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The different theoretical notions and practices of the relations between the state and religious communities in early modern Europe constitute one of the most interesting problems in historiography. Moving away from a simple "toleration" versus "non-toleration" dichotomy, the author sets out to analyse the inter-confessional relations in selected European territories in a "longue duree" perspective, between Reformation and Enlightenment. Outlining the relations between the state and the different Churches (confessions) in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Holy Roman Empire of Germany, and the Northern Netherlands serves to highlight the specificity of Northern Netherlands serves to highlight the specificity of "free" (non-absolutist) composite states, where the particularly complex process of defining the raison d'etat determined the level of religious toleration that was politically feasible and socially acceptable.
List of contents
Contents: Theoretical concepts of the Church-State relations - The reality of interdenominational relations in early modern Europe - The period between the beginning of Reformation and the onset of Enlightenment - Non-absolutist composite states - Poland-Lithuania - Germany-Netherlands.
About the author
Wojciech Kriegseisen is a historian specializing in the history of early modern Poland against the backdrop of Europe, with a particular focus on interdenominational relations. He is now Head of the Institute of History at the Polish Academy of Sciences, where he also heads the Department of Early Modern Studies and is the editor of the journal «Odrodzenie i Reformacja w Polsce».
Report
«Kriegseisen provides the English-speaking world with a well-documented political history of the Protestant Reformation in Poland-Lithuania. His monograph is a resource for complexity and nuances of various Protestant streams in their church-state relations.»
(Vilius Rudra Dundzila, Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis 1/2018)
«Students of early modern central European religious history will no doubt find this work of value [...].»
(Christine Kooi, Journal of Ecclesiastical History 68/4 2017)
