Drawing together many case studies from diverse parts of Europe, this title explores the processes involved when groups of differing confessions had to live in close proximity - sometimes grudgingly, but often with a benign pragmatism that stood in opposition to the will of their rulers.

Drawing together a number of case studies from diverse parts of Europe, Living with Religious Diversity in Early Modern Europe explores the processes involved with groups of differing religious confessions living together - sometimes grudgingly, but often with a benign pragmatism that stood in opposition to the will of their rulers. By focussing on these themes it bridges the gap between our understanding of the confessional developments as they were conceived, and of religious culture at the level of implementation. In other words, measuring the religious policies articulated by secular and ecclesiastical elites against the 'lived experience' of people going about their daily business. In so doing, the collection shows how people perceived and experienced the religious upheavals of the confessional age and how they were able to assimilate these changes within the framework of their lives.

'... [an] excellent volume...' Catholic Historical Review 'The spirit of this excellent volume is well characterized in its Afterword: There was no high road to toleration, signposted from the Reformation, but only a set of muddy and winding streets, most of them not one-way.' Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte 'This volume provides a compelling overview of early modern religious pluralism, reminding us that "coexistence was the rule, rather than the exception, in the Reformation and post-Reformation eras".' Seventeenth Century News 'Living with Religious Diversity in early-Modern Europe offers a salutary reminder that what early modern people professed was not necessarily that same thing as how they lived.' Sixteenth Century Journal