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Why did the Netherlands, after the Dutch Reformation, emerge as the most religiously tolerant country in Europe? The causes lie in the struggle between the Calvinist desire to create a highly organized, disciplined church, and the broadstream, nonconformist "Libertine" alternative. Nowhere was this conflict more intense than in Utrecht, a city at the heart of the Dutch Reformation.
In this urban case-study, Ben Kaplan gives us a fascinating microcosm of the European Reformation. There have been similar studies on French and German cities, but Calvinists and Libertines is the first to consider the Netherlands, one of the most influential countries of the reformation. The neglected figure of Hubert Druifhus, a pivotal character of the Dutch Reformation, is brought to the attention of English-speaking readers for the first time.
