Machine generated contents note: Preface; Acknowledgements; Introduction; 1. Alberico Gentili (1552-1608): new ways of posing the problem of war and interstate relations; 1.1. Confessional strife and the question of trustworthiness among European states; 1.2 A new concept of the enemy and war: trust among equals; 1.3. Pirates and other enemies hors la loi: the untrustworthy foes; 2. Plans for universal peace in Europe: the limits of a balance of power; 2.1. Sully (1559-1641) and the Grand Dessein; 2.2. Cruce (1590-1648) and the Nouveau Cynee; 3. Jus naturae et gentium: the limits of a juridical order; 3.1. Hugo Grotius (1583-1645); 3.2. Thomas Hobbes (1588-1673); 3.3. Samuel Pufendorf (1632-94); 4. The struggle for hegemony and the erosion of trust; 4.1. Leibniz (1646-1716) and his guerre des plumes against Louis XIV's claims to hegemony; 4.2. 'Triomphe de la Foi: religion and interstate relations after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes; 4.3. The Abbe de Saint-Pierre's (1658-1743) project for peace and his challenge to early modern statecraft; 5. The doux commerce and interstate relations: trust and mistrust in the emerging economic discourse; Conclusion. The thing which was not; Bibliography.