Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online

1. Background and history “As your Ambassador can see for himself, we possess all things. I set no value on objects strange or ingenious, and have no use for your country’s manufactures” [3. 340] – this brusque dismissal of British hopes for a relaxation of trade conditions by the elderly Qianlong Emperor formed the centerpiece of the letter George Macartney was given at the end of his 1793 mission to the Chinese court to submit to King George III of Great Britain. Other British requests, also denied, concerned a permanent emba…

1. Concept and overviewThe term “Machiavellianism” is derived from the name of the Florentine Niccolò Machiavelli, and in general denotes a political strategy that is judged amoral or tyrannical [7. 92]. It refers to the political treatises of Machiavelli, particularly Il Principe (1532; “The Prince”) and  Discorsi sopra la prima deca di Tito Livio (1531; “Discourses on the first decade of Titus Livius”), and especially to those passages in these works that commend dissimulation (Lie), betrayal, and cruelty to rulers as means of enforcing their …

1. General remarksMachines were in use in Europe long before industrialization. The watermill was in widespread use going back to antiquity, and there were tens of thousands of working mills in Europe at the beginning of the modern era, including mills for grain and for other rough work like crushing, for example of hides for tanning (Leather production), or for pounding the components of gunpowder. Machines of this sort, along with cranes (Lifting apparatus) and pumping stations (Water and the ar…

See Technical literature

Machine-breaking refers to the destruction of machines as a form of social protest. The phenomenon is attested going back to the early modern era but was most associated with early industrialization. Machine-breaking is attested in contexts in which the introduction of the new machines was interpreted as squeezing out (often highly skilled) human work, especially in the textile industry, but also in metal-working and agriculture.Machine-breaking reached its initial high point in England in the second half of the 18th and the early 19th centuries. The Luddi…

The term  machine tool first appeared in reports on the World Exhibition in London in 1851 [4. 108]; the German equivalent also first became commonly used in the second half of the 19th century. However, authors of German engineering textbooks, like Ferdinand Jakob Redtenbacher (1860), Julius Ludwig Weisbach, and Gustav Herrmann (1875) intially used it less often than French authors, who openly included machine tools among work machines. In 1846, Weisbach claimed “no essential difference” between tool and machine [3. 73]. The British distinction between  hand tool and machine…

See Dietetics | Medicine

See Marian devotion

See School

1. Precursors and originsIn the first half of the 14th century, madrigale was an Italian poetic genre, the leading exponents of which included Petrarch. At first, the term occurred only in treatises on literary forms (Poetry), but the madrigal as a musical form also began to find its way into musical treatises from the second half of the 14th century. The trecento madrigal, based on strictly defined rules of form and versification, disappeared from musical sources early in the 15th century.Hendrikje Mautner2. Centers in the first half of the 16th century 2.1. FlorenceAround 1530, …

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The word “magazine” comes from the Arabic makhâzin, which means “storehouse.” It arrived in the Romance language region from around 1400, initially in this general sense, probably in connection with the commercial relationships of the Italian city states (Italian  maggazzino; Spanish  magacén; French  magasin).As armies increased in size from the early 16th century, magazines were built, sporadically at first, to supply troops in the field (Charles V 1522). A regulated system of magazines was set up in France from the second half of the…

1. Concept and originsThe Magdeburg Centuries is the most famous work of ecclesiastical historiography produced by early modern Protestantism. This open-ended survey of church history was composed between 1553 and 1574 at Magdeburg, Jena, and Wismar. Its eleven volumes appeared between 1559 and 1574 at Basel, and covered the period from the 1st to the 13th centuries. There is also a handwritten history of the Reformation. The original title  Historia Ecclesiastica (“Ecclesiastical History”) was quickly overtaken by the nickname Magdeburg Centuries, which indicates that…

See Maritime trading routes

1. Popular culture and way of life 1.1. Concept and historical evaluationsUntil the European Age of Enlightenment, magic involved a belief in the existence of supernatural forces occurring within or beyond one's own group, forces attributed to demons (Demonology), people, nature in general, or objects or substances. Where these forces were harmful, collective, or individual, measures had to be undertaken to counter them. Concepts of magic involved the belief that it was possible to influence everyday life …

1. DefinitionA magnate (Neolatin from magnus, “great”) here means a member of a European nobility group of the early modern period, whose status, power, and wealth brought him an outstanding position of leadership within the nobility, often with privileged access to state resources and offices and the power to exercise considerable political influence, even as an individual. Classical examples of this type of noble magnates were the Grandees of Spain, who around 1700 comprised a class of around 100 p…

1. Concept The attractive power of natural magnets (i.e. lodestones; Latin  magnes; German  Magnetstein; French  aimant; Italian  magnete) was already reported in antiquity. In the 12th century, the north-south alignment of magnetized iron needles became known in Europe, and magnetism acquired its first eminent practical application in the form of the compass. Often mentioned in a single breath in antiquity, magnetism and electricity came to be treated as quite distinct in the early modern period. Only with the …

1. Early Islam“The Rightly-Guided One” (Arabic  al-mahdī) in Islam is an attribute of the prophet and his first successors, the Caliphs, whose “right guidance” (Arabic  al-hudā) by God was generally recognized by early Muslims. This consensus collapsed in the course of the rapid expansion of the Caliphate and in the deep conflicts of interest that came with the construction of state institutions and the distribution of profits from conquest. For a time, these led to the splitting of the Caliphate and two early Muslim civil wars (656-661, 683-692 CE).The hope for the restoration…

1. “Magd” in the German landsThe German term Magd (“maid”; OHG  magat, MHG  maget, magt, Dutch  maagd, Frisian  megith) at first denoted an unmarried adult woman, but came in particular to refer to rural female servants in husbandry.The Magd, as a seasonal rural laborer, was – like the  Knecht – widespread in regions where the European marriage pattern and the nuclear family centered on a married couple were customary. Service as a maid in rural society accordingly marked a phase in the usual course of life (Curriculum vitae). Such service…

See Virginity

1. IntroductionThe establishment of the mail has a particular prominence among the accomplishments in early modern communication. From the 16th century until well into the 19th, the mail was crucial to the infrastructure of all land transportation, and thus for the transportation and conveyance of letters and news, monies, goods, and passengers (Land transport; Passenger transportation). Founded by the future Emperor Maximilian I for the purpose of conveying government dispatches, the mail soon d…

See Censorship

See Water supply

1. IntroductionMaintenance is the provision of payments to people who are unable to support themselves. A distinction is made between maintenance between spouses and between other relatives, especially parents and children. Maintenance obligations in the early modern period were regulated by law. Marriage contracts generally contained no such provisions.Cordula Scholz-Löhnig2. Claims between parents and children 2.1. Early modern periodIn the first centuries of the early modern period, the right to maintenance was not yet found as a distinct legal in…

1. HistoryUnlike the later Républiques-sœurs of revolutionary France, the Republic of Mainz [6] was still true to the ideology of liberation of the early days of the French republic, with its slogan “Friede den Hütten, Krieg den Palästen” (“Peace to the shacks, war on the palaces” (French Revolution [1789]). Although it was subject to the directives of an occupation, it developed a striking political life of its own, insofar as this was possible in just six months. A few days after the flight of the El…

The domestication of maize ( Zea mays) from the wild grass teosinte took place 6,000 years ago in what is now southern Mexico. From there, the cultivation of maize spread across North, Central, and South America [5]; [6], and it formed the nutritional basis for the pre-Columbian high cultures [3. 166]. The European history of maize began with the very first voyage of Columbus, who discovered and described maize plantations on the islands of the West Indies in 1492. Participants in his second expedition took the first kernels to Europe [6]; [5]. The crop spread rapidly in Europe, …

See Criminal responsibility | Guardianship | Person

1. DefinitionThe majority principle is a key technique for decision-making in groups, committees, and organizations. It depends on equating the will of the majority with that of the entire body, and therefore stands in potential conflict with unanimity and personal freedom. Distinctions are made between absolute majority (majority of all possible votes), simple majority (majority of votes actually cast), relative majority (or plurality, with one proposal receiving more votes than any other), and qualified majority (defined majority, e.g. two-thirds).Arno Strohmeyer2. Earl…

