HI 390
THE WORLD OF THE TAVERN
IN EARLY MODERN EUROPE
THIRD YEAR ADVANCED OPTION
Module tutor: Prof. Beat Kümin
Adriaen van Ostade, ‘Peasant Dance in Front of a Tavern’ (1652), Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
Module Summary
This leaflet contains brief information on ‘The World of the Tavern in Early Modern
Europe’. Full details on seminars and materials can be found on the module website:
http://go.warwick.ac.uk/tavern
1. Tutor and contact details
Prof. Beat Kümin, Office H 313. T: (5)24915; e: b.kumin@warwick.ac.uk
2. Time and Place
Weekly meetings on Wednesdays 10-12 am in H 0.43 (starting in week 1; but NOT in
weeks 6 and 16). One field trip in the spring term (likely to be on the Saturday of week
18 – to be confirmed). A revision session will be offered at the start of the summer term.
3. Aims and objectives
As an ‘advanced’ option, this module involves the study of a broad-ranging theme in a
comparative and interdisciplinary context. It examines developments in a number of
different European countries (mainly the German lands, France and England) and draws
on insights from neighbouring disciplines such as art and legal history, anthropology,
theology and sociology. Compared to second-year options, there is a greater emphasis
on historiographical debates, active student input in seminar organization and
engagement with primary sources (although not to the same extent as in special
subjects). Students are expected to devise their own topics for long essays. All written
work should engage with primary sources and / or historiography / neighbouring
disciplines from a comparative perspective.
The module uses one of the most prominent social centres to illustrate key themes and
processes in early modern Europe, such as patterns of sociability, the growth of
regulation, communication networks, confessional identity, patterns of crime, gender
roles and alcohol consumption. It approaches pre-modern social conditions through the
analysis of an ubiquitous leisure activity and highlights tensions between religious
doctrines, secular laws and popular culture.
After an introductory section on scholarly approaches, primary sources and contextual
issues, seminar sessions explore the legal, socio-economic and cultural dimensions of
commercial hospitality and the status of the people who worked in the trade. Themes
will be explored through student presentations, book reviews and debates rather than
lectures by the tutor. A concluding part widens the perspective to examine the
relationship with local, national and ecclesiastical authorities as well as the potential for
interdisciplinary approaches.
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Evidence from a broad chronological and geographical range is used to encourage longterm comparative views of early modern history. It shall become clear that basic
similarities characterised the trade in Central and North-Western Europe, in spite of
marked differences in the constitutional and confessional frameworks.
4. Intended learning outcomes
By the end of the module students should be able to ....
… demonstrate enhanced study, writing and communication skills;
… identify key processes and debates in early modern history;
… understand the multifunctional role of early modern public houses;
… examine relevant issues in a range of European case studies;
… engage with works from other academic disciplines;
… display greater expertise in making individual and group presentations;
… write an informative book review;
… devise a long essay topic supported by an appropriate bibliography;
… critically evaluate a range of primary and / or secondary sources in comparative
perspective.
5. Teaching and learning methods
Weekly meetings usually take the form of seminars, occasionally with a short tutor
introduction. Participants are expected to prepare seminar reading in private study, to
offer a number of (individual / group) presentations in class (facilitated by the Learning
Grid) and to take an active part in discussions. Handouts with additional materials, esp.
(translated) extracts from sources will be available for most sessions. At least one field
trip – to historic public houses in the region – also forms part of the programme. The
two non-assessed assignments take the form of 2,000 word essays (but one can be a
book review of 1,000 words) and there is an optional (2-hour) mock exam. Individual
tutorials will give feedback on these assignments and seminar performance. A revision
class is available at the start of the summer term. Long essays and – if applicable –
dissertations allow for closer engagement with a particular aspect examined in the
module (titles and materials need to be agreed with the tutor as early as possible –
end of autumn term for dissertations, end of spring term for LEs; there should be
no significant overlap with exam questions / essay topics in any module).
6. Writing a Book Review
An informative book review should:
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summarise the structure, method and main points of the work;
discuss how the author’s arguments fit into other writing on the subject;
comment on the range of sources used and how they contribute to the argument;
explain the strengths and weaknesses of the book from your point of view;
assess whether / how the work will advance relevant debates
acknowledge sources of information used in footnotes and a bibliography.
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It may be helpful to look at other people’s reviews in scholarly journals (many of which
are accessible online through the library website and/or ‘JStor’), e.g.:
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Central European History; English Historical Review; German History; History;
Journal of Early Modern History; Sixteenth Century Journal.
Many scholarly websites and discussion fora also give access to reviews and other
relevant materials (see e.g. ‘The Social History of Alcohol and Drugs’ or ‘Reviews in
History’).
