David Parrott
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199608638
- eISBN:
- 9780191731754
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199608638.003.0007
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
The Thirty Years War, one of the most destructive episodes in European history, devastated central Europe in general and Germany in particular. Waged between 1618 and 1648, it was a series of ...
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The Thirty Years War, one of the most destructive episodes in European history, devastated central Europe in general and Germany in particular. Waged between 1618 and 1648, it was a series of conflicts that merged together rather than a single war. David Parrott argues that the Thirty Years War reflected different, albeit interconnected, sets of aims and security concerns: the struggle over the political form of the Holy Roman Empire, focused upon the reach and influence of the Austrian Habsburg monarchy; the conflict between the Spanish Habsburg monarchy and the breakaway United Provinces; and the hostility between the French monarchy and the Habsburg Imperial system. Other concerns, especially mounting religious tensions, gravitated around these political issues, leading to the successive involvement of additional states. While some warring parties periodically sought compromise within the framework of the Holy Roman Empire, military victories led to political opportunism that prolonged the war.Less
The Thirty Years War, one of the most destructive episodes in European history, devastated central Europe in general and Germany in particular. Waged between 1618 and 1648, it was a series of conflicts that merged together rather than a single war. David Parrott argues that the Thirty Years War reflected different, albeit interconnected, sets of aims and security concerns: the struggle over the political form of the Holy Roman Empire, focused upon the reach and influence of the Austrian Habsburg monarchy; the conflict between the Spanish Habsburg monarchy and the breakaway United Provinces; and the hostility between the French monarchy and the Habsburg Imperial system. Other concerns, especially mounting religious tensions, gravitated around these political issues, leading to the successive involvement of additional states. While some warring parties periodically sought compromise within the framework of the Holy Roman Empire, military victories led to political opportunism that prolonged the war.
Joachim Whaley
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199693078
- eISBN:
- 9780191732256
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199693078.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History
The work offers a new interpretation of the development of German-speaking central Europe and the Holy Roman Empire or German Reich from the great reforms of 1495-1500 to its dissolution in 1806 ...
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The work offers a new interpretation of the development of German-speaking central Europe and the Holy Roman Empire or German Reich from the great reforms of 1495-1500 to its dissolution in 1806 after the turmoil of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. This is traditionally regarded as a long period of decline, but this work shows how imperial institutions developed in response to the crises of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, notably the Reformation and Thirty Years War, and assesses the impact of international developments on the Reich. Central themes are the tension between Habsburg aspirations to create a German monarchy and the desire of the German princes and cities to maintain their traditional rights and how the Reich developed the functions of a state during this period. The work also illuminates the development of the German territories subordinate to the Reich. It explores the implications of the Reformation and subsequent religious reform movements – both Protestant and Catholic – and the Enlightenment, for the government of both secular and ecclesiastical principalities, the minor territories of counts and knights, and the cities. The Reich and the territories formed a coherent and workable system and, as a polity, the Reich developed its own distinctive political culture and traditions of German patriotism over the early modern period.Less
The work offers a new interpretation of the development of German-speaking central Europe and the Holy Roman Empire or German Reich from the great reforms of 1495-1500 to its dissolution in 1806 after the turmoil of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. This is traditionally regarded as a long period of decline, but this work shows how imperial institutions developed in response to the crises of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, notably the Reformation and Thirty Years War, and assesses the impact of international developments on the Reich. Central themes are the tension between Habsburg aspirations to create a German monarchy and the desire of the German princes and cities to maintain their traditional rights and how the Reich developed the functions of a state during this period. The work also illuminates the development of the German territories subordinate to the Reich. It explores the implications of the Reformation and subsequent religious reform movements – both Protestant and Catholic – and the Enlightenment, for the government of both secular and ecclesiastical principalities, the minor territories of counts and knights, and the cities. The Reich and the territories formed a coherent and workable system and, as a polity, the Reich developed its own distinctive political culture and traditions of German patriotism over the early modern period.
Joachim Whaley
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198731016
- eISBN:
- 9780191730870
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198731016.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History
The work offers a new interpretation of the development of German‐speaking central Europe and the Holy Roman Empire or German Reich from the great reforms of 1495–1500 to its dissolution in 1806 ...
