The revised and updated edition of a seminal text, Europe in the Sixteenth Century weaves the distinct histories of the diverse European states into a vivid and complex tapestry. Focusing on similarities of experience across borders, including the centralization of town life and development of market economics, the authors reexamine familiar subjects of the era—from religious upheaval to imperial conflict to artistic revolutions—creating a dynamic, unified narrative of change. This third edition features a new introduction by Magda Teter, tracing the influence of H. G. Koenigsberger, George L. Mosse, and G. Q. Bowler’s work on the historiography of Europe well into the twenty-first century.

H. G. Koenigsberger (1918–2014) was a professor of history at King’s College London and the author of numerous books.

George L. Mosse (1918–99) was a legendary scholar, teacher, and mentor. A refugee from Nazi Germany, in 1955 he joined the Department of History at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he was both influential and popular. Mosse was an early leader in the study of modern European cultural and intellectual history, the study of fascism, and the history of sexuality and masculinity. Over his career, he authored more than two dozen books.

G. Q. Bowler is a senior fellow at the Frontier Centre for Public Policy and completed his doctoral thesis with H. G. Koenigsberger.

Magda Teter, a professor of history and the Shvidler Chair in Judaic Studies at Fordham University, is the author of several books, most recently Christian Supremacy: Reckoning with the Roots of Antisemitism and Racism and Blood Libels, Hostile Archives: Reclaiming Interrupted Jewish Lives.

List of Illustrations
A Note on the Present Edition
Acknowledgments
Preface to the Second Edition, 1989
Preface to the Third Edition, 2025
A Critical Introduction by Magda Teter
Introduction

1 Economic Life
2 Social Life
3 Towns and Cities
4 Christianity, Popular Culture, and Humanism
5 The Reformation
6 A Continued Reformation
7 The Catholic Reformation
8 Empires
9 The Monarchies
10 Western Europe in the Age of Philip II
11 Political Theory and Religious Strife
12 Sixteenth-Century Literature
13 From Renaissance to Baroque: Art, Music, and Science
Bibliographic Essay

Appendix A: Sixteenth-Century Chronology
Appendix B: Genealogical Charts
Notes
Index