The following is not a definitive list but merely suggestive of books you might like to
review. If you have other ideas please discuss them with the module tutor:
Bennett, Judith, Ale, Beer and Brewsters in England: Women’s Work in a Changing
World (Oxford, 1996)
Brennan, Thomas, Public Drinking and Popular Culture in Eighteenth-Century Paris
(Princeton, 1988)
Clark, Peter, The English Alehouse: A Social History (London, 1983)
Earnshaw, Steven, The Pub in Literature: England’s Altered State (Manchester, 2000)
Martin, Lynn A., Alcohol, Sex and Gender in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe
(Basingstoke, 2001)
Tlusty, B. Ann, Bacchus and Civic Order: The Culture of Drink in Early Modern
Germany (Charlottesville, 2001)
7. Workload and assessment
Coursework includes 2 mandatory non-assessed assignments, i.e. 2,000 word essays (or,
as an alternative to assignment 2, a 1,000 word book review), and an optional twoquestion mock exam, due at the end of week 7 in the autumn term, week 3 in the spring
and Tuesday of week 3 in the summer term respectively.
Assessment consists of a two-hour exam and one 4,500 word long essay (due by the
departmental deadline specified on the undergraduate website) UNLESS you are writing
a dissertation linked to this module in which case you take a three-hour exam.
NB: Students are very welcome to attach the dissertation unit to this module. If you
register to do so, a first orientation meeting will be held in the autumn term.
The department encourages the use of foreign languages in all written work. French and
German are particularly appropriate here, but Italian can also be accommodated (see the
relevant website section for details of appropriate literature).
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Public house architecture:
The Pertrichhof inn at Petershausen near Dachau (Bavaria), built c. 1700. Photo: BK.
Tavern fare: Joseph Plepp, ‘Still Life with Cherries and Cheese’ (1632);
Picture credit: State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg.
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8. Suggested titles for (non-)assessed essays
The following list provides a few suggestions. Students are encouraged to find their
own topics, but should discuss titles and materials with the tutor.
Non-assessed short essays
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When (and why) did commercial hospitality emerge in Europe?
Which was the most significant function of the early modern public house?
Assess the strengths and weaknesses of recent early modern tavern historiography.
What can travel reports [or: sermons / tax records] tell us about the history of early modern public
houses?
‘Material evidence must be the starting-point for any study of early modern public houses’. Discuss.
Public houses in early modern [?]. A case study.
‘Run for the poor by the poor’. Discuss the social and economic status of early modern publicans.
How good was the catering in early modern public houses?
Why were tavern brawls so common in early modern Europe?
‘The early modern public house was essentially a masculine environment’. Discuss.
‘Social elites stayed well clear of the early modern public house’. Do you agree?
How can we characterize the relationship between publicans and pastors in early modern Europe?
Were public houses a threat to early modern society?
Did public houses become more or less important over the course of the early modern period?
What can tavern historians learn from sociological [theological/legal/anthropological] approaches?
Why should historians study early modern public houses?
Sample long essay titles [but discuss your choice or alternatives with the tutor]
1. Who controlled early modern public houses?
2. Representations of the early modern public house [OR: early modern publicans].
3. Were early modern publicans members of an elite?
4. Did early modern Europeans drink too much alcohol?
5. Public houses and popular culture in early modern Europe.
6. Were public houses good or bad for the early modern economy?
7. Why is the concept of ‘honour’ so prominent in studies on early modern public houses?
8. Sex and the early modern public house.
9. Were early modern public houses ‘mass schools of crime’?
10. Did the public house replace the parish church as the main social centre in early modern Europe?
11. How significant was confessionalization for the world of the early modern public house?
12. Public houses and state formation in early modern Europe.
13. Public houses and ‘public sphere’ in early modern Europe.
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10. Model exam paper [see also the university’s database of past exam papers]
UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK
Summer 0000
THE WORLD OF THE TAVERN IN EARLY MODERN EUROPE (HI 390)
(i) For candidates also writing a dissertation in this module:
Time allowed: 3 hours
Answer THREE questions.
(ii) For all other candidates:
Time allowed: 2 hours
Answer TWO questions.
Answers should NOT include any significant amount of material already presented in ANY
assessed essays.
Read carefully the instructions on the answer book and make sure that the particulars required
are entered on each answer book.
1. How can historians most adequately define the social function of publicans in early modern
Europe?
2. ‘Qualitative aspects are likely to cause the biggest difficulties in a study of early modern
public houses’. Do you agree?
3. ‘The devil’s chapel’. How appropriate is this contemporary perception of the early modern
public house?
4. Why do early modern historians look to neighbouring disciplines for the study of public
houses?
5. ‘Consumer choice was not a characteristic of early modern public houses.’ Discuss.
6. What was the attitude of early modern authorities towards public houses?
7. To what extent was the early modern public house ‘open to the public’?
8. ‘As a workplace, public houses simply mirrored prevailing early modern gender roles.’
Discuss.
9. Would you emphasise similarities or differences between public houses in England and
Central Europe in the early modern period?
10. Was there a ‘golden age’ of the European public house?
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