Cosmos and Materiality in Early Modern Prague presents a bold alternative understanding of the history of early modern religion in Central Europe. The history of religion in the early modern period has overwhelmingly been analysed through a confessional lens, but this book shows how Prague's spiritual worlds were embedded in their natural environment and social relations as much if not more than in confessional identity in the seventeenth century. While texts in this period trace emerging discourses around notions of religion, superstition, magic, and what it was to be Catholic or Protestant, a material approach avoids these category mistakes being applied to everyday practice. It is through a rich seam of material evidence in Prague - spoons, glass beakers, and amulets as much as traditional devotional objects like rosaries and garnet encrusted crucifixes - that everyday beliefs, practices, and identities can be recovered.
Suzanna Ivanič is a cultural historian of early modern Central Europe interested in religion, material and visual culture, and travel. She gained her PhD from the University of Cambridge. After a post lecturing at the University of Cambridge she joined the University of Kent as a Lecturer in Early Modern History.
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Congratulations to @siobhanhearne, winner of this year's @BASEES Women's Forum 2023 book prize! 🎉🎉🎉 And also congratulations to @SuzannaIvanic, whose book "Cosmos and Materiality in Early Modern Prague" received an honourable mention. https://t.co/LmRJZVSog4