Frances Luttikhuizen chronicles the arrival, reception, and suppression of Protestant thought in sixteenth century Spain—referred to at that time as 'Lutheranism'. It opens with several chapters describing the socio-political-religious context that prevailed in Spain at the beginning of the sixteenth century and the growing trend to use the vernacular for parts of the Mass, as well as for catechizing the populace. Special attention is given to the forerunners, that is, the early alumbrado-deixados, the role of Cardinal Cisneros, and the impact of Erasmus and Juan de Valdes, etc. The use of archival material provides new details regarding the historical framework and the spread of evangelical thought in sixteenth century Spain. These dispatches and trial records greatly enrich the main body of the work, which deals with the arrival and confiscation of evangelical literature, the attitude of Charles V and Philip II towards religious dissidents, and the severe persecution of the underground evangelical circles at Seville and Valladolid. Special attention is given to the many women involved in the movement. The recurrent mention of the discovery and confiscation of prohibited literature shows how books played an important role in the development of the movements. The final chapters focus on the exiles and their contributions, the persecution of foreigners, and the years up to the abolition of the Inquisition. The work concludes with the efforts made in the nineteenth century to rediscover the history of the persecuted sixteenth century Spanish Protestants and their writings.

Frances Luttikhuizen provides an overview of the arrival, reception, and suppression and Protestant thought in sixteenth century Spain. The opening chapters shed light on the alum-brados-deixados, the role of Cardinal Cisneros, the impact of Erasmus, the attitude of Charles V and Philip II towards religious dissidents, etc. The main body of the work deals with the severe persecution of the underground evangelical circles at Seville and Valladolid, confiscated literature, and relevant female figure. The final chapters deal with new targets - mainly foreigners - and the efforts to rediscover the writings of the Spanish Protestant Reformers. Book jacket.

For Charles V and Philip II, both of whom expected to continue the momentum of the Reconquista into a campaign against Islam, the theology and political successes of Martin Luther and John Calvin menaced not just the possibility of a universal empire, but the survival of the Habsburg monarchy. Moreover, the Protestant Reformation stimulated changes within Spain and other Habsburg domains, reinvigorating the Spanish Inquisition against new enemies, reinforcing Catholic orthodoxy, and restricting the reach of the Renaissance and Scientific Revolution. This book argues that the Protestant Reformation was an existential threat to the Catholic Habsburg monarchy of the sixteenth century and the greatest danger to its political and religious authority in Europe and the world. Spain’s war on the Reformation was a war for the future of Europe, in which the Spanish Inquisition was the most effective weapon. This war, led by Charles V and Philip II was in the end a triumphant failure: Spain remained Catholic, but its enemies embraced Protestantism in an enduring way, even as Spain’s vision for a global monarchy faced military, political, and economic defeats in Europe and the broader world. Spain and the Protestant Reformation will appeal to researchers and students alike interested in the history and society of Early Modern Spain.

The contributors to this volume examine the complex and dynamic role that Protestant majorities and minorities played in shaping the Reformations of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In doing so, it offers an important perspective on the range of intellectual, social, economic, political, theological and ecclesiological factors that governed intra- and inter-confessional encounter in the early modern period. While the principal focus is on the situation of different Protestant majority and minority groups, many of the contributions also engage the relation of Protestants and Catholics, with a number also considering early modern Christian dialogue with Muslims and Jews. The volume is organised into five sections, which together provide a comprehensive picture of Protestant majorities and minorities. The first section explores intellectual trajectories, especially those which promoted confessional unity or sought to break down confessional boundaries. The second section, taking the neglected Spanish Reformation as an important case-study, examines the clandestine aspect of minority activities and the efforts of majorities to control and suppress them. The third section pursues a similar theme but examines it through the lens of Flemish and Walloon Reformed refugee communities in Germany and the Netherlands, demonstrating the way in which confessional factors could lead to the integration or exclusion of minorities. The fourth section examines marginal or peripheral Reformations, whether geographically or doctrinally understood, focussing on attempts to implement reform in the shadow of the Ottoman Empire. Finally, the fifth section looks at confessional identity and otherness as a principal theme of majority and minority relations, providing both theoretical and practical frameworks for its evaluation.

Gender and Exemplarity in Medieval and Early Modern Spain gathers a series of studies on the interplay between gender, sanctity and exemplarity in regard to literary production in the Iberian peninsula. The first section examines how women were con¬strued as saintly examples through narratives, mostly composed by male writers; the second focuses on the use made of exemplary life-accounts by women writers in order to fashion their own social identity and their role as authors. The volume includes studies on relevant models (Mary Magdalen, Virgin Mary, living saints), means of transmission, sponsorship and agency (reading circles, print, patronage), and female writers (Leonor López de Córdoba, Isabel de Villena, Teresa of Ávila) involved in creating textual exemplars for women. Contributors are: Pablo Acosta-García, Andrew M. Beresford, Jimena Gamba Corradine, Ryan D. Giles, María Morrás, Lesley K. Twomey, Roa Vidal Doval, and Christopher van Ginhoven Rey.

