The Early Modern Period in the First 100 Years of The Catholic Historical Review

This article surveys the CHR’s coverage of early modern Europe, roughly from 1450 to 1700, over the past 100 years. It looks at three main features of the period: the Renaissance understood as a cultural and intellectual movement, the Protestant Reformation, and the Catholic Reform. It concludes that the CHR can be justifiably proud of its treatment of the period. The interpretation of the Renaissance as pagan, as found in Jakob Burckhardt’s classic, gradually yielded to one that recognized its Christian features. Polemics were generally avoided in the treatment of the Reformation. The life and thought of Martin Luther drew more attention than did any other individual. Events in England generally predominated. The CHR devoted more space to the Catholic Reform than to the Renaissance or the Reformation. Here two issues stood out: the name to be given to the Catholicism of the period, and the degree of continuity between medieval Catholicism in England and the Catholicism that emerged after the arrival of the missionaries in 1580.