Eighteenth Century Europe 1700–1789

481 Pages·1990·51.881 MB·English

by  Jeremy Black (auth.)

History of Europe
Eighteenth Century Europe 1700-1789
History of Europe
Published
Seventeenth Century Europe 1598-1700
Thomas Munck
Eighteenth Century Europe 1700-1789
Je remy Black
In preparation
Early Medieval Europe 400-1000
Roger Collins
Medieval Europe 1000-l250
Randall Rogers
Sixteenth Century Europe 1500-1600
Richard Mackenney
Nineteenth Century Europe 1789-19l4
Alan Sked
Twentieth Century Europe 1789-19l4
Anthony Adamthwaite
History of Europe
Eighteenth Century
Europe 1700-1789
J
eremy Black
Macmillan Education
ISBN 978-0-333-37943-1 ISBN 978-1-349-20632-2 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-20632-2
©Jeremy Black 1990
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1s t edition 1990
All rights reserved. For information, write:
Scholarly and Reference Division,
St. Martin's Press, Inc., 175 Fifth Avenue,
New York, N.Y. 10010
First published in the United States of America in 1990
ISBN 978-0-312-04009-3 cloth
ISBN 978-0-312-04010-9 paper
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Black, J eremy
Eighteenth-century Europe, 1700-1789/ Jeremy Black.
p. cm.-(History of Europe)
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-0-312-04009-3.-ISBN 978-0-312-04010-9 (pbk.)
I. Europe-History-18th century. I. Tide. 11. Series: History
of Europe (SI. Martin's Press)
D286.B54 1990
940.2' 53-dc20 89-10915
CIP
To Tim Blanning
and
John Lough
Contents
List ofmaps x
Chronology xi
Rulers of the major states xv
Preface xvii
1 Hostile Environment 1
Demography, disease and death 1
Calamities and conservatism 12
2 Economic framework 19
Agriculture 19
Industry 39
3 The Wheels of Commerce 52
Communications 52
Money, standards and credit 57
Trade 63
Achanging economy 79
4 Society 84
Women and families 84
The orders of sodety 96
Nobility 103
Peasantry 118
5 Towns 137
Growth or decline 138
Towns as centres of privilege and control 142
Town and country 147
Towns and sodal hierarchy 153
Towns and political strife 158
The urban environment 159
Poverty and sodal welfa re 161
vii
viii Contenls
6 Faith and the Churches 168
A divided continent 169
Growth of toleration 180
De-christianisation? 183
Jansenism 190
The fate of the Jesuits 194
Church-state relations 196
The Christian mission and the churches 204
7 Enlightenment 208
8 Culture and the Arts 223
Patronage 223
Courts and aristocracies 224
Religion and the church 231
The middling orders: patronage by the public market 234
The populace: distinct and oppressed? 240
Changing styles 244
Cosmopolitanism and artistic influences 249
Language 254
9 Science and Medicine 261
10 International Relations 276
An overview 276
1700-1721 279
European diplomacy 1714-1740 287
European diplomacy 1740-1763 289
European diplomacy 1763-1793 294
11 Armies and Warfa re 303
Russia 305
Mid-century Prussia 307
Mid-century reform in Austria and Russia 309
After the Seven Years War 312
Reform in the French army 313
Continuing problems 314
Recruitment 315
Warfare and the militarised society 321
Naval warfa re 322
Gontents ix
12 Govemment and Administration 328
Public order, crime and law 331
Fiscal problems 340
Regions on the margins of authority 353
Govemment agencies 364
Winning consent: the process of govemment 369
Enlightened despotism 377
13 Ideology, Politics, Reform and the Coming
of Revolution 382
Political thought 382
Politics 403
The coming of revolution 415
Epilogue 424
Notes 426
Select Bibliography 432
Index 446
List of Maps
1 Europe 1700 xviii
2 The Habsburg Empire xx
3 Italy 1713-48 xxii
4 France in 1789 xxiii
x