For the Military Orders the age of the Reformation was a period of severe crisis in which their very existence was challenged by protestant princes and reformers. Especially in the northern part of Europe the Hospitallers and the Teutonic Order faced serious losses. Religious convictions played an important role, but events were also influenced by processes of state building and the personal ambitions of the orders' leaders on all levels. These and other themes are treated in thirteen contrib...

Sovereignty is a key issue in the baroque, and especially in the Dutch Republic with its incredibly complicated political organisation. Consequently, in and through Joost van den Vondel's theatre plays, sovereignty was explored. Vondel sensed a fundamental problem in the construction of Europe’s politico-cultural 'house'. The questions he asked with respect to that construction concerned the relation between theology and politics, also in terms of gender and culture. Since these questions co...