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A World of PaperLouis XIV, Colbert de Torcy, and the Rise of the Information State |
eBook Available
How the administrative personnel in Louis XIV's foreign office developed innovative structures and procedures for managing the flow of information.
Historians and social scientists have long identified bureaucracy as the modern state's foundation and the reign of France's Louis XIV as a model for its development. A World of Paper offers a fresh interpretation of bureaucracy through a close examination of the department of the Sun King's last foreign secretary, Jean-Baptiste Colbert de Torcy.
Torcy, who served as foreign secretary from 1696-1715, is widely regarded as one of the most brilliant foreign ministers of the ancien regime. Building on the work of his predecessors, he fashioned a skilled team of collaborators as he managed the complex issues of war and peace during the turbulent final decades of Louis XIV's reign. John Rule and Ben Trotter examine Torcy's department to depict administrative structures as they emerged through the circulating stream of paper that connected his office with provincial administrators and diplomats abroad. They explore the collection and centralization of information during Torcy's tenure through the creation of a modern state archive, discreet intelligence gathering, and the surveillance and management of the French mails. They also study the postal carriers, couriers, household officers of the royal court, genealogists hired for research, and an informal "brain trust" of experts, and advisors who carried vital information in and out of the department every day.
A remarkable reconstruction of the department of Jean-Baptiste Colbert de Torcy, A World of Paper demystifies bureaucracy and explores the ways in which the modern information state developed from his labours.
Torcy, who served as foreign secretary from 1696-1715, is widely regarded as one of the most brilliant foreign ministers of the ancien regime. Building on the work of his predecessors, he fashioned a skilled team of collaborators as he managed the complex issues of war and peace during the turbulent final decades of Louis XIV's reign. John Rule and Ben Trotter examine Torcy's department to depict administrative structures as they emerged through the circulating stream of paper that connected his office with provincial administrators and diplomats abroad. They explore the collection and centralization of information during Torcy's tenure through the creation of a modern state archive, discreet intelligence gathering, and the surveillance and management of the French mails. They also study the postal carriers, couriers, household officers of the royal court, genealogists hired for research, and an informal "brain trust" of experts, and advisors who carried vital information in and out of the department every day.
A remarkable reconstruction of the department of Jean-Baptiste Colbert de Torcy, A World of Paper demystifies bureaucracy and explores the ways in which the modern information state developed from his labours.
Details
704 Pages
1 map, 38 tables
ISBN 9780773543706
June 2014
Formats: Cloth, eBook
“A World of Paper is one of the finest works showing the mechanics and culture of state power. It is a major work of administrative history and will stand as a classic in its field. It is deep scholarship and required reading for all students of the history of politics and information studies.” Jacob Soll, Department of History, University of Southern California
“A World of Paper raises our knowledge and understanding of the development of France’s foreign office to wholly new levels and represents a massive contribution to scholarship of later-Louis XIV absolutism. It has been a very long time since I’ve read a work of such originality and importance.” Hamish Scott, Honorary Senior Research Fellow (History), University of Glasgow
“State espionage was initially inflicted on a limited demographic: the Privy Council spied on the British court, the Venetian doge on diplomatic and ecclesiastical circles. But when spying became surveillance-the word is seventeenth-century French, and was in common parlance by the time of the French Revolution-the dragnet was cast beyond the elite. John C. Rule and Ben S. Trotter’s A World of Paper investigates this shift, which was implemented by the new intelligence bureaucracy. … It’s the mercury and the manuscripture, the copying by hand, that bring a mystical, alchemical, and ultimately religious pall to the proceedings. As went the Church into the Dark Ages, so went the nation-state into the Enlightenment. Both became hermetic societies of copyists and clerks who, in an attempt to safeguard the faithful, monitored the faithful’s reading and behavior instead.” Harper’s Magazine
“A World of Paper raises our knowledge and understanding of the development of France’s foreign office to wholly new levels and represents a massive contribution to scholarship of later-Louis XIV absolutism. It has been a very long time since I’ve read a work of such originality and importance.” Hamish Scott, Honorary Senior Research Fellow (History), University of Glasgow
“State espionage was initially inflicted on a limited demographic: the Privy Council spied on the British court, the Venetian doge on diplomatic and ecclesiastical circles. But when spying became surveillance-the word is seventeenth-century French, and was in common parlance by the time of the French Revolution-the dragnet was cast beyond the elite. John C. Rule and Ben S. Trotter’s A World of Paper investigates this shift, which was implemented by the new intelligence bureaucracy. … It’s the mercury and the manuscripture, the copying by hand, that bring a mystical, alchemical, and ultimately religious pall to the proceedings. As went the Church into the Dark Ages, so went the nation-state into the Enlightenment. Both became hermetic societies of copyists and clerks who, in an attempt to safeguard the faithful, monitored the faithful’s reading and behavior instead.” Harper’s Magazine
John C. Rule (1929-2013) was professor emeritus of history at the Ohio State University.
Ben S. Trotter is adjunct professor of history at Columbus State Community College.
Ben S. Trotter is adjunct professor of history at Columbus State Community College.
Tables vii
Figures ix
Preface xiii
Introduction 3
1 Louis XIV, Roi-Bureaucrate 14
2 Torcy’s Preparation for and Rise to Power 44
3 Mentorship and Testing 94
4 The Department of Secretary of State Torcy 138
5 The Department’s Structures and Personnel 170
6 The Triumph of the Commis 225
7 Finances and Rewards 282
8 Preserving, Deploying, and Controlling Information 320
9 Ambassadors in Paris and Abroad 354
10 Information and the Formulation of Foreign Policy 371
11 Domestic Administration 435
Conclusion 460
Abbreviations 473
Notes 475
Bibliography 717
Index 773
Figures ix
Preface xiii
Introduction 3
1 Louis XIV, Roi-Bureaucrate 14
2 Torcy’s Preparation for and Rise to Power 44
3 Mentorship and Testing 94
4 The Department of Secretary of State Torcy 138
5 The Department’s Structures and Personnel 170
6 The Triumph of the Commis 225
7 Finances and Rewards 282
8 Preserving, Deploying, and Controlling Information 320
9 Ambassadors in Paris and Abroad 354
10 Information and the Formulation of Foreign Policy 371
11 Domestic Administration 435
Conclusion 460
Abbreviations 473
Notes 475
Bibliography 717
Index 773
Winner
Society for French Historical Studies David H. Pinkney Prize
(2015)
Winner
American Historical Association Leo Gershoy Prize
(2015)
Society for French Historical Studies David H. Pinkney Prize
(2015)
Winner
American Historical Association Leo Gershoy Prize
(2015)
