The Ecole Royale Militaire: Noble Education, Institutional Innovation, and Royal Charity, 1750-1788

The Paris Ecole Militaire is discussed in the book as an institution that was a model for reform during a crucial time in the development of military professionalism and state-run secular education. It was an Enlightenment project with a curriculum that broke with the Latin pedagogy of the dominant Jesuit system. It was also a dispensary of royal charity designed to ally the nobility more closely to royal interests through military service.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 301 pages
Publication date: 25 August 2021
Publisher: Springer Nature Switzerland AG

This book delves into the significance of the Paris Ecole Militaire as an institution, highlighting its role as a model for reform during a pivotal period in the movement towards military professionalism and state-run secular education. The school stands out as an Enlightenment project, with one of its founders publishing an article about it in the Encyclopédie in 1755. Notably, its curriculum departed significantly from the Latin pedagogy of the dominant Jesuit system, while drawing inspiration from seventeenth-century riding academies. The Ecole Militaire's status intertwines with the nature of absolutism, as it was conceived to glorify the Bourbon dynasty, much like the girls school at Saint Cyr and the Invalides. Furthermore, it served as a dispensary of royal charity, aimed at strengthening the bond between the nobility and royal interests through military service. In the army, the Ecole Militaire's proofs of nobility served as the blueprint for the much-debated 1781 Ségur decree, often regarded as a significant catalyst for the French Revolution.

Weight: 420g
Dimension: 210 x 148 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9783030459338
Edition number: 1st ed. 2020