History Research Seminar: Religion and Violence in Early Modern Europe

Abstract
August 2022 marked the 450^th anniversary of the Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, long regarded as the archetype of religious violence and fanaticism in Europe. In this talk, Prof. Stuart Carroll will reflect on the enduring relationship between religion and violence through history. It is commonplace to argue that religion is the cause of violence and until recently it was fashionable to argue that early modern Catholic violence was rooted in festive popular culture and structured by the rituals of traditional religious practice. Prof. Carroll will argue in this general lecture that recent research casts doubt on this assumption and will propose instead that the violence was largely the work of a small groups of heavily armed para-militaries led by the social elite, whose ideological fervour and level of organization looks forward to the horrors of the twentieth century. He will then explore the implications of the new research for European history more broadly.  

Speaker Biography
Stuart Carroll is Professor of Early Modern History at the University of York. He has wide interests in the history of early modern Europe and the history of violence and is the recipient of multiple prizes for his publications. His books include Cultures of Violence: Interpersonal Violence in Historical Perspective (ed.), Martyrs and Murderers: The Guise Family and the Making of Europe, Blood and Violence in Early Modern France and Noble Power during the French Wars of Religion: the Guise Affinity and the Catholic Cause in Normandy. He is currently working on a book project entitled ‘The Origins of Civil Society’, drawing on sources in French, German and Italian and English, and recently edited the Cambridge World History of Violence, vol. 3.   

https://www.york.ac.uk/history/staff/profiles/carroll/#research-content

Registration

To attend via Zoom, please register at: https://forms.office.com/r/zNGhJNUVj3

For those of you not able to attend in person, the talk will also be streamed on Zoom: https://nuigalway-ie.zoom.us/j/97628504834.  

This seminar is organised jointly with the Centre for the Study of Religion at the Moore Institute, University of Galway. The talk will be followed by a reception to mark the beginning of the new academic year.

All are welcome!