Early Modern State Research Articles

The Politics of societas and the Early Modern State

The Politics of <i>societas</i> and the Early Modern State

The Spatial Model of the Ukrainian Early Modern State in the Beliefs of the Cossack Elite and the Ruling Elites of Muscovy

The Spatial Model of the Ukrainian Early Modern State in the Beliefs of the Cossack Elite and the Ruling Elites of Muscovy

Postmistresses and the state, 1660–1715

ABSTRACT Women’s place in the post-Restoration Post Office has been overlooked in the existing literature on the mail, 1660–1715. Historians and historical geographers have explored the bureaucratic and administrative history of the Post; the expansion of postal routes; and the importance of change in the postal network to the delivery of letters. There has, however, been no social history of the post. This article reveals the positions occupied by women within the early modern post but focuses principally on postmistresses in the period 1660–1715. It explains why women, particularly widows, were considered suitable for the office. The article defines the role of postmaster and explains the behaviour required of officeholders, combining hospitality, logistics, administration, and the provision of intelligence. The functions and legitimation of postmasters developed considerably from the mid-seventeenth century alongside similar offices within the early modern state. As important cogs in an increasingly complex machine of communication and administration, postmistresses were part of the process of state formation, and their work legitimised the state in the provinces. This article argues for the first time that postmistresses were a significant, and yet unnoticed, presence in the early modern British state at a key stage of its development.

“Free Passage” for the “King's True Liegemen”: The Meaning of Free Trade in a Corporate Age, 1555–1624

Abstract Scholars of late have come to reevaluate and appreciate the achievements of merchant companies that fostered commercial networks and established new global trade routes. This research would seem to lend support to historians who have characterized early seventeenth-century calls for “free trade” as mere sloganeering driven by provincial merchants suspicious of the London-dominated corporations. This article challenges this view and argues that free trade ideas had deep roots in early modern political culture. It traces the origins of these ideas to protests in the sixteenth century and shows how a broad coalition of interests drew upon ideas of property rights and the ancient constitution to challenge the new companies. So compelling were free trade arguments that they became a commonplace in the economic debates of an emerging public sphere. A reconsideration of the free trade campaign that is attentive to interactions and negotiations between the Privy Council, Parliament, and the public highlights the ability of the early modern state before the 1630s to readjust the political economy of the commonwealth.

National security and information in the early modern state: the case of Ukraine

The system of information support of the authorities of the Ukrainian early modern state, as well as implementing internal and external policies, contributed to protecting Ukrainian lands from external aggression and the expansion of Ukrainian interests in the world. The main purpose of the study is to analyze this statement. The methodological basis of the research is a comprehensive analysis of archival sources and historiography, which is based on the main principles of historicism and scientific objectivity. The scientific novelty of this publication is to prove the hypothesis that thoughtful information activity in its various segments was an important component of the policy of the Ukrainian early-modern state and contributed to protecting its lands and interests from foreign encroachments. Conclusions. Information activity was an important component of the security activities of the Ukrainian Cossacks and a means of implementing power policy. The principles and approaches developed in working with information will help reveal the secrets of the Cossacks' information skills and will contribute to the deepening of interest in the study and revival of Cossack traditions, which is necessary both for filling research gaps and for training specialists in the field.

The Witch and the Devil in the Well: Women and Magic in Venetian Politics

Abstract: In early modern Venice, men and women regularly visited wells and remote islands to summon the Devil. This practice, rooted in traditions established in the Middle Ages, continued into the eighteenth century. One popular form of this tradition involved witches opening up a portal to Hell in the deserted wells of the city. Witnesses to these conjurations testified that they could smell sulfur, see hellfire and smoke, and hear the groaning of the damned when the witches performed their magical rites. The Devil himself appeared to talk to the witch who summoned him, usually to give her advice on elections to the Great Council or the location of hidden treasures. Using trials from the Venetian Inquisition, this essay examines women's involvement in the political life of the city, maintaining that through their expertise in magic and knowledge of rumor, they played a larger role in the early modern state and knew more of its secrets than we have credited them with having.

Africa’s Contribution to the Discourse on Environment, Renewable Energy and Sustainable Development

Renewable energy and sustainability are vital for the development of Africa. Social welfare and economic growth are contingent on meeting the consumption needs and production targets using modern, sustainable energy sources. This is particularly crucial to Africans, given that the continent is home to the least developed countries globally, and the population with access to electricity is less than half. Colonialism has undoubtedly impacted and shaped our energy and, consequently, environmental transitions by allowing the traumatic exploitation of natural habitats and plundering of minerals, all at the service of the formation of their early modern states and the growth of capitalism. This status has been greased and maintained using neo-colonial and imperial tools such as the illusion of ‘free trade’, structural adjustment programs and crippling debt. All these are aimed at staging a stagnation of economic development that translates to underdeveloped industries and inefficient energy production levels. The domino effect of this is also seen in the current environmental crisis, which is essentially the biological destruction of wildlife and marine life while posing grave dangers to the continuation of African civilisation. This article explores the impact of imperialism and traces of neo-colonialism on the energy sector in Africa and how Africa can push for renewable energy by building its own industries and utilising abundant resources to chart a path towards sustainability. It dives into the depths of already established renewable energy programs that the states ought to accelerate to enable them to reach wider populations, as well as the mutually beneficial relationship we have between renewable energy and the environment.

