The early modern period was one of profound change in Europe. It was witness to the development of science, religious reformation, and the birth of the nation state. As Europeans explored the world-looking to Asia and the Americas for new peoples and lands-their societies grew and adapted.
 
Eminent historian Henry Kamen explores in depth the issues that most affected those living in early modern Europe-from leisure, work, and migration to religion, gender, and discipline-and the way in which population change impacted the aristocracy, the bourgeoisie, and the poor. The third edition of this pioneering study includes new and updated material on gender, religion, and population movement. Richly illustrated, this is essential reading for all those interested in early modern European society. ]]> https://www.bellbookshop.co.uk/product/spains-road-to-empire/ Thu, 07 Nov 2002 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.bellbookshop.co.uk/product/spains-road-to-empire/ Henry Kamen’s work re-creates the dazzling world of Imperial Spain, from the capture of Moorish Granada and Columbus’s first voyage in 1492, to its expansion into Europe, Asia, Africa and the Caribbean, and the opening up of the frontiers in Texas and California in the eighteenth century. Drawing on the accounts of those who witnessed these great events, whether Aztec chroniclers, Italian explorers or Filipino sultans, Kamen balances the wonders of the Empire (the first sight of the Pacific, the astonishing voyages of the Manila galleons) with the horrors – the slavery, disease, terror and waste of human life it entailed.;Throughout he emphasises just how unSpanish this Empire actually was, always relying on the cooperation (willing or otherwise) of non-Castilians for its success: Portuguese, basque, Aztec, Genoese, Chinese, Flemish, West African, Inca and Neapolitan. It was this vast diversity of resources and people which included many of its greatest adventurers and soldiers) that made Spain’s’ power so overwhelming.;Henry Kamen demonstrates how the traditional view of the Spanish Empire as the all-conquering enemy of Protestant Europe has distorted our knowledge of its achievements. Shorn of this “black legend”, Spain’s complex impact on world history becomes far more apparent – but also, in new ways, just as disturbing.