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1. TerminologyFrom the late Middle Ages on, German used Obrigkeit (formerly  Oberherrlichkeit, “overlordship”) to denote sovereign power (in the abstract) or those wielding it. After 1500, the word in the latter sense was used almost exclusively in reference to secular and clerical authorities in the Empire (Authority). Only in the 19th century did other terms emerge, such as Staatsgewalt (state authority/power) or Landesherrschaft (territorial authority/sovereignty; Territorial sovereignty [Holy Roman Empire]). The early modern term referred to a powe…

1. Place in historyThe Seven Years’ War (1756–1763) marked an epochal turning point in the history of the early modern period, from the perspective of both power politics and military history. On the one hand, it still took place within the tradition of dynastically motivated wars in the framework of the nascent European power system, but unlike preceding wars, it was not a war of succession. In the system of European powers itself, a spectacular shift in the constellations of alliances put an end …

1. SurveyIn the early modern period, the Latin formula  pecunia nervus belli (“Money is the soul of war”; Cicero, Orationes Philippicae 5.5), proverbial since antiquity, became the common property, repeatedly confirmed, of all those concerned with the business of war in theory and in practice. In 1499, the Renaissance condottiere Gian Giacomo Trivulzio succinctly answered the question of the French king Louis XII as to what was needed to wage war: “Money, money, and more money” [5. 8 f.], while in 1595 the Spanish military theoretician Bernardino de Mendoza formulat…

1. Introduction The term “Napoleonic Wars” denotes the warfare in Europe between 1798/99 or 1803, and 1815. The attribute “Napoleonic” emphasizes the central role of Napoleon Bonaparte, who placed his political and military mark on this period in European history. As Emperor of the French, he took responsibility for a far-reaching hegemonic policy of conquest across Europe, the successes and ultimate failure of which were military in origin. The term Napoleonic Wars is mainly used in the English and French-speaking worlds [8]; [23]; [10]; [22], and it distinguishes this pha…

1. DefinitionFrom the Middle Ages on, the term  king’s peace meant a blueprint for peace based on renunciation of the use of force – geographically defined, and originally usually limited to a specific period of time [17]. Peace was essentially to be achieved and maintained by making legal regulations and appropriate courts of law or arbitral authorities mandatory in the enforcement of particular legal claims or to punish wrongdoings instead of taking the law into one’s own hands (“law of the strongest”). In the narrower sense, the  king’s peace also means the framework of le…

1. Terminology and scholarly approaches Authority is a central element of social order, a “force field around which social relationships and tensions fall into place” [22]. Authority is generally understood as an asymmetrical mutual social relationship in which a person, group, or organization can (temporarily) impose subordination on others and expect compliance. In the early modern period, the degree of generality was extended: authority was understood as an organizing principle of the entire cosmos. In 1735 J.H. Zed…