Reformation History

Around the mid-sixteenth century, one of the largest Italian heterodox communities developed in Modena: the community of 'Brothers'. At the beginning of the century, a flourishing humanistic tradition had inspired protests against the authority of the Church and had led many of the city's prominent figures to sympathize with Luther and the Reformation. Over the following decades, such positions became more extreme: most of the 'Brothers' held radical convictions, ranging from belief in predestination to contestation of the Antichrist pope. In some cases, the 'Brothers' even went so far as to deny the value of baptism.

The first translation of the Scriptures into Serbian, published in 1868, was significantly influenced by Protestantism. Not only did the translators insist on the use of the common tongue, spoken by ordinary people in the street and in their homes, and not only were the reviewers of the translation of Protestant background, but so too were the order of
the books and epistles of the New Testament and the absence of the deuterocanonical books from the Old Testament a clear result of Protestant influence. Work on the translation itself
was a direct result of the efforts and finances invested by the British and Foreign Bible Society. Later editions were distributed via a system of colporteurs, with a depot in Belgrade.

Published in: Heinrich Bullinger : life - thought - influence : Zurich, Aug. 25-29, 2004, International Congress Heinrich Bullinger (1504-1575) / Emidio Campi, Peter Opitz (eds.). Zürich : Theologischer Verlag Zürich, 2007.  vol.  2. (Zürcher Beiträge zur Reformationsgeschichte ; Band 24).

Diese Untersuchung erhellt zum ersten Mal, wie die Geschichte der osmanischen Expansion in Europa vom schweizer Reformator Heinrich Bullinger aus der Perspektive seiner theologischen sowie seiner weitreichenden historischen und insbesondere kirchenhistorischen Untersuchungen gedeutet wurde.

The "bibliotheca electoralis" with its 1500 books, today located in the ThULB Jena, is the remnant of one of the most important early renaissance libraries in Germany.
The early history of the ducal/electoral library, originally located in the castle of Wittenberg, is strongly influenced by the later librarian Georg Spalatin, who started to collect books for the Saxon prince-elector in 1512. Spalatin, who was 1512 assigned to educate the nephews and an illegitimate son of the Elector, worked also on several chronicles for Frederic III. of Saxony. His works outshine his predecessors: e. g. Adam von Fulda.
This paper is collecting and interpreting several counting books as alternative source for the history of the Wittenberg library and at the same time for the history of books.
The paper is giving an example for the potential and boundaries of counting-book-sources. It contains new facts and dates for Adam von Fulda, Hermann Behm, Georg Spalatin, Johannes Walther also for several printings of Martin Luther and Johannes Bugenhagen.

The paper was written in 2011 and published 2014. The major work of Mecklnborg/Riecke, Spalatin-Chronik 2011 couldn't be involved and is recommended for consulted reading.

La diffusione dell’Utopia di Thomas More coincide con momenti di straordinaria tensione politica e sociale. La sua fortuna editoriale, col favorire un’ampia circolazione delle idee dell’autore anche negli ambienti vicini alla Riforma radicale, poteva suscitare prima o poi il desiderio di tradurle in pratica. Quando ai primi di maggio del 1525 apparve il libretto luterano contro i contadini tedeschi, la loro rivolta aveva raggiunto la massima espansione. Lutero attaccava con veemenza Thomas Müntzer, associandolo ai contadini nell’accusa di banditismo per delegittimarne l’azione e smascherarlo come falso profeta. Müntzer possedeva tuttavia una cultura notevole e conosceva Erasmo, Platone e probabilmente anche More. La condivisione dei beni, che avvicinava Platone e l’umanista More al cristianesimo evangelico, sarà per il riformatore di Allstedt – diventata l’anti-Wittenberg – un sogno profetico da realizzare in un Regno terreno di Cristo senza empi e peccatori, regolato da principi di moralità e giustizia in coerenza con la parola di Dio. Ma Lutero, con la sua realistica apologia della repressione, poneva le premesse teoriche per il massacro di Frankenhausen e la nascita di un ethos militare della Riforma.

