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Seminar on the State and Capitalism Since 1800

CANCELLED - Tilly Goes to Church: The Religious Origins of the Modern State


March 27, 2020
2:00pm - 3:30pm
Hoffmann Room, Adolphus Busch Hall
March 27, 2020
2:00pm - 3:30pm
Hoffmann Room, Adolphus Busch Hall

** Please note: Those planning to attend events in this series should read the paper that will be posted on the CES website before the seminar.**

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What are the origins of the state? Existing explanations focus on interstate wars and contracts between rulers and the ruled in the early modern period. Instead, the speaker will examine a neglected, but major actor in state formation: the medieval Catholic Church. First, the Church was a major rival for sovereignty, and popes and monarchs repeatedly challenged each other, and political authority fragmented as a result. Second, the Church was also a template for administrative and legal innovations, and source of literate administrators and wealth, critical to building early state institutions.

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