Germany and the Holy Roman Empire: Volume I: Maximilian I to the Peace of Westphalia, 1493-1648

Oxford History of Early Modern Europe

by Joachim Whaley

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.

Genres: History, Germany, Nonfiction, European History, Medieval, German Literature, Italy

752 pages, Paperback

First published November 24, 2011

About the author

Joachim Whaley is Professor of German History and Thought at Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge. His research interests lie in German history, thought and culture from 1500 to the present day. He is the author of Religious Toleration and Social Change in Hamburg, 1529-1819 (1985) and the editor of Mirrors of Mortality: Studies in the Social History of Death (1981; reissued in 2011). He has also published numerous articles, reviews and contributions to handbooks and lexicons of German history and literature. His latest book is the two-volume Germany and the Holy Roman Empire 1493-1806 (2012), which covers virtually every aspect of German history from the reign of Maximilian I to the dissolution of the Reich and appears in the Oxford History of Early Modern Europe series. He is currently writing a history of Austria and German-speaking Europe from the later Middle Ages to the present day.

Joachim Whaley has been a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society since 1984. In 2013 he was awarded a LittD by the University of Cambridge for his books and articles on early modern German history.

Reviews

[Brett C · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a plethora of facts, knowledge, and details on the subject. The author argued the inner workings of the German microstates (duchy, archduchy, electorate, county-palatine, bishopric, kingdom, principality, lordship, etc.) and surgance of the Protestant Reformation that had political impact on the Holy Roman Empire. The constant shifts in power, religious fervor, and end of the Thirty Years War in 1648 saw many political entities leave the Empire and gave way to a weak confederation of states.

Honestly this was a phenomenal presentation with lots of specific evidence and details, but sometimes I got lost or bored with what I was reading. The book wasn't bad by any means but is a heavy scholarly work intended for those wanting the fine-tuned details of the Holy Roman Empire and Germany during this time period. Thanks!

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Germany and the Holy Roman Empire: Volume I: Maximilian I to the Peace of Westphalia, 1493-1648, by Joachim Whaley, is an excellent first volume history of the Holy Roman Empire leading up to the Peace of Westphalia after the Thirty Years War ending in 1648. This book covers numerous topics, including judicial and political reform in the Holy Roman Empire, compromise as a facet for political stability, religious strife during the Reformation period, the use and growth of political and military leagues in the Holy Roman Empire, and much more. A fascinating first volume, this book examines German history in a different light, and takes time to critique the nationalist German history that had come to dominate European scholarship of the Holy Roman Empire up to modern times.

This book focuses on Germany, and the myriad political entities and regional blocks that existed in the region. Territory was often controlled through overlapping spheres, with feudal lords, ecclesiastical territories, territorial princes and the Emperor himself often sharing feudal rights over a village or piece of land. Governing in the Holy Roman Empire was complex, and concepts of nation, whether it be for Germany as a whole, or loyalty to an Elector or Prince-Bishop, was usually prototypical at best. Competition was fierce in these areas, leading to pushes for reform, as the burden of taxation and the retraction of rights and privileges angered many from the peasants right up to an Elector. The complexity of rights also led to the seeking of solutions, often with a focus of maintaining stability through compromise. This compromise is evident during the Reformation period, where scholars like Luther, Zwingli and Erasmus posited various reforms to the religious establishments, pursued church reform and social justice (at varying degrees) and sought stability by suppressing and speaking out against popular movements. Although numerous small conflicts were fought in the Reich over these ideas, often they were heavily underlined by other concepts; whether it be reducing head taxes for territorial princes and dukes, improving the rights of Imperial Knights as lesser nobility, or simply reducing the burden on the peasantry.

Life in the Reich varied immensely depending on the region one lived. Switzerland began to break away from the Reich in the late 15th century, culminating in its severance at the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. Life in Switzerland was often dictated by coalitions of cantons, who would compete fiercely with one another. Peasants often had greater rights, but the disputes between cantons could become quite violent. In fear of there territories "turning Swiss" many lords in Southern Germany began to grapple with ideas of concession and repression, looking for the best solutions to ensure their power was maintained. With the advent of Reformation ideas, this opportunity allowed many a lord to seize church properties, allow elections of local pastors, and ensure centralized (at the territorial level) oversight over ecclesiastical matters. This had the dual effect of increasing tax revenues, and improving the lives of the peasantry, as it began to erode one of the autonomous power spheres that competed for power, reducing tax burdens on the peasants, and making the situation of feudal oversight more streamlined.

