Description
Book SynopsisThis text examines how the monarchs of Habsburg Spain extended seizures of church property 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.
Trade ReviewA 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
