Reformation and Revolt in the Low Countries

Author: Duke, A. C.

Humanities

Published on 1 April 2003 by Bloomsbury Publishing PLC (Hambledon Continuum).

Paperback / softback | 338 pages, black & white illustrations
156 x 231 x 21 | 506g

The Revolt of the Netherlands has long been familiar to English-speaking readers, but the Reformation there has remained largely a closed book. The Reformation in the Low Countries developed along very different lines from German Lutheranism. While the decentralised character of political authority ensured the survival of religious dissent, a prolonged persecution of heresy postponed the formation of public Protestant churches until after 1572. Conflicting interests and beliefs, as well as the war and political struggle, shaped the final religious outcome. Local considerations and individual responses played their part alongside the decisions of rulers, whether Philip II and his lieutenant, the duke of Alva, or William the Silent. Alastair Duke's work is of central importance to a proper understanding of both Reformation and Revolt.