By the end of the sixteenth century, the New Monarchs had left the European continent transformed. New monarchs found ways to raise taxes and fill their states’ treasuries. New monarchs also sought to create a more unified national identity in their kingdoms. By centralizing power, professionalizing war, and tethering the Church to the crown, they did more than just expand their borders—they invented the concept of the nation-state. They found Europe a collection of private estates and left it a map of sovereign powers, proving that the pen of a letrado and the ledger of a Fugger were often mightier than any noble’s sword.