What is it about?
‘The Baltic Battle of Books’ is a collection of studies on the creation, relocation, and reconstruction of libraries between the late Middle Ages and the Age of Confessionalization, circa 1500–1650. This was an era of religious division and struggle in Northern Europe following the Reformation and Counter-Reformation in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. At the time different creeds clashed with each other, but it was also a period when the political and intellectual geography of Europe was redrawn. Centuries-old political, economic, and cultural networks fell apart and were replaced with new ones. Books and libraries were at the centre of these cultural, political, and religious transformations, frequently taken away as war booties and appropriated by their new owners in distant locations.
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Why is it important?
The fourteen studies follow the fates of books and libraries from the time they were brought together, through their violent removal to new locations, up until their preservation and use for cultural exchange and research today. The studies centres around the Baltic Sea region extending down to Central Europe and are of interest to scholars of the period as well as practitioners within the cultural heritage sector.
Perspectives
Plundering of cultural heritage, redress of historical injustices, restoration and apologies or reconciliation and cooperation are issues that have gained increased relevance under the influence of postcolonial perspectives. It is my hope that this collection of studies will provide a foundation for informed positions on these important matters, which fundamentally concern us humans as cultural beings.
Jonas Nordin
Lunds Universitet
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This page is a summary of: Colour Illustrations, June 2023, De Gruyter,
DOI: 10.1163/9789004441217_017.
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