edited by Massimo Rospocher Fondazione Bruno Kessler Annali dell'lstituto storico italo-germanico in Trento Jahrbuch des italienisch-deutschen historischen lnstituts in Trient Contributi/Beitrage 27 I lettori che desiderano informarsi sui libri e sull'insieme delle attivita della Societa editrice il Mulino possono consultare il sito Internet: www.mulino.it Beyond the Public Sphere Opinions, Publics, Spaces in Early Modern Europe edited by Massimo Rospocher Societa editrice il Mulino Duncker & Humblot Bologna Berlin FBK -Istituto storico italo-germanico BEYOND the public sphere : opinions, publics, spaces in early modern Europe/ edited by Massimo Rospocher. -Bologna: II mulino; Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 2012. -303 p., [8] c. di tav.; 24 cm. - (Annali dell'Istituto storico italo-germanico in Trento. Contributi ; 27 = Jahrbuch des italienisch- deutschen historischen Instituts in Trient. Beitrage ; 27) Scritti di vari. -Nell'occh. : Fondazione Bruno Kessler. ISBN 978-88-15-24028-6 -ISBN 978-3-428-13914-9 1. Opinione pubblica -Europa -Secc.XVI-XVIII I. Rospocher, Massimo 303.380 940 903 (DDC 22.ed.) Composizione e impaginazione: FBK -Editoria Scheda bibliografica: FBK -Biblioteca ISBN 978-88-15-24028-6 ISBN 978-3-428-13914-9 Copyright © 2012 by Societa editrice ii Mulino, Bologna. In Kommission bei Duncker & Humblot, Berlin. Tutti i diritti sono riservati. Nessuna parte di questa pubblicazione puo essere fotocopiata, riprodotta, archiviata, memorizzata o trasmessa in qualsiasi f01ma o mezzo - elettronico, meccanico, reprografico, digitale - se non nei termini previsti dalla legge che tutela ii Diritto d' Autore. Per altre informazioni si veda ii sito www.mulino.it/edizioni/fotocopie Contents INTRODUCTION Beyond the Public Sphere: A Historiographical Transition, by Massimo Rospocher p. 9 THEORY AND PRACTICES The Early-Modern State and the Rise of the Public Sphere. A Systems-Theory Approach, by Andreas Gestrich 31 Absolutism and the Birth of the Public Sphere. A Critical View of a Model, by Francesco Benigno 53 The Richness of History and the Multiplicity of Experiences in Early Modern Societies. The Self-Description of «Alteuropa» by Luhmann, by Angela De Benedictis 73 SPACES, VOICES, HUMO RS An Evanescent Public Sphere. Voices, Spaces, and Publics in Venice during the Italian Wars, by Massimo Rospocher and Rosa Salzberg 93 Public Sphere or Communication Triangle? Information and Politics in Early Modern Europe, by Filippo De Vivo 115 «Fama», Humors, and Conflicts. ARe-readingofMachiavelli's «Florentine Histories», by Sandra Landi 137 PUBLICS Constructing Selves, Making Publics: Geometry and Poetry in Descartes and Sidney, by Shankar Raman 167 5 1514, 1516, 1517: The Public Space and its Limits, by Silvana Seidel Menchi p. 191 Social Networking. The «Album amicorum» and Early Modern Public Making, by Bronwen Wilson 205 OPINIONS «There are lots of papers going around and it'd be better if there weren't». Broadsides and Public Opinion in the Spanish Monarchy in the Seventeenth Century, by Antonio Castillo Gomez 227 The Making of a Public Issue in Early Modern Europe. The Spanish Inquisition and Public Opinion in the Netherlands, by Arjan van Dixhoorn 249 Public Opinion and Free-market Morality in Old Regime and Revolutionary France, by Charles Walton 271 Public/Secret: Eighteenth-Century Hesitations about «Public Opinion», by Edoardo Tortarolo 289 Authors 303 6 Introduction