The introduction of absolutism in France has conventionally been
seen as a process of centralization imposed from the top down. The
Crown, the chancellor, the principal ministers, and the secretaries
of state are all supposed to have worked in concert to break the
power of the nobles and governors, abolish local Estates, and even
intervene in the selection of municipal councillors. The fiscal and
institutional development of the province of Dauphine, however,
suggests a very different absolutist dynamic. While it is clear
that the Crown wanted to standardize and, when possible, centralize
the institutions of the province, it is equally clear that, from
the 1540s on, certain groups anxious for provincial tax reform
actively encouraged royal intervention. Daniel Hickey analyses the
individuals and groups that directed each stage of the struggle for
tax reform: rural villagers, the elite of the ten major cities,
lawyers and legal groups, and new and old nobles. Each group
expressed itself through the means available to it: peasant revolt,
courtroom hearings, local village meetings, or lobbying at court.
The social alliances made during the struggle were temporary in
nature and often united groups that would normally have been
opposed to each other. But they were effective. Hickey identifies
two major results of this social movement: the Crown was able to
take major steps towards integrating Dauphine into the kingdom, and
the province's fiscal structure underwent a major reform.
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