King Sigismund of Poland and Martin Luther: The Reformation before Confessionalization

This is the first book published in English for over a century on the Reformation in Poland, a major European monarchy in the sixteenth century. The study challenges our normal narratives of the early Reformation, by showing how (surprisingly) central the Polish monarchy was to the rise of Lutheranism in its first turbulent decades – telling the story of dramatic urban revolts, peasant risings, and some of Europe’s very first Protestant princes. This important story was long obscured by the politics of 20th century nationalism and Communism. Asking why King Sigismund (1506-1548) and his counsellors did not persecute Lutheran ‘heretics’, at its heart the book offers a new analysis of religious toleration in the sixteenth century, and a new reading of late medieval catholicism.