SIHS Medieval/Early Modern Article Prize Honorable Mention: Rachel Midura

The committee awards an honorable mention to Rachel Midura for her article, “‘They Hide from Me, Like the Devil from the Cross’: Transalpine Postal Routes as Intelligence Work, 1555-1645,” History: The Journal of the Historical Association (2023): 303-27. Midura’s analysis of the seemingly-banal documentation of early modern postal routes between Italy and the Holy Roman Empire reveals how strategic battles over information security during the Thirty Years’ War affected military tactics and international relations on a broad scale. Midura’s lively account confirms that espionage, covert ops, and disinformation campaigns are not inventions of the modern day.