La diffusione dell’Utopia di Thomas More coincide con momenti di straordinaria tensione politica e sociale. La sua fortuna editoriale, col favorire un’ampia circolazione delle idee dell’autore anche negli ambienti vicini alla Riforma radicale, poteva suscitare prima o poi il desiderio di tradurle in pratica. Quando ai primi di maggio del 1525 apparve il libretto luterano contro i contadini tedeschi, la loro rivolta aveva raggiunto la massima espansione. Lutero attaccava con veemenza Thomas Müntzer, associandolo ai contadini nell’accusa di banditismo per delegittimarne l’azione e smascherarlo come falso profeta. Müntzer possedeva tuttavia una cultura notevole e conosceva Erasmo, Platone e probabilmente anche More. La condivisione dei beni, che avvicinava Platone e l’umanista More al cristianesimo evangelico, sarà per il riformatore di Allstedt – diventata l’anti-Wittenberg – un sogno profetico da realizzare in un Regno terreno di Cristo senza empi e peccatori, regolato da principi di moralità e giustizia in coerenza con la parola di Dio. Ma Lutero, con la sua realistica apologia della repressione, poneva le premesse teoriche per il massacro di Frankenhausen e la nascita di un ethos militare della Riforma.

John Davenant, Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity and a British delegate to the Synod of Dordt, was a widely praised English Reformed theologian, but his exposition of the doctrine of predestination has been largely neglected. The present essay shows that, for Davenant, Thomas Aquinas remained among the “sounder scholastics,” whose views on predestination and free choice aligned closely with Reformed theology and helped to illustrate the traditionalism of Reformed theology in the face of Jesuit and Arminian theological innovation.

PDF - INTRODUCTION ONLY (7 pages)

Monarchia della verità indaga una componente ideologica fondamentale della Controriforma: l’ossessione ecclesiastica per la 'veritas', concepita nella versione dogmatica di 'doctrina' e ortodossia in opposizione alla formulazione umanistica della 'veritas' come ricerca. Da Poggio Bracciolini a Montaigne, gli umanisti esprimono un concetto di 'religio' coincidente con la ricerca stessa della verità, rinunciando a definizioni esclusive o dogmatiche e astenendosi da difese di carattere polemico o controversistico. I teologi adottano invece il concetto dogmatico di 'doctrina', identificando la 'veritas' nell’ortodossia e favorendo il formarsi di un clima di oscurantismo clericale e di generale intolleranza nei confronti dell’autonomia umanistica, dell’individualismo religioso e del libero pensiero, con Valla, Erasmo e Machiavelli in testa.
In questo libro l’autore prende in esame il primato normativo della verità nella Chiesa del Cinquecento e del primo Seicento con lo scopo di illustrare modelli culturali e pedagogici della Controriforma e rilevarne i miti: cronotassi pontificia, agiografia e culto delle reliquie, concetto eroico del documento, didattica figurativa, giurisdizione curiale, temporalismo papale. Tuttavia, la sopravvivenza della tradizione umanistica e il suo confrontarsi dialetticamente con le culture dogmatiche di Riforma e Controriforma si evidenziano in momenti significativi della storia culturale e religiosa della prima età moderna: in particolare, nel dibattito europeo 'de puniendis haereticis' originato dal tragico rogo di Michele Serveto, nel ricorso all’elemento storico in sede di polemica confessionale, nei processi di Bruno e Galilei e nelle discussioni sulla 'libertas investigandi', nel nicodemismo di artisti, scienziati e anticlericali cristiani, infine nella ripresa – specialmente in Olanda e nelle aree della diaspora sociniana – del pacifismo erasmiano e dell’utopismo di Thomas More, associati alla critica del Valla e all’irenismo di Sebastiano Castellione. Un esempio insigne è la proposta irenica di Jakob Arminius, calvinista di cultura umanistica, formulata a Leida nel 1605 con l’intento di superare i contrasti tra cristiani e realizzare la pacificazione sociale e religiosa.

