before the states-system: courtly ceremonial in early modern europe

What kinds of political entities made up early modern Europe and how did these entities stand in relation to one another? Quentin Bruneau’s seminar will sketch out an answer grounded in the perceptions of historical actors. He will delve into one of the most widespread—though seldom studied—investigative modalities in early modern Europe, courtly ceremonial, focusing on what it reveals about the composition, ordering principles, and limits of that realm of human interaction. Ultimately, he will suggest that scholars interested in world politics should study early modern Europe not because it constitutes the origins of the contemporary system of states, as so many accounts would have it, but because of its radical contrast with our own world.

Quentin Bruneau is Assistant Professor of Politics at The New School for Social Research and Eugene Lang College. His work focuses on both international political economy—particularly the history of global finance—and the history and theory of international relations. His forthcoming book, States and the Masters of Capital, reveals a profound transformation in how financiers lending capital to sovereign states have thought about and evaluated their borrowers over the past two centuries.