ÉñÂí¸£ÀûӰƬ

In this seminar we shall analyse debates about the concept of the state and state formation, in the context of the key challenges facing early modern government, and the diversity of approaches to these challenges within Europe. We will explore the change and continuity in early modern political thought and institutions, questioning the purpose of framing such studies through contrast with modern political states. During the class you will be asked to work in groups to present on three key challenges facing early modern government, and how different forms of government approached these issues.

Essential reading:

Chittolini, Giorgio, ‘The "Private," the "Public," the "State"’ in , ed. Julius Kirshner, (Chicago, 1996), pp. 34-61.

Viroli, Maurizio, 'Machiavelli and the Republican idea of Politics', in G Bock, Q. Skinner and M Viroli, Machiavelli and Republicanism (Cambridge, 1990)

Darling, Linda, ‘Political Change and Political Discourse in the Early Modern Mediterranean World’, The Journal of Interdisciplinary History, 38 (2008), pp. 505-535.

Read one of the following:

H. Elliott, 'A Europe of Composite Monarchies', Past and Present, 137 (1992), pp. 48-71.

OR

B. Collins, 'State Building in Early-Modern Europe: The Case of France', Modern Asian Studies, 31 (1997) pp. 603-633.

Whilst reading, try to make a note of the different forms of government, some of the key challenges they faced, and the ways in which these systems approached those issues.

Questions:

• What was the early modern state and where was it located?
• To what extent is a comparison between early modern and modern states useful?
• What forms of early modern state existed and how differently did they function?
• Did the early modern state monopolise power?

Further Reading:

Amirell, S. E., et al. (eds), (Basingstoke, 2014)

Barbalet, Jack, '’&±ç³Ü´Ç³Ù;, Sociology (2020)

Boes, Maria R., (Farnham, 2013)

Bonney, Richard, (ed.) The Rise of the Fiscal State in Europe, c.1200-1815 (Oxford, 1999)

Braddick, Michael, (Cambridge, 2000)

Carroll, Stuart, ed., (Basingstoke, 2007)

Davis, Ann E., '', Journal of Economic Issues 47:1 (2014), 219-246.

Elliott, J. H., (New Haven, 2006)

Elliott, J. H., '', Past and Present 137 (1992), 48-71

Friedland, Paul, Seeing Justice Done: The Age of Spectacular Capital Punishment in France (Oxford, 2012)

Glete, Jan, (London, 2002)

Hughes, Steven C., '', Journal of Medieval Military History 5 (2007), 99–152.

Kadare, Ishmail, Broken April (London, 1990)

Kollmann, Nancy, (Cambridge, 2012)

Lane, F. C., '', Journal of Economic History 18 (1958), 401-17.

Lane, F. C., Profits from Power: Readings in Protection Rent and Violence-Controlling Enterprises (Albany, 1979)

Lidman, Satu, '', The History of the Family 18 (2013), 238-60.

Merback, Mitchell B., (London, 2001)

Poggi, Gianfranco,The Development of the Modern State (London, 1978), Chapters 2-4.

Povolo, Claudio, 'Liturgies of Violence: Social Control and Power Relationships in the Republic of Venice between the 16th and 18th Centuries', in Eric R. Dursteler (ed.), (Leiden, 2013), pp. 513-42.

Roberts, Penny, 'The Kingdom's Two Bodies? Corporeal Rhetoric and Royal Authority during the Religious Wars', French History, 21 (2007), 147-64.

Rowbotham, Judith, et al. (eds), (London, 2014)

Ruff, Julius R., (Cambridge, 2001), Chapters 2 and 3.

Sandberg, Brian, (London, 2016)

Sandberg, Brian, (Baltimore, 2010)

Skinner, Quentin,‘The State’ in Political Innovation and Conceptual Change, ed. Terence Ball et al., (Cambridge, 1989), Chapter 5.

Thomson, Janice, E., (Princeton, N.J, 1994)

Tilly, Charles, Coercion, Capital, and European States, A.D.990-1992, rev. ed. (Oxford, 1992)

Tilly, Charles, ‘War-Making and State-Making as Organized CrimeLink opens in a new window’, in Peter B. Evans et al., eds, Bringing the State Back In (Cambridge, 1995), pp. 169-191

Tlusty, B. Ann, (Basingstoke, 2011)

Weber, Max, '', in Max Weber's Complete Writings on Academic and Political Vocations, ed. John Dreijmanis, trans. Gordon C. Wells (New York, 2008), pp. 126-166

Yun-Casalilla, Bartolomé, and Patrick O'Brien, eds., (Cambridge, 2012)

You might also like this transcript of a lecture by Quentin Skinner

Jacques Callot, L'estrapade (1633) (detail)