PD Dr Michael Schaich

Deputy Director

+44 020 7309 2014 m.schaich@ghil.ac.uk

Much of my research has focused on the role of communication in European politics and culture during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. I started off as a historian of the public sphere in Enlightenment south Germany before turning to courtly and parliamentary ritual, particularly in Britain during the reigns of the Stuarts and Hanoverians.

More recently, I have been fascinated by the ‘survival’, or rather continuing success, of handwritten media in early modern Europe in spite of a rapidly expanding print culture. I’m especially interested in the proliferation of scribal newsletters in the decades around 1700 and their significance for the exchange of information between Britain and the Continent. This interest has borne first fruit in a special issue of the journal Parliamentary History, co-edited with Robin Eagles (History of Parliament Trust) and published in 2022.

In close collaboration with British and German historians, I have also contributed to debates about the personal union between Britain and Hanover (1714–1837) and the history of the Holy Roman Empire. In addition, I have worked on early modern warfare, the history of libraries and knowledge, as well as, sporadically, the fate of German émigrés in Britain during and after the Second World War.

During my time at the GHIL I have held a variety of positions, among others that of head librarian. Since 2014 I have been the Deputy Director of the institute.

Research Project

Webs of Information
Scribal News and News Cultures around 1700

A trompe l'oeil painting of newspapers, letters, writing implements (a quill, knife and sealing wax) and a comb, attached to a wooden board with tacked down strips of red leather

Handwritten newsletters are one of the most widespread but least known political media in the early modern period. Originating in the 15th century, they survived the advent of the newspaper in 1605 and, in the decades around 1700, still formed an integral part of the media ensemble. Their role in reporting current developments alongside other forms of news coverage, however, has received little attention to date. The project analyses the continuing importance of scribal news by investigating the exchange of manuscript reports between Britain and Germany in the late 17th and early 18th centuries.

Deputy Director
Research Fellow in Early Modern History

Research Interests

Enlightenment and Counter-Enlightenment
History of universities and education
Early modern princely courts and their ceremonials
History of libraries and reading practices
Information and news in early modern Europe
Jewish émigrés in Britain

Education and Academic Background

2013	Habilitation, LMU Munich
1998	Ph.D., LMU Munich
1995–1999	Lecturer (Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter), LMU Munich
1991–1992	Research assistant at the archive of the LMU Munich

Memberships and Affiliations

Royal Historical Society
Deutsche Gesellschaft für die Erforschung des 18. Jahrhunderts
The Society for Court Studies

Publications

Monographs and Edited Volumes

with Robin Eagles (eds.), Scribal News in Politics and Parliament 1660-1760, special issue of Parliamentary History, vol. 41,1 (Chichester, 2022)

with Matthias Pohlig (eds.), The War of the Spanish Succession: New Perspectives (Oxford, 2018)

with Andreas Gestrich (eds.), ‘Hitler, Mein Kampf: A Critical Edition – The Debate’, special edition of German Historical Institute London Bulletin 39/1 (London, 2017)

with Andreas Gestrich (eds.), The Hanoverian Succession: Dynastic Politics and Monarchical Representation (Farnham, 2015)

Die vielen Gesichter des Königs: Die Inszenierung von Herrschaft in der britischen Monarchie während des 17. und 18. Jahrhunderts (Ms., 2013)

with Anke Fischer-Kattner et al (eds.), Schleifspuren: Lesarten des 18. Jahrhunderts. Festschrift für Eckhart Hellmuth (Munich, 2011)

with R.J.W. Evans and P.H. Wilson (eds.), The Holy Roman Empire, 1495–1806 (Oxford, 2011)

(ed.) Monarchy and Religion: The Transformation of Royal Culture in Eighteenth-Century Europe (Oxford, 2007)

with J. Neuheiser (eds.), Political Ritual in the United Kingdom, 1700–2000 (Augsburg, 2006)

Staat und Öffentlichkeit im Kurfürstentum Bayern der Spätaufklärung (Munich, 2001)

Articles and Chapters

Selections

with Robin Eagles: ‘Introduction’ in: Robin Eagles andf Michael Schaich (eds.): Scribal News in Politics and Parliament 1660-1760 (special issue of Parliamentary History 41,1 (Chichester, 2022)), 2-18

‘(Extra)ordinary News. Foreign Reporting on English Politics under William III’, in: Robin Eagles andf Michael Schaich (eds.): Scribal News in Politics and Parliament 1660-1760 (special issue of Parliamentary History 41,1 (Chichester, 2022)), 83-104 [Open Access]

‘Paul Hupfauer. Der letzte Propst von Beuerberg’, in: Christoph Kürzeder (Hrsg.), 1121 – 900 Jahre Kloster Beuerberg (München, 2022), 460-9

