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Traces the development of Sweden from a poor, backward, warrior nation to a prosperous modern one.
In the generation that followed Martin Luther's protest the evangelical movement in Europe attracted very different levels of support in different parts of the continent. Whereas in eastern and central Europe the new movement brought a swift transformation of the religious and political landscape, progress elsewhere was more halting: in the Mediterranean lands and western Europe initial enthusiasm for reform failed to bring about the wholesale renovation of society for which evangelicals had hoped. These fascinating contrasts are the main focus of this volume of specially commissioned essays, each of which charts the progress of reform in one country or region of Europe. Written in each case by a leading specialist in the field, they provide a survey based on primary research and a thorough grasp of the vernacular literature. For both scholars and students they will be an invaluable guide to recent debates and literature on the success or failure of the first generation of reform.
This comprehensive history of sixteenth-century Sweden has remained a standard work for English-speaking historians since its publication in 1968. It is now available in paperback for the first time. The book includes a full account of the reign of Gustav Vasa (1523-60), one of the greatest rulers of his age, and of the half-century after his death that paved the way for Sweden's emergence as a great power. Professor Roberts provides an account of the course of the Swedish Reformation: he analyses those trans-Baltic entanglements which were to assume such importance, both for Sweden and for Europe, in the next century; and he pays particular attention to the constitutional controversies which reached their climax, though not their end, with the deposition of King Sigismund and the 'Bloodbath of Linköping'.
The literarisation of the early modern Baltic Sea region was a long and complex process with varying trajectories for different vernacular languages. This volume highlights the interaction of local social and cultural settings with wider political and confessional contexts. With rarely examined materials, such as prints, court protocols, letters and manuscripts in Latin and a range of vernacular languages, including Estonian, Finnish, German, Ingrian, Karelian, Latvian, Lenape, Sami languages and Swedish, the thirteen authors chart the social and literary developments of the area. Wide networks of learned men and officials but also the number of native speakers in the clergy defined the ways the poetic resources of transnational and local literary and oral cultures benefited the nascent literatures. Contributors include: Eeva-Liisa Bastman, Kati Kallio, Suvi-Päivi Koski, Ulla Koskinen, Miia Kuha, Anu Lahtinen, Tuija Laine, Tuomas M. S. Lehtonen, Ilkka Leskelä, Aivar Põldvee, Sanna Raninen, Kristiina Ross, Taarna Valtonen, Kristi Viiding
Internationally, the case of early modern Sweden is noteworthy because the state building process transformed a locally dispersed and sparsely populated area into a strongly centralized absolute monarchy and European empire at the beginning of the 17th century. This anthology provides fresh insights into the state-building process in Sweden. During this transitional period, many far-reaching administrative reforms were carried out, and the Swedish state developed into a prime example of the early modern ‘powerstate’. The contributors approach Sweden’s rise to greatness from the point of view of personal agency. In early modern studies, agency has long remained in the shadow of the study of structures and institutions. This novel approach enables us to expose the difficulties, setbacks and false steps that the administration had to deal with. State building was a more diversified and personalized process than has previously been assumed. Numerous individuals were also crucially important actors in the process, and that development itself was not straightforward progression at the macro-level but was intertwined with lower-level actors. Each chapter in this volume employs partially different methods depending on the source material and subject. This means that both qualitative and quantitative material is combined, different ways of making sense of it (i.e. research traditions) are brought together and a multi-method design is used in analyzing source material. One of the central methods is the systematic use of previous biographical research. We want to give the individuals and their actions under discussion a background that reflects the contemporary structures of individual life cycles. With the existing biographical research, it is possible to create a comprehensive set of data that provides the general outlines of individual lives or the career tracks of various estates or social groups, and even to construct collective biographies of certain groups.
Deposing Monarchs analyses depositions in Northern Europe between 1500 and 1700 as a type of frequent political conflict which allows to present new ideas on early modern state formation, monarchy, and the conventions of royal rulership. The book revises earlier conceptualizations of depositions as isolated, unique events that emerged in the context of national historiographies. An examination of the official legitimations of depositions reveals that in times of crisis, concepts of tradition, rule of law, and political consensus are much more influential than the divine right of kings. Tracing the similarities and differences of depositions in Northern Europe transnationally and diachronically, the book shows monarchical succession as more non-linear than previously presumed. It offers a transferable model of the different elements needed in depositions, such as opposition to the monarch by multiple groups in a realm, the need for a convincing rival candidate, and a legitimation based on political traditions or religious ideas. Furthermore, the book bolsters our understanding of authority and rule as a constant process of negotiation, adding to recent research on political culture, and on the cultural history of politics.
England's relationship with the Baltic trading area has remained a generally neglected aspect of English commercial development in the seventeenth century. The spectacular colonial ventures have traditionally attracted more historical attention, although the Baltic trade in this period was more fundamental to the English economy: it supplied precisely those naval commodities, such as flax, hemp, timber, pitch and tar, which facilitated the creation of fleets for the colonial trades. Medieval English trade had been conditioned by a search for markets, and the predominantly agricultural economy of the Polish Commonwealth proved to be an ideal target for cloth exports. By the early seventeenth century, however, this traditional relationship was changing. The growing English fleets demanded steady supplies of naval stores which Poland was increasingly unable to supply, while the Polish economy, weakened by wars and entering a period of decline, could no longer afford the luxury of cloth imports from England.
Early modern European monarchies legitimized their rule through dynasty and religion where ideally the divine right of the ruler corresponded with the official confession of the territory. It has thus been assumed that at princely courts only a single confession was present. However, the reality of the confessionalization paradigm commonly involved more than one faith. Religious Plurality at Princely Courts explores the reverberations of bi-confessional or multi-confessional intra-Christian settings at courts on dynastic, symbolic, diplomatic, artistic, and theological levels addressing a significant neglected understanding of interreligious dialogue, religious change, and confessional blending. Incorporating perspectives across European studies such as domestic and international politics, dynastic strategies, the history of ideas, women's and gender history, and material culture, the contributions to this volume highlight the intersections of religious plurality at court.
For many years scholars have sought to explain why the European states which emerged in the period before the French Revolution developed along such different lines. Why did some become absolutist and others constitutionalist? What enabled some to develop bureaucratic administrative systems, while others remained dependent upon patrimonial practices? This book presents a new theory of state-building in medieval and early modern Europe. Ertman argues that two factors - the organisation of local government at the time of state formation and the timing of sustained geo-military competition - can explain most of the variation in political regimes and in state infrastructures found across the continent during the second half of the eighteenth century. Drawing on insights developed in historical sociology, comparative politics, and economic history, this book makes a compelling case for the value of interdisciplinary approaches to the study of political development.
The 16th and 17th centuries saw many ambitious European rulers develop permanent armies and navies. Jan Glete examines this military change as a central part of the political, social and economic transformation of early modern Europe.