Seventeenth-Century Europe, Second Edition: State, Conflict and Social Order in Europe 1598-1700

by Munck

• ISBN13: 9781403936189
• ISBN10: 1403936188
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-09-03
• Publisher: Red Globe Pr

Summary

This is a fully-revised edition of a well-established synthesis of the period from the Thirty Years War to the consolidation of absolute monarchy and the landowning society of the ancient rgime. Thematically organized, the book covers all of Europe, from Britain and Scandinavia to Spain and Eastern Europe. Important new material has been added on the Ottomans, on Christian-Muslem contacts and on the role of women, and the text has been thoroughly updated to take account of recent research.

Author Biography

Thomas Munck is Reader in History at the University of Glasgow.

Table of Contents

Chronology of main events, 1598-1700	ix
Acknowledgements	xxi
Introduction	xxiii
Maps	xxx
1 The Thirty Years War in the German lands	1	(31)
The German lands before 1618	2	(5)
Bohemia and the Rhine (1617-28)	7	(5)
Christian IV, Gustav Adolf and Wallenstein (1625-30)	12	(4)
Gustav Adolf and Swedish grand designs (1629-34)	16	(4)
The elusiveness of peace (1634-48)	20	(3)
The consequences of war and peace	23	(9)
2 Government in wartime Europe	32	(54)
Tax collection and the costs of war	36	(4)
The restored monarchy and the Huguenots in France	40	(5)
The indispensable first minister: Richelieu and Louis XIII	45	(1)
Tension and revolt in France in the 1630's	46	(5)
Castile and the Spanish system	51	(3)
Olivares: integration or disintegration?	54	(5)
Sweden and the challenge of empire	59	(5)
Christian IV and 'elective monarchy' in Denmark	64	(5)
Crown and Parliament in England	69	(4)
Charles I and the abandonment of consensus politics	73	(5)
Scotland and the Long Parliament	78	(8)
3 The framework of life	86	(32)
Population and food supply	87	(8)
The demographic effects of disease	95	(5)
The impact of war	100	(2)
Prices and wages	102	(3)
Occupations and wealth distribution	105	(2)
Social and geographic mobility	107	(3)
Family and household	110	(4)
Gender and power	114	(4)
4 Enterprise and profit	118	(29)
Finance	121	(3)
Industry and trade	124	(3)
Regions in the European economy: the Mediterranean recession	127	(4)
The growth of the north-west	131	(7)
The frontier in the east	138	(3)
The pre-industrial economy	141	(3)
The Ottoman economy	144	(3)
5 The structure of society: nobility, office-holders and the rich	147	(31)
Tradition and noble status	150	(5)
A 'crisis of the aristocracy'?	155	(3)
The French nobility and the Crown	158	(4)
Ennoblement and the sale of offices in the west	162	(4)
Titles and venality in Castile and England	166	(3)
Nobility and government service in central and northern Europe	169	(4)
The Polish and Russian elites	173	(2)
Landholding and service in the Ottoman empire	175	(3)
6 The structure of society: urban life	178	(35)
The smaller towns	183	(5)
Larger cities	188	(4)
Capital cities	192	(2)
The urban poor	194	(5)
Rioting and crime	199	(4)
Charitable responses to urban poverty	203	(4)
Official urban poor relief	207	(6)
7 Provincial revolts, civil war and crises in mid-century Europe	213	(40)
Liberty, anarchy or tyranny: Poland, the east and the Ottoman troubles	217	(6)
Urban revolt and provincial secession: Spain and its territories in the 1640's	223	(4)
The Frondes: challenge from a divided elite?	227	(5)
The English civil wars and Scotland	232	(5)
Revolution and the search for stability in England	237	(6)
Non-violent 'crises' in the Scandinavian kingdoms	243	(5)
The ebb and flow of republicanism in the United Provinces	248	(5)
8 The structure of society: peasant and seigneur	253	(34)
Serfdom in Muscovy	259	(4)
The German lands and east-central Europe	263	(3)
Entrepreneurial land usage in central and western Europe	266	(4)
Commercial farming in the Netherlands and England	270	(3)
Peasant, bondsman and labourer in western Europe	273	(5)
Peasant protest and state involvement	278	(9)
9 Beliefs, mentalités, knowledge and the printed text	287	(39)
Witchcraft prosecutions	290	(6)
The struggle for religious conformity	296	(9)
The printed word	305	(5)
Scepticism, Galileo and the expanding universe	310	(4)
Science and the commonwealth of learning	314	(5)
The search for perfect government	319	(7)
10 The arts, the value of creativity and the cost of appearances	326	(38)
Popular culture	329	(3)
Church music and the city public	332	(4)
The visual arts and the Catholic Church in Rome	336	(8)
Buildings and symbols	344	(4)
Princely and royal court environments	348	(8)
Women and the creative arts	356	(2)
Public patronage and appreciation of the arts	358	(6)
11 Absolute monarchy and the return of order after 1660	364	(32)
The limitations of central government	366	(5)
State regulation of trade and industry	371	(5)
Military power and fiscal strain in the Habsburg lands and France	376	(3)
Restructuring in Brandenburg-Prussia and Sweden	379	(5)
The 'political nation' and the Stuart monarchy 1660-88	384	(6)
Absolute monarchy and the churches	390	(6)
12 Power and state-sponsored violence in the later seventeenth century	396	(33)
Louis XIV and international conflict in Europe after 1660	397	(5)
Internal opposition and state repression	402	(5)
The receding eastern frontier: Russia	407	(5)
Military consolidation and state power	412	(3)
Commercial rivalry in Europe and overseas	415	(6)
The public show of justice and punishment	421	(5)
Critics and public opinion	426	(3)
Concluding remarks	429	(2)
Notes	431	(34)
Further reading	465	(16)
Index	481