Table Of ContentInterpreting Early Modern Europe
Interpreting Early Modern Europe is a comprehensive collection of essays on the
historiography of the early modern period (circa 1450–1800).
Concerned with the principles, priorities, theories, and narratives behind the
writing of early modern history, the book places particular emphasis on develop-
ments in recent scholarship. Each chapter, written by a prominent historian
caught up in the debates, is devoted to the varieties of interpretation relating to
a specific theme considered integral to understanding the age, providing readers
with a ‘behind-the-scenes’ look at how historians have worked, and still work,
within these fields. At one level the emphasis is historiographical, with the essays
engaged in a direct dialogue with the influential theories, methods, assumptions,
and conclusions in each of the fields. At another level the contributions empha-
sise the historical dimensions of interpretation, providing readers with surveys of
the component parts that make up the modern narratives.
Supported by extensive bibliographies, primary materials, and appendices with
extracts from key secondary debates, Interpreting Early Modern Europe provides
a systematic exploration of how historians have shaped the study of the early
modern past. It is essential reading for students of the period.
C.ScottDixonisSeniorLectureratQueen’sUniversityBelfast,UK.Hisprevious
books include Protestants: A History from Wittenberg to Pennsylvania, 1517–1740
(2010), Contesting the Reformation (2012), and The Church in the Early Modern
Age(2016).
Beat Kümin is Professor of Early Modern European History at the University of
Warwick,UK.HispublicationsincludeDrinkingMatters(2007),ImperialVillages:
Cultures of Political Freedom in the German Lands c. 1300–1800 (2019) and the
editedcollectionTheEuropeanWorld1500–1800:AnIntroductiontoEarlyModern
History(3rdedn,2018).
Interpreting Early Modern
Europe
Edited by C. Scott Dixon and
Beat Kümin
Firstpublished2020
byRoutledge
2ParkSquare,MiltonPark,Abingdon,OxonOX144RN
andbyRoutledge
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RoutledgeisanimprintoftheTaylor&FrancisGroup,aninformabusiness
©2020selectionandeditorialmatter,C.ScottDixonandBeatKümin;
individualchapters,thecontributors
TherightofC.ScottDixonandBeatKümintobeidentifiedasthe
authorsoftheeditorialmaterial,andoftheauthorsfortheir
individualchapters,hasbeenassertedinaccordancewithsections77
and78oftheCopyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988.
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereprintedor
reproducedorutilisedinanyformorbyanyelectronic,mechanical,
orothermeans,nowknownorhereafterinvented,including
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Trademarknotice:Productorcorporatenamesmaybetrademarksor
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ISBN:978-1-138-79900-4(hbk)
ISBN:978-1-138-79901-1(pbk)
ISBN:978-0-429-32457-4(ebk)
TypesetinGalliard
bySwales&Willis,Exeter,Devon,UK
Contents
Listofillustrations vii
Listofcontributors x
Introduction:InterpretingearlymodernEurope 1
C.SCOTTDIXONANDBEATKÜMIN
1 Medievalandmodern 18
EUANCAMERON
2 Identitiesandencounters 49
CHARLESH.PARKER
3 Genderandsocialstructures 72
MERRYE.WIESNER-HANKS
4 Renaissance 96
EDWARDMUIR
5 Reformations 121
C.SCOTTDIXON
6 Mediaandcommunication 150
MARKGREENGRASS
7 Materialcultures 183
BRUNOBLONDÉANDWOUTERRYCKBOSCH
8 Thestate 215
JAMESB.COLLINS
vi Contents
9 Warandthemilitaryrevolution 244
CHRISTOPHERSTORRS
10 Expansion,space,andpeople 268
DAGMARFREIST
11 Commerceandindustry 298
MAARTENPRAK
12 Scienceandreason 329
JOHNHENRY
13 Popularculturesandwitchcraft 356
KATHRYNA.EDWARDS
14 Politicalthought 388
NOAHDAUBER
15 Enlightenmentstruggles 417
DORINDAOUTRAM
16 FrenchRevolution 443
PAULHANSON
17 Turnsandperspectives 471
BEATKÜMIN
Index 491
Illustrations
The authors and editors would like to thank the copyright holders of illustra-
tions featured in this book. Every effort has been made to contact copyright
holders and to obtain necessary permissions. Please advise the publisher of any
errors or omissions, and these will be corrected in subsequent editions.
