Forming Aristocracy: The Reconfiguration of Europe's Nobilities, 1300-1750

The deeds (and misdeeds) of aristocrats, past and present, never lose their appeal, whether on our screens or in real life.But who are they, and why do they matter?Forming Aristocracy is the story of the great aristocratic lineages of Europe: families such as the Salisbury in England, the Campbell in Scotland, the Radziwill in Poland-Lithuania, the Liechtenstein in the Austrian Habsburg Monarchy, the Condé in France, and the Medina Sidonia in Spain.They combined exceptional social standing and economic power with great political and cultural influence; in many countries their dominance endured until the opening decades of the twentieth century. This ground-breaking book is the first to explore the origins and development of this elite and to reveal as never before the similarities between the organization and behaviour of leading families in Britain and all over Europe.Forming Aristocracy examines one central development in Europe's modern history on a truly comparative basis.Extending