Early Modern German Research Articles

Early Modern German Literature 1350-1700. Edited by Max Reinhart. Rochester, NY: Camden House, 2007. 784 pages. $110.00.

Early Modern German Literature 1350-1700. Edited by Max Reinhart. Rochester, NY: Camden House, 2007. 784 pages. $110.00.

Christine R. Johnson . The German Discovery of the World: Renaissance Encounters with the Strange and Marvelous.(Studies in Early Modern German History.)Charlottesville : University of Virginia Press . 2008 . Pp. x, 304. $45.00.

Christine R. Johnson . The German Discovery of the World: Renaissance Encounters with the Strange and Marvelous.<i>(Studies in Early Modern German History.)</i>Charlottesville : University of Virginia Press . 2008 . Pp. x, 304. $45.00.

Witchcraft and the Papacy: An Account Drawing on the Formerly Secret Records of the Roman Inquisition. By Rainer Decker. Translated by H. C. Erik Midelfort. Studies in Early Modern German History. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2008. xv + 262 pp. $45.00.

Witchcraft and the Papacy: An Account Drawing on the Formerly Secret Records of the Roman Inquisition. By Rainer Decker. Translated by H. C. Erik Midelfort. Studies in Early Modern German History. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2008. xv + 262 pp. $45.00. - Volume 78 Issue 4

Reformation and the German territorial state: Upper Franconia, 1300-1630

Religious reform and the rise of the territorial state were the central features of early modern German history. Reformation and state-building, however, had a much longer history, beginning in the later Middle Ages and continuing through the early modern period. In this insightful new study, Smith explores the key relationship between the rise of the territorial state and religious upheavals of the age, centering his investigation on the diocese of Bamberg in upper Franconia. During the Reformation, the diocese was split in half: the parishes in the domains of the Franconian Hohenzollerns became Lutheran; those under the secular jurisdiction of the bishops of Bamberg remained Catholic. Drawing from a broad range of archival sources, Smith offers a compelling look at the origins and course of Catholic and Protestant reform.He examines the major religious crises of the period - the Great Schism, the Conciliar Movement, the Hussite War, the Peasant's War, the Thirty Years' War, and the Witch Craze - comparing their impact on the two states and showing how events played out on the local, territorial, and imperial stages. Careful analysis of the sources reveals how religious beliefs shaped politics in the emerging territorial principalities, explaining both the similarities as well as the profound differences between Lutheran and Catholic conceptions of the state. William Bradford Smith is professor of history at Oglethorpe University.

Seventh Workshop on Early Modern German History: German Historical Institute, London, 24 October 2008

Seventh Workshop on Early Modern German History: German Historical Institute, London, 24 October 2008

Anne Breitbarth, Live fast, die young. The short life of the Early Modern German auxiliary ellipsis

Anne Breitbarth, Live fast, die young. The short life of the Early Modern German auxiliary ellipsis

The Political Aspects of the German Witch Hunts

This essay examines how the complex political structure of the early modern German empire influenced witch hunting. Various legal jurisdictions and juridical structures could either promote or prevent rampant witch hunts from developing. Above all, the fractured political state of the empire allowed for opportunities for witch hunting to arise.

Urban Witch Trials

This essay compares witchcraft beliefs and witch-hunting structures in urban areas of the early modern German empire and rural areas. It concludes that, although urban witch hunts certainly did occur, overall witchcraft and the persecution of witches was a predominantly rural phenomenon.

