Ronald G. Asch holds the Chair of Early Modern History at the University of Freiburg in Germany. He graduated from Tubingen University and previously taught in Munster and Osnabruck. He is an expert on sixteenth and seventeenth-century British and European history and has published monographs on the Thirty Years War and the history of the European nobilities in the early modern period as well as on the court of Charles I. His latest publication is Die Stuarts: Geschichte einer Dynastie (Munich, 2011). He is a member of the Heidelberg Academy of Arts and Sciences.

• Acknowledgements Introduction Chapter 1. The Anglo-Gallican Moment: The French and English Monarchies from the Death of Mary Queen of Scots to James I's Remonstrance for the Right of Kings * Introduction * The French Monarchy in Crisis 1587 - 1593 * The Resacralization of Kingship in France 1594 - 1610 * The Early Stuart Monarchy and the Legacy of the Late Elizabethan Age * The Advent of the Divine Right of Kings: The Reign of James VI and I * The Oath of Allegiance Controversy and its Repercussions in England and France * Concluding Remarks Chapter 2. Kingship Transformed - Kingship Destroyed? The French and English Monarchies in the 1630s and 1640s * Introduction * The Personal Rule of Charles I and the New Culture of Power * Religion and Politics in France During the Ascendancy of Cardinal Richelieu in the 1630s * Civil War and Regicide in England * The French Monarchy Between the Death of Louis XIII and the Coronation of Louis XIV 1643 - 1654 * Concluding Remarks Chapter 3. In the Shadow of Versailles: Stuart Kingship and the French Monarchy 1678 - 1688 * Introduction * The Changing Nature of the French Monarchy in the 1680s and After * The Conflict between Crown and Church in France and its Repercussions in England in the 1680s * Charles II and the Nature of Sacral Kingship * The Reign of James II * Concluding Remarks Outlook and Conclusion Endnotes Bibliography Index

"This is an excellent book. It is intellectually outstanding in that it sustains an argument in comparative history throughout its whole length. The research is very impressive. The comparison is fruitful and appropriate. The book is capable of changing the field through its argument. It is thoroughly well-grounded and therefore convincing - Conceptually and methodologically this book is tightly organized and clearly the fruit of enormous reflection in these areas. It is a fine example of rigorous comparative methodology applied to a complex and evolving field." * Peter R. Campbell, Institut d'etudes culturelles, Guyancourt, nr. Paris "Throughout [his sparkling new study the author] shows a mastery of complex theological, religious and political issues, and he has many illuminating conclusions to offer, which will give early modern historians much to ponder and reflect upon - Comparative history of this kind is a difficult genre to write successfully, but the author has found a particularly neat way to organize his text - [This] study will be recognized as one of the most important contributions to the study of early modern monarchy, and will be required reading for all historians of both England and the continent." * Hamish Scott, University of St. Andrews