The culture of merit : nobility, royal service, and the making of absolute monarchy in France, 1600-1789 /
Smith, Jay M.,1961-
Ann Arbor : University of Michigan Press,
c1996.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 275-297) and index.
Merit and the personal modality of service -- Family and the personal modality -- State formation and the culture of royal service in the age of Louis -- Through the eyes of the king : merit, service, and the state in the age of Louis XIV -- Extending the sovereign's gaze in the eighteenth century : merit, nobility, and the army -- Military reform in the later eighteenth century : birth, merit, and the gaze of absolute monarchy -- Conclusion : from the sovereign's gaze to the gaze of sovereignty.
Louis XIV, King of France, 1638-1715
France. Armée
Monarchy