1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910456786703321

Autore

Randall Michael <1953->

Titolo

The gargantuan polity : on the individual and the community in the French Renaissance / / Michael Randall

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Toronto, [Ontario] ; ; Buffalo, [New York] ; ; London, [England] : , : University of Toronto Press, , 2008

©2008

ISBN

1-4426-8815-7

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (393 p.)

Disciplina

944/.025

Soggetti

Individualism - France - History - 16th century

Renaissance - France

French literature - 16th century - History and criticism

Electronic books.

France Civilization 1328-1600

France Intellectual life 16th century

France Politics and government 1328-1589

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Illustrations -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1. Bottom-Up vs Top-Down Polities: The Council and the Pope -- 2. The Representation of Basel in Chants Royaux Written for the Puy de Rouen -- 3. Late-Medieval Polity and Poetics: Jean Molinet's Ressource du petit peuple -- 4. The King's Two Portraits in Claude de Seyssel and Guillaume Cretin -- 5. Barthélemy de Chasseneuz and the Top-Down Polity -- 6. Rabelais and the Ideal Imperfect Polity -- 7. The Death of Consensual Politics and the Individual in Agrippa d'Aubigné -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

Critics and scholars have long argued that the Renaissance was the period that gave rise to the modern individual. The Gargantuan Polity examines political, legal, theological, and literary texts in the late Middle Ages, to show how individuals were defined by contracts of mutual obligation, which allowed rulers to hold power due to approval



of their subjects. Noting how the relationship between rulers and individuals changed with the rise of absolute monarchy, Michael Randall provides significant insight into Renaissance culture and politics by showing how individuals went from being understood in terms of their objective relations with the community to subjective beings. By studying this evolution, he challenges the argument that subjectivity enabled modern political autonomy to come into existence, and instead argues that subjectivity might have disempowered the outwardly directed and highly political individuals of the late Middle Ages. A profound and detailed study of one of the most drastic periods of change, The Gargantuan Polity will be of interest to scholars of French literature, the Renaissance, and intellectual history.