The spaces of nobility / Matthew P. Romaniello and Charles Lipp -- The early modern European nobility and its contested historiographies, c. 1950-1980 / Hamish Scott -- Negotiating for Agnes' womb / Erica Bastress-Dukehart -- Contested masculinity : noblemen and their mistresses in early modern Spain / Grace E. Coolidge -- Inventing the courtier in early sixteenth century Portugal / Susannah Humble Ferreira -- Sepulchral monuments as a means of communicating social and political power of nobles in early modern Russia / Cornelia Soldat -- Il monastero nuovo : cloistered women of the Medici court / Katherine L. Turner -- The question of the imprescriptibility of nobility in early modern France / Elie Haddad -- All the king's men : educational reform and the restoration of the service nobility in early seventeenth-century Spain / Ryan Gaston -- "Of polish'd pillars, or a roofe of gold" : authority and affluence in the English country house poem / Sukanya Dasgupta -- Nobility as a social and political dialogue : the Parisian example, 1650-1750 / Mathieu Marraud -- Challenging the status quo : attempts to modernize the Polish nobility in the later eighteenth century / Jerzy Lukowski -- Resilient notables : looking at the transformation of the Ottoman Empire from the local level / M. Safa Saraçoglu
Summary
European nobility faced a number of religious, political and military challenges. Many sought to increase their status, or maintain their privileges, by negotiating with various political and religious authorities, and exploiting opportunities in this era of upheaval. In examining the protective strategies nobles adopted in an age of state-building, reformation and expansion, this collection reveals the roles of the 'second order' and their ability to survive. Scholars across disciplinary and national boundaries offer exciting new perspectives on this central social group