Figures
1.1 Fourteenth-centurycarvingoftheNineWorthiesinthetownhall
ofCologne.PicturebyElkeWetzig(Elya)–Ownwork,CCBY-SA
3.0:https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?
curid=1159570 26
3.1 JudithLeyster,Self-Portrait(c.1630).CourtesyoftheNational
GalleryofArt,Washington,DC 75
3.2 UrsGraf,‘TwoMercenariesandaWoman’(1524),woodcut.
CourtesyoftheNationalGalleryofArt,Washington,DC 81
4.1 BenvenutoCellini,SaltCellar(1540–1543).Kunsthistorisches
Museum,Vienna,Austria/BridgemanImages 102
4.2 LeonBattistaAlberti,FaçadeofSantaMariaNovella,Florence,
Italy(c.1458–70).Photo©RaffaelloBencini/BridgemanImages 107
5.1 ProcessioninPiazzaSanMarco,byGentileBellini,1496,Galleria
dell’Accademia,Venice,Italy,Europe.PeterBarritt/AlamyStock
Photo 135
6.1 DistributionofJesuitEstablishmentsinEurope,takenfromMark
Greengrass,TheEuropeanReformationc.1500–1618(London:
Longman,1998),196.Courtesyoftheauthor 155
6.2 GeographicalSpreadofErasmus’CorrespondentsinthePeriod
1517–1524,takenfromRobertMandrou,Deshumanistesaux
hommesdescience:XVIeetXVIIesiècles(Paris:ÉditionsduSeuil,
1973),cartes(unpaginated).Reproducedwithpermission 158
6.3 Insideaprintshop.WoodblockillustrationfromHieronymus
Hornschuch,Orthotypographia(Leipzig1634),p.x.Sächsische
Landesbibliothek–Staats-undUniversitätsbibliothekDresden;
http://digital.slub-dresden.de/id273679848/10 164
viii Illustrations
6.4 BookproductioninEurope,datareworkedfromEltjoBuringhand
JanLuitenvanZanden,‘Chartingthe“RiseoftheWest”:
ManuscriptsandPrintedBooksinEurope,ALong-Term
PerspectivefromtheSixththroughEighteenthCenturies,’Journal
ofEconomicHistory69(2/2009)417and421 167
6.5 ‘FinchhisAlphabet,orAGodlydirectionfittobeperusedofeach
trueChristian’(c.1635),cataloguedintheEnglishBroadsheet
BalladArchives(EBBA):ID36321.©TheSocietyofAntiquariesof
London,BroadsidesCabLibg;reproducedbykindpermissionof
theSocietyofAntiquariesofLondon 170
6.6 OttavioCodogno’sschemeofEuropeanpostalroutes(1608).
TakenfromSchobesbergeretal.,‘EuropeanPostalNetworks’,in
JoadRaymondandNoahMoxham(eds),NewsNetworksinEarly
ModernEurope(Leiden:Brill,2016),30.Reproducedwiththe
editors’permission 172
7.1 Trencherandbowl,paintedbyNicoladaUrbino(1533–38).
©VictoriaandAlbertMuseum,London 189
7.2 Jean-EtienneLiotard,DutchGirlatBreakfast(c.1756).
©RijksmuseumAmsterdam 191
8.1 JanMatejko,AdoptionofthePolish-LithuanianConstitutionof
May3,1791(oiloncanvas,1891)TheRoyalCastleinWarsaw–
Museum,inv.no.ZKW/1105,phot.AndrzejRing,Lech
Sandzewicz.Reproducedwithpermission 218
8.2 ‘Brazilianball’(FrenchSchool,pen&inkandw/conpaper,16th
century) 223
9.1 ViewofGibraltar,takenbyanofficerofAdmiralSirGeorge
Rooke’sfleeton21July1704(OS):https://commons.wikimedia.
