Henkilöhistoria ja varhaismoderni aika

Biographical approaches to early modern history
This book contributes to the debates on the role and theory of biographical and life-writing research in historical research and
methodology. The first part of the study analyses how biographical
approaches have until now been used in research into the early modern
history of Finland. It explores how the trends in biographical history
have evolved from the eighteenth century to today. Church leaders and
bishops were emphasised in a country that could boast of few statesmen.
Early modern women’s biographies have been strongly influenced by
fictional traditions. The second part presents four attempts at new ways
of producing and presenting biographical histories that yield new kinds
of information on early modern society. These chapters are influenced
by the so-called new histories (which by now have become rather
traditional social and cultural histories), microhistory, gender history,
and the history of experience.