![]() This book will focus on the question of self-government at the level of a province, a form of political organization that is, roughly speaking, intermediate in complexity between the city-states of central Europe and the emerging national monarchies of western Europe. ![]() Americans of one scholarly generation made distinguished contributions to medieval English constitutional history, just as others of this current generation have illuminated the political and social history of the self-governing towns of Renaissance Italy and the free imperial cities of Germany. ![]() Certainly it is a question that has held special interest for American students of European history, perhaps because of a fascination with forms of government, a fascination rooted in American history. The question of how it is that men have learned to govern themselves is one that must be posed anew in each scholarly generation. Finally, I owe a special thanks to colleagues at Leiden who made me welcome during a teaching stint (spring 1987) and a subsequent shorter visit, especially Jan de Jongste, and not least to the students in my doctoraal werkcollege, who proved once again that nothing rejuvenates a scholar's enthusiasm so much as having others with whom to share it. Wim Blockmans at Leiden and Henk van Nierop at the University of Amsterdam shared their expertise in pertinent areas where my own knowledge would not get me very far. Juliaan Woltjer, emeritus from the Rijksuniversiteit te Leiden, was kind enough to give me a critical reading of the entire manuscript, in an earlier and much longer form, and began the necessary process of convincing me it was far too long. Hugo de Schepper (Catholic University of Nijmegen) initiated a rather inexperienced foreigner in the use of the rich collections at the Algemeen Rijksarchief in Brussels, and Jeremy Bangs (now at Plimouth Planation in Massachusetts) did the same for town archives in Holland. Along the way I have profited even more from the encouragement, advice, and example of friends and colleagues in the Netherlands. Maps were drawn by The Cartographic Laboratory (Department of Geography, University of Minnesota), and the index was done by John Jensen (Special Collections, University of Minnesota libraries). Writing was made easier by two summer research grants from the Graduate School of the University of Minnesota. Much of the research for this book was supported by a Fulbright grant from the Council for International Exchange in Brussels during my sabbatical in 1979–1980, and by a similar grant from the Council's office in Amsterdam the following summer, supplemented by a grant from the American Council of Learned Societies. Holland Under Habsburg Rule, 1506-1566: The Formation of a Body Politic. Berkeley: University of California Press, c1990 1990.
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