New Source

Just found another online resource with lots of primary documents as pdf's.

http://purl.pt/index/geral/PT/index.html

CALL FOR PAPERS: Tyndale, More, and their Circles

'Tyndale, More and their circles: Persecution and martyrdom under the Tudors.'

Liverpool Hope University, United Kingdom, 3-6 July 2008

This will be an interdisciplinary conference which will bring together scholars interested in the religious history and literature of the Tudor period. Although there will be a focus on lives, works and reputations of Tyndale and More, papers are sought on martyrdom, religious persecution and inter-Christian conflict generally and thus may range in subject from Anne Askew to Edmund Campion.

Principal Speakers: Prof. Brian Cummings, University of Sussex. Prof. Eamon Duffy University of Cambridge. Rev. Dr Ralph S. Werrall, The Tyndale Society.

Proposals for papers (title and 300-500 words) or enquiries should be directed by October 1st 2007 to Rev. Matthew Baynham, Hopkins Hall, Liverpool Hope University, Liverpool L38QB, UK baynham @hope.ac.uk or Dr John Flood, Balliol College, Oxford OX1 3BJ, UK. john.flood@balliol.ox.ac.uk

QUESTION: Valdes, Hus, and others

In a session on witchcraft at the last SCSC, Michael Bailey raised a question about the relationship between the late medieval Reformatio and the Reformation. His question was interesting in the way it was presented -- the standard sources and narrative of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries tends to make what happens in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries look inevitable. At the same time, the nature of the sources and the historiography tend to lead to create stark distinctions between the two periods -- rarely if ever do scholars make a concerted effort to bridge the gap between "late medieval" and "early modern." He was speaking specifically about witchcraft and the way early modern scholars treat the Malleus Malificarum, but his general point remains, I think, valid for Reformation history generally.

Here I want to recast his question: what place (if any) do earlier heretical movements -- here I'm thinking of the Waldensians and Hussites, but also the Beguines, Beghards, "Free Spirit" devotees (if they even existed), Fraticelli, Radical Joachimites, Lollards, etc. -- have in the narrative of the capital "R" Reformation? What place ought we accord in our teaching and research to such movements?

SOURCE: Jesuit Relations in Canada

For fans of the movie "Black Robe," or those looking for an American history angle in Early Modern Studies, the complete English Translation of the Jesuit Relations from Canada are online. The site includes links to the original French texts as well as the translation.

TEACHING: Sources on Catholic Theology

Standard readers on the Reformation are not necessarily friendly to Rome. There are a few online resources, though, which can be used for courses. If you know of any others, feel free to add them -- in the meantime, this is a good starting point.

The site I have found myself coming back to again and again is New Advent, where you can find the complete run of the Ante- and Post-Nicene Fathers, Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologica, and that frequent source for idiosyncratic plagiarism, The Catholic Encyclopedia. The site has an obvious missionary zeal, but that's part of its charm.

One source collection I have used for teaching over the years is the online source run out of Fordham. Sadly, it doesn't appear that anyone has been updating it much lately, but it's a good starting point. Click here to access the Reformation sections of the Medieval and Modern Sourcebooks. Another potentially useful (if eclectic) teaching resource is the Christian Classics Ethereal Library.

POV/TEACHING: Combining Ren/Ref

In a comment to the thread on textbooks for courses on the Reformation, Bradford Smith raises an issue that is important enough to deserve its own thread. So I'd like to repeat and expand on his question here: what texts do you use for a course that covers both the Renaissance and the Reformation, and what themes or topics do you emphasize in such a broad course? What are some good English-language websites on the Renaissance and Reformation?

