Willemijn Tuinstra is an external PhD-student focussing on early modern converts, their careers and their sponsors. In particular she investigates what and who influenced the Werdegang and mobility of people who decided to convert to Catholicism in protestant environments in the Northern Netherlands and in the Holy Roman Empire in the early 17th century.

More information about Willemijn Tuinstra

Fields of interest

• Early Modern History
• Austrian Studies
• Habsburg Court
• Religious History & Theology
• History of Science

Research

In my PhD-project I investigate the consequences of conversion to Catholicism in protestant environments in the Northern Netherlands and the Holy Roman Empire in the first half of the 17th century. With this research I aim to gain more insight in what and who influenced the Werdegang and mobility of people who deliberately and voluntary decided to convert. The project will explore what infrastructure was available to new converts and  how conversion did limit or broaden the scope and choice of networks, careers, friendships and patrons. Perhaps surprisingly, some converts were used for important missions and were able to make grand careers in for example the service of the Habsburg Emperors. The project therefore also explores what made converts attractive agents, how they were scouted and recruited and what role they played in for example the Thirty years war and in post-Tridentine Catholic Reformation strategies. Based on primary sources like private letters, diplomatic correspondence and correspondence of Papal Nuncios at the courts of the Habsburgs and of other Catholic Princes, it traces the lives and careers of a selected group of converts, thereby connecting individual agency to institutional frameworks and strategies.

Grants and awards

2023 Beurs voor buitenpromovendi Koninklijk Nederlands Instituut Rome (Research Vatican Apostolic Archives, Vatican Library and Propaganda Fide Historical Archives.

2022 Beurs voor buitenpromovendi Koninklijk Nederlands Instituut Rome  (Research Vatican Apostolic Archives)

2020 Uitgeverij Verloren/Johan de Witt-Award for the MA- thesis 'Conscience & connections. Marcellus Franckheim (1587-1644) and his contacts in the Habsburg World at the eve of the Thirty Years War'.

Curriculum Vitae

In 2017 I obtained a BA in Cultural Sciences (Thesis: ‘Geen Duitscher werd bij den inboorling achtergesteld’. De rol van de lutherse gemeente in de integratie van Duitse immigranten in Rotterdam (1795-1900)- Open University, Heerlen ) and in 2019 an MA in History (Leiden University - cum laude).

Earlier I earned a doctoral degree in Environmental Sciences (Wageningen UR) with the dissertation 'Reducing Air Pollution in Europe. Crossing Boundaries between Science and Policy'.

In daily life I work as consultant on knowledge development for environmental policy. Also I develop and supervise courses on Environmental Sciences at the Open University. Together with Esther Turnhout and Willem Halffman I co-authored the book 'Environmental expertise. Connecting science, policy and society'(Cambridge University Press, 2019).