An earlier version of this paper was presented at the symposium, "Joseph Ratzinger and the Healing of the Reformation-Era Divisions," held at Mundelein Seminary, IL, Oct 19-21 2017. This is an expanded version of the paper that tries to do a number of things. First, I propose that one fruitful lens through which to view the Protestant-Catholic divide concerning the Eucharist and sacrifice is this: the attenuating view of Christianity as a ritual, cultic religion. Second, I suggest that this loss in most of Protestantism is related to the rather lopsided emphasis in the medieval Latin West on the following topics: the objective character of Christ’s presence in the Eucharist, the means by which that change takes place, what Christians receive in the Sacrament, and the sacrificial character of the Eucharist. I will attempt to demonstrate this thesis with just one clear example: the English Prayer Book tradition. 
The paper proceeds in the following way. First, I will say something about this lopsided emphasis by walking through Thomas’s treatise in the Summa. Second, I will describe the emergence of the English reformation theology on the Eucharist as expressed in the first two prayer books of 1549 and 1552. Third, I will describe the emergence of (what I will call with a wink) the “reform of the reform” which comes to fruition in the Scottish tradition. I will conclude with a brief consideration of Ratzigner’s contribution to the question of eucharistic sacrifice in Spirit of the Liturgy and the possible subsequent emergence of a unified Anglican approach to eucharistic sacrifice and rapprochement with the Catholic Church.

Protestant and Catholic martyrologies evolved in dialogue; however, they did not articulate a common conception of martyrdom. Viewing Protestant and Catholic martyrologies and notions of martyrdom as essentially similar obscures highly significant confessional differences, which generated fiercely opposed constructions of martyrdom. This argument is examined through an analysis of the treatment of martyrs’ blood in English martyrological texts, since this encapsulated core confessional theologies.

Dieses Buch berücksichtigt explizit in drei wissenschaftlichen Beiträgen  die Formen der Frömmigkeit in Chemnitz zwischen dem 14. und 15. Jahrhundert, die Geschichte von Kirchen und Kapellen im Raum Chemnitz vor der Reformation und der kirchlichen Organisation der Chemnitzer Region vom Ende des 14. bis in die erste Hälfte des 16. Jahrhunderts sowie die Geschichte der Chemnitzer Saigerhütte zwischen 1470 und 1560.

[Quellle: https://chemnitz.de/chemnitz/de/aktuell/publikationen/broschueren/spaetmittelalter_fruehe_neuzeit.itl]

There are many matters in the history of Polish-English relations that have so far escaped the attention of historians dealing with this subject. Religious issues that are the subject of this article, which is the result of a monthly query in the British Library, Bodleian Library, and The National Archives of England and Wales, seem to be undervalued. The aim of the article is to present selected religious and political issues as important factors in the shaping of Polish-English diplomatic relations at the turn of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

This study considers sixteenth century evangelicals’ vision of a 'godly' commonwealth within the broader context of political, religious, social, and intellectual changes in Tudor England. Using the clergyman and bestselling author, Thomas Becon (1512–1567), as a case study, Brian L. Hanson argues that evangelical views of the commonwealth were situation-dependent rather than uniform, fluctuating from individual to individual. His study examines the ways commonwealth rhetoric was used by evangelicals and how that rhetoric developed and changed. While this study draws from English Reformation historiography by acknowledging the chronology of reform, it engages with interdisciplinary texts on poverty, gender, and the economy in order to demonstrate the intersection of commonwealth rhetoric with Renaissance humanism. Furthermore, the experience of exile and the languages of prophecy and companionship directly influenced commonwealth rhetoric and dictated the priorities, vocabulary, and political expression of the evangelicals. As sixteenth-century England vacillated in its religious direction and priorities, the evangelicals were faced with a political conundrum and the tension between obedience and 'lawful' disobedience. There was ultimately a fundamental disagreement on the nature and criteria of obedience. Hanson’s study makes a further contribution to the emerging conversation about English commonwealth politics by examining the important issues of obedience and disobedience within the evangelical community. A correct assessment of the issues surrounding the relationship between evangelicals and the commonwealth government will lead to a rediscovery of both the complexities of evangelical commonwealth rhetoric and the tension between the biblical command to submit to civil authorities and the injunction to 'obey God rather than man'.

Il saggio intende dimostrare che, subito dopo la pubblicazione, da parte di Alberico Gentili, dei De iuris interpretibus Dialogi sex (1582) e delle Lectiones et Epistolae (1583-1584) i rapporti fra Jean Hotman e il giurista di San Ginesio divennero molto difficili e burrascosi. Lo dimostrano alcune epistole scritte da Hotman ad autorevoli giuristi (ad es. Bodin), e ad alcuni umanisti (Bergmann, Payne, Cuffe, Th. Savile) contenenti critiche molto dure e severe ai Dialogi gentiliani. Malgrado ciò, e malgrado le opposizioni dei puritani, Gentili riuscirà ad ottenere la cattedra di Civil Law a Oxford.Il saggio contiene anche notizie circa il tentativo compiuto, dal Gentili, di ottenere un insegnamento a Tubinga nel 1580.

