Johann Sleidan and the Protestant Vision of History (review)

This welcome monograph provides a fresh view of Johann Sleidan (1506–56), the official historian of the Schmalkaldic League. Sleidan’s richly documented Commentaries on Religion and the Republic in the Reign of Charles V(first published in 1555) was one of the most important works in the history of the Reformation and in some ways was not surpassed until the eighteenth century witnessed a broader publication of source material from the period. Sleidan’s fame as a historian, however, does not rest on his documentation alone. His polished and eloquent Latin reveals his deep involvement in humanist circles and interests. As Alexandra Kess shows, Sleidan, who also served as an occasional diplomat for the league and for the city of Strasbourg, was “one of a handful of crucial intermediaries between German and French political and cultural life” (p. 8). The relatively objective nature— by the standards of sixteenth-century confessional history—of the Commentariesupset a fair number of Sleidan’s contemporaries (notably Melanchthon), but with the passing of time came to be seen as its most praiseworthy quality. Indeed, the popularity of Sleidan’s principal historical works, the Commentariesand his short textbook The Four Monarchies(1556) ,attest to his major importance in shaping the Protestant historical tradition. Sleidan has long been the victim of historical neglect and has been poorly served by an otherwise rich scholarly literature on the European Reformations.

The real strength of this book consists in Kess's exploitation of Sleidan's correspondence. She has diligently assembled a list of letters to and from the historian—more than double the traditional corpus—from a variety of printed and archival sources. These letters are helpfully listed by date and correspondent in an appendix. In terms of biography, Kess makes a very valuable contribution about Sleidan's years in France at the service of Cardinal Jean du Bellay. His involvement in the du Bellay humanist circle not only shaped his political views (he served as an agent of France after his move to Strasbourg) and his desire for a moderate position in religious matters but also influenced his restrained historical style and prepared the way for the later reception of his works in France. Her use of the letters also allows for a detailed reconstruction of the process of composition of the Commentaries, important because it allows us to assess the influence of current events on the construction of the Reformation historical narrative. Finally, Kess makes a convincing case that ,although officially commissioned by the Schmalkaldic League, "the Commentarieswere a Strasbourgeois project, through which Jakob Sturm and Martin Bucer tried to propagate their view of the Reformation. Its purpose was not only to show Protestant mistakes in the handling of the Reformation but also to provide a role model of how to deal with the religious conflict for future generations" (p. 88).

Like all books, this one has its limitations as well. The detailed account of Sleidan's career is offset by a more perfunctory treatment of the reception of the Commentariesin France and Germany. While her account is a useful overview and indeed a gateway to further research, she does not quite make good on her claim to tell us about "the Protestant vision of history" in other than general terms (although she does provide good evidence of Sleidan's popularity based on the number of authorized and pirated editions). She interestingly hints that Sleidan's Strasbourgeois view of confessional politics might have found a receptive home among French politiquestoward the end of the sixteenth century, but this line of inquiry is not pursued in much detail. A deeper engagement with other historians from the period—which would have undoubtedly meant a much larger study—might have told us more about Sleidan's contribution to Protestant historical consciousness. Still, this book is now the best available on this unjustly forgotten figure and will...