"From the Communal Reformation to the Revolution of the Common Man" brings together important studies related to a coherent interpretation of the Reformation and the Peasants War of 1525 as a mass movement, rooted in the structures of the communities of towns and villages. The volume presents both detailed studies from the archives and conceptualized essays.
From the Communal Reformation to the Revolution of the Common Man brings together important studies related to a coherent interpretation of the Reformation and the Peasants War of 1525 as a mass movement, rooted in the structures of the communities of towns and villages. The volume presents both detailed studies from the archives and conceptualized essays.
Communal Reformation is the most original and provocative book to appear in its field in the past quarter-century. It met with an enthusiastic response, particularly in England and the United States, when first published in Germany in 1985 and is now available in translation. Peter Blickle's groundbreaking study, which is intended for scholars and students interested in the history of pre-modern Europe, the development of Germany, the history of Christianity, and historical sociology, reconstructs the connection between the crisis of rural society at the end of the Middle Ages, the great Peasants' War of 1525, and the reformation as a social movement. Blickle focuses on southern Germany, Switzerland, and Austria in the later Middle Ages and Early Modern eras (roughly 1400 to 1600), though his work has important implications for the social and religious history of Europe as a whole.
The book offers a concise introduction to the history of art, culture and everyday life of cities in the German cultural area between renaissance and revolution. References from sources and illustrations define the text; they are together useful resources for classes at schools and universities.
In the Tudor struggle for Reformation and Catholic Reformation, for power and for souls, Richard Smyth, theologian and educator, refined the art of polemicism to fight against the advance of heresy at home and abroad, both in the lingua franca of academic circles and the language of his own people. A much neglected voice today, Smyth spoke passionately and influentially on justification, monastic vows, and the Eucharist. He clashed with leading reformers such as Bucer, Cranmer, Jewel and Vermigli in verbal debates and in print. New evidence from Douai shows how he trained and equipped a younger generation to continue the fight. A fascinating and enlightening work for the interested layperson and the expert alike, Dr. Loewe’s scholarly and readable study dissects catholic reactions to the religious upheaval in England during the reigns of three successive Tudor monarchs.
Martin Luther - monk, priest, intellectual, or revolutionary - has been a controversial figure since the sixteenth century. Most studies of Luther stress his personality, his ideas, and his ambitions as a church reformer. In this book, Christopher Ocker brings a new perspective to this topic, arguing that the different ways people thought about Luther mattered far more than who he really was. Providing an accessible, highly contextual, and non-partisan introduction, Ocker says that religious conflict itself served as the engine of religious change. He shows that the Luther affair had a complex political anatomy which extended far beyond the borders of Germany, making the debate an international one from the very start. His study links the Reformation to pluralism within western religion and to the coexistence of religions and secularism in today's world. Luther, Conflict, and Christendom includes a detailed chronological chart.
Older research on the premodern world limited its focus on the Church, the court, and, more recently, on urban space. The present volume invites readers to consider the meaning of rural space, both in light of ecocritical readings and social-historical approaches. While previous scholars examined the figure of the peasant in the premodern world, the current volume combines a large number of specialized studies that investigate how the natural environment and the appearance of members of the rural population interacted with the world of the court and of the city. The experience in rural space was important already for writers and artists in the premodern era, as the large variety of scholarly approaches indicates. The present volume signals how much the surprisingly close interaction between members of the aristocratic and of the peasant class determined many literary and art-historical works. In a surprisingly large number of cases we can even discover elements of utopia hidden in rural space. We also observe how much the rural world was a significant element already in early-medieval mentality. Moreover, as many authors point out, the impact of natural forces on premodern society was tremendous, if not catastrophic.
The European World 1500-1800 provides a concise and authoritative textbook for the centuries between the Renaissance and the French Revolution. It presents early modern Europe not as a mere transitional phase, but a dynamic period worth studying in its own right. Written by an experienced team of specialists, and derived from a perennially successful undergraduate course, it offers a student-friendly introduction to all major themes and processes of early modern history. Structured in four parts dealing with socio-economic, religious, cultural and political issues, it adopts a deliberately broad geographical perspective: Western and Central Europe receive particular attention, but dedicated chapters also explore the wider global context. For this thoroughly revised and improved second edition, the authors have added three new chapters on ‘Politics and Government’, ‘Impact of War' and ‘Revolution’ Specially designed to assist learning, The European World 1500-1800 features: state-of-the-art surveys of key topics written by an international team of historians suggestions for seminar discussion and further reading extracts from primary sources and generous illustrations, including maps a glossary of key terms and concepts a chronology of major events a full index of persons, places and subjects a fully-featured companion website, enhanced for this new edition The European World 1500-1800 will be essential reading for all students embarking on the discovery of the early modern period.
Karin Friedrich locates the composite state of Brandenburg-Prussia in its historical, political, religious and economic context, from the demise of the Teutonic Knights in the fifteenth century to the Napoleonic crisis. Synthesising debates in German, English and Polish historical writing, the study focuses on key themes and concepts such as: - Confessionalisation, state-building, absolutism, and the rural economy - The primacy of foreign politics - The impact of an enlightened public sphere on changing notions of citizenship Friedrich assesses the ability of the Prussian state to integrate its constituent parts, not least by creating a patriotic identity and notion of unity under the name of 'Prussia'. Challenging myths and older views, this fresh interpretation is ideal for anyone studying this complex political entity within early modern Europe.
The Contested History of Autonomy examines the concept of autonomy in modern times. It presents the history of modernity as constituted by the tension between sovereignty and autonomy and offers a critical interpretation of European modernity from a global perspective. The book shows, in contrast to the standard view of its invention, that autonomy (re)emerged as a defining quality of modernity in early modern Europe. Gerard Rosich looks at how the concept is first used politically, in opposition to the rival concept of sovereignty, as an attribute of a collective-self in struggle against imperial domination. Subsequently the book presents a range of historical developments as significant events in the history of imperialism which are connected at once with the consolidation of the concept of sovereignty and with a western view of modernity. Additionally, the book provides an interpretation of the history of globalization based on this connection. Rosich discusses the conceptual shortcomings and historical inadequacy of the traditional western view of modernity against the background of recent breakthroughs in world history. In doing so, it reconstructs an alternative interpretation of modernity associated with the history of autonomy as it appeared in early modern Europe, before looking to the present and the ongoing tension between 'sovereignty' and 'autonomy' that exists. This is a groundbreaking study that will be of immense value to scholars researching modern Europe and its relationship with the World.
