French Literature Reviews - 2026
A. Jouanna, Absolute Power: The Birth of the Royal Political Imagination
History, Politics and Society
Absolute Power: The Birth of the Royal Political Imagination
Arlette Jouanna
PUBLICATION DATE: 21/03/13 PUBLISHER: Gallimard (Editions) SERIES: L'esprit de la cité ISBN: 978-2-07-012047-5 EAN: 9782070120475 FORMAT: Paperback NO. OF PAGES: 436 p.
Absolute power is closely intertwined with the long history of the monarchy. It is often imagined as bound by an immutable logic, up until the trial of unworthiness brought against it by the Enlightenment. It is this double image—of the continuity of the absolute system and its fatally subversive attitude toward all justice—that this book challenges. 'Absolute,' writes Arlette Jouanna, means the legal possibility of transgressing laws in the name of a higher legitimacy; and this concept of power, far from being immutable, has constantly shifted under the impact of the upheavals that shook the political history of the monarchy.
Before the Wars of Religion—a fact too often overlooked—the monarch could only deviate from the laws in exceptional circumstances and emergencies. And even when unbound by the laws, he remained bound by Reason, that just order established by God in the world. However, the religious rift, by disintegrating the sacred cohesion of the body politic, shattered the previously obvious correspondence between the heavenly city and the earthly city: henceforth, only the king in person could embody the unity of the divided communities.
The radical originality of the French path lay in this construction—both intellectual and institutional—of a political space external and superior to human passions. Such is the new figure of the absolute prince, projected far above his subjects in a mysterious and solitary proximity to God. It is this transcendence that bestows an unprecedented, almost sacred authority upon his will, which alone is capable of holding the kingdom together.
Arlette Jouanna is notably the author of Le Devoir de révolte (1989), d'Histoire et dictionnaire des guerres de Religion (1998), and La Saint-Barthélemy (2007).
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An article about this book can be read on the website laviedesidees.fr:
"The Absolutes of Power
by Laurie Catteeuw, July 11, 2013
The wars between Catholics and Protestants marked a decisive turning point in the history of the French monarchy. It was these conflicts, as A. Jouanna shows, that drove royal power to become absolute—turning emergency law into an ordinary regime.
What did the Renaissance monarchy look like, at the very beginning of the sixteenth century? For Arlette Jouanna, it cannot be called absolute: 'if the king is unbound by the laws, he is nonetheless bound by reason' (p. 13). This balance between legal and governmental reason appears as a legacy of the Middle Ages, preserved up to the threshold of the Wars of Religion. These conflicts, indeed, brought about a profound transformation in the relationship between divine law and the order of the earthly city. It was a time when reason became partisan, a time when this reassuring figure could no longer serve as a 'reliable guide' for self-government.
The thesis defended is as follows: absolute power cannot be equated, over the long term, with the history of the monarchy. Against this alleged continuity, the book highlights the radical rupture, occurring during the Wars of Religion, that separates the Renaissance monarchy from absolutism. The former made use of a power that was indeed absolute, but exceptional, in order to respond to the emergencies facing princes: it was an extraordinary power. With the latter, the very meaning of the absolute was transformed into an ordinary mode of governance, bending justice to its own necessities.
Arlette Jouanna is a distinguished historian renowned for her extensive scholarship on early modern France, particularly the turbulent sixteenth century and the religious conflicts that reshaped political thought. In this work, she contributes to the broader intellectual history of the European state by examining how political concepts evolved under severe existential pressure. Scholars of early modern political theory, French history, and the genealogy of sovereignty will find this volume particularly illuminating for understanding the theoretical foundations of the Ancien Régime.
The book addresses central questions regarding the transition from medieval models of governance, where rulers were constrained by customary law and divine reason, to modern authoritarian configurations. By tracing how extraordinary emergency measures eventually crystallized into permanent absolute rule, Jouanna provides readers with a rigorous framework for analyzing the relationship between crisis, religion, and state-building. It serves as an essential resource for anyone seeking to comprehend the complex interplay between law, theology, and political authority before the advent of Enlightenment critique.