Ronald Asch – författare

Historians have tried time and again to identify the central issues of the conflict which devastated Europe between 1618 and 1648. The Thirty Years War by Ronald G. Asch puts the religious and constitutional struggle in the Holy Roman Empire squarely back into the centre of events. However, other issues are not neglected. Thus the problems of war finance are shown to be an important key to the interaction between inter-state and domestic conflicts during the war. Equally confessional tensions are analysed as a decisive factor linking international and domestic disputes, and the reader is provided with a succinct narrative account concentrating on the major turning points of the war.

Nobilities in Transition explores the transformation of the nobility in the late 16th and 17th centuries. This book looks at political and social changes, examines the impact princely courts had on noblemen and women and their way of life and analyses issues such as the 'refeudalization' of state and society in southern Europe or the increasing urbanization of noble elites in the period under discussion. While paying due attention to the great heterogeneity of the nobility in Europe it nevertheless shows how the adherence to common values and ideals nevertheless gave noble elites coherence and a shared sense of identity