Sacred Space in Early Modern Europe

In this 2005 book, leading historians examine sanctity and sacred space in Europe during and after the religious upheavals of the early modern period.

Will Coster (Edited by), Andrew Spicer (Edited by)

9780521203197, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 27 October 2011

366 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.1 cm, 0.54 kg

Review of the hardback: 'This excellent collection, with not a single weak contribution, demonstrated the centrality of material culture and sacred geography to understanding the Reformation and Counter-Reformation.' The Journal of Ecclesiastical History

The medieval landscape was marked by many sacred sites - churches and chapels, pilgrimage sites, holy wells - places where the spiritual and temporal worlds coincided. Although Max Weber argued that the Reformation brought about the 'disenchantment of the world', this 2005 volume explores the many dimensions of sacred space during and after the religious upheavals of the early modern period. The essays examine the subject through a variety of contexts across Europe from Scotland to Moldavia, but also across the religious divisions between the Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran and Calvinist Churches. Based on research, these essays provide insights into the definition and understanding of sanctity in the post-Reformation era and make an important contribution to the study of sacred space.

1. Introduction: the dimension of sacred space in Reformation Europe Will Coster and Andrew Spicer
2. Sacred church and worldly tavern: reassessing early modern divide Bert Kümin
3. Sacred image and sacred space in Lutheran Germany Bridget Heal
4. Places of sanctification: the liturgical sacrality of Genevan reformed churches, 1535–66 Christian Grosse
5. 'What kinde of house a kirk is': conventicles, consecrations and the concept of sacred space in post-Reformation Scotland Andrew Spicer
6. Psalms, groans and dog-whippers: the soundscape of sacred space in the English parish church, 1547–1642 John Craig
7. A microcosm of community: burial, space and society in Chester 1598–1633 Will Coster
8. 'Apud Ecclesia': church burial and the development of funerary rooms in Moldavia Maria Craciun
9. Reading Rome as a sacred landscape, c. 1575–1635 Simon Ditchfield
10. Gardening for God: Carmelite deserts and the sacralisation of natural space in counter-Reformation Spain Trevor Johnson
11. Holywell: contesting sacred space in post-Reformation Wales Alexandra Walsham
12. The sacred space of Julien Maunoir: the re-Christianising of the landscape in seventeenth-century Brittany Elizabeth Tingle
13. Sacralising space: reclaiming civic culture in early modern France Amanda Eurich
14. Breaking images and building bridges: the making of sacred space in early modern Bohemia Howard Louthan
15. Mapping the boundaries of confession: space and urban religious life in the Diocese of Augsburg, 1648–1750 Duane Corpis.

Subject Areas: Social & cultural history [HBTB], Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700 [HBLH], European history [HBJD], General & world history [HBG]