Daniel Bellingradt: Review of Jan Löhdefink: Zeiten des Teufels. Teufelsvorstellungen und Geschichtszeit in frühreformatorischen Flugschriften (1520-1526), Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck 2016, in: sehepunkte 17 (2017), Nr. 1 [15.01.2017], URL: http://www.sehepunkte.de
/2017/01/29391.html

Curated by Dr. Eric J. Johnson, Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts, The Ohio State University "Publish or Perish" tells the story of a religious, social, and political revolution that began 500 years ago as a traditional academic exercise but quickly accelerated into a movement that would shake Europe's very foundations. When Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the church door in Wittenberg in October 1517, he was merely doing what any other professor with a set of statements for debate might do. He drew up his points, had them printed, and posted them to inspire debate. Luther could hardly have known that by the end of the 16 th century this simple act of publication would be just the first of 4,790 separate editions of his works printed in Germany alone, with approximately 3,000 more editions that he compiled, edited, or for which he wrote prefaces.

Michiel de Ruyter is a Dutch national hero. He is respected in Hungary as the liberator of the Protestant galley slaves. Since 1895, his name can also be read on the statue behind the Great Church of Debrecen. De Ruyter has appeared in various forms in Hungarian memory during the centuries: either as a fearless soldier, a faithful Christian or as a symbol of reconciliation. His memory keeps changing but his spirit keeps living on in Hungarian memory.

Presentación, comentario y valoración crítica de la obra titulada LUTERO: UNA VIDA DELANTE DE DIOS, escrita por Rafael Lazcano, y publicada por la Editorial San Pablo (Madrid, 2017), realizado por Teófanes Egido,  prestigioso especialista en los Siglos de Oro español, Santa Teresa y Lutero.

The Collects of Veit Dietrich, based on the Historic Lectionary, compared with the original source, 'Summaria Christlicher Lehr' 1548 with newly translated collects that were not in 'The Lutheran Hymnary' or in 'Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary.'

In "Was the Reformation a Mistake?" Matthew Levering examines the Protestant Reformation from an epistemological perspective, that is, whether the reformers correctly challenged the truth claims of the Roman Catholic Church. The subtitle summarizes the thesis of the book: Why Catholic Doctrine is not Unbiblical. The Bible tells Christians to seek truth together with the church as a whole, which Levering suggests will lead to an openness to the teachings of the Catholic Church. In the afterward, “A Mere Protestant Response,” Kevin Vanhoozer, Research Professor of Systematic Theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, provides a lively and incisive rebuttal from an evangelical perspective.

"Co' voti concordi di tutti, fu creato quella mattina sommo pontefice; non sapendo quegli medesimi che l'avevano eletto rendere ragione per che causa, in tanti travagli e pericoli dello stato della Chiesa, avessino eletto uno pontefice barbaro e assente per sì lungo spazio di paese, e al quale non conciliavano favore né meriti precedenti né conversazione avuta con alcuni altri cardinali, da' quali appena era conosciuto il suo nome, e che mai non aveva veduto Italia, e senza pensiero o speranza di vederla. Della quale estravaganza, non potendo con ragione alcuna escusarsi, trasferivano la colpa nello Spirito Santo, solito, secondo dicevano, a ispirare nella elezione de' pontefici i cuori de' cardinali: come se lo Spirito Santo, amatore precipuamente de' cuori e degli animi mondissimi, non si sdegnasse di entrare negli animi pieni di ambizione e di incredibile cupidità, e sottoposti quasi tutti a delicatissimi, per non dire inonestissimi, piaceri" (F.G. Storia d'Italia, XIV, 12). 
L’«estravagante» elezione di Adriano VI e le vicende che l'accompagnarono sono essenziali per comprendere la storia dei due pontificati medicei. Francesco Guicciardini è un testimone eccellente e interessato di quel pontificato, che gettò nello scompiglio non solo la città di Firenze, ma l'intero stato pontificio. Per non parlare delle questioni istituzionali che precedettero la sua elezione. Il contributo intende da un lato dar conto della narrazione che Guicciardini propone di quel pontificato e dall'altro, grazie anche all'ausilio di alcune sue lettere di recente ritrovamento, anche della fervente attività che caratterizza l'esperienza del governatore tra il 1522 e il 1523. Quali furono le sue preoccupazioni, quali i mutamenti nella sua azione politica e soprattutto in che modo egli usò, a sua difesa, il servizio prestato sotto Adriano, per rispondere ai Repubblicani fiorentini, che dopo il ’27, lo accusavano di aver dedicato la propria vita unicamente a servire la tirannide medicea.

