1st Edition

Early Modern Spain A Social History

By James Casey Copyright 1999
    316 Pages
    by Routledge

    320 Pages
    by Routledge

    Early Modern Spain: A social History explores the solidarities which held the Spanish nation together at this time of conflict and change. The book studies the pattern of fellowship and patronage at the local level which contributed to the notable absence of popular revolts characteristic of other European countries at this time. It also analyses the Counter-Reformation, which transformed religious attitudes, and which had a huge impact on family life, social control and popular culture.
    Focusing on the main themes of the development of capitalism, the growth of the state and religious upheaval, this comprehensive social history sheds light on changes throughout Europe in the critical early modern period.

    Introduction 1 An inhospitable land 2 The fewness of people 3 The limits of a peasant economy 4 Treasure and the cost of empire 5 Feudal lords and village potentates 6 Patricians and paupers: the urban commonwealth 7 The consolidation of an aristocracy 8 Obedience to the law 9 The policing of the family 10 The community of the faithful

    Biography

    James Casey is Senior Lecturer in European History at the University of East Anglia.

    'A persuasive overview of the characteristics and governing assumptions of life for the six to twelve million or so people who lived in Iberia during the early modern centuries.' - The Sixteenth Century Journal, winter 2000