Introduction: Early modern states: four types -- Origins of patrimonial absolutism in Latin Europe: The late Roman Empire and early state formation in Visigoth Spain, Lombard Italy, and Merovingian and Carolingian Gaul ; Economic and ecclesiastical renewal and the rebirth of royal power in Latin Europe ; The impact of war and taxes on finance and administration -- Triumph of patrimonial absolutism and the failure of reform in Latin Europe, c.1500-1789: War and the triumph of patrimonial absolutism in France, 1494-1659 ; Patrimonial absolutism in Iberia and Italy, 1492-1789 -- Bureaucratic constitutionalism in Britain: The restoration and the English revolution in government, 1660-1688 ; The consolidation of the new British state after 1689 -- Bureaucratic absolutism in Germany: Failed Dark Age statebuilding, empire, and the emergence of territorial states in Germany, 511-c.1450 ; Limits and contradictions of Bureaucratic absolutism: the case of Brandenburg-Prussia -- Triumph of patrimonial constitutionalism in Hungary and Poland and its premature demise in Scandinavia

1. Local government -- Europe -- History
2. Comparative government
3. Europe -- Politics and government
4. Europe -- Constitutional history