See Fever

See Curse

See Famine and food riots | Food

1. Concept: origins and developmentIn his  Essay on the Principle of Population (1798), the English theologian and economist Thomas Robert Malthus asserted that the human population naturally grew more quickly than did the production of the resources necessary for its sustenance. He therefore introduced a pessimistic turn in the debate on human progress (Humankind, human being), founding a paradigm shift in thinking on the theory and politics of population (see below, 2.) [10]; [11]. Malthus’ “law of population” made poverty a necessary consequence of populatio…

1. IntroductionMamluk (from the Arabic  mamluk, “in possession”) is the name given to the slave dynasties that ruled Egypt and Syria from 1250 to 1517 [5], and the military leaders and governors ascended from the slave class who managed to achieve substantial autonomy in the course of the 18th century in various Arabic provinces of the Ottoman Empire (especially Egypt, Baghdad, and Mosul) [7]; [8]; [9]. The phenomenon of military slavery was important in the history of Muslim societies from as early as the 9th century. Young slaves were bought outside th…

See Humanity | Humankind, human being

The Manchu (or Manchurians) were one of the peoples of the northern forest and steppe zone of east Asia, who succeeded in establishing an imperial dynasty in China as foreign rulers. The derivation of the term Manchu has not been established with certainty. It was first mentioned in 1599, and from 1635 it officially replaced the old ethnonym Jurchen. Ethnically and linguistically speaking, the Manchu belonged to the Tungusic group of the Altai peoples. They inhabited the northeastern region of China (now Manchuria).The Manchu tribes always had close relations with the China …

1. Concept The word “mandarin,” first attested in English and German ( Mandarin) around 1630, derives from the Portuguese  mandarim, which in turn goes back to the Malay menteri and Sanskrit mantrin (“minister,” “advisor”; from Sanskrit mantra, “advice”). In this sense, the Portuguese were the first to apply it to members of the Chinese bureaucratic class, and many other European languages adopted the usage. The term was later extended to other areas of the Chinese cultural sphere, especially the northern dialect of the formal spoken language “Mandarin [Chinese]” (Chinese  guanhua…

In a broad sense, a mandate is any form of commission from a third party. In a political context, it implies a central theme of the modern discourse on parliamentarianism, namely the binding of the elected deputy to the will of the electorate. The problem dates back to the instructing of delegates to the late medieval estates assemblies (Estates, assembly of) and the scope of their entitlement to negotiate. In the 18th and early 19th centuries, the problem of the mandate acquired a new dimension…

See Emperor

A bond is a documented promise to pay, with a stipulated interest rate, term, and method of redemption. Unlike credit or a loan for consumption, a bond is negotiable, that is, it can be resold. In this sense, a bond is similar to a bill of exchange, but the latter usually has a term of less than a year, whereas a bond has a longer term. The distinction between the money market and the capital market is analogous. Ever since the latter was created in the 17th century, bond trading has been its primary activity. The payment promised at final maturity represents a rate of 100%. Both…

See Mannerism

1. ConceptThe complex of ideas associated with the concept of the Manifest Destiny of the United States is best described as the notion of its quasi-divine mission of territorial expansion (Expansionism) and of the history of the United States as the fulfillment of that mission.  John L. O'Sullivan, a New York journalist and politician of the Democratic Party, coined the phrase in an 1845 essay in the periodical he edited, the United States Magazine and Democratic Review: “our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development…

See Communist Manifesto

See Humanity | Humankind, human being

See Men's associations

1. IntroductionMannerism in art, literature, and music is generally defined as the characteristic of a self-consciously elaborate or artificial style, and in art history in particular as an epoch located between the Renaissance and the Baroque. The term was coined in art studies in the late 18th century as a derivative of  “manner” (see below, 2.1.). In this context, it refers to a period between around 1520/30 and 1590/1600, a phase supposedly displaying symptoms of decadence in art and architec…

1. A social idealManners were understood from the late 15th century as the sum of all behaviors that expressed politeness or courtesy (German Höflichkeit; Italian  cortesia, gentilezza; Spanish  cortesía; French  politesse, civilité, towards ladies also  courtoisie and  galanterie; Dame) in practice. These were therefore more than merely forms of conduct corresponding to applicable social rules. Such prescribed conduct differed in the early modern period according to gender, estate, profession, confession, and social, ethnic, and…