Early Modern German Literature 1350-1700 by Max Reinhart

226 Reviews Wachinger)of thesixteen-volume Repertorium derSangspriiche und Meisterlieder, justoverhalftheessaysinthe collection discusslyric genres andother musicological themes: inadditiontotopics already mentioned,there arecontributions onLuther's hymns, the melodyofepicstrophes, andmusical instruments in Wittenwiler's Ring. A localor regional connectionrunsthrough eightessays which arevariously de votedto Konradvon Wurzburg, WalthervonderVogelweide, andHans Sachs,and totheimage ofFranconiain medievalGerman literature. TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE MARK CHINCA Early ModernGerman Literature 1350-1700.Ed. by MAXREINHART. (The Camden HouseHistoryofGermanLiterature, 4)Rochester, NY:CamdenHouse. 2007. liii+1094 pp. $i1o; ?6o. ISBN 978-1-57113-247-5. Thisground-breaking contribution tolate medievalandearly modernGermanstu dies isthefirst volume-length literary history of thisrich period.It manages at the sametimetofunction as anaccessibleintroduction for students, aswell aspointing the way tofuture research byhighlighting previously neglected areasofscholarship andproviding detailed bibliographical references. Thevolumeischaracterized byits important interdisciplinary approachtoliterary studies andby its detailedattention to thecoexistence ofLatinandvernacularliterary culturein thisperiod.Refresh ingly, theforms which thevolumeconsidersrangefromthetraditional genres drama,poetry, prose-to thethose whichweremore oftenoverlooked by earlier scholarship, suchasdemonologies, theemblem,translations, and travel reports. Early ModernGerman Literature starts withthe BlackDeath and,as Max Reinhart explains inhis introduction, it is therefore able to examine thecoexistenceof late medieval and humanistic forms at the beginning of the period as well as taking into account the transition frommanuscript culture to that of printing with movable type. The volumeplaces early modern literature (in thebroadestsense of the word) in its historical context, showing how texts had meaning 'within specific discursiveframeworks' (p.xvii) in theearly modernperiodand focusing on their communicative function at thattime. Reinhart highlights nationalism and confessionalism as twoof thepowerful drivingforces of theperiod.The volume also tracestheriseofbourgeoisintellectual culture, through thegrowth of cities, chanceries, anduniversities, while reminding us of itsimportant relationship with aristocratic circles onwhich itoften dependedfor employment. Thevolumeisdividedintofive sections('Transitions', 'Formations', 'Forms', 'Re presentations', 'Lives'). The first section providesa framework for what istocome, with thought-provoking reflections byKlausGarberandHans-GertRoloff on the natureofearly modern scholarship. Garberprovidesan incisive analysis ofearlier generations' approachestothis period, whileRoloff emphasizesthe wealthofearly modern texts whichhavenotyetbeenproperly understood orevenproperly edited. Roloff calls for literary history to be 'orientated towards human values' (p. 31) that is, to explore texts as responses to particular existential problems at a given MLR, 104.1, 2009 227 time. GraemeDunphy focuses on 'Literary Transitions' at thestart of theperiod, analysingthechanging natureof courtly culturein thelate medievalperiod,as well as theimportance ofmonasticismand theriseof thecities, whose literary forms included the Stadtchronik. RenateBorn'schapter endsthissection, providing a succinct account of the emergence of a single standardized German as a literary language whichemphasizesthecoexistence during muchofthe periodof 'Common German' inBavaria and Austria and theEastern Central German which was adopted byProtestant printers andwriters. The secondsection('Formations') beginswith awide-ranging chapter by Wil helm Kiihlmann on education, encompassing humanist approaches and thecultural patriotism of theseventeenth century, which saw a shifttowards Germanbeing used as thelanguage of theclassroom.Joachim Knape's excellent chapter'Poetics andRhetoricsinEarly ModernGermany'providesa clearand readable accountof theclassicalorigins ofpoeticsand texts on rhetoric, regarding bothas closelylinked theories ofcommunication. Knape also examinesconversational andbehavioural rhetorics, whichdealt with ritualized behaviourincourtor insociety. The section 'Formations' alsocontains severalimportant contributions on thesixteenth century. Stephan Fiisselexaminesthe origins andspread ofprinting and WilhelmKiihlmann analysestheliterature writteninneo-Latinfrom thelatefifteenth totheearly eigh teenth century in Germany, muchofwhichwas readbyintellectuals across Europe. Humanists'rediscovery ofancient playwrights suchas PlautusandTerenceled to the foundation of amodern dramatic tradition inLatin, such as the comedy Julius redivivus (1585)byFrischlin; eroticlovepoetry waswritten, modelledonCatullus; neo-Latinpanegyric poetryandotheroccasionalpoetry was alsowrittenthrough out this periodandexisted alongside German-language writingfor sometime after Opitz'spoeticreforms. Neo-Latinwas ofcoursealsoan important language forsci entific writing. Kiihlmannalsoanalysesthe European-wide tradition ofLatinJesuit drama, which had an important influence, forexample, on the tragedies ofAndreas Gryphius. ErikaRummel'scontribution onhumanists as translators andeditors also engages with neo-Latin literature, as well as examining theReuchlin affairand hu manistbiblicalscholarship, suchasErasmus's Greek-Latin New Testament of1516. One of the great strengths of thisvolume is that it showcases themost recent re search on each of the subject areas. C. Scott Dixon's chapter on theReformation is a case inpoint. Dixon highlights theimportance ofthe University of Wittenberginthe origins of the Reformation movementand showshow initsearlystages Lutherand hiscolleaguesregarded the new theology as 'ourtheology', the product ofcollabora tive work inthefaculty. The chapter emphasizesthe heterogeneity of the Reforma tion movementand showshow itfragmented as itspreadbeyond Wittenbergor Zurich. Dixon alsoexaminesthe political dynamic ofthe Reformation, showing the close linkbetweenthe Reformation and thesystems ofgovernancein townsand cities. Parts iII ('Forms')and iv ('Representations...