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The work offers a new interpretation of the development of German‐speaking central Europe and the Holy Roman Empire or German Reich from the great reforms of 1495–1500 to its dissolution in 1806 after the turmoil of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. This is traditionally regarded as a long period of decline, but this work shows how imperial institutions developed in response to the crises of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, notably the Reformation and Thirty Years War, and assesses the impact of international developments on the Reich. Central themes are the tension between Habsburg aspirations to create a German monarchy and the desire of the German princes and cities to maintain their traditional rights and how the Reich developed the functions of a state during this period. The work also illuminates the development of the German territories subordinate to the Reich. It explores the implications of the Reformation and subsequent religious reform movements — both Protestant and Catholic — and the Enlightenment, for the government of both secular and ecclesiastical principalities, the minor territories of counts and knights, and the cities. The Reich and the territories formed a coherent and workable system and, as a polity, the Reich developed its own distinctive political culture and traditions of German patriotism over the early modern period.Less
The work offers a new interpretation of the development of German‐speaking central Europe and the Holy Roman Empire or German Reich from the great reforms of 1495–1500 to its dissolution in 1806 after the turmoil of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. This is traditionally regarded as a long period of decline, but this work shows how imperial institutions developed in response to the crises of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, notably the Reformation and Thirty Years War, and assesses the impact of international developments on the Reich. Central themes are the tension between Habsburg aspirations to create a German monarchy and the desire of the German princes and cities to maintain their traditional rights and how the Reich developed the functions of a state during this period. The work also illuminates the development of the German territories subordinate to the Reich. It explores the implications of the Reformation and subsequent religious reform movements — both Protestant and Catholic — and the Enlightenment, for the government of both secular and ecclesiastical principalities, the minor territories of counts and knights, and the cities. The Reich and the territories formed a coherent and workable system and, as a polity, the Reich developed its own distinctive political culture and traditions of German patriotism over the early modern period.
David Sorkin
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780691164946
- eISBN:
- 9780691189673
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691164946.003.0004
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Jewish Studies
This chapter details how the Jews of the Holy Roman Empire constituted the central European region of emancipation. Some historians would contend that the Holy Roman Empire's “archaic, traditionalist ...
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This chapter details how the Jews of the Holy Roman Empire constituted the central European region of emancipation. Some historians would contend that the Holy Roman Empire's “archaic, traditionalist constitution created a society that tolerated religious and ethnic differences to a far greater degree than the more centralized states of Western Europe”; in other words, “early modern central Europe was a pluralistic, complex society more tolerant of differences than England, France or Spain.” Whether this observation is accurate or not, it concerns toleration, not parity. Jews in the Holy Roman Empire fell behind Jews to the east and west in their political status. They gained neither collective corporate privileges nor the civic rights of emerging civil societies. To be sure, their juridical equality in the courts of the Holy Roman Empire marked a significant elevation in status. The Court Jews' extensive individual privileges were also an elevation in status, yet only for a miniscule elite. In sum, Jews in the Holy Roman Empire did not keep pace with their brethren east and west, thus making the transition to emancipation, when it came, a painful rupture.Less
This chapter details how the Jews of the Holy Roman Empire constituted the central European region of emancipation. Some historians would contend that the Holy Roman Empire's “archaic, traditionalist constitution created a society that tolerated religious and ethnic differences to a far greater degree than the more centralized states of Western Europe”; in other words, “early modern central Europe was a pluralistic, complex society more tolerant of differences than England, France or Spain.” Whether this observation is accurate or not, it concerns toleration, not parity. Jews in the Holy Roman Empire fell behind Jews to the east and west in their political status. They gained neither collective corporate privileges nor the civic rights of emerging civil societies. To be sure, their juridical equality in the courts of the Holy Roman Empire marked a significant elevation in status. The Court Jews' extensive individual privileges were also an elevation in status, yet only for a miniscule elite. In sum, Jews in the Holy Roman Empire did not keep pace with their brethren east and west, thus making the transition to emancipation, when it came, a painful rupture.
T. C. W. BLANNING
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198227458
- eISBN:
- 9780191678707
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198227458.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History, Cultural History
This chapter begins by giving an introduction to the influence of French culture in Germany. It then discusses the rise of the Habsburg monarchy and its culture in the Holy Roman Empire. Next, it ...
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This chapter begins by giving an introduction to the influence of French culture in Germany. It then discusses the rise of the Habsburg monarchy and its culture in the Holy Roman Empire. Next, it notes that the monarchy’s rise was determined in large measure by politics. The nobles of the Württemberg cultural complex acknowledged only the Holy Roman Emperor as their sovereign, were not subject to the Duke of Württemberg, and were not represented in the duchy’s Estates. This chapter notes that for the great majority in Germany, the main currency of imperial competition was cultural achievement. So the representational display expressed in palaces, academies, opera houses, hunting establishments, and the like was not pure self-indulgence, nor was it deception; it was a constitutive element of power itself. The chapter also examines the lives of other well-known figures in Germany and how they influenced their country.Less
This chapter begins by giving an introduction to the influence of French culture in Germany. It then discusses the rise of the Habsburg monarchy and its culture in the Holy Roman Empire. Next, it notes that the monarchy’s rise was determined in large measure by politics. The nobles of the Württemberg cultural complex acknowledged only the Holy Roman Emperor as their sovereign, were not subject to the Duke of Württemberg, and were not represented in the duchy’s Estates. This chapter notes that for the great majority in Germany, the main currency of imperial competition was cultural achievement. So the representational display expressed in palaces, academies, opera houses, hunting establishments, and the like was not pure self-indulgence, nor was it deception; it was a constitutive element of power itself. The chapter also examines the lives of other well-known figures in Germany and how they influenced their country.
