Prosperity and Plunder: European Catholic Monasteries in the Age of Revolution, 16501815 [Hardcover]

A unique, comparative description of the great monasteries of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Europe.In the Catholic countries of seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century Europe, communities of monks and nuns were growing in number and wealth. They constructed vast buildings, dominated education, and played a large part in the practice and patronage of learning, music, and the arts. This lavishly-illustrated book offers a unique, comparative description of these communities, their wealth, growth, life, and importance--and then explains their catastrophic decline and fall between 1750 and 1815 by reforming rulers, 'Enlightenment', and the French Revolution.In the Catholic countries of seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century Europe, communities of monks and nuns were growing in number and wealth. They constructed vast buildings, dominated education, and played a large part in the practice and patronage of learning, music, and the arts. This lavishly-illustrated book offers a unique, comparative description of these communities, their wealth, growth, life, and importance--and then explains their catastrophic decline and fall between 1750 and 1815 by reforming rulers, 'Enlightenment', and the French Revolution.In the Catholic countries of seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century Europe, communities of monks and nuns were growing in number and wealth. They constructed vast buildings, dominated education, and played a large part in the practice and patronage of learning, music, and the arts. This lavishly-illustrated book offers a unique, comparative description of these communities--their wealth, growth, life, and importance--and then explains their catastrophic decline and fall between 1650 and 1815 by reforming rulers, the 'Enlightenment', and the French Revolution. Derek Beales, Professor Emeritus of Modern History, Cambridge, is a Fellow of both the Royal Historical Society and the British Academy. He has published numerous historical monographs including lc(