Abstract
Leos Müller (born in 1962 in the former Czechoslovakia) is Professor of History at Stockholm University and director of the Centre for Maritime Studies. His career as a historian began in 1998, after defending his doctoral thesis at Uppsala University. Müller is known for his publications on maritime, trade, diplomatic and global history. 1 He turned 60 in 2022, which inspired his colleagues to publish a literary tribute. The Festschrift honouring Professor Müller's work is a well-edited collection of articles on a broad range of topics. Just as Müller has networked with a number of scholars throughout the world on many different academic topics, the book encompasses historical subjects from the early modern era until the nineteenth century. Although the collection reflects the diversity of research topics addressed by Müller during his career, the content remains coherent and logical.
Maritime history has an all-embracing spirit, with connections to several other historical disciplines – an aspiration that also helps structure this book, which is divided into four sections that follow Müller's academic career. The first and longest of these sections deals with early modern international trade. It is based on Müller's doctoral thesis, entitled ‘The Merchant Houses of Stockholm, c.1640–1800’. 2 During the 1990s, the history of networks and their meanings from a long-term perspective were popular topics. Müller was undeniably on the crest of a wave, so to speak. At that time, researchers began focusing on international trade with new eyes following the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe. This launched more intensive international academic cooperation efforts, which also anticipated the expansion of the European Union. Early modern history studies offered some historical background and context for understanding the recent upheavals, rooted in a common European past. The idea of a globalizing world guided young researchers like Müller. The question can thus be posed: Do the chapters based on Müller's doctoral research lend themselves to this level of discussion? The short answer is ‘yes’. This kind of approach might easily fall into the trap of just preparing readers for the same old stories, especially those directly inspired by Müller. Happily, it can be noted that this topic clearly has much to offer, and Müller's doctoral thesis had in fact opened a kind of Pandora's box.
North European, or Scandinavian, maritime history is still not well known when viewed from a global perspective. This Festschrift offers a diverse collection of high-quality articles (19 in total) that are easy to approach . This also supports the idea of a Festschrift, which, nowadays, in an era of rapid and high-speed electronic communication, appears if not exactly old-fashioned, then at least somewhat obsolete. The collection dedicated to Müller's work proves that this is not the case. For example, each of the chapters demonstrates that many valuable archive materials from the early modern period still need to be explored, such as the local customs accounts of Stockholm, the Sound Toll Registers (Sound Toll Registers Online) or the archive of the Swedish College of Commerce (Kommerskollegium), to mention a few. Research on early modern trade has contributed much new knowledge in recent decades. Still, there are archives that have not been consulted much or at all. They are unknown, especially to non-Swedish researchers, who may thus gain new insights and information on possible research avenues as a result of this book.
European maritime trade routes can be divided into two parallel structures during the long eighteenth century: the so-called ‘old trade structure’ encompassed trade between the Dutch Republic and England, whereas the ‘new trade structure’ was oriented towards southern Europe. Müller's research on these themes can be compared with the impact of the wars that affected Swedish trade not only in a negative way. Drawing on specific examples, the chapters explore the multiple trade networks spanning Europe. Pierre Pourchasse explores the French trade with Scandinavia, while Silvia Marzagalli connects the Scandinavian trade to southern Europe. These types of inter-regional topics are vital contributions to the book. They reflect how early modern historical research can shed light on topics of current interest. The many references to Müller's research are proof that such discussions will also be part of his legacy.
Three shorter sections of the book explore political and diplomatic history, maritime history and interdisciplinary cooperation, all of which are and have been deeply entangled with asymmetrical power relations. The first section highlights the extent to which Müller's research was ahead of its time. More importantly, however, he inspired others through his exploration of consuls not only as diplomatic operators, but also as significant political actors. As the chapters demonstrate, research on consuls continues to this day. Indeed, the final sections of the book contain several surprises regarding marginal phenomena. Joachim Östlund's chapter, ‘The Swedish Dog Who Ate an Algerian Sea Pass: Beastly diplomacy in the early modern Mediterranean’, sheds light on the role of animals in diplomatic relations, which has had unexpected peace-promoting consequences. Interesting and inventive angles are possible in a Festschrift collection, where the many writers range from students to professors emeritus. The variety of the chapters is one advantage of this kind of book. Not every chapter needs to include the highest-ranking academic research to prove the versatility or talent of Müller as a scholar. Moreover, the chapter by Andreas Linderoth on Swedish naval officers and national identity, as discussed in the magazine Vår Flotta from 1905 to 1939, offers some popular and intelligible readings of the topic.
Müller's legacy in maritime and global history stems chiefly from his work at Stockholm University's Centre for Maritime Studies. Undoubtedly, this can be seen in the final two sections of the book. Interdisciplinary cooperation between history, archaeology and ethnology has helped provide a stable foundation for expanding scientific networks, which is reflected in the diversity of the topics explored towards the end of the volume. The main connecting themes of the final chapters are, besides Müller himself, oceans, traders and intellectual curiosity. This curiosity appears in a search for the underlying causes of change and the development of transnational historical communities. The context behind the movement of people and goods over the oceans is trade. Therefore, this book offers everybody something. It inspires young researchers to try to emulate the life work of an influential professor, but at the same time it is a tribute from Müller’s colleagues. Quite often, a Festschrift merely lauds the honouree. However, in this case, the editors have done a precise and thorough job of exploring fascinating topics. While Müller’s academic career will not escape the reader's attention, it is presented with good taste and situated within a broader historiographical context. Naturally, Müller's extensive range of professional interests has made it easy for the editors. The personal and friendly spirit of the book, however, does not allow the reader to become more familiar with Müller's past as a non-native Swede. This is an unfortunate oversight. Also, the authors are not introduced or discussed in relation to Müller's legacy. This can be explained through the reasoning that there is only one star and no need to elevate Müller's colleagues.
Finally, this edited collection leaves one in a genial state of mind after reading it. The nostagic athmosphere is explained by the book's layout: it follows exactly the original appearance of Müller's doctoral research. This realization may cause the reader to smile at the artistic approach adopted by the editors.