Explore the high-stakes era of 18th‑century popes and politics, from reform to war and reform.
This volume surveys the later Middle Ages into the early modern period, focusing on Innocent XIII, Benedict XIII, and Clement XII. It blends narrative clarity with documentary detail to trace papal elections, struggles for influence in Europe, and the church’s changing role in state affairs. You’ll see how personal weaknesses, court politics, and imperial pressures shaped decisions on governance, finance, and reform, including mass mobilizations, concordats, and the shaping of the Church’s mission.
- The election and leadership styles of Innocent XIII, Benedict XIII, and Clement XII, and how their personalities influenced the papal office
- The turbulence of church-state relations, from monarchic pressure to the politics of Italy, Spain, and the Holy See
- Reforms, canonical activities, and the church’s engagement with Jansenism, missions, and religious orders
- The States of the Church, fiscal challenges, and the papacy’s patronage of scholarship and the arts
Ideal for readers of religious history, institutional reforms, and the long arc of papal diplomacy in the early modern world.