Ludwig Pelzl

Ludwig Pelzl is a historian specializing in early modern Europe, age studies, and socio-economic structures. He holds a PhD from the European University Institute (2018-2023) and currently pursues postdoctoral research at institutions in Naples, Italy and Mainz, Germany. His work examines age consciousness, social mobility, and institutional economies in pre-modern contexts.

• Education: PhD in History (EUI, 2023), Master’s in Political Science and Economic History (Heidelberg, Lund, 2018)

Research Interests focus on:

• Historical age reporting as a socio-political category
• Life cycles and old age in early modern Europe
• Social structures, mobility, and urban economies
• Pre-modern welfare systems and institutional accounting

Publications highlight his expertise in interdisciplinary approaches to economic and social history. His 2023 study explores pre-modern pension systems, while his 2022 work analyzes urban retirement practices. The 2020 article investigates age-related welfare in Regensburg.

Scientific Recognition includes:

• DAAD-funded PhD grant
• Hakan-Lindgren Prize for Economic History (2018)

Current Projects interrogate how calendar age became a tool of state power in 18th-century Europe, linking bureaucratic expansion to military conscription. His presentations at institutions like Oxford and University of Toronto reflect his international academic engagement.