypte un grand historien.

Genres: History, France, Nonfiction, European History, Medieval, Death

448 pages, Pocket Book

First published January 1, 1979

About the author

Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie was a French historian whose work is mainly focused upon Languedoc in the ancient regime, particularly the history of the peasantry.

Emmanuel Ladurie was professor at the Collège de France and, since 1973, chair, department of history of modern civilization. He has had a distinguished career, serving as Administrateur Général of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France (1987-94); member of the Institute (Academy of Moral and Political Sciences); Agrégé of the University, Doctor of Letters; Commander of the Legion of Honor (1996); and has taught at the universities of Montpellier, the Sorbonne, and Paris VII. Dr. Ladurie is the author of many historical works, including Les Paysans de Languedoc (1966), Histoire du Climat depuis l'An Mil (second ed., 1983), Montaillou, village occitan (1975), Le Territoire, de l'Historien (2 vols., 1973, 1978), Le Carnaval de Romans, 1579-1580 (1980), L'Etat royal (1987), L'Ancien Regime (1991), Le Siècle de Platter (1995), and Saint-Simon, le systeme de la Cour (1997).

Reviews

[Raymond Li · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is also a representative work of the third generation of the Annales school. However, what makes this book unique is that it is not just a case study but a restoration of the sixteenth-century Mercian Romance and the surrounding area using a quantitative-historical approach. In Ladurie's writing, the causes and consequences, the class analysis, the social basis and even the internal logic of a large demonstration that took place at a carnival are shown clearly. Anti-aristocratic tendencies characterized the revolt, whose base came from the artisan and peasant classes in the Romance cities and the peasant unions in the surrounding rural areas. These people, who were in the third tier of the États généraux, questioned their long-standing subordination to the privileged classes. Therefore, this book is also essential for studying the history of uprisings (protests, demonstrations, rebellions).

[Dan Urbach · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is very interesting, but it is a bit of slog. The idea is fascinating, and the author states his excitement about it in the introduction: the history of a single place in France. He had to focus on one event or the history would have been too long. The book is apparently written to engage scholars as well as the general public, but it seems more likely to work for the former than the latter. Not being a scholar myself, it's difficult, but I'm determined. It does show one how digging into history works, and that is probably the most interesting thing about tit.

[Norman Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very impressive work of scholarship, but it does plunge more deeply into the pool of facts than I am really interested in. Consequently, I found myself skimming through large stretches of the book.

However, if I were interested in 16th century France and social relations, this would be aces!

[Peires · Rating 4 out of 5]

Presumably trying to cash in on the popularity of the author's "Montaillou," publishers have added irritating and misleading sub-title. This is unfair to Ladurie. Primary sources not nearly as vivid, cannot get inside the worldview of the participants, nevertheless a model of its kind.

[Bjarke Knudsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked up on a whim at a Copenhagen booksale, this intense account of a 16th-century precursor to the much more (in)famous uprising took me more time than expected to get through.

It helps if you are at least fundamentally familiar with French geography and history.

[debroua · Rating 1 out of 5]

Passei foi raiva

[Remi Hoegeli · Rating 5 out of 5]

fascinant

[Millie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Things I need: a Netflix adaptation of this book with Timothee Chalamet as Jean Serve Paumier

[Erik Graff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as interesting for me as Montaillou, probably because I know so much more about the Cathars than about the general peasant situation in sixteenth century southern France, but still an excellent example of the increasingly popular field of microhistory.

[Lanny · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'll read anything by Emmanuel.