org/wiki/File:Gibraltar_1704.jpg.Publicdomain/PD-US 255
9.2 Contemporaryetchingoftroopdispositionatthebeginningofthe
BattleofBreitenfeldfromOlufHanson,‘PraeliiinterSereniss:
Suecor:RegemetSaxoniaeElectorem:necnonCatholicaeLigae
GeneralemCom:aIlty,VIISeptemb:anniMDCXXXIprope
Lipsiamcomissi’(1631).Prints,DrawingsandWatercolorsfromthe
AnneS.K.BrownMilitaryCollection.BrownUniversityLibrary 261
10.1 HandwrittenspreadsheettakenfromComptegeneraldeLatraitte
DesCaptifsDuVaipeau[sic]Labraham[GeneralAccountofthe
tradeofcaptives(slaves)oftheshipL’Abraham,1743].TNA,HCA
32/97/1.CrownCopyrightcourtesyofTheNational
Archives,UK 270
10.2 Sail-clothpostbagwithunopenedletterscarriedontheship
ZenobiasailingfromBordeauxtoNewYorkandtakenin1812by
Britishprivateers.TNA,HCA32/1769/854.CrownCopyright
courtesyofTheNationalArchives,UK 286
10.3 InventoryoftheNegroesandStockonMesopotamiaEstatetaken
on11September1756beforeJamesDunnandJohnRickets,
Illustrations ix
Esq.TNA,HCA30/259.CrownCopyrightcourtesyofThe
NationalArchives,UK 288
12.1 Skeletonfromafourteenth-centuryLatinmanuscript.Credit:
WellcomeCollection.CCBY 346
12.2 FourthSchemeoftheMuscles,fromAndreasVesalius(1555),
Dehumanicorporisfabrica[Onthestructureofthehumanbody],
Basel:JohannesOporinus.Credit:WellcomeCollection.CCBY 347
13.1 Themostwonderfullandtruestorie,ofacertaineWitchnamedAlse
GooderidgeofStapenHill,whowasarraignedandconuictedat
DarbieattheAβisesthere(1597).LambethPalaceLibrary,London,
UK/BridgemanImages 372
14.1 FrontispiecetoThomasHobbes,Leviathan(1651).Private
Collection/BridgemanImages 406
16.1 Jacques-LouisDavid,TheTennisCourtOath(1789).Carnavalet
Museum,France.CourtesyofAlamyImages 453
16.2 BeforeandAftertheNightof4August1789:PeasantCarrying
NobilityandClergy.ScienceHistoryImages/AlamyStockPhoto 456
16.3 BeforeandAftertheNightof4August1789:NobilityandClergy
carryingaPeasant.CollectionPJ/AlamyStockPhoto 457
17.1 JanSteen,CelebratingtheBirth(oiloncanvas,87.7x107cm,
1664).©TheWallaceCollection,London.Reproducedwith
permission 476
17.2 AlbrechtDürer,ChristusinderVorhölle(woodcut39x28cm,
c.1510).ThüringerLandesmuseumHeidecksburg,Graphische
Sammlung,Gr24/65.Reproducedwithpermission 478
Tables
8.1 ExcerptofthreesampleparishesinthedistrictofVézelay
(January1696).Source:SébastienLePrestre[MarshalVauban],
‘GeographicdescriptionofthefiscaldistrictofVézelay’
(DeBoislisle1881,846–47) 231
11.1a SectoralsharesinGDPandlabour-forceinEnglandandBritain
(from1700),1522–1801 308
11.1b SectoralsharesinGDPandlabour-forceinHolland(1510)and
theNetherlands(1807) 309
11.2 GDP/capitainEurope,1500–1800(in1990dollars) 309
11.3 EstimatedoutputofwroughtironinEurope(in1,000tonnes) 316
