The Reformation in National Context

An exploration of the 'Reformation experience' in various contrasting European countries.

Robert Scribner (Edited by), Roy Porter (Edited by), Mikulas Teich (Edited by)

9780521401555, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 9 June 1994

248 pages
23.5 x 15.8 x 2 cm, 0.483 kg

"...appropriate to students and general readers, as well as scholars....by the very nature of the volume, no one who picks it up can leave it unenlightened, because no one can know much about everything including in it....The continuity of reform makes this book essential reading; its vigor and style usually make reading it a pleasure. One can fully appreciate the books many strengths and achievements, without condoning its venial omissions." Seventeenth-Century News

This collection of essays by prominent historians of the Reformation explores the experience of religious reform in 'national context', discussing similarities and differences between the reform movements in a dozen different countries of sixteenth-century Europe. Each author provides an interpretative essay emphasising local peculiarities and national variants on the broader theme of the Reformation as a European phenomenon. The individual essays thus emphasise the local preconditions and limitations which encountered the Reformation as it spread from Germany into most of the countries of western and central Europe. Together they present a picture of the many-sided nature of the Reformation as it grew up in each 'national context', both in countries where the Reformation was strikingly successful and where it failed to make an impact.

Introduction Bob Scribner
1. Germany Bob Scribner
2. Switzerland Kaspar von Greyerz
3. France Mark Greengrass
4. The Low Countries Wiebe Bergsma
5. England Patrick Collinson
6. Scotland Julian Goodare
7. Scandinavia Ole Peter Grell
8. Bohemia Frantisek Kavka
9. Hungary Katalin Peter
10. Poland Janusz Tazbir
11. Italy Silvana Seidel Menchi
12. Spain Henry Kamen
13. A comparative overview.

Subject Areas: Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700 [HBLH], European history [HBJD]