Studies in the field of popular religion have for some time been among the most innovative in social and cultural history, but until now there have been few publications providing any adequate overview for Germany and the Holy Roman Empire. This volume presents the results of recent research by younger scholars working on major aspects of this subject. The nine essays range over nearly four centuries of German history, encompassing late-medieval female piety, propaganda for radical Hussite dissent, attitudes towards the Jews, legitimation for the witchcraze on the eve of the Reformation, attempts to implement Protestant reform in German villages, Reformation attacks on popular magic and female culture, problems of defining the Reformation in small German towns, Protestant popular prophecy and formation of confessional identity, and the missionising strategies of the Counter-Reformation.

Introduction; B.Scribner Female Spirituality and the Infant Jesus in Late Medieval Dominican Convents; U.Rublace The 'Crown' and the 'Red Gown': Hussite Popular Religion; T.A.Fudge Judengasse to Christian Quarter: The Phenomenon of the Converted Synagogue in the Late Medieval and Early Modern Holy Roman Empire; J.M.Minty Institoris at Innsbruck: Heinrich Institoris, the Summis Desiderantes and the Brixen Witch-Trial of 1485; E.Wilson Witchcraft and Popular Religion in Early Modern Rothenburg ob der Tauber; A.Rowlands Popular Beliefs and the Reformation; C.S.Dixon Why was Private Confession so Contentious in Early Seventeenth-Century Lindau?; J.C.Wolfart A Lubeck Prophet in Local and Lutheran Context; J.Beyer Blood, Tears and Xavier-Water: Jesuit Missionaries and Popular Religion in the Eighteenth-Century Upper Palatinate; T.Johnson.