Joseph Patrouch, PhD, MA, BA
Contact
Professor, Faculty of Arts - History, Classics, & Religion Dept
- patrouch@ualberta.ca
- Address
-
2-61 Tory (H.M.) Building
11211 Saskatchewan Drive NWEdmonton ABT6G 2H4
- Availability
- Office hours Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4-5 and by appointment
Overview
Area of Study / Keywords
early modern European history Holy Roman Empire Habsburg Dynasty Vienna
About
I am a historian of Early Modern Europe, with a particular interest in the Holy Roman Empire and the lands ruled by members of the Habsburg Dynasty, both inside the Empire and elsewhere around Europe and the world. My primary chronological period of research concentration is between approximately 1550 and 1650.
Additional research interests include the roles of Habsburg women and their courts in early modern Europe, as well as early modern empire and urban studies. I have experience directing a program in Public History and am also interested in museum studies as well as in the study and commemoration of Canada's first national internment operations during and after World War One.
My current research project centers on the imagined and experienced landscapes of the Holy Roman Empire in the 1560's and 1570's.
Research
Recent publications:
“Central Europe? Eastern Europe? Habsburg Europe? Where Are We Today”. In Volodymyr Kravchenko and Marko Robert Stech, editors, The Unpredictable Past? Reshaping Russian, Ukrainian, and East European Studies. (Edmonton: Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies Press, 2024) 201-7.
Review of Martyn Rady, The Middle Kingdoms. A New History of Central Europe. CEU Review of Books (October, 2024). CEU Review of Books
Review of Klaas Van Gelder, editor, More Than Mere Spectacle: Coronations and Inaugurations in the Habsburg Monarchy during the Eighteenth & Nineteenth Centuries. The Court Historian 28:3 (2023) 255-59.
Conference Presentations and Lectures
“Queen Anna of Spain’s visit to the Lower Rhine, August-September, 1570: The Habsburgs’ Empires as Performed Networks of Kinship Relations,” Institutes of History and German, Palacký University, Olomouc, June, 2025.
“Global Habsburgs: Breaking out of Central Europe,” Department of Eastern and Central European History and Historical Russistics, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, May, 2025.
“The Reshaping of Russian, Ukrainian, and East European Studies: Challenges and Opportunities,” Roundtable Participant. Canadian Association of Slavists Conference, University of Alberta, 2025
“Queen Anna of Spain’s visit to the Lower Rhine, August-September, 1570: The Habsburgs’ Empires as performed Networks of Kinship Relations,” Sixteenth Century Society Conference, Toronto, November, 2024.
Podcasts
"Exploring Central European History"
"Conversations about Austria"
https://open.spotify.com/episode/04amRt6N3hU8j4IRfy5l4O
Teaching
Fall Term, 2025:
HIST 290: Introduction to History as a Discipline
HIST 212: Early Modern Europe
Winter Term, 2026:
HIST 420/614: Early Modern European Empires
HIST 310: History of the Habsburg Monarchy
Announcements
Professor Patrouch traveled to Czechia and Austria in Spring, 2025 to conduct research in various archives in Brno and Vienna. He also lectured in Czechia and Hungary and attended a conference in Czechia.
Courses
HIST 212 - Early Modern Europe
A survey of European history from approximately 1200 to 1800.
HIST 290 - Introduction to History as a Discipline
Introduction to the basic concepts of historical inquiry and techniques of research and writing in History. Course includes lectures and discussions. Required for History majors. Prerequisite: A previous course in History or consent of the Department.
HIST 310 - A History of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1526-1918
The multinational empire of the Habsburgs from the unification of Austria, Bohemia and Hungary to the destruction of the empire in World War I.
HIST 420 - Topics in the History of Early Modern Europe
Thematic studies in European cultural, religious, and social history emphasizing popular culture and religion. Prerequisite: 3 units in HIST at the 300-level or consent of Department.
HIST 498 - Directed Study
Prerequisite: 3 units in HIST at the 300-level or consent of Department.
HIST 609 - Directed Study
This credit/fail course is required for students in the thesis-based M.A. program. Students are introduced to scholarship relevant to their research and supported in developing a research proposal.
HIST 614 - Topics in the History of Medieval and Early Modern Europe
HIST 701 - Comprehensives and Candidacy Colloquium
Preparation for the comprehensive and candidacy exams. Prerequisite: consent of Department.
Featured Publications
"Central Europe? Eastern Europe? Habsburg Europe? Where Are We Today?"
Joseph F. Patrouch
Edmonton: CIUS Press. 2024 November; The Unpredictable Past? Reshaping Russian, Ukrainian and East European Studies. Edited by Volodymyr Kravchenko and Marko Robert Stech
Joseph F. Patrouch
Vienna: Austrian Academy of Sciences. 2021 January; Sylva Dobalová and Jaroslava Hausenblasová, eds., Archduke Ferdinand II of Austria: A Second-Born Son in Renaissance Europe
Anne, J. Cruz and Maria Galli Stampino, editors
2013 January;
Joseph F. Patrouch
2010 January;
Joseph F. Patrouch
Austrian History Yearbook. 2009 January; 40
Heinz Fassmann, Gerhard Hatz, Joseph F. Patrouch
2006 January;
Joseph F. Patrouch
2000 January;
Felice Lifshitz, Joseph F. Patrouch