Religious War and Religious Peace in Early Modern Europe

by Wayne P. Te Brake

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781107459229
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	01/11/2017
Series:	Cambridge Studies in Contentious Politics
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	410
Product dimensions:	5.94(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.71(d)

About the Author

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.

Table of Contents

1. Religion and violence, war and peace; Part I. 1529–55: 2. Wars and rumors of war; 3. Managing conflict, validating diversity; 4. The contours of religious peace I: Central Europe; Part II. 1562–1609: 5. Religious war unleashed; 6. An elusive peace; 7. Ending war, shaping peace; 8. The contours of religious peace II: Western Europe; Part III. 1618–51: 9. Climax and denouement; 10. Grudging consent; 11. The contours of religious peace III: the Continent; 12. The contours of religious peace IV: Great Britain; Conclusion: 13. Envisioning religious peace; Bibliography; Index.

Editorial Reviews

'Wayne P. Te Brake’s comparative approach to religious war and peace across northwestern Europe after the Protestant Reformation offers a newly coherent language for understanding how Europeans learned - in complex and messy ways - to live side-by-side with those they viewed as ‘heretics.’ In a modern world facing new threats of religious war, Te Brake’s clear-eyed yet optimistic interpretation of past generations’ struggle to find religious peace will interest many readers - enhanced by his creative use of visual representations of religious co-existence from across the divided continent.' Randolph C. Head, University of California, Riverside

'Religious War and Religious Peace in Early Modern Europe brilliantly brings together three phenomena, which are usually treated separately: the dynamics of religious wars, the complex processes of religious peace-building, and the conditions for religious coexistence in early modern Europe. This is a highly stimulating contribution to both historical and present peace and conflict research.' Dagmar Freist, Carl von Ossietzky Universität, Oldenburg, Germany

'Wayne P. Te Brake’s Religious War and Religious Peace in Early Modern Europe is an ambitious book that examines six sixteenth- and seventeenth-century religious wars, the peace settlements that ended them, and the patterns of religious coexistence that ensued. Te Brake frames his comparative analyses with social scientific models, in part inspired by the writings of Charles Tilly. … a fine piece of social history, which enriches our understanding of religious coexistence.' Peter G. Wallace, The American Historical Review

‘… the heart of the analysis provides a comprehensive tour of the Reformation period recognisable to early modern historians … It is particularly commendable that this book reaches out to and engages a wider readership …’ Penny Roberts, Journal of Social History

‘Te Brake is expert in tracing military engagements, popular uprisings, violence and destruction, and then political outcomes, ad hoc tolerance, and compromises. This comparative approach is especially helpful in understanding what Te Brake himself describes as messy and complicated transformations that slowly (and after a great deal of destruction) led to the establishment of religious diversity throughout Europe by the end of the seventeenth century … well-written and well-organized …‘ Rudolph P. Almasy, Anglican and Episcopal History

From the Publisher