Jacob Burckhardt, Lecture on early modern history (1450-1598), critical edition with commentary

• Applicant: Privatdozentin Dr. Christine Tauber
• Subject Area: Modern and Contemporary History
• Term: from 2010 to 2015
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 182742301

As part of the critical edition of the complete works of Jacob Burckhardt, this project is meant to discuss both his lecture manuscripts on early modern history and his lectures on the times of counter-reformation.The original manuscripts and Burckhardt s additions and supplements will be joined together to be analyzed regarding text critical issues and content. We aim at acquiring a consistent text that allows us to trace back Burckhardt s interpretation of the early modern times in Europe.This critical edition with commentary is an indispensable part of the complete works of Jacob Burckhardt (Jacob Burckhardt Werke) and highly in need, because the lectures on early modern history could be able to shed light on some completely unknown aspects of Burckhardt s view on the formation of the modern European states. Whereas scholars are acquainted to Burckhardt s view on the Italian Renaissance, there has been no written source to transmit his reading of Renaissance and Reformation in northern Europe.The critical edition of the lecture manuscripts on early modern history and the lectures on the times of counter-reformation is hence to cover an important desideratum of the complete works of Jacob Burckhardt. At the same time it could provide access to aspects of Burckhardt s conception of history and of a specific historiographical thought beyond historicism in the 19th century that have been neglected so far.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants