France in the Age of Henri IV: The Struggle for Stability

“Mark Greengrass is a scholar of rare distinction. This book originally came out in 1985, and the fully revised edition ten years later. Like Babelon, Greengrass has a remarkable grasp of primary sources originating in many different regions of France. What’s particularly impressive is his mastery of a great deal of the pamphlet and broadside literature of the time. There were no public opinion polls or elections back then, so if you as a historian want to get at what ordinary people were thinking, where do you go?…Greengrass’s solution is to examine broadsides and pamphlets that originated and were widely circulated in different parts of the country, identifying themes and ideas being repeated. Using these materials, Greengrass tries to establish the mindset of ordinary people. He shows, for example, how the foot soldiers in these vast movements were moved by the theological arguments of the time. They saw themselves threatened by contrary beliefs that undermined their group identity.” Read more...

The best books on Henri IV of France

Vincent Pitts, Historian