Civil Servants, State Finance, and the Rising State
Tides of History
Audible / Patrick Wyman
4.7 • 6.5K Ratings
🗓️ 7 March 2019
⏱️ 54 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
States didn't pull themselves up by their bootstraps, driven solely by the will of indomitable rulers; instead, they benefited from the services of a class of highly educated and dedicated civil servants. They administered finance and justice and executed the royal will with competence and ruthlessness.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, Prime Members, you can listen to Tides of History, add free on Amazon Music. |
| 0:04.2 | Download the app today. |
| 0:07.0 | The first hints of pre-don light barely lit the grey horizon as two men on horseback |
| 0:22.3 | clattered onto the castle's wooden drawbridge. |
| 0:25.6 | The moat beneath them was dry and empty, round, crenellated towers and battlements |
| 0:30.1 | shut it up into the sky. |
| 0:32.0 | A couple of boardguards kept watch in the early morning. |
| 0:35.6 | It was just another quiet day in Kent. |
| 0:39.7 | Nobody had besieged this castle for decades, maybe even centuries. |
| 0:43.3 | It was a symbol of power and status for the important noble family who lived here, not |
| 0:47.8 | a practical defense. |
| 0:49.9 | The riders dismounted onto the cobbles of the castle's courtyard. |
| 0:53.5 | Our clothing was imported, black-died velvet, somber and understated but extremely expensive. |
| 1:00.0 | Their hats were of the latest fashion's popular among Italian bankers. |
| 1:03.4 | They carried swords, but they were just for show. |
| 1:06.6 | The seal of King Henry VII of England on the rolled up paper documents they carried |
| 1:11.3 | was more than enough to stay off any interference. |
| 1:15.1 | The sleepy guards snapped to attention at the sound of the horses on the drawbridge. |
| 1:19.5 | They ran inside the castle to fetch the lore. |
| 1:22.2 | What's the meaning of this? |
| 1:23.3 | Grouse the Lord as he stepped out into the early morning chill, wrapped in a thick fur robe. |
| 1:28.3 | He hated to be awakened early, much less by two men like this. |
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