The editors of this impressive volume regret the fact that Reformation studies have become so fragmented. They aspire to a broader perspective, and, in this spirit, they have drawn together contributions that range extremely widely—from fairies to the Frankfurt Book Fair and from military clashes during the French Wars of Religion to the healing spas of Tudor and Stuart England.
Highlights of the book's first section include Tom Scott's analysis of the radical 1520s theorizing of Balthasar Hubmaier, Christoph Schappeler, and Hans Hergot and Scott Dixon's essay that traces how, in the wake of the Peace of Augsburg, German rulers seized upon their right to determine religious affiliation in order to intervene in local affairs down to the parish level. This, it is suggested, played a starring role in the gradual emergence of the German territorial state. Undoubtedly, the Reformation in Germany was largely a story of division and antagonism, but there were exceptions. Bernd Roeck provides an important study of the Swabian city of Augsburg, where some measure of confessional coexistence proved possible. He explains that new religious identities were often grafted onto existing socioeconomic categories—Protestant craftsmen versus wealthy Catholics (not least the Fuggers), for instance. He also insists that, while there were periods of unusual calm between the faiths, there were lots of flash points of conflict as well (the era of Gregorian Calendar reform in the 1580s, for instance) and that we should not mistake pragmatic coexistence for modern-day notions of religious tolerance.
As for the clergy of the title, Luise Schorn-Schütte argues that the reformist commitment to producing well-trained pastors was more than capable of crossing over to the Catholic side of the confessional divide, while Christopher Haigh examines the English clergy's commitment to fostering moral discipline. As Haigh explains, historians such as Margo Todd have suggested that the efficient local Kirk sessions of the Scottish church made an important contribution to the Reformation's success north of the border. However, he argues that matters were not really so different in England. Although achieved through less formal measures, the dispensing of justice and arbitration was a central duty of post-Reformation English ministers.
If this all makes the life of a Reformation-era cleric seem rather easily defined, Christine Peters's chapter reminds us of the chaos through which many priests and ministers had to trudge. In Lutheran Saxony, she explains, it proved necessary to behave rather heavy-handedly when it came to disciplinary matters, but there was surprising scope for leniency and latitude in the arena of ritual. It would seem that regional, frequently quite conservative preferences (e.g., Marian piety) often won out. Talk of blanket “reformations of ritual” might sometimes be overegged.
The final section of the book enters quirkier but no less fascinating territory. Margo Todd reveals that, while seemingly at odds with the tenets of Calvinist orthodoxy, belief in fairies and the broader cosmological vision it represented managed to survive in rude health in Scotland, while Alexandra Walsham traces how English devotion to holy wells and sacred springs adjusted itself to a new and very different theological environment. Although it became fashionable to defend the use of such healing waters on a scientific basis, there was also an effort to fit them into a providentialist vision of the natural gifts provided by God.
This overlap between science and providentialism was also visible in the realm of astronomy, and Adam Mosley explores the phenomenally important role of religious debate in shaping the study of the heavens. Sharp divisions between faith and science are always inappropriate when discussing the early modern era, and, as well as homing in on obvious targets such as the Kepler and the earlier Wittenberg astronomers, Mosley even manages to convince us that theological ideas were extremely important to Tycho Brahe—not known, then or since, as the most pious of men.
The quality of the contributions to this volume is extremely high, and mention should also be made of Kevin Gould's study of the struggles for Bordeaux, Toulouse, and Agen; Michael Graham's essay on the habit of Scottish clerics, whether in the 1590s or 1690s, to become embroiled in political controversy; and Andrew Pettegree's analysis (complete with a detailed catalog of the wares on offer) of how French books being peddled at the later sixteenth-century Frankfurt book fairs had an uncanny ability to reflect prevailing political and religious trends and events. If anything, this volume only hammers home the point that Reformation studies are becoming ever more specialized and diverse, but if the fruits are as nourishing as those provided here, then there is little room to grumble.
