My dissertation focuses on the intellectual dialogue between Judaism and Christianity. It aims to contribute to the understanding of how Jewish Thought, specifically Kabbalah, influenced Early Modern Philosophy and Theology in Europe, as well as the textual transmission of Kabbalah during Modernity. It analyzes the extent to which the Latin translations of Christian Knorr von […]
Cod. Guelf. 85.9. Aug. fol. and the manuscript tradition of Petrarch’s scattered poems The research project I am carrying out at the Herzog August Bibliothek, during the short-term fellowship I have been awarded, is a part of my main research interest: I am in fact conducting a global study of the manuscript tradition of the […]
Translating Fontenelle: Johann Christoph Gottsched’s Gespräche von mehr als einer Welt (1726) as a scientific encyclopaedia My stay at the Herzog August Bibliothek is part of my latest project, revolving around the European translations of Bernard de Fontenelle’s astronomical bestseller Entretiens sur la pluralité des mondes (1686). At the intersection of history of science, cultural […]
This research presents the first in-depth exploration of the relationship between music, rhetoric and Christian Hebraism in early modern Europe, by reappraising the significance of Johannes Reuchlin (1455–1522)’s study of Kabbalah and Hebrew cantillation, in relation to the humanist tradition of rhetoric as philosophy and of music as rhetoric. Few studies have investigated how Renaissance […]
Samuel Pufendorf and the emergence of history of state in the Early Enlightenment This project gives notice to Pufendorf’s chapter in the Enlightenment empiricisation and historicisation, with special regard to his contribution to the emergence of history of state (Staatsgeschichte). In this sense, Pufendorf is an ideal choice to examine, as his texts stand at […]
Amber in Early Modern Prussia: Cultural Context of the Collecting Networks The main research task of my project involves the cross-disciplinary study of the phenomenon of amber collecting in early modern Prussia. Its purpose is to reconstruct cultural and historical context of the contemporary collecting practices of amber, including Prussian diplomatic contacts, the activities of […]
Hausbuch und Kalender. Das praktische Wissen der Vormoderne und seine Medien Die Agrar- und Haushaltungsliteratur präsentiert enzyklopädisches Wissen zum Umgang mit der Erde und dem Ganzen Haus, der periodische Jahreskalender Umsetzungsregeln und Praktiken. Hausbuch und Kalender formten und festigten Wissensgrundlagen der Frühen Neuzeit (Astrologie und Aberglauben, Arbeitsethik und Geschlechterordnung), ebneten den Weg für die Entwicklung […]
Intellectual Mystics at Helfta: A Critical Edition of Mechthilde of Hackeborn’s Liber Specialis Gratiae and a Study of its Historical Context The 13th-century Cistercian monastery of Helfta was a hub of female mysticism in Saxony. Mechthilde of Hackeborn, Gertrude the Great, and Mechthilde of Magdeburg lived and wrote in this intellectually rich environment. This study […]
Dr. Martina Kastnerová works as an assistant professor in the Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts, University of West Bohemia, Pilsen, Czech Republic. Her major interests relate to the Sidney circle and genesis of Philip Sidneyʼs poetic project on the basis of their communication with intellectuals on the continent. Her project in HAB Wolfenbüttel is dedicated […]
As a fellow at the Herzog August Bibliothek I am working on two projects: The first is a book project based on my doctoral thesis. This book approaches the 33-volume Thesaurus Picturarum, or “treasury of images”, compiled by the Heidelberg courtier and Calvinist church councilor Marcus zum Lamm between 1564–1606. Combining life writing with encyclopedic […]
