Violence was rife in early modern Europe. Ordinary people threw insults and drew weapons against one another; apprentices rioted in the streets; wars raged over political borders and religious differences; and empires forcibly converted and enslaved peoples across the globe. Yet violence was not meaningless. This module explores the uses of and motivations for different types of violence, from individual symbolic acts to state-sponsored atrocities. Students will uncover the written and unwritten rules that underpinned early modern society, and the consequences when these were not upheld.