See Dining | Table culture

The term manor (German Rittergut) denotes a legal status deriving from a rural ensemble consisting of a manor house, agricultural uses belonging to it, and other entitlements (Estate). The German  Rittergut was only loosely related to the medieval estate of the  Ritter (Knights). The term has nothing to do with the  Reichsritterschaft (“Imperial Knights of the Holy Roman Empire”); it is related instead to the process of state formation in the early modern period. In 19th-century Germany, it took on great importance in the debates over constitutional monarchy. The term  landown…

See Estate | Gutsherrschaft

1. TerminologyThe term “manorialism” (also, “seigneurialism”; German: Grundherrschaft) designates the medieval economic system that was based on individual units of land known as “manors” or “seigneuries,” each of which was subject to a “lord of the manor” or “seigneur” (German:  Grundherr). Modern medieval historians view the rise of manorialism in the early Middle Ages as a key factor in the peculiar development of Europe. Its effective organization of labor, which combined seigneurial self-sufficiency (“Salic patrimony”) centered o…

See Mining technology

See Murder

1. ConceptA manufactory was a production plant in a preindustrial trade (Industrial trades and crafts), generally belonging to proto-industrial export industries (Proto-industrialization). Members of its labor force worked outside their own household economy under the supervision and coordination of a third person – a manager, a merchant-manufacturer, or a master manufacturer. The centralization of the production process might relate to a single production step (horizontal integration), but verti…

See Enterprise | Factory (manufactory) | Industrialization | Production, global areas of | Productivity | Proto-industrialization

See Industrial town

1. Concept Manuring is the addition of nutrients to the soil. In arable farming, this was done by adding organic and inorganic substances, and by so-called green manuring (Leguminosae). Meadows received nutrients primarily through irrigation.Werner Troßbach 2. Animal feces Farmyard manure was obtained by mixing animal feces with strewing materials, such as straw, leaves, conifer needles, and twigs. It contains all the nutrients required for the cultivation of grain and enriches the soil humus. Degradation of nutrients ca…

1. Rediscovery of ancient textsIntensive study of Latin and Greek manuscripts as material evidence of classical intellectual and cultural history is regarded as a defining characteristic of Humanism, the aspirational educational and cultural movement that spread from Italy in the 14th century, sweeping the whole of Europe by the 16th [2]; [7]. Monastic scriptoria had maintained an almost continual effort of conserving and caring for ancient and medieval texts throughout the Middle Ages, primarily for teaching and educational purposes. Such mos…

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See Cartography

1. Concept and definitionFrom the 17th to the 19th centuries, postal maps were one of the most important travel aids of the early modern period, contributing to strengthening and clarifying networks across Europe. These works combined cartography (Map, road/street) with (postal) scheduling (Itinerary) and distance tabulation (mile markers, mile disks) in order to give a visual impression of spatial conditions. These travel maps omitted any reference to road or street names, focusing purely on the d…

1. 16th-17th centuries Maps developed in close correspondence with the history of travel. People on pilgrimages, emissaries (Diplomacy), nobles on the Grand Tour, and later citizens educating themselves on a  Bildungsreise appreciated early modern maps as sources of information and aids to orientation. The stimulus to the production of the first map in Germany was the 1500 Catholic Jubilee. The unsigned, undated map of the route to Rome is attributed to the Nuremberg compass maker Erhard Etzlaub ( Das ist der Rom Weg von meylen zu meylen mit puncten verzeychnet von e…

1. IntroductionThe Maratha Empire emerged in the Marathi-speaking region of western India (the present-day state of Maharashtra in the Indian union) in the 17th century, and grew to be an influential early modern power in the Indian subcontinent over the 18th century. The Maratha state forms a crucial element in early modern South Asian society and politics as one of the most important rivals and successor states of the Mughal Empire. Early in the 19th century, it was the most significant impedim…

See German Revolution (1848/9)

See Exclusion | Minorities | Social structure | Underclass

1. BasicsFrom the 2nd century on, numerous legends grew up around Mary, the mother of Jesus, whose life is only briefly sketched in the NT. Especially after the divine sonship of Jesus Christ was defined dogmatically in the 4th and 5th centuries, she was venerated privately and liturgically. Particularly in the Middle Ages, a growing number of Marian feasts were established and distributed throughout the church year, while churches and pilgrimage sites (Pilgrimage, local) were dedicated to the Mother of God (see 2.2. below).In the Middle Ages, she was also seen as an exempl…

