The European Wars of Religion

In recent years religion has resurfaced amongst academics, in many ways replacing class as the key to understanding Europe's historical development. This has resulted in an explosion of studies revisiting issues of region, confessional violence and holy war during the early modern period. But the interpretation of the European wars of religion still remains constrained by national boundaries. In order to untangle this complex web and more thoroughly interrogate these concepts and assumptions, this volume focusses on terms repeatedly used and misused in public debates such as 'religious violence' and 'holy warfare' within the context of military conflicts labelled 'religious wars'.