Nicholas Henshall (historian)

Nicholas Henshall (born October 3, 1944 in Stockport - † September 16, 2015 ) was a historian and high school teacher from the United Kingdom who was the initiator of the historical debate on absolutism in the 1990s .

Henshall was a teacher at the Stockport Grammar School until his retirement , where he was head of the history department. He also taught at the University of Manchester . He was also the editor of the popular science magazine History Today and published in it.

With his book The Myth of Absolutism in 1992, Henshall initiated a debate about the historical scientific concept of absolutism , which he attacked head-on as an “impressive excuse for sloppy thinking”. With the “polemic of the legend killer”, he appealed to the term: “Please leave the stage.” The following debate has led to the term being discredited in parts of the research; so did Wolfgang Reinhard "deconstructed in a manner which is not reconstruction," he referred to as "so that one should give up the idea."

Works

The Myth of Absolutism. Change and Continuity in Early Modern European Monarchy. Longman, London 1992, ISBN 0-582-05618-7 (2nd edition 1993, 3rd edition 1996).
Early Modern Absolutism 1550-1700. Political Reality or Propaganda? In: Ronald G. Asch , Heinz Duchhardt (eds.): Absolutism - a myth? Structural change in monarchical rule in Western and Central Europe (approx. 1550–1700). Böhlau, Cologne 1996, ISBN 3-412-06096-8 , pp. 25-53 (PDF) .
The Zenith of European Monarchy and its Elites. The Politics of Culture, 1650-1750 (= European History in Perspective ). Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke et al. 2010, ISBN 0-333-61390-2 .
The Age of the Elites. In: History Today. Vol. 63, 2013, No. 11.

Web links

David Armitage : Obituary: Nicholas Henshall. In: History Today , November 16, 2015.
Nicholas Henshall (OS 1964, Former Member of Staff & Former Governor). In: StockportGrammar.co.uk , accessed November 26, 2015.

supporting documents

↑ Alice McKeegan: Cancer Patient Given a New Lease of Life by New Drug. In: ManchesterEveningNews.co.uk , February 25, 2011; Maili Lavin: Nicholas Henshall Writing for History Today. In: Stockportgrammar.co.uk , February 3, 2014.
↑ Nicholas Henshall. About the author. In: History Today ; Maili Lavin: Nicholas Henshall Writing for History Today. In: Stockportgrammar.co.uk , February 3, 2014.
↑ Lothar Schilling : On the benefit and disadvantage of a myth. In: ders. (Ed.): Absolutism, an irreplaceable research concept? A Franco-German balance sheet. = L'absolutisme, un concept irremplaçable? (= Paris historical studies. Volume 79). Oldenbourg, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-486-58095-2 , pp. 13–31, here p. 13 (PDF) ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.degruyter.com

↑ In the original: "impressive excuse for sloppy thinking"; Nicholas Henshall: Early Modern Absolutism 1550-1700. Political Reality or Propaganda? In: Ronald G. Asch , Heinz Duchhardt (eds.): Absolutism - a myth? Structural change in monarchical rule in Western and Central Europe (approx. 1550–1700). Böhlau, Cologne 1996, ISBN 3-412-06096-8 , pp. 25–53, here p. 53 (PDF) .

↑ Jaana Eichhorn: History between tradition and innovation. Discourses, Institutions and Power Structures in West German Early Modern Research. V&R Unipress, Göttingen 2006, ISBN 3-89971-294-3 , Chapter 4.2: “The dead live longer: 'Absolutism' as an epoch and form of rule”, pp. 199–212, here p. 212.

↑ In the original: "Kindly leave the stage"; Nicholas Henshall: The Myth of Absolutism. Change and Continuity in Early Modern European Monarchy. Longman, London 1992, ISBN 0-582-05618-7 , p. 212.

↑ Wolfgang Reinhard : History of State Power. A comparative constitutional history. 3rd, revised edition. Beck, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-406-4744-2-X , p. 51. However, this is not without controversy. On the overall debate among others Jaana Eichhorn: History between tradition and innovation. Discourses, Institutions and Power Structures in West German Early Modern Research. V&R Unipress, Göttingen 2006, ISBN 3-89971-294-3 , Chapter 4.2: “The dead live longer: 'Absolutism' as an epoch and form of rule”, pp. 199–213 (preview) .

personal data
SURNAME	Henshall, Nicholas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	British historian
DATE OF BIRTH	October 3, 1944
PLACE OF BIRTH	Stockport
DATE OF DEATH	16th September 2015

[1] Alice McKeegan: Cancer Patient Given a New Lease of Life by New Drug. In: ManchesterEveningNews.co.uk , February 25, 2011; Maili Lavin: Nicholas Henshall Writing for History Today. In: Stockportgrammar.co.uk , February 3, 2014.

[2] Nicholas Henshall. About the author. In: History Today ; Maili Lavin: Nicholas Henshall Writing for History Today. In: Stockportgrammar.co.uk , February 3, 2014.

[3] Lothar Schilling : On the benefit and disadvantage of a myth. In: ders. (Ed.): Absolutism, an irreplaceable research concept? A Franco-German balance sheet. = L'absolutisme, un concept irremplaçable? (= Paris historical studies. Volume 79). Oldenbourg, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-486-58095-2 , pp. 13–31, here p. 13 (PDF) ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.degruyter.com

[4] In the original: "impressive excuse for sloppy thinking"; Nicholas Henshall: Early Modern Absolutism 1550-1700. Political Reality or Propaganda? In: Ronald G. Asch , Heinz Duchhardt (eds.): Absolutism - a myth? Structural change in monarchical rule in Western and Central Europe (approx. 1550–1700). Böhlau, Cologne 1996, ISBN 3-412-06096-8 , pp. 25–53, here p. 53 (PDF) .

[5] Jaana Eichhorn: History between tradition and innovation. Discourses, Institutions and Power Structures in West German Early Modern Research. V&R Unipress, Göttingen 2006, ISBN 3-89971-294-3 , Chapter 4.2: “The dead live longer: 'Absolutism' as an epoch and form of rule”, pp. 199–212, here p. 212.

[6] In the original: "Kindly leave the stage"; Nicholas Henshall: The Myth of Absolutism. Change and Continuity in Early Modern European Monarchy. Longman, London 1992, ISBN 0-582-05618-7 , p. 212.

[7] Wolfgang Reinhard : History of State Power. A comparative constitutional history. 3rd, revised edition. Beck, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-406-4744-2-X , p. 51. However, this is not without controversy. On the overall debate among others Jaana Eichhorn: History between tradition and innovation. Discourses, Institutions and Power Structures in West German Early Modern Research. V&R Unipress, Göttingen 2006, ISBN 3-89971-294-3 , Chapter 4.2: “The dead live longer: 'Absolutism' as an epoch and form of rule”, pp. 199–213 (preview) .