Devotional Landscapes: God, Saints and the Natural World in Early Modern Ireland

2010 ◽  
Vol 46 ◽  
pp. 217-236 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raymond Gillespie
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Early Modern Period ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Religious Change ◽  
Body Parts ◽  
Religious Experiences ◽  
Short Supply ◽  
Local Religion ◽  
Religious Devotion ◽  
The Relationship

Reconstructing the relationship of the inhabitants of early modern Ireland with the natural world and its Creator is both a difficult and a straightforward task. At one level those who lived in Ireland, both Catholic and Protestant, had much in common with other contemporary Europeans, and they shared similar ideas about the existence of God, his actions in creating the world and how that world worked. At another level the relationship between the inhabitants of early modern Ireland and the natural world is rather different from that observable in other places. In terms of pilgrimage, the inhabitants of Ireland before the Reformation in the early sixteenth century had litde interest in visiting corporeal relics, and body parts of saints were in short supply in Ireland by comparison with other European countries. Rather, the devout preferred to visit places in the natural world that had reputed associations with a saint, such as a well created by a saint or a cave where he had lived. Why this should be so is difficult to explain, but it certainly created an experience of the natural world which, though not unique to Ireland, was certainly more intense there. In turn, this affected local religious experiences as they were reshaped through the process of religious change in the early modern period, giving a particular hue to the local forms of religious devotion practised by both Catholics and Protestants. This essay aims to reveal something of the distinctive traits of local religion that formed as a result of the conscious interaction of the inhabitants of Ireland with God’s creation.

Confessionalisation and Erudition in Early Modern Europe

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Sociology Of Knowledge ◽  
Natural Philosophy ◽  
Early Modern Period ◽  
Religious Change ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
Intellectual Activity ◽  
History Of Christianity ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Relationship

This volume examines the relationship between the history of scholarship and the history of Christianity in the early modern period. Leading British, American and continental scholars explore the ways in which erudition contributed to—or clashed with—the formation of confessional identities in the wake of the Reformation, at individual, institutional, national and international levels. Covering Catholics and Protestants in equal measure, the essays assess biblical criticism; the study of the church fathers; the ecclesiastical censorship of scholarly works; oriental studies and the engagement with Near Eastern languages, texts and communities; and the relationship between developments in scholarship and other domains, including practical piety, natural philosophy, and the universities and seminaries where most intellectual activity was still conducted. One of the volume’s main strengths is its chronological coverage. It begins with an unprecedentedly detailed and comprehensive review of the scholarly literature in this field and proceeds with case studies ranging from the early Reformation to the eighteenth century. The volume also features the publication of a remarkable new manuscript detailing Isaac Newton’s early theological studies in 1670s Cambridge. It will be of interest not only to early modern intellectual and religious historians, but also to those with broader interests in religious change, the reception of oriental and classical sources and traditions, the history of science, and in the sociology of knowledge.

scholarly journals Speelgoed van de slager: slachtdieren en kinderspel in de vroegmoderne Nederlandse literatuur

2017 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
pp. 33-65
Author(s):  
Joanna Kozikowska
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Early Modern Period ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Social Perceptions ◽  
Cultural Representations ◽  
Body Parts ◽  
Modern Approach ◽  
Animal Body ◽  
Reading Methods ◽  
Dutch Literature

Toys of the Butcher: Slaughter Animals and Children’s Play in Early Mod-ern Dutch LiteratureThis article discusses cultural representations of slaughter animals from the early modern period, setting them against the post-modern approach to animals. The point of departure constitutes a con­temporary story about a girl eating the heart of a deer, which she has shot. Then the author moves on to a discussion of the poem ‘Kinder-spel’ 1618/1625 by the seventeenth-century Dutch poet Jacob Cats and focuses on the socio-cultural notions of humans and animals which these two texts present. When discussing the poem, the author elaborates on the symbolic meaning of two situations where children play with animal body parts — a game of knucklebones and playing with an inflated bladder. The interpretation of Cats’ text shows that the stereotypical social perceptions of slaughter animals which can be found in the early modern Dutch literature are in fact meant to offer a certain view on humans, by which their domination over the natural world and exploitation of animals is justified. The methodologies applied in this study involve the so-called ‘activist ecocriticism’ and the New Historicism, both being the reading methods, which emphasize the topicality of historical research. By placing Cats’ texts in a broad context, it is shown that the motif of children playing with animal body parts refers to early modern polemics about such issues as the relationship between the human and animal, the tension between culture and nature, as well as children and upbringing models.

Coda: Repositioning Early Modern Prague on the Global Stage

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-2
Author(s):  
Suzanna Ivanič
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Cultural History ◽  
Early Modern Period ◽  
Religious Change ◽  
Early Modern Europe ◽  
Modern Period ◽  
Musical Knowledge ◽  
Historical Moment ◽  
The City

The question that sparked this forum was to what extent we can see Prague as an important stage for Renaissance and Reformation exchange and as an internationally connected city. It is striking, though not unexpected, that all the authors have been drawn to some extent to sources and subjects in Rudolfine Prague. It must be stressed, however, that the emphasis of each of these studies is somewhat different to an older field of “Rudolfine studies.” The researchers here do not focus on the emperor's court but use it as context. It is tangential to their main focal points—on Jewish communities, religious change, and the exchange of scientific and musical knowledge—and these are first and foremost historians not of Prague but of social and cultural history, music, art, material culture, and religion. This indicates a marked shift from the historiography. For this generation of scholars, Prague is not only a city that is home to a fascinating and intriguing art historical moment but is also a city of early modern international connections. It provides a unique context for understanding communities, everyday experiences, religion, and culture in early modern Europe—a multilingual, multiconfessional, and multicultural mixing pot whose composition changed dramatically across the early modern period. Rudolf's court was certainly a catalyst for these crossings and encounters, but they did not fade away after his death in 1612, nor were they limited to the confines of the castle above the city.

