The Collection:
Our selection of historical and political literature from early modern Germany and beyond supplements the stock of republications that are obtainable at bookstores and libraries. It is not a comprehensive corpus of the essential writings of this area, but makes available sources that in spite of their relevance have not been reprinted for some reason or other.
- Latin writings of this period have not been attended to by modern publishers as have been their German counterparts, the consequence being that works that were prominent in their time are little known by scholars today.
- Some essential, but voluminous works have not been reprinted because publishers shunned the considerable financial risk.
- Recent reassessments of certain fields of literature have not yet been followed by republication. The literature of late humanism, for example, is not well represented in reprint programs, while early humanism and early enlightenment have been given due attention. Cross-disciplinary types of writing, such as the political application of ancient historiography or miscellaneous critical notes or collections of extracts, tend to be neglected by the history of learning, although in their time they had a great impact.
The amount of relevant material far exceeds the compass of our project. We tackled some voluminous works and at the same time tried to represent the great variety of early modern historical and political writing. Our selection is based on recent studies (see Bibliography) as well as on a scrutiny of the rich rare book collections of the University Library Mannheim.
The HISTORICA & POLITICA collection comprises 98 works that amount to a total volume of 48'000 printed pages. Moreover, ten works of reference (close on 6'000 pages) have been added to the 'Historia' and 'Politica' sections of the THESAURUS ERUDITIONIS. We here signalize the themes, disciplines and types of writing represented by these books:
- Universal history, geography, ethnography and genealogy (Becmann, Boehme, Chronicon Carionis,and in our Thesaurus eruditionis: Avity, Becmann again, Bertius,Clüver, Sanson,Spener),
- Constitutional history and political theory (Arnisaeus, Bodin, B. P. v. Chemnitz, Cocceji, Lupold von Bebenburg, Reinkingk),
- Law of nature and reason, international law (Boeckler, Gundling),
- Historical sources; Ecclesiastical, Regional, Medieval History (Aventinus, Bourgogne, Flacius, Freher, Rerum Germanicarum Scriptores ed. Freher/Struve),
- Contemporary history (Bisselius, Forstner, Jouvancy, Orlandini, Sacchini, Sleidanus, de Thou),
- Ottoman Empire (Agricola, Bry, Busbecq, Crusius, Curione, Estienne, Georgijevic, Harsdörffer, Lonicer, Pantaleon, Sturm, Vaelckern),
- Political economy (Bornitz),
- Duties of social classes and professions, manners (Della Casa, Fritsch),
- Statecraft, the prince and the courtier (Bernegger, Clapmar, Colli, Heresbach, Weyhe),
- Political orations (Caselius, V. Fabricius),
- Political application of Tacitus (Ammirato/ Pflug, Forstner, Piccart),
- Loci communes and miscellaneous gleanings (Ph. Camerarius),
- Text-books of history (Bose, Cellarius, Matthiae, Reineck),
- Text-books of political science (Besold, Bornitz, Conring, Contzen, Werdenhagen).
Bibliography:
- Dreitzel, Horst: Absolutismus und ständische Verfassung in Deutschland. Ein Beitrag zu Kontinuität und Diskontinuität der politischen Theorie in der frühen Neuzeit. Mainz 1992 (VIEG-Beihefte 24; Abt. Universalgeschichte)
- Dreitzel, Horst: Monarchiebegriffe in der Fürstengesellschaft. Semantik und Theorie der Einherrschaft in Deutschland von der Reformation bis zum Vormärz. Köln; Weimar; Wien. 1991. 2 Bde.
- Dreitzel, Horst: Protestantischer Aristotelismus und absoluter Staat. Die "Politica" des Henning Arnisaeus (ca. 1575 - 1636). Wiesbaden 1970 (VIEG-Beihefte 55; Abt. Universalgeschichte)
- Kühlmann, Wilhelm: Gelehrtenrepublik und Fürstenstaat. Entwicklung und Kritik des deutschen Späthumanismus in der Literatur des Barockzeitalters. Tübingen 1982 (Studien und Texte zur Sozialgeschichte der Literatur; 3)
- Weber, Wolfgang: Prudentia gubernatoria. Studien zur Herrschaftslehre in der deutschen politischen Wissenschaft des 17. Jahrhunderts. Tübingen 1992 (Studia Augustana; 4)
- Staatsdenker in der frühen Neuzeit. Hrsg. von Michael Stolleis. 3., um 15 Abb. erw. Aufl.. München : Beck, 1995
This project runs from June 2004 to July 2006
Last modified March 24, 2009