Insurance covers losses of assets brought about by specific events by distributing them among a larger number of persons. The events relevant to marine insurance are accidents at sea up to and including sinking as well as hijacking and its consequences. In the early modern period, marine insurance in the narrower sense covered damage up to and including loss of ship and cargo, in the broader sense also the consequences for the individuals affected.The beginnings of marine insurance in the late Middle Ages differed greatly from current forms of insurance, but they sha…

See Puppet theater

1. ConceptMarital age is an important demographic parameter of the European marriage pattern, and the crucial factor in determining early modern fertility levels. Fluctuations in marital age have a telling influence on fertility and demographic growth rates (Population). A marital age differing by two years at first marriage (Marriage, contraction of) might mean (translated into number of offspring) one childbirth or offspring more or fewer, and thus a quicker or slower succession of generations.In early modern western and Central Europe, the marital age was g…

1. Concepts and theoriesThe concept of choice of partner must be seen in historical terms. “Partner” today connotes a concept of relationship based on legal, social, and economic gender equality and fundamental equal rights. None of this applied in the early modern period, nor was the term “partner” so used. Unlike terms like husband, wife, spouse, or consort (cf. German Gatte/Gattin, French  conjoint[e]), “partner” also holds connotations of other forms of relationship, while the goal of partner choice historically speaking is seen primarily in relatio…

1. ConceptThe term marital consent (German Ehekonsens) had a twofold meaning in the early modern matrimonial law of the Holy Roman Empire. Firstly, in matrimonial canon law it denoted the agreement or declaration of intent on the part of a man and woman to enter into a marriage  (Marriage, contraction of). Secondly, in many German territories – particularly in the 18th and 19th centuries – it denoted the permission to wed or recognition of a marriage that was granted by the sovereign power and local a…

See Social mobility

1. Legal scopeThroughout the early modern period, maritime commercial law was the branch of private law that regulated shipping by sea. It covered the legal relations of those involved in deep sea navigation: (1) the ship owner or shipping company as proprietor of the ship; (2) the skipper or captain of the ship as the highest authority on board and the proprietor’s representative; (3) the crew, which stood under the captain’s authority; and (4) finally the merchants shipping their wares. Seafarers’ articles of agreement ( Heuervertrag) were concluded between the proprietor …

See Marine insurance

See Shipping | Trade | Trade territory

1. Introduction Two main conditions determined the choice of sea route and the management of the movement of goods by sea in the early modern period. The first was the natural conditions governing travel by sailing ship (Deep sea navigation), and the second was requirements regarding the safety and security of transports. For covering long distances at sea, relatively steady wind and current systems, at least on a seasonal basis, were particularly useful. On longer voyages, such as betw…

Like the pound, the mark in the early modern period was (1) a unit of mass, (2) a counting unit, and (3) a minted coin.(1) As a unit of mass, the mark was also the basis of coinage systems (Weights and measures). In Central Europe, the Cologne Mark ( c. 233 g) [9] gained general acceptance over other regional mark weights like the Nuremberg Mark ( c. 255 g) and the Vienna Mark ( c. 280 g), and the Esslingen  Reichsmünzordnung (Imperial Coinage Ordinance) of 1524 declared it the basic coin weight of the Holy Roman Empire. Standard mark weights were available at the office…

1. General remarks 1.1. DefinitionIn modern economic theory, the term market refers to the encounter of supply with demand for the purpose of exchange. A “perfect” or “complete” market – in contrast to a monopoly market – exists when the market price cannot be influenced by individual suppliers or demanders. This equilibrium price is considered efficient; it is possible in the absence of practical or seasonal preferences on the part of consumers or producers, when market transparency predominates, when th…

See Market

See Piazza

1. Market regulations From the 16th to the 18th century, markets in Europe were the subject of numerous legal provisions. Cities were responsible for holding weekly markets, although in some cases permission had to be obtained from the local ruler (as, for instance, in Prussia) [4. 33–37]. Municipal law and local territorial law, as well as special market ordinances, were accordingly sources of law for markets. Such norms were part of police ordinances ( gute Policey). They described markets from the perspective of the sovereign power, which they likewise reflecte…

