Stewart, Assimilation and acculturation in seventeenth-century Europe.

Condition : very good.

The province of Roussillon was acquired by France in 1659, when Louis XIV came of age. The region was populated by Catalans, a group with its own language, religious values, political traditions and cultural patterns. Louis XIV and his ministers sought to achieve two objectives in the province. On the one hand, they wanted to force the people of Roussillon to accept French political supremacy as legitimate, and on the other hand, they wanted to eradicate the Catalan cultural identity in the province. This study examines the means by which the French chose to pursue their objectives, and the methods of resistance employed by the inhabitants of Roussillon. It concludes with an examination of why the French ultimately failed to acculturate the province despite their success in asserting political authority.