Religion and revolution in seventeenth-century England

Religion’s centrality to the story of the political turmoils of seventeenth-century England has never been in doubt. This article reviews recent books in the field which offer a series of reflections on the mutual effects of religion and revolution on each other in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms and overthrow of James II and VII.     

Identity and borders: seventeenth-century Hungarian travellers in the West and the East

The survey discusses the identity and self-image of seventeenth-century Hungarian and Transylvanian travellers as conveyed through their travel texts. The cultural borders in the mental map of the travellers coincided with the eastern and south-eastern borders of Transylvania. They placed themselves in the same position as their Western European contemporaries. Although the general tone of their diaries was one of admiration, they did not make explicit comparisons to the disadvantages of their home. There are also some cases of criticism on a civilisational basis towards the West, which shows that the travellers felt that they were on equal grounds to the West. The few cases of auto-stereotypes also show that some travellers tended to reinforce even the negative stereotypes attributed to Hungarians in order to question the Western discourse which placed them on a lower grade on a scale of civilisation. Towards their Eastern neighbours, the travellers tended to use a condescending tone: qualities such as boorishness, lack of education and barbarity were attributed to Russians, Wallachians and Moldavians. The worst reputation belonged to the Ottomans: in their case, even if – in a very few cases – tolerance and understanding came into picture, there was no possibility of acceptance. Hungarian travellers only used the discourse of their own inferiority towards Western Europeans when it was a part of their political agenda – otherwise, they included themselves in the concept of the region, imagined on the basis of erudition and Latin education – which they more and more often called Europe.     

Violence and vigilance in Nahua communities of seventeenth-century central Mexico

While historians have long studied the institutional dimensions of crime and punishment, this article examines the informal, extra-legal efforts of Nahuas and other residents of central Mexican communities to contend with violence and resolve conflicts. Residents of Nahua communities could not rely entirely on the authorities for protection and justice; rather, by being vigilant and taking matters into their own hands, they played a vital but underappreciated role in policing their communities, dealing with disorder, and preserving the peace. As such, they shouldered some of the law enforcement functions of the state apparatus. At times, their contributions could prove indispensable to the administration of justice. Their efforts not only helped to maintain public order and protect one another but they also tell us much about perceptions of acceptable behavior as well as notions of civic responsibility and, by extension, community membership and social solidarity.     

Jesuit thalassology reconsidered: the Mediterranean and the geopolitics of Jesuit missionary aims in seventeenth-century Ethiopia

During the second half of the sixteenth century, the Society of Jesus relied heavily on Portuguese trade routes in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans in order to reach Ethiopia. However, geopolitical shifts, particularly the rise of Ottoman sea power in the Indian Ocean and the Spanish conquest of Portugal in 1580, ended this route’s viability for the Jesuits. In order to sustain Jesuit connections with Ethiopia, Father General Mutio Vitelleschi decided in 1627 to abandon the Portuguese and send four Jesuits with French passports through Ottoman territory and up the Nile, whence they would travel overland into Ethiopia. After arriving in Egypt, however, the Jesuits were arrested, interrogated and expelled by the Ottoman governor, who suspected that they were Habsburg spies. The course of this failed Jesuit effort to reach Ethiopia has three important implications for our understanding of the Mediterranean and its relationship with other sea spaces in terms of early modern empire building and Catholic evangelization. First, the decision to abandon the Portuguese in favour of the French illuminates how the Mediterranean remained at the fore of the Society of Jesus’s missionary efforts. Second, French willingness to protect the Jesuits demonstrates that Louis XIII of France saw the Mediterranean as an important theatre for achieving his political, religious and economic goals. Third, the Ottoman decision to arrest and expel the Jesuits due to fears that they were in Egypt to assist in a Coptic rebellion and concomitant Hapsburg invasion demonstrates both Ottoman anxiety concerning the rise of European religio-imperial ambitions and the Ottomans’ ability to control foreigners travelling through their lands. In sum, these developments illuminate a larger thalassological picture of the Mediterranean, which, like other sea spaces, obtained as an important contact zone where early modern powers competed to build empires and save souls.     