1. Definition and originIn the western half of Germany, eastern France, large parts of Austria and Switzerland, and northeastern Netherlands,  Marken (“marks”) were a widespread form of common land [6]. The compound noun  Markgenossenschaft  (“mark cooperative association”), by contrast, was an organizational concept of the 19th-century German Historical School; its purpose was to interpret the specific forms of common use of agricultural and silvicultural resources as an essential feature of the oeconomica of Old Europe. At the same time,  Markgenossenschaft was among…

1. GeneralIn the Middle Ages, the term  Markscheidewesen – from Mark (obsolete: “territory, terrain”), Scheide (“boundary”), and Wesen (“entity”) – referred originally only to surveying in the context of mining. At the beginning of the early modern period it came to denote all the surveys and documentation required in mining; the Markscheider is the engineer responsible for all surveys, computations, and representations (plans, graphics) [5]. Measurements in conjunction with structures above and below ground were always a demanding job; carrying them …

1. European societies 1.1. General remarksThe term “marriage” denotes a lasting relationship between a man and a woman that derives its legitimacy from a religious or state ordinance. As a social institution, it is fundamental to the preservation of gender distinctions (see Gender; Gender roles) in society and of the social and symbolic order that goes along with these. The conventional, religious, and civil-rights ordinances connected with marriage (Matrimonial law) regulate and control the relation…

Marriage brokering could be accomplished through private contacts or operated as a professional business. Neither Church nor State in Europe ever raised any objections to private marriage brokering through parents or relatives, but professional brokering was continually subject to a degree of criticism on theological, legal, and moral grounds. The boundaries between private and professional marriage brokering are sometimes difficult to discern, however, since in many regions it was customary to compensate even private arrangements when they resulted in a marriage.Private m…

1. FoundationsCivil marriage refers to a form of marriage that was not based on a religious definition of marriage and was not enacted via religious ceremony. Whereas the Catholic Church saw marriage as a sacrament and the Protestant denominations saw it as symbolizing the ties between Christ and the Church (see Occasional services), civil marriage was based on the idea that marriage represented a private-law contract between two parties. It was contracted before representatives of bourgeois soci…

1. Legal frameworkThe canon law of the Catholic Church severely restricted the contraction of marriage (Marriage, contraction of) between relatives (Kinship).  Marriage was originally prohibited up to the seventh degree of kinship, but this limitation was reduced to the fourth degree at the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215 (see Incest 2.), albeit with a stricter calculation of degrees. In principle this regulation of Catholic canon law is still in force.The canon law prohibiting marriage within certain degrees of kinship included in-laws. Marriage to the relative…

1. RequirementsThe contraction of a legally valid marriage in the early modern period depended on satisfying specific legal requirements that served to monitor and guarantee this extremely important union in a community for the purpose of cohabitation and especially procreation. Impediments to marriage and formal requirements were used to reach this goal; the freedom to marry was sometimes limited for such regulatory purposes, insofar as marriage licenses were required (Marital consent). At the b…

1. DefinitionThe dissolution of marriage serves as the legal umbrella term for all ways in which a marriage may be terminated. In modern terms, one thinks first and foremost of divorce. In the early modern period, in which ecclesiastical matrimonial law remained influential, it makes sense to distinguish between Catholic, Protestant, and secular law. The starting point for the evolution of the law governing the dissolution of marriage is the view of canon law that presumed the indissolubility of a legally contracted, sacramental marriage [7. 240 ff.]: “What God has joined toge…

See Marriage, morganatic

1. Definition Morganatic marriage, also known as left-handed marriage, made it possible for men of the high nobility to marry a woman of inferior rank (Equal birth, principle of) and thus legitimate his cohabitation with her without permitting her to enjoy his privileges or property rights. This form of marriage thus existed in early modern Europe predominantly as a legal institution of princely law (Privatfürstenrecht) [1. 180]; [3. 16, 18, 32ff.].Cordula Scholz-Löhnig2. Juristic constructionThanks to the influence of the Church in the Middle Ages, morganatic marri…

