Research
My research connects the histories of knowledge, politics, religion, and violence. I study how distinct fields of knowledge (e.g. legal, theological, or historical knowledge) relate to political discourse, experience and practice. I want to understand how early modern individuals and communities sought to make sense of the values, relationships, institutions, events, and processes that shaped their lives. Currently, I am exploring the dynamics of transgressive violence in the early modern and modern world. I focus on the ways in which complex cultural norms shaped the perception, experience and exercise of extreme violence. I also have an interests in early modern narratives of change - such as Utopian texts - and how they relate to early modern representations of alternative futures. I welcome PhD projects in late medieval and early modern history of empire, the history of political thought and culture, and the history of violence.
I am the founding editor (with Pedro Cardim, Universidad Nova de Lisboa) of 'Early Modern Iberian History in Global Contexts: Connexions' (Routledge), a book series that offers comparative and global perspectives on the Iberian presence in Europe, the Americas, Africa, and Asia. I am also the founding editor and co-editor (with Emily Michelson, University of St Andrews) of 'Renaissance and Early Modern Worlds of Knowledge', the flagship book series of the Society for Renaissance Studies (www.rensoc.org.uk).
The Politics of Knowledge and the Knowledge of Politics in the early modern Iberian World
This strand of my research explores the connections between political thought and political decision-making in the early modern world. The emphasis is on the Spanish Habsburg empire in Europe, the Americas and Asia as well as the Holy Roman Empire. I study how different fields of expertise such as legal, theological or historical knowledge interlaced with one another and how they shaped political education, discourse, and practice, for instance through the varied media of political counsel. Relevant publications include a special issue of the 'Journal of Jesuit Studies' (OA) dedicated to 'Jesuits as Counselors' (Spring 2017, Brill Publishers). The contributions to this special issue trace the ways in which early modern Jesuits acted as political counselors and special advisors in very different political and cultural settings, for instance as confessors to princes and intermediaries crossing dangerous colonial frontiers.
Violence, Emotion, and the Law in Early Modernity
My second research strand explores the relationship between extreme violence, emotion, and societal norms in the early modern world. My focus is on the justification and critique of atrocity in war. Where did individuals and groups draw the boundary between legitimate and illegitimate violence in war? How and why did their response to extreme violence vary? What does their response tell us about individual and collective resilience or propensity to violence? I pursue this research, for instance, as Co-Investigator on the international and interdisciplinary research project 'En los límites de la violencia: masacre y proyección de la Monarquías Ibéricas en los siglos modernos' (Projecto de Investicación del Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Ref. HAR2014- 52414-C2-2-P) and as Co-PI (with Daniel Schwartz, HUJ) of my project 'Massacre and the Law: Atrocity, the Holy Roman Empire and the Thirty Years' War' funded by the Fritz-Thyssen-Foundation (Ref. 10.24.1.0.015GE).
Research groups
Research grants
Massacre and the Law: Atrocity, the Holy Roman Empire, and the Thirty Years War
FRITZ THYSSEN FOUNDATION (GERMANY)
July 2024 - June 2027