Boulainvilliers founded history as the study of nations rather than kings

Evidence

What was in fact established by Boulainvilliers in the early eighteenth century was—I think—a historico-political field. In what sense? First, in this sense: By taking the nation, or rather nations, as his object, Boulainvilliers was able to dig beneath institutions, events, kings and their power, and to analyze something else, namely those societies, as they were called at the time, that were bound together by interests, customs, and laws. — Michel Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 4898

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines the ‘historico-political field’ Boulainvilliers opened by shifting history’s object beneath institutions and kings to nations bound by interests, customs, and laws.