Seventeenth century French society was a time in which the arts flourished and were used to create an eminence of power and absolutism. The gardens of Vaux-le-Vicomte were commissioned by Nicolas Fouquet and designed by André Le Nôtre. The gardens created a political and social space through the characteristics of design and standards of order which together conveyed power and absolutism. Louis XIV, newly crowned king, recognized at Vaux the perfect vehicle for the portrayal of power. French theater at the same time was gaining popularity and establishing itself as a great art form. Similar to the gardens at Vaux which illustrated beauty and power through order and careful design, the theater also was subject to specific guidelines of order and design. Powerful men such as Cardinal Richelieu helped to establish the early acceptance and development of theater at this time. Principles set forth for the theater were followed in order to create the perfect theatrical illusion onstage. Standards such as those set forth by Scudéry, d'Aubignac and the Academy were closely followed while plays such as Pierre Corneille's Le Cid were criticized for their lack of adherence to the rules. Trends and elements of formal gardens aligned with similar trends in French theater to reflect the power of the king. This power was doubly manifested through the garden setting and the theatrical performances which took place within them. The festivities of The Pleasures of the Enchanted Isle presented numerous plays by Molière such as Les Fâcheux and Tartuffe. These works demonstrated the power of the king while the week-long festivities created a space in which real and the desire for reality combined.

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L’interculturation est constitutive de l’histoire du Québec. Ce travail analyse les phénomènes d’interculturation entre populations catholiques et protestantes dans le Sud-Ouest du Québec, des années 1830 à 1920, notamment à travers le prisme du discours et des pratiques de la communauté protestante francophone, alors en expansion. Avant de proposer une typologie des individus qui optèrent pour le protestantisme évangélique dans cet environnement rural, nous avons étudié les voies qu’ils prirent pour y accéder et les raisons de cette acculturation choisie, perçue par la majorité comme une transgression. Nous montrons ensuite les divers degrés d’imbrication entre cette conversion et l’ethos victorien du temps en insistant sur la loyauté envers l’Empire britannique d’une majorité de Canadiens français protestants, posture complexe et polémique dans un contexte colonial. Nous tentons enfin de faire apparaître les zones de rencontres et les interactions interconfessionnelles entre ces individus de confession et de langue différente, territoire peu exploré de l’interculturation au quotidien, dans le but de réévaluer l’idée répandue que le seul mode d’interaction de ces populations ait été conflictuel ou au mieux, coexistentiel. / Cross-cultural relationships, complete with conflictual overtones and strategic dealings, have been part and parcel of the fabric of Quebec history. This work sets out to analyse these crosscultural phenomena at work in Catholic and Protestant relationships in South-Western Quebec from the 1830’s to 1920, mainly through the lens of the growing French-Protestant community. Before offering a typology of those who opted for Evangelical Protestantism in this rural context, I have first thoroughly gone through the ways of the process of conversion/acculturation as experienced by those who dared transgress confessional boundaries and the reasons why they chose to do so. I have then argued that this conversion was, to a higher or lesser degree, closely intertwined with the then prevailing Victorian ethos, and overwhelmingly translated into a staunch loyalty towards the British empire, a complex and controversial posture to adopt for any French Canadian in that colonial context. Particular attention was finally paid to the relations between Catholics and Protestants, French and English-speaking, as they lived their lives from day-to-day, in an attempt to appraise the prevailing idea that these relations were perenially conflictual or at best, on a footing of reciprocated indifference.

Cardinal Richelieu is traditionally accredited with defeating the power of the grands, the upper echelon of the French nobility, as part of his supposedly successful project for monarchical absolutism. Modern historians have recast Richelieu as a nobleman of his time, who advanced himself within the social and political hierarchies through marriage alliances and patronage. He therefore worked hard to forge alliances with the grands rather than trying to destroy them. Yet his ministry was riven by persistent noble conspiracies and rebellions, which have gone largely without systematic investigation. This study examines the nature and causes of that unrest during Richelieu’s final six years, offering a radical re-assessment of the opposition and the politics of the period. Noble conspiracy was not just a by-product of government by a first minister, but reflected the factional nature of Richelieu’s approach. Factional rivalry was exacerbated by the emergence, after 1638, of a struggle for the anticipated regency. After this, Richelieu took a more hostile approach to his adversaries, forcing them to adopt strong countermeasures in order to preserve their positions. Richelieu’s opponents were surprisingly successful in asserting their independence. As well as enjoying widespread domestic support, they allied with the Habsburg powers to engineer military rebellion, posing a major threat to the Cardinal and undermining the war effort against Spain. The Spanish set their stall out for a long-term war, expecting that Richelieu’s opponents would eventually gain power and negotiate peace on more flexible terms. The ability of the grands to re-assert themselves was still a dominant characteristic of French politics. Richelieu’s legacy, on his death in 1642, was a highly volatile political situation in which success was still a long way off for France. These findings suggest the catalytic impact of Habsburg power on France’s internal divisions, which should consequently be seen as integral to the forging of the ancien régime.

Dire qu’il n’est pas possible de séparer la religion de la politique avant le XVIIIe siècle, c’est énoncer un lieu commun. Mais comment étudier l’influence des représentations religieuses sur la politique ? Si depuis Marc Bloch et Ernst Kantorowicz de nombreuses études ont été publiées sur la légitimation religieuse du pouvoir temporel, les autres dimensions de la politique, c’est à dire le développement et la réalisation de politiques, ont souvent été négligées. Ainsi, l’historiographie sur la Guerre de Trente Ans et la politique étrangère française sous Louis XIII distingue d’un côté des acteurs motivés religieusement et de l’autre des acteurs motivés politiquement et, de ce fait, ne peut appréhender de manière satisfaisante les débats politiques du XVIIe siècle.En examinant l’impact de la Réforme catholique sur le calcul politique, cette thèse de doctorat propose une démarche qui rassemble la religion et la politique dans toutes ses dimensions. Ce faisant, elle tente de développer de nouveaux récits de l’histoire politique. Les questions du parti dévot, de la Fronde, du caractère de la Guerre de Trente Ans et de l’échec de la monarchie polonaise sont reconsidérées. En outre, elle cherche à donner une vue d’ensemble de la Réforme catholique et de ses conséquences politiques. Une grande attention est accordée à l’émergence de nouveaux cultes politico-religieux favorisant la construction étatique, et en particulier au patronage marial étatique. / Common wisdom says that it is not possible to dissociate religion from politics before the 18th century. But how is it possible to study the influence of religious patterns on political action? Since Marc Bloch and Ernst Kantorowicz, a great deal of scholarly work has been written on religious legitimization of political power, yet the other dimensions of politics - the development of policies and the struggles around it - have been somewhat neglected. Historiography about the Thirty Years’ War or French foreign policy under Louis XIII still postulates a dichotomy between religiously and politically motivated actors and, because of this, fails to analyse properly the political debates of the 17th century. Examining the influence of Catholic reform on political calculation in the first half of 17th century, the doctoral thesis proposes a way bridging religion and politics in all its dimensions, and in so doing develops new narratives of political history. The questions of the resistance to war in France, of the Fronde, of the character of the Thirty Years’ War, and of the failure of the Polish monarchy are re-considered. Furthermore, this work provides a general view of Catholic reform and of its impact on political life. It pays particular attention to the new religious-political cults propelling state construction, and especially to the State Marian patronage.