Régence

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Régence is the French word for (and root of the English word) regency (see that article).

It is also used in other languages with the following specific meanings:

Contents

[edit] French chronology

The era of the French Régence (1715 - 1723) covers the minority of Louis XV, when France was governed by the regent, the child-king's uncle, Philippe d'Orléans.

The Régence marks the temporary eclipse of Versailles as center of policymaking, since the Regent's court was at the Palais Royal in Paris. It marks the rise of Parisian salons as cultural centers, as literary meeting places and nuclei of discreet liberal resistance to some official policies. In the Paris salons aristocrats mingled more easily with the haute-bourgeoisie in a new atmosphere of relaxed decorum, comfort and intimacy.

More details in the Louis XV article.

[edit] Art history

In the arts, the style of the Régence is marked by early Rococo, characterized by the paintings of Antoine Watteau (1684-1721).

[edit] Colonialism

Régence is also the customary French word for the pre-independence regimes in the western North African countries, the so-called Barbary Coast. It was applied to:

  • First the Barbary Coast (Maghrebinian countries in North Africa) was de facto independent (dominated by military governors, soon de facto princes, styled dey, bey or beylerbey, and by the raïs, Muslim corsairs), but nominally an Ottoman province.
  • Later the beylik of Tunis (present Tunisia) and the Sherifian sultanate of Morocco (except for the Spanish-dominated part) came under a specific, protectorate-type of colonial regime that France established over each.

[edit] Sources and references

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[edit] See also

Neither the dynastic nor the artistic Régence period should be confused with the British Regency period, which may however be rendered in French as régence.

In other languages