Harriet Rudolph – författare

This book presents case studies that analyze the diplomatic uses and functions of robes, furniture, weapons, tools, jewelry, paintings, sculptures, books, food, and other material objects in early modern inter-cultural diplomatic encounters in Europe, Asia, the Americas, and the Pacific world.Readers will gain insights into the material dimensions of early modern diplomacy and the cultural logics and diplomatic rationales of object use in a wide range of regional, political, and imperial contexts spanning the Habsburg Empire, France, Spain, the Ottoman Empire, British and French colonial North America, colonial Mexico, Hawaii, and the South Seas. Transcending the established topic of gift exchanges, the volume aims at an analysis of the overall material settings of early modern diplomatic encounters. With its clear temporal focus on the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the source-driven case studies on concrete objects and object groups open multiple paths into the complexities of the early modern era as a formative phase in the history of diplomacy.The book is intended for historians of the early modern period, particularly diplomatic history, political history, art history, cultural history, religious history, and regional history. It is also relevant for scholars in the field of material culture studies, ethnography, and museology.

In recent years religion has resurfaced amongst academics, in many ways replacing class as the key to understanding Europe's historical development. This has resulted in an explosion of studies revisiting issues of religious change, confessional violence and holy war during the early modern period. But the interpretation of the European wars of religion still remains largely defined by national boundaries, tied to specific processes of state building as well as nation building. In order to more thoroughly interrogate these concepts and assumptions, this volume focusses on terms repeatedly used and misused in public debates such as "religious violence" and "holy warfare" within the context of military conflicts commonly labelled "religious wars". The chapters not only focus on the role of religion, but also on the emerging state as a driver of the escalation of violence in the so-called age of religious war. By using different methodological and theoretical approaches historians, philosophers, and theologians engage in an interdisciplinary debate that contributes to a better understanding of the religio-political situation of early modern Europe and the interpretation of violent conflicts interpreted as religious conflicts today. By adopting a multi-disciplinary approach, new and innovative perspectives are opened up that question if in fact religion was a primary driving force behind these conflicts.

In recent years religion has resurfaced amongst academics, in many ways replacing class as the key to understanding Europe''s historical development. This has resulted in an explosion of studies revisiting issues of religious change, confessional violence and holy war during the early modern period. But the interpretation of the European wars of religion still remains largely defined by national boundaries, tied to specific processes of state building as well as nation building. In order to more thoroughly interrogate these concepts and assumptions, this volume focusses on terms repeatedly used and misused in public debates such as "religious violence" and "holy warfare" within the context of military conflicts commonly labelled "religious wars". The chapters not only focus on the role of religion, but also on the emerging state as a driver of the escalation of violence in the so-called age of religious war. By using different methodological and theoretical approaches historians, philosophers, and theologians engage in an interdisciplinary debate that contributes to a better understanding of the religio-political situation of early modern Europe and the interpretation of violent conflicts interpreted as religious conflicts today. By adopting a multi-disciplinary approach, new and innovative perspectives are opened up that question if in fact religion was a primary driving force behind these conflicts.

In recent years religion has resurfaced amongst academics, in many ways replacing class as the key to understanding Europe''s historical development. This has resulted in an explosion of studies revisiting issues of religious change, confessional violence and holy war during the early modern period. But the interpretation of the European wars of religion still remains largely defined by national boundaries, tied to specific processes of state building as well as nation building. In order to more thoroughly interrogate these concepts and assumptions, this volume focusses on terms repeatedly used and misused in public debates such as "religious violence" and "holy warfare" within the context of military conflicts commonly labelled "religious wars". The chapters not only focus on the role of religion, but also on the emerging state as a driver of the escalation of violence in the so-called age of religious war. By using different methodological and theoretical approaches historians, philosophers, and theologians engage in an interdisciplinary debate that contributes to a better understanding of the religio-political situation of early modern Europe and the interpretation of violent conflicts interpreted as religious conflicts today. By adopting a multi-disciplinary approach, new and innovative perspectives are opened up that question if in fact religion was a primary driving force behind these conflicts.

In recent years religion has resurfaced amongst academics, in many ways replacing class as the key to understanding Europe's historical development. This has resulted in an explosion of studies revisiting issues of religious change, confessional violence and holy war during the early modern period. But the interpretation of the European wars of religion still remains largely defined by national boundaries, tied to specific processes of state building as well as nation building. In order to more thoroughly interrogate these concepts and assumptions, this volume focusses on terms repeatedly used and misused in public debates such as "religious violence" and "holy warfare" within the context of military conflicts commonly labelled "religious wars". The chapters not only focus on the role of religion, but also on the emerging state as a driver of the escalation of violence in the so-called age of religious war. By using different methodological and theoretical approaches historians, philosophers, and theologians engage in an interdisciplinary debate that contributes to a better understanding of the religio-political situation of early modern Europe and the interpretation of violent conflicts interpreted as religious conflicts today. By adopting a multi-disciplinary approach, new and innovative perspectives are opened up that question if in fact religion was a primary driving force behind these conflicts.

The present volume aims at outlining a new field of research with regard to the history of diplomacy: the material culture of diplomatic interaction in early modern and modern times. The material culture of diplomacy includes all practices in foreign policy communication in which single artifacts, samples of artifacts, or else the whole material setting of diplomatic interaction is supposed to be constitutive for creating an intended effect in terms of diplomatic objectives. The chapters of this volume focus on intercultural diplomacy in different regions of the world wherein diplomatic actors of various kinds might have been confronted by a whole universe of unfamiliar artifacts and artifact-related practices. Most of them concentrate on gift giving as a diplomatic practice that offers multiple insights in the complex dynamics of diplomatic relations between representatives of culturally highly diverse political entities. In doing so, they gainfully apply different theoretical approaches of material culture as an interdisciplinary field of study to the investigation of diplomatic cultures across the globe. As a result, it becomes obvious that future research into the history of diplomacy should take into account material practices much more thoroughly than has been done before.

Kaiserauftritte stellten einen Kulminationspunkt der Inszenierung kaiserlicher Herrschaft im Heiligen Römischen Reich dar. In diesen Momenten wurden die Existenz des Reiches und die Bedeutung von Kaisertum und Reich für alle Schichten der Bevölkerung unmittelbar erfahrbar: Wenn Kaiser, Reichsstände und Untertanen aufeinander trafen, musste das Verhältnis der Reichsteile zum Reichsganzen oder auch das der Reichsstände untereinander immer wieder neu symbolisch austariert werden. Dabei folgten auf das Großereignis eines Herrschereinzugs mit Königswahlen, Krönungen, Huldigungen, Belehnungen oder Festlichkeiten weitere öffentliche Aufführungen, in denen die im Einzugszeremoniell aufgestellten Herrschaftsansprüche bestätigt werden sollten. Das Buch analysiert Formen und Funktionen solcher Akte in ihrer Qualität als Elemente der zeitgenössischen politischen Kultur, aber auch in ihrer Qualität als Medienereignisse und nicht zuletzt als Gegenstand von Erinnerungskulturen, welche den vergänglichen Glanz, aber auch den sozialen Sinn dieser Inszenierungen im kollektiven Gedächtnis zu bewahren versuchten.

Die Erforschung des diplomatischen Dinggebrauchs stellt ein innovatives Forschungsfeld dar. In der Frühen Neuzeit wurden soziale Ordnungen über den demonstrativen Gebrauch von Dingen mit ihrer spezifischen Materialität, Farbigkeit, Form und Funktionalität nicht nur dargestellt, sondern hergestellt. In der Kultur der Dinge manifestierten sich die politisch-rechtlichen Beziehungen zwischen Herrschaftsträgern und ihren diplomatischen Akteuren in einem entstehenden europäischen Staatensystem. Vor allem am Beispiel der im Gemälde "The Somerset House Conference" visualisierten Objektwelten zum spanisch-englischen Frieden von 1604 illustriert der Beitrag, welche Erkenntnispotentiale die Analyse diplomatischer Ereignisbilder eröffnet. Er plädiert für einen methodischen Neopositivismus, der solche Bildquellen in ihrem über die Intentionen von Auftraggebern und Bildproduzenten hinausgehenden Aussagegehalt ernst nimmt und nicht als bloße Konstruktionen diplomatischer Akte begreift. Dabei fungierte die semantische Ambivalenz der Dinge oft als Mittel der Herstellung von außenpolitischem Konsens, was in der gemeinhin konfliktfixierten Geschichtswissenschaft nicht selten aus dem Blick gerät.

Diese Einführung in das Studium der Geschichtswissenschaft richtet sich an alle, die das Fach Geschichte studieren wollen oder das bereits tun. Sie begleitet die Zeit an der Universität von der Immatrikulation bis zur Bewerbung um einen Arbeitsplatz. Es werden zum einen zentrale "handwerkliche" Fähigkeiten vermittelt: Wie man richtig bibliographiert, wie man wissenschaftliche Texte möglichst effizient bearbeitet, wie man eine historische Quelle interpretiert oder wie man Hausarbeiten und Referate verfasst. Zum anderen informiert das Buch über allgemeine Fragen des Studiums, etwa über die Studienfinanzierung, die Fächerwahl, Studien- und Stundenpläne, Formen der Prüfungsvorbereitung oder über den Umgang mit Praktika. Darüber hinaus werden Berufsfelder für Historiker vorgestellt und Tipps für einen erfolgreichen Einstieg in den Beruf gegeben.