PRIVACY 1 Case Studies
The 11 cases represent chief dimensions of privacy and key historical conditions. Cases 1–2 privilege long-term development, and pursue notions of privacy through the fate of specific laws, buildings, religious and political ideas and institutions across 3 centuries. Cases 3–11 are narrower scrutinies of notions of privacy and their societal conditions.
Nine cases currently being analyzed:
1: Copenhagen (1500–1800): negotiations of privacy in the nexus between ruler and citizens
Copenhagen is not only the physical seat of the Centre for Privacy Studies, it is also the case study with a research period spanning the entire early modern period.
2: Amsterdam (1500–1800): notions of privacy inherent in civic distinctions and their architectural bearings
Early modern Amsterdam was a place of rapid transformation: starting in the 16th century, there was a population boom, transforming Amsterdam into an important European city, known for its religious tolerance, expansion of trade, and accommodation of migrants from various parts of Europe.
3: The City of Versailles under Louis XIV (1682–1715): Zones of privacy underpinning social, political, and devotional aspects of power
By focusing on the history of privacy in the town of Versailles from 1682 to 1715, our case team investigates concrete, localized mechanisms that allowed Louis XIV to publicly perform the idea of centralized power so successfully that he came to be known as the Sun-King.
4: City of Westminster under Elizabeth I (1558–1603): relations between direct and indirect definitions of privacy
The case focuses on the period 1558 to 1603, and the team investigates notions privacy in royal, religious, commercial, and daily life in the realm of Elizabeth I. The team consists of architectural historians, legal historians, church historians and historians of political thought.
5: Dresden 1541-86: Consequences of Private Networks and Private Discourse in Early Modern Dresden: Interface of Court, Household and Society
Early modern Dresden provides an ideal location to explore the notions of privacy and the private and how these concepts transformed the city and pushed the boundaries by redefining culture (i.e. the dominating presence of Lutheranism, architectural innovation, and civic identities).
6: Helmstedt (1620–81): potential interplays between theoretical and everyday notions of privacy
Research on privacy will add decisive new insights to research into, e.g., Helmstedt’s social history, knowledge culture and Early Modern fusion of politics and theology.
7: Altona (1750–1800): notions of privacy at the interface between civic ideals and practices
Notions of privacy in urban, religious and philosophical ideals and their materialization.
8: Glasgow (1728–89): notions of privacy at the interface of civic theory and practice as well as commercial enterprises
Notions of privacy shaped in the pursuit of civic prosperity, religious stability and Enlightenment ideals.
10: Chatsworth House under the 1st–4th Earls of Devonshire (1610–c. 1700): notions of privacy in a specific household, its material space and intellectual climate
Two cases still await examination:
9: La Rochelle (1568–1603): notions of privacy defined in the control of individuals’ religious conviction
11: Arc-et-Senans: La saline royale (1771–1806): notions of privacy in an industrial ideal community
Overview of case studies
For a comprehensive overview of our work on case studies during the PRIVACY 1 project (2017-2022), click here.