Early Modern Era

"Sicilia no consiente medianía en el que gobierna". La dura prova di Osuna come viceré di un'isola

by Bruno Pomara Saverino

published in "Cultura della guerra e arti della pace. Il III Duca di Osuna in Sicilia e a Napoli (1611-1620)", dir. by Encarnación Sánchez García, Tullio Pironti Editore, 2012, pp. 169-177

“‘Grandissima Gratia’: The Power of Italian Renaissance Shoes as Intimate Wear”

by Michelle Laughran

Co-authored with Andrea Vianello, in _Ornamentalism: The Art of Renaissance Accessories_ (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2011).

In an age where women wear pants and men can fashionably sport kilts, it seems as though accessories are now a... more In an age where women wear pants and men can fashionably sport kilts, it seems as though accessories are now a defining touch of gender expression, indicating gender boundaries with which an individual is either identifying or testing. Women wearing neckties or men carrying handbags are not out of the question in the early twenty-first century Western fashion system, but nevertheless there are few dress acts which are more immediately visually challenging to cultural expectations of gender roles. Thus, in a world of Manolo Blahniks, we are accustomed to footwear being one of these highly visible and very public representations of gender identification and/or expression. Yet in the premodern and early-modern fashion system, we argue that gender identification and expression though shoes were primarily based on degrees of their invisibility.


Premodern men and women's footwear were initially unisex and utilitarian in design, and women's shoes were distinguished primarily by the fact that they tended be to some of the less visible aspects of contemporary female costume. Indeed, with the advent of Renaissance conspicuous sartorial consumption, women's shoes would become even less readily visible, draped as they were in dresses constructed of layers of far more expensive fabric. Ironically, however, this is the very same period in which footwear styles of men and women would begin significantly to diverge for the first time. How to explain this apparent paradox?


A parallel development interestingly occurred simultaneously in what would come to be called lingerie. The deeper women's undergarments were buried under myriad strata of clothing, the more diverse (and eventually sexualized) they became. In this article, we will argue that early-modern footwear in this same way essentially became a kind of gendered intimate wear, the increased fascination with which relied on the power of what was usually unseen, but a glimpse of which might be granted to or stolen by the viewer.

A Dutch Road-Trip in Golconda

by Gijs Kruijtzer

Documentary. Delhi: Orange Cat Productions, 2009. (The low resolution version is available for playing (by clicking download and open) or downloading here, the high resolution version is available on DVD)

This film, coordinated by the University of Leiden, traces the elaborate description that the 17th-century Dutchman... more This film, coordinated by the University of Leiden, traces the elaborate description that the 17th-century Dutchman Daniel Havart has left us of the road between Masulipatnam and Hyderabad, presently in the state of Andhra Pradesh in India. Havart described the various temples, mosues and other landmarks along the way, many of which are still to be found. His account is complemented by a detailed map of the road, made by his contemporary, Pieter Smith. Havart also described the lives of some Dutchmen who lived in the village of Nagulvancha, halfway along the road. In the process of making this documentary, we discovered the graves of two of these Nagulvancha- dwellers, One was the colourful Nicolaas Faber, who was as close to the villagers as he was to Hindu culture. Havart himself was more inclined to the Muslim culture of cosmopolitan Hyderabad, and a lover of Persian poetry. All of which goes to show that while prejudices were many in those days, they were more complex than the simple opposition between Europeans and non-Europeans through which many scholars today are inclined to see the period.

The documentary takes the shape of a road trip and explores the depths of self and other in an early phase of globalisation.

The Theology in Avvakum's Life and His Polemic with the Nikonians

by Priscilla Hunt

The New Cultural History, ed. M. Flier, V. Kivelson, N.S. Kollman, K. Petrone, (Bloomington: In. Slavica, 2008) 125-40

“‘La Raillerie’ des Femmes? Les Femmes, La Sterilité et la Société en France à l’Époque Moderne”

by Lisa Smith

In Femmes en Fleurs: Santé, Sexualité et Génération du Moyen Age aux Lumières, eds. C. McClive and N. Pellegrin (Saint-Etienne: Presses Universitaires de Saint-Etienne, 2010).

"Secrets of Place: The Medical Casebooks of Vivant-Augustin Ganiare, ca. 1745-1750",

by Lisa Smith

In E. Leong and A. Rankin, Secrets and Knowledge: Medicine, Science and Commerce, 1500-1800 (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2011).

Imagining Women's Fertility before Technology

by Lisa Smith

Journal of Medical Humanities, 31, 1 (2010): 69-79.

The Relative Duties of a Man: Domestic Medicine in England and France, ca. 1685–1740

by Lisa Smith

Journal of Family History, 31, 3 (2006): 237-256.

The Body Embarrassed? Rethinking the Leaky Male Body in Eighteenth‐Century England and France

by Lisa Smith

Gender and History, 23, 1 (2011): 26-46.

