Monarchies 10002000 Author:W. M. Spellman Monarchies 1000-2000 surveys a form of government whose legitimacy rests not on voluntary consensus or contract but on age-old custom, heredity, tradition and/or religious sanction. The book provides a global and comparative analysis, establishing connections between monarchy as idea and practice in a variety of historical and cultural co... more »ntexts across the last millennium, during which this system was without serious rival.« less