Matheus Miller’s Memoir: A Merchant’s Life in the Seventeenth Century (Early Modern History: Society and Culture) - Hardcover

Safley, T.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0333736648 ISBN 13: 9780333736647

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan, 1999

Synopsis

Some time in the second half of the seventeenth century, a merchant by the name of Matheus Miller began to write his life story. He was not unusual in this. Autobiography had become a commonplace exercise and a common genre among the nascent bourgeoisie of early modern Europe. Yet the way in which Miller reshaped and reconstructed his story was unique. He did not record events in a larger world, as were often included in memoirs of his day. Rather, he recaptured his particular world, that of the German Imperial city of Augsburg, and his individual worldview. He told of his struggle to establish himself within a sharply critical family and a highly conservative community. At the same time he revealed his hopes and fears, his expectations and experiences, his values and his actions. Miller created not only a window on early modern Europe but a mirror for the history of it. He exposed the workings of such global institutions as patriarchy, hierarchy, office, honour, community, friendship and confession in his own life and the shortcomings of modern theories and interpretations of them. No vector of inhuman forces, his is a human story of flesh and blood, of success and failure, of dignity and despair.

About this title

Review:

'In Safley's skilled hands, Matheus's remarkable memoir enlivens our understanding of the experience of the German bourgeoisie...' - Gary K. Waite, Canadian Journal of History

Synopsis:

This memoir reconstructs the world view of a Lutheran merchant from the city of Augsburg in the 17th century. Though Miller lived through some of the great events of his age, he scarcely mentioned them. Though he was raised in the standard values of his age, he understood and applied them idiosyncratically. This is the story of one man's experience and perception based on his memoir and associated documents. Despite its individual focus, the book explores universal institutions of early modern Europe: patriarchy, hierarchy, honour, community, and confession.

About this edition

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0333736648
• ISBN 13: 9780333736647
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 235