Niezwykły pochówek podwójny z nowożytnego cmentarzyska w Pniu koło Bydgoszczy (text in Polish with summary in English: Unusual double burial from the modern cemetery in Pień near Bydgoszcz)

by Andrzej Janowski

(co-autors A. Drozd, D. Poliński) [in:] Wymiary inności. Nietypowe zjawiska obrzędowości pogrzebowej od pradziejów po czasy nowożytne, eds. K. Skóra, T. Kurasiński, Acta Archeologia Lodziensia, vol. 56, Łódź, 2010, pp. 97-104.

68 graves were discovered at the cemetery in Pień near Bydgoszcz. Especially grave no 59, dated for the 2nd half of... more 68 graves were discovered at the cemetery in Pień near Bydgoszcz. Especially grave no 59, dated for the 2nd half of 16th - 1st half of 17th century is interesting. It contains a man of adultus age and a child of infans I age – probably the father and his child. The burial was simultaneous or there were two burials within a very short period of time. The child was placed very carefully on the gaskins of the male, in an unusual pose with the arms crossed-out. The text is an attempt of explanation for such conduct, in the context of the present knowledge related to double graves.

Programme of the conference "Dynastic Identity"

by Mirella Marini

preliminary programme of the "1st Arenberg Conference for History: Dynastic Identity in Early Modern Europe": Amsterdam, 6-7 October 2011

Die Ofenkeramik des Mittelalters und der frühen Neuzeit von der Burg Dagstuhl im Saarland

by Dieter Vollmann

In preparation, ca. 60 p.

The paper deals with fragments of stove tiles found during excavations and conservation in the 1980s at Dagstuhl... more The paper deals with fragments of stove tiles found during excavations and conservation in the 1980s at Dagstuhl castle in the state of Saarland in southwestern Germany. The material dates from the second half of the 14th to the first half of the 17th century. Parallels could be noted in neighbouring castles (Birkenfeld, Kirkel) and the neighbouring regions of Lorraine and Alsace which are alltogether peripheral areas to the centres of ceramic production in the Rhine-Neckar area and the innovation centres of tile stove production in southern Germany.

Englishwomen Kidnapped into Slavery

by David Moberly

Encyclopedia entry for "A Biographical Encyclopedia of Early Modern Englishwomen, Exemplary Lives and Memorable Acts, 1500-1650." Anna Riehl, Carole Levine, and Michele Osherow, eds. Surrey, England: Ashgate Publishing Ltd. 5 pp. (Forthcoming).

A brief article on the history of Englishwomen who were captured by pirates and enslaved in North Africa and the... more A brief article on the history of Englishwomen who were captured by pirates and enslaved in North Africa and the Ottoman Empire in the early seventeenth century.

Piracy, Slavery, and Assimilation: Women in Early Modern Captivity Literature

by David Moberly

This piece examines a hitherto neglected body of works featuring female characters enslaved in Islamicate lands.... more This piece examines a hitherto neglected body of works featuring female characters enslaved in Islamicate lands. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, many Englishmen and women were taken captive by pirates and enslaved in what is now the Middle East and North Africa. Several writers of the time created narratives and dramas about the experiences of such captives. Recent scholarship has brought to light many of these works and pointed out their importance in establishing what was still a young, unsure, and developing English identity in this early period. Most of this scholarship, however, has dealt with narratives of the male captivity experience, leaving literary representations of women's experiences in captivity largely unexplored.

I fill the gap in this thesis, using both captivity narratives, such as Emanuel D’Aranda’s "History of Algiers," and dramas, including Robert Daborne’s "A Christian Turn’d Turke," Philip Massinger’s "The Renegado," and Lodowick Carlell’s "Osmond the Great Turk." I argue that early modern captivity literature maintained a gendered double-standard that allowed men to reaffirm the strength of their European and Christian identities despite the power of Islamic hegemony while simultaneously exposing the faithless flaws of the “weaker sex,” creating within their literature female captive characters who ultimately betray their “true,” European identities.

Recruiting Citizens for Soldiers in Seventeenth-Century English Ballads

by Angela McShane

Published in Journal of Early Modern History 15 (2011) 105-137 as part of a special edition on Citizens and Soldiers in Early Modern Europe edited by Phil Withington

This article revisits the “heroic and glamorous language” of recruitment and retention in seventeenth century England... more This article revisits the “heroic and glamorous language” of recruitment and retention in seventeenth century England through an exploration of the market, medium and message of many hundreds of “military” ballads that were disseminated from London across the country, especially in times of war. These show that military volunteerism among the lower sorts was less surprising and more sophisticated than historians have previously imagined, which suggests the need to reconsider the 'professionalism' or trade identity of ordinary rank and file soldiers. It argues that the common use of the love song as a vehicle for military messages, reveals how regular soldiering became a new vocation for the “lower
sorts” in this transitional period for army development. This new “profession” not only marked a direct break from the older system of “estates” which put fighters at the top and
workers at the bottom of society, it was negotiating its place within the social structures of household formation in early modern England.

‘The Gazet in Metre; or The Rhiming Newsmonger: The Broadside Ballad as Intelligencer. A New Narrative’,

by Angela McShane

in Joop W. Koopmans (ed.), News and Politics in Early Modern Europe (1500-1800) (Peeters: Leuven, 2005).

