2021-09-142021-09-142021-082021-08August 202https://hdl.handle.net/2346/87886This work is concerned with the expansion of state authority as inspired by political philosophy and the eventual use of coercive power by the state to further ingratiate itself into the lives of its subjects. It does this through a case study of public health policy in early modern Bavaria under Duke Maximilian I’s (r. 1571-1651) devout Catholic rule. The method draws on perspectives from urban history, the history of medicine and public health, state building, and the history of ideas. The introductory chapter details the broader scholarship on public health, the history of medicine, State Building, and Bavaria. The work continues in the second chapter by examining Maximilian’s early firsthand experiences with public health, bodily health, and medical theory. This early period of Maximilian’s reign marked an important early phase in the intellectual development of his health policy. The third chapter examines the influence of Maximilian’s closest advisor Adam Contzen (b. 1577-1635) had on policy decisions. Using Contzen’s previously untranslated work of political philosophy titled the Politicorum Libri Decem or Ten Books on Politics, this chapter looks at the intellectual philosophy behind Maximilian’s undertakings as it explores the connections between public health and politics. The most important of these ideas was the concept of amicitia or the relationship, ideally defined by love, shared between the ruler and the ruled. Finally, the fourth chapter analyzes plague ordinances throughout Maximilian’s reign, and finds that the appropriation of various facets of public health by the state played a more significant role in Bavarian state building than previously thought. Overall, this work argues that taking a new approach to Duke Maximilian I, such as from the perspective of public health, provides for a more well-rounded interpretation of his character, the state building project in Early Modern Bavaria as a whole, and the evolution of the modern state in Europe more broadly.application/pdfengDuke Maximilian IEarly Modern EuropeEarly Modern BavariaPublic HealthState BuildingState FormationAdam Contzen1571-16511618-1648Political PhilosophyHistory of IdeasBavariaWittelsbachThirty Years WarAbsolutismEarly ModernEarly Modern GermanyThesis2021-09-14Access is not restricted.