By the mid-seventeenth century, several major European monarchies were collapsing. Battered by incessant war and religious rebellion, rulers clashed with landowners and clergy on whom they relied for territorial and spiritual support. Nicholas Henshall argues that from this crisis emerged a new deal. Monarchs reasserted traditional values and resolved to work with, rather than against, their nobles and churches. The Zenith of European Monarchy and its Elites: The Politics of Culture, 1650-1750: # focuses on a previously neglected key elite bonding strategy # explains how a common identity was forged by erecting cultural defences against outsiders # demonstrates how the power and prestige of the ruling classes rose to unprecedented heights. Essential reading for students and scholars of early modern European history, this fascinating new study shows how the period 1650-1750 gains a new coherence - as the pinnacle of Europe's monarchies and their elites.