The General Crisis of the Seventeenth Century

The post timorate empires that you write about were hit hard by a world order shaking crisis known as the seventeenth century general crisis. In europe, far from being associated with decline, such developments have been hailed for ushering in an age of enlightenment and rational state behavior. How do we square these circles? And then what was the seventteenth century general crisis? And why? Why did it damage the sixteenth century world order, given that many of the particular polities not only endured, but went on too to continue to thrive?