Combating the Hydra : violence and resistance in the Habsburg Empire, 1500-1900 / Stephan Steiner.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Steiner, Stephan, 1963- author.

Series:

Central European studies.

Central European studies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Habsburg, House of.

Minorities--Europe, Eastern--Crimes against.

Minorities.

Romanies--Europe, Eastern--Crimes against.

Romanies.

Protestants--Austria--History.

Protestants.

Persecution--Austria--History.

Persecution.

Political violence--Austria--History.

Political violence.

Austria--History--1789-1900.

Austria.

Austria--Ethnic relations--History.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xxiv, 252 pages) : illustrations.

Other Title:

Violence and resistance in the Habsburg Empire, 1500-1900

Place of Publication:

West Lafayette, Indiana : Purdue University Press, [2023]

Summary:

"Combating the Hydra explores structural as well as occasion-specific state violence committed by the early modern Habsburg Empire. The book depicts and analyzes attacks on marginalized people "maladjusted" of all sorts, women "of ill repute," "heretic" Protestants, and "Gypsies." Previously uncharted archival records reveal the use of arbitrary imprisonment, coerced labor, and deportation. The case studies presented provide insights into the origins of modern state power from varied techniques of population control, but are also an investigation of resistance against oppression, persecution, and life-threatening assaults. The spectrum of fights against debasement is a touching attestation of the humanity of the outcasts; they range from mental and emotional perseverance to counterviolence. A conversation with the eminent historian Carlo Ginzburg concludes the collection by asking about the importance of memorizing horrors of the past"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

The conundrum of deportation and coerced labor

Forgotten chapters in the history of violence : deportation in the early modern Habsburg Empire and its European surroundings

“An Austrian Cayenne” : forced labor in the early modern Habsburg Empire

Austria's penal colonies : deportation, resettlement, and detention in the Habsburg Empire

Protestantism goes underground

“Acting as if in a republic already” : Carinthian underground Protestants rehearse the uprising

Writing against suffocation : migrant letters as documents and strategies of survival

A tale of two cities : Protestant preachers and private tutors in Vienna under the rule of Emperor Charles VI

The teachings of Gypsy history

“Giving short shrift by flogging, hanging, and beheading” : a Gypsy trial and its pitfalls

The enemy within : Gypsies as external and internal threat in the Habsburg Monarchy and the Holy Roman Empire

From poisoned pens to procedural justice

Remarks on Gypsy agency

Out of the past : the end of Gypsy slavery in Bukovina

In conversation with Carlo Ginzburg

There is no meaning with a capital “M” : in conversation Carlo Ginzburg.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

CC BY-NC-ND

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (viewed on June 29, 2023)

ISBN:

9781612498065

161249806X

9781612498072

1612498078

OCLC:

1356800231