| Liberty in Absolutist Spain: The Habsburg Sale of Towns, 1516-1700. 1, 108th Series, 1990 Revised Edition Contributor(s): Nader, Helen (Author) |
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ISBN: 0801847311 ISBN-13: 9780801847318 Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press OUR PRICE: $32.30 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: August 1993 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - History | Europe - Spain & Portugal |
| Dewey: 320.809 |
| Series: Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political |
| Physical Information: 0.82" H x 6.04" W x 9.03" (0.99 lbs) 328 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Throughout early modern Europe, one of the most extraordinary royal fund-raising schemes was the seizure and sale of church property to finance foreign wars. The monarchs of Habsburg Spain extended these seizures to municipal property and used the revenue to maintain their empire. They sold charters of autonomy to hundreds of villages, thus converting them into towns, and sold towns to private buyers, thus increasing the number of seigniorial lords. In Hapsburg Spain, therefore, absolutism did not mean centralization. Rather, the kings invoked their absolute power to decentralize authority and allow their subjects a surprising degree of autonomy. |