The Convent of Wesel

Jesse Spohnholz is Associate Professor of History and the Director of the Roots of Contemporary Issues Program at Washington State University. He also holds a research post at the Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam. His books include The Tactics of Toleration: A Refugee Community in the Age of Religious Wars (2011) and (co-edited), Archaeologies of Confession: Writing Histories of Religion in Germany, 1517–2017 (forthcoming) and Exile and Religious Identity, 1500–1800 (2014). He has been awarded the Gerald Strauss Book Prize, the Fritz Stern Prize in German History and the Harold J. Grimm Prize in Reformation Studies.

• Introduction: the mystery of the Convent of Wesel; Part I. Solving the Mystery: 1. November 3, 1568: a moment of hope; 2. The author; 3. The signers; 4. The impact; Part II. Creating the Mystery: 5. The historical emplotment of the national Synod of Wesel, 1618–1768; 6. The Synod of Wesel in the age of romantic nationalism, 1815–1868; 7. The mystery of the Convent of Wesel, 1868–2000; Conclusion: inheritances.

'Engaging, thoughtful, and witty, Spohnholz's unraveling of a historical myth from the Reformation is both a great tale and a timely and insightful consideration of how and why we read and write history. The questions raised by this important book will challenge scholars, teachers, and students seeking to understand the worlds of early modern religion, and unsettle many of our assumptions about our relationship with the past.' Bruce Gordon, Titus Street Professor of Ecclesiastical History, Yale University, Connecticut