Rebekka von Mallinckrodt
I am a professor of early modern history focusing on Western Europe including its global entanglements in the 16th to early 19th centuries.
I am especially interested in
- human trafficking, the history of slavery and other forms of dependency in early modern Europe (with a focus on the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation) as well as
- early modern sports, physical exercise and body techniques.
With regard to the first research interest, I have been (and still am) researching the legal history of slavery in early modern Germany as well as entanglements with other forms of dependency. In 2015–2022 I led the ERC Consolidator Grant Project “The Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation and its Slaves”. I supervised several theses on German abolitionism, Ottoman prisoners of war in the Old Empire, and the entanglements between Hamburg/Bremen and the Atlantic plantation economies, published two edited volumes (Beyond Exceptionalism, 2021; The European Experience in Slavery, 2024) and a special issue of the Journal of Global Slavery (2023) as well as several articles, among which “Verhandelte (Un)Freiheit” (2017) won the German Historians’ Association’s essay prize. Currently, I am preparing a monograph on “People of Colour in Early Modern Germany, 1650–1850”, funded by the Opus Magnum Grant of the Volkswagen Foundation.
With regard to early modern sports, physical exercise and body techniques, I am especially interested in practices oscillating between an instrumental use of the body and voluntary physical activities like running, diving, and swimming (see various chapters on this webpage as well as the exhibition catalogue “Life on the Move”, 2008). Furthermore, I advocate for a deeper embedding of 16th- to 18th-century sporting practices in early modern contexts (and historiographies) as well as for considering multidirectional transfers and appropriations in order to transcend not only a modernization-theoretical perspective but also the dominance of the British case. The edited volumes on “Sports and Physical Exercise in Early Modern Culture” (2016) as well as the “Cultural History of Sport in the Enlightenment” (2021) can be seen as steps in this direction.
Academic Profile
since 2022 Member of the Hamburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities
2015–2022 Principal Investigator, ERC project “German Slavery”
since 2012 Full Professor of early modern history at the University of Bremen
2008–2009 Feodor Lynen Fellow in Paris, funded by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
2007–2012 Member of the National Young Academy of Sciences and the Humanities
2005–2012 Junior Professor at the Free University of Berlin
2001–2005 Research Associate at the Max Planck Institute for History, Göttingen
I am especially interested in
- human trafficking, the history of slavery and other forms of dependency in early modern Europe (with a focus on the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation) as well as
- early modern sports, physical exercise and body techniques.
With regard to the first research interest, I have been (and still am) researching the legal history of slavery in early modern Germany as well as entanglements with other forms of dependency. In 2015–2022 I led the ERC Consolidator Grant Project “The Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation and its Slaves”. I supervised several theses on German abolitionism, Ottoman prisoners of war in the Old Empire, and the entanglements between Hamburg/Bremen and the Atlantic plantation economies, published two edited volumes (Beyond Exceptionalism, 2021; The European Experience in Slavery, 2024) and a special issue of the Journal of Global Slavery (2023) as well as several articles, among which “Verhandelte (Un)Freiheit” (2017) won the German Historians’ Association’s essay prize. Currently, I am preparing a monograph on “People of Colour in Early Modern Germany, 1650–1850”, funded by the Opus Magnum Grant of the Volkswagen Foundation.
With regard to early modern sports, physical exercise and body techniques, I am especially interested in practices oscillating between an instrumental use of the body and voluntary physical activities like running, diving, and swimming (see various chapters on this webpage as well as the exhibition catalogue “Life on the Move”, 2008). Furthermore, I advocate for a deeper embedding of 16th- to 18th-century sporting practices in early modern contexts (and historiographies) as well as for considering multidirectional transfers and appropriations in order to transcend not only a modernization-theoretical perspective but also the dominance of the British case. The edited volumes on “Sports and Physical Exercise in Early Modern Culture” (2016) as well as the “Cultural History of Sport in the Enlightenment” (2021) can be seen as steps in this direction.
Academic Profile
since 2022 Member of the Hamburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities
2015–2022 Principal Investigator, ERC project “German Slavery”
since 2012 Full Professor of early modern history at the University of Bremen
2008–2009 Feodor Lynen Fellow in Paris, funded by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
2007–2012 Member of the National Young Academy of Sciences and the Humanities
2005–2012 Junior Professor at the Free University of Berlin
2001–2005 Research Associate at the Max Planck Institute for History, Göttingen
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Books by Rebekka von Mallinckrodt
Still, the eighteenth century did not simply prepare the way for the nineteenth century, as a modernization-theoretical perspective suggests. In various respects, it differed from the ensuing era: in many countries, there was—despite all the ambivalences, contradictions, and contemporary limits on Enlightenment thinking—a greater tolerance, a greater willingness to experiment, a more intensive international exchange, and a greater permeability for women who wished to participate than in the nineteenth century. In the eighteenth century, we do not find an antagonistic, ideologically charged juxtaposition of sport and physical exercise, as is characteristic of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The first sports clubs were founded in England, while English authors also advocated physical exercise. Gerhard Ulrich Anton Vieth did not even make a distinction between competition-oriented sport and health-oriented physical exercise, and a differentiation on the basis of sporting disciplines can only be made to a limited extent from a contemporary perspective ...
