Secret State Information in Early Modern Europe

AHA Session 181
Saturday, January 7, 2012: 2:30 PM-4:30 PM
Sheraton Ballroom III (Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers)
Chair:
Diogo Ramada Curto, Universidade Nova de Lisboa
Papers:
Secret Archives? How Early Modern Historians and Scholars Succeeded (or Failed) to Gain Access to Archival Sources
Markus Friedrich, Johann-Wolfgang-Goethe-Universität Historisches Seminar, Abt. Frühe Neuzeit
The Spanish Habsburgs Spymasters (1598–1663): The First Official Attempts at the Efficient Coordination of Intelligence Networks
Diego Navarro Bonilla, Carlos III de Madrid University, Institute of Research on Intelligence for Security and Defense
Comment:
Peter Burke, Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge

Session Abstract

The history of information has primarily focused on public information and the so-called public sphere.  This panel seeks to examine a number of European examples of state information use and circulation in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.  It looks to understand the material culture of state information (memos, papers) as well as systems of communication, circulation, archiving and analysis.  In order to understand public information and its circulation, it is necessary to understand how states developed information networks both internally in secret and potentially in public.

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