Germany and the Holy Roman Empire: Volume I: Maximilian I To The Peace Of Westphalia, 1493-1648 (Oxford History Of Early Modern Europe) - Tapa blanda

Review from previous edition scholars ... will concur in their debt to Whaley's magnum opus ... [it] stands apart as the most authoritative account of the early modern empire (C. Ingrao, CHOICE)

a monumental history of the Holy Roman Empire which far surpasses everything that has been written about the subject to date. German history between the Reformation and Napoleon has never been written in such a lively, multi-faceted, source-based, and coherent manner. A history that embraces the whole of [German] culture, religion, economy and society (Süddeutsche Zeitung)

Whaley sees the Reich as a continually reforming, diverse but legally ordered polity, rather than some kind of bizarre monstrosity or collective fiction. His two volumes are exceptionally well written and highly nuanced and reflect the latest scholarship. Indeed, they represent a huge personal achievement. They will provide a standard of scholarship against which all future works will be measured (Alan Sked, Reviews in History)

...its complexity and sophistication, [the] stupendous breadth and depth of Whaley's knowledge. The two volumes are full of incisive chapters on topics as diverse as economic policies, religious reform movements, court culture ... skilfully crafted and engrossing narrative (Michael Schaich, Times Literary Supplement)

superb and authoritative study (Peter Oborne, Daily Telegraph)

Whaley's account is one of the best works on early modern German history. From the first page to the last, it shows how German history can be presented as both a history of Emperor and Empire, and a history of common culture. It will immediately establish itself as a standard guide to its subject. (Georg Schmidt, Friedrich Schiller University, Jena)

Overall brilliantly successful ... a detailed account of two hundred years of German history ... In a thousand details the monograph is more knowledgeable that other English-language accounts of German history ... and in numerous respects it is more knowledgeable than many a German handbook ... Whaley demonstrates a stupendous knowledge of German history. The reviewer believes this book is the most important English-language work on pre-modern German history for at least two decades (Axel Gotthard, Sehepunkte)

An enterprise of this magnitude requires a steady hand on the tiller, as the author steers between the rocks of historiographical controversy and the shoals of submerged detail. Whaley accomplishes his argosy with poise and style. These two volumes, which will undoubtedly become a first point of reference, are a remarkable achievement of which the author should feel justly proud (Tom Scott, English Historical Review)

the most comprehensive survey of Germany's early modern history ever undertaken, the first book of its kind since the 1950s, and one of the most substantial works of historical scholarship published in the UK in 2011 (Research Horizons, University of Cambridge)

His work, though different in emphasis and organisation, stands equal with the major German speaking syntheses today existing such as by Horst Rabe, Karl Otmar von Aretin, Heinz Schilling, or Georg Schmidt. His detailed knowledge of the vast relevant research literature, in German or in any other language, on topics ranging from the later fifteenth to the early nineteenth century is breath-taking. As such, this work is a must-read for all students of Early Modern Germany unless they work on specific issues of social and demographic history. The superior quality of Whaley's synthesis is beyond question. This is a masterpiece that demands close attention and respect. (Robert von Friedeburg, H-Soz-u-Kult online)

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.