Governing Masculinities in the Early Modern Period

Susan Broomhall is Professor of Early Modern History at The University of Western Australia. Jacqueline Van Gent is Senior Lecturer in Gender Studies at The University of Western Australia.

• Introduction; 1: Civic Manliness in London, c. 1380–1550; 2: Masculine Republics: Establishing Authority in the Early Modern Venetian Printshop; 3: Jean Martin, Governor of the Grand Bureau des Pauvres, on Charity and the Civic Duty of Governing Men in Paris, c. 1580; 4: Codpieces and Potbellies in the Songes drolatiques: Satirizing Masculine Self-Control in Early Modern France and Germany; 5: The Obligations of Governing Masculinity in the Early Stuart Gentry Family: The Barringtons of Hatfield Broad Oak; 6: Militant Masculinity and the Monuments of Westminster Abbey; 7: Between Corporate and Familial Responsibility: Johan Maurits van Nassau-Siegen and Masculine Governance in Europe and the Dutch Colonial World; 8: Raiding the Patriarch's Toolbox: Reading Masculine Governance in Cases of Male Witchcraft, 1592–1692; 9: Side-wounds, Sex, and Savages: Moravian Masculinities and Early Modern Protestant Missions; 10: Alternative Hierarchies: Manhood and Unbelief in Early Modern Europe, 1660–1750; 11: Men Controlling Bodies: Medical Consultation by Letter in France, 1680–1780; 12: Attitudes towards Male Authority and Domestic Violence in Eighteenth-Century London Courts; 13: Policing Bodies in Urban Scotland, 1780–1850

'Governing Masculinities in the Early Modern Period makes an original contribution to the growing literature on European masculinities. Importantly, a significant number of essays deal with places other than England, and the collection covers the longue durée from the 14th to the 19th centuries, creating a link between the extensive literature on medieval masculinities and the extensive literature on the eighteenth century and beyond.' Ulrike Strasser, University of California, Irvine, USA, author of State of Virginity: Politics, Religion, and Gender in a German Catholic Polity 'This stimulating collection of essays, which grew out of a symposium at the University of Western Australia on the masculinities of governing men, explores the relationships between masculinity and government in a wide range of contexts and places in early modern Europe... The essays in this collection help to broaden our understanding of the ways in which men’s authority was defined, experienced, and exercised. They make a useful contribution to the ongoing exploration of meanings of manhood in early modern Europe.' Renaissance Quarterly 'This collection brings together thirteen essays which, when read as a whole, provide important insights into constructions of masculinity in early modern Europe. The real success of this collection is the way in which it manages to provide an overarching image of masculine governance in the early modern world through the use of detailed case studies. This collection is a valuable resource for further studies into masculinity in early modern Europe.' Parergon