In 1648, the Fronde began as a series of civil disturbances against royal authority in France. Nobles, magistrates and urban groups resisted fiscal pressure and centralisation during Louis XIV's minority. The unrest shaped the young king's later commitment to absolutism.

The Fronde produced political pamphlets, memoirs and satirical verse in a lively public sphere. Its memory informs the classical age of French literature, where order, discipline and court culture often respond to fear of disorder.