Thomas Robisheaux | Scholars@Duke

Thomas Robisheaux
Professor of History

As an historian of early modern Europe Dr. Robisheaux has particular interests in social and cultural history, German-speaking Central Europe, Renaissance culture, religious reform, popular religion and culture, and microhistory. Author of The Last Witch of Langenburg and Rural Society and the Search for Order in Early Modern Germany, Lost Worlds, and many articles, he teaches courses on European history; Reformation Europe; Magic, Religion and Science; social and economic history; and religion and society in early modern Europe. He is currently writing a book on the craft of microhistory. He is a member of the Society for Reformation Research and the Sixteenth Century Studies Conference. As executive secretary of the Fruehe Neuzeit Interdisziplinaer (Conference Group in Early Modern German Studies) he co-organizes the trienniel conference in early modern studies at Duke University. He has created and directed a humanities laboratory at Duke University, a creative experiment in teaching about and promoting microhistory as a popular genre of history writing. His recent interests explore the methods of microhistory and the ways microhistory can inform the arts and film.

Duke Magazine, "A Witch's Brew ," July/August 2009

Office Hours

Wednesdays 2:30 - 5:00 (202 Carr or the Perk)

Current Appointments & Affiliations

Professor of History, History, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 2009
Bass Fellow, History, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 2016

Contact Information

202 Classroom Bldg, Durham, NC 27708-0719
Dept of History, Box 90719, Durham, NC 27708-0719
trobish@duke.edu (919) 684-3014

Background
Education, Training, & Certifications
- Ph.D., University of Virginia 1981
- B.A., Duke University 1974
Previous Appointments & Affiliations
- Fred W. Shaffer Professor, History, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 2011 - 2016
- Associate Chair, Department of History, History, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 2010 - 2011
- Acting Chair, Department of History, History, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 2009
- Associate Professor with Tenure, History, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 1990 - 2009
- Interim Chairman, German Studies, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 2008
- Assistant Professor, History, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 1983 - 1989
Leadership & Clinical Positions at Duke
- Chair, Arts & Sciences Council (2012-15)
  Bass Society of Fellows 2012-
  Board of Directors, Duke Alumni Association (2006-9)
  Duke Summer Oxford Program (1990-96)
  Director, A.B. Duke Scholarship Program (1990-96)
  Faculty-in-Residence (1984-86)
Academic Positions Outside Duke
- Visiting Professor of History, Ludwig Maximilian Universität (Munich). 2010
Recognition
In the News
- AUG 12, 2021 Trinity College of Arts and Sciences
  
  A Laboratory Is The Ideal Place to Study ... the Humanities
- MAR 30, 2020 Department of History
  
  Epidemics in History: Stories of Cataclysm and Astonishing Advances
- NOV 15, 2013 Durham Herald-Sun
  
