Church governance as sustained negotiation. The consistory in the principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbuettel between 1568 and 1617

• Applicant: Dr. Arne Butt
• Subject Area: Early Modern History
• Term: from 2011 to 2016
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 206456470

The research project examines the negotiations processes in a church governing body in Early Modern Germany. Focusing on the consistory in the principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbuettel between 1568 and 1617, the project aims at reviewing and understanding its function and significance in exercising and communicating church governance in the age of confessionalisation. The complete minutes of proceedings of the weekly consistory sessions as well as the quarterly meetings of the general consistory have been preserved and serve as the main source for the research project. Those minutes, altogether more than 15.000 sheets, contain extensive notes of the discussions by consistory members as well as examinations of summoned persons. An analysis of these sources will provide an insight into the basic conditions of governance in the territorial state in Early Modern Germany. They combine the perspectives of the internal negotiations of the councillors of the consistory with litigants, defendants, witnesses and among themselves on the one hand with the external perspective of inter-departmental negotiations between the consistory and other governmental bodies on the other hand.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants