Un regard renouvelé sur la cour de Bruxelles à l'époque moderne
Les Gouverneurs-généraux des Pays-Bas espagnols du dix-septième siècle bénéficiaient du conseil de leur confesseur. Ce directeur spirituel, issu du clergé régulier, tint un rôle significatif dans l'organisation du pouvoir politique bruxellois.
Cette étude, qui couvre la période courant des archiducs Albert et Isabelle jusqu'au dernier Gouverneur-général issu de la famille royale, soit les années 1598 à 1659, propose, pour la première fois, une approche transversale de la fonction. L'auteur démontre que ces religieux furent souvent impliqués dans des questions politiques et courtisanes de première importance. En exposant combien les parcours individuels de ces religieux furent singuliers, Pierre-François Pirlet souligne également le polymorphisme de leur action. Enfin, ce volume met en évidence les liens étroits qu'entretinrent ces conseillers avec la Couronne espagnole, les autorités ecclésiastiques et les membres de la cour de Bruxelles.
Small power diplomacy in seventeenth century Europe.
War, State and Society in Liège is a fascinating case study of the consequences of war in the Prince-Bishopric of Liège and touches upon wider issues in early modern history, such as small power diplomacy in the seventeenth century and during the Nine Years' War.
For centuries, the small semi-independent Holy Roman Principality of Liège succeeded in preserving a non-belligerent role in European conflicts. During the Nine Years' War (1688-1697), however, Liège's leaders had to abolish the practice of neutrality. For the first time in its early modern history, the Prince-Bishopric had to raise a regular army, reconstruct ruined defence structures, and supply army contributions in both money and material.
The issues under discussion in War, State and Society in Liège offer the reader insight into how Liège politically protected its powerful institutions and how the local elite tried to influence the interplay between domestic and external diplomatic relationships.
Many of the most significant studies devoted to Ambrogio Spinola have focused on one particular aspect of his life: his successful military career. This volume, through its interdisciplinary and cultural approach, breaks open this all too narrow perspective and expands our understanding of Spinola and his world. As a great military strategist and Catholic knight, entrepreneur in the international finance market, courtier, and diplomat, Spinola was certainly a Genoese, but he was also a member of the transnational Iberian elite, to which he linked his fate and that of his children. His life's journey between Italy, Flanders, and Spain, and the reinterpretations of his life by his contemporaries in art, literature, and the press, give us the opportunity to reflect on the multiple identities and the physical and mental wanderings of many Europeans of the Early Modern Age. Ambrogio Spinola offers an example of humanity that is impossible to capture in a single reading and is much more contemporary than we can imagine.
Ambrogio Spinola between Genoa, Flanders, and Spain allows the reader to better understand not only his military activities, but also (and above all) the family, social and political foundations of his successful career, as well as the various forms of art and communication (literature, architecture, paintings, sculptures, engravings, newspapers, etc.), which were used to celebrate him both during his life and beyond.
