Law, Society and Political Culture in Late Medieval and Reformation Germany

The German-speaking lands of the Holy Roman Empire were the stage for some of the most significant events in late medieval and Reformation Europe. This book offers readers key translated primary sources that illuminate the legal, political, social and cultural history of this tumultuous region between the mid-fourteenth and mid-sixteenth centuries.

The German lands have long been neglected in English-language accounts of this period, not least because few sources produced within them have been available in translation. Most of these laws, which have shaped the constitutional development of Germany in its various incarnations down to the present day, are translated into English here for the first time. The legal and political sources selected here shed light on German government and society at every level, from Roman kings and emperors, mighty princes and imperial cities to ordinary priests, peasants and prostitutes. This selection includes all the major laws issued in the Empire, from the Golden Bull of 1356 to the Peace of Augsburg in 1555, via the peace-keeping legislation passed under the Habsburg emperors of the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. Thematic chapters cover the unique elective monarchy, imperial diets, plans for imperial and ecclesiastical reform, alliances and associations, warfare and arbitration and lordship and administration at local levels.

Law, society and political culture in late medieval and reformation Germany enables students and scholars to discover a crucial phase in German and European history in unprecedented depth.

About the author

Duncan Hardy is Associate Professor of History at the University of Central Florida

Product details

• Assisted by: Duncan Hardy (Editor and translation)
• Publisher: Ingram Publishers Services
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Release: 18.11.2025
• EAN: 9781526165879
• ISBN: 978-1-5261-6587-9
• No. of pages: 376
• Illustrations: 2 black & white maps, Karten
• Series: Manchester Medieval Sources
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > Middle Ages; Social sciences, law, business > Law > General, dictionaries; HISTORY / Europe / Germany, Germany, LAW / Legal History, HISTORY / Social History, Social & cultural history, POLITICAL SCIENCE / World / European, Politics & government, Medieval History, Legal History, 15th century, c 1400 to c 1499, Social and cultural history, Politics and government, 14th century, c 1300 to c 1399, 16th century, c 1500 to c 1599, European history: medieval period, middle ages, HISTORY / Europe / Medieval