In The House of Saulx-Tavanes: Versailles and Burgundy, 1700-1830,
Professor Robert Forster examines the noble family of Saulx-Tavanes from
the reign of Louis XIV to the Restoration. He provides readers with an
account of a single aristocratic family's relationship to the changing
political culture of the eighteenth century. Forster explores how an old
aristocratic family promoted itself in the royal court, how the
Saulx-Tavanes managed their estate remotely from Paris, and how the
family's relationship to its creditors changed over time. Forster
examines the ambiguities of one noble family's transition from
provincial independence to courtly dependence and, eventually, to
revolution. This book is an account of how the Saulx-Tavanes--a family
of émigré nobles--preserved their life, revenue, reputation, esteem,
and place in a French society transformed by political change and
revolution.