Disputes, discord and reconciliation were fundamental parts of the fabric of communal living in early modern Europe. This edited volume presents essays on the cultural codes of conflict and its resolution in this period under three broad themes: peace-making as practice; the nature of mediation and arbitration; and the role of criminal law in conflicts. Together they demonstrate the importance of studying disputes and their attempted resolution in developing broader understandings of community in the early modern period.

Introduction: confronting conflict in early modern Europe, Stephen Cummins and Laura Kounine. Part I Rethinking Disputes and Settlements: Rethinking Disputes and Settlements: how historians can use legal anthropology, John Jordan; At the crossroads of feud and law: settling disputes in early modern Tuscany, Marco Cavarzere. Part II Mediation, Reconciliation, Coexistence: `Types¿ of peacemakers: exploring the authority and self-perception of the early modern papacy, Christian Schneider; Mediation and reconciliation among 17th-century French high aristocrats, Christian Kühner; Containing confessional conflict in the military: the Holy Roman Empire c. 1650, Nikolas Funke; Colonial conflicts: factional disputes in two Portuguese settlements in Asia, Tara Alberts. Part III Law, Courts and Conflict: Contesting public executions in Paris towards the end of the Wars of Religion, Tom Hamilton; Contested coexistence: lay-clerical disputes and their settlement in the late medieval Hungarian countryside, Gabriella Erdélyi; The witch on trial: narratives of conflict and community in early modern Germany, Laura Kounine; Forgiving crimes in early modern Naples, Stephen Cummins. Afterword, Stuart Carroll; Index.