Religious beliefs, their practice and expression, were fundamental to the cultural fabric of early modern Europe. They were representations of belonging, identity, power and social meaning. In the era of Europe's reformations and subsequent confessionalizations coinciding with its first colonial empires and its conflictual relations with other faiths on its eastern borderlands, this volume, first published in 2007, examines the role of religion as a vehicle for cultural conflict, cohabitation and cultural exchange. Essays by leading historians show the complexity and diversity of the processes of religious differentiation that contributed to the making of modern Europe, with case studies ranging from Transylvania and Lithuania to Spain and Portugal and from Italy to England. The volume will appeal to scholars in early modern European history, history of religion, as well as social and cultural history.

Religious beliefs, their practice and expression, were fundamental to the cultural fabric of early modern Europe. They were representations of belonging, identity, power and social meaning. In the era of Europe's reformations and subsequent confessionalizations coinciding with its first colonial empires and its conflictual relations with other faiths on its eastern borderlands, this volume, first published in 2007, examines the role of religion as a vehicle for cultural conflict, cohabitation and cultural exchange. Essays by leading historians show the complexity and diversity of the processes of religious differentiation that contributed to the making of modern Europe, with case studies ranging from Transylvania and Lithuania to Spain and Portugal and from Italy to England. The volume will appeal to scholars in early modern European history, history of religion, as well as social and cultural history.

No other German has shaped the history of early-modern Europe more than Martin Luther. In this comprehensive and balanced biography we see Luther as a rebel, but not as a lone hero; as a soldier in a mighty struggle for the universal reform of Christianity and its role in the world. The foundation of Protestantism changed the religious landscape of Europe, and subsequently the world, but the author chooses to show not simply as a reformer, but as an individual. In his study of the Wittenberg monk, Heinz Schilling - one of Germany's leading social and political historians - gives the reader a rounded view of a difficult, contradictory character, who changed the world by virtue of his immense will.

At a time when the enlarged European Community asserts the humanist values uniting its members, this series of four volumes, featuring leading scholars from twelve countries, seeks to uncover the deep but hidden unities shaping a common European past. These volumes examine the domains of religion, the city, communication and information, the conception of man and the use of material goods, identifying the links which endured and were strengthened through ceaseless cultural exchanges, even during this time of endless wars and religious disputes. Volume I examines the role of religion as a vehicle for cultural exchange. Volume II surveys the reception of foreigners within the cities of early modern Europe. Volume III explores the place of information and communication in early modern Europe. Volume IV reveals how cultural exchange played a central role in the fashioning of a first European identity.