1. DefinitionThe concept of a European marriage pattern was presented by the English statistician John Hajnal in 1965 and has had a lasting impact on historical-demographic and social-historical research on the modern era in Europe ever since [8]; [5. 11]. Hajnal’s concept did not take account of all the social, cultural, economic, and legal phenomena connected with matrimony and marriage [7], but focused on the two demographic parameters of marital age and the proportion of the population that remained unmarried for their entire lives (quota of si…

1. OriginsThe anthem that became known as La  Marseillaise [10] was written after the French declaration of war on Austria (April 20, 1792) as a patriotic “War Song for the Army of the Rhine” ( Chant de guerre pour l'armée du Rhin). Encouraged by the Mayor of Strasbourg, Frédéric de Dietrich, the engineer officer Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle [9], a self-taught musician stationed there, composed the words and music and gave the first public performance of the anthem. La  Marseillaise swept to its real triumph three months later, as the marching song of the 500-strong nat…

1. Definition Early modern martial law [22]; [2]; [1] (Latin:  ius or  iudicium statarium/stativum/pedareum/extraordinarium) was a special branch of law rooted in military jurisdiction. It came into force particularly in wartime (War), imposing a harsher form of criminal law and expedited trials for certain crimes (see below, section 2.1.) as well as the immediate condemnation and execution of judgments reached by an extraordinary court of law (German:  Standgericht; see below, section 2.2.). It thus was expedited justice in the truest sense of the word. …

1. IntroductionMartyr drama presents the passion of a martyr (Greek mártys, Late Latin martyr, “one who bears testimony”) in the form of a  Trauerspiel or tragedy.  A Christian martyr drama has at its center a person who bears testimony to the truth of faith through the blood witness of his or her violent death. This avowal is interpreted as an exemplum of virtue and the imitatio Christi (“imitation of Christ”), in order to show the world to be determined in accordance with the teleology of salvation, and informed by ethical ideals. Early modern martyr dra…

See Marian devotion

1. Research approachesMasculinity (German Männlichkeit; French  masculinité) has since the 1980s been a concept in social and cultural science through which cultural constructs of masculinities, subjective experiences, and social and psychological identities of men have been studied. Proceeding on the theoretical basis of gender studies, the key assumption here is that masculinity, like femininity, is a cultural construct created in discourses and social practices (cf. Gender; Gender roles) [19]. Its universalistic character makes the concept of masculinity …

1. IntroductionA mask (German Maske or  Larve; French  masque; from Italian  maschera and Middle Latin masca and Arabic mas-chara, “mockery,” “joke,” “buffoon,” “masked figure”) is generally a sculptural image made of wood, clay, leather, cork, fabric, or plaster over canvas, designed to conceal or distort one's own identity. It is often complemented by a corresponding costume. A distinction is drawn between the face mask and the full head mask, which is made like a helmet and completely conceals the head, an…

1. IntroductionAs a subgenre of early modern parades, pageants, and processions, the masquerade was primarily a phenomenon of courtly festival culture. It did not form part of municipal or ecclesiastical processions, in which, although there was festival decoration and architecture and although costumed performers acted out allegorical scenes, the performers themselves were not masked. In masquerades, they adopted their roles by donning a mask. Masquerades were rarely performed independently, but…

The French word  massacre originated in the world of the slaughterhouse and denoted the “butcher’s block,” the said butcher’s cleaver being the  massacreur (from the Vulgar Latin matteuca, cf. French massue, cf. English “mattock,” “mace”). It was during the French Wars of Religion (Religion, wars of) in the second half of the 16th century that the word acquired the sense it still has today, of extreme collective violence perpetrated against numerous defenseless victims. It is interesting to note that this shift of meaning …

1. Catholic Mass See WorshipFranz Körndle 2. Music 2.1. Genesis of the polyphonic ordinarium missae It was in the 14th century that musicians began assembling polyphonic settings of the parts of the  ordinarium missae ( Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and  Agnus Dei - and in those days often  Ite missa est) to form a multipart cycle (Worship). In all likelihood, the settings of the mass from Barcelona, Tournai, and elsewhere were not the work of individual composers, but collections of works by a variety of authors. The Messe de Nostre Dame composed in full by Guillaume de Machaut …