Religious Culture and Social Change in Central Europe ca. 1400-1600

Workshop: April 1-3, 2016

The 15th and 16th centuries in Europe witnessed a complex, large scale sociocultural transformation that traditional historiography has characterized as the transition from the Late Middle Ages to Early Modern era. Latin Christendom underwent a series of changes that led it from crisis through reform through confessionalization, while social and political organization developed from universalist claims of medieval monarchy to early modern princely states and oligarchic republics. Although no one today would advocate any sharp line dividing the Middle Ages from modernity, the social and religious change remains a phenomenon that calls for explanation. This seminar brings together European and North American graduate students from several disciplines who are working on dissertations related to this general theme.

Program

Friday, April 1

University of Minnesota, 710 Social Sciences

9:00 am: Breakfast

9:30 am: Introductory and welcoming remarks, Professor Gary Cohen & workshop organizers

10:00 am: Session 1: Religion, Law & Power
Chair: Howard Louthan
Sara Ludin (University of California-Berkeley), “The Protestant Power of Attorney and the Construction of ‘Religion’ as a Legal Category”
Response: Aaron Moldenhauer
Lisa Scott (University of Chicago), “The Renegotiation of the Estates at Bohemian Assemblies”
Response: Vojtěch Bažant

12:15 pm: lunch and public lecture
University of Minnesota, 1210 Heller Hall
James Van Horn Melton (Emory University), “Germans in 18th Century British America: A Reassessment”
Sponsored by the Center for Austrian Studies and the Center for Early Modern History

2:00 pm: Session 2: Religion, Doctrine & Knowledge
University of Minnesota, 710 Social Sciences
Chair: Michael Van Dussen
Christina Traxler (University of Vienna), “Academic debates and diplomatic moves. The cooperation between the University of Vienna and the Duke of Austria in confining Hussitism in the Early 15th Century” 
Response: Sara Ludin
Agnieszka Rec (Yale University), “Alchemical Exchange in Sixteenth-Century Central Europe”
Response: Heidi Hausse
Aaron Moldenhauer (Northwestern University), “Theories of Doctrine in Reformation Studies”
Response: Christina Traxler

5:30 pm: Catered Dinner, 609/614 Social Sciences

Saturday, April 2

9:00 am: Hotel pickup for transport to Collegeville, MN

11:00 am: Session 3: Religion, Community & Materiality
Hill Museum and Manuscript Library, St. John’s University
Chair: Věra Vejrychová
Vojtěch Bažant (Charles University, Prague), “Space of Holy Land and 15th Century Czech Travel Writings”
Response: Suzanna Ivanič
Amy Nelson (University of Notre Dame), “‘Multiple Options’ for Christian Expression by Noble Women in Late Medieval Central Europe”
Response: Lisa Scott

12:30 pm: Lunch at the Refectory 

1:30 pm: Visit to the library with Matt Heintzelman (Curator, Hill Museum and Manuscript Library)
Comment—Pavel Soukup

2:30 pm: Session 3: Religion, Community & Materiality, Part II
Chair: Jan Volek
Heidi Hausse (Princeton University), “The Decision to Amputate”
Response: Agnieszka Rec 
Suzanna Ivanič (Cambridge University), “Confessional Identity and Material Culture on the Eve of Recatholicization in Prague (1600–1620)”
Response: Amy Nelson

5:30 pm: Dinner at Kay’s Kitchen (the best pies in the Upper Midwest)

Sunday, April 3

University of Minnesota, 710 Social Sciences

9:00 am: Session 4: Discussion
Facilitators: Michael Van Dussen and Pavel Soukup

11:00 am: Closing Remarks