A Monarchy Transformed

A Monarchy Transformed is a vigorous, concise account of the political developments that changed an isolated archipelago in the corner of Europe into one of the greatest powers of the Western world.

"Until the 1960s, it was widely assumed that in Western Europe the 'New Monarchy' propelled kingdoms and principalities onto a modern nation-state trajectory. John I of Portugal (1358-1433), Charles VII (1403-1461) and Louis XI (1423-1483) of France, Henry VII and Henry VIII of England (1457-1509, 1509-1553), Isabella of Castile (1474-1504) and Ferdinand of Aragon (1479-1516) were, by improving royal administration, by bringing more continuity to communication with their estates and by introducing more regular taxation, all seen to have served that goal. In this view, princes were assigned to the role of developing and implementing the sinews of state as a sovereign entity characterized by the coherence of its territorial borders and its central administration and government. They shed medieval traditions of counsel and instead enforced relations of obedience toward the emerging 'state'."--Provided by publisher.

The seventeenth century, writes Mark Kishlansky, was “a wheel of transformation in perpetual motion,” a period of political and religious upheaval that defined the nation for decades to come and remains critical for understanding the nation today. Beginning with the accession of James I and concluding with the death of Queen Anne, this compelling account describes the tempestuous events that took place during the Stuart dynasty and provides lively pen portraits of the many fascinating personalities involved. Conspiracies, rebellions, and revolutions jostle side by side with court intrigues, political infighting and the rise of parties. In 1603 Britain was an isolated archipelago; by 1714 it had emerged among the intellectual, commercial, and military centers of the world. “Kishlansky’s century saw one king executed, another exiled, the House of Lords abolished, and the Church of England reconstructed along Presbyterian lines . . . A masterly narrative, shot through with the shrewdness that comes from profound scholarship.”—Jonathan Clark, Spectator “A historian with a real love for the period, a real understanding of many different aspects of it, and an exhilarating style.”—Ronald Hutton, The Times Literary Supplement “This sweeping, dramatic chronicle of a century of Stuart rule will rivet even the general reader with no particular interest in British history.”—Publishers Weekly

In the decades before the First World War no British institution epitomised national identity more forcefully than the monarchy, and no other institution inspired such a universal feeling of loyalty and attachment. The crown reached this position in the half-century after 1861 by giving up its residual political power to a more powerful and more representative House of Commons and transforming itself into a powerfully symbolic institution, by concentrating its efforts on ceremony. The politicians who transformed the monarchy in an era of mass politics, mass movements and massive ceremonial displays constituted a cross-section of the political world. What were these men doing? What was in their minds as they planned enormous royal spectacles in London? This book focuses on the action of five different individuals who created the modern monarchy: Walter Bagehot, W.E. Gladstone, Lord Esher, Randall Davidson and the Duke of Norfolk.

France and England are often seen as monarchies standing at opposite ends of the spectrum of seventeenth-century European political culture. On the one hand the Bourbon monarchy took the high road to absolutism, while on the other the Stuarts never quite recovered from the diminution of their royal authority following the regicide of Charles I in 1649. However, both monarchies shared a common medieval heritage of sacral kingship, and their histories remained deeply entangled throughout the century. This study focuses on the interaction between ideas of monarchy and images of power in the two countries between the execution of Mary Queen of Scots and the Glorious Revolution. It demonstrates that even in periods when politics were seemingly secularized, as in France at the end of the Wars of Religion, and in latter seventeenth- century England, the appeal to religious images and values still lent legitimacy to royal authority by emphasizing the sacral aura or providential role which church and religion conferred on monarchs.

The sixth of nine volumes in the major Penguin History of Britain series, A Monarchy Transformed narrates the tempestuous political events of the Stuart dynasty. It charts the reigns of six monarchs, and the course of two revolutions as well as religious upheavals that shook the beliefs of seventeenth-century Britons to the core.

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER. Sunday Times bestselling author Andrew Morton reveals new information and sources that totally transform our perception of Wallis Simpson. Wallis in Love brings a fascinating new perspective on the 20th century's most controversial royal scandal. Andrew Morton's impeccable research and unerring skill for riveting storytelling combine to present a strong case for a new and startling reveal: that the woman who rocked the world with her uncompromising passion for the Prince of Wales may have fooled everyone by keeping the object of her true passion hidden away... From her relatively lowly beginnings in America - where young Wallis and her mother were dependent on her domineering and powerful Uncle Sol, to her rise through the social ranks and her determination to one day beat men at their own game - to the ultimate conquest of the Prince of Wales, Morton paints a vivid and multi-faceted picture of a compelling, ambitious and often hard-hearted woman, who may have won the jewel in the British crown but very possibly at the expense of her true happiness. Wallis in Love reveals the men Wallis truly loved, the men who broke her heart - and the hearts she broke in turn. In this vivid, fresh and frankly amazing portrait of the Duchess of Windsor, Morton draws on interviews, secret letters, diaries and never before seen or heard primary sources. From the day she was born in a ramshackle cottage in the hills to revealing what really happened the night her husband died, Morton paints a fresh and enticing portrait of the Duchess of Windsor.

The New York Times–bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize winner examines the history of leadership, and the crucial role of leaders in a healthy democracy. In Transforming Leadership, James MacGregor Burns illuminates the evolution of leadership structures—from the chieftains of tribal African societies, through Europe’s absolute monarchies, to the blossoming of the Enlightenment’s ideals of liberty and happiness during the American Revolution. Along the way, he looks at key breakthroughs in leadership and the towering leaders who attempted to transform their worlds—Elizabeth I, Washington, Jefferson, Gandhi, Eleanor Roosevelt, Gorbachev, and others. Culminating in a bold and innovative plan to address the greatest global leadership challenge of the twenty-first century, the long-intractable problem of global poverty, Transforming Leadership will spark lively discussion in classrooms and boardrooms throughout the country.