Introduction Autobiographical Writings in Pre-modern Europe and Asia

Abstract

Decentering a European Case StudyJoseph Furttenbach was a multi-faceted man. Born 1591 in Leutkirch, a small Swabian village in Germany, he combined the roles of diarist and chronicler, collector, architect and engineer, civic master builder, pyro-technician, gunsmith and author of many treatises on the artes mechanicae. After a 12-year stay in northern Italy, where he learned about business, the art of pyrotechnics and gun making, Furttenbach returned to Germany, and settled in the imperial town of Ulm. He earned his living as a merchant and accountant, and served as civic master builder from the year 1631, in the middle of the Thirty Years' War. Born into a noble family, he was one of the dignitaries of Ulm. He married the daughter of a respectable burgher and had several children with her, of which only one son reached his twenties. Alongside his official functions, Furttenbach was a passionate collector, an activity that connected him to a plurality of interlocutors and visitors. His cabinet of curiosities was well known beyond Ulm, and attracted both high-ranking nobles from the Holy Roman Empire and ordinary people. Furttenbach never lacked