Beschreibung:
Conventionally, "absolutism" in early-modern Europe has suggested unfettered autocracy and despotism. Recently historians have questioned such comfortably simplistic views. This lively investigation of "absolutism" in action xxx; continent-wide but centred on a detailed comparison of France and England xxx; dissolves the traditional picture to reveal a much more complex reality; and in so doing illuminates the varied ways in which early-modern Europe was governed.
Introduction; Chapter One Valois and Early Bourbons; Chapter Two Louis XIV Reassessed; Chapter Three A Highroad to Revolution?; Chapter Four France and England: Absolutism Versus Limited Monarchy?; Chapter Five France and England: Absolutism Versus Parliamentary Liberties?; Chapter Six A Theory of Absolutism?; Chapter Seven Royal Prerogatives and their Context; Chapter Eight Liberties and Consent; Chapter Nine Life Cycle of a Myth;