
War, State, and Society in Liège
How a Small State of the Holy Roman Empire survived the Nine Year's War (1688-1697)
Roeland Goorts
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.
This publication is GPRC-labeled (Guaranteed Peer-Reviewed Content).
Chapter I
Appendices
Format: Monograph - paperback
Size: 244 × 170 × 20 mm
418 pages
b&w images
ISBN: 9789462701311
Publication: March 11, 2019
Series: Avisos de Flandes 17
Languages: English
Stock item number: 127235
Thierry ALLAIN, Revue d'histoire moderne & contemporaine 69-1, janvier-mars 2022
Much of the real value of Goorts’s work lies in the amount of detail he is able to provide on the workings of the state, the network of local communities within the territory, and the economy, and on the impact of war on all three. He is able to trace the careers and fortunes of any number of minor characters who would normally never make it into more broadly focused works; he shows much of the human cost of war in individual localities. Taken as a whole, his work is a valuable addition to the scholarship on war and society in the early modern period.
James R. Smither, Renaissance Quarterly , Volume 74 , Issue 2 , Summer 2021 , pp. 633 - 634 , DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/rqx.2021.44
John M. Stapleton, Jr., Journal of Military History, vol. 84, no. 4 (October 2020)
Goorts provides a wealth of relevant empirical material on the internal politics and fiscal-military organization of the Prince-Bishopric of Liège that will prove valuable for historians working in this field.
Bram van Besouw, BMGN - Low Countries Historical Review, 135(2). DOI: http://doi.org/10.18352/bmgn-lchr.10805