Early Modern Europe: Issues and Interpretations

Copyright © 2006 Blackwell Publishing Ltd

Early Modern Europe: Issues and Interpretations

Editor(s): James B. Collins, Karen L. Taylor

Published Online: 25 FEB 2008

Print ISBN: 9780631228929

Online ISBN: 9780470774212

DOI: 10.1002/9780470774212

About this Book

This reader brings together original and influential recent work in the field of early modern European history.


  • Provides a thought-provoking overview of current thinking on this period.
  • Key themes include evolving early-modern identities; changes in religion and cultural life; the revolution of the mind; roles of women in early-modern societies; the rise of the modern state; and Europe and the new world system
  • Incorporates new scholarship on Eastern and Central Europe.
  • Includes an article translated into English for the first time.

Table of contents

    1. You have free access to this content
      Frontmatter (pages i–xiii)

    1. Introduction: Interpreting Early Modern Europe (pages 1–5)

      Karen L. Taylor and James B. Collins

  3. Part I: Evolving Early Modern Identities

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      Introduction (pages 7–17)

    2. Chapter 1

      The Legacy of Rome (pages 18–31)

      Anthony Pagden

    3. Chapter 2

      Europe and the Atlantic Slave Systems (pages 32–40)

      David Eltis

    4. Chapter 3

      History, Myth and Historical Identity (pages 41–54)

      Karin Friedrich

    5. Chapter 4

      The Theresian School Reform of 1774 (pages 55–68)

      James Van Horn Melton

    6. Chapter 5

      The Evil Empire? The Debate on Turkish Despotism in Eighteenth-Century French Political Culture (pages 69–81)

      Thomas Kaiser

  4. Part II: Changes in Religion and Cultural Life

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      Introduction (pages 83–89)

    2. Chapter 6

      Ira Dei Super Nos (pages 90–100)

      Denis Crouzet

    3. Chapter 7

      The Charitable Activities of Confraternities (pages 101–120)

      Maureen Flynn

    4. Chapter 8

      The Sins of Belief: A Village Remedy for Hoof and Mouth Disease (1796) (pages 121–137)

      David Warren Sabean

    5. Chapter 9

      “Dutiful Love and Natural Affection”: Parent-Child Relationships in the Early Modern Netherlands (pages 138–152)

      Sherrin Marshall

  5. Part III: The Revolution of the Mind

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      Introduction (pages 153–159)

    2. Chapter 10

      A Possible Support for Irreligion: The Sciences (pages 160–171)

      Lucien Febvre

    3. Chapter 11

      The Material Culture of the Church and Incipient Consumerism (pages 172–185)

      Richard A. Goldthwaite

    4. Chapter 12

      From a Culture of Science toward the Enlightenment (pages 186–196)

      Kathleen Wellman

    5. Chapter 13

      Contesting Possession (pages 197–206)

      Patricia Seed

    6. Chapter 14

      Ritual and Print Discipline and Invention: The Fête in France from the Middle Ages to the Revolution (pages 207–214)

      Roger Chartier

  6. Part IV: The Roles of Women in Early Modern Society

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      Introduction (pages 215–221)

    2. Chapter 15

      Political, Economic, and Legal Structures (pages 222–240)

      Merry E. Wiesner

    3. Chapter 16

      Women before the Bench: Female Litigants in Early Modern Normandy (pages 241–257)

      Zoë A Schneider

    4. Chapter 17

      Review of the Family, Sex and Marriage in England: 1500–1800, by Lawrence Stone (pages 258–267)

      Alan Macfarlane

    5. Chapter 18

      Illegitimacy and Infanticide in Early Modern Russia (pages 268–281)

      David L. Ransel

    6. Chapter 19

      Public Leisure and the Rise of Salons (pages 282–296)

      Deborah Hertz

  7. Part V: The Rise of the Modern State System

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      Introduction (pages 297–304)

    2. Chapter 20

      The Crisis in Assumptions about Political Thinking (pages 305–316)

      Felix Gilbert

    3. Chapter 21

      From Contractual Monarchy to Constitutionalism (pages 317–331)

      Gerhard Oestreich

    4. Chapter 22

      The Paradoxes of State Power (pages 332–347)

      John Brewer

    5. Chapter 23

      The Power of the King (pages 348–361)

      Antonio Feros

    6. Chapter 24

      The Royal Government, Guilds, and the Seamstresses of Paris, Normandy, and Provence (pages 362–376)

      Clare Haru Crowston

  8. Part VI: Research Paradigms, Old and New

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      Introduction (pages 377–384)

    2. Chapter 25

      The Courtization of the Warriors (pages 385–397)

      Norbert Elias

    3. Chapter 26

      Women on Top (pages 398–411)

      Natalie Zemon Davis

    4. Chapter 27

      The Contrasts (pages 412–418)

      Alfred W. Crosby

    5. Chapter 28

      Transcending East-West Dichotomies: State and Culture Formation in Six Ostensibly Disparate Areas (pages 419–429)

      Victor Lieberman

    6. Chapter 29

      Introduction to the Great Divergence. China, Europe, and the Making of the Modern World Economy (pages 430–442)

      Kenneth Pomeranz

    7. Chapter 30

      Between Carnival and Lent: The Scientific Revolution at the Margins of Culture (pages 443–458)

      Paula Findlen

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      Index (pages 459–470)

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