This fascinating collection of primary source documents furnishes the accounts—in their own words—of those who initiated, advanced, or lived through the Reformation.

Starting in 1500, Europe transformed from a united Christendom into a continent bitterly divided between Catholicism and Protestantism by the end of the century. This illuminating text reveals what happened during that period by presenting the social, religious, economic, political, and cultural life of the European Reformation of the 16th century in the words of those who lived through it.

Detailed and comprehensive, the work includes 60 primary source documents that shed light on the character, personalities, and events of that time and provides context, questions, and activities for successfully incorporating these documents into academic research and reading projects. A special section provides guidelines for better evaluating and understanding primary documents. Topics include late medieval religion, Martin Luther, reformation in Germany and the Peasants' War, the rise of Calvinism, and the English Reformation.