The European Dynastic State: 1494-1660.

This book is the first in chronological order of the four volumes in the series which are devoted to the history of modern Europe since 1500. The object of the series is to provide an informed general narrative of events which incorporates the most recent scholarship and, secondly, to set out an interpretative framework for understanding these events.

The book opens with an account of religious history from the later fifteenth century through the major phases of the Protestant Reformation and the Catholic Counter-Reformation down to the end of the sixteenth century. There is a lucid discussion of religious thought as well as a chronology of political developments.

There then follows a series of chapters on the political history of the major continental societies, France, Spain, and the Empire from the invasion of Italy in 1494 to the Peace of the Pyrenees in 1660. The governing theme of these chapters is the long drawn out competition for European dominance between the Hapsburgs, Spanish and Austrian, and their rivals at Paris, Valois and Bourbons. Three sections retail in turn the struggle for Italy ending in 1559; the religious conflicts, at once civil and international, in the later years of the century; and the even more complex sequence of wars which began in the Empire in 1618, spread to the Low Countries in 1621 and involved France from 1635, ending in the French triumph of 1660. Although the argument is structured around the wars themselves, room is found for full discussion of the domestic affairs within the three major political societies. There is a helpful and detailed chronology of events as well as a list of the principal rulers.

This first part of the book concludes with a section entitled "The Outsiders of Europe," dealing with the affairs of the Baltic world, the Slavic realms of Poland and Russia, and the Ottoman Empire in southeastern Europe in this century and a half.

Part two, entitled, "The Structure of the European Dynastic State," is topical in organization--political institutions, population and social structure, the economy, and a section on cultural history.

The book achieves its purposes in a highly successful manner. The narrative, while succinct, is packed with relevant information; both woods and trees are kept firmly in perspective. The descriptive chapters in part two are at their best in their account of political and military developments; the sheer diversity of economic and demographic data, the inadequacies of the statistical base, and the relative lack of studies, make generalization more difficult and the results less satisfactory.

The author's slightly defensive choice in shaping his work around the somewhat old-fashioned theme of dynasty, is well justified in the argument. Bonney is persuasive in displaying the still partly formed nature of the "state" at the end of this period. Great as the organizational and technological changes were, the continental political communities remained in 1660 focused on the fortunes, the ambitions, and the capabilities of their ruling families.

He makes clear how tentative are our judgments and provisional our knowledge about the era until substantial further work is done. He refers hopefully to the four-year program launched by the European Science Foundation in 1989 to study the origins of the modern state.

Nevertheless this is a book which will be invaluable for student use and an authoritative guide for scholars in a wide variety of fields.

HARVARD UNIVERSITY