Matthias Müller, Zeichen und Medien des Militärischen am Fürstenhof im frühneuzeitlichen Europa (Schriften zur Residenzkultur 10), Berlin 2017

Edited by the art historian Matthias Müller, whose research interests include forms of representation, art at the European courts as well as political iconography, and the historian Peter-Michael Hahn, an expert on Prussian history, the anthology Zeichen und Medien des Militärischen am Fürstenhof im frühneuzeitlichen Europa includes articles from different disciplines: history, musicology and art history are involved. The volume is divided into three thematic sections: following an introduction about the economic and social conditions of court society by editor Peter-Michael Hahn, the first section focuses on military symbols and media as a means of royal representation and a testimony of transforming concepts of rulership. The second part focuses on their effect on dynastic representation and memoria demonstrated by the example of armouries and arsenals. With design concepts, image programmes, and the symbolism of palatial buildings, the last section is dedicated to the military symbolism of the residence.

This well-structured compilation of reflections on the presence of the military sphere in different areas of court life in the early modern period gives an insight into the multifaceted nature of strategies for royal affirmation. It becomes apparent that the display of military power is not always necessarily overt but rather the result of the complex interaction of various processes which simultaneously address the different senses and are thus tightly interwoven with everyday life at court.

Art-related contributions include Klaus Pietschmann’s remarks on military symbolism in mass settings of the chanson »L’homme armé« around 1500, Margret Scharrer’s article on military representation in Jean-Baptiste Lully’s tragédies en musique, and Astrid Heyde’s thoughts on historicisation and heroisation in battle-scene depictions with the galleries of Karl X. Gustav and Karl XI. at Drottningholm Palace in Sweden as examples. With regard to research questions concerning the artistic media reception of topics connected to war and the royal court, particularly Gernot Klatte’s article on the royal armoury in Dresden and Berlin, i.e. the weapons collection, the warehouse of the courtly equipment, and the museum, as well as Heiko Lass’ thoughts on the arsenal as a place of dynastic memoria, and Lutz Unbehaun’s input on the arsenal of Schwarzburg Castle as a symbol of territorial power and royal representation can provide further inspiration and guidance. Similarly, Harriet Rudolph’s article on the armed forces and their representation in the early modern period analyses depictions of the entrance of sovereigns, including observations on the military dimensions of royal self-representation on official visits.

All in all, especially the focus on symbolic and emblematic representation allows for a fruitful application of selected ideas from this volume in other – especially art-related – historical disciplines. Despite its sole emphasis on the early modern period, the book has a very strong conceptual, more abstract approach to the military sphere and cultures of war respectively, which makes it easy to derive methodological tools for other scientific issues. This disposition allows for multi-perspectivity and is also why a more general audience will greatly benefit from this compilation.