num_pages: 426
description: The city of Romans, in Dauphine province in S. France, was the annual scene of a colorfully animated Mardi gras carnival. In 1580, however, winter festivities degenerated into bloody ambush. While costumed craftsmen &amp; peasants mimed &amp; danced their uprising in the streets, &amp; notables &amp; bourgeoisie hurried from banquets to balls in ostentatious finery, Jean Serve-Paumier, master craftsman, draper &amp; popular party leader was assassinated, his supporters beaten &amp; pursued by a mob hired by Judge Antoine Guerin, leader of the inflexibly reactionary part of the ruling party. More than a cruel incident, this night marked the intersection of an urban movement &amp; even larger rural stirrings. Ladurie marshals a wealth of evidence &amp; reveals the town of Romans as a microcosm of the political &amp; religious antagonisms tearing 16th-century France. Le Carnival de Romans: de la chandeleur au mercredi des cenders describes the massacre of about 20 artisans at an annual carnival. Ladurie uses the two surviving eyewitness accounts--one hostile towards the victims by Guérin, the other sympathetic yet often inaccurate by Piémond--along with such information as plague &amp; tax lists, to treat the massacre as a microcosm of rural political, social &amp; religious conflicts, thereby providing a good example of microhistory.
language: English
title: Carnival in Romans
titlecomplete: Carnival in Romans
genres: Death, France, History, Nonfiction
ratings_count: 81
places: France
awards: awardedAt: 284025600000
name: Prix Pierre Lafue
publisher: George Braziller, Inc. (NYC)