Men at the Center

<p>Taking Professor Natalie Zemon Davis’ fascinating biographical studies of three <em>Women on the Margins</em> in the seventeenth century as an inspiration the author of this book offers three portraits of men who were at the very center of governance in thirteenth-century France men who strove in the shadow of King Louis IX (Saint Louis) to impose a redemptive regime on the realm. Professor Jordan treats them as individuals but in a sense they are also types: Robert of Sorbon a churchman; Etienne Boileau a bourgeois; and Simon de Nesle an aristocrat. Robert was the founder of the Sorbonne; Boileau was the <em>prévôt </em>or royal administrator of Paris; and Simon was twice co-regent of the kingdom. Thinking about them and their relations with Louis IX opens up a new and altogether sobering vista for exploring the nature of the king’s rule and the impact of his rule on his subjects.</p>