Germany and the Holy Roman Empire

In the first single-author account of German history from the Reformation to the early nineteenth century since Hajo Holborn's study written in the 1950s, Dr Whaley provides a full account of the history of the Holy Roman Empire. Volume I extends from Maximilian I to the Peace of Westphalia.

Joachim Whaley read History at Christ's College Cambridge. He held Fellowships in History at Christ's College and Robinson College before becoming a Lecturer in German in the Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages at Cambridge, where he teaches German history, thought, and language. He is the author of Religious Toleration and Social Change in Hamburg 1529-1819 and of numerous articles on early modern and modern German history. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society in 1984, and Fellow of the British Academy in 2015.

Introduction: Narratives of Early Modern German History
I. Germany and the Holy Roman Empire in 1500
1: Origins and Frontiers
2: The Reich as a Polity
3: Fragmented Territories
4: The Reich and the German Nation
II. The Reform of the Reich and the Church c. 1490-1519
5: The Reformation Era in German history
6: The Reich under Maximilian I
7: Reich, Papacy, and Reichskirche
8: Religious Renewal and the Laity
9: Humanism in the Reich
10: The 'Print Revolution' and the Public Sphere
11: Economic Landscapes, Communities, and their Grievances
12: Martin Luther and the 'Luther affair' 1517-1519
III. Charles V and the Challenge of the Reformation in the 1520s
13: The Reich During the First Decade of Charles V
14: Luther and Imperial Politics, 1519-1526
15: Luther and the German Reform Movement
16: Alternative Reformations and the Dominance of Lutheranism
17: The Knights' War, 1522-1523
18: The Peasants' War, 1525
19: Reformation in the Cities
IV. Mastering the Reformation c. 1526-1555
20: The Emergence of Protestant Territories
21: The Persistence of Catholicism
22: Charles V, Ferdinand, and the Reich in Europe
23: The Establishment of Protestantism, 1526-1530
24: The Schmalkaldic League, its Counterparts, and the Politics of the Reich, 1530-1541
25: Charles V as 'Lord of Germany', 1541-1548
26: The Triumph of the Reich, 1548-1555
V. Managing the Peace 1555-1618
27: Contours of the 'Confessional Age'
28: Emperors, Imperial Officials, and Estates after the Peace of Augsburg
29: Constitutional developments after 1555: Reichstag, Kreise, Courts, and Legislation
30: The Reich in Europe
31: Managing the Domestic Peace, 1555-c.1585
32: The Consensus Falters, c. 1585-1603
33: Paralysis, 1603-1614
34: Problems of the Habsburg Dynasty
35: The Reich in the Reign of Emperor Matthias, 1612-1619
36: The Crisis of the Habsburg lands
37: Imperial Public Law and the Struggle over the Imperial Constitution
38: Irenicism and Patriotism on the Eve of War
VII. The German Territories and Cities after 1555
39: Problems of Interpretation
40: A Benign Environment?
41: State Formation?
42: Domestic Order and Defence
43: Confessionalization?
44: Finance, Taxation, and Estates
45: The Resurgence of the Courts
46: The Imperial Cities
47: Responding to Crises
VII. The Thirty Years War 1618-1648
48: The Thirty Years War in German History
49: What Kind of Conflict?
50: The Reconquest of Austria and Bohemia, 1618-1623
51: Ferdinand Victorious
52: Denmark and the War for the Reich, 1623-1629
53: What Kind of Reich? Sweden and the Defence of German Liberties, 1630-1635
54: Wallenstein and After
55: France, Sweden, and the German Way, 1635-1648
56: The Peace of Westphalia
57: The Impact of the War on German Society
58: The Thirty Years War and the German Polity
Glossary
Bibliography
Index