Princes, Patronage and the Nobility: The Court at the Beginning of the Modern Age, c.1450-1650 (Studies of the German Historical Institute, London) - Tapa dura

This book deals with the court as a crucial centre of government and politics in Europe and as the dominant focus for the ruling elites. It shows how the early modern court gradually developed from the medieval royal household, and how it functioned in the 16th and 17th centuries. This volume sees the history of the European courts in comparative perspective. Despite the structural differences between the countries examined - England, Germany, France and Spain as well as the Netherlands and Italy - several common themes emerge: the problem of integrating a number of often vastly different provinces and principalities by the attraction of a court; the capital city's function as the basis of the court and its rival; the role of the court during the great religious conflicts of the 16th and 17th centuries; and the court as an instrument for domesticating the nobility and as a stronghold of aristocratic influence. The work should interest scholars and postgraduate students of early modern and late medieval European history and social history.