Religious War and Religious Peace in Early Modern Europe

Religious War and Religious Peace in Early Modern Europe presents a novel account of the origins of religious pluralism in Europe. Combining comparative historical analysis with contentious political analysis, it surveys six clusters of increasingly destructive religious wars between 1529 and 1651, analyzes the diverse settlements that brought these wars to an end, and describes the complex religious peace that emerged from two centuries of experimentation in accommodating religious differences. Rejecting the older authoritarian interpretations of the age of religious wars, the author uses traditional documentary sources as well as photographic evidence to show how a broad range Europeans - from authoritative elites to a colorful array of religious 'dissenters' - replaced the cultural 'unity and purity' of late-medieval Christendom with a variable and durable pattern of religious diversity, deeply embedded in political, legal, and cultural institutions.

Author: Wayne P. Te Brake
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 01/11/2017
Pages: 412
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.72lbs
Size: 9.41h x 6.14w x 0.90d
ISBN: 9781107088436

About the Author
Te Brake, Wayne P.: - Wayne Te Brake is Professor of History Emeritus at State University of New York, Purchase, and an affiliated faculty member of the Institute for Religion, Culture, and Public Life at Columbia University, New York. He is the author of Shaping History: Ordinary People in European Politics, 1500-1700 and Regents and Rebels: The Revolutionary World of an Eighteenth Century Dutch City, as well as a range of articles and book chapters on the comparative history of popular politics, religious contention, and revolution in early modern Europe. He has lectured extensively in both Europe and North America, and has taught an experimental, collaborative course on religion and politics at Koç University, Istanbul.