Background
Major, James Russell Richards was born on January 7, 1921 in Riverton, Virginia, United States. Son of Julian Neville and Jean (Richards) Major.
( Scholars of early modern France have traditionally seen...)
Scholars of early modern France have traditionally seen an alliance between the kings and the bourgeoisie, leading to an absolute, centralized monarchy, perhaps as early as the reign of Francis I (1515-47). In From Renaissance Monarchy to Absolute Monarchy, eminent historian J. Russell Major draws on forty-five years of research to dispute this view, offering both a masterful synthesis of existing scholarship and new information concerning the role of the nobility in these changes. Renaissance monarchs, Major contends, had neither the army nor the bureaucracy to create an absolute monarchy; they were strong only if they won the support of the nobility and other vocal elements of the population. At first they enjoyed this support, but the Wars of Religion revealed their inherent weakness. Major describes the struggle between such statesmen as Bellièvre, Sully, Marillac, and Richelieu to impose their concept of reform and includes an account of how Louis XIV created an absolute monarchy by catering to the interests of the nobility and other provincial leaders. It was this "carrot" approach, accompanied by the threat of the "stick," that undergirded his absolutism. Major concludes that the rise of absolutism was not accompanied, as has often been asserted, by the decline of the nobility. Rather, nobles were able to adapt to changing conditions that included the decline of feudalism, the invention of gunpowder, and inflation. In doing so, they remained the dominant class, whose support kings found it necessary to seek.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0801856310/?tag=2022091-20
( Scholars of early modern France have traditionally seen...)
Scholars of early modern France have traditionally seen an alliance between the kings and the bourgeoisie, leading to an absolute, centralized monarchy, perhaps as early as the reign of Francis I (1515-47). In From Renaissance Monarchy to Absolute Monarchy, eminent historian J. Russell Major draws on forty-five years of research to dispute this view, offering both a masterful synthesis of existing scholarship and new information concerning the role of the nobility in these changes. Renaissance monarchs, Major contends, had neither the army nor the bureaucracy to create an absolute monarchy; they were strong only if they won the support of the nobility and other vocal elements of the population. At first they enjoyed this support, but the Wars of Religion revealed their inherent weakness. Major describes the struggle between such statesmen as Bellièvre, Sully, Marillac, and Richelieu to impose their concept of reform and includes an account of how Louis XIV created an absolute monarchy by catering to the interests of the nobility and other provincial leaders. It was this "carrot" approach, accompanied by the threat of the "stick," that undergirded his absolutism. Major concludes that the rise of absolutism was not accompanied, as has often been asserted, by the decline of the nobility. Rather, nobles were able to adapt to changing conditions that included the decline of feudalism, the invention of gunpowder, and inflation. In doing so, they remained the dominant class, whose support kings found it necessary to seek.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0801847761/?tag=2022091-20
(Professor Major's aim in these articles has been to stimu...)
Professor Major's aim in these articles has been to stimulate new assessments of the political, constitutional and social history of France in the 15th - 17th centuries. The first group examines the nature of the Renaissance monarchy, its strengths and its weaknesses and lack of effective controls. The next group explores the issue of why the Estates General, and some of the provincial estates, failed to develop in France, in marked contrast to the triumph of representative government in England. Finally, the author turns to the question of how the nobles succeeded in remaining the dominant social class. On the one hand, he traces the evolution of a patron-client relationship which compensated for the decay of the feudal ties of the Middle Ages; on the other, he challenges assumptions made of a decline in nobles' incomes, and contends that, so long as they held on to their lands and could escape the depredations of war, for most of the period they actually benefited from a marked increase in real income.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0860782271/?tag=2022091-20
Major, James Russell Richards was born on January 7, 1921 in Riverton, Virginia, United States. Son of Julian Neville and Jean (Richards) Major.
AB, Virginia Military Institute, 1942; Master of Arts, Princeton University, 1948; Doctor of Philosophy, Princeton University, 1949.
Member of faculty, Emory University, 1949-1990;
Charles Howard Candler professor of history, Emory University, 1980-1990;
department chairman, Emory University, 1966-1970, 76-79, 87-89. Visiting professor Harvard University, 1965-1966. Member Institute Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey, 1967-1968, 79-80.
Vice president Heriot-Watt University Dick Company, 1975-1997.
( Scholars of early modern France have traditionally seen...)
( Scholars of early modern France have traditionally seen...)
(Professor Major's aim in these articles has been to stimu...)
Served to captain Army of the United States, 1942-1946. Member American Association of University Professors (president Southeast regional conference 1965-1967, member national council 1966-1969), American History Association (committee on Doctor of Philosophy programs in history 1969-1971, program committee 1976, member research division 1978-1981, Leo Gershoy prize committee 1990-1992, Leo Gershoy award 1996), International Commission History Republican and Parliamentary Institution (president North America section 1975-1981), Renaissance Society of America (member council 1971-1973), Sixteenth Century Studies Conference (Nancy Syman Roelker prize 1987), Society French History Studies (William C. Koren prize 1966, co-winner 1987), Southern History Association (vice chairman program committee 1967, chairman European section 1970-1971), Société de l'Histoire de France, Européenne d'Histoire, Phi Beta Kappa (senator United chapters 1970-1976).
Married Blair Louise Rogers, June 9, 1945. Children: Blair Louise, Randon Leigh, Clara Jean, James Russell Richards.