BOURBONS - THE HISTORY OF A DYNASTY

Few would argue with Shennan (history, emeritus, Univ. of Lancaster, UK; Government and Society in France, 1461-1661 ) that the personalities and policies of the Bourbons Henry IV, Louis XIII, Louis XIV, Louis XV, and Louis XVI propelled France toward the climactic events of the French Revolution. The Bourbon dynasty's commitment to divine-right kingship and its attempts to sustain familial power in conjunction with the creation of a modern state provided for a dynamic of perpetual tension thatoften collided with the tectonic shifts taking place in French society. The dynasty's clashes with religious factions, conspiring aristocrats, restless urban classes, iconoclastic philosophies, and warring neighbors were as constant as the libidinous compulsions of the Bourbon clan. In these perpetual struggles, the monarchs often proved to be their own worst enemy.