What was the effect of the Reformation movement on the parishioners of the German countryside? This book examines the reform movement at the level of its implementation - the rural parish. Investigation of the Reformation and the sixteenth-century parish reveals the strength of tradition and custom in village life and how this parish culture obstructed and frustrated the efforts of the Lutheran reformers. The Reformation was not passively adopted by the rural inhabitants. On the contrary, the parishioners manipulated the reform movement to serve their own ends. Parish documentation reveals that the system of parish rule diffused the disciplinary aims of the church and rendered the pastors impotent. A look at parish beliefs suggests that the nature of parish thought worked to undermine the main tenets of the Lutheran faith, and that the legacy of the Reformation was a dialogue between these two realms of experience.

For the rural societies of Germany the early sixteenth century was a time of massive upheavals. In this probing study of village life, based upon rich manuscript sources from the old County of Hohenlohe, Thomas Robisheaux seeks to understand how petty German princes, Lutheran pastors, and villagers struggled to create order out of their confusing world. The Hohenlohe region experienced all of the turmoil associated with the sixteenth century, including a peasant near-rising in 1600, the brutal effects of the wage-price scissors, chronic shortages of land, famines, impoverishment, and the destructive cycles of war. By using concepts borrowed from anthropology, Professor Robisheaux looks for the way social hierarchy and discipline countered the disruptive changes of the age. The years between 1550 and 1620 saw new sources of stability and order created in the family; through systematized customs of inheritance; through market relationships; and in the practice of state power within the village.

The most ambitious one-volume survey of the Reformation yet, this book is beautifully illustrated throughout. The strength of this work is its breadth and originality, covering the Church, art, Calvinism and Luther.

Continuing the tradition of historiographic studies, this volume provides an update on research in Reformation and early modern Europe. Written by expert scholars in the field, these eighteen essays explore the fundamental points of Reformation and early modern history in religious studies, European regional studies, and social and cultural studies. Authors review the present state of research in the field, new trends, key issues scholars are working with, and fundamental works in their subject area, including the wide range of electronic resources now available to researchers. Reformation and Early Modern Europe: A Guide to Research is a valuable resource for students and scholars of early modern Europe.

Perhaps no period in Christian history experienced such social tumult and upheaval as the Reformation, as it quickly became apparent that social and political issues, finding deep resonance with the common people, were deeply entwined with religious ones raised by the Reformers. Led by eminent Reformation historian Peter Matheson, this volume of A People's History of Christianity explores such topics as child-bearing, a good death, rural and village piety, and more. Includes 50 illustrations, maps, and an 8-page color gallery.

This book examines the impact of the Reformation on the ideal and practice of marriage in sixteenth-century Germany.

Numerous historical studies use the term "community'" to express or comment on social relationships within geographic, religious, political, social, or literary settings, yet this volume is the first systematic attempt to collect together important examples of this varied work in order to draw comparisons and conclusions about the definition of community across early modern Europe. Offering a variety of historical and theoretical approaches, the sixteen original essays in this collection survey major regions of Western Europe, including France, Geneva, the German Lands, Italy and the Spanish Empire, the Netherlands, England, and Scotland. Complementing the regional diversity is a broad spectrum of religious confessions: Roman Catholic communities in France, Italy, and Germany; Reformed churches in France, Geneva, and Scotland; Lutheran communities in Germany; Mennonites in Germany and the Netherlands; English Anglicans; Jews in Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands; and Muslim converts returning to Christian England. This volume illuminates the variety of ways in which communities were defined and operated across early modern Europe: as imposed by community leaders or negotiated across society; as defined by belief, behavior, and memory; as marked by rigid boundaries and conflict or by flexibility and change; as shaped by art, ritual, charity, or devotional practices; and as characterized by the contending or overlapping boundaries of family, religion, and politics. Taken together, these chapters demonstrate the complex and changeable nature of community in an era more often characterized as a time of stark certainties and inflexibility. As a result, the volume contributes a vital resource to the ongoing efforts of scholars to understand the creation and perpetuation of communities and the significance of community definition for early modern Europeans.

"In the past, scholars tended to treat the Reformation as a chapter in the history of ideas, emphasizing the thought of the major reformers and the changes in Christian doctrine. Today, however, more and more historians are asking how the revolution in theology affected the lives of ordinary men and women. Aware that religious faith is part of the larger cultural and material universe of early modern Europeans, these scholars have exploited hitherto neglected sources in an attempt to reconstruct the people's Reformation. The twelve essays commissioned for this collection represent the broad spectrum of recent scholarship in the social history of the German Reformation. Historians from various countries offer a panorama of different methodological approaches and thematic concerns. Some of the essays represent original research; others address current historiographical debates; still others offer concise syntheses of recently published monographs, including seminal works in German. The essays are centered around four themes: cities and the Reformation; the transmitting of the Reformation in print, ritual and song; women and the family; and lastly, the impact of the Reformation on education and other aspects of lay culture." -- Back cover.

Over the past twenty years, new approaches to the history of the Reformation of the Church have radically altered our understanding of that event within its broadest social and cultural context. In this classic study R. W. Scribner provided a synthesis of the main research, with a special emphasis on the German Reformation, and presented his own interpretation of the period. Paying particular attention to the social history of the broader religious movements of the German Reformation, Scribner examined those elements of popular culture and belief which are now seen to have played a central role in shaping the development and outcome of the movements for reform in the sixteenth century. Scribner concluded that 'the Reformation', as it came to be known, was only one of a wide range of responses to the problem of religious reform and revival, and suggested that the movement as a whole was less successful than previously claimed. In the second edition of this invaluable text, C. Scott Dixon's new Introduction, supplementary chapter and bibliography continue Scribner's original lines of inquiry, and provide additional commentary on developments within German Reformation scholarship over the sixteen years since its first publication.

In 1563, the Council of Trent published its Decrees, calling for significant reforms of the Catholic Church in response to criticism from both Protestants and Catholics alike. Bishops, according to the Decrees, would take the lead in implementing these reforms. They were tasked with creating a Church in which priests and laity were well educated, morally upright, and focused on worshipping God. Unfortunately for these bishops, the Decrees provided few practical suggestions for achieving the wide-ranging changes demanded. Reform was therefore an arduous and complex process, which many bishops struggled to accomplish or even refused to undertake fully. The Bishop’s Burden argues that reforming bishops were forced to be creative and resourceful to accomplish meaningful change, including creating strong diocesan governments, reforming clerical and lay behavior, educating priests and parishioners, and converting non-believers. The book explores this issue through a detailed case study of the episcopacy of Cardinal-Bishop Gregorio Barbarigo of Padua (bp. 1664-1697), asking how a dedicated bishop formulated a reform program that sought to achieve the Church’s goals. Barbarigo, like other reforming bishops, borrowed strategies from a variety of sources in the absence of clear guidance from Rome. He looked to both pre- and post-Tridentine bishops, the Society of Jesus, the Venetian government, and the Propaganda Fide, which he selectively emulated to address the problems he discovered in Padua. The book is based primarily on the detailed records of Barbarigo’s visitations of rural parishes and captures the rarely-heard voices of seventeenth-century Italian peasants. The Bishop's Burden helps us understand not only the changes experienced by early modern Catholics, but also how even the most sophisticated plans of central authorities could be frustrated by practical realities, which in turn complicates our understanding of state-building and social control.