This highly influential anti-Machiavellian text is an important primary source for the understanding of early modern political thought.

Emperor Ferdinand II (1619–37) stands out as a crucial figure in the Counter-Reformation in central Europe, a leading player in the Thirty Years War, the most important ruler in the consolidation of the Habsburg monarchy, and the emperor who reinvigorated the office after its decline under his two predecessors. This is the first biography since a long-outdated one written in German in 1978, and the first ever in English. It looks at his reign as territorial ruler of Inner Austria from 1598 until his election as emperor and especially at the influence of his mother, the formidable Archduchess Maria, in order to understand his later policies as emperor. This book focuses on the consistency of his policies and the profound influence of religion throughout his career, and follows the contest at court between those who favored consolidation of the Habsburg lands and those who aimed for expansion in the empire.

The first comprehensive study of early modern English political counsel and its association with the discourse of sovereignty.

This is the first translation into English of Guicciardini's Dialogue on the Government of Florence. Written in the early 1520s by the author of the famous History of Italy, as well as a History of Florence and Political Maxims and Reflections, this dialogue presents what is arguably the most searching and comprehensive analysis of the politics of his times. Like Machiavelli, his contemporary and friend, Guicciardini rejects classical republican arguments in the name of the new political realism and acknowledges the important role of patronage and graft in contemporary politics and the illegitimacy of nearly all forms of political power. In this Dialogue he provides one of the clearest expositions of the term 'reason of state', which he was one of the first to employ and which he uses to justify the priority of state interest over private morality and religion.

A committed Lutheran excommunicated from his own church, a friend to Catholics and Calvinists alike, a layman who called himself a “priest of God,” a Copernican in a world where Ptolemy still reigned, a man who argued at the same time for the superiority of one truth and the need for many truths to coexist—German astronomer Johannes Kepler was, to say the least, a complicated figure. With The Pursuit of Harmony, Aviva Rothman offers a new view of him and his achievements, one that presents them as a story of Kepler’s attempts to bring different, even opposing ideas and circumstances into harmony. Harmony, Rothman shows, was both the intellectual bedrock for and the primary goal of Kepler’s disparate endeavors. But it was also an elusive goal amid the deteriorating conditions of his world, as the political order crumbled and religious war raged. In the face of that devastation, Kepler’s hopes for his theories changed: whereas he had originally looked for a unifying approach to truth, he began instead to emphasize harmony as the peaceful coexistence of different views, one that could be fueled by the fundamentally nonpartisan discipline of mathematics.

This essay deals with the fascinating although complex relationship between the figure of Machiavelli and the Society of Jesus in Italy and Spain. The text introduces the reader to the way in which the Jesuits responded to Niccolò Machiavelli's political doctrine and followers, by presenting alternative conceptions of reason of state and the role of ethics in practical politics.Some of the topics and figures addressed in this essay include: -The Jesuits: Machiavellian or anti-Machiavellian?-Casuistry-Simulation and dissimulation in politics-The anti-Jesuit libel 'Secreta Monita'-Reason of state and Christian reason of state-Counter-Reformation in Italy and Spain-Niccolò Machiavelli's 'The Prince' and the 'Discourses'-Ignatius of Loyola-Giovanni Botero's 'On Reason of State' ('Della ragion di stato')-Pedro de Ribadeneyra, Juan de Mariana, Francisco de QuevedoThe essay contains, among other things, 11 plates that depict authors and covers of the main texts mentioned in its pages, as well as a list of helpful online resources. In addition, Clara Iglesias-Rondina (under the name 'M.C. Iglesias') is the author of the cover illustration, titled 'The Warrior'. This is the first volume of a series entitled 'The Anti-Machiavellians' that analyzes the early reaction to Machiavelli's teachings in Europe. The next volume will focus on the utilization of Machiavelli's texts by relevant anti-Machiavellian thinkers in England, France, Italy and Spain. (Essay: 16,200 words).About the Author: Clara Iglesias-Rondina is a scholar, author and illustrator. She earned her Ph.D. in Italian Studies at Yale University, a B.A. and M.A. at the Complutense University of Madrid, Spain, as well as a B.A. in Fine Arts in Santa Fe, Argentina. 'Machiavelli and the Jesuits. An Introduction' is her first book. Her future projects include volumes on Dante Alighieri, illustrated books, and a novel. She is the author of all the illustrations on the covers of her books.

Economic Growth and the Origins of Modern Political Economy addresses the intellectual foundations of modern economic growth and European industrialization. Through an examination both of the roots of European industrialization and of the history of economic ideas, this book presents a uniquely broad examination of the origins of modern political economy. This volume asks what can we learn from ‘old’ theories in terms of our understanding of history, our economic fate today, and the prospects for the modern world’s poorest countries. Spanning across the past five hundred years, this book brings together leading international contributors offering comparative perspectives with countries outside of Europe in order to place the evolution of modern economic knowledge into a broader reference framework. It integrates economic discourse and the intellectual history of political economy with more empirical studies in economic history and the history of science. In doing so, this innovative volume presents a coherent and innovative new strategy towards a reconfiguration of the history of modern political economy. This book is suitable for those who study history of economic thought, economic history or European history.