Dear Duncan,
The answer is no. As I have indicated in at least three previous FISHEN missives, I am using 'Early Modern' after I. Wallerstein's "The Modern World-System". For Europe in general, this sub-period begins about AD 1460 and ends with the the beginning of the industrial age and Age of Enlightenment (which brought about new ideologies i.e liberalism). For English towns, I would see the early modern period beginning with the the dissolution of the monasteries which freed local industry from monastic monopolies and brought large rural estates into 'private' ownership (with subsequent changes to agriculture). The early modern would end about AD 1690 (plus or minus 10 years ?) with the beginnings of serious industrialisation.
I would suggest that the next post-medieval period could be called The Industrialisation period, from about AD 1690 to about AD 1850. From 1850, English towns began to radically change their organisation (with local corporations/authorities), infrastructure (roads, railways, sewers, water systems), and their buildings (town halls, terrace houses, etc). What to call the subsequent period ( The Decline of Britain ??) is up to future archaeologists.
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Am I right in thinking that Neil is suggesting using "Early Modern" as an
alternate/preferred term for "Post Medieval" (or at least part of that
period)? Would this be part of a sequence (eg Early, High, Late and Post
Modern)? If so, what would be the definitions of each part of the sequence?
Personally I dislike using the period term "Modern" except where it refers
to well-defined art/architectural movements. It is similar to using a
relative term like "Contemporary" which can be defined by the different
perspectives of either the subject or the object of a sentence.
What about alternative terms for "Modern" for the late 19th and 20th
centuries? Colonial, Age of World Wars, post-Industrial, or other relevant
terms somehow seem inadequate and partial from the present perspective.
Maybe "Nuclear" is one answer (Madame Curie - Manhattan Project - Chernobyl,
etc).
Duncan
Neil Campling wrote:
This is why I suggested the term "Early Modern" to begin to
break the post-medieval period into meaningful chunks. If the term
"Modernist" can apply to cultural items/schools of thought which are now
finished, surely "Modern" as a pure term could apply to a period in history
which is not current or recent.
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