This paper is organized in four parts. In the first, the State is focused in theoretical and general levels, treated mainly from a sociological and not historical point of view. The second part is essentially historiographical and presents the several explanations proposed by the historians about the absolutist State. The third and fourth parts discuss the origins of Modern State in Italy - specially Venice and Florence - and its development in France and England. The paper points out to parallels between those four States.
Modern state; Medieval history; Absolutist State; Monarchy; Republic