In early modern Europe, literacy was on the rise, and it became possible to reflect on oneâs own life and secrets in private notes, letters to family and friends, as well as diaries, memoirs, and travelogues. Privacy in Early Modern Egodocuments: Personal Lives in Historical Perspective combines historical research with an analysis of personal narratives from Eastern, Central, and Western Europe (also in the global context) to discuss what privacy meant at a time of political and social turmoil. The contributions explore personal writings by elite figures, as well as non-elite groups and marginalised voices, in a detective-like fashion, bringing into focus narratives that have long been overlooked in traditional historical studies. The authors offer insights into the evolution of the concept of privacy as well as the use of egodocuments as a vital resource for understanding individual and collective memory, particularly as shaped by the region's dynamic history.
Contributors are: András Bándi, Jakub Basista, Michael Green, Nere Jone Intxaustegi Jauregi, Anna Kowalcze-Pawlik, Katarzyna Kuras, Bernadetta ManyÅ, Joanna OrzeÅ, François-Joseph Ruggiu, Robert T. Tomczak, Nataliia Voloshkova, and Aleksandra Ziober.
Michael Green is University Professor at the Filip Friedman Centre for Jewish Studies, and director of the Centre for Self-Narratives, University of Lodz. He specialises in early modern religious culture, notions of privacy, and self-narratives. He is the author of, among others, The Huguenot Jean Rou (1638â1711): Scholar, Educator, Civil Servant (2015), and the co-founder of the International Egodocumental Network.
Joanna OrzeÅ is Assistant Professor at the Institute of History, University of Lodz. She specialises in the history of the culture of the nobility of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the cultural and intellectual history of the Enlightenment, and the history of travel in the early modern era.
Anna Kowalcze-Pawlik is a literary studies scholar, translator, and Assistant Professor at the Faculty of International and Political Studies, University of Lodz. She serves as the President of the Polish Shakespeare Society and deputy editor of the journal Multicultural Shakespeare. Her research focuses on translation, theatre history, and early modern women.
Foreword to the Series List of Illustrations Notes on Contributors
Privacy, Private Lives, and Egodocumental Research
âMichael Green, Joanna OrzeÅ and Anna Kowalcze-Pawlik
1 Looking for Early Modern Egodocuments as Sources for Privacy Research in the Archives: Some Observations
âMichael Green
2 Intimacy as Mutual Knowledge: an Exploration of Privacy through French Personal Writings during the Early Modern Period
âFrançois-Joseph Ruggiu
â3âThe Making of a Hero: Virginia Narratives of John Smith (bap. 1580, d. 1631) and the Subtle Use of Privacy as a Tool to Promote Himself
âJakub Basista
4 (De)Constructing Privacy, Describing Diplomatic Ties: Representations of Elizabeth I in Central European Egodocuments
âAnna Kowalcze-Pawlik
5 Lawsuits and Egodocuments on Sexual Intimacy in Early Modern Bilbao
âNere Jone Intxaustegi Jauregi
6 âEmotionsâ of a Parent during the Struggles of War: Lew Sapiehaâs Private Relationship with His Son Jan StanisÅaw in Letters from 1626
âAleksandra Ziober
7 The Privacy of Princesses and Princes: Relations between Members of the Saxon House of Wettin in the Mid-Eighteenth Century
âKatarzyna Kuras
â8âPrivacy and Publicity in Early Modern Alba Amicorum from Central Europe
âRobert T. Tomczak
9 Privacy in the Last Will Acts of Vilnius Bourgeois Women from the First Half of the Eighteenth Century: Study of Selected Cases
âBernadetta ManyÅ
10 The Emergence of Privacy: Motivations and Self-Expression in Polish Noblewomenâs Diaries and Memoirs in the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries
âJoanna OrzeÅ
11 Bluestockings and Their Spaces of Privacy in Conversation and in Writing: the Case of Mary Hamilton (1756â1816)
âNataliia Voloshkova
12 Public Duty and Private Life in Michael Conrad von Heydendorffâs (1730â1821) Autobiography and Georg Michael Gottlieb von Herrmannâs (1737â1807) Curriculum Vitae
âAndrás Bándi
Index locorum Index nominum
Scholars and advanced students interested in social, cultural, and religious history of the early modern period, who want to discover more on topics related to privacy in the context of archival research and travel-writing in various parts of Europe.