Laughing Matters: Farce and the Making of Absolutism in France

by Sara Beam

Overview

Bawdy satirical plays—many starring law clerks and seminarians—savaged corrupt officials and royal policies in fifteenth- and sixteenth-century France. The Church and the royal court tolerated—and even commissioned—such performances, the audiences for which included men and women from every social class. From the mid-sixteenth century, however, local authorities began to temper and in some cases ban such performances. Sara Beam, in revealing how theater and politics were intimately intertwined, shows how the topics we joke about in public reflect and shape larger religious and political developments.

For Beam, the eclipse of the vital tradition of satirical farce in late medieval and early modern France is a key aspect of the complex political and cultural factors that prepared the way for the emergence of the absolutist state. In her view, the Wars of Religion were the major reason attitudes toward the farceurs changed; local officials feared that satirical theater would stir up violence, and Counter-Reformation Catholicism proved hostile to the bawdiness that the clergy had earlier tolerated. In demonstrating that the efforts of provincial urban officials prepared the way for the taming of popular culture throughout France, Laughing Matters provides a compelling alternative to Norbert Elias's influential notion of the "civilizing process," which assigns to the royal court at Versailles the decisive role in the shift toward absolutism.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801445606
Publisher:	Cornell University Press
Publication date:	04/04/2007
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.94(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Sara Beam is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Victoria.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations     VII
Acknowledgments     IX
List of Abbreviations     XI
Introduction     1
Farce, Honor, and the Bounds of Satire     11
The Politics of Farcical Performance in Renaissance France     44
The Growing Cost of Laughter: Basoche and Student Performance     77
Farce during the Wars of Religion     111
Professional Farceurs in Paris, 1600-1630     142
Absolutism and the Marginalization of Festive Societies     180
Jesuit Theater: Christian Civility and Absolutism on the Civic Stage     210
Conclusion     241
Bibliography     249
Index     259

What People are Saying About This

Keith P. Luria

Sara Beam's wonderfully researched book shows that farce is both funny and serious business. It opens a new window on the politics of early modern French civic elites, the monarchy, and the players ready to mock them both. Like its subject, it is both witty and profound.

Robert A. Schneider

Laughing Matters is a fine work of scholarship that should be of interest to all historians of early modern France as well as cultural historians and students of the history of theater. In seven brisk chapters, Sara Beam deftly takes readers across two centuries of the Ancien Regime, from the Renaissance to the apogee of absolutist rule under Louis XIV, and along the way presents a kind of crystallized cultural history of the period. Although she focuses on theater, both popular and official, both in the streets and royal venues, both amateur and professional, she shows how theatrical history is too important to be left to the specialists.

Lawrence M. Bryant

This book will appeal across the spectrum of French historical, cultural, and theatrical scholarship from those primarily interested in politics to those interested in urban culture and society. Laughing Matters demonstrates the long-time cultural independence of local societies from the forms and norms of the center or the royal court. Sara Beam convincingly argues that urban elites were on their own quest to reform manners and decorum.

Jeffrey S. Ravel

Laughing Matters is an important contribution to our understanding of the mechanics of absolutism in France as they emerged in the second half of the seventeenth century. Its clever argument and compelling examples follow the broad sweep of modern French history from the end of the 100 Years War to the Bourbon Restoration. Sara Beam's wonderful book will be read with interest by those who study the history of the French and European stage in an interdisciplinary context.

Jonathan Dewald

Laughing Matters is an outstanding book. Sara Beam illuminates a series of important topics in French history, ranging from developments in the theater and popular culture to changing social and political structures; and she shows how these apparently separate histories interacted to shape one another. This is a fine combination of empirical research and sustained argument—wide-ranging, deeply researched, lively in tone.

James R. Farr

In Laughing Matters, Sara Beam brings a fresh perspective to a familiar topic—the emergence and meaning of absolutism in Early Modern France—from an unlikely source, comedic theater. She interprets laughter as a political act and probes the transformation of political culture through the fortunes of satirical theater. Beam compellingly argues that after 1550 farce—ribald and profane—ceased to be a ubiquitous and public practice as the twin forces of Catholic Reformation religiosity (spearheaded by the Jesuits) and the 'civilizing process' pushed its coarser variants underground and cleaned up its versions—like Moliére's plays—that remained on public display. In sharp distinction from earlier farce, its later expressions were those that flattered rather than mocked political power and were aggressively endorsed by France's urban elites. Beam convincingly demonstrates that French political culture was transformed by a complicity of these elites in an expansion of royal authority and shows how important comedic theater was in this process. An elegantly written and compellingly argued book, Laughing Matters is interdisciplinarity at its best.

Editorial Reviews

Sara Beam rightly claims that the story of farce is a useful gauge of the evolving climate of early modern France.... Most fascinating is Beam's account of how, in the early seventeenth century, satire of a type that had decades earlier been found in the theater made its way into printed pamphlets published in the name of noted performers of farce.

Times Literary Supplement - Julia Prest

Sara Beams's book is packed with engaging information on the history of farce and its evolution within the political, religious, and cultural contexts of early modern France.... The writing is clear and engaging, and the content never less than interesting. In exploring a topic that has received too little scholarly attention, Beam brings to light the significant relationship between farce and politics in early modern France.

Comparative Drama

"This book will appeal across the spectrum of French historical, cultural, and theatrical scholarship from those primarily interested in politics to those interested in urban culture and society. Laughing Matters demonstrates the long-time cultural independence of local societies from the forms and norms of the center or the royal court. Sara Beam convincingly argues that urban elites were on their own quest to reform manners and decorum."

Lawrence M. Bryant

"Sara Beam's wonderfully researched book shows that farce is both funny and serious business. It opens a new window on the politics of early modern French civic elites, the monarchy, and the players ready to mock them both. Like its subject, it is both witty and profound."

Keith P. Luria

"Laughing Matters is an outstanding book. Sara Beam illuminates a series of important topics in French history, ranging from developments in the theater and popular culture to changing social and political structures; and she shows how these apparently separate histories interacted to shape one another. This is a fine combination of empirical research and sustained argument—wide-ranging, deeply researched, lively in tone."

Jonathan Dewald

"Laughing Matters is an important contribution to our understanding of the mechanics of absolutism in France as they emerged in the second half of the seventeenth century. Its clever argument and compelling examples follow the broad sweep of modern French history from the end of the 100 Years War to the Bourbon Restoration. Sara Beam's wonderful book will be read with interest by those who study the history of the French and European stage in an interdisciplinary context."

Jeffrey S. Ravel

"Laughing Matters is a fine work of scholarship that should be of interest to all historians of early modern France as well as cultural historians and students of the history of theater. In seven brisk chapters, Sara Beam deftly takes readers across two centuries of the Ancien Regime, from the Renaissance to the apogee of absolutist rule under Louis XIV, and along the way presents a kind of crystallized cultural history of the period. Although she focuses on theater, both popular and official, both in the streets and royal venues, both amateur and professional, she shows how theatrical history is too important to be left to the specialists."

Robert A. Schneider

"In Laughing Matters, Sara Beam brings a fresh perspective to a familiar topic—the emergence and meaning of absolutism in Early Modern France—from an unlikely source, comedic theater. She interprets laughter as a political act and probes the transformation of political culture through the fortunes of satirical theater. Beam compellingly argues that after 1550 farce—ribald and profane—ceased to be a ubiquitous and public practice as the twin forces of Catholic Reformation religiosity (spearheaded by the Jesuits) and the 'civilizing process' pushed its coarser variants underground and cleaned up its versions—like Moliére's plays—that remained on public display. In sharp distinction from earlier farce, its later expressions were those that flattered rather than mocked political power and were aggressively endorsed by France's urban elites. Beam convincingly demonstrates that French political culture was transformed by a complicity of these elites in an expansion of royal authority and shows how important comedic theater was in this process. An elegantly written and compellingly argued book, Laughing Matters is interdisciplinarity at its best."

James R. Farr

"Sara Beam rightly claims that the story of farce is a useful gauge of the evolving climate of early modern France. . . . Most fascinating is Beam's account of how, in the early seventeenth century, satire of a type that had decades earlier been found in the theater made its way into printed pamphlets published in the name of noted performers of farce."—Julia Prest, Times Literary Supplement, November 3, 2007

"Sara Beams's book is packed with engaging information on the history of farce and its evolution within the political, religious, and cultural contexts of early modern France. . . . The writing is clear and engaging, and the content never less than interesting. In exploring a topic that has received too little scholarly attention, Beam brings to light the significant relationship between farce and politics in early modern France."—Comparative Drama

"Laughing Matters is an outstanding book. Sara Beam illuminates a series of important topics in French history, ranging from developments in the theater and popular culture to changing social and political structures; and she shows how these apparently separate histories interacted to shape one another. This is a fine combination of empirical research and sustained argument—wide-ranging, deeply researched, lively in tone."—Jonathan Dewald, University at Buffalo

"Sara Beam's wonderfully researched book shows that farce is both funny and serious business. It opens a new window on the politics of early modern French civic elites, the monarchy, and the players ready to mock them both. Like its subject, it is both witty and profound."—Keith P. Luria, North Carolina State University

"Laughing Matters is an important contribution to our understanding of the mechanics of absolutism in France as they emerged in the second half of the seventeenth century. Its clever argument and compelling examples follow the broad sweep of modern French history from the end of the 100 Years War to the Bourbon Restoration. Sara Beam's wonderful book will be read with interest by those who study the history of the French and European stage in an interdisciplinary context."—Jeffrey S. Ravel, MIT, author of The Contested Parterre

"In Laughing Matters, Sara Beam brings a fresh perspective to a familiar topic—the emergence and meaning of absolutism in Early Modern France—from an unlikely source, comedic theater. She interprets laughter as a political act and probes the transformation of political culture through the fortunes of satirical theater. Beam compellingly argues that after 1550 farce—ribald and profane—ceased to be a ubiquitous and public practice as the twin forces of Catholic Reformation religiosity (spearheaded by the Jesuits) and the 'civilizing process' pushed its coarser variants underground and cleaned up its versions—like Moliére's plays—that remained on public display. In sharp distinction from earlier farce, its later expressions were those that flattered rather than mocked political power and were aggressively endorsed by France's urban elites. Beam convincingly demonstrates that French political culture was transformed by a complicity of these elites in an expansion of royal authority and shows how important comedic theater was in this process. An elegantly written and compellingly argued book, Laughing Matters is interdisciplinarity at its best."—James R. Farr, Purdue University, author of A Tale of Two Murders: Passion and Power in Seventeenth-Century France

"This book will appeal across the spectrum of French historical, cultural, and theatrical scholarship from those primarily interested in politics to those interested in urban culture and society. Laughing Matters demonstrates the long-time cultural independence of local societies from the forms and norms of the center or the royal court. Sara Beam convincingly argues that urban elites were on their own quest to reform manners and decorum."—Lawrence M. Bryant, California State University, Chico, author of The King and the City in the Parisian Royal Entry Ceremony

"Laughing Matters is a fine work of scholarship that should be of interest to all historians of early modern France as well as cultural historians and students of the history of theater. In seven brisk chapters, Sara Beam deftly takes readers across two centuries of the Ancien Regime, from the Renaissance to the apogee of absolutist rule under Louis XIV, and along the way presents a kind of crystallized cultural history of the period. Although she focuses on theater, both popular and official, both in the streets and royal venues, both amateur and professional, she shows how theatrical history is too important to be left to the specialists."—Robert A. Schneider, Indiana University

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