LINKS: Couch Potato Research

One of the most significant technological innovations in the last several years has been the availability on the web of many standard reference works that I had to consult in the library when I was a grad student. I'd like to begin a list of useful links for those who work in early modern European history. Some of my favorites are:

Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm http://germazope.uni-trier.de/Projects/WBB/woerterbuecher/dwb/suchmaschine

Elektronische Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie
http://mdz1.bib-bvb.de/~ndb/adb_index.html

Grotefends Zeitrechnung des Deutschen Mittelalters und der Neuzeit
http://www.manuscripta-mediaevalia.de/gaeste/grotefend/grotefend.htm

Orbis Latinus Online
http://www.columbia.edu/acis/ets/Graesse/contents.html

Karlsruher Virtueller Katalog
http://www.ubka.uni-karlsruhe.de/kvk.html

What are your favorite reference links? Let us know, and we'll post them on this site!

POV: Reformation textbooks?

There are a number of textbooks and readers currently available for use in classroom instruction of Reformation history. Which one are you using, for what sort of course, and why?

Free Resource: German Medieval History

The German Historical Institute has just published a book called Medieval Germany: Research and Resources. It was compiled by a medieval history scholar, John Eldevik. It is primarily a bibliography of works on medieval Germany, as well as information about archives, library holdings, fellowships, institutes, scholarly associations, etc. I hope to increase the use of these free guides, which, incidentally, are also available on the Internet at www.ghi-dc.org/reference.html). If people want a hard copy of the guide, completely free of charge (no shipping, either), they can also click on the appropriate link at the web address above to place their order.

Thank you,
Patricia Sutcliffe

Dr. Patricia Casey Sutcliffe, Editor
German Historical Institute 1607 New Hampshire Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20009
Phone: (202) 552-8926 Fax: (202) 387-6437
Email: sutcliffe@ghi-dc.org

SCSC 2006 Panel report: Early Modern England in Print

<>"Early Modern England in Print: World, Self, Nation" explored the implications of print for inquiry into early-modern English religious and political thought. This graduate student panel was chaired by Gary Gibbs (History, Roanoke College). Ethan Shagan (History, Northwestern University) commented.

Matthew Thrond (History, University of Texas - Austin) presented "False Imprint as Geographic Imposture in Early Modern English Print." This paper reassessed the cultural meanings of a tactic frequently used by sixteenth-century printers either to commit forgery or to evade censorship and usually discussed as an instrument to one of these ends. It focused on two cases in which Protestant English printers identified their London lieux d’impression as Scotland. Because these imprints presented comparatively little hazard to their printers, Thrond used them to explore how printers used imposture expressively. In the first case, the printing of a piece of propaganda against Mary Stuart's sometime allies, he elaborated connections between levels of imposture, typographical and linguistic strategies, trade politics, and the contestation of “authorship” implicit in a misperformance of ethnicity. The second case,involving the Huguenot narrative of the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, followed the elision of printerly "ego" through its interaction with authorial pseudonymy. Thrond argued that in this case the printer’s imposture, undertaken at the cost of his proprietary rights to the copy but without the motive of fear that characterized surreptitious print generally, put askew the rhetorical roles of printer, translator and author to reconstrue the ethical and political message of the printed book. What implications did internationality hold for the relationship between ideologies of plainness and proof, touted in the French text, and of dialogue and persuasion, suggested by the English printed book? <>Gregory A. Foran (English, University of Texas - Austin) delivered "'Incertainties now crown themselves assured:' Print, Prophecy, and Epistemology in Early Seventeenth Century English Literature." Foran's paper examined the treatment of prophetic foreknowledge and itsrelationship to the printed word, particularly in Shakespeare, Donne, and Bacon. By the beginning of the seventeenth century, English presses churned out a steady stream of prophetic literature, from cheap broadsheet ballads setting providential interpretations of miracles tomusic, to learned commentaries on Daniel and Revelation. Yet these works navigated competing imperatives; in a sense all were “visible sermons” but was their value to be felt in the spreading of the word, or in the suspicious iconicity and materiality of marketable books? Foran analyzedthe tactics by which writers expressed skepticism toward competing prophetic claims: Shakespeare's Macbeth unmasks the ideological motivations of prophetic discourse, while Donne's writings confine epistemological certainty to the afterlife, where knowledge comesunmediated by the printed word. Bacon’s dismissal of supernatural foreknowledge, which presents the problem of ambivalence toward the public world of print, points to the role of the state in his quasi-prophetic vision of scientific reform.

Anne Throckmorton (History, University of Virginia) gave her account of a polemical battle between an English Protestant and an exiled English Catholic in “Mediating Confessional Identity through History: Two Dialogues.” Sir Humphrey Lynde and John Heigham should have had nothing in common. Lynde was a knight and Heigham was a notorious smuggler of Catholic books. Yet these men who never met were preoccupied with the same historical problem: to stake a claim for their respective churches to the most ancient lineage and thereby to establish a monopoly on religious orthodoxy. This preoccupation led Lynde to write a book defending the historical legitimacy of the Protestant faith. Heigham responded to Lynde by writing his own book. <>While books and counter-books riddled with invective were not uncommon, Throckmorton argued that Lynde and Heigham were unusual because they ventured into publishing territory dominated by scholars and clergymen. Both thus bore witness in print to a crucial discontinuity of the Reformation even as, intellectually, one man was wont to minimize its novelty and the other to deny its having had a positive effect. Throckmorton analyzed how the works of both men engaged the contradictory currents of historical thinking that characterized the times, from the freighted problem of Luther’s place in the history of the Christian church to the connections between empiricism, visibility, and orthodoxy.

In the discussion that followed, commentator Shagan’s remarks centered on the question of how early modern English readers' subject positions—toward texts that raised or invoked epistemological doubts—were rhetorically constructed. Shagan responded to Thrond and Foran by urging them to articulate the problem of reader response more centrally in their arguments. How did rhetorical strategies in and of the book reach their targets—and did they? How do these results reflect early modern readers’ negotiation of disbelief and belief? He further suggested in response to Throckmorton's paper that in articulating the significance of her findings, she address recent research, by Anthony Milton among others, pointing to the paradoxical role of Protestant anti-Catholicism in undermining Puritanism. Significant audience contributions explored, for example, the tensions in Donne’s poetics of the sacred and the nuances of competition and collaboration in the London print trade.

NEW BOOK: Eamon Duffy, Marking the Hours

For those who have not yet seen it, Eamon Duffy's new Marking the Hours: English People and Their Prayers (New Haven: Yale UP, 2006), is a richly-illustrated move into the field of the material culture of the book. The result of the 2002 Riddell Lectures, the book connects familiar with less familiar images and ties our knowledge of the Reformation into the ways in which the owners of books of hours used them before, during and after the Reformation. Duffy connects his scholarly knowhow with a readable style that will be accessible to scholars and lay readers alike.

If you've read the book or are familiar with it and would like to comment, or ask a question, please do so by clicking on "comment"!

SOURCE: The Kessler and Seydel Collections at Emory

Emory University libraries are home to two excellent collections of sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century imprints. The Seydel Collection is surely the least know and utilized. Based on the private collection of Paul Seydel (1884-1942) , a Belgian Chemist and book collector, the Sedyel collection includes numerous works from the print shot of Christophe Plantin. One of the aims of the collection is to acquire copies of all the works from his press. Later works from the Plantin press from the seventeenth century are also prominent. This is a real gem for any students of the late Renaissance. The collection is housed in the Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library of Emory University ( http://marbl.library.emory.edu/ )

An even larger collection is the Richard C. Kessler Reformation Collection, currently including nearly 3,000 sixteenth-century imprints, including 800+ works by Martin Luther. A magnificent (if I do say so myself) annotated bibliography of the collection is available (shameless plug ); you can also peruse the collection online http://www.pitts.emory.edu/SpecColl/kesslercoll.html . A digital image archive is online, though it is somewhat counterintuitive to use. Several works from the collection have been reprinted in amazingly affordable facsimile editions in the series Emory Texts and Studies in Ecclesial Life. The Kessler Collection is one of the finest Reformation collections in the country including not only works by major reformers but early hymnals, church ordinances, and controversial literature. One noteworthy find is a collection of pamphlets printed at Magdeburg between 1548 and 1555, including both the original Latin and German editions of the Magdeburg Confession.
These two collections should make Atlanta a worthy destination for Reformation researchers -- come in the spring when the weather is best.