Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

URBAN NOISE AND DOMESTIC TRANQUILITY : JOHANN PETER WILLEBRAND AND THE NOTION OF PUBLIC ORDER IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY ALTONA

Jakobsen, Jesper LU (2024) In Know 8(1-2). p.11-41
Abstract

This article explores the links between intolerance of urban noise and emerging notions of privacy in mid-eighteenth-century Altona, a southern provincial town in the Danish monarchy. It focuses on Johann Peter Willebrand (1719–86), who dealt with urban noise both as Altona’s police director and as an intellectual and author of several influential books on the ideal organization of early modern cities. As police director, Willerbrand frequently charged residents with noise-related offenses, including being loudly drunk at night, playing music late at night, and simply disturbing the peace and quiet of their fellow citizens. Such episodes are drawn from the surviving police records of Altona and were later elaborated in his published... (More)

This article explores the links between intolerance of urban noise and emerging notions of privacy in mid-eighteenth-century Altona, a southern provincial town in the Danish monarchy. It focuses on Johann Peter Willebrand (1719–86), who dealt with urban noise both as Altona’s police director and as an intellectual and author of several influential books on the ideal organization of early modern cities. As police director, Willerbrand frequently charged residents with noise-related offenses, including being loudly drunk at night, playing music late at night, and simply disturbing the peace and quiet of their fellow citizens. Such episodes are drawn from the surviving police records of Altona and were later elaborated in his published books on police regulation and the ideal organization of cities. On this basis, the article argues that the practical enforcement of the concept of peace and quiet (the so-called Ruhe) can be understood as an early modern articulation of individual privacy, which was to be protected and guaranteed by the police and municipal authorities, but at the end subjected to the economic interests of the state.

(Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Know
volume
8
issue
1-2
pages
31 pages
publisher
University of Chicago Press
external identifiers
  • scopus:85200665346
ISSN
2473-599X
DOI
10.1086/729865
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
a5d472f7-bbc0-41a4-a82e-6c29b2025313
date added to LUP
2024-10-09 14:09:08
date last changed
2025-04-04 14:42:02
@article{a5d472f7-bbc0-41a4-a82e-6c29b2025313,
  abstract     = {{<p>This article explores the links between intolerance of urban noise and emerging notions of privacy in mid-eighteenth-century Altona, a southern provincial town in the Danish monarchy. It focuses on Johann Peter Willebrand (1719–86), who dealt with urban noise both as Altona’s police director and as an intellectual and author of several influential books on the ideal organization of early modern cities. As police director, Willerbrand frequently charged residents with noise-related offenses, including being loudly drunk at night, playing music late at night, and simply disturbing the peace and quiet of their fellow citizens. Such episodes are drawn from the surviving police records of Altona and were later elaborated in his published books on police regulation and the ideal organization of cities. On this basis, the article argues that the practical enforcement of the concept of peace and quiet (the so-called Ruhe) can be understood as an early modern articulation of individual privacy, which was to be protected and guaranteed by the police and municipal authorities, but at the end subjected to the economic interests of the state.</p>}},
  author       = {{Jakobsen, Jesper}},
  issn         = {{2473-599X}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1-2}},
  pages        = {{11--41}},
  publisher    = {{University of Chicago Press}},
  series       = {{Know}},
  title        = {{URBAN NOISE AND DOMESTIC TRANQUILITY : JOHANN PETER WILLEBRAND AND THE NOTION OF PUBLIC ORDER IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY ALTONA}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/729865}},
  doi          = {{10.1086/729865}},
  volume       = {{8}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}