Modern Europe Research Articles

Imaging Authority, Authorship and Mortality in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe

Imaging Authority, Authorship and Mortality in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe

Averting Miscarriage in Early Modern Europe

Averting Miscarriage in Early Modern Europe

Foregn language training of specialists in higher educational institutions of Ukraine and the republic of Poland in the context of theEuropean language policy: experience and prospects

The article deals with the problem of foreign language training of specialists in higher educational institutions of Ukraine and the Republic of Poland in the context of the European language policy. The aim of the study is to determine the features of specialists’ foreign language training in the higher education system of Ukraine and the Republic of Poland in the context of the European language policy and to analyze the main provisions of the All-European recommendations on language education regarding the level of foreign language proficiency and criteria for assessing the knowledge and skills of students in Ukraine and Poland. The author underlines that foreign language training of specialists of any profile in modern Europe directly relates to the guiding principles of language policy of the European Union, concentrates around basic life competencies of the individual, needs and challenges caused by the globalization of the modern world, including linguistic issues, the provisions of the Bologna Declaration on the construction of a single European educational space. The study of modern trends in foreign language education in universities of Ukraine and Poland shows the interest of the institutions of the Council of Europe and the European Union in the state of problems of foreign language education and support for its solution. It has been substantiated that the European Union has determined the main criteria and indicators of foreign language training of specialists, and has determined the language proficiency requirements for Ukrainian and Polish graduates universities.

Of Coffee Cups and Beer Glasses: Material Drinking Culture and Colonial Beverages in Rural Northwest Germany, 1600–1800

abstract: This article explores the spread of material drinking culture of colonial and domestic beverages in rural regions in early modern northwest Germany. The rapid diffusion of colonial beverages in early modern Europe is well established in literature on consumption and material culture. But historians have yet to adequately answer questions concerning the way these beverages influenced material culture in intermediate regions, which were neither centers of (global) trade networks nor at their periphery. This article argues that while rural, intermediate areas lagged behind the development of centers, they also produced new forms of material drinking culture distinct from cities.

Kafka’s Scottish Translators: Willa and Edwin Muir between Anglophone and Central European Modernism

Kafka’s Scottish Translators: Willa and Edwin Muir between Anglophone and Central European Modernism

(New) Histories of Science, in and beyond Modern Europe: Introduction

(New) Histories of Science, in and beyond Modern Europe: Introduction

Redefining the treponemal history through pre-Columbian genomes from Brazil

The origins of treponemal diseases have long remained unknown, especially considering the sudden onset of the first syphilis epidemic in the late 15th century in Europe and its hypothesized arrival from the Americas with Columbus’ expeditions1,2. Recently, ancient DNA evidence has revealed various treponemal infections circulating in early modern Europe and colonial-era Mexico3–6. However, there has been to our knowledge no genomic evidence of treponematosis recovered from either the Americas or the Old World that can be reliably dated to the time before the first trans-Atlantic contacts. Here, we present treponemal genomes from nearly 2,000-year-old human remains from Brazil. We reconstruct four ancient genomes of a prehistoric treponemal pathogen, most closely related to the bejel-causing agent Treponema pallidum endemicum. Contradicting the modern day geographical niche of bejel in the arid regions of the world, the results call into question the previous palaeopathological characterization of treponeme subspecies and showcase their adaptive potential. A high-coverage genome is used to improve molecular clock date estimations, placing the divergence of modern T. pallidum subspecies firmly in pre-Columbian times. Overall, our study demonstrates the opportunities within archaeogenetics to uncover key events in pathogen evolution and emergence, paving the way to new hypotheses on the origin and spread of treponematoses.

The Symbiosis of Language(s), Literature, and the Medical Humanities

This Special Collection focuses on the ‘pathological body’ in literature, from the socio-cultural anxieties around the human body to the sick body’s relationship with language(s) and translation. The six articles—from Italian, German, Spanish, French literatures—explore posthuman female body-subjectivity; catalepsy as a framework to reorient traditional gender narratives; the violence of maintaining a socially acceptable subjecthood; the body as language in creating identity; the emotional-psychological coupled with the environment; and translation as an epistemic category. The concept of the ‘pathological body’ arose from the professionalisation of European medicine from the mid-1800s, and literary texts and medical theories travelled across national boundaries in a mutually reinforcing interconnection that globally positioned bourgeois masculinity at the top of a medical-humanistic hierarchy. This Introduction calls for the collaboration of European Modern Languages scholars to begin undoing the consequent harmful models. Understanding that medical paradigms are formed through credible stories, the first section highlights literature as an activist (Thornber, 2013) and ethical site of knowledge that can deconstruct an apparently immutable medical narrative. Section II gives an historical overview of the rise of clinical medicine and its creation of the idealised man and woman, and examines the repercussions of not fulfilling these normative categories. Section III discusses the overlap of nineteenth-century scientific and literary texts, and the danger of translating ‘sickly’ texts. Section IV notes the signal importance of language and considers how non-normative and racialised identities can ‘write back’ against medical paradigms. Banner image: Max Simon Nordau, Entartung, Vol. 2, p. 401. 1893 edition. Berlin: C. Duncker. Image taken from Google Books.

The Maker of Pedigrees: Jakob Wilhelm Imhoff and the Meanings of Genealogy in Early Modern Europe. Markus Friedrich

The Maker of Pedigrees: Jakob Wilhelm Imhoff and the Meanings of Genealogy in Early Modern Europe. Markus Friedrich

Spiritual Rebirth in Three 19th-Century European Classics Compared to Transpersonal Experiences in Zeno’s Conscience: A Psychosynthetic Analysis of Zeno’s Conscience

In the first article of the two interconnected articles, titled "Out-of-time experiences in four iconic 20th-century European modernist novels including Zeno's Conscience" (Tóth-Izsó, 2023b) the examination of Kairos experiences transpired through the lens of a psychosynthetic framework. In this second article the most important transpersonal experiences of the characters of Brothers Karamazov, Les Miserables, and A Christmas Carol are briefly presented and interpreted from a psychosynthetic view, by using appropriate quotes. The spiritual experiences presented in this paper clearly show religious aspects and thus can be interpreted as mystical experiences that constitute a broad category of the more inclusive transpersonal experiences. These two share similar characteristics to a certain extent, but also differ in many aspects as we will see in the comparison presented. In the Conclusion, transpersonal experiences of Zeno—identified in the first article— are compared with similar experiences of the characters of the three selected classics. This comparison revealed, that while in the case of Zeno —the only sporadic—transpersonal events were hidden deeply in the text and had no lasting effect on the life of Zeno, in the cases of the three analysed classics these events were markedly conspicuous and had radical life-changing effects on the concerned characters' life.

Historical Association, creator. Early Modern Europe collection

Historical Association, creator. Early Modern Europe collection

Metalinguistic Strategies in Early Modern Language Controversies

All over early modern Europe, philologists and grammarians expressed patriotic pride in their native vernaculars and traced impressive derivations from prestigious ancient languages. While Hebrew generally held pride of place, claims of the greatest antiquity and prestige were also made for the Celtic and Germanic languages, and elaborate theories constructed to justify them. In all of this, rhetorical strategies were employed: heavily loaded language was used when writing about languages themselves, to weaponise them as instruments of national prestige and sneer at inferior rivals. After discussing the sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century theorists, this article focuses on the claims made for the unique, unchangeable superiority of French, before concluding with an extended consideration of the work of Gilles Ménage, the most distinguished linguistic scholar of the age, who is unique in eschewing such emotive terms.

Weeping for Parents (ku qin)

The psychology of Lou Tseng-Tsiang (1871–1949) – the famous Chinese diplomat and Beiyang Government politician who became a Benedictine monk in Belgium in 1927 – is not always easy to grasp. This article focuses on the family mausoleum and its garden that Lou built in 1920 for his parents in Beijing, opposite the Catholic cemetery of Zhalan. Not only a remnant of the material culture of the Christianised elite during the early Republic, it is also the most tangible expression of the Confucian principle of filial piety that guided Lou throughout his life. The chapel has an explicit Catholic orientation and is European in style, but contains several dozen epitaphs by then high-ranking politicians, both revealing Lou’s networks and expressing his status at a key time in his life. This in-depth study is based on archival research, fieldwork and Lou’s writings, from a multidisciplinary and transcultural perspective that includes history, religion, architecture and literature. Despite its poor state of conservation and urbanised environment, the mausoleum sums up Lou’s destiny and legacy, at the crossroads of traditional Chinese culture and European modernity, Empire and Republic, Confucian moral thought and universal Catholic faith.

A case study for best suitable methods of monitoring demographic structure in cervid populations to predict increasing forest damages

The overall increase of ungulate populations in modern Europe has contributed to conflicts in national economies, particularly between game management and the forestry sector. This study assessed damage risks to young pine (Pinus sylvestris L.), spruce (Picea abies (L.) H. Karst.) and aspen (Populus tremula L.) stands at two spatial scales. One level assessed the interaction between sex-age structure of cervid populations, measured by pellet group density, and forest damages, measured as the percentage of heavily browsed trees in 2040 stand surveys distributed proportionally throughout the country. The second level compared pellet counts and trail-camera-based records of moose (Alces alces L.) and red deer (Cervus elaphus L.) presence in a pilot study area. We examined whether 1) there is a correlation between damage amount and ungulate population structure and 2) are the data from trail cameras suitable for wider use in monitoring ungulate population structure. The study confirmed significantly higher moose pellet group densities in pine than in spruce and aspen stands. Pine damages were greater in stands with higher moose pellet group density, especially with female moose prevailing over male moose density index. The red deer pellet group densities were significantly higher in heavily damaged pine and spruce stands, regardless of sex-age structure. In most cases, there were no statistically significant differences between the two survey methods of ungulate population structure by using pellet count transects and trail camera fixations. Both methods provide comparable data on sex-age structure in moose and red deer populations if seasonal and habitat-predicted biases are considered. However, trail cameras are more widely applicable and easier to use by hunters than pellet counts.

ПОВЕДЕНИЕ ПОТРЕБИТЕЛЕЙ 2020-2023: ВЫЗОВЫ И ВОЗМОЖНОСТИ

The article provides a comprehensive literature review on the topic of consumer behavior, covering both the fields of economic theory and marketing. Key concepts that remain relevant cur-rently are characterized by the author. Descriptive analytics are presented in the article to analyze the behavioral features of modern American, European, Russian, and Belarusian consumers. Relevant behavioral reasons and factors are outlined for 2020-2023. The peculiarities of behavior during COVID-19 and in the post-pandemic period are given particular attention. The article is based on research conducted by Adobe, Econsultancy, Gartner, Mckinsey, Data Insight, Better, Business Re-search Insights, eMarketer, Satio, Tiburon Research. The article presents the results of a survey of specialists from Belarusian companies conducted with the participation of the author based on the results of their work in 2022-2023, who noted the desire of their clients to save money, switch to cheaper analogues of products or services, and refuse to purchase. According to the respondents, customers also begun to place increased demands on products and services, move to online chan-nels, and engage in more active dialogue with companies on social networks. A small portion of clients demonstrated a desire for conscious consumption. The following measures were noted as response by Belarusian companies: strengthening SMM strategies and tactics, using data marketing, increasing the effectiveness of multichannel video and engagement marketing. The article also pays attention to describing key trends in the behavior of Russian consumers - the desire to save money, switching to local brands, going online. The identified changes and patterns have made it possible to establish several promising areas of marketing based on digitalization and customer experience management.

LEGAL CHANGE AND THE ROLE OF THE SCHOLAR: SCRATCHING BENEATH THE SURFACE OF COMPARATIVE TAXONOMIES

Both the classical theory of legal families and its more modern articulations place East European jurisdictions in the same box because they give precedence to their common socialist experience. Not only do they serve as distorting mirrors propelling stereotypes, but also they close off promising avenues of comparative research because of the politically tainted pre-understanding(s) of legal systems which they impose. This article argues that legal change is frequently facilitated by small groups of individuals who are often scholars. By paying closer attention to their role and incentives as well as the networks to which they belonged, we may see traditional categories realign and gain a more in-depth understanding of the patterns of legal change – namely, the intricate ways in which law evolves – and uncover little-known but important relationships between legal systems which comparative taxonomies either ignore or fail to explain. The article illustrates its argument by zooming in on the role of three scholars – Lyuben Dikov, Filippo Vassalli, and Karl Llewellyn – who may hold the key to explaining interesting, but unexpected similarities between Bulgarian, Italian, and US law.

Angelo 1563. City of the Council. A Public History Project in Sixteenth-Century Trento

This article describes the walking tours realized for the app Hidden Trento within the project Public Renaissance: Urban Cultures of Public Space between Early Modern Europe and the Present (PURE, 2019-2022). The app, free of charge and available at www.hiddencities.eu, offers four different urban walks through the lesser-known places of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Trento. One of these is set in December 1563 during the final days of the Council of Trent and is narrated by Angelo Massarelli, bishop and secretary of the assembly. The storyboard and thematic insights are based on what Massarelli wrote in his Diari during his almost 20-year stay in Trento. In addition to personal comments on the political situation and the work of the Council, this source offers much information on the city's social and cultural life. Through the app tour, Angelo provides the main elements of the Council's institutional and doctrinal history while drawing the user's attention to aspects of everyday urban life, such as street fighting and public order, hospitality and supplies, public factions, festivals, the production and selling of press prints and the repression of unorthodox religious ideals. The paper discusses the realization of this digital itinerary, presenting its methods of dissemination, highlighting its educational and didactic applications, and describing its uses in a museum context.

Channeling Erasmus in Communist Poland: Leszek Kołakowski, Vatican II, and the Reinvention of "Counter-Reformation".

Polish intellectual historian Leszek Kołakowski proposed in the 1960s an innovative, now virtually forgotten, reimagining of a crucial concept in the history of Roman Catholicism: the idea of "Counter-Reformation." Kołakowski's lifelong affinity for early modern Europe's Catholic dissidents led him into dialogue in the era of Vatican II with Tadeusz Mazowiecki, the leader of a movement of young Polish reformers who styled themselves "Catholic socialists." Seeing them as the bedrock of a new Catholic Counter-Reformation, Kołakowski sketched the role he hoped Poland might play in reinventing not only Catholicism, but religious life in the modern world.

Образ женщины в эпоху Реформации: эволюция взглядов

The paper addresses gender aspect of the history and culture of the Reformation era, highlighting new as well as traditional accents in the perceiving and comprehending the image of woman in countries of protestant culture. The author touches upon understudied issue of evolution in viewing of women and women`s self-perception during one of the key eras for the establishing of the modern Europe. The chosen problematics deserves closer attention in a number of concerns — in terms of history, culture studies and theology — and is noteworthy for a close and subtle interaction between Reformation and women as its important actors. Just as the Reformation affected the condition and comprehension of the woman`s image, women influenced the very course of historic events of this period and its ideological content. Against the backdrop of numerous names of prominent reformers, much more represented in academic studies, we see the clear necessity of a research to detect active female participants of the Reforms and to shed light on their activities to fully appreciate women as actual reformeresses and their contribution into reinvention of the women`s status in society and private life. The author carries out analysis of the women`s position from different social strata and their functions in the field of politics, labor, family life, religious and creative activity and comes to the conclusions about their status amelioration in one cases and about new challenges they had to be dealing with. To this end the paper looks at the estimations reformers gave to the women`s role, which is important for determining certain characteristic features of Reformation — retrograde alongside progressive ones.

From Site to Space

Abstract: This article studies the factors involved in transforming raw resources such as firewood and clay into fine ceramics suitable for global circulation, in early modern Europe and China. It challenges the idea that a single site should be seen as a key to understanding that transformation. Visual depictions of the production of ceramics provide insight into this understanding of ceramics production processes associated with a single site of manufacture. Instead, this article uses the concept of the chaîne opératoire to cast the net far beyond the individual production site. It suggests that we must connect the production processes amassed in one site with the identification, extraction, transport, and delivery of natural resources from many others. Drawing on examples from Delft and Jingdezhen, it suggests that the manufacturing transformation processes began in far-flung but connected locations and were only completed at the manufacturing site.