Germany and the Holy Roman Empire

Germany and the Holy Roman Empire offers a striking new interpretation of a crucial era in German and European history, from the great reforms of 1495-1500 to the dissolution of the Reich in 1806. Over two volumes, Joachim Whaley rejects the notion that this was a long period of decline, and shows instead how imperial institutions developed in response to the crises of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, notably the Reformation and Thirty Years War. The impact of international developments on the Reich is also examined. The first volume begins with an account of the reforms of the reign of Maximilian I and concludes with the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. It offers a new interpretation of the Reformation, the Peasants' War, the Schmalkaldic War and the Peace of Augsburg, and of the post-Reformation development of Protestantism and Catholicism. The German policy successfully resisted the ambitions of Charles V and the repeated onslaughtsof both the Ottomans and the French, and it remained stable in the face of the French religious wars and the Dutch Revolt. The volume concludes with an analysis of the Thirty Years War as an essentially German constitutional conflict, triggered by the problems of the Habsburg dynasty and prolonged by the interventions of foreign powers. The Peace of Westphalia, which ended the conflict, both reflected the development of the German polity since the late fifteenth century and created teh framework for its development over the next hundred and fifty years.

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