This substantial collection of specially commissioned chapters addresses the theme of sovereignty and the sources and variety of political power in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Europe, from Russia to Spain and from the Italian peninsula to the Dutch Republic.

A unifying theme, taken up in a substantial editorial introduction, is the determination to move away from cliches such as 'the rise of the modern state'. Instead, emphasis is placed upon the composite nature of early modern political structures and upon the significant number of bodies and individuals who were recognised as possessing, or who exercised, sovereignty.

One particularly notable and novel feature is the attention paid to the potential of visual material for this subject: many of the chapters are accompanied by striking and often little-known illustrations. Topics are as diverse as international relations and the control of foreign policy, the cultural policies and political ambitions of representational monarchy, urban developments, and the personalities of those who exercised authority.

These diverse themes were all illuminated by the writings of Professor Ragnhild Hatton (1913-95), to whose memory this collection is dedicated.