Economic Systems and State Finance

The Origins of the Modern State in Europe, 13th to 18th Centuries

by Richard Bonney (editor)

This is the first volume to appear in the Origins of the Modern State in Europe series, which arises from an important international research program sponsored by the European Science Foundation. The aim of the series, which comprises seven volumes, is to bring together specialists from different countries, who reinterpret from a comparative European perspective different aspects of the formation of the state over the long period from the beginning of the thirteenth to the end of the eighteenth century. One of the main achievements of the research program has been to overcome the long-established historiographical tendency to regard states mainly from the viewpoint of their twentieth-century borders.
Economic Systems and State Finance offers a new approach to the development of state finance and fiscal systems in Europe. It covers a broad chronological span, beginning with a reassessment of the feudal system and the beginnings of state finance, and continuing with developments within a comparative European framework as far as 1815 when Britain emerged as the only state to have achieved economic hegemony. The conclusions are presented in four thematic chapters on expenditure, revenues, public credit, and the fiscal burden. The text is underpinned by the comprehensive apparatus of 97 figures, drawn from an important research database established during the research program. This book is a significant work of scholarship, which will make a permanent contribution to historical debate.

674 pages, Hardcover

First published May 25, 1995

About the author

Dr. Richard P. Bonney was an English historian and priest.

Bonney was appointed Lecturer in European History at the University of Reading in 1971 and Professor of Modern History at the University of Leicester in 1984, where he stayed until his retirment in 2006. He was the founder of the Society for the Study of French History in the UK and the founding Editor of its Journal, French History, between 1987 and 2001.

Bonney published numerous publications on French history and European fiscal history. His first book, a revision of his Ph.D. thesis, "Political Change in France under Richelieu and Mazarin, 1624-1661", was published in 1978.

In 1997, Bonney was ordained as a priest in the Church of England. His work focused on religious pluralism, and also on Jihad.

Bonner received his undergraduate degree and his Ph.D. from Oxford University.