Life in the French Country House

by Girouard, Mark

• ISBN13: 9780679427117
• ISBN10: 0679427112
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-11-01
• Publisher: Knopf

Summary

This is a perceptive and witty account of upperclass French society through the centuries, showing how the chateaux and manoirs that dot the countryside evolved in concert with their inhabitants to create a way of life admired and emulated throughout Europe.

Quoting liberally from letters and diaries, inventories and books of etiquette, Mark Girouard uses these resources as well as hundreds of illustrations to conjure up the pecking order of the nobility, the language of chivalry, the nobles' quest for privacy and their love of company -- in the salon, in the boudoir, in the garden.

He traces the evolution in taste and decoration that accommodated the waxing and waning of the fortunes of the aristocracy. Materials, plumbing, lighting, healing, water supply, and the design of kitchens, stables, and servant quarters: all were factors in the creation and maintenance ora world that put the labor of many at the service of a few.

Like "Life in the English Country House" and all of Mark Girouard's other books, "Life in the French Country House" is -- no pun inte

Author Biography

Mark Girouard is one of Britain's leading architectural historians and the author of many books including <b>Life in the English Country House</b>, <b>The Victorian Country House</b>, <b>Cities and People</b>, and <b>The English Town</b>. He lives in London.

Table of Contents

Foreword	8	(11)
A Quick Run Round the French Noblesse	11	(20)
The Language of Chivalry	31	(36)
`Gracious Homes for Noble Seigneurs'	67	(44)
Private Places	111	(18)
The Curious History of the Salon	129	(18)
In and Around the Boudoir	147	(16)
Were they ever There?	163	(134)
Putting on a Show	197	(22)
Plumbing -- or the Lack of It	219	(22)
The Household	241	(24)
In Praise of the Basse-Cour	265	(16)
To Horse	281	(16)
Back to the Land	297	(36)
Into the Twentieth Century	333	(5)
Notes	338	(8)
Index	346	(6)
Acknowledgements	352