Habilitation thesis

Gravamen und Geleit. Die Juden im Ständestaat der Frühen Neuzeit (15.-18. Jahrhundert) (= Forschungen zur Geschichte der Juden, Abhandlungen, Bd. 21), Hannover: Hahn 2010 [430 pp.]
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The contemporary terms “Gravamen” and “Geleit” mark a fundamental connection for the living conditions of Jews in the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation: the Geleit—the right of residence, however specified, for individual Jews or collectively for the territorial Jewish communities—determined whether one stayed or had to leave. Its granting formally fell, in the sense of the so-called Judenregal, under the rights of disposal of the princes or the magistrates of the imperial cities.

In practice, however, even in territories generally governed in an authoritarian manner, the estates (Landstände) asserted their claim to be heard in matters of general interest. In their Gravamina (formal statements of grievance), they frequently branded the presence of Jews wherever they had not already been expelled or permanently excluded. Arguments were usually made in a stereotypical manner, citing “good, old law” and invoking the alleged religious depravity and economic harmfulness of the Jews. In reality, this revealed a latent oppositional stance such as corporate bodies in the premodern era often took to preserve their autonomy vis-à-vis governmental action.

The study focuses primarily on the territorial estates and, drawing on a broad source base, analyzes a hitherto virtually unexplored aspect of the influence exercised by intermediate bodies on the legal status of social groups. The expulsions of the 15th and 16th centuries form the point of departure: they created the framework conditions for Jewish life in later times but also provided the estates with a basis for their claims. At the heart of the in-depth empirical investigation are selected territories, though in the interest of a unified treatment of the problem, attention is given to structural analogies throughout the entire empire and across the whole Early Modern period.

Dissertation

Reformationsversuche in Kurköln (1542-1548). Fallstudien zu einer Strukturgeschichte landstädtischer Reformation (Neuss, Kempen, Andernach Linz) (= Reformationsgeschichtliche Studien und Texte, H. 143), Münster i. W.: Aschendorff  2001 [511 pp.]

Toward the end of 1542, the Cologne Elector and Archbishop Hermann von Wied (1515–1546) attempted to anchor the Reformation in his Rhenish territories. This study examines the reception of this reform effort in selected towns of the Cologne archbishopric. In contrast to older research, which was largely guided by the premise that the Rhineland—culturally dominated by the Catholic imperial city of Cologne—was virtually immune to Protestant teaching, this work undertakes a reassessment of the confessional developments and their implications from both a regional and local historical perspective.

Based on new sources, it was possible to demonstrate that there was a fertile ground in the towns of the electorate for the reception of the Reformation impulse, with corresponding strong echoes among the population. The reasons can be found in the social upheavals typical of urban Reformations, in the monopolization of city governments by certain families or interest groups, and in structural deficits of pastoral care.

The project of placing these motives and problem clusters into a coherent context was guided by a complex structural-analytical approach, which projected the immediate reactions to Hermann von Wied’s reform initiative—graspable in the sources—against the backdrop of the late-medieval social and ecclesiastical constitution. In the process, the study develops a broadly applicable methodology for the systematic analysis of territorial Reformations, for which a typology had hitherto been lacking.

2001: Award of the Albert-Steeger-Stipendium of the Landschaftsverband Rheinland at Burg Linn (21 December 2001) in recognition of the dissertation.

Collected Volumes

Edited with Jörg Engelbrecht: Landes- und Reichsgeschichte. Festschrift für Hansgeorg Molitor zum 65. Geburtstag (= Studien zur Regionalgeschichte, Bd. 18), Bielefeld 2004 [446 pp.]

With contributions by:

Thomas Brockmann;  Johannes Burkhardt; Ottfried Dascher; Fritz Dross; Kurt Düwell; Heinz Finger; Michael Koch; Stephan Laux; Clemens von Looz-Corswarem; Paul Münch; Fritz Nies; Leo Peters; Horst Rabe; Olaf R. Richter; Christine Roll; Barbara Schildt-Specker; Herbert Schmidt; Heide Stratenwerth

 

 

Edited with Andreas Fickers and Norbert Franz, Repression, Reform und Neuordnung im Zeitalter der Revolutionen: Die Folgen des Wiener Kongresses für Westeuropa (= Luxemburg-Studien/ Études luxembourgeoises, Bd. 15), Berlin: Peter Lang 2019

With contributions (in order of publication) by: Andreas Fickers/ Norbert Franz, Stephan Laux, Thierry Lentz, Heinz Duchhardt, Christof Dipper, Guy Thewes, Renée Wagener, Nina Schweisthal, Martin Uhrmacher, Marc Birchen, Werner Daum, Hans-Werner Hahn, Cécile Gonçalves, Norbert Franz, Gabriele B. Clemens, Catherine Lanneau, Jens Späth, Michal Chvojka, Stephan Laux.

This volume reflects on the consequences of the Congress of Vienna for Western Europe, particularly from the perspective of the European Greater Region Saarland-Lorraine-Luxembourg-Rhineland-Palatinate-Wallonia. The territorial and political reordering of Europe is examined from a regional-historical perspective without losing sight of the transnational dimensions of this complex process. Particular focus is placed on the constitutional, administrative, and social-historical dynamics that were unleashed in the formation of modern statehood in the Age of Revolutions.

 

Edited with  Maike Schmidt, Grenzraum und Repräsentation. Perspektiven auf Raumvorstellungen und Grenzkonzepte in der Vormoderne (= Trierer Historische Forschungen, Bd. 74), Trier: Kliomedia 2019

With contributions (in order of publication) by: Stephan Laux/ Maike Schmidt, Camille Crunchant, Benjamin Müsegades, Daniel Kaune, Thomas Richter, Martin Berthold, Inge Hülpes, Jort Blazejewski.

Against the backdrop of public debates about national borders, especially those conducted in the context of the so-called “refugee crisis,” historical scholarship has also registered a renewed interest in territorial and cultural boundaries. This volume brings together case studies on premodern borderlands, thus covering not only a broad period from the Late Middle Ages to the French Revolution but also taking into account the variety of different geographical, social, and cultural border configurations. The authors examine the transformation of borders and border concepts between the Middle Ages and Early Modern period, discuss conflicts over lordly, administrative, and religious boundaries, and reflect on the deliberate, at times existential crossing and provocative undermining of existing borders. The focus is on the areas of today’s SaarLorLux border region, but also includes smaller territories and lordships in eastern, central, and southwestern Germany.

[Translate to Englisch:] Cover GRhG 2

Quellenpublikationen der Gesellschaft für Rheinische Geschichtskunde. Rahmenbedingungen, Genese und Rezeption im wissenschaftshistorischen Kontext (= Studien und Darstellungen der Gesellschaft für Rheinische Geschichtskunde, Bd. 2), Köln: Böhlau 2025

The Gesellschaft für Rheinische Geschichtskunde (GRhG) conducts foundational research on the sources of regional history. Since its founding in 1881, it has provided the scholarly community with editions of documents and records. This volume presents the results of a conference held in 2022 to mark the anniversary of the GRhG’s founding. It examines the conditions of origin, development, and reception of the GRhG’s source publications, whose prerequisites varied according to time of composition and changed even during ongoing projects. Nine work-focused studies and two overarching contributions offer insights into the broad thematic and methodological spectrum of the GRhG’s editorial work. At the same time, the volume represents a contribution to the history of historiography by situating selected editions, their respective editors, and the GRhG as publisher within their wider contexts. It helps raise awareness of the historicity of source editions and problematizes them with regard to broader scholarly and social-historical aspects.