John Jordan

Balliol College, Oxford OX1 3BJ, United Kingdom
john.jordan[at]history.ox.ac.uk

I am a fourth year doctoral student at the University of Oxford, currently in the process of writing my dissertation.

Research

My research probes legal culture in early modern Germany. It examines how, where, when and why social life came into contact with legal/state institutions. The time and setting is the Saxon city of Freiberg (a major silver mining city) in the sixteenth century. My dissertation chapters examine interpersonal violence, financial borrowing and lending (on a person-to-person basis) and Bürgschaft (a system of pledges and guarantors that was legally vital in Freiberg).

As I've progressed further through this research, I've become more and more attuned to the social networks that underlay so much of daily life in early modern Europe. I've also noticed how Freiberg's city court would frequently use these informal social bonds to strengthen their verdicts, resolutions and decrees.

Prior to Oxford, I studied at York University (Toronto, Canada) under the supervision of Thomas Cohen and Elizabeth Cohen where I received my B.A. (Hons) and M.A. in History, as well as a Bachelor of Education degree. During this time, I also spent semesters abroad the Pädagogische-Hochschule Freiburg und the University of Tübingen. For the past two years, I have been based in Dresden, Germany working closely with the historians at the TU-Dresden.

Education

2009 – Doctor of Philosophy candidate in History, University of Oxford, Balliol College
Thesis Title: Legal culture in a turbulent time: towards a legal anthropology of early modern Saxony

2007 – 2009 Master of Arts in History, York University, Toronto
Major work title: Adultery in Southwest Germany: The Cases of Catharina Holzhauser and Magdalena Maurer

2007 – 2009 Graduate Diploma in German and European Studies, Canadian Centre for German and European Studies, York University

2002 – 2007 B.A., Specialized Honours, Department of History, York University

2003 – 2007 B.Ed., Intermediate and Senior Education (Grades 7 to 12), Faculty of Education, York University

Affiliations

2010 – 2012 Lecturer (Dozent) and Visiting Graduant Student, Technical University of Dresden

2008 – 2009 Visiting Graduate Student, Eberhard Karls Universitity of Tübingen

Awards and Grants

2012–2013 Dellal and Martin Warden, Balliol College, University of Oxford

2011–2012 Hanseatic Scholarship (Alfred Toepfer Stiftung), held at the Technical University of Dresden

2011 Participant at the German Historical Institute’s Transatlantic Doctoral Seminar in Washington DC (award included airfare and expenses in Washington)

2010 – 2011 DAAD Ten Month Research Grant for PhD Students and Postdocs, held at the Technical University of Dresden

2008 – 2009 Landesstiftung Stipendium, Baden–Württemberg, held at Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen

2008 – 2009 Vernon Oliver Stong Graduate Scholarship in German & European Studies, York University

2008 – 2009 Joseph Webber Memorial Fund for International Education scholarship

2008 – 2009 Ontario International Education Opportunity Scholarship, held at Eberhard Karls Universitity of Tübingen/York University

2008 – 2009 Baden–Württemberg Ministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kunst (MWFK) Stipendium, held at Eberhard Karls Universitity of Tübingen

2007 – 2008 York University, M.A. Entrance Fellowship (tuition bursary and $10,000)

2006 – 2007 Best Undergraduate History Essay Nominee, Department of History, York Univeristy

2006 – 2007 Landesstiftung Stipendium, Baden–Württemberg, held at Pädagogische Hochschule Freiburg

2006 – 2007 York University, Letter of Recognition for International

Publications

“Rethinking disputes and settlements: How Can Historians Use Legal Anthropology Today?“ In Laura Kounine and Stephen Cummins (eds.) Cultures of Conflict Resolution in early modern Europe (Ashgate, forthcoming 2013).
Review of William Bradford Smith, Reformation and the German Territorial State: Upper Franconia, 1300-1630 (Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press, 2008) for English Historical Review, August 2012 (Vol 527).

Translations

“Abstract (English Summary),“ Alexander Kästner, Selbsttötungen in Kursachsen im Spannungsfeld von Normen und Praktiken, 1547-1815. UVK: Konstanz, 2012.

Papers Given / Forthcoming

“The Buchfurer case: lending as an economic and social activity in sixteenth-century Freiberg.” Paper to be presented at the Social and Economic History Seminar, University of Oxford, February 2013.
“Securing an uncertain world: the diverse uses of Bürgen in sixteenth-century Saxony.” Paper to be presented to the Frühneuzeitliche Kolloquium, Technical University of Dresden, December 2012. Invited speaker.
“How Saxons buried the hatchet: law and violence in the sixteenth century.” Paper to be presented at the Early Modern Europe Seminar Series, University of Oxford, November 2012.
“Brawling, quarreling, and insulting: the civic processing of disputes in sixteenth-century Saxony.” Paper presented at the European Association of Urban History bi-annual conference, Prague, August 2012.
“Pledging Haus und Hof: Borrowing and Lending in sixteenth-century Freiberg.” Paper presented to the Frühneuzeitliche Kolloquium, Technical University of Dresden, June 2012. Invited speaker.
“Placing Bürgen in early modern legal culture.” Paper presented at the conference “Cultures of Conflict Resolution in early modern Europe,” University of Cambridge, May 2012.
“Baking bread with Michael Drechssler: the Role of Time in the Management of Disputes.” Paper presented to the Frühneuzeitliche Kolloquium, Technical University of Dresden, November 2011. Invited speaker.
“Urfehde and the Evolution of Court Procedure in Sixteenth-Century Freiberg, Saxony.” Paper presented at the Transatlantic Doctoral Seminar, German Historical Institute. Washington DC, May 2011. Invited speaker

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“What is Legal Anthropology, and Why is it Important for the History of Disputes and Norms?” Paper presented to the Kolloquium zu Problemen der sächsischen Landesgeschichte, der Geschichte der Frühen Neuzeit und der Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte at the Technical University of Dresden, January 2011. Invited speaker.
“The Law and the Courts: Legal Anthropology in a Saxon Context.” Paper delivered to the Early Modern History Workshop, University of Oxford, May 2010.

Teaching

2012 Court Culture and Art in early modern Europe, 1580-1700; University of Oxford, Hilary 2012, Graduate Assistant.

2011 - 2012 Konfliktregulierung im Alltag der frühen Neuzeit: Praktiken, Diskurse, Methoden; Technical University of Dresden; Winter Semester 2011/12; Co-course directo