The Zenith of European Monarchy and Its Elites: The Politics of Culture, 1650-1750

ISBN-13: 9780333613917 / Angielski / Miękka / 2010 / 320 str.

Nicholas Henshall

Opis

By the mid-sevententh century several European monarchies were collapsing. Focusing on a key elite bonding strategy, this new survey shows how monarchs resolved to work with, rather than against, their elites. Nicholas Henshall's synthesis offers an argument for the coherence of the period - as the height of European monarchy and its elites.

Spis treści

Acknowledgements Preface Introduction Key Themes of Elite Culture The Cultural Construction of Elite Identity Basic Agendas: Political Culture, Religion and 'Science' Media and Messages: The Arts The End of an Age: The Mid-Eighteenth Century Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index.

O autorze

NICHOLAS HENSHALL was formerly Head of History at Stockport Grammar School and editor of History Review magazine. His previous publications include The Myth of Absolutism (1992).

Blurb

By the mid-seventeenth century, several major European monarchies were collapsing. Battered by incessant war and religious rebellion, rulers clashed with landowners and clergy on whom they relied for territorial and spiritual support. Nicholas Henshall argues that from this crisis emerged a new deal. Monarchs reasserted traditional values and resolved to work with, rather than against, their nobles and churches.

The Zenith of European Monarchy and its Elites: The Politics of Culture, 1650-1750:
• focuses on a previously neglected key elite bonding strategy
• explains how a common identity was forged by erecting cultural defences against outsiders
• demonstrates how the power and prestige of the ruling classes rose to unprecedented heights.

Essential reading for students and scholars of early modern European history, this fascinating new study shows how the period 1650-1750 gains a new coherence - as the pinnacle of Europe's monarchies and their elites.r>