A Treatise on Good Works is considered Luther’s clearest
exposition on Christian life and the relationship between faith
and good works. Contrary to the teachings of the medieval
church of his day, Luther taught that people need not perform
extraordinary acts of religious devotion to be saved, but rather
that Christ saves them by grace through faith. Neither the
church nor any other human institution can define what it
means for each individual to obey and serve God, and only
through the grace of God can people live and act faithfully
in their everyday affairs. These doctrines, foundational for
Protestantism, have shaped both Christendom and culture
at large. This essay is doubtlessly one of the most important
texts of the last 500 years.

A hypothesis of historiography of the Reformation that Lukasz Markowicz, the burgomaster
of Vilnius, was the author of the Polish Arianistic book published in Gardinas
in 1564–1566 is analysed. After discussing the arguments of other authors, a
conclusion that the mentioned hypothesis is unsound is drawn. It is not mentioned in
the verses of Pedro Ruiz de Moros that the Voight of Vilnius, Augustinus Meleski
Rotundus, and Lukasz Markowicz would be discussing in the books or about the
books. The saying “supplicum libelum” found in the letters should be translated as
“to make an oral request” and not as “a book”. This conclusion doesn’t mean that
Lukasz Markowicz was not able to write a book. It would be useful to explore
Lukasz Markowicz’s level of education and his conflict with the government of Vilnius.

This book examines the experiences and interconnections of the Reformations, principally in Denmark-Norway and Britain and Ireland (but with an eye to the broader Scandinavian landscape as well), and also discusses instances of similarities between the Reformations in both realms. The volume features a comprehensive introduction, and provides a broad survey of the beginnings and progress of the Catholic and Protestant Reformations in Northern Europe, while also highlighting themes of comparison that are common to all of the bloc under consideration, which will be of interest to Reformation scholars across this geographical region.

Cardinal Pole was characterised as a blood thirsty cleric in the first edition of Foxe's Book of Martyrs, but by the time the second edition was published, he had all but disappeared from the pages. This paper seeks to find out why Foxe revised his opinion on the man.

Diskussionen om mänskliga rättigheter ser olika ut i Sverige och i Dan-mark. Vad beror det på? Båda länderna var länge lutherska enhetssam-hällen där reformationen blev en del i ett tidigt nationsskapande. Gradvis har båda länderna gått mot större pluralism men ter sig ändå så olika idag. I Danmark deltar ofta präster och teologer intensivt i den politiska de-batten. Den danska folkkyrkan har däremot inte någon som kan uttala sig för kyrkan. När präster deltar i samhällsdebatten gör de vanligtvis det som medborgare, inte som representanter för kyrkan. Ändå färgas deras synsätt av deras teologi. Sören Krarup, kyrkoherde och talesman för Dansk Folkeparti, är ett intressant exempel. Han har gjort sig känd för sin främlingsfientlighet och för sin kritik av mänskliga rättigheter. I Sverige har Sveriges Kristna Råd och Svenska kyrkans biskopar med ärkebiskopen i spetsen engagerat sig för ett mer humant flyktingmot-tagande. I alla Sveriges kyrkor kunde man inför påsken 2005 skriva under det s.k. påskupproret som vädjade om amnesti för de tusentals flyktingar som fått avslag på sina asylansökningar men ändå vistades i landet, och där vissa gått under jord för att slippa bli utvisade. 2 Min utgångspunkt är att det är omöjligt att helt skilja teologi och kul-tur. Teologin har hela tiden samspelat med kulturella händelser och ut

