The Baroque, which stretched from the end of the sixteenth to the second half of the seventeenth century, is one of the most enigmatic eras in history. In this book, thirteen distinguished scholars develop a portrait of institutions, ideologies, intellectual themes, and social structures as they are reflected in Baroque personae, or characteristic social roles.
Studying the statesman, soldier, financier, secretary, rebel, preacher, missionary, nun, witch, scientist, artist, and bourgeois, the essays depart dramatically from traditional accounts of this era. The statesman, for example, is...

The publication in English of this classic work will be welcomed by students and researchers in early modern European history, culture and politics.

The Revolt of Naples examines one of the major events in the years of revolution' in Europe in the 1640s: the revolt by the people of the Kingdom of Naples against the Spanish monarchy which ruled over them. Villari analyses the preconditions of the revolt, going back to its roots in the late 16th Century and discussing economic, social and political developments in the Kingdom.