Authority and Sexuality in Early Modern Burgundy (1550-1730) [Hardcover]

A sociocultural analysis of the relationships among law, religion, and sexual morality in Burgundy during the Catholic Reformation, this book is divided into two, interrelated parts: the world of prescription and the world of practice. The first part examines the construction of authority, focusing primarily upon Burgundy's dominant elite legal community. The second part of the book examines the deployment of authority, and its appropriation by French men and women. The new moral order focused on sexuality and the imposition of this order involved a legal contest over the disposition of bodies, both male and female, be they priests, courting couples, victims of seduction or rape, or prostitutes. James Farr's book offers an unusually fertile approach to study the link between sexuality and criminality.

A rich, detailed, and synthetic treatment....A valuable work with its theoretical framework, exhaustive detail, careful documentation, and extensive 42-page bibliography. Recommended for those interested in early modern and family history. --CHOICE

Farr's handling of old regime judicial records is masterful, and his detailed knowledge of Burgundian life allows him to make sense out of even the most fragmentary court case. In general, there is much here for seventeenth-century historians to learn and ponder. --American Historical Review

[A] comprehensive and incisive study...[I]t is Farr's precision and eye for detail that gives these stories their power...This is a solid and thought-provoking book. --Journal of the History of Sexuality

An excellent book and a good read. --Religious Studies Review

[S]teeped in the judicial archives of Burgundy and richly illustrated with the voices of contemporaries found in religious treatises, legal codes, and litigation. --Law and History Review

[This work] shows a great depth of learning and unwillingness to settle for simplil�y