Empire of Fear

Examines how a shift in political discourse in France in the 1570s, from le bien public to le bien de l'État, accompanied growing puissance absolue.

In 1570s France, political discourse shifted from a focus on the common good (le bien public) to the good of the state (le bien de l'État). James B. Collins explores how language affected policy at all levels, from the peasant village to the royal court.While French political discourse in the late Middle Ages had been based on ancient Roman ideas that government existed for the common good (le bien public, or la chose publique, a French translation of the Latin res publica), these ideas began to evolve in the 1570s. Although references to the common good continued to be used right up to the French Revolution, they were gradually overtaken by a focus on the good of the State (le bien de l'État). James B. Collins demonstrates how this evolution in language existed at every social level from the peasant village up to the royal court. By analysing the language used in scores of local, regional and national lists of grievances presented to provincial estates and the Estates-General, Collins demonstrates how the growth was as much a bottom-up process as a top-down enforcement of royal power.