This work has used a case study of Württemberg to test theories of state development and to investigate early modern German ruler–estate relations and the structure of the old Reich. It now remains to draw together the findings for these issues in turn.

The Württemberg case bears out James Sheehan's conclusions that ‘money – for whatever reason – was the dominant force behind the construction of the modern state’. Both Württemberg's institutional development and its ruler–estate relations were fuelled primarily by the duke's fiscal requirements. As we have seen, the ultimate purpose of these has been the subject of considerable debate, not only for Württemberg, but for early modern state-building in general. The findings of this study tend to support the basic premiss of the ‘primary of foreign policy’ theory of state development. The dictates of foreign policy, in the sense of relations with other rulers both inside and outside the Reich, shaped Württemberg's internal development through the mechanism of ducal fiscal requirements. However, the findings also indicate that this process was not as straightforward as older studies would suggest.

The duke had to compete in the wider arena of imperial and European politics if he wished to achieve his primary objectives. In these he hardly differed from both his contemporaries among the lesser German princes and the more powerful European monarchs. Like them he desired an elevation in status and an increase in territory.