This is the first comprehensive analysis of the royal and princely courts of Europe as important places of Enlightenment. The households of European rulers remained central to politics and culture throughout the eighteenth century, and few writers, artists, musicians, or scholars could succeed without establishing connections to ruling houses, noble families, or powerful courtiers. Covering case studies from Spain and France to Russia, and from Scandinavia and Britain to the Holy Roman Empire, the contributions of this volume examine how Enlightenment figures were integrated into the princely courts of the Ancien Regime, and what kinds of relationships they had with courtiers. Dangers and opportunities presented by proximity to court are discussed as well as the question of what rulers and courtiers gained from their interactions with Enlightenment men and women of letters. The book focusses on four areas: firstly, the impact of courtly patronage on Enlightenment discourses and the work as well as careers of Enlightenment writers; secondly, the court as an audience to be catered for by Enlightenment writers; thirdly, the function of Enlightenment narratives and discourses for the image-making of rulers and courtiers; and fourthly, the role the interaction of courtiers and Enlightenment writers played for the formulation of reform policies.

In England, from the Reformation era to the outbreak of the Civil War, religious authority contributed to popular political discourse in ways that significantly shaped the legitimacy of the monarchy as a form of rule as well as the monarch's ability to act politically. The Power of Scripture casts aside parochial conceptualizations of that authority's origins and explores the far-reaching consequences of political biblicism. It shows how arguments, narratives, and norms taken from Biblical scripture not only directly contributed to national religious politics but also left lasting effects on the socio-political development of Stuart England.

Im antiken Judentum ebenso wie in den christlichen Monarchien Europas waren die heiligen Schriften ein bedeutsames Reservoir zur Argumentation nicht nur in theologischen Fragen, sondern auch auf dem Feld der Politik. Dies gilt in besonderem Masse, seitdem die Bibel in einem Textkanon festgelegt ist. Der vorliegende Sammelband geht kultur- und epochenubergreifend der Frage nach, wie die Bibel jeweils zur politischen Argumentation herangezogen wurde, welche Gruppen sich ihrer bedienten und welche Textstellen sich zur politischen Argumentation offensichtlich in besonderer Weise anboten. Dabei richtet sich der Blick insbesondere auf politische Konflikte, in denen die Legitimitat von monarchischer Herrschaft von der Antike bis zur Fruhen Neuzeit auf dem Prufstand stand."