Dr. Suzanne Sutherland
General Education Director

Departments / Programs
Degree Information
- PHD, Stanford University (2012)
- MA, Stanford University (2007)
- BA, University of California, Santa Cruz (2001)
Areas of Expertise
Early Modern Europe
Medieval Europe
Biography
Dr. Sutherland's teaching and research focus on the relationships between war and other developments in the early modern period including the scientific revolution, the republic of letters, and the growth of states and empires. She is currently working on a book about the political and cultural impact of Italian military contractors who served the Habsburgs from the late sixteenth century to the Siege of Vienna (1683). Dr. Sutherland has been involved in multiple collaborative,...
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Dr. Sutherland's teaching and research focus on the relationships between war and other developments in the early modern period including the scientific revolution, the republic of letters, and the growth of states and empires. She is currently working on a book about the political and cultural impact of Italian military contractors who served the Habsburgs from the late sixteenth century to the Siege of Vienna (1683). Dr. Sutherland has been involved in multiple collaborative, interdisciplinary projects including: Mapping the Republic of Letters as well as the Stanford-based "Early Modern Mobility: Knowledge, Communication, and Transportation, 1500-1800." Finally, she serves as a Subject Editor for the digital Routledge Encyclopedia of the Renaissance World and Digital Humanities Track Director for The Sixteenth Century Society and Conference.
Publications
P. Findlen and S. Sutherland, eds., The Renaissance of Letters: Knowledge and Community in Italy, 1300-1650. Abingdon and New York: Routledge, 2019.
S. Sutherland, “War, Mobility, and Letters at the Start of the Thirty Years War, 1621-23” in The Renaissance of Letters: Knowledge and Community in Italy, 1300-1650, eds. P. Findlen and S. Sutherland. Abingdon and New York: Routledge, 2019.
S. Sutherland, “Epilogue. From Renaissance to Republic of Letters: Letter-Rack Still-Life Paintings” in The Renaissance of Letters: Knowledge and Community in Italy, 1300-1650, eds. P. Findlen and S. Sutherland. Abingdon and New York: Routledge, 2019.
S. Sutherland, P. Findlen, and I. Lelková, “Etruscan Dreams: Athanasius Kircher, Medici Patronage, and Tuscan Friendships, 1633-80” in I Tatti Studies in the Italian Renaissance (Fall, 2018).
S. Sutherland, “Warfare, Entrepreneurship, and Politics,” in The Routledge History of the Renaissance, ed. William Caferro. Abingdon and New York: Routledge, 2017, pp. 302-18.
S. Sutherland, “From Battlefield to Court: Raimondo Montecuccoli’s Diplomatic Mission to Queen Christina of Sweden after the Thirty Years War,” The Sixteenth Century Journal 47 (2016), 4 (Winter): 915-38.
Works-in-Progress
S. Sutherland, The Rise of the Military Entrepreneur: War, Diplomacy, and Knowledge in Habsburg Europe (under review at Cornell University Press).
I. Lelková, P. Findlen, and S. Sutherland, “Kircher’s Bohemia: Jesuit Networks and Habsburg Patronage in the Seventeenth Century,” under review at Erudition and the Republic of Letters
P. Findlen, S. Sutherland, and I. Lelková, The Baroque Postmaster: Athanasius Kircher between Rome and the World (under consideration at Stanford University Press)
P. Findlen, S. Sutherland, and I. Lelková, “Kircher’s Orient: A Jesuit’s Letters from the East” (in-progress)
Awards
UPS Endowment Fund Award, Stanford University, 2018-2020
National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Stipend, 2018
Faculty Research and Creativity Award, 2016
Faculty Research and Creativity Award, 2015
Mabelle McLeod Lewis Memorial Fund, 2011-2012
Centennial Teaching Prize, Stanford University History Department, 2012
Fulbright IIE Fellowship, 2009
Undergraduate Courses Taught
Survey World Civilizations I
Survey Western Civilization I
Reformation Europe
The Origins of Modern War: From the Crusades to Napoleon
Science, Religion, and Magic in Europe, 1500-1800
Graduate Courses Taught
Readings in Pre-Modern European History (History MA Course)
Topics in Science and Reason: The Scientific Revolution, 1500-1800 (Liberal Arts MA course)