Maaike van Berkel, Ph.D. (2003), University of Amsterdam, is Professor of Medieval History at Radboud University in Nijmegen. She has published on communication, court culture, and urban organisation, including Crisis and Continuity at the Abbasid Court (2013).Jeroen Duindam, Ph.D. (1992), Utrecht University, is Professor of Early Modern History at the University of Leiden. He has published widely on courts, rulers, and dynasties, including Vienna and Versailles (2003) and Dynasties (2016).

• AcknowledgementsList of Figures, Tables and MapList of Contributors1 Rulers and Elites in Global History: Introductory ObservationsJeroen Duindam2 The Court as a Meeting Point: Cohesion, Competition, ControlJeroen Duindam3 Not of This World …? Religious Power and Imperial Rule in Eurasia, ca Thirteenth – ca Eighteenth CenturyPeter Rietbergen4 The Warband in the Making of Eurasian EmpiresJos Gommans5 The People of the Pen: Self-Perceptions of Status and Role in the Administration of Empires and PolitiesMaaike van Berkel6 The Golden Horde, the Spanish Habsburg Monarchy, and the Construction of Ruling DynastiesMarie Favereau Doumenjou and Liesbeth Geevers7 Narratives of Kingship in Fictional LiteratureRichard van Leeuwen8 Prince, Pen and Sword: Eurasian PerspectivesJeroen DuindamGlossaryBibliographyIndex

Maaike van Berkel, Ph.D. (2003), University of Amsterdam, is Professor of Medieval History at Radboud University in Nijmegen. She has published on communication, court culture, and urban organisation, including Crisis and Continuity at the Abbasid Court (2013).Jeroen Duindam, Ph.D. (1992), Utrecht University, is Professor of Early Modern History at the University of Leiden. He has published widely on courts, rulers, and dynasties, including Vienna and Versailles (2003) and Dynasties (2016).

• AcknowledgementsList of Figures, Tables and MapList of Contributors1 Rulers and Elites in Global History: Introductory ObservationsJeroen Duindam2 The Court as a Meeting Point: Cohesion, Competition, ControlJeroen Duindam3 Not of This World …? Religious Power and Imperial Rule in Eurasia, ca Thirteenth – ca Eighteenth CenturyPeter Rietbergen4 The Warband in the Making of Eurasian EmpiresJos Gommans5 The People of the Pen: Self-Perceptions of Status and Role in the Administration of Empires and PolitiesMaaike van Berkel6 The Golden Horde, the Spanish Habsburg Monarchy, and the Construction of Ruling DynastiesMarie Favereau Doumenjou and Liesbeth Geevers7 Narratives of Kingship in Fictional LiteratureRichard van Leeuwen8 Prince, Pen and Sword: Eurasian PerspectivesJeroen DuindamGlossaryBibliographyIndex

Maaike van Berkel, Ph.D. (2003), University of Amsterdam, is Professor of Medieval History at Radboud University in Nijmegen. She has published on communication, court culture, and urban organisation, including Crisis and Continuity at the Abbasid Court (2013).Jeroen Duindam, Ph.D. (1992), Utrecht University, is Professor of Early Modern History at the University of Leiden. He has published widely on courts, rulers, and dynasties, including Vienna and Versailles (2003) and Dynasties (2016).

• AcknowledgementsList of Figures, Tables and MapList of Contributors1 Rulers and Elites in Global History: Introductory ObservationsJeroen Duindam2 The Court as a Meeting Point: Cohesion, Competition, ControlJeroen Duindam3 Not of This World …? Religious Power and Imperial Rule in Eurasia, ca Thirteenth – ca Eighteenth CenturyPeter Rietbergen4 The Warband in the Making of Eurasian EmpiresJos Gommans5 The People of the Pen: Self-Perceptions of Status and Role in the Administration of Empires and PolitiesMaaike van Berkel6 The Golden Horde, the Spanish Habsburg Monarchy, and the Construction of Ruling DynastiesMarie Favereau Doumenjou and Liesbeth Geevers7 Narratives of Kingship in Fictional LiteratureRichard van Leeuwen8 Prince, Pen and Sword: Eurasian PerspectivesJeroen DuindamGlossaryBibliographyIndex