I grew up Episcopalian in a family of book nerds and history dorks, so I always felt like I had a decent grounding in the Protestant Reformation. Martin Luther's 95 Theses, the Diet of Worms, Henry VIII wanted a divorce (my education on this may have been more Anglican-centric than necessary), Calvin, Zwingli, the Puritans, the Huguenots, everyone getting into religious wars left and right, the Treaty of Westphalia, Scottish rebels refusing to use the Book Of Common Prayer, etc etc etc.
However, I keep running into things that make me think I don't know as much about it as I'd like. First was the Hardcore History episode on the Munster Rebellion with way more emphasis on ANARCHY IN THE STREETS and RADICAL ANABAPTISTS OUT OF CONTROL with no firm grounding (as far as I remember?) in how Protestantism started and how things escalated to that point. More recently, I've been reading the historical novel In The Company Of The Courtesan, which has as its inciting incident the 1527 sack of Rome by apparently Lutheran soldiers of the Holy Roman Empire but isn't strictly about Protestantism at all. (It's about 16th century Venetian courtesans.)
Is there a good entry level history of the Protestant Reformation out there that will fill in some of the gaps for me? Definitely looking for history and not theology. I'd prefer popular history over an academic text my library won't have and which will cost $80.
Reformation: Europes House Divided. I enjoyed it, and I still keep it nearby for referencing.
Some feedback after doing a bit of the recommended reading:
I put Diarmaid McColloch's The Reformation: A History on hold at the library, and while I waited, I dug into Will Durant's take on the Reformation as well. Not only does the latter book have a lot of the issues that I'm sure have been brought up before re Will Durant, it's also oooooooooolllldddddddddd AF. On the other hand, that book is so expansive re setting the background that it was reasonably useful as a refresher on European history of the 14th and 15th centuries. Which, even with all the But It's Will Durant caveats, has probably contributed to how much I'm enjoying McCulloch's take. Which I finally got from the library earlier this week.
Holy shit, the Diarmaid McColloch is every bit as good as people say. If you end up reading these words because you're looking for a good book on the Reformation, OMG THIS ONE YESSSS.