The defining characteristics of patronage relationships and their uses, especially their political uses, are the twin themes of this collection of essays. The collection examines the impact of patronage relationships on state formation and political events during the 16th and 17th centuries.

The dual themes of this volume are the characteristics of patronage relationships and their political uses in early-modern France. The first essays provide an overview of the scholarly literature and suggest that the obligatory reciprocity of the patron-client exchange was a defining characteristic. The third and fourth essays compare patronage relationships with kinship and friendship, while the following two focus on the patronage role of noblewomen. Professor Kettering then looks at the role of brokerage in state formation in early-modern France, comparing this with other early modern societies. In the final section she explores the role of patronage in the religious wars of the late-16th-century and in the civil war of the Fronde a half century later, and the ways in which it was affected by the changing lifestyles of the great nobles during the late-17th-century

A question of reciprocity: Patronage in early-modern France
Gift-giving and patronage in early modern France
Patronage and kinship in early-modern France
Friendship and clientage in early-modern France. Patronage and noblewomen: The patronage power of early-modern French noblewomen
The household service of early-modern French noblewomen. Brokers in early modern societies: The historical development of political clientelism
Brokerage at the court of Louis XIV. The political impact of patronage: Clientage during the French Wars of Religion
Patronage and politics during the Fronde
The decline of great noble clientage during the reign of Louis XIV.