This volume takes the reader into the world of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century sport, which appears both foreign and familiar to us today.
Papers by Rebekka von Mallinckrodt
In this contribution, Rebekka von Mallinckrodt outlines the historiography of human rights in Germany, which - in omitting the situation of women and enslaved people - was written as a history of progressive freedom. Using the example of Saxony, she traces how - contrary to this narrative - slavery (in the sense of Roman law) was reintroduced for Ottoman prisoners of war and subsequently extended to other groups of people. By thus deconstructing a general "history of freedom," she reveals not only historical inclusions and exclusions, but also the perspectivity of historiography.
Rebekka von Mallinckrodt skizziert in diesem Beitrag zum einen die Historiographie der Menschenrechte in Deutschland, die – unter Ausblendung der Situation von Frauen und Versklavten – als eine Geschichte fortschreitender Freiheit verfasst wurde. Zum anderen zeichnet sie am Beispiel Sachsens nach, wie – gegenläufig zu dieser Erzählung – Sklaverei (im Sinne des römischen Rechts) für osmanische Kriegsgefangene wieder eingeführt und in der Folge auch auf andere Personengruppen ausgeweitet wurde. Indem sie so eine allgemeine „Geschichte der Freiheit“ dekonstruiert, macht sie nicht nur historische Ein- und Ausschlüsse sichtbar, sondern auch die Perspektivität der Geschichtsschreibung.
This chapter deals with the legal status of trafficked people in the Holy Roman Empire. In analysing the writings of Ludwig Julius Friedrich Höpfner (1743–1797), the chapter investigates one of the most respected and influential practitioners and professors of law in the second half of the eighteenth century. Höpfner confirmed the existence of a slave status both in his natural law publications and in his commentary on Roman law. Both legal systems were used as subsidiary legal sources in the Holy Roman Empire during the early modern period, when the positive German law – as in the case of slavery – did not contain any explicit provision. According to Höpfner and his legal colleagues, however, in a case of conflict, Roman law took precedence between the two legal traditions, as a look at the practice of eighteenth-century jurisprudence confirms. German law in the eighteenth century thus not only theoretically maintained the option of a slave status, it was – as contemporary legal cases show – also applied in practice.
Still, the eighteenth century did not simply prepare the way for the nineteenth century, as a modernization-theoretical perspective suggests. In various respects, it differed from the ensuing era: in many countries, there was—despite all the ambivalences, contradictions, and contemporary limits on Enlightenment thinking—a greater tolerance, a greater willingness to experiment, a more intensive international exchange, and a greater permeability for women who wished to participate than in the nineteenth century. In the eighteenth century, we do not find an antagonistic, ideologically charged juxtaposition of sport and physical exercise, as is characteristic of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The first sports clubs were founded in England, while English authors also advocated physical exercise. Gerhard Ulrich Anton Vieth did not even make a distinction between competition-oriented sport and health-oriented physical exercise, and a differentiation on the basis of sporting disciplines can only be made to a limited extent from a contemporary perspective ...
This volume takes the reader into the world of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century sport, which appears both foreign and familiar to us today.
In this contribution, Rebekka von Mallinckrodt outlines the historiography of human rights in Germany, which - in omitting the situation of women and enslaved people - was written as a history of progressive freedom. Using the example of Saxony, she traces how - contrary to this narrative - slavery (in the sense of Roman law) was reintroduced for Ottoman prisoners of war and subsequently extended to other groups of people. By thus deconstructing a general "history of freedom," she reveals not only historical inclusions and exclusions, but also the perspectivity of historiography.
Rebekka von Mallinckrodt skizziert in diesem Beitrag zum einen die Historiographie der Menschenrechte in Deutschland, die – unter Ausblendung der Situation von Frauen und Versklavten – als eine Geschichte fortschreitender Freiheit verfasst wurde. Zum anderen zeichnet sie am Beispiel Sachsens nach, wie – gegenläufig zu dieser Erzählung – Sklaverei (im Sinne des römischen Rechts) für osmanische Kriegsgefangene wieder eingeführt und in der Folge auch auf andere Personengruppen ausgeweitet wurde. Indem sie so eine allgemeine „Geschichte der Freiheit“ dekonstruiert, macht sie nicht nur historische Ein- und Ausschlüsse sichtbar, sondern auch die Perspektivität der Geschichtsschreibung.
This chapter deals with the legal status of trafficked people in the Holy Roman Empire. In analysing the writings of Ludwig Julius Friedrich Höpfner (1743–1797), the chapter investigates one of the most respected and influential practitioners and professors of law in the second half of the eighteenth century. Höpfner confirmed the existence of a slave status both in his natural law publications and in his commentary on Roman law. Both legal systems were used as subsidiary legal sources in the Holy Roman Empire during the early modern period, when the positive German law – as in the case of slavery – did not contain any explicit provision. According to Höpfner and his legal colleagues, however, in a case of conflict, Roman law took precedence between the two legal traditions, as a look at the practice of eighteenth-century jurisprudence confirms. German law in the eighteenth century thus not only theoretically maintained the option of a slave status, it was – as contemporary legal cases show – also applied in practice.
This paper deals with trafficked children in the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation in the long 18th century. As the Holy Roman Empire was geographically at the margins of the transatlantic slave trade and as the trade in children was not linked to the issues of slave labour and plantation economies that have been extensively addressed in the research on slavery, this phenomenon has often been overlooked. From a German perspective, however, children were not just one group among others to be “brought back” from the colonies; in fact, trafficking in children was a striking feature of human trafficking to the Holy Roman Empire. In this article I discuss the reasons for and dimensions of the phenomenon and analyse the consequences for the children affected.
This paper deals with trafficked children in the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation in the long 18th century. As the Holy Roman Empire was geographically at the margins of the transatlantic slave trade and as the trade in children was not linked to the issues of slave labour and plantation economies that have been extensively addressed in the research on slavery, this phenomenon has often been overlooked. From a German perspective, however, children were not just one group among others to be “brought back” from the colonies; in fact, trafficking in children was a striking feature of human trafficking to the Holy Roman Empire. In this article I discuss the reasons for and dimensions of the phenomenon and analyse the consequences for the children affected.
in: A Cultural History of Sport, vol. 4: A Cultural History of Sport in the Age of Enlightenment, ed. by Rebekka v. Mallinckrodt, London: Bloomsbury Academic 2021, 51-76.
In the 18th century, swimming was a highly controversial skill. On one hand, contemporaries referred to swimming as a former chivalrous art and praised its military utility. On the other hand, swimming was regarded not only as a life-threatening activity but also as one that endangered individuals’ morals and brought them close to the necessities and pleasures of the lower ranks.
Swimming demanded the overcoming of these fears, prejudices and real dangers, making it a very potent symbol of the capacity of individuals to govern both themselves and society as a whole; at the same time, it was valued as egalitarian and useful, traits that were typical for many Enlightenment reform projects. Finally, saving not only one’s own but also one’s fellow persons’ lives demonstrated a responsibility and bodily skill that could justify existing social and gender hierarchies (if done by noblemen) or overturn them (if done by the lower strata and/or women).
Referring to contemporary discourses, to architectural infrastructures and educational frameworks, as well as to actual swimming practices in 18th and early 19th century Paris (for example, those of the princes of Orléans), this article traces the transformation of a bodily technique and its representation.
Sektionsleitung und Einführung: Kim Siebenhüner (Universität Jena)
Auf dem Podium: Stefano Saracino (Moderation, Universität Jena); Rebekka von Mallinckrodt (Universität Bremen), Gauri Parasher (Univerisität Trier); Fabian Fechner (Fernuniversität Hagen), Astrid Wendel-Hansen (Universität
Jena), Kerstin Volker-Saad (Friedenstein Stiftung Gotha).
Die Debatte über koloniale Vergangenheiten, z. B. rund um die Restitution von Kulturgütern, ist für Wissenschaft und Öffentlichkeit relevant. Das Panel fragt danach, was die Frühneuzeitforschung zu diesen Debatten beigetragen kann
und hinterfragt den Fokus auf das 19. und 20. Jahrhundert und damit einhergehende Konzepte des Kolonialismus. Ziel ist es, die vielfältigen Erscheinungsformen des Kolonialen in der Frühen Neuzeit ins Bild zu bringen und eine „lange Geschichte“ des Kolonialen zu diskutieren, die den
Eigenarten eines Kolonialismus ohne Kolonien Rechnung trägt.
The conference examines the story of the formerly enslaved Abyssinian woman Machbuba, whom Prince Hermann von Pückler-Muskau acquired on the slave market in Khartoum in 1837 and who was buried in Muskau's St. Jacobi Cemetery in 1840. Her true origins and the circumstances of her childhood can only be incompletely reconstructed in the absence of authentic sources. In his travelogues "Aus Mehemed Ali's Reich" (1844) and "Die Rückkehr" (1846-48), Pückler-Muskau paid tribute to Machbuba in literary form, and the posthumous publication of his letters in 1875 revealed further details that have had a decisive influence on the history of reception and have inspired the creation of the legend.
At the conference, contributions from various academic disciplines from Germany and abroad will contribute to filling existing gaps in reception by examining the historical social contexts as well as current postcolonial debates.
The range of topics takes a look at the myth of Machbuba, but also at society in the Orient and in Europe around 1830 against the background of serfdom and slavery between jurisdiction and morality. What role did literature and specific language play in the Biedermeier period in general and the subjects negotiated therein? How is the topos ‘Birilele’ negotiated in Ethiopian academic institutions and among the Oromo in the context of an identity-forming debate? With examples of the life stories of Africans around 1820 to 1855, the focus will be expanded from the individual fate of Machbuba to the German and international environment.
Anmeldung unter https://www.schloesser-und-gaerten.de/besuchsinformation/veranstaltungen/werkstattgespraeche-und-filmpraesentation
Link to the lecture: https://uni-erfurt.webex.com/meet/forschungszentrum.gotha
http://www.germanhistorysociety.org/conference/