RELIGIOUS CHANGE AND THE TIMING OF BAPTISM IN ENGLAND, 1538–1750

2009 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 269-294 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. M. KITSON
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Early Modern Period ◽  
Religious Change ◽  
Public Performance ◽  
The Public ◽  
Modern Period ◽  
Medieval Church ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
Common Prayer

ABSTRACTThe religious reforms of the sixteenth century exerted a profound impact upon the liturgy of baptism in England. While historians' attention has been drawn to the theological debates concerning the making of the sign of the cross, the new baptism liturgy contained within the Book of common prayer also placed an innovative importance on the public performance of the rite in the presence of the whole congregation on Sundays and other holy days. Both religious radicals and conservatives contested this stress on ceremony and publicity throughout the early modern period. Through the collection of large numbers of baptism dates from parish registers, it is possible to measure adherence to these new requirements across both space and time. Before the introduction of the first prayer book in 1549, there was considerable uniformity among communities in terms of the timing of baptism, and the observed patterns are suggestive of conformity to the requirements of the late medieval church. After the mid-sixteenth century, parishes exhibited a range of responses, ranging from enthusiastic adoption by many communities to complete disregard in religiously conservative parts of Lancashire and Cheshire. Additionally, the popularity of saints' festivals as popular days for baptism fell markedly after 1660, suggesting a decline in the observance of these feasts.

Introduction

2018 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Heather L. Ferguson
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
Early Modern Period ◽  
Administrative Practice ◽  
Modern Period ◽  
Alternative Approach ◽  
Comparative Historical Analysis ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Universal Rule

This chapter draws on Katip Çelebi's Düstūrü’l-‘amel li ıṣlāhı ’l-ḥalel, or the Guiding Principles for the Rectification of Defects, to outline how attention to genre, to the relationship between conceptual models and administrative practice, to the role of sultanic authority as an anchor for imperial order, and to the significance of comparative historical analysis offers an alternative approach to Ottoman state-making in the early modern period. It further suggests that the “middle years” of the state might best be understood as a tension between principles of universal rule and the practices designed to entice and co-opt regional elites into a coherent sociopolitical order.

5. Family histories and the autobiography of childhood

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Marcus
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Family Relations ◽  
Early Modern Period ◽  
Social Forces ◽  
Autobiographical Writing ◽  
Modern Period ◽  
Family Histories ◽  
New Ideas ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

The years of childhood have become increasingly central to autobiographical writing. Historians have linked this development to the new ideas about life-stages that emerged in the early modern period. Philippe Ariès (1914–84) made a key contribution in 1960 with a book on the child and family life in the ancien régime, known in English as Centuries of Childhood. ‘Family histories and the autobiography of childhood’ considers how genealogy (the tracing of family history) and the shaping of family relations by cultural and social forces have been central concerns for many modern autobiographers. It also looks closely at the relationship between child and parent and at the impact of mixed cultures.

Divine Punishment or Disease? Medieval and Early Modern Approaches to the 1518 Strasbourg Dancing Plague

2017 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 149-164
Author(s):  
Lynneth J. Miller
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Early Modern Period ◽  
The Body ◽  
Modern Period ◽  
Divine Judgment ◽  
Divine Punishment ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Insight Into

Using writings from observers of the 1518 Strasbourg dancing plague, this article explores the various understandings of dancing mania, disease, and divine judgment applied to the dancing plague's interpretation and treatment. It argues that the 1518 Strasbourg dancing plague reflects new currents of thought, but remains closely linked to medieval philosophies; it was an event trapped between medieval and modern ideologies and treated according to two very different systems of belief. Understanding the ways in which observers comprehended the dancing plague provides insight into the ways in which, during the early modern period, new perceptions of the relationship between humanity and the divine developed and older conceptions of the body and disease began to change, while at the same time, ideologies surrounding dance and its relationship to sinful behavior remained consistent.

Marked Angels: Counterfeits, Commodities, and The Roaring Girl*

2001 ◽  
Vol 54 (4-Part2) ◽  
pp. 1531-1560 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valerie Forman
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Early Modern Period ◽  
Modern Period ◽  
Shadow Side ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Title Character

This article traces the connections between the circulation of commodities and counterfeit coins in The Roaring Girl. Contextualizing the play's representation of counterfeits within a discussion of the relationship between real and counterfeit money in the early modern period, I argue that the play registers and addresses economic pressures, in part through its commentary on, and revision of, the conventions of stage comedy. In particular, the play offers enhanced forms of realism and the fiction of the “individual” in the title character, Moll, to compensate for the absence of legible material guarantees for value, legitimacy, or status. I conclude with a reading of the play's representation of masterless persons as the necessary shadow side of the plethora of opportunities seemingly offered by the market.

Recht zur Intervention – Pflicht zur Intervention?

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Early Modern Period ◽  
Responsibility To Protect ◽  
Modern Period ◽  
Contractual Relationships ◽  
The Right ◽  
First Time ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Do So

The responsibility to protect and intervention possessed a central political importance in the early modern period. This volume asks whether there was also a duty to intervene alongside the right to do so. This draws attention to the relationship between the responsibility to protect, security and reputation, which is the focus of the contributions the book contains. Chronologically, they range from the 15th to the 18th centuries and discuss monarchical duties to protect, alliance commitments, confessional legitimation and motives, as well as those based on patronage, contractual relationships and electoral processes. One of the book’s important findings is a deeper understanding of reputation, which is comprehensively examined here as a political guiding factor with reference to changing understandings of security for the first time.

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