Monarchy Transformed: Princes and their Elites in Early Modern Western Europe

This decisive contribution to the long-running debate about the dynamics of state formation and elite transformation in early modern Europe examines the new monarchies that emerged during the course of the 'long seventeenth century'. It argues that the players surviving the power struggles of this period were not 'states' in any modern sense, but primarily princely dynasties pursuing not only dynastic ambitions and princely prestige but the consequences of dynastic chance. At the same time, elites, far from insisting on confrontation with the government of princes for principled ideological reasons, had every reason to seek compromise and even advancement through new channels that the governing dynasty offered, if only they could profit from them. Monarchy Transformed ultimately challenges the inevitability of modern maps of Europe and shows how, instead of promoting state formation, the wars of the period witnessed the creation of several dynastic agglomerates and new kinds of aristocracy.

Table of Contents:
1. Introduction: monarchy transformed - princes and their elites in early modern Western Europe Robert von Friedeburg and John Morrill; Part I. Dynasties and Monarchies: 2. Dynasties, realms, peoples and state formation, 1500–1720 John Morrill; 3. Dynastic monarchy and the consolidation of aristocracy during Europe's long seventeenth-century Hamish Scott; 4. Dynastic instability, the emergence of the French monarchical commonwealth and the coming of the rhetoric of 'L'état', 1360s to 1650s James Collins; 5. Setting limits to grandeur: preserving the Spanish monarchy in an iron century B. J.Garcia Garcia; 6. The new monarchy in France, the social elites and the society of princes Lucien Bely; Part II. Elites, Rhetoric and Monarchy: 7. The King and the family: primogeniture and the Lombard nobility in the Spanish monarchy Antonio Álvarez-Ossorio Alvariño; 8. Portugal's elites and political status within the Spanish monarchy Pedro Cardim; 9. In the service of the dynasty: building a career in the Habsburg household, 1550–1650 Dries Raeymakers; 10. Revolutionary absolutism and the elites of the Danish monarchy in the long seventeenth century Gunner Lind; 11. The 'New Monarchy' as despotic beast: the perspective of the lesser nobility in France and Germany, 1630s to 1650s Robert von Friedeburg; 12. The crisis of sacral monarchy in England in the late seventeenth century in comparative perspective Ronald G. Asch; Afterword. Rethinking the relations of elites and princes in Europe from the 1590s to the 1720s Nicholas Canny.

About the Author :
Robert von Friedeburg teaches Early Modern and Modern European History at Bishop Grosseteste University, Lincoln after many years at Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam. One primary interest is the emergence of legitimate public power in the Latin West. He has published more than 100 essays and articles, and has written or edited seventeen books, the most recent being Luther's Legacy: The Thirty Years War and the Modern Notion of 'State' in the Empire, 1530s to 1790s (Cambridge, 2016). He is a member of the Academia Europaea. John Morrill retired in 2013 after forty years teaching British, Irish and European History at Cambridge. A major interest has been the long historical relationship between England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales set in a European comparative context. He has written and edited more than twenty books and published more than 100 essays and articles, and he is a Fellow of the British Academy and an Honorary Member of both the Royal Irish Academy and the Academy of Finland.

Review :
'The quality of the contributions is beyond reproach. All of the authors are recognised experts in their fields who, collectively, have a mass of research experience and knowledge … Many of these chapters will be exceedingly useful for teachers. This thought-provoking and authoritative volume deserves to become a classic benchmark and a standard work for all researchers of state formation.' Liesbeth Geevers, The English Historical Review 'This is an important book that will be essential reading for historians of state formation and nobilities … will stimulate further research on a whole range of significant aspects of early modern history.' Alistair Malcolm, Renaissance Quarterly