It occurs to me that I may not be the only person on this list who teaches a
course on Reformation Europe as well as medieval Europe. I enjoy teaching
this course, because I get to get to spend time discussing the late medieval
Church (often in a fashion subversive to some interpretations of the
Reformation), but I am not entirely happy with the books I have found for
the course. My goal is to discuss both religious developments from the
fourteenth century through the end of the sixteenth century and political
(as well as social and economic) changes in the sixteenth and early
seventeenth centuries. I have had trouble finding books which adequately
cover both areas. This year I have assigned
De Lamar Jensen, Reformation Europe
L. Spitz, The Reformation: Basic Interpretations
Hans Hillerbrand, ed., The Protestant Reformation (Sourcebook)
Ignatius Loyola, The Spiritual Exercises
Roland Bainton, Here I Stand
A Reader of articles on women's history and social history.
My difficulties with this list are two: Jensen is a good survey of religious
and political developments in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries,
but he does not cover the late medieval developments. He does treat that
period in his Renaissance Europe textbook, but I do not want to assign that
entire book as well (not do I want to make the students pay for it). In
addition, I have yet to find a general sourcebook for the sixteenth and/or
seventeenth centuries that covers political and economic history.
Hillerbrand is useful for getting at the Reformers' ideas, but not for
discussing legal developments in England, France, Spain, etc. I cannot make
my students buy a separate sourcebook for each country, but I would like to
be able to use such documents in my classes on, for instance, Spain under
Philip II or the Dutch Revolt.
I am hoping that other people on the list may have encountered similar
problems or have suggestions to make about Reformation readings in general.
I should say from the start that I assigned Steven Ozment's The Age of
Reform last time I taught the course, and even the best students found it
very hard going to the point that several dropped the course.
Thanks for help in advance,
Kim Rivers
************
Kimberly Rivers Department of History
Assistant Professor University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh
(920) 424-2451 [log in to unmask]
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