The Handbook of European History 1400-1600 brings together the best scholarship into an array of topical chapters that present current knowledge and thinking in ways useful to the specialist and accessible to students and to the educated non-specialist. Forty-one leading scholars in this field of history present the state of knowledge about the grand themes, main controversies and fruitful directions for research of European history in this era. Volume 1 (Structures and Assertions) described the people, lands, religions and political structures which define the setting for this historical period. Volume 2 (Visions, Programs, Outcomes) covers the early stages of the process by which newly established confessional structures began to work their way among the populace.

Preliminary Material /Thomas A. Brady , Heiko A. Oberman and James D. Tracy -- Ideas of Reformatio and Renovatio from the Middle Ages to the Reformation /Gerald Strauss -- Visions of Order in the Canonists and Civilians /Constantin Fasolt -- Voices of Reform from Hus to Erasmus /Erika Rummel -- The Humanist Movement /Ronald G. Witt -- Luther's Reformation /Martin Brecht -- The Popular Reformation /Peter Blickle -- The Urban Reformation in the Holy Roman Empire /Berndt Hamm -- International Calvinism /Robert M. Kingdon -- The Radical Reformation /James M. Stayer -- The New Religious Orders, 1517-1648 /S.J. John Patrick Donnelly -- Catholic Reformation, Counterreformation and Papal Reform in the Sixteenth Century /Elisabeth G. Gleason -- Settlements: The Holy Roman Empire /Thomas A. Brady -- Settlements: The Netherlands /J.J. Woltjer and M.E.H.N. Mout -- Settlements: France /Philip Benedict -- Settlements: The British Isles /W. Ian P. Hazlett -- Settlements: Spain's National Catholicism /Christian Hermann -- Scandinavia, 1397-1560 /Michael F. Metcalf -- Reformation and Counterreformation in East Central Europe /Winfried Eberhard -- New Patterns of Christian Life /Hans-Christoph Rublack -- The Great Witch-Hunt /Brian P. Levack -- Confessional Europe /Heinz Schilling -- The Coinages of Renaissance Europe, circa 1500 /Thomas A. Brady , Heiko A. Oberman and James D. Tracy -- European Rulers, 1400-1650 /Thomas A. Brady , Heiko A. Oberman and James D. Tracy -- Index of Persons /Thomas A. Brady , Heiko A. Oberman and James D. Tracy -- Index of Places /Thomas A. Brady , Heiko A. Oberman and James D. Tracy -- Religions of Europe circa 1580 /Thomas A. Brady , Heiko A. Oberman and James D. Tracy.

Volume one of a two volume set containing essays on the history of Europe between 1400 and 1600. This volume focuses on the people, the lands, and the religious and political structures that affected this historical period.

The Oxford Handbook of Calvin and Calvinism offers a comprehensive assessment of John Calvin and the tradition of Calvinism as it evolved from the sixteenth century to today. Featuring contributions from scholars who present the latest research on a pluriform religious movement that became a global faith. The volume focuses on key aspects of Calvin's thought and its diverse reception in Europe, the transatlantic world, Africa, South America, and Asia. Calvin's theology was from the beginning open to a wide range of interpretations and was never a static body of ideas and practices. Over the course of his life his thought evolved and deepened while retaining unresolved tensions and questions that created a legacy that was constantly evolving in different cultural contexts. Calvinism itself is an elusive term, bringing together Christian communities that claim a shared heritage but often possess radically distinct characters. The Handbook reveals fascinating patterns of continuity and change to demonstrate how the movement claimed the name of the Genevan reformer but was moulded by an extraordinary range of religious, intellectual and historical influences, from the Enlightenment and Darwinism to indigenous African beliefs and postmodernism. In its global contexts, Calvinism has been continuously reimagined and reinterpreted. This collection throws new light on the highly dynamic and fluid nature of a deeply influential form of Christianity.

Dwelling on the rich interconnections between parody and festivity in humanist thought and popular culture alike, the essays in this volume delve into the nature and the meanings of festive laughter as it was conceived of in early modern art. The concept of 'carnival' supplies the main thread connecting these essays. Bound as festivity often is to popular culture, not all the topics fit the canons of high art, and some of the art is distinctly low-brow and occasionally ephemeral; themes include grobianism and the grotesque, scatology, popular proverbs with ironic twists, and a wide range of comic reversals, some quite profound. Many hinge on ideas of the world upside down. Though the chapters most often deal with Northern Renaissance and Baroque art, they spill over into other countries, times, and cultures, while maintaining the carnivalesque air suggested by the book's title.