B. Ann Tlusty

This project explores the right and the duty of bearing arms in South German towns during the early modern period, and identifies the development of a weapons culture associated with notions of householding and citizenship. The approach is cultural rather than military, with a view towards understanding the relationship men had with their arms and what that meant to early modern identity. At the heart of the study is a rich array of archival sources, treated both qualitatively and quantitatively to reveal the day-to-day experiences of early modern German townspeople with weapons and violence. The result is a clearer understanding of the way in which early modern townspeople constructed gendered concepts of individual, household, and community.