Th e Miracle in Narva, 11 May 1558:
On the History of Russian Polemics against
the Reformation in the 16th Century
Narva was the fi rst town occupied by Russian forces in 1558 during the
Livonian War (1558–1582). Th e conquest of this border town had a huge
propaganda meaning: both contemporary Livonian and Russian chronicles
paid special attention to it. On 11 May 1558 a confl agration broke out
in Narva that quickly spread throughout the whole town due to a strong
wind. Having seen what was happening in Narva, Russian forces successfully
attacked Narva from Ivangorod. Th e Russians interpreted their victory
as a sign of divine mercy. Th is belief was connected most notably with
a miracle that apparently had happened in Narva. According to Russian sources, the reason for the confl agration that brought fortune to Russian
forces was a Narva citizen who threw an Orthodox icon into fi re. However,
when the Russians entered the town they found the icon undamaged.
Several more or less similar variants of this story are found in diff erent
sources although they diff er in details. Th e article argues that this miraculous
story is signifi cant with regard to interdenominational relations in
16th century Eastern Europe. At that time Russian polemics against heresy
and the Reformation made accusations of iconoclasm against Lutheranism,
which was widespread in Livonia.
Recent research on the Livonian War has begun to focus on the religious
aspects in Moscow’s politics, i.e. understanding the military campaigns of
Ivan IV as struggle against Lutheran heretics in Livonia and Lithuania.
Th us the conquest of Narva appears to be one of the fi rst episodes in the
war of the Orthodox tsar against the heretics. Th e importance of these ideas
was confi rmed already in 1558 by the fact that the icons found in Narva
became offi cial objects of worship immediately after the town’s conquest.
Th e icons were sent to the Moscow, where they were take to the Kremlin
and handed over to the Church of the Assumption of the Birth-Giver of
God. Later the icons were kept in the tsar’s palace for a while before being
additionally decorated and sent back to Narva. At that time, it was a common
practice to bring icons from all over Russia to Moscow for a temporary
or permanent deposit. Th e main person organising the worship of the Narva
icons, as well as others from Novgorod seemed to be Archbishop Pimen
of Novgorod, who was at that time prominent within the tsar’s immediate
circle. Th e main motive behind the Narva miracle may be considered
the Russian polemics of the 16th century related to Lutheranism and other
movements that denied the worship of icons. At the same time, it was quite
logical that there were Orthodox icons in the border town. Th e Icons of
Narva represented St. Nicholas the miracle-worker and Mother of God
Hodegetria who were the two most popular subjects depicted on icons.

Управління культури, національностей, релігій та туризму Хмельницької облдержадміністрації та Державний історико-культурний заповідник «Межибіж» спільно з Хмельницькою обласною організацією Національної спілки краєзнавців України 20 жовтня 2017 року проводять Всеукраїнську науково-практичну конференцію «Релігія і церква як чинник історичних та суспільних процесів Східної Європи». Конференція входить до Плану заходів Міністерства культури України з підготовки та відзначення в Україні 500-річчя Реформації.

Робота конференції планується за такими тематичними напрямами:
I. Історія релігій та церков в Україні.
II. Реформація в Україні та Східній Європі від Середньовіччя до наших днів.
III. Церква і держава - розмаїття взаємодій. Церкви як чинник державотворчих процесів.
IV. Соціальна місія релігій та церков.
V. Церква у матеріальній культурі людства. Релігійна архітектура, сакральне мистецтво, література, предмети культу і атрибутики. Релігійні предмети у фондах музеїв та архівів, у приватних колекціях.

La traduzione italiana completa degli scritti e delle lettere di una delle
figure principali degli anni aurorali della Riforma non necessita alcuna
giustificazione. Essa giunge in un momento di rinnovato interesse nei
confronti degli studi italiani sulla Riforma e in contemporanea al simbolico cinquecentenario della nascita del movimento riformatore. A differenza della precedente parziale traduzione italiana curata da Emidio
Campi, essa comprende l’intero epistolario di Thomas Müntzer, fondamentale per ricostruire gli avvenimenti della sua breve e tormentata vita, e tutti i suoi scritti, fatta eccezione per alcuni frammenti manoscritti, inni e tavole musicali. Essa non si pone come obiettivo quello di sostituire le edizioni critiche e le altre traduzioni esistenti, ma di fornire uno strumento in lingua italiana quanto più completo agli studiosi e lettori, per comprendere e inserire nel suo contesto un personaggio centrale nella storia della Riforma, della cosiddetta «guerra dei contadini», dell’azione rivoluzionaria nell’Europa della prima Età moderna.