Julia Gebke completed her PhD thesis “(Foreign) Bodies. Stigmatizing New Christians in Early Modern Spain” at the University of Graz (Austria) in March 2015. From 2015-2021, she worked as a PostDoc-Assistant at the University of Vienna. Since May 2021 she is directing the project „Habsburg Women in Early Modern Dynastic Politics and Diplomacy“ at the Austrian Academy of Sciences supported by the Elise Richter Programme of the Austrian Science Fund (FWF).

Current research project:

Chess(wo)men’s Agency? Habsburg Women in Early Modern Dynastic Politics and Diplomacy

Agierende Schachfiguren. Habsburgerinnen in frühneuzeitlicher dynastischer Politik und Diplomatie

Dynasty and power were indissolubly connected to each other in early modern times. Princesses, queens and empresses were therefore deeply involved in political and diplomatic matters and far from being exclusively restricted to internal domestic and family affairs. Introducing the term chess(wo)men and pointing to their agency, the project argues that these women were far more than simple pawns in an international political game. The project will use the case study of Empress Maria of Austria (1528‒1603) as a starting point for an in-depth analysis how Habsburg women were able to actively take part in dynastic politics and diplomacy. The project aims at examining in detail in what way early modern Habsburg politics and diplomacy were gendered and how this kind of gendering affected Habsburg princesses in practice.

Research Fields:
Cultural History of Politics and Diplomacy
Gender History
History of Science
DisAbility History

For further information, click on the links below:
Julia Gebke, Profile (Institute for Habsburg and Balkan Studies, ÖAW)
Julia Gebke, Academia Profile