Reformation Europe

At a time when men and women were prepared to kill - and be killed - for their faith, the Protestant Reformation tore the Western world apart. Acclaimed as the definitive account of these epochal events, Diarmaid MacCulloch's award-winning history brilliantly recreates the religious battles of priests, monarchs, scholars, and politicians - from the zealous Martin Luther and his 95 Theses to the polemical John Calvin to the radical Igantius Loyola, from the tortured Thomas Cranmer to the ambitious Philip II.

Carlos Eire, popular professor and gifted writer, chronicles the 200-year era of the Renaissance and Reformation with particular attention to issues that persist as concerns in the present day. Eire connects the Protestant and Catholic Reformations in new and profound ways, and he demonstrates convincingly that this crucial turning point in history not only affected people long gone but continues to shape our world and define who we are today.

In this Very Short Introduction, now thoroughly revised and updated to take account of the most recent scholarship, Peter Marshall argues that the Reformation was a long-term process of social, political, and cultural change.

An engrossing volume on the European Reformation by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Will Durant. The sixth volume of Durant's acclaimed Story of Civilization, The Reformationchronicles the history of European civilization from 1300 to 1564.

Before the Reformation: Two Lives, One Legacy Dive into the extraordinary stories of two fearless pioneers who laid the foundation for a movement that would transform the world. Before the Reformation: John Wycliffe and Jan Hus brings you two books in one—a compelling look at the lives, battles, and sacrifices of the visionaries who paved the way for the Protestant Reformation. Meet John Wycliffe, the "Morning Star of the Reformation": Discover how this bold thinker defied the Church, translated the Bible into English, and dared to put divine truth into the hands of the common people. ...

War, crisis, and rivalry forged modern Europe. From the collapse of Rome to the Black Death, from the Hundred Years’ War to the Thirty Years’ War, this sweeping history shows how conflict and catastrophe—rather than peace—drove innovation, state formation, and the rise of competing powers across the continent. The Making of Modern Europe: War, Crisis, and the Rise of Powers traces how fragmented kingdoms and city-states hardened into nation-states; how gunpowder, fortifications, navies, and taxation transformed the military and the state; how diplomacy and the balance of power ...

Centuries on, what the Reformation was and what it accomplished remain deeply contentious. Peter Marshall's sweeping new history argues that 16th-century England was a society neither desperate for nor allergic to change, but one open to ideas of "reform" in various competing guises. This engaging history reveals what was really at stake in the overthrow of Catholic culture and the reshaping of the English Church.

Volume Three of 2,000 Years of Christ's Power, in showing the progression of the Reformation era and the daring bravery of its figures, presents a period of history from which there are many lessons to be learnt—not least of all, the vibrancy of people's lives and the courage with which they faced death.

The creator of the hit podcast series Tides of History and Fall of Rome explores the four explosive decades between 1490 and 1530, bringing to life the dramatic and deeply human story of how the West was reborn. In the bestselling tradition of The Swerve and A Distant Mirror, The Verge tells the...

In this “extraordinary and brilliant book” (Helen Castor, author of She-Wolves), a prize-winning historian offers the definitive account of the sixteenth-century uprising that revolutionized Europe The German Peasants’ War was the greatest popular uprising in Western Europe before the...

On the 500th anniversary of the Reformation comes this compelling, illuminating, and expansive religious history that examines the complicated and unintended legacies of Martin Luther and the epochal movement that continues to shape the world today. For five centuries, Martin Luther has been...

What was the Reformation—and why does it still matter? As the sixteenth century dawned, Europe stood at the edge of upheaval. Beneath gilded cathedrals and unquestioned authority, voices of dissent began to rise—calling for reform, conscience, and a faith unbound by power or wealth. In Dawn of Reform, historian and storyteller Louisa M. Bauman offers a clear, engaging introduction to one of history’s most transformative eras. From early reformers like John Wycliffe and Jan Hus, to Martin Luther’s break with Rome, and the quiet courage of the Swiss Anabaptists, this pocket guide ...

When an obscure monk named Martin Luther tacked his theses on the door of the Wittenberg church in 1517, protesting corrupt practices, he was virtually unknown. Within months his ideas spread across Germany then all of Europe; within years their author was not just famous but infamous, responsible for catalyzing the violent wave of religious reform that would come to be known as the Protestant Reformation and engulfing Europe in decades of bloody war.

At the beginning of the 16th century, a religious revolution shattered the outward appearance of conformity among Europe's Roman Catholics...a conformity that had been the basis of Western European unity for over a thousand years. Why did it happen? In this brilliant history, Professor Mosse exposes the crisis of the Papacy in preceeding centuries and shows how the need for reform was continually being delayed until it was simply too late.

William Cobbett (1763-1835) had an interesting life as a soldier, fugitive, political prisoner, journalist, farmer, and in the end a member of Parliament. He began his political career in America and ended up becoming a Radical supporter in the UK. He advocated against the injustices he saw, saying he held "the politics of every normal person". He had a number of radical ideas and set-up a newspaper to publish his articles. This history book was published in installments in that newspaper between 1824 to 1826, when Catholic Emancipation was being ferociously debated.

Martin Luther's posting of the 95 Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg on October 31, 1517, is one of the most famous events of Western history. It inaugurated the Protestant Reformation and has for centuries been a powerful and enduring symbol of religious freedom of conscience and of righteous protest against the abuse of power. But did it actually really happen? In this engagingly written, wide-ranging, and insightful work of cultural history, leading Reformation historian Peter Marshall reviews the available evidence and concludes that very probably, it did not.

In Reformation Women, Rebecca Vandoodewaard introduces listeners to 12 16th-century women who are not as well known today as contemporaries like Katie Luther and Lady Jane Grey. Providing an example to Christians today of strong service to Christ and his church, these influential, godly women were devoted to Reformation truth, in many cases provided support for their husbands, practiced hospitality, and stewarded their intellectual abilities.

Renowned scholar Patrick Collinson is Regius Professor of Modern History, Emeritus, Cambridge. He states, "The Reformation (and Counter Reformation) was the blast furnace in which the modern state was forged." This engaging work offers a concise overview of the ecumenical revolution of the late medieval and Renaissance periods. Narrator John McDonough's presentation of the spiritual and the secular elements that led to religious reform will captivate listeners.

The most profound characteristic of Western Europe in the Middle Ages was its cultural and religious unity, a unity secured by a common alignment with the Pope in Rome and a common language - Latin - for worship and scholarship. The Reformation shattered that unity, and the consequences are still with us today.

The Reformation unfolded in the cathedrals and town squares of Europe - in Wittenberg, Worms, Rome, Geneva, and Zurich - and it is a stirring story of courage and cowardice, of betrayal and faith. The story begins with the Catholic Church and its desperate need for reform. The dramatic events that followed are traced from John Wycliffe in England, to the burning of John Hus at the stake in Prague, to the rampant sale of indulgences in the cities and towns of Germany.