Kings, Nobles and Commoners takes head-on the leading questions in the history of early modern Europe. Was religion the badge of identity and inspiration for the state? And what was the nature of the state? Did Protestantism lead to political and economic progress and Catholicism to absolutism, decadence and extinction? Jeremy Black's revisionary history shows that both thrusting 'bourgeois' Protestant states like the Netherlands and Britain prospered and, in Britian's case, became a global power. And the 'reactionary' Catholic states like Austria and France at various times remained stable until the deluge of the French Revolution. 'Absolutism' was no 'myth' but 'absolutist' states still had to rule with consent. Jeremy Black links these themes into a rich and coherent tapestry to give the clearest and most authoritative picture of the complexities of the early modern period.