In the context of the Reformation movement, European rulers were often initiators and active actors of confessional and political change in a divine mission. They took over the leadership role in the process of reformation, which had to create either a consciousness of change or repentance in their subjects or to change their will, and to structure, establish and control them politically and denominationally.
The present volume is a collection of biographies that do not follow the approach of offering complete and chronological outlines of European monarchs, yet they focus only on the aspects of their denominational-political action. In the individual sketches, the monarch's hopes, their intentions, their frameworks and practices for the implementation of confessional political change, as well as the reasons for some failures and changes are highlighted. From a European perspective, the volume offers 28 examples of initiatives and strategies by the secular powers either to enter into a symbiosis with Lutheranism, or to stimulate Luther's teachings to pursue completely their own denominational political paths, or even to reject the new doctrines in a targeted manner.
The volume was edited by PD Dr. Susan Richter together with Armin Kohnle, Professor of Church History at Leipzig University and published by Winter Verlag. Susan Richter is Deputy of the Chair of Early Modern Times at the Department of History at Heidelberg University as also Deputy Speaker of Research Area A “Governance & Administration” at the Cluster “Asia and Europe”
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