Civilisation of Violence? A Critical Reanalysis of the Premodern Sources

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Gerd Schwerhoff
• Subject Area: Early Modern History
• Term: from 2015 to 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 279498872

The idea that violence has dramatically declined since medieval times has become a well established narrative among international historians, often interpreted in terms of theory of the civilising process developed by Norbert Elias. This decline of violence thesis is empirically based upon the graphs produced by Swiss criminologist Manuel Eisner who undertook a secondary analysis of dozens of independent regional studies. The main measurement instrument is the homicide rate, the number of violent deaths in a given year per 100.000 inhabitants. While many scholars, especially German ones, have been sceptical of this methodology, their criticisms seems to be marginalized. If there was a discussion, it has focused more on the theoretical interpretation of generated numbers than on the verification of the numbers themselves. This project will provide a critical source-based revision of the empirical basis used to graph incidents of historical violence. Eisner's data will be assessed and entered into a scheme of analysis, so that its reliability can be revised. It should be able to (at least partially) proof the claim, with reasonable certainty, that there has been a long-term decline of violence over the course of centuries. Future debates in history and other social sciences will be able to situate themselves in relation to this new baseline.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants