Politics of Wine in Early Modern France

In the late fifteenth century, Burgundy was incorporated in the kingdom of France. This, coupled with the advent of Protestantism in the early sixteenth century, opened up new avenues for participation in public life by ordinary Burgundians and led to considerably greater interaction between the elites and the ordinary people. Mack Holt examines the relationship between the ruling and popular classes from Burgundy's re-incorporation into France in 1477 until the Lanturelu riot in Dijon in 1630, focusing on the local wine industry. Indeed, the vineyard workers were crucial in turning back the tide of Protestantism in the province until 1630 when, following royal attempts to reduce the level of popular participation in public affairs, Louis XIII tried to remove them from the city altogether. More than just a local study, this book shows how the popular classes often worked together with local elites to shape policies that affected them.

'This beautiful book makes Dijon an observation post for the profound transformations that affected the entire kingdom in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. And we are in debt to its author for having the knowledge to guide the reader with the clarity and pedagogy of a master.' Jérôme Loiseau, Translated from Annales de Bourgogne, 'This is a compelling and detailed study which surveys a significant period in French history from the perspective of the province of Burgundy and its vignerons …' Noelle Plack, European History Quarterly, 'Mack Holt, in this tightly written and long-matured work, bases his conclusions on a profound knowledge of the Archives municipales of Dijon, one of the best preserved in France, as well as on a wide range of visual, literary, and narrative sources. In doing so, he deploys a deep knowledge of the city and its culture, interweaving an analysis of public institutions with a study of social structures and of material culture to construct a portrait of a whole society through serious upheavals and challenges.' David Potter, Renaissance Quarterly, 'Holt provides a fine and detailed narrative of the political life of a significant and somewhat unusual city through an eventful century and a half …' Jotham Parsons, The Journal of Modern History

Mack P. Holt is Professor of History at George Mason University, Virginia. From 1998 to 1999 he served as Co-President of the Society for French Historical Studies, and from 2009 to 2011 as the President of the Society for Reformation Research. In 2005 and 2014, he was a Visiting Professor of History at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes in Paris, and in 2018 a Visiting Fellow Commoner at Trinity College, University of Cambridge.