Another fascinating aspect of this book is league politics. The German polity was complex, and consisted of many hundreds of political entities, both large (ie. the Austrian crown lands), complex (the Julich-Kleve-Berg amalgam in north west Germany, or the split between Elector and Ducal Saxony), or miniscule (such as the numerous territories held by Imperial Knights). Many entities, such as Imperial Cities (Frankfurt, Ulm, Augsburg), Bishoprics (Cologne, Munster, Paderborn), and secular territories (Brandenburg, Electoral Saxony) existed. Some paid lip service to the Empire, a good example being the Teutonic Knights, the Swiss Cantons, and the northern Italian duchies. Peasant communes, such as those in the Dithmarschen and East Frisia survived for a time as non-feudal entities. Some, such as the Duchy of Holstein, were subject both to Reich and to an external lord, in this case the King of Denmark. This complex situation led to the growth of league politics, the most successful being the Swabian League, which could be used as a tool for Imperial power (ie. in the suppression of the Knights War and Peasants War in the early 16th century), or against the Empire itself, as with the Schmalkaldic League, lead by Electoral Saxony and Hesse, which sought to protect and expand Protestant influence in the Reich, and leading to the beginnings of the Thirty Year War, as leagues sought external support for their internal political disputes.

There is much more I could write about here, suffice to say that this was a fascinating and complex work on the Holy Roman Empire, an entity much maligned in both Imperial European, and German nationalist histories. It is receiving a sort of renaissance these days, as the complexity of trans-national politics arises in Europe once again through the European Union, and ideas of compromise and stability are explored over and above the might-makes-right mentality that many nation-states seem to articulate. This is interesting stuff, and I would easily recommend this volume to any one looking to read up on German history outside of the confines of WWII and German nationalism. This is a period in history that is often skipped over and ignored, but the actions and consequences of the Holy Roman Empire were far reaching at the time, and remain (and may even become more) relevant today.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first volume of Joachim Whaley's encyclopedic history of the Holy Roman Empire in early modern Europe covers its history from the start of the 16th century to the end of the Thirty Years' War. It's main theme is the impact of the Protestant Reformation upon the empire, which polarized it and ultimately led to one of the most destructive wars in European history. Yet Whaley shows that the polarization which caused so much conflict was only one dimension of what was a complex interaction. Just as the Reformation spread and developed under the protection of the legal protections provided by the complex institutions of the empire, the empire in turn was shaped by the political and legal struggles spawned by the Reformation, which encouraged the maintenance of the diverse political institutions in the face of efforts by the reigning Habsburg emperors to centralize power in their hands. Whaley's patient and thorough explanation of this intricate dynamic makes for a book that is indispensable reading for anyone interested in early modern Germany, or how the Reformation expanded and survived.

[Sam Schulman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Somebody at the library has hidden away Volume II without checking it out, so imagine how I feel, left hanging like this...

[Ben Wu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Genuinely seminal work in English

[Jemma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very scholarly, indeed a heavy book in both senses. Not one for bedtime reading as the print is small too. This is however a valuable work on this often neglected corner of German/Central European History, if you are interested in such curious corners of the subject. Nevertheless, the thrust of the book is that the Holy Roman Empire was more of all those things than we have hitherto believed. I remain unconvinced though, as this seems less the kind of sea-change revisionism and more the look at anything hard enough and you will find something good to say about it school. Also, this does seem quite biased, in that the Protestants are routinely denigrated, while there is consistent sympathy for the Catholics. While it is reasonable to say that the Protestants weren't entirely agents of change ushering in early modern Europe and the Catholics the opponents of the modern, this work overreaches. I suspect most of us never thought it was that clear cut, so insofar as Whaley's argument is that it was not so clear cut this merely reinforces common sense. When he stretches this point to find the different confessions equivalent, if not the Catholic camp preferable, I'm afraid this oversteps the evidence.

[Windsor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was tempted to give this book 5 cause in reality it probably deserves it. It's explanation of the reformation is amazing. It makes me want to learn about Luther (which I plan to do). I feel, however, that after the Luther sections the book falls off in some areas, most notably in flow and pertinent info. I find myself skimming some sections. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I bought this book and it has become a valuable part of my library, I just was underwhelmed by the second half.

[Ian Holmes · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the few historical volumes I've read twice. Extraordinary in both quantity and quality of information.

[Joshua · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is long and complicated! I was not ready for this book!

Joachim Whaley covers a numerous amount of topics and genres in this book: at one point its a biography of certain individuals such as Martin Luther and later it could be a case study on some niche court case. A general theme of the book is reassessment however. He's constantly mentioning historians from the 19th and 20th century who's opinions of the Holy Roman Empire are seen as outdated nowadays. As a result, if you don't know anything about the Peasants Revolt, you might be a bit confused. Although he explains topics in detail, it's important to understand the big broad picture first.

As a result, while this is an excellent book, currently it's only a 3/5 stars because, perhaps, I don't appreciate it enough. Maybe in the future when I'm more knowledgeable and wiser, I'll give it a higher rating. A word of caution is to read something more broad first! The Holy Roman Empire is complicated and Whaley explains everything, therefore, keeping the topic a complicated one.

[Citrom Citrom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essential, albeit a bit too concise. (Read along with Brady's German Histories in the Age of Reformations, 1400–1650.)

[Simon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Es ist gut, ja. Ich mag der Buch.