Description
Book SynopsisOn the basis of a wide-ranging synthesis of work in diverse fields of English, British and colonial history, this book makes an alternative argument about the modernisation of the seventeenth-century English state. It also focuses on the role of class and gender interests in the state's development.
Trade Review'… this is a breakthrough book of fundamental importance. By investing it with a new theoretical rigour, and so integrating its intellectual, cultural, social, economic and political aspects, Braddick has not only moved the analysis of state formation on to a broader canvas, but raised it to a new level.' The English Historical Review
'An interesting study with an original approach.' Northern History
'By appreciating the complexity of state 'formation' rather than 'making', and by crossing the boundaries separating periods and those dividing different fields of historical analysis, Braddick has provided the best guide we have to the early modern state.' The Historical Journal
'Constantly thoughtful, the text will prove indispensable.' Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History
Table of ContentsIntroduction; Part I. State Formation in Early Modern England: Introduction; 1. The embodiment of the state; 2. The uses of political power in early modern England; Conclusion; Part II. The Patriarchal State: Introduction; 3. Social order: poverty, dearth and disease; 4. The courts and social order; Conclusion; Part III. The Fiscal-Military State: Introduction; 5. The state and military mobilisation; 6. The financing of the state; Conclusion; Part IV. The Confessional State: Introduction; 7. The claims of the confessional state: local realities; Conclusion; Part V. The Dynastic State: Introduction; 8. Elite formation and state formation in England, Wales and Scotland; 9. London's provinces: state formation in the English-speaking Atlantic world; Conclusion.
