Prof. Dr. Barbara Stollberg-Rilinger
Professor for Early Modern History

Addresse: Domplatz 20-22
                    Germany – 48143 Münster
Room:        126
E-Mail:       bstr@wiko-berlin.de

 

 

Since September, 1st, 2018 my new professional address is:

Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin
Wallotstr. 19
14193 Berlin

Please contact me at my new email bstr@wiko-berlin.de

  • Education / Employment History

    17/07/1955 Born in Bergisch Gladbach/Germany
    1974 University Entrance Qualification (Abitur)
    1974-1980 Studies of German Philology, History and History of Arts at University of Koeln
    1980 First State Examination for Teaching at a Secondary School, Subjects: History, German
    1985 Doctorate (Dr. phil.) (Mediaeval and Modern History, Ancient History, German Philology)
    1994 Post-Doctoral Degree (Habilitation) at University of Koeln (venia legendi: Modern History)
    1982-1990 Research Assistant at the Historical Institute, University of Koeln
    1991-1992 Reentrance Scholarship within the Framework of the Special University Programme II of the Ministry of University Education North-Rhine-Westphalia (Wiedereinstiegsstipendium im Rahmen des Hochschulsonderprogramms II des Wissenschaftsministeriums NRW)
    1996 Substitute C 3-Professor at the Historical Institute, University of Koeln
    Since 1997 C 4-Professorship of Early Modern History at the Historical Institute, University of Muenster
    Since 2018 Rector of the "Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin" (Berlin Institute for Advanced Study)

  • Awards / Honors

    2005 Gottfried-Wilhelm-Leibniz Award of DFG
    2006 Doctorate honoris causa of the Ecole normale supérieure Lyon
    2012 Innovation award 2012 of the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia
    2013 Award of the Historical Collegium of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities
    2017 Leipzig Book Fair Prize (non-fiction): "Maria Theresia. Die Kaiserin in ihrer Zeit"
    2017 Sigmund Freud Prize for Scientific Prose: "Maria Theresia. Die Kaiserin in ihrer Zeit"

     

    Memeberships

    1998-2003 Co-editor of ‚Zeitschrift fuer historische Forschung'
    1998- Member of the Association for Constitutional History (Vereinigung fuer Verfassungsgeschichte)
    1999-2003 Member of the Board of the Working Group on Early Modern History in the Association of the German Historians (Arbeitskreis Fruehe Neuzeit im Verband der Historiker und Historikerinnen Deutschlands)
    1999-2005 Member of the Senate and Commission of Grantings for the Research Training Groups of DFG (DFG-Senats- und Bewilligungskommission fuer die Graduiertenkollegs)
    1999- Mentor of Research Training Group 'Social Symbolics in the Middle Ages' (GRK 'Gesellschaftliche Symbolik im Mittelalter'), University of Muenster
    2000- Co-editor of the Series 'Symbolische Kommunikation in der Vormoderne' (Symbolic Communication in Pre-Modern Times)
    2003- Coordinator of Collaborative Research Centre 496 'Symbolic Communication and Social Value Systems from the Middle Ages to the French Revolution' (SFB 496 'Symbolische Kommunikation und gesellschaftliche Wertesysteme vom Mittelalter bis zur Franzoesischen Revolution')
    2004- Member of the Historical Commission for Westphalia (Historische Kommission fuer Westfalen)
    2004- Deputy Director of the Association of the German Historians (Verband der Historiker und Historikerinnen Deutschlands)
    2005- Member of the German Studies Association (USA)
    2006-2015 Member of the Historical Commission at the Bavarian Academy of Sciences (Historische Kommission bei der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften)
    2006- Co-editor of the Journal "Der Staat"
    2007 Coordinator of the cluster of excellence "Religion and Politics"
    2008- Member of the University Council of the WWU
    2015- Member of the board of the "Sonderforschungsbereich 1150. Kulturen des Entscheidens"

  • Publications (selection)

    • Maria Theresia. Die Kaiserin in ihrer Zeit. Eine Biographie, München: Beck 2017 (2nd, 3rd and 4th edition 2017; 5th edition 2018). (Maria Theresa. The Empress  in her Times. A Biography)
      • English translation (in preparation): Princeton University Press.
    • Cultures of Decision-Making (German Historical Institute. The Annual Lecture 2015), London 2016.
    • Des Kaisers alte Kleider. Verfassungsgeschichte und Symbolsprache des Alten Reiches, München: Beck 2008(2nd edition 2013).
      • French translation: Les vieux habits de l’Empereur. Une histoire culturelle des institutions du Saint-Empire à l'époque moderne. transl. by Christophe Duhamelle. Éditions de la Maison des Sciences de l'Homme, Paris 2013.
      • English translation: The Emperor's Old Clothes: Constitutional History and the Symbolic Language of the Holy Roman Empire. transl. by Thomas Dunlap (Spektrum, 10). Berghahn Books, New York/Oxford 2015.
    • Rituale. Vom vormodernen Europa bis zur Gegenwart (Campus Historische Einführungen, Bd.16), Frankfurt/Main u.a. 2013. (Rituals. From Early Modern Europe to the Present Day)
    • Das Heilige Roemische Reich Deutscher Nation vom Spaetmittelalter bis 1806, Muenchen 2006 (5th edition 2013). (The Holy Roman Epire of the German Nation from the Late Middle Ages to 1806)
      • English translation (in preparation): A Short History of t he Holy Roman Empire, Princeton University Press.
    • (Ed.) Was heißt Kulturgeschichte des Politischen? (Zeitschrift fuer Historische Forschung, Beiheft 35), Berlin 2005 (What Does Cultural History of Politics Mean?)
    • The Contours of the Political. Five questions, five answers, in: German History Forum, in: Neil Gregor und Bridget Heal (eds.), 2015, pp. 255-273.
    • Rituals of Decision Making? Early Modern European Assemblies of Estates as Acts of Symbolic Communication, in: Yoshihisa Hattori (ed.), Political Order and the Forms of Communication in Medieval and Early Modern Europe, Rom 2014, pp. 63-95.
    • State and Political History in a Culturalist Perspective, in: Antje Flüchter and Susan Richter (eds.), Structures on the Move, Transcultural Research – Heidelberg Studies on Asia and Europe in a Global Context, Berlin / Heidelberg 2012, pp. 41-55.
    • On the Function of Rituals in the Holy Roman Empire, in: Robert J.W. Evans / Michael Schaich / Peter Wilson (eds.), The Holy Roman Empire 1495-1806, Oxford 2011, pp. 359-373.
    • Much Ado About Nothing? Rituals of Politics in Early Modern Europe and Today, in: Annual Bulletin of the German Historical Institute, Washington 2011, pp. 9-25.
    • Traditionalism - Rationalism. Two Paths to the Prussian Reforms? In: European Studies 9, Tokyo 2010, pp. 139-144.
    • The Impact of Communication Theory on the Analysis of the Early Modern Statebuilding Processes, in: Wim Blockmans, André Holenstein, Jon Mathieu, (eds.), Empowering Interactions. Political Culture and the Emergence of the State in Europe, 1300-1900, Burlington 2009, pp. 313-318.
    • Knien vor Gott - Knien vor dem Kaiser. Zum Ritualwandel im Konfessionskonflikt, in: G. Althoff (Ed.), Zeichen - Rituale - Werte. Internationales Kolloquium des Sonderforschungsbereich 496 an der Westfaelischen Wilhelms-Universitaet Muenster, Muenster 2004, pp. 501-533 (Kneeling in Front of God - Kneeling in Front of the Emperor. On the Change of Rituals in the Age of Confessionalization)
      • English translation: Kneeling Before God – Kneeling Before the Emperor, in: Nils Holger Petersen (Eds.), Resonances. Historical Essays on Continuity and Change (Ritus et Artes. Traditions and Transformation), Turnhout: Brepols 2011, pp. 149-172.
    • Symbolische Kommunikation in der Vormoderne. Begriffe - Forschungsperspektiven - Thesen, in: Zeitschrift fuer Historische Forschung 31 (2004), pp. 489-527 (Symbolic Communicationin the Pre-Modern Era. Concepts - Perspectives of Research - Theses)
    • (Ed.) Politisch-soziale Praxis und symbolische Kultur der landstaendischen Verfassungen im westfaelischen Raum. Themenband Westfaelische Forschungen 53 (2003) (Political Practices and Symbolic Culture of Estates in Early Modern Westphalia)
    • (Ed.) Vormoderne politische Verfahren (Zeitschrift fuer Historische Forschung, Beiheft 25), Berlin 2001 (Pre-Modern Political Procedures)
    • Europa im Jahrhundert der Aufklaerung, Stuttgart 2000 (Europe in the Age of Enlightenment) 2nd ed. is split into
      • Die Aufklärung. Europa im 18. Jahrhundert, Stuttgart 2011; 3rd edition 2017 (The enlightenment. Europe during the 18th Century)
      • Was ist Aufklärung? Thesen, Definitionen, Dokumente, Stuttgart 2010; reprint 2014 (What is enlightenment. Theses, definitons, documents [compilation of sources])
    • (Ed. in cooperation with A. Krischer) Das Hofreisejournal des Kurfuersten Clemens August von Koeln, 1719-1745, Siegburg 2000 (Travel Diary of the Prince-Elector Clemens August of Cologne)
    • Vormuender des Volkes? - Konzepte landstaendischer Repraesentation in der Spaetphase des Alten Reiches (Historische Forschungen 64), Berlin 1999 (Guardians of the People? Concepts of Estate Representation in the Later Holy Roman Empire)
    • Der Staat als Maschine. Zur politischen Metaphorik des absoluten Fuerstenstaats (Historische Forschungen 30), Berlin 1986 (The State as Machine. On Political Metaphors of the Absolutist State)
    • The Holy Roman Empire – Constitution by Ritual? In: Marius Turda u.a. (eds.), Special Paths in History (upcoming)
    • The Luther Familiy on the Run: A Polemical Counter-Reformation Broadsheet, in: Ute Lotz-Heumann (ed.), A Sourcebook of Early Modern History. In Honor of Susan Karant-Nunn on her 70th Birthday (upcoming)
    • Custodians without mandate. In how far did German territorial estates represent the people? In: Samuel Hayat, Corinne Péneau, Yves Sintomer (eds.), Le representation politique avant la représentation constitutionnelle (upcoming: Paris 2017)

    Please consult the German homepage for a complete list of publications.