Frühneuzeitliche Politik und weibliche Melancholie

Autor(en)

Julia Gebke

Abstrakt

Early modern diplomats suffered from a variety of diseases and they continuously wrote about it. Two diseases seem to be rather prominent among early modern princes, diplomats and courtiers: gout and melancholy. They could even be used for negotiations in politics and diplomacy. Both diseases were also shaped by gender-specific norms. Therefore, the article explores in a first step the gender-specific norms underlying the diverse forms of melancholy drawing from a variety of sources such as medical and demonological treatises. In a second step, Holy Roman Empress Maria of Austria (1528–1603), a prominent sufferer of melancholy, serves as a case study to find out how her disease was perceived on the one hand by herself and on the other hand by the Spanish ambassadors at the Imperial court and how her indispositions could be used by herself and by the ambassadors in family diplomacy between the two branches of the House of Habsburg. It seems that possibilities and limits of agency concerning the use of the sick body as a tool for negotiations in courtly politics and diplomacy were considerably determined by categories such as gender or age.

Organisation(en)

Institut für Geschichte

Journal

Frühneuzeit Info

Band

29

Seiten

98-115

Anzahl der Seiten

18

ISSN

0940-4007

Publikationsdatum

2018

ÖFOS 2012

601005 Europäische Geschichte, 601016 Österreichische Geschichte, 601014 Neuere Geschichte

Schlagwörter

Link zum Portal

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/03318ab8-acc2-4909-adc4-15cf2011d15e