Jesper Svenningsen – författare

A rich and immersive insight into the spectacular courtly festival culture of 16th and 17th century EuropeCourt celebrations constituted elaborate and flamboyant spectacles intended to showcase cultural sophistication, military power and technical expertise. Through carefully staged displays of marvel, feast and horror, they were performative articulations of power. By reiterating local traditions, such events reinforced and consolidated local belonging. Addressed both to rival rulers and to society at large, these celebrations functioned as strategic demonstrations of dynastic legitimacy and national abundance — economically, intellectually, and in terms of artisanal production.Through thirteen richly illustrated chapters, this book maps key historical celebrations and the political circumstances surrounding them, while drawing on a diverse range of written sources—from pyrotechnics manuals to cookery books—to emphasize the material culture and technological foundations behind these celebrations. Celebrations at Court situates local European material culture within broader, transcultural contexts and offers new insights into the history of ideas and mentalities of the period.Distributed for Aarhus University Press

Horror and Harm: Rudolf von Deventer’s Treatise on Gunpowder and Fireworks, c. 1585 offers a transcription and translation from German into modern English of a unique and spectacularly illustrated sixteenth-century manuscript on war and festival culture during the reign of the Danish King Frederik II (r. 1559–88). The manuscript, written in German by the King’s specialist in artillery Rudolf von Deventer, presents instructions to produce firearms for defence against the archenemies of the Christian regime as well as formulae for the production of fireworks for pleasure. The manuscript includes lavishly coloured illustrations of battle scenes, weapons and moving mechanical fireworks such as girandoles and dragons.Horror and Harm constitutes an exceptional insight into Northern European war, artillery, technology, fireworks and festival culture in the Early Modern period. As an early form of manual, von Deventer’s book is put into perspective in a foreword by the historian of science Pamela H. Smith and a series of introductory texts.