Space, Gender, and Honor in Village Taverns

Taverns and inns were important public spaces in early modern German villages. Carefully regulated by the state, public houses served a wide local clientele, including women. Taverns were, however, problematic spaces for women, and their presence there usually led to questions about their honor. Men’s honor was also challenged in taverns, which were vital centers of village communication, gossip, and local politics. Taverns were locations for local conflict, but also for reconciliation and negotiation.

Randolph C. Head and Daniel Christensen, eds. Orthodoxies and Heterodoxies in Early Modern German Culture: Order and Creativity, 1550–1750. Studies in Central European Histories 42. Leiden: Brill, 2007. xiv + 284 pp. + 8 color pls. index. illus. $129. ISBN: 978–90–04–16276–1.

Randolph C. Head and Daniel Christensen, eds. Orthodoxies and Heterodoxies in Early Modern German Culture: Order and Creativity, 1550–1750. Studies in Central European Histories 42. Leiden: Brill, 2007. xiv + 284 pp. + 8 color pls. index. illus. $129. ISBN: 978–90–04–16276–1.

Jewish and Christian Elites in Frankfurt: Power and Control in an Early Modern German City

Two crucial events took place in the history of Frankfurt Jewry in the early seventeenth century. The first was the Fettmilch Uprising, a rebellion of the guilds, directed against the patrician government, which also led to a temporary expulsion of the Jews. The second was an internal revolt inside the Judengasse in the years following the return of the Jews. It was directed against the Jewish elders who governed the Jewry in nearly the same absolutist manner as the city council ruled the city at large. Both movements, aiming for political participation, Med because they provoked the intervention of superior powers, the emperor and the city council. Both were interested in maintaining public order and the status quo.

Jewish Identity in Early Modern Germany: Memory, Power and Community (review)

Jewish Identity in Modern Germany: Memory, Power and Community, by Dean Phillip Bell. Aldershot: Ashgate Press, 2007. 188 pp. $100.00 It may be unusual to begin a review with a quote from the book's conclusion, but when the work is about memory, as Dean Bell's new book, Jewish Identity in Modern Germany: Memory, Power and Community, is, seems appropriate to start at the end and look backwards. Bell concludes this thoughtful meditation on Jewish history and memory with the following: Early modern German Jews thought about and distinguished the past in more complex ways than historians have been willing to believe. They chose from remnants of the past, deciding which customs, rules, and community structures were relevant or obsolete. They engaged the past in their efforts to explain the present and to improve themselves (p. 153). One of the pleasures of Bell's work is that he has in a concise and persuasive way demonstrated precisely what he claims. From the first chapter to the last, this book is a well otganized, clearly articulated analysis of the historiography and history of Jewish identity and memory in early modern Germany. This is no small task. In his first chaptet, Bell reviews the historiography of memory and its relationship to the telling of histoty in general, and more specifically, in the context of early modern Jewish identity. Dealing with a much contested subject that has led to heated debates regarding the best way to differentiate between memory and history, Bell ably negotiates the various arguments, beginning with a careful analysis of Maurice Halbwach's now classic study, The Collective Memory. As Bell notes, Halbwach's pioneering concepts have raised questions as well as the ire of some scholars who prefer less rigid oppositions (p. 1). Wisely, there is no attempt here to synthesize the various schools of thought, and in chapter two Bell even locates Jewish memory and history within these schools in order to analyze how chroniclers, writers of memorybooks, diarists, and biographers conceptualized and created their Jewish identity as they engaged with the past, the argument being that these narrators had increasingly sophisticated ideas about history and its many uses vis-a-vis power, authority, community, and collective memory. Along the way, Bell notes, it should be clear that early modern German Jewry was multidimensional and complex; was hardly monolithic, static, or purely religious (p. …

Book Review: German Studies Early Modern German Literature 1350—1700. (The Camden House History of German Literature, vol. 4.) Edited by Max Reinhart. Rochester, NY: Camden House, 2007. Pp. 784. £60.00

Book Review: German Studies Early Modern German Literature 1350—1700. (The Camden House History of German Literature, vol. 4.) Edited by Max Reinhart. Rochester, NY: Camden House, 2007. Pp. 784. £60.00

