Zwang zur Barmherzigkeit?

Ausdruck und Vermessung herrschaftlicher Spielraume im Umgang mit Armut in mecklenburgischen Residenzstadten (1750 - 1840): Eine argumentationsgeschichtliche Annaherung

by Julia Ellermann

Book cover: Zwang zur Barmherzigkeit?

Extent: 664 pages

Publisher: Verlagsgruppe Patmos

Subjects: Social Sciences , Twentieth- & Twenty-First- Century History

Series: Residenzenforschung. Stadt und Hof

Series volume number: 3

Language: German

(Hardback) (Published)

(February 2017)

ISBN: 9783799545327

Price: $81.00

Out of stock

The transition from the premodern to the modern era was shaped by complex relationships between continuity and innovation, tradition and transformation, persistence and change within the political and social cultures of Europe. Rather than presenting a triumphalist account of the rise of the modern state, the author traces this development through the example of governmental poor relief in the ducal residences of Mecklenburg, identifying the milestones that made the emergence of the institutional territorial state possible. Using what might be considered a typical case of Central European state formation, the study demonstrates how the scope for policy making evolved through changing political arguments and practices. Although the enduring obligation to show mercy reflects the continued influence of the normative systems of premodern Europe, it ultimately reveals less the permanence of political and social culture than the actual pace at which that culture was transformed.

  • By (author) Julia Ellermann