Midwives’ oaths: everyday life and the law in seventeenth-century England

AbstractThis article explores historical and legal approaches to past society, asking what each has to offer the other. Using early modern midwives’ oaths as a case study, it examines the extent to which the law shapes everyday life and society, and vice versa allowing us to situate early modern midwives at the intersection of a number of important and competing seventeenth-century institutions including state, church, society, and profession. We argue that a historico-legal approach to the practices of seventeenth-century midwives demands a reconsideration of the historiography of medical ethics and of the professions more broadly. It situates midwives as holders of formal office, and agents of the emergent early modern state and encourages reflection on the nature of ethical practice, and professional regulation within their social, cultural, and political context.

Lay Theologians as Experts in the Early Modern Period

In the Early Modern period, many professions, including theology, did not yet have systems to validate expertise. Some laypeople were able to acquire deep theological knowledge or have more impact than church-ordained theologians. The Reformation promoted the idea of a »Priesthood of Believers,« but it remained little developed, since clergy continued to administer sacraments. Lay activity surged in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries under the influence of spiritualists, who believed that all things are connected by the Divine, and thus, that people do not need clergy to access God. Christian theosophers saw nature as divine revelation, and their study of the natural world also began to undermine traditional theology. Since through confessionalization, state and church power were deeply intertwined, the state tried to enforce adherence to confession. The attempts of the early modern state to define who could act as a theologian have left traces in modern historiography.

Analysing The Diverse Perspectives On Balance Of Power

The concept of the Balance of Power has long been a significant factor in the realm of international politics. This article examines the evolution of power dynamics across time, starting with its inception in the early modern European state system and extending to its expansion on the global scale. The study delves further into the intricate dynamics of power equilibrium by examining the impact of various perspectives on its implementation and perception. The Peace of Westphalia, which was created in 1648 after the end of the Thirty Years' War, introduced a framework whereby governments aimed to prevent the dominance of a single power and maintain peace via the formation of alliances and the division of power. This event served as the foundational ground for the concept of the balance of power in historical context. The notion, which was originally centred in Europe, ultimately evolved into a fundamental principle of international law. The article also investigates several perspectives on power dynamics, with a specific emphasis on the realism paradigm that prioritizes state-centred evaluations of power and self-interest. The examination also includes an analysis of the liberal perspective, which prioritizes international institutions and collaborative endeavors aimed at maintaining stability. Furthermore, it engages with the constructivist paradigm, which emphasizes the significance of ideas, identities, and norms in shaping international power dynamics and conduct.

Demographic Regulation and the State: Centering Gender in Our Understanding of Political Order in Early Modern European States

The literature on early modern state-building in Europe has focused on war as its main driver and therefore on states’ relationships with men. Feminist scholars have critiqued the Weberian conceptions this literature relies on as being gender biased. I suggest an alternative theoretical starting point for theories of early modern state-building: the political imperatives created by the demographic fluctuations of the Malthusian trap. Harnessing Foucault’s concept of biopower and its application to the construction of gender, I argue that population fluctuations incentivized demographic regulation, in particular of childbearing, in order to keep birth rates high and maternal and infant mortality low, implying that early modern European states were constituted through the construction and maintenance of gender regimes. I propose strategies for empirical investigation and argue that a more accurate account of early modern European state-building needs to incorporate demographic regulation and therefore requires gender to be at its center.

Ferdinandovo zřízení zemské? Porovnání českých zemských zřízení z let 1500 a 1549

This paper focuses on the comparison of two crucial legal codes of the Bohemian land law of the first half of the 16th century, i.e., Land Constitution of Vladislav enacted in the year 1500 (in Czech Vladislavské zřízení zemské) and Land Constitution of 1549. The aim is to answer the question whether it is possible to perceive Land Constitution of 1549 in the same way as it is understood by the majority of the current historiography, meaning whether Land Constitution of 1549 is only redaction of Land Constitution of Vladislav. The paper shall concentrate on the issue if there is a reason to reconsider the general view on this matter. It may be established that these legal codes are relatively independent works due to their dissimilarities as they differ significantly in their origin, authors, historical context, central ideas, and structure. In general, the distribution of power is a key aspect of forming the law, which applies not only to the early modern period, and this idea is reflected in the structure and content of both these codifications. The paper focuses on the comparison of the various aspects of Land Constitution of Vladislav and Land Constitution of 1549. The core of the comparison is analysis of a number of key articles about, e.g., the relationship between the monarch and the estates, the distribution of power in the state, the functioning of the basic institutions of the early modern state, and of selected areas of private and public law.