Stuart Elden
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780226202563
- eISBN:
- 9780226041285
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226041285.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, History of Ideas
This chapter looks at the establishment of the Carolingian Empire. It begins with a discussion of the Donation of Constantine: which claimed to be a text from the fourth century, was forged in the ...
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This chapter looks at the establishment of the Carolingian Empire. It begins with a discussion of the Donation of Constantine: which claimed to be a text from the fourth century, was forged in the late eighth century, and finally exposed as such in the fifteenth century by Nicholas of Cusa and Lorenzo Valla. The chapter then moves to a discussion of the crowning of Charlemagne, and the practices of political ritual and naming that accompanied it. A range of works are analysed to show what precisely was being established: a new Roman Empire, a political form of Christendom, or more simply a Frankish kingdom. The position of Europe, particularly in relation to the rise of Islam, is discussed. The chapter moves to a discussion of cartography from Rome to the Medieval period. Cartography is a key political practice that both represents and produces political space. Jerusalem is often centrally located on maps of this time, providing a context in which to understand the crusades undertaken to recapture it. The chapter ends with a discussion of feudalism, stressing the political-economic importance of property in land and practices that went alongside it.Less
This chapter looks at the establishment of the Carolingian Empire. It begins with a discussion of the Donation of Constantine: which claimed to be a text from the fourth century, was forged in the late eighth century, and finally exposed as such in the fifteenth century by Nicholas of Cusa and Lorenzo Valla. The chapter then moves to a discussion of the crowning of Charlemagne, and the practices of political ritual and naming that accompanied it. A range of works are analysed to show what precisely was being established: a new Roman Empire, a political form of Christendom, or more simply a Frankish kingdom. The position of Europe, particularly in relation to the rise of Islam, is discussed. The chapter moves to a discussion of cartography from Rome to the Medieval period. Cartography is a key political practice that both represents and produces political space. Jerusalem is often centrally located on maps of this time, providing a context in which to understand the crusades undertaken to recapture it. The chapter ends with a discussion of feudalism, stressing the political-economic importance of property in land and practices that went alongside it.
Casper Sylvest
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- July 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780719079092
- eISBN:
- 9781781703151
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719079092.003.0005
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
This chapter investigates the historical language of internationalist ideology as it was displayed in the writings of three prominent liberal historians who informed and augmented liberal ...
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This chapter investigates the historical language of internationalist ideology as it was displayed in the writings of three prominent liberal historians who informed and augmented liberal internationalism: James Bryce, John Morley and Lord Acton. Their different approaches to the emerging discipline and the practice of history reflect the broad appeal of historical representations and its relationship to political debates. The Holy Roman Empire covered the ideas which bolstered that empire, and one of the most fascinating episodes of the story – what Bryce termed the ‘theory of the Medieval Empire’ – now appeared outrageously anachronistic. Morley's Cobden represented the pinnacle of an honest and simple liberalism. The Life of Gladstone is above all the story of the young conservative High Church disciple who became the grand old man of liberalism. Acton's spirit was truly the spirit of a combative internationalism that would have an army of historians on its side.Less
This chapter investigates the historical language of internationalist ideology as it was displayed in the writings of three prominent liberal historians who informed and augmented liberal internationalism: James Bryce, John Morley and Lord Acton. Their different approaches to the emerging discipline and the practice of history reflect the broad appeal of historical representations and its relationship to political debates. The Holy Roman Empire covered the ideas which bolstered that empire, and one of the most fascinating episodes of the story – what Bryce termed the ‘theory of the Medieval Empire’ – now appeared outrageously anachronistic. Morley's Cobden represented the pinnacle of an honest and simple liberalism. The Life of Gladstone is above all the story of the young conservative High Church disciple who became the grand old man of liberalism. Acton's spirit was truly the spirit of a combative internationalism that would have an army of historians on its side.
Luca Scholz
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- March 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780198845676
- eISBN:
- 9780191880797
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198845676.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History, Political History
Early modern authorities attempted to promote, restrict, and channel the movement of goods and people for reasons that ranged from economic considerations to political motives and public health. In ...
