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Dissertation Information for Jason Phillip Coy

NAME:
- Jason Phillip Coy

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- History

SCHOOL:
- University of California, Los Angeles (USA) (2001)

ADVISORS:
- David Warren Sabean

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- Geoffrey W. Symcox
- Stephen P. Frank
- Jack Katz

MPACT Status: Fully Complete

Title: In punishment of open vice: Criminality and authority in sixteenth-century Ulm

Abstract: Early modern penality, the application of judicial authority by magistrates, concerned far more than simple law enforcement. More than simple retribution or even deterrence, early modern criminal prosecution also served the political interests of local magistrates. Secular authorities relied heavily upon their traditional role as dispensers of justice in order to legitimize their rule, and ritualized penal practices were at the heart of these efforts. When local authorities executed convicts or forced offenders to submit to humiliating petty punishments they not only punished misbehavior, but also reinforced the social distance between ruler and subject. My research findings suggest that these official penal activities represented a major source of legitimacy and a useful tool in state building. Ulm provides a striping case study of these developments, since the nature of authority in the Ulmer territory changed dramatically during the mid-sixteenth century, a shift in structures of domination reflected in local penal practice and social relations.

After mid-century, a new patrician-dominated magistrate superceded the traditional guild-controlled town council, and these new authorities accelerated the rate of criminal prosecution within their domains. Ulm's new patrician rulers had an interest in flexing their judicial muscle, in order to support their gradual political consolidation. This dissertation is based upon a database that includes over 2,500 offenders who appeared before Ulm's courts during the sixteenth century, and whose criminal records are preserved in the Ulmer Stadtarchiv. Careful analysis of the experiences of these offenders reveals the Rat's aims in dispensing justice and shows how official penal practice affected local society. This approach, based upon a comprehensive analysis of criminal cases, brings a new perspective to the historiographical debate surrounding the nature of state building and social control in early modern European society. This dissertation investigates the practice of early modern authority, uncovering the complex interplay between the local authorities' need to display of their own power and to elicit outward shows of obedience from the local populace. Through systematic analysis of local penal practice, the study examines how authority was asserted, negotiated, and resisted within early modern society.

MPACT Scores for Jason Phillip Coy

A = 0
C = 0
A+C = 0
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2008-09-03 22:27:27

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Students under Jason Phillip Coy

ADVISEES:
- None

COMMITTEESHIPS:
- None