The familial state: Elite family practices and state-making in the early modern Netherlands

In early modern Europe, as every schoolchild learns, states and elite families were often closely interlocked. Yet family history and state theory are generally studied separately today. I try' here to unite them by underlining the central role of family lineages and gender identities in the formation of patrimonial political structures, focussing on the Netherlands, a precocious and influential developer along a number of social and cultural dimensions? My thinking about this problem has been guided by several general questions. When did elite families and lineages anchor political stability, or contribute to political change? How did gender arrangements complement or crosscut these familial patterns? What are the implications for theories of state formation?