The Seventeenth Century Europe 1598-1715

by Bergin, Joseph

• ISBN13: 9780198731689
• ISBN10: 019873168X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-01-18
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

This book is a rich, lively, and provocative introduction to seventeenth century Europe. Editor Joseph Bergin and six major authors explore such major issues as economy, society, politics, war, international relations, science, and thought and culture ('The Age of Curiosity'). The book also examines Europe in the wider world.

Author Biography

Joseph Bergin is Professor of History at the University of Manchester

Table of Contents

List of contributors	xi
Introduction: the uncertain prospect	1	(10)
Joseph Bergin
The economy	11	(39)
R. C. Nash
Population and the economy	13	(5)
Agriculture and agrarian society	18	(18)
Industry and trade	36	(12)
Conclusion	48	(2)
Society	50	(30)
Thomas Munck
Social rank and social mobility	52	(6)
Peasants, serfs and subservience	58	(4)
Urbanization and social change	62	(4)
Poverty, vagrancy and crime	66	(4)
Riots and social control	70	(5)
Alternative ideologies: the world turned upside down?	75	(3)
Conclusion	78	(2)
Politics	80	(32)
Anthony Upton
The political structure of Europe in 1600	80	(2)
The problem of the Reformation	82	(2)
The pressures of war: Richelieu and Olivares	84	(4)
Protest, rebellion, revolution: a mid-century crisis?	88	(2)
The English revolution, 1640--60	90	(4)
The search for political stability	94	(9)
Alternative roads	103	(9)
War and international relations	112	(33)
David Parrott
The Thirty Years War and European conflict to 1634	112	(5)
Early seventeenth-century warfare and the `military revolution'	117	(3)
Peace deferred	120	(5)
Malplaquet and military change in Europe after 1660	125	(2)
The wars of French expansion, 1667--97	127	(8)
The Spanish succession	135	(6)
Conclusion	141	(4)
The age of curiosity	145	(40)
Laurence W. B. Brockliss
The Augustinian landscape	145	(7)
Curiosity, observation and measurement	152	(8)
The disenchantment of nature	160	(7)
The sun-centred and infinite universe	167	(5)
The ascent of man	172	(8)
Towards the Enlightenment	180	(5)
Europe and the wider world	185	(32)
Anthony Pagden
Contexts	185	(3)
The meanings of `discovery'	188	(3)
Nature and its laws	191	(3)
Mare liberum?	194	(8)
Competing for empire	202	(2)
The rise of slavery	204	(5)
Religion and civilization	209	(6)
Conclusion	215	(2)
Conclusion: the ancient and the modern	217	(12)
Joseph Bergin
Further reading	229	(4)
Chronology	233	(11)
Maps	244	(7)
Europe in 1600	244	(2)
Europe in 1660	246	(2)
Europe in 1715	248	(3)
Index	251