  Duke council talks Kunshan course approval, online education
Awards & Honors
- Fred Schaffer Professor of History. Duke University. 2012
- Alexander von Humboldt Fellow (Lifetime Fellow). Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (Bonn, Germany). 1987
Expertise
Subject Headings
- European History
- History, 17th Century
Global Scholarship
- Research
- Teaching
  - Italy (Country)
Research
Selected Grants
- Enduring Loss in the Early Modern Era awarded by Josiah Charles Trent Memorial Foundation 2007 - 2008
- Orthodoxies and Diversities in Early Modern German-Speaking Europe awarded by Josiah Charles Trent Memorial Foundation 2005
- Forensic Medicine, Witchcraft and Poison in 17th Century Germany awarded by Josiah Charles Trent Memorial Foundation 2001
- Conference on Constructing Publics: Cultures of Communication in the Early Modern German Lands awarded by Josiah Charles Trent Memorial Foundation 1998 - 1999
Publications & Artistic Works
Selected Publications
- Books
  - Robisheaux, T. L’ultima strega, 2011.
  - Robisheaux, T. The Craft of Microhistory, 2009.
  - Robisheaux, T. Living with Witches: Six Interdisciplinary Essays, 2009.
  - Robisheaux, Thomas. The Last Witch of Langenburg: Murder in a German Villages, 2009.
  - Imhof, Arthur, and Thomas Robisheaux translator. Lost Worlds: How Our European Ancestors Coped with Everyday Life and Why Life is so Hard Today. Charlottesville, Va.: University of Virginia Press, 1996.
  - Robisheaux, T. Rural Society and the Search for Order in Early Modern Germany. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989.
- Academic Articles
  - Robisheaux, T. “Microhistory and the historical imagination: New frontiers.” Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies 47, no. 1 (January 1, 2017): 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1215/10829636-3716554.
    Full Text
  - Robisheaux, T. “Microhistory today: A roundtable discussion.” Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies 47, no. 1 (January 1, 2017): 7–52. https://doi.org/10.1215/10829636-3716566.
    Full Text
  - Robisheaux, T. “Peasant Society and Popular Culture in Early Modern Europe.” Peasant Studies 1 (1987): 105–18.
  - Thomas Robisheaux, C. D. F. “Peasant Unrest and the Moral Economy in the German Southwest, 1560 1620.” Archiv Für Reformationsgeschichte 77 (1987): 174–86.
    Link to Item
  - Robisheaux, T. “Peasant Revolts in Germany and Central Europe after the Peasants' War: Comments on the Literature.” Central European History 17 (1984): 384–403.
  - Robisheaux, T. “Peasants and Pastors: Rural Youth Control and the Reformation in Hohenlohe, 1540 1680.” Social History 6 (1981): 281–300.
  - Robisheaux, T. “History and Economic Anthropology: The Historians' Search for Economic Man in Africa.” Essays in History 21 (1977): 53–82.
- Book Sections
  - Robisheaux, T. “The German Witch Trials.” In The Oxford Handbook of Witchcraft, edited by Brian Levack. Oxford University Press, 2013.
  - Robisheaux, T. “Penance, Confession and the Self in Early Modern Lutheranism.” In Ideas and Cultural Margins: Essays in Honor of H.C. Erik Midelfort, edited by Marjorie Elisabeth Plummer and Robin B. Barnes, 117–30. Aldershot, 2009.
  - Robisheaux, T. “’The Queen of Evidence:’ The Witchcraft Confession in the Age of Confessionalism.” In Confessionalization in Europe 1500-1700: Essays in Honor and Memory of Bodo Nischan, edited by John Headley and Hans Hillerbrand. Ashgate, 2004.
  - Robisheaux, T. “The German Peasants’ War.” In Europe 1450-1789: Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World. New York: Scribner’s, 2004.
  - Robisheaux, T. “Zur Rezeption Benedict Carpzov im 17ten. Jahrhundert.” In Hexenprozesse Und Gerichtspraxis, edited by Franz Irsigler and Gunther Franz, 527–44. Trier, 2001.
  - Robisheaux, T. “Forensic Medicine and Witchcraft in Seventeeth Century Germany.” In Languages of Witchcraft: Narrative, Ideology and Meaning in Early Modern Culture, edited by Stuart Clark, 197–215. London: Routledge, 2000.
  - Robisheaux, T. “The Peasantries of Western Germany, 1300-1750.” In The Peasantries of Europe from the Fourteenth to the Eighteenth Centuries, edited by Tom Scott, 111–42. London: Longman, 1997.
  - Robisheaux, T. “The Nobility in South Germany, 1790-1848.” In Adel Und Staatsverwaltung in Brandenburg Im 19. Und 20. Jahrhundert: Ein Historischer Vergleich, edited by Kurt Adamy, 267–80. Akademie Verlag, 1996.
  - Robisheaux, T. “The World of the Village.” In Handbook of European History 1400-1600: Late Middle Ages, Renaissance and Reformation, edited by Thomas A. Brady, Heiko A. Oberman, and James D. Tracy, 79–112. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1994.
Teaching & Mentoring
Recent Courses
Scholarly, Clinical, & Service Activities
Presentations & Appearances
Outreach & Engaged Scholarship
- Master Classes in Microhistory. Eötvös Loránd University. October 19, 2016 - October 26, 2016 2016
Service to the Profession
- Co-creator & Executive Director. Frühe Neuzeit Interdisziplinär. 1993 1993

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Education, Training, & Certifications

Previous Appointments & Affiliations

Leadership & Clinical Positions at Duke

Academic Positions Outside Duke

In the News

Awards & Honors

Subject Headings

Global Scholarship

Research

Teaching

Selected Grants

Selected Publications

Books

Academic Articles

Book Sections

Recent Courses

Presentations & Appearances

Outreach & Engaged Scholarship

Service to the Profession