Studies on the History of the Reformation in Hungary and Transylvania (Refo500 Academic Studies, 45)

Katalin Peter offers is a vigorous and stimulating reassessment of the history of the Protestant Reformation in Hungary. The Reformation has traditionally been explained in terms of theology, the corruption of the church, and the roles of princes. Katalin Peter shifts the context of study of the Reformation in Hungary to a bottom-up examination of the social dynamics of religious change, producing a lively narrative of the experiences and reactions of contemporary actors -- including rural town and village communities, local priests and landlords -- to evangelical ideas. Through a close reading of church visitation records, common men and women emerge on the pages of the book both as the agents of religious change and as the defenders of the old faith, while local priests, as Peter, had to adapt to lay demands. A comparative analysis of the position and actions of landlords as church patrons in all three parts of contemporary Hungary -- the kingdom under Habsburg rule, the Ottoman-vassal Principality of Transylvania, and Ottoman Hungary -- leads to the conclusion that patrons did not interfere in local religious change, since this change did not interfere with the distribution of power. In addition to this radically new narrative of the social dynamics of the early Reformation in Hungary, Peter engages in the long-standing debates concerning the roles of the Protestant Reformation in intellectual culture, and she illuminates the scopes and limits of the confessional cultures that emerged in its wake. The book brings together a coherent body of work that began to be published in the 1990s and until now has only been available in Hungarian. Katalin Péter offers is a vigorous and stimulating reassessment of the history of the Protestant Reformation in Hungary. The Reformation has traditionally been explained in terms of theology, the corruption of the church, and the roles of princes. Katalin Péter shifts the context of study of the Reformation in Hungary to a bottom-up examination of the social dynamics of religious change, producing a lively narrative of the experiences and reactions of contemporary actors - including rural town and village communities, local priests and landlords - to evangelical ideas. Through a close reading of church visitation records, common men and women emerge on the pages of the book both as the agents of religious change and as the defenders of the old faith, while local priests, as Péter, had to adapt to lay demands. A comparative analysis of the position and actions of landlords as church patrons in all three parts of contemporary Hungary – the kingdom under Habsburg rule, the Ottoman-vassal Principality of Transylvania, nd Ottoman Hungary – leads to the conclusion that patrons did not interfere in local religious change, since this change did not interfere with the distribution of power. In addition to this radically new narrative of the social dynamics of the early Reformation in Hungary, Péter engages in the long-standing debates concerning the roles of the Protestant Reformation in intellectual culture, and she illuminates the scopes and limits of the confessional cultures that emerged in its wake. The book brings together a coherent body of work that began to be published in the 1990s and until now has only been available in Hungarian Katalin Péter provides a radically new narrative of the early Protestant Reformation in all three parts of divided Hungary, in which common men and women emerge as agents of religious change. She engages in the long-standing debates regarding the roles of the Protestant Reformation in intellectual culture. The author illuminates the scopes and limits of the confessional cultures that emerged in its wake. By bringing together a coherent body of work that previously was only available in Hungarian, Katalin Péter will fuel ongoing debates concerning the character, impact, and trajectory of this momentous movement of religious renewal Katalin Péter provides a radically new narrative of the early Protestant Reformation in all three parts of divided Hungary, in which common men and women emerge as agents of religious change. She engages in the long-standing debates regarding the roles of the Protestant Reformation in intellectual culture. She illuminates the scopes and limits of the confessional cultures that emerged in its wake. By bringing together a coherent body of work that previously was only available in Hungarian, the book will fuel ongoing debates concerning the character, impact, and trajectory of this momentous movement of religious renewal ***Angaben zur beteiligten Person Péter: Katalin Péter, DSc., ist emeritierte Professorin des Instituts für Geschichte (Research Centre for The Humanities) der Ungarischen Akademie der Wissenschaften Katalin Péter offers a new narrative of the social dynamics in divided Hungary during the time of early Protestant Reformation. She presents common men and women as the agents of religious change