Renaissance Pamphlets

In my first book I studied the European dimension of the French Wars of Religion, and their perception in
South-West Germany and Italy in comparison, testing a complex approach of ‘entangled history’ or ‘Histoire
croisée’. While the historiography of the French (as well as other European) wars of religion has nearly always
concentrated on the national perspective, my book takes into account for the first time the strong
interdependency of French events and thoughts with those of neighboring territories in Italy and Germany,
specially Savoy, Alsace and the Palatinate. The work relies on a huge amount of archival and early printed
sources which had never been touched on. I show the military involvement of France’s European neighbors, the
Italian perception which was impregnated with Machiavellism and the German, more theologico-political,
sometimes even apocalyptic vision of the wars. The title words ‘Discorso and Lex Dei’ refer to this: ‘Discorso’
is the name given to early modern political advice and its method; ‘Lex Dei’ refers to the norm aimed at by
political theologians. Like modern and contemporary large wars, the early modern wars of religion were an
international phenomenon and not just situated in a national context. I study military and diplomatic
involvement as well as the perception in early modern media (pamphlets, written newspapers) and I study the
impact on state-building in these areas. To my knowledge, at least since World War II there has been no book
written about the French wars of religion which relies on a comparable amount of unknown European archival
and printed sources.

La crisi dell’Interdetto del 1606-1607, momento di deflagrazione dei secolari attriti tra Venezia e la Santa Sede, è stata percepita come una svolta periodizzante nella storia della Repubblica di Venezia e dei suoi Domini. Scostandosi in parte da questa lettura, i più recenti contributi sul tema hanno ravvisato nella crisi veneto-pontificia un punto di osservazione privilegiato per comprendere i meccanismi sottesi alla comunicazione politica in età moderna. Un simile approccio ha l’indubbio merito di contestualizzare in maniera più pregnante quella definizione di guerra delle scritture attribuita all’Interdetto già dai suoi contemporanei: il conflitto del 1606-1607 fu infatti combattuto a colpi di scritti e libelli destinati a un pubblico eterogeneo e sempre più vasto. In aperto contrasto con quel principio di segretezza che costituiva un assioma della prassi e della teoria di governo dell’epoca, i Principi in contesa si trovarono costretti ad aprire un dialogo con i sudditi: il Papato per esortare i fedeli all’applicazione delle sanzioni spirituali comminate
alla Serenissima, Venezia per difendere le sue ragioni e delegittimare l’ingerenza romana nella sua attività legislativa e giudiziaria. La polemica fu talmente pervasiva da coinvolgere testi non specificatamente pensati per contribuire ad essa, come le orazioni tributate dalle comunità suddite al doge Leonardo Donà, eletto in concomitanza della crisi. Nel presente articolo si tenterà di comprendere il contributo – più o meno volontario – dato da questi testi e dai loro estensori alla guerra delle scritture: a tal fine si è scelto di prendere in analisi l’orazione presentata per conto di Capodistria dall’ambasciatore giustinopolitano Niccolò Manzuoli e recitata a Venezia il 9 aprile 1606.

This study identifies and explores consistencies and inconsistencies in the publishing and authorial strategies used in two seventeenth-century printed "relaciones de sucesos"; one published in Madrid in 1637, by Ana Caro de Mallén, and one published in Mexico in 1640, by María de Estrada Medinilla.

Utilizing a handful of succession treatises from the first decade of Elizabeth I’s reign, this article analyses the multiplicity of ways in which early modern Englishmen and Scotsmen conceived of parliament’s fundamental characteristics and decision-making processes, as well as the relationship between the changeability of the law and parliamentary authority. It argues that Elizabeth’s refusal to allow her parliaments to discuss the succession opened up a discursive space in which resurrected and potential future parliaments served as logical, forward-thinking arbiters of this sensitive issue, and both pro- and anti-Stuart tract writers could identify at least one version of the Lords, Commons and crown that either had endorsed or supposedly would endorse their respective positions.

Review of "Davies, Simon F. / Puck Fletcher (Hrsg.), News in Early Modern Europe. Currents and Connections (Library of the Written Word, 39; The Handpress World, 30), Leiden / Boston 2014", published in: Zeitschrift für Historische Forschung 43,1 (2016), pp. 151-152.

http://ejournals.duncker-humblot.de/toc/zhf/43/1

im: Begleitprogramm „Zusammenleben und Ausgrenzen. Jüdisch-christliche Beziehungen seit dem Mittelalter“ der Sonderausstellung „Josel von Rosheim (1478 bis 1554) zwischen dem Einzigartigen und Universellen. Ein engagierter Jude im Europa seiner Zeit und im Europa unserer Zeit.“, Begegnungsstätte Kleinen Synagoge Erfurt, December 01, 2011 - April 27, 2012.
Der Vortrag von Matthias Rekow erläutert unter dem Titel "Feindbilder zwischen Tiermetapher und Antichristmotiv" die wesentlichen Grundlagen der Entstehung von Feindbildern. Dabei geht der Referent auf den Begriff des Feindbildes und dessen Merkmale ein. Ebenso thematisiert der Vortrag die Entstehung und Funktionen von Feindbildern auf verschiedenen Ebenen. Exemplarisch werden christliche Feindbilder benannt, gezeigt sowie auf deren Entstehungsgründe aufmerksam gemacht, die das spannungsreiche - oft mörderische - Verhältnis der Christen zu den in ihrer Mitte lebenden Juden seit dem Mittelalter prägten. Die Spanne der "Bilder" reichte hier von der Kennzeichnung der Juden als nicht-menschlich, die sich in diversen Tiermetaphern niederschlug, bis hin zu dämonisch-gottlosen Wesen. Als diese waren sie wesentlicher Bestandteil einer imaginierten Teufelswelt, die dem kommenden Antichristen dienen würde. Ergänzend werden Bezüge zum Thema der Ausstellung, dem Begleitprogramm "Zusammenleben und Ausgrenzen" und zur Stadthistorie Erfurts hergestellt.