This thesis aims at presenting Gregorio Leti (1630 - 1701) through the books he owned and using the auction catalogue established at his death. This unique approach paints a picture of a well-read...Show moreThis thesis aims at presenting Gregorio Leti (1630 - 1701) through the books he owned and using the auction catalogue established at his death. This unique approach paints a picture of a well-read man with connections in influential literary circles and interest in literary and philosophical topics. This analysis required the creation of an extensive database, transcribing and fixing mistakes from the auction catalogue from 1701. This database supported the quantitative and qualitative observations on Leti’s reading habits and interests. Quantitatively, the database agreed with the usual accounts of Leti's life as a typical seventeenth-century academic and educated historian, accounts that have been discussed in the few bibliographies focusing on Leti. Qualitatively, this thesis highlighted a thoroughness and range of interest matching the profile of a seventeenth-century scholar. While analysing Leti’s life and personality, this thesis also introduces some changes in the seventeenth century, including an analysis of philosophical and literary movements that became more prominent in this period.Show less
This thesis compares punishment and social mobility of enslaved Africans and European soldiers in New Netherland. In doing so this thesis analyzes the fluidity between both groups.
This thesis presents an edition of some chapters of the English physician Edward Browne’s travel journal, A Brief Account of Some Travels in Hungaria, Servia, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Thessaly, Austria...Show moreThis thesis presents an edition of some chapters of the English physician Edward Browne’s travel journal, A Brief Account of Some Travels in Hungaria, Servia, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Thessaly, Austria, Styria, Carinthia, Carniola, and Friuli, published in 1685. It focuses on the author’s impressions while visiting the Hungarian cities, baths, and the northern gold, silver and copper mine region. The journal stands out as one of the most detailed descriptions of places and interesting observation of the era. The intention of the edition is to provide an introduction to the background of Edward Browne’s work, to edit the selected parts of the travel journal, and to design it in the form of a book in order to make it accessible to the general reader. This thesis comprises two parts. The first part introduces the reader to the historical background of travelling in seventeenth century, analyses the motives of Browne’s journey, describes his journal, and specifies the editorial methods. The second part consists of the selected chapters of his journal. Following the footsteps of Edward Browne, this book aims to provide an authentic reflection of his experiences, and a guide for those readers who wish to visit the country and the mentioned places today.Show less
This thesis describes Lady Hester Pulter’s (1605-1678) poetry, and, in particular, focuses on religious and royalist components in her work. Pulter lived for most of her life in Cottered,...Show moreThis thesis describes Lady Hester Pulter’s (1605-1678) poetry, and, in particular, focuses on religious and royalist components in her work. Pulter lived for most of her life in Cottered, Hertfordshire, where she wrote a prose romance and a collection of poetry. Her work has survived in one manuscript (MS Lt q 32) that was discovered in the University of Leeds’ Brotherton Library in 1996. Pulter wrote her poetry during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms and the ensuing period of the Commonwealth and the Protectorate. She openly expressed her support of the king and the royalist cause in her poems. For Pulter, Charles I was unquestionably the country´s and the church´s leader. The political aspect, though, is also present in the less obviously political poetry. References to politics crop up through the whole collection. Royalism was an integral part of her life and an inseparable part of her language. In fact, the political component forms an important characteristic of her work.Show less
Reading is an activity that is realised in a specific place and period by individuals with different backgrounds, interests, expectations, and degrees of literacy. Reconstructing reading and its...Show moreReading is an activity that is realised in a specific place and period by individuals with different backgrounds, interests, expectations, and degrees of literacy. Reconstructing reading and its different practices throughout history is therefore an elaborate task. This paper proposes the use of the 'reading spaces' model as a methodology to outline the reading possibilities for various social groups in specific historical periods and places. The study goes beyond the basic divide of the literate and the illiterate by considering a wider context and analysing the elements that can foster or limit reading. These influences have been determined through a review of existing historical reading studies and can be summarised into education, profession, socio-economic conditions, culture, and the legal and political system of any certain period. This particular approach to reading studies was developed as a method to study the activity of reading in seventeenth-century New Spain. The paper provides a theoretical framework for the reading spaces model as a basis and it then examines the various differentiators and conditions that influence reading in seventeenth-century colonial Mexico. Finally, it presents the analysis of three book inventories from that period and compares them to their corresponding reading spaces.Show less
Research master thesis | History: Societies and Institutions (research) (MA)
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Johan van Reede,lord of Renswoude (1593-1682) was an Utrecht nobleman who acted in the political system of the seventeenth-century Dutch Republic for over a half a century . Aim of this political...Show moreJohan van Reede,lord of Renswoude (1593-1682) was an Utrecht nobleman who acted in the political system of the seventeenth-century Dutch Republic for over a half a century . Aim of this political biography was to examine his political carreer within a wider political context.Show less
