Thursday, April 23
9.00 Welcome note Prof. Dr. Thomas Maissen, Director German Historical Institute
Short introductory note Prof. Dr. Cornel Zwierlein
Economy I
Chair and Comment: Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Kaiser (Paris I/EHESS)
9.30 Prof. Dr. Daniel Smail (Harvard): Economic Measuring, Estimation and System Uncertainties in Late Medieval City Economies Link
10.00 Dr. Giovanni Ceccarelli (Parma): Coping with unknown risks in Renaissance Florence: Insurers, friars and abbaco teachers Link
Short discussion
10.30 Coffee break
11.00 Dr. Moritz Isenmann (Cologne): Non-knowledge and perception as factors for trade policy in the Seventeenth Century? Link
11.30 Prof. Dr. Cornel Zwierlein (Bochum/ Harvard): The unknown nation. Ignorance and Mercantilism in the Mediterranean 1660-1740 Link
12.00 Panel discussion
12.30 Lunch
Economy II
Chair: Prof. Dr. Philippe Minard (Paris VII/EHESS)
14.00 Prof. Dr. Marie-Laure Legay (Lille): L’ignorance dans la culture financière de l’Etat au XVIIIe siècle Link
14.30 Dr. William Deringer (Columbia): Modelling Ignorance: Uncertainty, Secrecy, and Financial Analysis in Eighteenth-Century Britain Link
15.00 Dr. Magnus Ressel (Frankfurt/M): Institutionalization as compensation of market intransparency: The Fondaco dei Tedeschi in Venice and the Levant Market Link
15.30 Panel discussion
16.00 Coffee break
16.30 Comments on the Panels Economy I and Economy II
Dr. Jean-Marc Rohrbasser (INED), Premodern Perspectives
Prof. Dr. Alessandro Stanziani (EHESS), Modern Perspectives and Comparisons
Friday, April 24
Travel, Geography, Communication, Politics
Chair: PD Dr. Rainer Babel
9.00 Prof. Dr. Adam Kosto (Columbia): Ignorance about the traveller: Safe-Conduct in the Middle Ages Link
9.30 Dr. Lucile Haguet (Rouen): D’Anville and the specified ignorance: an unexpected but powerful way of promoting maps and geography Link
10.00 Short coffee break
10.15 Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Behringer (Saarbrücken): Knowledge gaps, security and the development of Early Modern Transport communication
10.45 Dr. des. Devin Fitzgerald (Harvard): The blind Emperor: long-distance communication in 17th century China
11.15 Short coffee break
11.30 Dr. Fabrice Micallef (Paris I): Decision-making without knowledge. European powers and the ‘affairs of Provence’ (1589-1596) Link
12.00 Dr. Albert Schirrmeister (HU Berlin/EHESS Paris), Ignorance before a war: attitudes and action of expectation (the Spanish War of Succession)
12.30 Comment on the Friday Panel Prof. Dr. Christine Lebeau, Paris I
Panel Discussion, Final Discussion and Conclusion
13.30 Lunch