It may seem strange, in a volume about news and politics that this paper argues that political broadside ballads in... more It may seem strange, in a volume about news and politics that this paper argues that political broadside ballads in England (songs about state affairs, printed on single sheets of paper and sold for a penny) were not a forerunner of newspapers, as has been previously argued. It does not suggest, however, that ballads had nothing to do with the dissemination of news. Instead it suggests that ballads acted as muse rather than news in Early Modern English society, seeking to teach, to satirise and to comment on the meaning of events rather than to inform about them. However, their success depended upon an efficient and widespread oral dissemination of news. Without prior knowledge, it was impossible to understand many ballads, or to get the joke. The primary function of ballads was not to spread the news but they could only comment on it to the vast extent that they did, because domestic political news of every kind was widely available and debated at every level across the country, throughout the seventeenth century.

Roaring Royalists and Ranting Brewers: The Politicisation of Drink and Drunkenness in Political Broadside Ballads from 1640-1689

by Angela McShane

published in A Pleasing Sinne Drink and Conviviality in 17th Century England Edited by Adam Smyth

Drink and balladeers enjoyed a symbiotic relationship. Ballads were notoriously composed by drinkers or ‘pot poets’,... more Drink and balladeers enjoyed a symbiotic relationship. Ballads were notoriously composed by drinkers or ‘pot poets’, for the purposes of earning their drink money. From 1649 onwards a new relationship between drink and song emerged. Broadside balladeers took a political stance on drink and drinking. They politicised drink and then drunkenness, personified radical political leaders in terms of drink and drunkenness and in so doing, depicted the social and cultural landscape in which ‘political drinking’ took place. Importantly for British drinking culture - they also imputed sobriety with sedition, while a willingness to drink, even to excess, guaranteed a loyal subject.

DEBATE THE ROASTING OF THE RUMP: SCATOLOGYANDTHE BODY POLITIC IN RESTORATION ENGLAND

by Angela McShane

published in Past and Present no 196 (August 2007)

A reply to an earlier article of the same title by Mark Jenner. The argument is made that a close study of the... more A reply to an earlier article of the same title by Mark Jenner. The argument is made that a close study of the materiality, content, production and marketing of seventeenth century broadside ballads indicate that they were produced for radically different markets, and cannot by default be judged as 'popular' or universally accessible print products.

The Extraordinary Case of the Blood Drinking and Flesh Eating Cavaliers

by Angela McShane

Published in McShane and Walker eds. THe Extraordinary and the Everyday in Early Modern England Essays in Celebration of the work of Bernard Capp (Palgrave: 2010)

In May 1650, A Perfect Diurnall of Some Passages and Proceedings of Parliament and in Relation to the Armies in... more In May 1650, A Perfect Diurnall of Some Passages and Proceedings of Parliament and in Relation to the Armies in England and Ireland reported that ‘very lately [...] at Milton in Barkeshire’ a ‘company of [5] Royalists at an alehouse, being drunke, they out of zeale of affection to their King at Bredagh, would drink his health in blood, and to effect this, unanimously agreed to cut a peece of their Buttocks, and fry their flesh that was cut off on a grid-iron’. In this article, the cultural contexts in which this remarkable episode in Milton took place, and from which contemporary behaviours and their meanings were inevitably constructed, are explored: demonstrating how such events, rather than simply appealing to our taste for the bizarre and spectacular, can illuminate something of the everyday experience of royalists in interregnum England. Multiple imaginary readings of the report drawn from the very real discourses and milieu of 1650s England are examined, offering a broad range of perspectives from which contemporary readers of opposing political and religious stances might have received the piece. It will also be argued that these unusual drunken antics might be read as an attempt to enact a secular sacrament, expressing and strengthening a loving bond with the absent King, and as a means to heal and strengthen the blood of the dismembered ‘body politic: reflecting, more broadly, a politicisation of drinking, developing from the mid-seventeenth century that was to have far reaching consequences, perhaps even to our own day.

‘Top-knots and lower sorts: popular print and promiscuous consumption in late 17th Century England’.

by Angela McShane

Co-authored with Claire Backhouse, in British Printed Images to 1700, edited by Michael Hunter. Ashgate, 2010

Print was disseminating fashionable ideas long before the advent of glossy fashion magazines. This paper explores how,... more Print was disseminating fashionable ideas long before the advent of glossy fashion magazines. This paper explores how, in late seventeenth-century England, the cheapest printed products on the market could circulate information about fashionable dress and promote debates about its consumption. Top-knots were head adornments made with ribbons and lace. Worn by women, they provoked moral and social controversies which became the focus of satirical ballads and pamphlets of the period. These printed works were consumed by a broad cross-section of society across the country, making them an intriguing counterpoint to the more expensive visual sources that usually inform fashion historians. By locating the fashion for top-knots within the context of the production and trade of clothing textiles, this paper examines how high fashion could be encountered and appropriated by the ‘lower sorts’, and demonstrates that the eighteenth-century luxury debates, encapsulated in Mandeville’s ‘Fable of the Bees’, were already developing in the humble broadside ballad in the 1690s.