Includes bibliographical references and index.

Preliminary Material / Thomas Max Safley -- Multiconfessionalism: A Brief Introduction / Thomas Max Safley -- Confessions / Lee Palmer Wandel -- Confessional Coexistence in the Early Modern Low Countries / Jesse Spohnholz -- Multiconfessionalism in a Commercial Metropolis: The Case of 16th-Century Antwerp / Guido Marnef -- “In Equality and Enjoying the Same Favor”: Biconfessionalism in the Low Countries / Benjamin J. Kaplan -- A Multiconfessional Empire / David M. Luebke -- Protestant Imperial Knights, Multiconfessionalism, and the Counter-Reformation / Richard J. Ninness -- Multiconfessionalism in the Holy Roman Empire: The Case of Colmar, 1550–1750 / Peter G. Wallace -- France: An Overview / Keith P. Luria -- Peace Commissioners at the Beginning of the Wars of Religion: Toward an Interactionist Interpretation of the Pacification Process in France / Jérémie Foa -- One Town, Two Faiths: Unity and Exclusion during the French Religious Wars / Penny Roberts -- Multiconfessionalism in Early Modern Britain / Bernard Capp -- Early Modern Ireland as Multiconfessional State / Raymond Gillespie -- European Multiconfessionalism and the English Toleration Controversy, 1640–1660 / John Coffey -- Multiconfessionalism in Central Europe / Howard Louthan -- Multiconfessionalism in Transylvania / Graeme Murdock -- Five Confessions in One City: Multiconfessionalism in Early Modern Wilno / David Frick -- Works Cited / Thomas Max Safley -- Index / Thomas Max Safley.

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In the sixteenth century, the Christian church and Christian worship fragmented into a multiplicity of confessions that has grown to the present day. The essays in this volume demonstrate that multiconfessionalism, understood as the legally recognized and politically supported coexistence of two or more confessions in a single polity, was the rule rather than the exception for most of early modern Europe. The contributors examine its causes and effects. They demonstrate that local religious groups across the continent could cooperate with confessional opponents and oppose political authorities to make decisions about their religious lives, depending on local conditions and contingencies. In so doing, this volume offers a new vision of religion, state, and society in early modern Europe. Contributors include: Bernard Capp, John R. D. Coffey, Jérémie Foa, David Frick, Raymond Gillespie, Benjamin Kaplan, Howard Louthan, David Luebke, Keith Luria, Guido Marnef, Graeme Murdock, Richard Ninness, Penny Roberts, Jesse Spohnholz, Peter Wallace, Lee Palmer Wandel.