"The sixteenth century in Europe was a period of vigorous economic expansion that led to social, political, religious, and cultural transformations and established the early modern age. This resource explores the emergence of monarchial nation-states and early Western capitalism during this period. Also examined in depth are the Protestant Reformation and the Counter-Reformation, which exacerbated tensions between states and contributed to the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648). Readers will come to understand how these events developed, how they led to the age of exploration, and how they inform modern European history."

Opening at the height of the Renaissance, the book chronicles the dawning of a new age on the European continent. Koenigsberger paints a detailed picture of the Reformation and its significance as increasingly powerful nations began to intrude on their subjects’ public and private lives. He gives account of the Counter-Reformation and the political and economic crisis that accompanied it, and an in-depth discussion of the age of Louis XIV and the balance of power in Europe. A full chapter addresses the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment, and throughout attention is given to social, cultural and intellectual developments. The book concludes with a summary of the situation throughout Europe on the eve of the French Revolution, and the dramatic changes brought about by the Industrial Revolution and the beginnings of a consumer society.

Challenging History encourages your students to take responsibility for their own learning through individual research. It motivates your students with accessible and attractive layouts, clear vocabulary and text and and engages their interest, providing them with intellectual and analytical challenges. Evidence sections, talking points and well structured activities encourage students to think deeply about the issues presented to them. Covering all key aspects of European history, the Challenging History series provides a wealth of information from the fifteenth to the twentieth century.

Examines the history of the nations who ruled overseas territories during the last half of the nineteenth century.

This comprehensive survey of European history between 1300 and 1600 gentry subverts a conventional vision of Europe that divides the world between the late-medieval and early modern periods, emphasizing the distortion involved in that construction. Important changes toward "modernity" are evident, the book argues, as early as the fourteenth century; only in religious history does there appear to be some justification for retaining the traditional notion that "modern age" began with Martin Luther, though even in that arena the institutional break of the Protestants with Rome cannot conceal fundamental continuity of expression and attitude.

The issues around settlement, belonging, and poor relief have for too long been understood largely from the perspective of England and Wales. This volume offers a pan-European survey that encompasses Switzerland, Prussia, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Britain. It explores how the conception of belonging changed over time and space from the 1500s onwards, how communities dealt with the welfare expectations of an increasingly mobile population that migrated both within and between states, the welfare rights that were attached to those who “belonged,” and how ordinary people secured access to welfare resources. What emerged was a sophisticated European settlement system, which on the one hand structured itself to limit the claims of the poor, and yet on the other was peculiarly sensitive to their demands and negotiations.

Christian-Muslim Relations. A Bibliographical History, volume 6 (CMR 6), covering the years 1500-1600, is a continuing volume in a history of relations between followers of the two faiths as it is recorded in their written works. Together with introductory essays, it comprises detailed entries on all the works known from this century. This volume traces the attitudes of Western Europeans to Islam, particularly in light of continuing Ottoman expansion, and early despatches sent from Portuguese colonies around the Indian Ocean. The result of collaboration between numerous leading scholars, CMR 6, along with the other volumes in this series, is intended as a fundamental tool for research in Christian-Muslim relations. Section editors: John Azumah, Clinton Bennett, Luis Bernabé Pons, Lejla Demiri, Martha Frederiks, John-Paul Ghobrial, David Grafton Stanisław Grodź, Alan Guenther, Abdulkadir Hashim, Şevket Küçükhüseyin, Andrew Newman, Gordon Nickel Claire Norton, Douglas Pratt, Peter Riddell, Umar Ryad, Davide Tacchini, Serge Traore, Carsten Walbiner