‘The Jews in Germany: H.G. Adler as a Public Historian’, in Lynn L. Wolff (ed.), A Modernist in Exile: The International Reception of H.G. Adler (Cambridge, 2019), 169–86

‘Standards and Colours: Representing the War of the Spanish Succession in Britain’, in Matthias Pohlig and Michael Schaich (eds.), The War of the Spanish Succession: New Perspectives (Oxford, 2018), 235–63

with Matthias Pohlig, ‘Revisiting the War of the Spanish Succession’, in Matthias Pohlig und Michael Schaich (eds.), The War of the Spanish Succession: New Perspectives (Oxford, 2018), 1–27

‘Information Professionals: Huguenot Diplomats in Later Stuart London and Their European Context’, in Vivienne Larminie (ed.), Huguenot Networks 1560–1780: The Interactions and Impact of a Protestant Minority in Europe, Politics and Culture in Europe, 1650–1750 (New York/London, 2018), 75–91

‘La chambre de parade sous la monarchie anglaise autour de 1700’, in Thomas W. Gaehtgens, Markus A. Castor, Frédéric Bussmann and Christophe Henry (eds.), Versailles et l’Europe: L’appartement monarchique et princier, architecture, décor, cérémonial, Passages Online 1 (Paris, 2017), 649–67

‘Past Futures: German Political Exiles during the Second World War’, Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung: Jahrbuch (2015), 58–67

‘Kontaktzonen: Die religiöse Topographie Londons als Handlungsraum hallischer Pietisten’, in Holger Zaunstöck (ed.), London und das Hallesche Waisenhaus: Eine transnationale Kommunikationsgeschichte im 18. Jahrhundert, Hallesche Forschungen 39 (Halle, 2014), 67–90

‘L’organisation des funérailles royales en Angleterre au XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles’, in Juliusz A. Chrosicki, Mark Hengerer and Gérard Sabatier (eds.), Les funérailles princières en Europe, XVIe-XVIIIe siècle: Le grand théâtre de la mort (Paris, 2012), 117–40

‘Vom Tod eines Helden: Das Staatsbegräbnis des Herzogs von Marlborough’, in Anke Fischer-Kattner et al (ed.), Schleifspuren: Lesarten des 18. Jahrhunderts. Festschrift für Eckhart Hellmuth (Munich, 2011), 189–203

‘The Public Sphere’, in P. H. Wilson (ed..), A Companion to Eighteenth-Century Europe (Oxford, 2008), 125–40

‘The Funerals of the British Royal Family’, in M. Schaich (ed.), Monarchy and Religion: The Transformation of Royal Culture in Eighteenth-Century Europe (Oxford, 2007), 421–50.

‘Zwischen Beharrung und Wandel: (Ex-)Jesuitische Strategien im Umgang mit der Öffentlichkeit’, in F. M. Eybl (ed.), Strukturwandel kultureller Praxis: Beiträge zu einer kulturwissenschaftlichen Sicht des Theresianischen Zeitalters (Vienna, 2002), 193–217

‘Spanische Inquisition in Bayern’, in A. Fahrmeir and S. Freitag (eds.), Mord und andere Kleinigkeiten: Ungewöhnliche Kriminalfälle aus sechs Jahrhunderten (Munich, 2001), 68–80, 276

‘Ein Chorherr im Dienste der Säkularisation: Paul Hupfauer und das Ende der bayerischen Klosterbibliotheken 1802/03’, in R. A. Müller (ed.), Kloster und Bibliothek: Zur Geschichte des Bibliothekswesens der Augustiner-Chorherren in der Frühen Neuzeit (Paring, 2000), 217–92

‘Dillingen im Spannungsfeld der Universitäten Ingolstadt und Salzburg (1549–1803)’, in R. Kießling (ed.), Die Universität Dillingen und ihre Nachfolger: Stationen und Aspekte einer Hochschule in Schwaben (Dillingen, 1999), 211–42

‘Religionis defensor acerrimus: Joseph Anton Weissenbach und der Kreis der Augsburger Exjesuiten’, in C. Weiss and W. Albrecht (eds.), Von ‘Obscuranten' und ‘Eudämonisten’: Gegenaufklärerische, konservative und antirevolutionäre Publizisten im späten 18. Jahrhundert (St. Ingbert, 1997), 77–125

Reviews and Miscellaneous Publications

Reviews

for: Das Achtzehnte Jahrhundert, Central Europe, The Court Historian, English Historical Review, German Historical Institute London Bulletin, Historische Zeitschrift, sehepunkte, TLS, Zeitschrift für bayerische Landesgeschichte, Zeitschrift für Historische Forschung.

Blog posts

‘New Publication on Manuscript Newsletters Around 1700’, German Historical Institute London Blog, 22 March 2020 (Read here)