![Jan Machielsen](https://profiles-cardiff.imgix.net/attachments/2080?w=200&h=200&auto=format&crop=faces&fit=crop&q=90")
Dr Jan Machielsen
Reader in Early Modern History (Study Leave 2022/3)
School of History, Archaeology and Religion
- MachielsenJ@cardiff.ac.uk
- +44 29208 76698
- John Percival Building, Room 5.16, Colum Drive, Cardiff, CF10 3EU
Overview
I am a historian working in the fields of early modern cultural, religious,and intellectual history. I have written articles on such famous early modern intellectuals as Jean Bodin, Justus Lipsius, Michel de Montaigne, and Cesare Baronio. My first monograph, a biography of the Flemish-Spanish Jesuit Martin Delrio (1551-1608), explored the life and writings of perhaps the period's most famous demonologist and placed him in the contexts of both Counter-Reformation and late humanist intellectual culture. I showed that Delrio was no 'witchcraft inquisitor', as commonly alleged, and that his 'Investigations into Magic' (1599-1600) were founded not on practical witch-hunting experience but on immense classical learning and biblical scholarship. Martin Delrio: Demonology and Scholarship in the Counter-Reformation was listed as one of History Today's Books of 2015.
Although I remain interested in the many fields - early modern Catholicism, history of scholarship, and witchcraft studies - that Martin Delrio brought together, I am currently writing a study of the witch-hunt conducted in the French Basque country in the early 1600s by the Bordeaux judge Pierre de Lancre.
Publication
2023
- Lamal, N. and Machielsen, J. 2023. Jesuits and print: the polemical example of John Hay. Journal of Jesuit Studies 10(3), pp. 405-418. (10.1163/22141332-10030001)
2022
- Machielsen, J. and Pfeffer, M. 2022. A work out of time: Religion and the decline of magic at 50. Past & Present: A Journal of Historical Studies
- Machielsen, J. 2022. The devil is in the tales: Evaluating eye-witness testimony in Martin Delrio’s Disquisitiones magicae (1599–1600). Preternature: Critical and Historical Studies on the Preternatural 11(2), pp. 258-280. (10.5325/preternature.11.2.0258)
2021
- Machielsen, J. 2021. Bad reasons: elites and the decline of magic. Magic, Ritual, and Witchcraft 16(3), pp. 406-414. (10.1353/mrw.2021.0050)
- Machielsen, J. 2021. What’s in a name? Essenes, Therapeutae, and monks in the Christian imagination, c.1500–1700. In: Levitin, D. and Maclean, I. eds. The Worlds of Knowledge and the Classical Tradition in the Early Modern Age: Comparative Approaches., Vol. 33. Scientific and Learned Cultures and Their Institutions Brill, pp. 277-335.
- Machielsen, J. 2021. The war on witchcraft: Andrew Dickson White, George Lincoln Burr, and the origins of witchcraft historiography. Elements in Magic. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (10.1017/9781108953313)
- Machielsen, J. 2021. How to study memories in the making. British Catholic History 35(3), pp. 338-351. (10.1017/bch.2021.6)
2020
- Machielsen, J. ed. 2020. The science of demons: early modern authors facing witchcraft and the devil. London: Routledge. (10.4324/9780203702512)
2019
- Machielsen, J. 2019. The making of a teen wolf: Pierre de Lancre’s confrontation with Jean Grenier (1603–1610). Folklore 130(3), pp. 237-257. (10.1080/0015587X.2019.1587935)
- Machielsen, J. 2019. When a female Pope meets a biconfessional town: Protestantism, Catholicism, and popular polemics in the 1630s. Early Modern Low Countries 3(1), pp. 1-31. (10.18352/emlc.88)
2018
- Machielsen, J. 2018. On the confessional uses and history of witchcraft: Thomas Stapleton's 1594 witchcraft oration. Magic, Ritual, and Witchcraft 13(3), pp. 381-407. (10.1353/mrw.2018.0046)
2017
- Machielsen, J. 2017. An aspiring saint and his work: Cesare Baronio and the success and failure of the Annales ecclesiastici (1588–1607). Erudition and the republic of letters 2(3), pp. 233-287. (10.1163/24055069-00203001)
2016
- Machielsen, J. 2016. Sacrificing Josephus to save Philo: Cesare Baronio and the Jewish origins of Christian monasticism. International Journal of the Classical Tradition 23(3), pp. 239-245. (10.1007/s12138-016-0407-5)
2015
- Machielsen, J. 2015. Martin Delrio: Demonology and scholarship in the Counter-Reformation. British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship Monographs. Oxford: British Academy/Oxford University Press.
- Machielsen, J. 2015. A history of early modern Catholicism in a single object: John Hay's manuscript Apologia (c.1598). British Academy Review 26, pp. 64-68.