The haunting of Susan Lay: servants and mistresses in seventeenth-century England

At Easter 1650, Susan Lay, a servant in an Essex alehouse, saw the ghost of her mistress, who had been buried three days before. This article explores the history that lay behind her experience: of sexual relationships with both her master and his son, the births and deaths of two bastard children, and beneath it all, a relationship of antagonism, competition, and intimacy with her mistress. It uses this and other legal records to examine the relationship between women in early modern households, arguing that, while antagonisms between women are typically part of effective patriarchies, the domestic life and social structures of mid seventeenth-century England bound servants and mistresses peculiarly tightly together, giving servants licence to dream of replacing their mistresses and mistresses cause to feel threatened by their servants, and making the competitive relations between women functional to patriarchal order. It suggests, finally, that at this moment in time and in this context, seeing a ghost was the best, perhaps the only, way this servant had to tell a suppressed story and stake a claim to a household that had excluded her.     

Confrontation and conciliation: the sami,the crown and the court in seventeenth-century swedish lapland1

This article aims to discover in what kind of legal cases conflicts may be traced between the Sami and representatives of the Crown, and in which situations conciliation is apparent; and it also answers the questions of how and why this happened. It is evident, from the court rolls from the court district of Jukkasjärvi (one of the two northernmost lappmarker in Sweden at this time), that the Crown prosecuted the Sami for sexual offences and crimes against religion. This was due to the prevailing ideology of the seventeenth century, in which Lutheran Christianity prevailed, and because the court was the arena for a power discourse: there was a “right” way to live and behave. This came into conflict with Sami tradition. The Sami themselves pursued a desire and need for conciliation, which becomes apparent in cases of crimes such as murder, manslaughter and grand theft, but also in civil cases, e.g. inheritance. This was due to the fact that the population was quite small, bound together in different relations, and because large-scale conflicts were not beneficial to Sami communities. Even though the Crown Court was an arena of power, it was also used by the Sami for their own ends, and thus we can see an interactive Sami society, independent of the prevailing political Lutheran Christian ideology and its discourse.     

Drinking like a man: the paradox of excessive drinking for seventeenth-century dutch youths

In the early modern period, drinking alcohol was an integral part of Dutch social and cultural life. Toast were made to the health of unborn babies, for job nominations, and at funerals. Young people started to consume alcohol at an early age. However, within this culture they had to learn how to drink in moderation. Excessive drinking was not only a cardinal sin, it was also a paradox in the realm of gender. For males, the act of getting drunk and losing control was a flaw on their masculinity. They in fact became like women who were believed to be incapable of controlling their mind and body. On the other hand, the ability to drink great quantities of alcohol symbolized an age-old form of masculinity. Imbibing in "wine, women, and song" were liminal rites in becoming men and how young men demarcated themselves from being boys.     

The Merton tradition and kinematics in late sixteenth nd early seventeenth-century Italy

Isaac de Pinto was an active financier, economist and homme de lettres. Descending from a Jewish family of Portuguese origin, he lived in Amsterdam, Paris and London. Throughout his life, he enjoyed close relationships and made regular contact with important figures of the European Enlightenment.

The main purpose of this article is to show that the concern with the Jewish problems, namely those relating to the difficult economic situation of the Portuguese nation in Amsterdam in the second half of the eighteenth century, is a key factor in explaining the ongoing moral and apologetic dialogues that Isaac de Pinto maintained separately with Voltaire and Diderot.     

A seventeenth-century trade gun and associated collection from Pine Island,Alabama

A set of artifacts, apparently associated with human remains (one tooth), from Pine Island, Alabama, was donated to the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History in 1915. In preparation for repatriation, this collection was investigated extensively by a volunteer team. This paper reports the results of this analysis, focusing especially on a new type of trade gun and the glass beads. The goal of the research is to provide an accurate date for the collection to assist in identifying the Native American group represented.     

Through the eyes of rural notaries: business, community and confessional divisions in seventeenth-century poitou

Historians have often reflected upon the relations between Catholicsand Protestants in the small towns of seventeenth-century France.Using the recorded information on the lives and business dealingsof notaries, this article looks at how they integrated intoand dealt with both confessional groups in the small Poitoutown of Chef-Boutonne. Of the twenty-one men who listed themselvesas notaries in the parish registers, seven left records of theacts they drew up. Using their papers as well as parish registersthe article follows up on these men, their religious affiliation,families, marriages, training as notaries, business dealingsand their selection as godparents for town children. It thenreflects back upon the role of these men and their respectiveconfessional groups in the crucial years between the end ofthe Wars of Religion and the lead-up to the revocation of theEdict of Nantes.