Le milieu du XVIIIe siècle marque une césure dans l'histoire du Canada. Après deux siècles de présence française, le pays passe sous domination anglaise à l’issue de la guerre de Sept Ans qui entraîne la fin de la Nouvelle-France. Ce changement de domination génère des bouleversements structurels dans le paysage social du pays, touchant particulièrement les élites, dont la plupart étaient officiers militaires chargés du maintien de l'ordre et de la domination sur le territoire et représentants du pouvoir royal gérant les structures et l'encadrement politique. Souvent nobles, elles offraient un code de conduite et un modèle culturel indéniable. La perte de la position centrale qu’elles occupaient dans la société canadienne pose la question de leur adaptation sous le régime anglais, étudiée au travers de l’exemple de la famille Salaberry. Cette famille, affiliée à la noblesse, proche du prince anglais Édouard duc de Kent, compte dans ses rangs un héros d’une bataille durant la guerre de 1812-1815 et présente un profil atypique. Cette étude, menée à partir des documents personnels dont une importante correspondance et de nombreux documents notariés, permet d'entrer dans l'intimité d'une famille de la noblesse canadienne-française du tournant du XIXe siècle, d'en dégager les comportements familiaux et sociaux ainsi que leurs évolutions, mais aussi d'étudier l'adaptation politique et professionnelle par la participation au fonctionnement du nouveau régime et l'acculturation du point de vue linguistique mais aussi religieux des élites sous les premières décennies du régime anglais au Québec. / The mid-eighteenth century marked a break in Canada's history. After two centuries of French presence, the country came under British domination at the end of the Seven Years' War after New France’s defeat. This shift in dominance brought about structural upheavals in the country's social landscape, particularly affecting the elites, most of whom were military officers in charge of maintaining order and domination on the territory, and representatives of the royal power. Often of noble origin, they embodied a code of conduct and an undeniable cultural model. The loss of the central position they hold in Canadian society raised the question of their adaptation under the British regime, which is studied in this thesis through the example of the Salaberry family. This family presents an atypical profile: it was affiliated with the French nobility but was close to the English prince Edward Duke of Kent and it counted among its ranks a hero of a battle fought during the war of 1812-1815. This study, based on personal documents, including a large correspondence as well as many notarized documents, allows to critically examine the intimacy of a family of the Canadian nobility at the turn of the 19th century. In doing so it helps to identify and trace the development of family and social behaviors. This case study also allows for an analysis of the political and professional adaptation of French elites through the participation in the workings of the new regime and their linguistic and religious acculturation during the first decades of the British regime in the Quebec Province.

L’analyse des lieux de pouvoir ou des sites élitaires permet une compréhension des différentes stratégies de construction et d’organisation des territoires par les pouvoirs médiévaux. Ces lieux étaient en effet les points nodaux d’où les élites produisaient des discours visant à justifier, exprimer et pérenniser leur pouvoir, tant matériel que symbolique. Le premier ou haut Moyen Âge constitue une période charnière pour l’étude de ces phénomènes. Il s’agit en effet d’un moment d’intense recomposition sociale, entraînant une concurrence accrue entre les élites, qui tentent àce moment précis de se définir comme groupe. Leurs caractéristiques communes invitent à une étude comparative des lieux de pouvoir présents en Auvergne (c’est-à-dire le ressort de la cité de Clermont), en lesresituant dans le contexte des changements politiques, économiques et sociaux en cours entre la fin du Ve et les premières décennies du Xe siècle. Une telle étude nécessite toutefois une approche interdisciplinaire mêlant l’archéologie, la géographie, l’anthropologie et s’appuyant sur un large éventail de sources, à la fois matérielles ettextuelles. Son objectif est de comprendre les interactions entre les groupes élitaires et les lieux de pouvoir, en fonction de la localisation, mais également des activités et des marqueurs de distinction présents sur ces sites. Elle vise ainsi à mettre en lumière les réseaux dans lesquels les lieux s’inscrivent, en prenant en compte les différents jeuxd’échelle. / Analysis of places of power or “elite sites” helps understand the various strategies of construction and organization of territories by medieval magnates. These places served as vantage points from which they could construct and communicate discourses aimed at justifying, expressing and perpetuating their power, both material and symbolic. The early medieval period is of great importance for these phenomena, because it witnessed intense social recombining, resulting in heightened competition between the elites, which were then trying to define themselves as a coherent group.Thanks to their common characteristics, we can compare places of power in Auvergne (province of the ancient city of Clermont), in the context of the political, economic and social changes of the 6th-10th centuries. To carry out this study, aninterdisciplinary approach is necessary, and it has to rest on a wide range of sources, both written and archaeological ones, and methodological tools, notably from archaeology, geography, anthropology. Its goal is to analyze interactions between elite groups and sites of power, as regards localisation, functions and wealth present on these sites. This study aims to highlight the spatial and social networks these places are part of, on various scales.

This thesis offers a reassessment of the political culture of Scotland in the later fifteenth century, from c. 1440 to c. 1490, through an examination of communitarian discourses and practices. It argues that the current understanding of political relations is limited by too great a focus upon personal relationships. While these were undoubtedly important, it is necessary also to consider the structures of law and governance which framed political interactions, and the common principles and values which underpinned action, in order to gain a fuller picture. In particular, it is argued that the current model, which assumes a more or less oppositional relationship between crown and ‘political community', ought to be replaced with a public domain in which claims to authority were asserted and contested. This approach allows the familiar political narrative to be firmly connected to the ideas expressed in contemporary advice literature, while also situating political authority spatially, by asking how it was experienced as well as how it was projected. The focus upon language and space allows for clear parallels to be drawn between different local political cultures, and allows connections and contrasts to be made between those cultures and the norms of kingship and lordship. It argues that reforms to civil justice made during James III's reign have played a far more important part in the turbulent politics of the time than has been appreciated, that both royal and aristocratic authority could be presented as acting both for the common good and for the interests of the crown, and that Scotland's towns not only had a vibrant political culture of their own, but were an important part of the politics of the realm.

This thesis examines a series of documents described as electoral charters, produced in monastic institutions of the Loire Valley from the late tenth to late eleventh centuries. By considering the variations in the formulas used for each charter, the study considers what the charters were saying about power or wanted to project about the powers at play in the events they described. Through this, the thesis demonstrates that the power of lordship projected by such documents was of a very traditional nature throughout the period in which they were being produced. The count's role on each occasion showed him to be a dominant force with a power of lordship composed of possession and rights of property ownership, but also intangible elements, including a sacral interest. By considering the context of events surrounding each charter of election, the thesis demonstrates that elements of this lordship could be more or less projected at different times in order that different statements might be made about the count. Thus, the symbolic expressions of power appear to have been bigger elements or more strongly emphasised in periods when the count's political or military power was under pressure. The differences in formulas used throughout the period of the charters' production demonstrate that, despite the appearance of new elements that may appear to have been important novelties, these processes were likely to have been original to proceedings, and therefore the notions of a reform of investitures taking place in the mid-eleventh century must be nuanced. Instead of demonstrating a mutation in relationships between lord and Church, the documents demonstrate an alteration in style and content, becoming more narrative and verbose and in these ways revealing elements of the process of abbatial elevations that had previously been hidden from view.