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268 BOOK REVIEWS was tension between the Franciscans, who were by far the largest Order in Ireland, and other friars. Feuding and bickering between the Orders was to the detriment of their spiritual mission in Ireland. During the 1630's there was serious discord between diocesan and regular clergy, particularly in Munster . All these quarrels hampered the catechizing ofthe Gaelic Irish, who were the vast majority of the population. Continental education broke down barriers at home, leading to a modus Vivendi between the Gaelic Irish and Old English, who constituted the Irish Catholic population. It was the international organization ofthe Orders which caused the greatest opposition amongst generations of Protestant administrators in Ireland, but this organization was the basis of the vigorous revival of the Dominicans in most areas which had a medieval foundation, with the exception of heavily-planted Ulster. The courage and faith of the Irish Dominicans was shown in die period of civil war and Cromwellian conquest which began as this book ends, because, between 1641 and 1657 at least thirty-five of the province were put to death. The footnotes and appendices enhance this excellent book and the only mistake which meets the eye is on page 151, where Nicholas Skerret, Archbishop of Tuam from 1 580 to 1 583, is erroneously described as a Jesuit. Fergus O'Donoghue, SJ. Milltown Institute Dublin Ireland Rekatholisierung, Konfessionalisierung und Ratsregiment: Der Prozess des politischen und religiösen Wandels in der österreichischen Stadt Konstanz , 1548-1637. By Wolfgang Zimmermann. [Konstanzer Geschichts) und Rechtsquellen, Neue Folge der Konstanzer Stadtrechtsquellen, XXXIV.] (Sigmaringen: Jan Thorbecke Verlag. 1994. Fp. 328. DM 78,—.) The past thirty years have seen a steady stream ofmonographs on the theme of Reformation and the city in Central Europe, but only recently has the topic "Catholic Reform in the Cities" stirred an interest among early modern German historians. True, there has not been a lack of interest in Catholicism in the Holy Roman Empire, but the historiography on the Catholic reform hitherto has focused on church history, with emphasis on biographies of reform bishops , histories of new religious orders, and explorations of diocesan visitation records. The study of Wolfgang Zimmermann represents a new trend, one in which the methods and questions associated with social and cultural history are applied to elicit the relationship between society and religion during the Catholic renewal. BOOK REVIEWS 269 The imperial city of Constance on the Swiss border lost its political autonomy when it capitulated to imperial forces during the 1 547 Schmalkaldic War. As part of the restructuring ofpolitical forces, the victorious Emperor Charles V placed Constance directly under Habsburg rule, hoping thereby to break the nexus between civic autonomy and Protestant dissent that seemed to have characterized the majority of the imperial cities in the empire. Zimmermann's study begins with this politico-confessional restructuring in Constance and ends with the Thirty Years' War (the year 1637 being the end of the Swedish siege). Divided into four chapters, Zimmermann offers both a thematic structural analysis and a chronological narrative of the history of the urban community . Chapter 1 analyzes the crucial years 1548 to 1551 when a new Catholic oligarchic regime was put in place by the Habsburg. The constellation of power between a Catholic ruling minority, a Protestant citizenry in opposition , a Habsburg regime, and the interest of the Catholic bishop are laid out for the following chapters. The next chapter pursues the theme of civic autonomy and territorialpolitics. The ruling Catholic elite continued to pursue a policy of restoring Constance to its former status as an imperial city, in spite of its professed loyalty to the Habsburg dynasty and the Catholic Church. Zimmermann's analysis suggests that civic autonomy in sixteenth-century Germany was not necessarily identified with Protestantism, contrary to the influential thesis advanced by Bernd Möller in his 1962 essay, "Reichsstadt und Reformation." The strong presence of Protestants in Constance also strengthened the hand of the Catholic ruling elite in that the arguments for civic peace and unity outweighed the considerations of confessional uniformity. It was precisely the considerations ofcivic peace that allowed the Constance burghers to resist recatholicization. Desirable as the goal of Catholic uniformity might...

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