Overview
Throughout early modern Europe, one of the most extraordinary royal fund-raising schemes was the seizure and sale of church property to finance foreign wars. The monarchs of Habsburg Spain extended these seizures to municipal property and used the revenue to maintain their empire. They sold charters of autonomy to hundreds of villages, thus converting them into towns, and sold towns to private buyers, thus increasing the number of seigniorial lords. In Hapsburg Spain, therefore, absolutism did not mean centralization. Rather, the kings invoked their absolute power to decentralize authority and allow their subjects a surprising degree of autonomy.
Full Product Details
Author: Helen Nader
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
Imprint: Johns Hopkins University Press
Edition: New edition
Volume: 108
Dimensions:
Width: 15.20cm
, Height: 1.80cm
, Length: 22.90cm
Weight: 0.454kg
ISBN: 9780801847318
ISBN 10: 0801847311
Pages: 328
Publication Date: 26 September 1993
Recommended Age: From 17
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
Undergraduate
,
Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Manufactured on demand
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.
Reviews
A masterpiece of the historian's craft... This work will stand as a landmark in the historiography of early modern Spain. * American Historical Review * With this parhbreaking book Nader has substantially advanced our knowledge of how early modern Castilian society was organized. In refutation of the conventional wisdom about rural stagnation and absolutist oppression, her research reveals a dynamic, prosperous, politically decentralized society composed of self-governing municipalities... [A] magnificent achievement. * Journal of Interdisciplinary History * One of the best-documented reassessments of Castilian history in recent years... Nader's rich and suggestive book opens up a problem which most historians of Spain have shirked. * English Historical Review * The most stimulating work on Spanish cities to have been published in years. * Journal of Modern History *
A masterpiece of the historian's craft...This work will stand as a landmark in the historiography of early modern Spain. --'American Historical Review' With this parhbreaking book Nader has substantially advanced our knowledge of how early modern Castilian society was organized. In refutation of the conventional wisdom about rural stagnation and absolutist oppression, her research reveals a dynamic, prosperous, politically decentralized society composed of self-governing municipalities...[A] magnificent achievement. --'Journal of Interdisciplinary History' One of the best-documented reassessments of Castilian history in recent years...Nader's rich and suggestive book opens up a problem which most historians of Spain have shirked. --'English Historical Review' The most stimulating work on Spanish cities to have been published in years. --'Journal of Modern History'
Author Information
Helen Nader is professor of history and associate dean of research and graduate development at Indiana University. She is the author of The Mendoza Family in the Spanish Renaissance, 1350-1550.