2014
- Machielsen, J. 2014. The rise and fall of Seneca Tragicus, c. 1365-1593. Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes LXXVII, pp. 61-85.
- Machielsen, J. 2014. The lion, the witch, and the king: Thomas Stapleton's 'Apologia pro Rege Catholico Philippo II' (1592). English Historical Review 129(536), pp. 19-46. (10.1093/ehr/cet381)
2013
- Machielsen, J. 2013. Friendship and religion in the Republic of Letters; the return of Justus Lipsius to Catholicism (1591). Renaissance Studies 27(2), pp. 161-182. (10.1111/j.1477-4658.2011.00773.x)
- Machielsen, J. 2013. Bodin in the Netherlands. In: Lloyd, H. A. ed. The Reception of Bodin. Brill's Studies in Intellectual History Brill, pp. 157-192., (10.1163/9789004259805_009)
2012
- Copeland, C. and Machielsen, J. 2012. Introduction. In: Copeland, C. and Machielsen, J. eds. Angels of Light? Sanctity and the Discernment of Spirits in the Early Modern Period. Studies in Medieval and Reformation Traditions Brill, pp. 1-16., (10.1163/9789004233706_002)
- Machielsen, J. 2012. Heretical saints and textual discernment: the polemical origins of the Acta Sanctorum (1643-1940). In: Copeland, C. and Machielsen, J. eds. Angels of Light? Sanctity and the Discernment of Spirits in the Early Modern Period,. Brill, pp. 103-141., (10.1163/9789004233706_006)
2011
- Machielsen, J. 2011. Thinking with Montaigne: evidence, scepticism and meaning in early modern demonology. French History 25(4), pp. 427-452. (10.1093/fh/crr060)
2010
- Machielsen, J. 2010. How (not) to get published: the Plantin Press in the early 1590s. Dutch Crossing 34(2), pp. 99-114. (10.1179/030965610X12726397286124)
Articles
- Lamal, N. and Machielsen, J. 2023. Jesuits and print: the polemical example of John Hay. Journal of Jesuit Studies 10(3), pp. 405-418. (10.1163/22141332-10030001)
- Machielsen, J. and Pfeffer, M. 2022. A work out of time: Religion and the decline of magic at 50. Past & Present: A Journal of Historical Studies
- Machielsen, J. 2022. The devil is in the tales: Evaluating eye-witness testimony in Martin Delrio’s Disquisitiones magicae (1599–1600). Preternature: Critical and Historical Studies on the Preternatural 11(2), pp. 258-280. (10.5325/preternature.11.2.0258)
- Machielsen, J. 2021. Bad reasons: elites and the decline of magic. Magic, Ritual, and Witchcraft 16(3), pp. 406-414. (10.1353/mrw.2021.0050)
- Machielsen, J. 2021. How to study memories in the making. British Catholic History 35(3), pp. 338-351. (10.1017/bch.2021.6)
- Machielsen, J. 2019. The making of a teen wolf: Pierre de Lancre’s confrontation with Jean Grenier (1603–1610). Folklore 130(3), pp. 237-257. (10.1080/0015587X.2019.1587935)
- Machielsen, J. 2019. When a female Pope meets a biconfessional town: Protestantism, Catholicism, and popular polemics in the 1630s. Early Modern Low Countries 3(1), pp. 1-31. (10.18352/emlc.88)
- Machielsen, J. 2018. On the confessional uses and history of witchcraft: Thomas Stapleton's 1594 witchcraft oration. Magic, Ritual, and Witchcraft 13(3), pp. 381-407. (10.1353/mrw.2018.0046)
- Machielsen, J. 2017. An aspiring saint and his work: Cesare Baronio and the success and failure of the Annales ecclesiastici (1588–1607). Erudition and the republic of letters 2(3), pp. 233-287. (10.1163/24055069-00203001)
- Machielsen, J. 2016. Sacrificing Josephus to save Philo: Cesare Baronio and the Jewish origins of Christian monasticism. International Journal of the Classical Tradition 23(3), pp. 239-245. (10.1007/s12138-016-0407-5)
- Machielsen, J. 2015. A history of early modern Catholicism in a single object: John Hay's manuscript Apologia (c.1598). British Academy Review 26, pp. 64-68.
- Machielsen, J. 2014. The rise and fall of Seneca Tragicus, c. 1365-1593. Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes LXXVII, pp. 61-85.
