This thought-provoking book deconstructs the ethical and political framework supporting and circumscribing the actions of a powerful elite in France between the early 1600s and the final years of Louis XIV's reign. It contains major essays on Richelieu, Retz, La Rochefoucauld, Conde, Fouquet and a range of dramatists. Leading British and French specialists offer a radical reassessment of the absolute values on which was founded the authority of the established church and the King. Discussion of the twin themes of the book is divided into two parts, in acknowledgment of the equal importance accorded in this study to the fact of history and to the virtual reality of dramatic representation.