Introduction: sacralisation in early modern Europe

ABSTRACT Did early modern European states make themselves sacred? The historian Paolo Prodi insisted that they did, whereas for the philosopher Giorgio Agamben sacred and secular power were so indistinguishable that the question was moot. This group of articles seeks to explain and explore the approaches of these two accomplished Italian scholars to the problem of early modern sacralisation. This introduction reviews the context in which Prodi and Agamben worked, sketches brief biographies, and describes the arguments that they advanced which are most relevant to early modern history. Their work emerged from the debate on secularisation in the German-speaking lands, the confessionalisation thesis as it was advanced by German historians of Reformation, Counter-Reformation, and Catholic Reform, and twentieth-century Catholic thought about the relationship between religion and totalitarian states. Both Prodi and Agamben belonged to traditions that sat at an angle to the liberalism that underpins historical and philosophical thought in the English-speaking world.

Jem Sultan and Venice’s intelligence system: sorting and deploying information in Venice’s ‘letterocracy’

ABSTRACTLike other early modern European states, Venice ruled by correspondence. The letters to and from officials preserved in Venetian and regional archives reflect the structure of the composite state. Just as Venetian rule layered centralized control onto areas of local autonomy, local archives contain series of documents created by governors and captains over centuries of Venetian rule and archived locally, as well as documentation produced by local elites. In Venice itself, letters about daily governance and sensitive intelligence passed through an interlocking system that was designed to manage correspondence about spies and supply chain problems through the same central institutions. This article uses the Council of Ten’s involvement in the dramatic circumstances of the Ottoman Jem Sultan’s rebellion, escape and time as a hostage in the West to examine the particularities of how the Ten gained power through their control of correspondence. Juxtaposing the Ten’s use of sensitive and timely information in a single case with the daily machinery for sending, receiving and archiving correspondence in Venice and in regional archives allows us to understand the internal dynamics of a particular ‘letterocracy’ and how one government council uses information to place itself at the centre of a republican polity.

Robert Harley as Secretary of State and his Intelligence Work: 1702–1708

AbstractThis article seeks to reassess Robert Harley's role as Secretary of State (1704–10) and especially his work in the intelligence and espionage fields of his day. It examines not only his reputation in such affairs but his skills and techniques in early eighteenth‐century espionage, and also his failures. It sets out the important administrative background of Harley's espionage work, and how he handled and processed secret material through his secretarial office. It also explores the cases of some of his secret agents, especially that of the notorious William Greg, who was later exposed as an agent of the French government and cost Harley not only his reputation for astuteness, but his post as Secretary of State. Above all, however, Harley's secretaryship of state shows how by the early eighteenth‐century, espionage had become an essential part of the routine of the early modern state.

“A Bank of Trust”: Legal Practices of Ottoman Finance Between Empires

Abstract How agreements were maintained and enforced beyond state-backed systems is among the least understood aspects of Ottoman legal history. This article reveals how merchants’ engagement with Ottoman state finance intertwined private and state-backed legal practices through a letter-book written entirely in Ottoman Turkish belonging to a seventeenth-century English merchant, Peter Whitcomb, who provided financial services to Ottoman officials across the empire. As a rare example of surviving early modern mercantile correspondence in Ottoman Turkish, Whitcomb’s letters to distant officials expose Ottoman financial epistolary culture and a wide range of alternative methods of dispute resolution. By combining these letters with court records, this article shows how Ottoman finance’s layers of devolved authority themselves relied on a range of legal practices that encompassed a language of reciprocity and reputation, established Ottoman documentary forms, intercessions on an individual’s behalf, appeals to elites, petitions to the grand vizier, and appearances in Ottoman sharīʿa courts. The capacity of Ottoman state finance to incorporate a foreigner like Whitcomb into its fiscal apparatus through this breadth of legal practices further suggests that we should revisit domestic narratives of competitive early modern state formation to include inter-imperial actors.

Inventing the Grand Duchy of Finland in the 1580s: early modern state formation or medieval patterns of expressing the power

ABSTRACT In 1581 King John III of Sweden added Grand Duke of Finland to his royal title. Traditionally, this has been seen as marking the Swedish army”s victories in the Swedish-Russian war, as challenging the power and rule of Grand Duke of Muscovy Ivan IV or explained in the context of early modern state formation. This article seeks to understand the logic of taking the title of grand duke as a continuum of medieval patterns of thought about princely power and rule. Ruling lands, vassals, and people were still very much connected with the ruler’s person and princely and dynastic powers understood in the medieval way. Princely titles played a crucial role in this game of – sometimes even overlapping – powers.

Three theories of separation: Kelsen, Schmitt and Pashukanis and the historical development of the legal form

This article examines the different approaches to the relation between law, state and economy in the works of Hans Kelsen, Carl Schmitt and Evgeny Pashukanis. It begins with Kelsen’s depiction of law as a dynamic and ‘self-regulating’ system of norms, founded on his rejection of ‘dualist’ separations of state and law, before turning to Schmitt and Pashukanis’s respective critiques. For all their differences, both agree Kelsen ignores the historical basis of the law – for Schmitt, the sovereign power of ‘the political’, for Pashukanis, the social relations of commodity exchange. The article responds to these criticisms in a most un-Kelsenian manner, drawing upon historical sociological literature on early modern state formation to cast doubt on both Schmitt and Pashukanis’s historical accounts. It argues that the forms of political power and commodity exchange upon which Schmitt and Pashukanis’s theories rely were historically specific possibilities opened up by the same process of generalisation and depersonalisation of power relations that allowed for an autonomous ‘public’ system of legal norms. Thus, rather than the fixed causal ground for the development of modern law, ‘the political’ and exchange between equals exist in a relation of ‘difference-in-unity’ with the law. The article concludes that Kelsen’s notion of the Grundnorm is best explained as an attempt to capture the new possibilities and responsibilities opened up a normative system whose ultimate justification now lies only within itself.

Sowing Wheat and Other Merits: The First "Black Conquistador" of the Mexican Field

Through a close reading of the rhetoric, structure, and context of the Probanza de méritos of Juan Garrido (1538), this article repositions an African-born servant who made himself indispensable to the Mexican Conquest(s). I argue that Garrido developed a hybrid identity that allowed him to live not on the fringe of the Ibero-Atlantic world, but rather as an imperial agent operating at the heart of the expanding empire. Tracing how probanzas deploy rhetoric to engage in individual and collective negotiations with the Crown, demonstrating the bridge from a feudal society to an early modern state, I explore how Garrido may have understood the impact of "race" in his petition and thus reconsider blackness itself in the context of sixteenth-century colonial Mexico. Ultimately, I recast how we understand experiences of Afrodescendants in the conquest of the Americas, and how their own relationship with royal authorities reveals their agency.

Predigen über Herrschaft: Ordnungsmuster des Politischen in lutherischen Predigten Thüringens/Sachsens im 16. Und 17. Jahrhundert by Luise Schorn-Schütte

Reviewed by: Predigen über Herrschaft: Ordnungsmuster des Politischen in lutherischen Predigten Thüringens/Sachsens im 16. Und 17. Jahrhundert by Luise Schorn-Schütte Mary Jane Haemig Predigen über Herrschaft: Ordnungsmuster des Politischen in lutherischen Predigten Thüringens/Sachsens im 16. Und 17. Jahrhundert. By Luise Schorn-Schütte. Gothaer Forschungen zur Frühen Neuzeit 17. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2021. 95 pp. This brief work examines over 200 sermons (both printed and handwritten) preached between roughly 1550 and 1650 in Saxony and Thuringia. It investigates their statements about ruling authorities and political matters. The first chapter looks briefly at sermons as a means of political-theological communication in the early modern era. The second chapter examines the context, including the geographic region, the social and geographic origin of the preachers as well as their educational and vocational history, the audiences for sermons, and the publication and spread of sermons. The third chapter focuses on the content of the sermons. It examines how the teaching on three estates (church, government, and household) provided a [End Page 96] basis for thinking about society, questions of loyalty and obedience, admonition and criticism, and the meaning of the "Fatherland." The last chapter offers a two-page summation of results. This work is part of a larger scholarly discussion concerning the rise of the early modern state. It examines the concepts and language preachers used to describe the role and tasks of ruling authorities. Both explicit and implicit comparisons are drawn to the concepts and language of jurists. The study finds that, for the preachers, the concept of the three estates was constitutive. Division of power placed limits on ruling authorities. The claim, arising in the middle of the seventeenth century, that ruling authority should be concentrated in the secular territorial rulers, was largely without theological legitimation. The study further finds that the sermons maintained the right to criticize the authorities, even extending to the right of resistance. It also touches upon the concepts of natural law and conscience that influenced both theologians and jurists. Mary Jane Haemig Luther Seminary Saint Paul, Minnesota Copyright © 2023 Johns Hopkins University Press and Lutheran Quarterly, Inc.