The Dirty Secret of Early Modern Capitalism

The Dirty Secret of Early Modern Capitalism PDF Author: Kees Boterbloem
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1315531593
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 261

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Book Description
This book shows how the Dutch accumulation of great wealth was closely linked to their involvement in warfare. By charting Dutch activity across the globe, it explores Dutch participation in the international arms trade, and in wars both at home and abroad. In doing so, it ponders the issue of how capitalism has often historically thrived best when its practitioners are ruthless and ignore the human cost of their search for riches. This complicates the traditional Marxist understanding of capitalists as middle-class exploiters in arguing for a much greater agency among lower-class Dutch soldiers and sailors in their efforts to benefit from skills that were in high demand.

The Dirty Secret of Early Modern Capitalism

The Dirty Secret of Early Modern Capitalism PDF Author: Kees Boterbloem
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1315531593
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 261

Get Book

Book Description
This book shows how the Dutch accumulation of great wealth was closely linked to their involvement in warfare. By charting Dutch activity across the globe, it explores Dutch participation in the international arms trade, and in wars both at home and abroad. In doing so, it ponders the issue of how capitalism has often historically thrived best when its practitioners are ruthless and ignore the human cost of their search for riches. This complicates the traditional Marxist understanding of capitalists as middle-class exploiters in arguing for a much greater agency among lower-class Dutch soldiers and sailors in their efforts to benefit from skills that were in high demand.

Capitalists in Spite of Themselves

Capitalists in Spite of Themselves PDF Author: Richard Lachmann
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019028191X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 328

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Book Description
Here, Richard Lachmann offers a new answer to an old question: Why did capitalism develop in some parts of early modern Europe but not in others? Finding neither a single cause nor an essentialist unfolding of a state or capitalist system, Lachmann describes the highly contingent development of various polities and economies. He identifies, in particular, conflict among feudal elites--landlords, clerics, kings, and officeholders--as the dynamic which perpetuated manorial economies in some places while propelling elites elsewhere to transform the basis of their control over land and labor. Comparing regions and cities within and across England, France, Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands from the twelfth through eighteenth centuries, Lachmann breaks new ground by showing step by step how the new social relations and political institutions of early modern Europe developed. He demonstrates in detail how feudal elites were pushed toward capitalism as they sought to protect their privileges from rivals in the aftermath of the Reformation. Capitalists in Spite of Themselves is a compelling narrative of how elites and other classes made and responded to political and religious revolutions while gradually creating the nation-states and capitalist markets which still constrain our behavior and order our world. It will prove invaluable for anyone wishing to understanding the economic and social history of early modern Europe. Capitalists in Spite of Themselves was the winner of the 2003 Distinguished Scholarly Publication Award of the American Sociology Association.

The Self-Perception of Early Modern Capitalists

The Self-Perception of Early Modern Capitalists PDF Author: M. Jacob
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 0230613802
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 279

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Book Description
A collection of essays by leading historians of early modern Europe and the U.S., this books explores how merchants, entrepreneurs, and other early modern capitalists viewed themselves.

Religion and the Medieval and Early Modern Global Marketplace

Religion and the Medieval and Early Modern Global Marketplace PDF Author: Scott Oldenburg
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000465411
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 230

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Book Description
Religion and the Medieval and Early Modern Global Marketplace brings together scholars from a variety of disciplines to examine the intersection, conflict, and confluence of religion and the market before 1700. Each chapter analyzes the unique interplay of faith and economy in a different locale: Syria, Ethiopia, France, Iceland, India, Peru, and beyond. In ten case studies, specialists of archaeology, art history, social and economic history, religious studies, and critical theory address issues of secularization, tolerance, colonialism, and race with a fresh focus. They chart the tensions between religious and economic thought in specific locales or texts, the complex ways that religion and economy interacted with one another, and the way in which matters of faith, economy, and race converge in religious images of the pre- and early modern periods. Considering the intersection of faith and economy, the volume questions the legacy of early modern economic and spiritual exceptionalism, and the ways in which prosperity still entangles itself with righteousness. The interdisciplinary nature means that this volume is the perfect resource for advanced undergraduates, postgraduates, and scholars working across multiple areas including history, literature, politics, art history, global studies, philosophy, and gender studies in the medieval and early modern periods.

Languages of Reform in the Eighteenth Century

Languages of Reform in the Eighteenth Century PDF Author: Susan Richter
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000740528
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 433

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Book Description
Societies perceive "Reform" or "Reforms" as substantial changes and significant breaks which must be well-justified. The Enlightenment brought forth the idea that the future was uncertain and could be shaped by human beings. This gave the concept of reform a new character and new fields of application. Those who sought support for their plans and actions needed to reflect, develop new arguments, and offer new reasons to address an anonymous public. This book aims to compile these changes under the heuristic term of "languages of reform." It analyzes the structures of communication regarding reforms in the 18th century through a wide variety of topics.

