Critic of power and advisor of princes:
the court preacher in Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel 1568-1714
In co-operation with the Interdisziplinäres Institut
für Kulturgeschichte der Frühen Neuzeit
at the University of Osnabrück (IKFN)
Internet-Portal: http://www.oberhofprediger.de
Early
modern court preachers acted at the interface of courtly
pastoral care, scholarly theological discourse, executive
power, political consulting and personal faith. They constituted
an especially influential group within the variety of early
modern elites. A closer examination of court preachers can
broaden the understanding of political culture, modern state
building and the development of church and theology between
the 16th and 18th century.
Inquiring and examining the fields, scopes and conditions of action of the court preachers of the duchy of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel will be the aim of an interdisciplinary research project jointly organised by the Herzog August Bibliothek (HAB) Wolfenbüttel and the Interdisziplinäres Institut für Kulturgeschichte der Frühen Neuzeit (IKFN) at the University of Osnabrück. Within the framework of this project three extensive biographical case studies are being produced. At the HAB a monograph study is being composed, dealing with the influential and combative court preacher Basilius Sattler (1549-1624), who was active for more than fifty years in the duchy of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. The study aims at reconstructing Sattler's fields of social interaction, his guiding principles and the strategies and forms which characterised his behaviour in order to gain a precise measure of his political scope of action. The two further studies conducted at the IKFN are dedicated to the court preachers Joachim Lütkemann (1608-1655) and Eberhard Finen (1668-1726). A comparison of the three studies allows to point out trends and developments in the office of the court preacher for about 150 years.
Additionally, an
international conference will employ an interdenominational
approach in order to intensify the academic exchange about
court clerics in early modern Europe. A broad part of the
project is dedicated to digitalising key sources and thus
making them available for research online.
Guest tutorials, a summer school and the designing of an
e-learning module render a didactic aspect to the project,
which will introduce young academics to this important area
of research.
