Page:American Historical Review, Volume 12.djvu/884

 874 Reviews of Books A History of the Reformation. By Thomas ]I. Lindsay, Princi- pal, The United Free Church College, Glasgow. A^olume I. The Reformation in Germany from its Beginning to tlie Religious Peace of Augsburg. 'olume II. The Reformation in Sivitser- land. France, the Netherlands. Scotland, and England. The Anabaptist and Socinian Moz'cments. The Counter-Reforma- tion. With ]Iap of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation (1520-1580). [International Theological Library.] (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 1906, 1907. Pp. xvi, 528; xvii, 631.) Dr. Lindsay's work marks a salutary reaction in interpreting the Protestant Revolt. While intent on doing full justice to the political and social factors on which Ranke, Janssen, and Bezold have dwelt, the author emphasizes primarily the spiritual aspects of the grand up- heaval. It is his thesis that the " Reformation had its roots in the simple evangelical piety which had never entirely disappeared in the medieval Church ". Consequently he lays great stress on the " popular and family religious life in the decades before the great revival ", and tries to show the " continuity in the religious life of the period " (volume I., preface). In collecting material Dr. Lindsay has " read and reread most of the original contemporary sources of information ". This applies to printed documents, for he seldom if ever cites unpublished sources. He has diverged from the beaten theological track in making much use of poetry, especially of folk-songs. Chronicles he has drawn on to a very limited degree ; his use of cgrrespondence and of the Calendars of State Papers is more copious; and in certain chapters, notably in that dealing with "The Church of Henry VIII." he has constructed elaborate if somewhat conventional mosaics. Superfluous material rarely blocks the stream o,f narrative; the movement is swift, and the current leaps at times from one generalization to another. Though the product of many years of study, the book, it is said, was rapidly written, and its lucidity and swinging style bear out the assertion. It is nothing if not concrete ; often so picturesque that one regrets that the plan of the International Theological Library excluded the illustrations which would naturally have rounded out a narrative so vigorous. It is not surprising that the treatise shows the defect of its virtues: there are a number of points, more or less trivial, where a slower pace would have meant a surer footing. To begin with obvious misprints, we suggest the following corrections: Emcrton (I. 158, note i) ; Euricius Cordus (I. 255, 517); Lasarus Spongier (I. 256, 526); Brcmcnsis (II. 3) ; Maurenhrecher, Friedcnsburg (II. 484, note i) ; and Luther's cry, often given as: "O wann wirst du einmal fromm werden und genug tun, dass du einen gniidigen Gott kriegest ? " has certainly- been tampered with by the printer's devil (I. 427). As for dates: