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James Ussher and the Making of Protestant Knowledge in the Early Modern World

Project description

Rewriting intellectual history in early modern Europe

Writing the history of knowledge in early modern Protestant Europe has long been equated with writing the history of Protestant scholars as individual actors. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the PROTKNOW project aims to shift this perspective. By focusing on Archbishop James Ussher, the project explores how a leading Protestant ecclesiastical position underwrote and enabled the creation of knowledge. Combining disciplines like cultural history, art history and the digital humanities, PROTKNOW will uncover how Ussher’s intellectual networks, his study of manuscripts and his employment of assistants and amanuenses made groundbreaking research possible. This innovative approach challenges traditional views of scholarly authorship and provides a fresh account of intellectual history in the period between the Renaissance and Enlightenment.

Objective

This action will make a ground-breaking contribution to the history of knowledge in early modern Europe. Where previous studies have focused on Protestant scholars as individual actors, this project will use the case of Archbishop James Ussher to show how a leading Protestant ecclesiastical position underwrote and enabled the creation of knowledge. Based at Trinity College Dublin and supervised by Professor Jane Ohlmeyer, the innovative interdisciplinary project will combine the study of Usshers unpublished books and manuscripts with the disciplines of cultural, book, gender, and religious history, art history, the sociology and history of science, and the digital humanities in order to create a novel account of the production of knowledge in early modern Europe. Having reconstructed Usshers intellectual networks, it will then show how these made possible new kinds of advanced scholarship in terms of the study of scripts, how Ussher read and used his collection of printed books and manuscripts in his chronological research, and ascertain the role played by assistants and amanuenses in Usshers working life. In so doing, the action will reveal the importance of confessional networks rather than the pan-confessional Republic of Letters, how far new scholarly methods depended on ecclesiastical preferment and patronage, how the history of reading must use manuscript notebooks in tandem with the evidence of printed books, and how the ascription of published works to individual authors has long obscured the vital roles played by others in their creation. All told, the action will provide a landmark contribution to the making of knowledge in the period between the Renaissance and the Enlightenment and demonstrate the need for a reconceptualisation of intellectual history and the history of scholarship in this era based on a recognition of the symbiotic relationship between works of erudition and the settings in which they were created.

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HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships

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Call for proposal

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(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01

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Coordinator

THE PROVOST, FELLOWS, FOUNDATION SCHOLARS & THE OTHER MEMBERS OF BOARD, OF THE COLLEGE OF THE HOLY & UNDIVIDED TRINITY OF QUEEN ELIZABETH NEAR DUBLIN
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 252 728,64
Address
COLLEGE GREEN TRINITY COLLEGE
D02 CX56 Dublin
Ireland

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Region
Ireland Eastern and Midland Dublin
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
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Total cost

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