Jews and Muslims in Seventeenth-Century Discourse explores for the first time the extent to which the unusual religious diversity and tolerance of the Dutch Republic affected how its residents regarded Jews and Muslims. Analyzing an array of vernacular publications, this book reveals how Dutch writers, especially those within the nonconformist and spiritualist camps, expressed positive attitudes toward religious diversity in general, and Jews and Muslims in particular. Through covering the Eighty Years War (1568-1648) and the post-war era, it also highlights how the Dutch search for allies against Spain led them to approach Muslim rulers. The Dutch were assisted in this by their positive relations with Jews, and were thus able to shape a more affirmative portrayal of Islam. Revealing noticeable differences in language and tone between English and Dutch publications and exploring societal attitudes and culture, Jews and Muslims in Seventeenth-Century Discourse is ideal for students of British and Dutch early-modern cultural, intellectual, and religious history.

A Companion to the Spanish Renaissance makes a renewed case for the inclusion of Spain within broader European Renaissance movements. Its introduction, “A Renaissance for the ‘Spanish Renaissance’?” will be sure to incite polemic across a broad spectrum of academic fields. This interdisciplinary volume combines micro- with macro-history to offer a snapshot of the best new work being done in this area. With essays on politics and government, family and daily life, religion, nobles and court culture, birth and death, intellectual currents, ethnic groups, the plastic arts, literature, popular culture, law courts, women, literacy, libraries, civic ritual, illness, money, notions of community, philosophy and law, science, colonial empire, and historiography, it offers breath-taking scope without sacrificing attention to detail. Destined to become the standard go-to resource for non-specialists, this book also contains an extensive bibliography aimed at the serious researcher. Contributors are: Beatriz de Alba-Koch, Edward Behrend-Martínez, Cristian Berco, Harald E. Braun, Susan Byrne, Bernardo Canteñs, Frederick A. de Armas, William Eamon, Stephanie Fink, Enrique García Santo-Tomás, J.A. Garrido Ardila, Marya T. Green-Mercado, Elizabeth Teresa Howe, Hilaire Kallendorf, Henry Kamen, Elizabeth A. Lehfeldt, Michael J. Levin, Ruth MacKay, Fabien Montcher, Ignacio Navarrete, Jeffrey Schrader, Lía Schwartz, Elizabeth Ashcroft Terry, and Elvira Vilches.

During the first half of the sixteenth century the Spanish Inquisition fought "Lutheranism" in a benign way, but as time passed the power struggle between those that favoured reform and the detractors intensified, until persecution became relentless under the mandate of Inquisitor General Fernando de Valdés. The power struggle did not catch Constantino by surprise, but the tables turned faster than he had expected. On 1 August 1558 Constantino preached his last sermon in the cathedral of Seville; fifteen days later he was imprisoned. Constantino's evangelising zeal is evident in all his works, but the core of his theology can be found in Beatus Vir, where he deals with the doctrines of sin and pardon, free grace, providence, predestination, and the relationship between faith and works. In his exposition of Psalm 1, Constantino does not resort to human philosophies but associates the spiritual fall of humanity with ugliness. In his exhortation to the reader, he states: "we shall plainly see the repulsiveness of that which seems so good in the eyes of insane men, and the beauty and greatness of that which the Divine Word has promised and assured those who turn to its counsel."

How the English Reformation was Named analyses the shifting semantics of 'reformation' in England between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries. Originally denoting the intended aim of church councils, 'reformation' was subsequently redefined to denote violent revolt, and ultimately a series of past episodes in religious history. But despite referring to sixteenth-century religious change, the proper noun 'English Reformation' entered the historical lexicon only during the British civil wars of the 1640s. Anglican apologists coined this term to defend the Church of England against proponents of the Scottish Reformation, an event that contemporaries singled out for its violence and illegality. Using their neologism to denote select events from the mid-Tudor era, Anglicans crafted a historical narrative that enabled them to present a pristine vision of the English past, one that endeavoured to preserve amidst civil war, regicide, and political oppression. With the restoration of the monarchy and the Church of England in 1660, apologetic narrative became historiographical habit and, eventually, historical certainty.

The Inquisitionis Hispanicae Artes (Heidelberg, 1567), written by exiled Spanish Protestants, is the first systematic denunciation of the Spanish Inquisition. Its first part is a description of the Inquisition’s methods, making use of the Inquisition’s own instruction manual, which was not publicly known. Its second section presents a gallery of individuals who suffered persecution in Seville during the anti-Protestant repression (1557-1565). The book had a great impact, being almost immediately translated into English, French, Dutch, German, and Hungarian. The portraits very soon passed into Protestant martyrologies, and the most shocking descriptions (torture, auto de fe) became ammunition for anti-Spanish literature. This critical edition presents a new text as well as, for the first time, extensive notes.