J. Michael Hayden – författare

In 1614 the French Estates General met for the last time before the Revolution of 1789. The meeting marks the beginning of the political career of Cardinal Richelieu and provides an opportunity for studying the regency of Marie de Medicis. In another sense 1614 marks the end of the Estates General in its early modern form of three separate estates preparing lists of grievances from the preliminary lists submitted to each deputy by his electors, while attending to the needs of the king. This book provides a full description of that last meeting in 1614, based on extensive research into political pamphlets, diplomatic correspondence, records of the royal councils, local and national cahiers and the proces-verbaux of the meetings. The author sets the period in the wider context of the history of France from 1598 to 1616, with particular attention to economic conditions and international relations.

Making use of the only records available - pastoral visits and synodal statutes - the authors introduce fresh evidence and interpretations. They shed new light on the medieval origins of the Catholic Reformation and the nature of the reform movement in the sixteenth century. Their work shows the importance of French bishops in starting the early-modern reform and their subsequent role in preparing the Catholic Church to weather the French Revolution. They also explore both the role of the French monarchy in the creation and collapse of the Catholic Reformation, and the changing attitude of peasants and the proto-proletariat toward official religion.

The Catholicisms of Coutances is a richly detailed account of France from the Hundred Years'' War to the French revolution. Coining the word "catholicisms" to denote the complex varieties of religious beliefs and practices within the Church, J. Michael Hayden presents a detailed analysis of the diocese of Coutances - chosen because of the unusually large number of records available - to shed light on the many ways in which religion developed and affected life in early modern France. Opening with a geographical and chronological sketch of the diocese, Hayden describes the catholicisms of mid-fourteenth century Coutances, discussing their evolution and effects over four hundred years. Employing a wide array of primary sources, the book provides a meticulous study that includes qualitative analyses of papal and diocesan documents and synodal statutes, a quantitative analysis of ordination and pastoral visit records, and a combination of both forms of analysis of the cahiers prepared for the Estates General of 1789. The Catholicisms of Coutances is an innovative contribution to contemporary understandings of Catholic beliefs and practices in the early modern period and their profound effect on the people of a diocese.