Vita

Benjamin Seebröker is an historian specialising in early modern European history. He is a research associate at the Käte Hamburger Kolleg ‘Legal Unity and Pluralism’ at the University of Münster since 2021. Following his Master's in History from TU Dresden (2016), he worked as a research associate at the Chair of Early Modern History on the DFG-funded project ‘Civilising Violence? A Critical Secondary Analysis of Pre-modern Sources’ and within the Collaborative Research Centre 1285 ‘Invectivity. Constellations and Dynamics of Disparagement’. He earned his PhD from TU Dresden (2018–2022) as a fellow of the German Academic Scholarship Foundation and was a Visting Researcher at the University of Warwick during his doctoral studies (2019–20). His dissertation, ‘Interpersonelle Gewalt und gesellschaftlicher Wandel. Lancashire 1728–1830’ was published in 2023.

His research encompasses 18th-century English history, seigneurial rule and rulership more general in the Holy Roman Empire and the history of violence, crime and criminal justice. His work focuses on broad-scale socioeconomic transformation and the interplay between stability and change.

Research Project

Rule and Seigneurial Rule in the Holy Roman Empire (c.1550–1800)

A closer examination of manorial lordships is essential for a deeper understanding of early modern rule and its functioning more generally. As the lowest level of rule (Herrschaft), they were fundamental to the entire system of governance across much of Europe and demonstrated remarkable structural stability throughout the early modern period. Moreover, over 90 percent of the population in the Holy Roman Empire lived in rural areas or small towns. For these people, the seigneurial lordship was the central authority in nearly all matters, thus shaping their everyday lives and experiences with structures of rule.

Current models of rule, which focus primarily on territorial lordship, pay scant attention to seigneurial rule. This is one reason why these models—which emphasize the agency of the ruled (such as acceptance-oriented rule or rule through negotiation)—fail to adequately describe power relations within seigneurial lordships. Within these contexts, the imbalance of power and resources often played out more starkly than in other forms of rule, and for the growing rural population living in poverty meaningful participation in the communication processes which constituted rulership was severely limited.

Through a comparative analysis of four seigneurial lordships, this project seeks to reassess the tension between negotiation and coercion in early modern power relations. Following recent scholarship, it conceptualizes rule as a process of communication, but aims to more firmly anchor these communicative processes within the social, economic, and legal frameworks that underpinned them. In doing so, the project promises to offer a fresh perspective on early modern rule more broadly.

Publications

Monograph

Interpersonelle Gewalt und gesellschaftlicher Wandel. Lancashire 1728–1830 (Konflikte und Kultur 42), München 2023.
open access: http://dx.doi.org/10.24053/9783739882253

The research data used for this publication can be accessed and downloaded via Zenodo: https://zenodo.org/doi/10.5281/zenodo.8288686

Reviews:

Thomas Sokoll, in: German Historical Institute London Bulletin, 47/2 (2025), 68–72.
open access: https://doi.org/10.25360/01-2025-00054

Joachim Eibach, in:  Zeitschrift für Historische Forschung, 52/1 (2025), 190–191. https://doi.org/10.3790/zhf.2025.408148

Collected Volume

Konzeptforum Justiznutzung (EViR Working Papers 18), Münster 2025.
open access: https://doi.org/10.17879/20998610381

Articles

Justiznutzung als Form der sozialen Kontrolle, in: Konzeptforum Justiznutzung, edited by Benjamin Seebröker, (EViR Working Papers 18), Münster 2025, 85–92.
open access: https://doi.org/10.17879/20998610381

Vom Tatort vors Gericht. Mündlichkeit und Verwaltungsschrifttum in englischen Gerichtsakten des 18. Jahrhunderts, in: Die Sprachen der Frühen Neuzeit. Europäische und globale Perspektiven, edited by Mark Häberlein/Andreas Flurschütz da Cruz (Frühneuzeit-Impulse 6), Köln 2024, S. 419–429.

Zur Abwesenheit konfessioneller Marker in den Strafverfolgungsakten Lancashires im langen 18. Jahrhundert, in: Gesellschaftliche Diversität und Phänomene rechtlicher Einheit und Vielfalt in der vormodernen Stadt. Effekte konfessioneller und religiöser Diversität, edited by Ulrike Ludwig (EViR Working Papers 7), Münster 2024, 77–93.
open access: https://doi.org/10.17879/88978695995

[Art.] Norm-Praxis-Konflikt, in: Münsteraner Glossar zu Einheit und Vielfalt im Recht, 3. Ausgabe (EViR Working Papers 11), Münster 2024, 119–122, co-author: Clara Harder
open access: https://doi.org/10.17879/46918569748

[Art.] Centre and Periphery, geographical, in: Münsteraner Glossar zu Einheit und Vielfalt im Recht, 4. Ausgabe (EViR Working Papers 11), Münster 2024, 17–19.
open access: https://doi.org/10.17879/46918569748

Arbeitsmigration in der süddeutschen NS-Kriegswirtschaft. Computergestützte Datenexploration mittels historischer Geoinformation und Netzwerkanalyse, in: Geschichte in Wissenschaft und Unterricht 74, 9/10 (2023), 550-570, co-authors: Alina Ostrowski, Jorrit Hopp, Lukas Bartl, Markus Gerstmeier, Heiko Brendel, Simon Donig, Malte Rehbein

Lethal Violence in Decline? A Critical Review of Historical Homicide Rates in England, in: Crime, Histoire & Sociétés 25, 2 (2021), 33–57.
open access: https://doi.org/10.4000/chs.3050

Hard Numbers? The Long-Term Decline in Violence Reassessed. Empirical Objections and Fresh Perspectives, in: Continuity and Change 36, 1 (2021), 1–32, co-authors: Gerd Schwerhoff, Alexander Kästner, Wiebke Voigt
open access: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0268416021000096

„Alles kommt vom Bergwerk her“? Städtische Identität und Bergbau in Chroniken erzgebirgischer Städte in der Frühen Neuzeit, in: Neues Archiv für Sächsische Geschichte 90 (2019), 109–128.

Beschaffen, verwalten, begraben. Die Dresdner Anatomie und ihre Leichen, 1748-1817, in: Tiefe Einblicke. Das anatomische Theater im Zeitalter der Aufklärung, edited by Johanna Bleker/Petra Lennig/Thomas Schnalke (Kaleidogramme 167), Berlin 2018, 205–221, co-author: Alexander Kästner

Book Reviews for Zeitschrift für Historische Forschung und Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte.