This is a story of brilliance, order and sophistication, of supreme confidence and great achievement - that begins in uncertainty and ends in iconoclasm.

Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie is the author of numerous books - including the immensely successful Montaillouand Carnival - and many articles. He is a researcher with a high international reputation, and the diversity of his work and range of his publications have made him one of the foremost specialists on France's monarchical period.