The Holy Roman Empire 1495-1806 |
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| Author:
| Wilson, Peter H. |
| Series title: | Studies in European History Ser. |
| ISBN: | 978-0-312-22360-1 |
| Publication Date: | Oct 1999 |
| Publisher: | Palgrave Macmillan
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| Book Format: | Paperback |
| List Price: | USD $42.00 |
Book Description:
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The Holy Roman Empire lasted for over a millennium, yet its development and institutions are still commonly dismissed as largely irrelevant to broader historical issues. Recent scholarship challenges this view but until now has failed to provide a convincing interpretation of the political structure which provided the framework within which such major events as the Reformation and the Thirty Years War developed. Drawing on a wealth of specialist studies, Peter Wilson offers an...
More DescriptionThe Holy Roman Empire lasted for over a millennium, yet its development and institutions are still commonly dismissed as largely irrelevant to broader historical issues. Recent scholarship challenges this view but until now has failed to provide a convincing interpretation of the political structure which provided the framework within which such major events as the Reformation and the Thirty Years War developed. Drawing on a wealth of specialist studies, Peter Wilson offers an alternative way of looking at the Empire, seeing it not as a failed monarchy or flawed forerunner of a later German nation-state, but on its own terms as a multi-layered structure combining monarchical, hierarchical and federal elements. Key stages in the Empire's development are explained within the context of wider European history.