Sixteenth-century Augsburg comes to life in this beautifully chosen and elegantly translated selection of original documents. Ranging across the whole panoply of social activity from the legislative reformation to work, recreation, and family life, these extracts make plain the subtle system of checks and balances, violence, and self-regulation that brought order and vibrancy to a sophisticated city community. Most of all we hear sixteenth-century people speak: in their petitions and complaints, their nervous responses under interrogation, their rage and laughter. Tlusty has done an invaluable service in crafting a collection that should be an indispensable part of the teaching syllabus. --Andrew Pettegree, University of St. Andrews

Sixteenth-century Augsburg comes to life in this beautifully chosen and elegantly translated selection of original documents. Ranging across the whole panoply of social activity from the legislative reformation to work, recreation, and family life, these extracts make plain the subtle system of checks and balances, violence, and self-regulation that brought order and vibrancy to a sophisticated city community. Most of all we hear sixteenth-century people speak: in their petitions and complaints, their nervous responses under interrogation, their rage and laughter. Tlusty has done an invaluable service in crafting a collection that should be an indispensable part of the teaching syllabus. --Andrew Pettegree, University of St. Andrews

"The Reformation Era: 1500-1650 is designed for understanding history courses in "The Reformation" of The Renaissance and Reformation." It is conceded to be the fullest and most dependable account of those sixteenth and seventeenth-century movements termed the "Reformation" and the "Counter-Reformation." This text is a dispassionate and scholarly treatment of the Catholic Reformations as a Counter reformation. The author's point of view is an ecumenical one. The first edition published in 1954 became the leading text in its field, a position it has held for nearly a generation. This new edition incorporates the major advances in Reformation scholarship since the publication of the first edition, plus illustrations and a list of Popes and sovereigns of the period. The first section is devoted to the changing social structure and the cultural life of Europe on the eve of the Reformation. The second section, on the reformation in Germany, covers the rise, spread, and institutionalization of Lutheranism. The third section covers the spread of Protestantism in its various forms, evangelical radicalism, and the rise of Catholic Reformation. The final section deals with the conflicts between militant Catholicism and Protestantism and their consequences. The Reformation Era has the fullest and most usefully detailed bibliographical essay of any historical work of its type on the Reformation. Not only does this book include the maps of the first edition; but it presents a gallery of portraits of the leading figures of the Reformation." -Publisher

Studies the causes, character, and consequences of the rise of Protestantism and the Catholic reforms within the context of European history.

In 1530, Holy Roman emperor Charles V called an imperial council in Augsburg, hoping to resolve religious dissention in the empire introduced by Martin Luther, whose 95 Theses, criticized the church's practice of offering promises of forgiveness from sins in exchange for money. Luther's allies in the town of Wittenberg presented the emperor with their theological positions. Another faction, aligned with Swiss reformer Ulrich Zwingli, offered more radical reforms. The Roman church responded with a defense of traditional doctrines, but by then, hope of a simple resolution to religious concerns had faded. By the time the council ended, local authorities in Augsburg recognized that its neutral, "middle way" position could not continue. The city would have to choose a side in the ongoing Reformation. In the game, students acting as members of the 1530 City Council of Augsburg must balance competing demands for reform from citizens who espouse the religious conservatism of Charles V, while considering the implications of various Reformation positions for the city's military defense, economic growth, and spiritual purity. Students will have to choose whether to align with the Zwingli or the Wittenberg faction, uphold the traditions of the church in Rome, or create a unique approach to religious practices.