Mixed Matches: Transgressive Unions in Germany from the Reformation to the Enlightenment

Published by Berghahn Books 2014

Mixed Matches

Transgressive Unions in Germany from the Reformation to the Enlightenment

Edited by: David M. Luebke and Mary Lindemann

Volume 8 in the series Spektrum: Publications of the German Studies Association

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781782384106

Overview
Contents

About this book

The significant changes in early modern German marriage practices included many unions that violated some taboo. That taboo could be theological and involve the marriage of monks and nuns, or refer to social misalliances as when commoners and princes (or princesses) wed. Equally transgressive were unions that crossed religious boundaries, such as marriages between Catholics and Protestants, those that violated ethnic or racial barriers, and those that broke kin-related rules. Taking as a point of departure Martin Luther’s redefinition of marriage, the contributors to this volume spin out the multiple ways that the Reformers’ attempts to simplify and clarify marriage affected education, philosophy, literature, high politics, diplomacy, and law. Ranging from the Reformation, through the ages of confessionalization, to the Enlightenment, Mixed Matches addresses the historical complexity of the socio-cultural institution of marriage.

Author / Editor information

David M. Luebke is Professor of History at the University of Oregon. He is author most recently of Hometown Religion: Regimes of Coexistence in Early Modern Westphalia (2016). He is also editor of The Counter-Reformation (1999) and co-editor of Conversion and the Politics of Religion in Early Modern Germany (2012) and Archeologies of Confession: Writing the German Reformation, 1517-2017 (2017).

Mary Lindemann is Professor and Chair of the Department of History at the University of Miami. She is the author of five books, most recently The Merchant Republics: Amsterdam, Antwerp, and Hamburg (Cambridge University Press, 2015). Earlier publications include; Patriots and Paupers: Hamburg, 1712-1830 (Oxford University Press, 1990); Health and Healing in Eighteenth-Century Germany (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996); Medicine and Society in Early Modern Europe (2nd edition, 2010); Liaisons dangereuses: Sex, Law, and Diplomacy in the Age of Frederick the Great (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006).

David M. Luebke is Professor of History at the University of Oregon. He is author most recently of Hometown Religion: Regimes of Coexistence in Early Modern Westphalia (2016). He is also editor of The Counter-Reformation (1999) and co-editor of Conversion and the Politics of Religion in Early Modern Germany (2012) and Archeologies of Confession: Writing the German Reformation, 1517-2017 (2017).

Reviews

“This rich volume will be useful to scholars researching and teaching a range of topics, from German history and the history of sexuality, to religious and legal studies.” • Central European History

“This volume is exemplary regarding structure, coherence, and originality.” • Werkstatt Geschichte

“A seminal anthology of original work and research, Mixed Matches is a valued and highly recommended addition to personal and academic library Germany History & Culture reference collections and supplemental studies reading lists.” • Midwest Book Review

“The essays in this groundbreaking volume explore discourses and practices surrounding a wide variety of transgressive unions in early modern Germany, including those that challenged boundaries of confession, rank, race, honor, sexual morality (e.g., the incest ‘taboo’), and, in the case of bigamy, the institution of marriage itself. Taken together, they provide fascinating new insight into the shifting understandings of marriage and sexual union in the years 1500-1800 while highlighting the public dimensions of private intimacy throughout this era.” • George Williamson, Florida State University

“This collection of essays implicitly addresses the adage that ‘every rule is made to be broken.’ Each author takes up a category of departure—shall I say deviance?—from the norms governing moral behavior in early modern Germany, an age allegedly rigidly devoted to order and discipline. The topics run from bigamy through ex-nuns’ marriage, marital class and racial differences, spousal adherence to opposing faiths, and incest. These studies all embody significant primary research and are of uniformly high quality. Collectively they illuminate not only specific acts of nonconformity but the standards themselves.” • Susan C. Karant-Nunn, University of Arizona

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
CONTENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Introduction. Transgressive Unions David M. Luebke Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Chapter 1. “It Is Not Forbidden that a Man May Have More Th an One Wife”: Luther’s Pastoral Advice on Bigamy and Marriage David M. Whitford Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	14
Chapter 2. Celibacy—Marriage—Unmarriage: The Controversy over Celibacy and Clerical Marriage in the Early Reformation Wolfgang Breul Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	31
Chapter 3. “Nothing More than Common Whores and Knaves”: Married Nuns and Monks in the Early German Reformation Marjorie Elizabeth Plummer Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	45
Chapter 4. Transgressive Unions and Concepts of Honor in Early Modern Defamation Lawsuits Ralf-Peter Fuchs Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	63
Chapter 5. Negotiating Rank in Early Modern Marital Mismatches Michael Sikora Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	80
Chapter 6. Between Conscience and Coercion: Mixed Marriages, Church, Secular Authority, and Family Dagmar Freist Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	101
Chapter 7. The Rhetoric of Difference: The Marriage Negotiations between Queen Christina of Sweden and Elector Friedrich Wilhelm of Brandenburg Daniel Riches Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	119
Chapter 8. Mixed Matches and Inter-Confessional Dialogue: The Hanoverian Succession and the Protestant Dynasties of Europe in the Early Eighteenth Century Alexander Schunka Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	134
Chapter 9. Transethnic Unions in Early Modern German Travel Literature Antje Flüchter Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	150
Chapter 10. The Meaning of Love: Emotion and Kinship in Sixteenth-Century Incest Discourses Claudia Jarzebowski Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	166
Chapter 11. Aufklärung, Literature, and Fatherly Love: An Eighteenth-Century Case of Incest Mary Lindemann Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	184
Afterword. Shifting Boundaries and Boundary Shifters: Transgressive Unions and the History of Marriage in Early Modern Germany Joel F. Harrington Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	204
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	213
Notes on Contributors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	239
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	243

Language: English
Publisher: Berghahn Books
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 252
Keywords: History: Medieval/Early Modern

eBook

Published: August 1, 2014
ISBN: 9781782384106