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Early modern authorities attempted to promote, restrict, and channel the movement of goods and people for reasons that ranged from economic considerations to political motives and public health. In practice, however, these interferences only had mixed success. In the Holy Roman Empire’s dense landscape of ill-defined, overlapping political entities, the control over moving goods and people was a permanent point of contention. While the Empire’s history has often been written in distinctly diachronic terms, this study approaches the Empire in a spatial perspective and stresses its interest beyond the bounds of German history. Conflicts around the ordering of movement were often framed as matters of safe conduct, a quasi-sovereign right to authorize and protect the movement of various goods and people. While safe conduct always maintained a protective function, at the hands of the Empire’s territorial authorities it became a powerful instrument of political, fiscal, and symbolic power as well as a vehicle for gaining control over important thoroughfares.Less
Early modern authorities attempted to promote, restrict, and channel the movement of goods and people for reasons that ranged from economic considerations to political motives and public health. In practice, however, these interferences only had mixed success. In the Holy Roman Empire’s dense landscape of ill-defined, overlapping political entities, the control over moving goods and people was a permanent point of contention. While the Empire’s history has often been written in distinctly diachronic terms, this study approaches the Empire in a spatial perspective and stresses its interest beyond the bounds of German history. Conflicts around the ordering of movement were often framed as matters of safe conduct, a quasi-sovereign right to authorize and protect the movement of various goods and people. While safe conduct always maintained a protective function, at the hands of the Empire’s territorial authorities it became a powerful instrument of political, fiscal, and symbolic power as well as a vehicle for gaining control over important thoroughfares.
David H. Price
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195394214
- eISBN:
- 9780199894734
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195394214.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
This chapter argues that Johannes Reuchlin's political and scholarly careers are intrinsically connected. It discusses his tenure as minister in Württemberg and the Palatinate, as well as his ...
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This chapter argues that Johannes Reuchlin's political and scholarly careers are intrinsically connected. It discusses his tenure as minister in Württemberg and the Palatinate, as well as his associations with the universities of Tübingen and Heidelberg, and his term on the court of the Swabian League. While it is easy to see the direct advantages of humanist rhetoric, moral philosophy, and history as preparatory courses for careers in government, it is even more important to observe the indirect impact of humanism as it came to inform the culture of European governments in the broadest terms. The chapter depicts the evolution of political life in the Holy Roman Empire (and the Hapsburg dynasty) under the influence of the early Renaissance and describes Reuchlin's career as governmental minister and judge, including his high-level work in arbitration of territorial disputes. Moreover, Reuchlin's literary achievements, especially his creation of humanist drama, grew out of humanist culture at universities and courts.Less
This chapter argues that Johannes Reuchlin's political and scholarly careers are intrinsically connected. It discusses his tenure as minister in Württemberg and the Palatinate, as well as his associations with the universities of Tübingen and Heidelberg, and his term on the court of the Swabian League. While it is easy to see the direct advantages of humanist rhetoric, moral philosophy, and history as preparatory courses for careers in government, it is even more important to observe the indirect impact of humanism as it came to inform the culture of European governments in the broadest terms. The chapter depicts the evolution of political life in the Holy Roman Empire (and the Hapsburg dynasty) under the influence of the early Renaissance and describes Reuchlin's career as governmental minister and judge, including his high-level work in arbitration of territorial disputes. Moreover, Reuchlin's literary achievements, especially his creation of humanist drama, grew out of humanist culture at universities and courts.
Stuart Elden
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780226202563
- eISBN:
- 9780226041285
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226041285.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, History of Ideas
This chapter discusses the importance of Roman law, and in particular its codification under the Byzantine Emperor Justinian, to the question of territory. The main focus is on the two most important ...
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This chapter discusses the importance of Roman law, and in particular its codification under the Byzantine Emperor Justinian, to the question of territory. The main focus is on the two most important post-glossators or commentators: Bartolus of Sassoferrato and Baldus de Ubaldis. They put the law to work in fourteenth century Italian cities, and crucially made the argument that territorium and jurisdiction went together. Crucially territorium becomes not simply a property of a ruler, but the object of rule itself. These are practical arguments - Bartolus’s work on river boundary law, for instance, is a combination of legal argument and practical techniques. The final part of the chapter looks at how this work provided a missing basis for assertions of temporal power: in distinction to the universal aspirations of the papacy, temporal power was geographically determined. Within his kingdom, the king had the same power as the Emperor in the Empire. The legacy of this work is found in the reform of church law of Nicholas of Cusa and in secular legal theorists such as Francisco de Vitoria’s writing on colonisation and Hugo Grotius’s work on the law of the sea and the rights of war and peace.Less
This chapter discusses the importance of Roman law, and in particular its codification under the Byzantine Emperor Justinian, to the question of territory. The main focus is on the two most important post-glossators or commentators: Bartolus of Sassoferrato and Baldus de Ubaldis. They put the law to work in fourteenth century Italian cities, and crucially made the argument that territorium and jurisdiction went together. Crucially territorium becomes not simply a property of a ruler, but the object of rule itself. These are practical arguments - Bartolus’s work on river boundary law, for instance, is a combination of legal argument and practical techniques. The final part of the chapter looks at how this work provided a missing basis for assertions of temporal power: in distinction to the universal aspirations of the papacy, temporal power was geographically determined. Within his kingdom, the king had the same power as the Emperor in the Empire. The legacy of this work is found in the reform of church law of Nicholas of Cusa and in secular legal theorists such as Francisco de Vitoria’s writing on colonisation and Hugo Grotius’s work on the law of the sea and the rights of war and peace.
Arthur B. Gunlicks
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- July 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780719065323
- eISBN:
- 9781781700464
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719065323.003.0002
- Subject:
- Political Science, European Union
Questions about identity have been asked for centuries in Germany, and to some extent are still asked today. Following the French Revolution, the concept of the state was modified to include a ...
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Questions about identity have been asked for centuries in Germany, and to some extent are still asked today. Following the French Revolution, the concept of the state was modified to include a particular kind of state: the nation-state. This meant that it was now the goal of people who identified with one another – whether because of geography, language, religion, history or culture – to form a state which included this distinct group of people, leading to the rise of nationalism, which generally replaced religion as the major focus of common identity. This chapter discusses the origins of the Länder in Germany, focusing on the Holy Roman Empire, the French Revolution and its aftermath, and Germany's transition from the Second Reich to the Third Reich. After World War II, Germany was divided into four zones of occupation, with the supreme commander in each zone – a general from the United States, Britain, France and the Soviet Union – acting as the highest authority.Less
Questions about identity have been asked for centuries in Germany, and to some extent are still asked today. Following the French Revolution, the concept of the state was modified to include a particular kind of state: the nation-state. This meant that it was now the goal of people who identified with one another – whether because of geography, language, religion, history or culture – to form a state which included this distinct group of people, leading to the rise of nationalism, which generally replaced religion as the major focus of common identity. This chapter discusses the origins of the Länder in Germany, focusing on the Holy Roman Empire, the French Revolution and its aftermath, and Germany's transition from the Second Reich to the Third Reich. After World War II, Germany was divided into four zones of occupation, with the supreme commander in each zone – a general from the United States, Britain, France and the Soviet Union – acting as the highest authority.
Tara Nummedal
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226608563
- eISBN:
- 9780226608570
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226608570.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
What distinguished the true alchemist from the fraud? This question animated the lives and labors of the common men—and occasionally women—who made a living as alchemists in the sixteenth- and ...
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What distinguished the true alchemist from the fraud? This question animated the lives and labors of the common men—and occasionally women—who made a living as alchemists in the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Holy Roman Empire. As purveyors of practical techniques, inventions, and cures, these entrepreneurs were prized by princely patrons, who relied upon alchemists to bolster their political fortunes. At the same time, satirists, artists, and other commentators used the figure of the alchemist as a symbol for Europe's social and economic ills. Drawing on criminal trial records, contracts, laboratory inventories, satires, and vernacular alchemical treatises, this book situates the everyday alchemists, largely invisible to modern scholars until now, at the center of the development of early modern science and commerce. Reconstructing the workaday world of entrepreneurial alchemists, the author shows how allegations of fraud shaped their practices and prospects. These debates not only reveal enormously diverse understandings of what the “real” alchemy was and who could practice it; they also connect a set of little-known practitioners to the largest questions about commerce, trust, and intellectual authority in early modern Europe.Less
What distinguished the true alchemist from the fraud? This question animated the lives and labors of the common men—and occasionally women—who made a living as alchemists in the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Holy Roman Empire. As purveyors of practical techniques, inventions, and cures, these entrepreneurs were prized by princely patrons, who relied upon alchemists to bolster their political fortunes. At the same time, satirists, artists, and other commentators used the figure of the alchemist as a symbol for Europe's social and economic ills. Drawing on criminal trial records, contracts, laboratory inventories, satires, and vernacular alchemical treatises, this book situates the everyday alchemists, largely invisible to modern scholars until now, at the center of the development of early modern science and commerce. Reconstructing the workaday world of entrepreneurial alchemists, the author shows how allegations of fraud shaped their practices and prospects. These debates not only reveal enormously diverse understandings of what the “real” alchemy was and who could practice it; they also connect a set of little-known practitioners to the largest questions about commerce, trust, and intellectual authority in early modern Europe.
David A. Weir
- Published in print:
- 1990
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198266907
- eISBN:
- 9780191683107
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198266907.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology, History of Christianity
The origins and development of the early federal theology, with its key identifying feature of a prelapsarian covenant, can be traced to a certain group of theologians of the late 16th century. ...
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The origins and development of the early federal theology, with its key identifying feature of a prelapsarian covenant, can be traced to a certain group of theologians of the late 16th century. Zacharias Ursinus was the first Reformed theologian to propose this idea, and it is logical to examine the view of some of his followers and colleagues to see whether they follow suit. After examining the theological works of Ursinus's colleagues, this chapter affirms that the federal theology has its origins in the Palatinate of the Holy Roman Empire between 1560 and 1590. The chapter gives a brief overview of the political and religious history of the Palatinate, identifies the first generation of federal theologians emanating from Heidelberg, and gives a brief survey of the history of the schools to which these theologians belonged: the Faculty of Theology of the University of Heidelberg, the Casimirianum in Neustadt an der Hardt, and the Herborn Academy.Less
The origins and development of the early federal theology, with its key identifying feature of a prelapsarian covenant, can be traced to a certain group of theologians of the late 16th century. Zacharias Ursinus was the first Reformed theologian to propose this idea, and it is logical to examine the view of some of his followers and colleagues to see whether they follow suit. After examining the theological works of Ursinus's colleagues, this chapter affirms that the federal theology has its origins in the Palatinate of the Holy Roman Empire between 1560 and 1590. The chapter gives a brief overview of the political and religious history of the Palatinate, identifies the first generation of federal theologians emanating from Heidelberg, and gives a brief survey of the history of the schools to which these theologians belonged: the Faculty of Theology of the University of Heidelberg, the Casimirianum in Neustadt an der Hardt, and the Herborn Academy.
Duncan Hardy
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780198827252
- eISBN:
- 9780191866180
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198827252.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, Political History, European Early Modern History
Associations such as alliances and leagues were not merely functional tools. The rhetoric found in treaties and correspondence suggests that some members of associations perceived their participation ...
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Associations such as alliances and leagues were not merely functional tools. The rhetoric found in treaties and correspondence suggests that some members of associations perceived their participation as an activity freighted with political and moral significance. Almost all alliance and league foundation treaties and renewals contain appeals to clusters of ideas, centred on the concepts of divinely ordained peace, the common good of the community, and the Holy Roman Empire (conceptually linked, from the late fifteenth century, to the ‘German nation’). These discourses can only be found in this precise form in one other setting: the imperial diets and Empire-wide correspondence and legislation that they produced. This indicates that members of associations claimed to be involving themselves in the most significant and legitimate spheres of political activity in the Empire, even when their immediate objectives were modest and localized, or the legality of their alliances was challenged by other authorities.Less
Associations such as alliances and leagues were not merely functional tools. The rhetoric found in treaties and correspondence suggests that some members of associations perceived their participation as an activity freighted with political and moral significance. Almost all alliance and league foundation treaties and renewals contain appeals to clusters of ideas, centred on the concepts of divinely ordained peace, the common good of the community, and the Holy Roman Empire (conceptually linked, from the late fifteenth century, to the ‘German nation’). These discourses can only be found in this precise form in one other setting: the imperial diets and Empire-wide correspondence and legislation that they produced. This indicates that members of associations claimed to be involving themselves in the most significant and legitimate spheres of political activity in the Empire, even when their immediate objectives were modest and localized, or the legality of their alliances was challenged by other authorities.
William Ranulf Brock
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780197262788
- eISBN:
- 9780191754210
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197262788.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, Historiography
James Bryce (Viscount Bryce), who was elected President of the British Academy in 1913 and delivered his last presidential address in July 1917, had a distinguished career in letters and public life. ...
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James Bryce (Viscount Bryce), who was elected President of the British Academy in 1913 and delivered his last presidential address in July 1917, had a distinguished career in letters and public life. His essay, ‘Holy Roman Empire’, established his reputation as a historian, and he also qualified as a barrister. In his address to the British Academy, ‘The Next Thirty Years’ (1917), Bryce outlined a strategy for higher education. Article by William Brock FBA.Less
James Bryce (Viscount Bryce), who was elected President of the British Academy in 1913 and delivered his last presidential address in July 1917, had a distinguished career in letters and public life. His essay, ‘Holy Roman Empire’, established his reputation as a historian, and he also qualified as a barrister. In his address to the British Academy, ‘The Next Thirty Years’ (1917), Bryce outlined a strategy for higher education. Article by William Brock FBA.
Duncan Hardy
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780198827252
- eISBN:
- 9780191866180
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198827252.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, Political History, European Early Modern History
Interpretations of the Holy Roman Empire have always been fraught and contested, particularly regarding the late medieval and early modern period. German historians have offered two main ...
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Interpretations of the Holy Roman Empire have always been fraught and contested, particularly regarding the late medieval and early modern period. German historians have offered two main interpretations of the Empire in recent decades. The first sees it as a patchwork of territorial states, and the second as a Reichsverfassung: a constitutional system characterized by disjunctive or oppositional forces. This Introduction sets out how this book will re-conceptualize the Empire as a more coherent political entity, using Upper Germany as a wide-ranging case study. Viewed comparatively, the evidence from the period between 1346 and 1521 suggests that all kinds of political actors shared in the same structures, dynamics, and assumptions—the same ‘political culture’. In particular, elites constantly interacted within the framework of associations such as alliances and leagues, which are the main focus of this book, and force us to view the Empire as a more interconnected political landscape.Less
Interpretations of the Holy Roman Empire have always been fraught and contested, particularly regarding the late medieval and early modern period. German historians have offered two main interpretations of the Empire in recent decades. The first sees it as a patchwork of territorial states, and the second as a Reichsverfassung: a constitutional system characterized by disjunctive or oppositional forces. This Introduction sets out how this book will re-conceptualize the Empire as a more coherent political entity, using Upper Germany as a wide-ranging case study. Viewed comparatively, the evidence from the period between 1346 and 1521 suggests that all kinds of political actors shared in the same structures, dynamics, and assumptions—the same ‘political culture’. In particular, elites constantly interacted within the framework of associations such as alliances and leagues, which are the main focus of this book, and force us to view the Empire as a more interconnected political landscape.
Daniel Lee
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- April 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780198745167
- eISBN:
- 9780191806094
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198745167.003.0008
- Subject:
- Law, Constitutional and Administrative Law, Human Rights and Immigration
This chapter considers the critical reception of Bodin’s theory of sovereignty in early modern German political thought, with special focus on the most important German reply to Bodin’s République, ...
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This chapter considers the critical reception of Bodin’s theory of sovereignty in early modern German political thought, with special focus on the most important German reply to Bodin’s République, the Politica Methodice Digesta of Johannes Althusius. In investigating the Politica, I show that the grounds of Althusius’ principal disagreement with Bodin concerned the latter’s indifferentism on the question of form. For Althusius, sovereignty could only be popular sovereignty, a thesis which he defended with an analysis of the associational, ‘symbiotic’ nature of sovereignty as a collective right activated by a shared communal life. I also stress how much Althusius, despite his populist orientation, nevertheless retained the fundamentals of Bodin’s concept of sovereignty as indivisible. I contrast Althusius’ analysis with later theoretical developments, including the doctrine of double sovereignty, introduced by German Publicist writers such as Arumäeus, Limnaeus, and Besold, as a corrective to Bodin’s analysis of the Empire.Less
This chapter considers the critical reception of Bodin’s theory of sovereignty in early modern German political thought, with special focus on the most important German reply to Bodin’s République, the Politica Methodice Digesta of Johannes Althusius. In investigating the Politica, I show that the grounds of Althusius’ principal disagreement with Bodin concerned the latter’s indifferentism on the question of form. For Althusius, sovereignty could only be popular sovereignty, a thesis which he defended with an analysis of the associational, ‘symbiotic’ nature of sovereignty as a collective right activated by a shared communal life. I also stress how much Althusius, despite his populist orientation, nevertheless retained the fundamentals of Bodin’s concept of sovereignty as indivisible. I contrast Althusius’ analysis with later theoretical developments, including the doctrine of double sovereignty, introduced by German Publicist writers such as Arumäeus, Limnaeus, and Besold, as a corrective to Bodin’s analysis of the Empire.
Howard Jones and Martin H. Jones
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- July 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780199654611
- eISBN:
- 9780191851698
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780199654611.003.0004
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Historical Linguistics, Syntax and Morphology
This chapter describes the context in which the texts chosen for study originated and in which the use of German as a written language developed during the Middle High German period. No prior ...
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This chapter describes the context in which the texts chosen for study originated and in which the use of German as a written language developed during the Middle High German period. No prior knowledge of the period is presupposed; key concepts are explained as they arise. The chapter is divided into three sections. The first explains the formation of the kingdom of Germany and of the Holy Roman Empire and examines the relationship between them. The second section describes the structure and working of German society under the following headings: the church; kingship and the secular nobility (including discussion of knighthood and chivalry); peasants and the rural economy; towns and townspeople. The third section surveys the principal types of texts that provide the basis for the study of Middle High German. The survey covers religious literature, courtly literature, chronicles, legal and administrative texts, and medical and other specialist literature.Less
This chapter describes the context in which the texts chosen for study originated and in which the use of German as a written language developed during the Middle High German period. No prior knowledge of the period is presupposed; key concepts are explained as they arise. The chapter is divided into three sections. The first explains the formation of the kingdom of Germany and of the Holy Roman Empire and examines the relationship between them. The second section describes the structure and working of German society under the following headings: the church; kingship and the secular nobility (including discussion of knighthood and chivalry); peasants and the rural economy; towns and townspeople. The third section surveys the principal types of texts that provide the basis for the study of Middle High German. The survey covers religious literature, courtly literature, chronicles, legal and administrative texts, and medical and other specialist literature.
Cynthia N. Nazarian
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781501705229
- eISBN:
- 9781501708268
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501705229.003.0003
- Subject:
- Literature, 16th-century and Renaissance Literature
This chapter offers a reading of Joachim du Bellay's L'Olive alongside his prose manifesto, La Deffence et illustration de la langue françoyse. L'Olive's martial and technological imagery and its ...
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This chapter offers a reading of Joachim du Bellay's L'Olive alongside his prose manifesto, La Deffence et illustration de la langue françoyse. L'Olive's martial and technological imagery and its references to empire and conquest are highly suggestive of the conflicts between France and the Holy Roman Empire that played out on battlefields in Italy over the first half of the sixteenth century. However, the amplified violence of the period in which Du Bellay's sonnet sequence appeared cannot fully account for its rampant imagery of violence and vulnerability, nor fully express its complex political engagements. This chapter examines how Du Bellay's sonnet sequence utilized abjection to counter figured subjection, thus accomplishing what his manifesto only advocated: through imitation, the countersovereign conquest and appropriation of Italian cultural preeminence and the translation of empire from Rome to France.Less
This chapter offers a reading of Joachim du Bellay's L'Olive alongside his prose manifesto, La Deffence et illustration de la langue françoyse. L'Olive's martial and technological imagery and its references to empire and conquest are highly suggestive of the conflicts between France and the Holy Roman Empire that played out on battlefields in Italy over the first half of the sixteenth century. However, the amplified violence of the period in which Du Bellay's sonnet sequence appeared cannot fully account for its rampant imagery of violence and vulnerability, nor fully express its complex political engagements. This chapter examines how Du Bellay's sonnet sequence utilized abjection to counter figured subjection, thus accomplishing what his manifesto only advocated: through imitation, the countersovereign conquest and appropriation of Italian cultural preeminence and the translation of empire from Rome to France.
Kyle M. Lascurettes
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- April 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780190068547
- eISBN:
- 9780190068585
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190068547.003.0004
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
Chapter 4 (“Order in the Age of Great Power Politics”) assesses the first three cases of order change opportunity. In two of these instances—the Westphalian settlements after the Thirty Years’ War in ...
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Chapter 4 (“Order in the Age of Great Power Politics”) assesses the first three cases of order change opportunity. In two of these instances—the Westphalian settlements after the Thirty Years’ War in 1648 and the peace of Utrecht following the War of the Spanish Succession in 1713—the great power victors of these conflicts seized their opportunity to reshape order, while in one—the end of the Seven Years’ War in 1763—they did not. The chapter demonstrates that the logic of excluding introduced in chapter 3 best explains dominant-actors’ preferences and behaviors in these moments. When these states perceived no major threats on the horizon—in 1763—they were content to focus on the particularities of the recent war and its peace settlement rather than recasting larger order principles. But in the presence of looming threatening forces, the dominant actors of 1648 and 1713 sought larger and more fundamental order changes that went far beyond the particular issues of the day.Less
Chapter 4 (“Order in the Age of Great Power Politics”) assesses the first three cases of order change opportunity. In two of these instances—the Westphalian settlements after the Thirty Years’ War in 1648 and the peace of Utrecht following the War of the Spanish Succession in 1713—the great power victors of these conflicts seized their opportunity to reshape order, while in one—the end of the Seven Years’ War in 1763—they did not. The chapter demonstrates that the logic of excluding introduced in chapter 3 best explains dominant-actors’ preferences and behaviors in these moments. When these states perceived no major threats on the horizon—in 1763—they were content to focus on the particularities of the recent war and its peace settlement rather than recasting larger order principles. But in the presence of looming threatening forces, the dominant actors of 1648 and 1713 sought larger and more fundamental order changes that went far beyond the particular issues of the day.
