Resumen de L'invention de la décentralisation. Noblesse et pouvoirs intermédiates en France et en Europe XVII-XIXe siècles
Following the 57th Conference of the ICHRPI/CIHAE held in Paris in September 2006, a linked conference took place in Lille on 7�9 December 2006 on the theme of �The Invention of Decentralization: Nobility and Intermediate Powers in France and in Europe from the 17th to 19th centuries�. The underrepresentation of speakers on the nineteenth century and the absence of some communications on Spain meant that the main thrust of the papers was on early modern Europe, with particular emphasis on France, the Netherlands, the Habsburg lands and Poland. Among the conclusions that emerged was the notion that the role of the nobility in intermediate state bodies or institutions was an institutional reflection of a social reality, prefiguring what happened in the nineteenth century. In France, the provincial vocation of the nobility developed fully between 1750 and 1850. The proceedings of the conference will be published, but in the meantime the editor offers her summing up of the papers.
