Birth of the Leviathan: Building States and Regimes in Medieval and Early Modern Europe

by Thomas Ertman

• ISBN13: 9780521482226
• ISBN10: 0521482224
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1997-01-13
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

For many years scholars have sought to explain why the European states which emerged in the period before the French Revolution developed along such different lines. Why did some become absolutist and others constitutionalist? What enabled some to develop bureaucratic administrative systems, while others remained dependent upon patrimonial practices? This book presents a new theory of state-building in medieval and early modern Europe. Ertman argues that two factors - the organisation of local government at the time of state formation and the timing of sustained geo-military competition - can explain most of the variation in political regimes and in state infrastructures found across the continent during the second half of the eighteenth century. Drawing on insights developed in historical sociology, comparative politics, and economic history, this book makes a compelling case for the value of interdisciplinary approaches to the study of political development.

Table of Contents

List of Tables	x	(1)
Acknowledgments	xi
1. INTRODUCTION	1	(34)
Early Modern States: Four Types	6	(4)
Competing Explanations	10	(9)
Explaining Variations in Early Modern States: The Argument	19	(16)
2. THE ORIGINS OF PATRIMONIAL ABSOLUTISM IN LATIN EUROPE	35	(55)
The Late Roman Empire and Early State Formation in Visigoth Spain, Lombard Italy, and Merovingian and Carolingian Gaul	37	(11)
Economic and Ecclesiastical Renewal and the Rebirth of Royal Power in Latin Europe	48	(11)
Early Geopolitical Competition, Representative Assemblies, and the Creation of Systems of National Taxation	59	(15)
The Impact of War and Taxes on Finance and Administration: The Beginnings of Patrimonial Absolutism	74	(14)
Conclusion	88	(2)
3. THE TRIUMPH OF PATRIMONIAL ABSOLUTISM AND THE FAILURE OF REFORM IN LATIN EUROPE, c. 1500-1789	90	(66)
War and the Triumph of Patrimonial Absolutism in France, 1494-1659	91	(19)
Patrimonial Absolutism in Iberia and Italy, 1492-1789	110	(15)
The "Reform" of Patrimonial Absolutism Under Colbert and Louis XIV, 1660-1714	125	(14)
Geopolitical Pressures, the Failure of Reform, and the End of Patrimonial Absolutism, 1715-1791	139	(15)
Conclusion	154	(2)
4. BUREAUCRATIC CONSTITUTIONALISM IN BRITAIN	156	(68)
Unencumbered State Formation, Early Geopolitical Pressure, and a Precocious Attempt at Shared Rule, c. 400-1453	158	(20)
Deepening Patrimonialism and Its Temporary Demise, 1453-1659	178	(9)
The Restoration and the English "Revolution in Government", 1660-1688	187	(21)
The Consolidation of the New British State After 1689	208	(13)
Conclusion	221	(3)
5. BUREAUCRATIC ABSOLUTISM IN GERMANY	224	(40)
Failed Dark Age Statebuilding, Empire, and the Emergence of Territorial States in Germany, 511-c. 1450	226	(11)
Representative Institutions, Geopolitical Competition, and the Consolidation of Bureaucratic Absolutism in the German Territorial States, c. 1450-1789	237	(8)
The Limits and Contradictions of Bureaucratic Absolutism: The Case of Brandenburg-Prussia	245	(17)
Conclusion	262	(2)
6. THE TRIUMPH OF PATRIMONIAL CONSTITUTIONALISM IN HUNGARY AND POLAND AND ITS PREMATURE DEMISE IN SCANDINAVIA	264	(53)
Unencumbered State Formation and the Consolidation of Local Elite Self-Government in Hungary and Poland, c. 1000-1387	267	(18)
The Advent of Sustained Geopolitical Competition and the Triumph of Patrimonial Constitutionalism in Hungary and Poland, 1387-1648	285	(15)
Internal and External Threats to Patrimonial Constitutionalism in Hungary and Poland, 1648-1795	300	(5)
Abortive Patrimonial Constitutionalism in Scandinavia	305	(9)
Conclusion	314	(3)
7. CONCLUSION	317	(8)
Bibliography	325	(26)
Index	351