The country house, château or rural palazzo set in
extensive grounds may have been the ultimate badge of social
pre-eminence but invariably their owners spent much of the year in
the city. To this extent urban living was common to all elites
worthy of the name, whatever their origin or source of wealth or
power. Needless to say, though, how different elite groups
experienced town life varied greatly. Focussing on the most basic
aspect of urban living, this collection is concerned with the study
of the places and types of residence of urban elites.
Recently a number of historians have begun to explore the
residential choices made by elites in the urban context, both as an
important constituent of lifestyle and as a marker of elite
identity and difference. However, whereas these studies have tended
to focus on one particular elite group, a single place or one type
of urban residence - such as aristocratic hotels - the current
volume is original in exploring the patterns and logic of
residential choices made by different elite groups in a variety of
urban settings, in Britain, France and Italy, from the sixteenth to
the nineteenth century.
Each of the book’s nine substantive chapters is written in
either English or French (with an abstract in the other language)
by a leading specialist either on elites or in the field of urban
history. The volume arises out of two meetings of the specialists
concerned, which gives it a degree of coherence rarely achieved in
collections of this sort. A substantial essay by the editors points
to similarities and contrasts between the specific cases and
identifies key issues requiring further research.
John Dunne is Director of Research in Humanities at the
University of Greenwich. His research interests include French
elites c.1780-1820 and Napoleonic government.
Paul Janssens is Professor of Early Modern History in
Brussels and chairman of the Belgian 'Conseil de Noblesse'. He has
written extensively on the history of the Belgian
nobility.
Que ce soit à Florence, à Venise ou à Milan,
dans les villes françaises ou dans celles du Royaume-Uni,
les élites aristocratiques et bourgeoises ne sont ni
citadines, ni rurales. De la Renaissance à la Belle Epoque,
elles partagent leur temps entre de multiples résidences.
Hôtels de maître, villas et châteaux sont leurs
lieux de résidence habituels, selon la saison ou leurs
occupations. Nobles et bourgeois ne s’isolent pas du reste de
la population, bien qu’ils affectionnent les nouvelles
demeures et les nouveaux quartiers. De génération en
génération, l’apparence des lieux de
résidence et de villégiature peut donc beaucoup
changer. Mais qu’ils soient rentiers ou actifs, tous se
déplacent beaucoup et ce recueil est l’un des premiers
à l'illustrer dans une perspective internationale de la fin
du moyen âge à la Grande Guerre.