Early-Modern Constitutions

Cambridge University Press eBooks, pp. 118–130

Abstract

In the Early Modern Period the idea of a unified Christian community in Western Europe shattered due to Protestantism and the religious wars that ensued. The idea of self-governed, sovereign, states emerged, as did the idea that ruler were put in place to serve and protect the people under his reign. In this time of discovery and early Enlightenment novel notions like that of a conditional social contract between a ruler and his subjects, the role of the state, individuality and individual freedom came up.

Authors 1

1. W.J.M. Voermans corresponding Aachen

   Leiden University

   Affiliation as printed

   Universiteit Leiden