Early modern German literature, 1350-1700

Early Modern German Literature provides an overview of major literary figures and works, socio-historical contexts, philosophical backgrounds, and cultural trends during the 350 years between the first flowering of northern humanism around 1350 and the rise of a distinctly middle-class, anti-classical aesthetics around 1700. Recent scholarship has significantly revised many traditional assumptions about the of this period, starting with a reassessment of the canon. The notion of literature has expanded to include a much wider range of texts than before, such as broadsheets, illustrated books, emblem books, travelogues, demonological treatises, and letters.Greater attention to the cultural and social phenomena that affect literary production has led to hitherto neglected areas of research, including the culture of learning and learnedness; the idea of authorship; the relationship between the intellectual elite and the state and other political authorities and institutions; the development of the family; gender dichotomy; and, the early formation of an educated, urban middle class. In an introduction and twenty-seven essays on specific but broadly-based topics of seminal importance to the period, written by leading specialists from North America, the United Kingdom, and Germany, this pathbreaking volume reflects this state-of-the-art research.Contributors include: Klaus Garber, Graeme Dunphy, Renate Born, Stephan Fussel, Scott Dixon, Wilhelm Kuhlmann, Max Reinhart, Joachim Knape, Hans-Gert Roloff, Erika Rummel, John Alexander, Peter Hess, Andreas Solbach, Peter Daly, Helen Watanabe-O'kelly, Jill Bepler, Gerhart Hoffmeister, Steven Saunders, Jeffrey Chipps Smith, Wolfgang Neuber, Gerhild Scholz Williams, Anna Carrdus, John L. Flood, Laurel Carrington, Theodor Verweyen, and John Roger Paas. Max Reinhart is professor of German at the University of Georgia.

The Little Ice Age and the Jews: Environmental History and the Mercurial Nature of Jewish– Christian Relations in Early Modern Germany

Scholars have frequently portrayed early modern German Jewish history as underresearched and fragmentary, with an underdeveloped pool of historical sources. Even the very productive historian Stefan Rohrbacher, for example, has rued that “[t]he early modern period numbers among the till now very little researched epochs in the history of the Jews in Germany. It has recently received increased attention from historians, however, this interest is distributed very unevenly in the various areas and aspects of Jewish life.”

Sibling Conflict within Early Modern German Noble Families

In late medieval and early modern Germany, it was legal and acceptable for heads of noble households to imprison female family members as a method of punishment or coercion. Although few fathers took advantage of this strategy, brothers who succeeded their fathers as heads of households proved far less reluctant to incarcerate their sisters when the women challenged their authority. This practice of gendered coercion often led to politically destructive, divisive, and emotionally charged conflicts among siblings. This article examines the conflicts between noble brothers and their sisters, and explores why women refused to obey their brothers and what the consequences of their rebellion were. As Shakespeare has reminded us, the emotional discord between aristocratic brothers often altered a family's political fortunes. This article suggests that the same was true for the relationship between noblewomen and the brothers who tried to control them.

Burghers or town council: who was responsible for urban stability in early modern German towns?

Burghers or town council: who was responsible for urban stability in early modern German towns?

Becoming an Expert Practitioner

This essay proposes that the well-documented interest in empirical and experimental practice at the early modern German courts was not limited to male practitioners. Just as princes evinced an interest in practical alchemy, mathematics, and astronomy, a large number of gentlewomen became expert medical practitioners. Using a case study of one noblewoman, Electress Anna of Saxony, I would like to expand the notion of "prince-practitioning" to a more general and inclusive "court experimentalism." Like the prince-practitioners, Anna engaged in a laborious attempt to learn the hands-on techniques involved in becoming an expert; she collaborated with both noblewomen and noblemen in her efforts; and she semantically linked her medicine to the alchemical skills (Künste) practiced by her husband, Elector August. Although court experimentalism cannot be equated with experimentation in the modern sense, medicine is one area in which women actively shared in the early modern fascination with empirical knowledge.

Bettina Wahrig and Werner Sohn (eds), Zwischen Aufklärung, Policey und Verwaltung, zur Genese des Medizinalwesens (1750–1850), Wolfenbütteler Forschungen, Band 102, Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz Verlag, 2003, pp. 212, €59.00 (hardback 3-447-04822-0).

Bettina Wahrig and Werner Sohn (eds), Zwischen Aufklärung, Policey und Verwaltung, zur Genese des Medizinalwesens (1750–1850), Wolfenbütteler Forschungen, Band 102, Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz Verlag, 2003, pp. 212, €59.00 (hardback 3-447-04822-0). - Volume 51 Issue 1