Le « parti dévot » à la cour de France sous Louis XIV, Louis XV et Louis XVI

How did people influence the decisions of the absolute King? This work analyses the mutation of the "devout party" configuration at the Court of France, under King Louis XIV, King Louis XV and King Louis XVI. The first part of this thesis shows that the "devout party" represented a royal catholic faction in the XVII century and at the beginning of the XVIII century. This kind of organized party was based on patronages and families that defended State Catholicism ideas in the same vein as cardinal de Richelieu. A second part deals with the change of the royal catholic faction into a proto-party which was supporting absolutism against Parliaments. Progressively, people entering this party were mostly defending ideas rather than being loyal ta social conventions. Since 1769, the "devout party" was confronted in the government to the wearing down of the power and to internal quarrel. At the beginning of 1780, the "devout party" had lost its political weight