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History General

Monarchisms in the Age of Enlightenment

Liberty, Patriotism, and the Common Good

edited by Hans W. Blom, J.C. Laursen & Luisa Simonutti

Publisher
University of Toronto Press
Initial publish date
May 2007
Category
General
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780802091772
    Publish Date
    May 2007
    List Price
    $90.00
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781442684607
    Publish Date
    Dec 2007
    List Price
    $90.00

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Description

In recent decades, historians of early-modern European political thought have tended to neglect the concept of monarchy and monarchism, focusing instead on the development of republicanism during this period. Monarchisms in the Age of Enlightenment aims to correct this imbalance by illustrating that many thinkers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, in fact, saw monarchy as a solution to the instability, chaos, and even violence of experiments with republican government.

Editors Hans Blom, John Christian Laursen, and Luisa Simonutti have brought together outstanding scholars in the field to correct many of the misleading stereotypes about monarchy, and to explore the variety and dynamism of this form of government, in early-modern Europe. Contributors explore four major themes: monarchisms in the political thought of Spinoza, Bayle, Fénelon, Hume, and Montesquieu; enlightened Christian and millenarian monarchisms; defending and resisting absolute monarchy; and, finally, reflections on the British monarchy.

Fascinating and timely, Monarchisms in the Age of Enlightenment will be of interest to historians, political theorists, political philosophers, and political scientists.

About the authors

Hans Blom is a professor in the Department of Social Science at Erasmus University, Rotterdam.

Hans W. Blom's profile page

John Christian Laursen is a professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of California, Riverside.

J.C. Laursen's profile page

Luisa Simonutti is a research associate at the Istituto per la Storia del Pensiero Filosofico e Scientifico Moderno – CNR, and an adjunct professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Ferrara.

Luisa Simonutti's profile page