1. Given the ambiguity of the terms ‘East’ and ‘West’ in their contemporary usage, it must be made clear that in this book, I mean by ‘East’ China and EAst Asia, and by ‘West’, Europe, especially the Western European nations.
2. In Adam Watson’s words, ‘The Renaissance turned men’s minds towards classical models of independent statehood. The Reformation broke the authority of the universal church, which came to depend on the lay power of the new rulers even where it remained Catholic’ (Adam Watson, ‘European International Society and its Expansion’, in Bull & Watson Expansion, p. 15).
3. For controversies about this point, see Wight, M., Systems of States, chs. 1, 4, 5, also Northedge, F. S., The International Political System, ch. 3.
4. Bryce, J,. The Holy Roman Empire, (2nd edn) p. 372.
5. For want of a better term, ‘state’ and ‘nation’ are also used in the description of the Eastern Family of Nations at the risk of anachronism.