- Machielsen, J. 2014. The lion, the witch, and the king: Thomas Stapleton's 'Apologia pro Rege Catholico Philippo II' (1592). English Historical Review 129(536), pp. 19-46. (10.1093/ehr/cet381)
- Machielsen, J. 2013. Friendship and religion in the Republic of Letters; the return of Justus Lipsius to Catholicism (1591). Renaissance Studies 27(2), pp. 161-182. (10.1111/j.1477-4658.2011.00773.x)
- Machielsen, J. 2011. Thinking with Montaigne: evidence, scepticism and meaning in early modern demonology. French History 25(4), pp. 427-452. (10.1093/fh/crr060)
- Machielsen, J. 2010. How (not) to get published: the Plantin Press in the early 1590s. Dutch Crossing 34(2), pp. 99-114. (10.1179/030965610X12726397286124)
Book sections
- Machielsen, J. 2021. What’s in a name? Essenes, Therapeutae, and monks in the Christian imagination, c.1500–1700. In: Levitin, D. and Maclean, I. eds. The Worlds of Knowledge and the Classical Tradition in the Early Modern Age: Comparative Approaches., Vol. 33. Scientific and Learned Cultures and Their Institutions Brill, pp. 277-335.
- Machielsen, J. 2013. Bodin in the Netherlands. In: Lloyd, H. A. ed. The Reception of Bodin. Brill's Studies in Intellectual History Brill, pp. 157-192., (10.1163/9789004259805_009)
- Copeland, C. and Machielsen, J. 2012. Introduction. In: Copeland, C. and Machielsen, J. eds. Angels of Light? Sanctity and the Discernment of Spirits in the Early Modern Period. Studies in Medieval and Reformation Traditions Brill, pp. 1-16., (10.1163/9789004233706_002)
- Machielsen, J. 2012. Heretical saints and textual discernment: the polemical origins of the Acta Sanctorum (1643-1940). In: Copeland, C. and Machielsen, J. eds. Angels of Light? Sanctity and the Discernment of Spirits in the Early Modern Period,. Brill, pp. 103-141., (10.1163/9789004233706_006)
Books
- Machielsen, J. 2021. The war on witchcraft: Andrew Dickson White, George Lincoln Burr, and the origins of witchcraft historiography. Elements in Magic. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (10.1017/9781108953313)
- Machielsen, J. ed. 2020. The science of demons: early modern authors facing witchcraft and the devil. London: Routledge. (10.4324/9780203702512)
- Machielsen, J. 2015. Martin Delrio: Demonology and scholarship in the Counter-Reformation. British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship Monographs. Oxford: British Academy/Oxford University Press.
Teaching
I am on research leave in 2020-2021.
Biography
I am Senior Lecturer in Early Modern History at Cardiff University. I first came to the United Kingdom as a visiting graduate student in the spring of 2006. I then stayed to complete a second masters, for which I gained a distinction, and a doctorate (supervised by Robin Briggs) at Oxford University. My graduate studies were supported by the AHRC, the Fullbright Commission, the Royal Historical Society, and a Scatcherd European Scholarship from Oxford University. During my doctorate I held visiting fellowships at Princeton and Cornell University in the United States. After completing my PhD early 2011, I held a number of temporary teaching and research posts at Oxford, before moving to Cardiff in January 2016.
Education and qualifications
- 2011: DPhil in History, Oriel College, University of Oxford
- 2007: MSt in Historical Research, Lady Margaret Hall, University of Oxford
- 2006: MA in European History and Civilisation, Leiden University
- 2005: BA in Humanities and Social Sciences, University College Maastricht
Career overview
- 2019--: Senior Lecturer in Early Modern History, Cardiff University
- 2016-2019: Lecturer in Early Modern History, Cardiff University
- 2013-2015: Departmental Lecturer in Early Modern European History, New College, University of Oxford
- 2012-2013: British Academy Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Balliol College, University of Oxford
- 2011: Departmental Lecturer in Early Modern European History, Balliol College, University of Oxford
Honours and awards
2012–2013: British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship
May 2011 / September 2013: OUP/John Fell Fund, University of Oxford
2010–2011: Royal Historical Society Marshall Fellowship
May 2010: Isaiah Berlin Fund for Italian Studies
March–April 2010: Abraham & Henrietta Brettschneider Cornell Award Fund, Cornell University
2006–2010: Scatcherd European Scholarship, International Office, University of Oxford
2007–2010: Doctoral Award, Arts & Humanities Research Council
2009–2010: Vice-Chancellors' Fund, University of Oxford
2009–2010: Study Fellowship, Society for Renaissance Studies
August 2009: Scaliger Fellowship, Leiden University Library
July 2009: Conference Bursary, Society for the Study of French History
2008–2009: Fulbright Scholarship
March 2008 / May 2009: Visiting Scholar, Royal Netherlands Institute, Rome (KNIR)
2007–2008: Jex-Blake Scholarship, Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford
Professional memberships
Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (FRHistS)
Member of the Renaissance Society of America
Member of the Sixteenth Century Society
Academic positions
2016-present: Lecturer in Early Modern History, Cardiff University
2013-2015: Departmental Lecturer in Early Modern European History, New College, University of Oxford
2012-2013: British Academy Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Balliol College, University of Oxford
2011: Departmental Lecturer in Early Modern European History, Balliol College, University of Oxford
