Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks - What is Early Modern History?

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2 Series Title

3 Title Page What is Early Modern History? Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks polity

4 Copyright Page

5 Introduction Creating “early modern” Disputing “early modern” Aims and structure of the book Notes

6 1 Economic and Social History Economic history Social history Notes

7 2 Religious, Intellectual, and Cultural History Religious history Intellectual history Cultural history Notes

8 3 Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Women Gender Sexuality Notes

9 4 The Atlantic World Explorations and exchanges Colonization and creolization Political developments and the Atlantic revolutions Notes

10 5 The Global Early Modern Interactions Warfare and military history The environment and environmental history Notes

11 6 Popular and Public History Popular history Public history Notes

12 Afterword: The Future of Early Modern History/Studies Notes

13 Further Reading Introduction 1 Economic and Social History 2 Religious, Intellectual, and Cultural History 3 Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies 4 The Atlantic World 5 The Global Early Modern

14 Index

15 End User License Agreement

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Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks

polity

Copyright © Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks 2021

The right of Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks to be identified as Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

First published in 2021 by Polity Press

Polity Press

65 Bridge Street

Cambridge CB2 1UR, UK

Polity Press

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Suite 300

Medford, MA 02155, USA

All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

ISBN-13: 978-1-5095-4056-3

ISBN-13: 978-1-5095-4057-0(pb)

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Wiesner, Merry E., 1952- author.

Title: What is early modern history? / Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks.

Description: Medford : Polity Press, 2021. | Series: What is history? | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Summary: “A pivotal introduction to early modern history’s approaches and methods”-- Provided by publisher.

Identifiers: LCCN 2020027011 (print) | LCCN 2020027012 (ebook) | ISBN 9781509540563 (hardback) | ISBN 9781509540570 (paperback) | ISBN 9781509540587 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: History, Modern--16th century--Historiography. | History, Modern--17th century--Historiography. | History, Modern--18th century--Historiography. | History, Modern--16th century. | History, Modern--17th century. | History, Modern--18th century.

Classification: LCC D206 .W54 2021 (print) | LCC D206 (ebook) | DDC 909/.5072--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020027011

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020027012

by Fakenham Prepress Solutions, Fakenham, Norfolk NR21 8NL

The publisher has used its best endeavours to ensure that the URLs for external websites referred to in this book are correct and active at the time of going to press. However, the publisher has no responsibility for the websites and can make no guarantee that a site will remain live or that the content is or will remain appropriate.

Every effort has been made to trace all copyright holders, but if any have been overlooked the publisher will be pleased to include any necessary credits in any subsequent reprint or edition.

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In the twentieth century, historians invented the term “early modern” to refine an intellectual model of time first devised many centuries earlier. During the 1330s, the Italian scholar Petrarch had looked back longingly to classical antiquity, describing ancient Greece and Rome as a period of light, followed by a long period of darkness. He understood himself to be still living in darkness, but anticipated a better future: “My fate is to live among varied and confusing storms. But for you perhaps, if as I hope and wish you will live long after me, there will follow a better age.” 1By a century later, scholars in the thriving cities of northern Italy understood themselves to be in the bright and better era Petrarch predicted, one in which the achievements of ancient Greece and Rome were being revived. Starting with the Italian humanist Leonardo Bruni’s History of the Florentine People (1442), they began to divide European history into three parts, with one break at the end of the Roman Empire in the West in the fifth century, and the second somewhere between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries. 2In the sixteenth century, this new era and the cultural shift that underlay it were given the label we use today – the Renaissance , derived from the French word for “rebirth.” That word was first used by the art historian Giorgio Vasari (1511–74) to describe the art of “rare men of genius” such as his contemporary Michelangelo. Through their works, Vasari judged, the glory of the classical past had been reborn after centuries of darkness. Over time, the word “Renaissance” was broadened to include aspects of life other than art, although because the new attitude had a slow diffusion out of Italy, the Renaissance happened at different times in different parts of Europe.