Liberty in Absolutist Spain
The Habsburg Sale of Towns, 1516-1700. 1, 108th Series, 1990
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Johns Hopkins University Press
Published:1st Aug '93
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
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.
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
ISBN: 9780801847318
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: 454g
328 pages