Professor William Doyle spoke to the Trevor Roper Society on ‘Louis XVI and Absolute Monarchy’. Review by Alex Amirkhanian (Year 13):
On Thursday 27 April, I was part of a group of Charterhouse pupils lucky enough to hear a lecture on Louis XVI and Absolute Monarchy, presented by Professor Doyle of Bristol University. As an expert on 18th century Europe and particularly on France and the Age of Revolutions, Professor Doyle gave an engaging and insightful lecture on what Absolute Monarchy actually meant at the time of the Ancient Regime and Louis XVI’s reign. We were privy to an academic's explorations and analysis of the period as the lecture took us on a journey through the timeline leading up to the French Revolution and what followed directly after.
As our time with Professor Doyle neared its end, the pupils eagerly expressed engagement and curiosity through a lively question and answer session, including queries about connections to Napoleon I, and thoughtful questions on whether absolute monarchy could have survived. Both in his presentation and his elaborate answers to questions, Professor Doyle's ability to define absolute monarchy in the context of the French revolution provided a captivating lecture to both first and second years alike - one likely to see me and my peers reading further on the topic for weeks to come.