A Polyphony of Stories from 17th and 18th-century
Southeastern Europe Cover Image

A Polyphony of Stories from 17th and 18th-century Southeastern Europe
A Polyphony of Stories from 17th and 18th-century Southeastern Europe

Author(s): Jelena Mrgić
Subject(s): Cultural history, 17th Century, 18th Century
Published by: Udruženje za društvenu istoriju
Keywords: narrative sources; late Renaissance and early Baroque; social and cultural environments; polyphonic approach; the Balkans

Summary/Abstract: The aim of this paper is to present a selected ensemble of narrative and documentary sources – diaries, memoirs, chronicles, travelogues, business letters, and one confidential report – in order to pursue a sort of polyphonic path in historical research. Connecting these histories, i.e. personal stories from different, at times confronting, yet overlapping Kulturkreisen, shows a less visible web of liaisons between people. They belonged to different social strata – bellatores, oratores, nobility and the emerging third class of entrepreneurs, and stemmed from Catholic, Orthodox and Muslim religious and cultural environments. Differences in their educational, professional or cultural backgrounds seem to diminish while their interconnectedness, in the space of Southeastern Europe, comes to the fore.

  • Issue Year: 2015
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 7-24
  • Page Count: 18
  • Language: English