Edwin Sandys and the Reform of English Religion

Edwin Sandys and the Reform of English Religion PDF Author: Sarah L. Bastow
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000650952
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 213

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Book Description
This book examines the complexities of reformed religion in early-modern England, through an examination of the experiences of Edwin Sandys, a prominent member of the Elizabethan Church hierarchy. Sandys was an ardent evangelical in the Edwardian era forced into exile under Mary I, but on his return to England he became a leader of the Elizabethan Church. He was Bishop of Worcester and London and finally Archbishop of York. His transformation from Edwardian radical to a defender of the Elizabethan status quo illustrated the changing role of the Protestant hierarchy. His fight against Catholicism dominated much of his actions, but his irascible personality also saw him embroiled in numerous conflicts and left him needing to defend his own status.

Russia and the Dutch Republic, 1566–1725

Russia and the Dutch Republic, 1566–1725 PDF Author: Kees Boterbloem
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 179364859X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 267

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Book Description
This study examines the close cultural, economic, and military relationship between the Russian Empire and the Netherlands in the early modern period. The author argues that the Netherlands had an outsized impact on Russia's early development into a powerful state.

Protestant Resistance in Counterreformation Austria

Protestant Resistance in Counterreformation Austria PDF Author: Peter Thaler
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000767426
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 299

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Book Description
Protestant Resistance in Counterreformation Austria examines Austrian Protestants who actively resisted the Habsburg Counterreformation in the early seventeenth century. While a determined few decided early on that only military means could combat the growing pressure to conform, many more did not reach that conclusion until they had been forced into exile. Since the climax of their activism coincided with the Swedish intervention in the Thirty Years' War, the study also analyzes contemporary Swedish policy and the resulting Austro-Swedish interrelationship. Thus, a history of state and religion in the early modern Habsburg Monarchy evolves into a prime example of histoire croisée, of historical experiences and traditions that transcend political borders. The book does not only explore the historical conflict itself, however, but also uses it as a case study on societal recollection. Austrian nation-building, which tenuously commenced in the interwar era but was fully implemented after the restoration of Austrian statehood in 1945, was anchored in a conservative ideological tradition with strong sympathies for the Habsburg legacy. This ideological perspective also influenced the assessment of the confessional period. The modern representation of early modern conflicts reveals the selectivity of historical memory.

Maurits of Nassau and the Survival of the Dutch Revolt

Maurits of Nassau and the Survival of the Dutch Revolt PDF Author: Nick Ridley
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000546888
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 340

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Book Description
This book describes the crucial period in the monumental eighty-year Dutch struggle against the Spanish Empire, through which a small nation gained its independence from one of the mightiest European powers. Dr. Ridley shows how even though the Dutch Revolt was at its lowest point, Maurits of Nassau and the Dutch fought on and the Revolt survived. It was a turbulent time, with complex diplomacy and shifting alliances, assassination plots, France torn by civil war, Spain spearheading the Counter-Reformation, England facing invasion and Europe eventually convulsed with the Thirty Years' War. In all these, the Dutch Revolt was a significant factor. The book also explores subsequent insurgencies over the following three centuries where nationalist groups revolted against European powers, and analyzes and identifies essential factors for a successful insurgency. The key roles of finance and international relations in insurgencies are emphasized. This volume will be informative and compelling reading for readers and students of history, international relations, and insurgencies.

Prosecuting Homicide in Eighteenth-Century Law and Practice

Prosecuting Homicide in Eighteenth-Century Law and Practice PDF Author: Drew D. Gray
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 100004792X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 208

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Book Description
This volume uses four case studies, all with strong London connections, to analyze homicide law and the pardoning process in eighteenth-century England. Each reveals evidence of how attempts were made to negotiate a path through the justice system to avoid conviction, and so avoid a sentence of hanging. This approach allows a deep examination of the workings of the justice system using social and cultural history methodologies. The cases explore wider areas of social and cultural history in the period, such as the role of policing agents, attitudes towards sexuality and prostitution, press reporting, and popular conceptions of "honorable" behavior. They also allow an engagement with what has been identified as the gradual erosion of individual agency within the law, and the concomitant rise of the state. Investigating the nature of the pardoning process shows how important it was to have "friends in high places," and also uncovers ways in which the legal system was susceptible to accusations of corruption. Readers will find an illuminating view of eighteenth-century London through a legal lens.