Emden and the Dutch Revolt: Exile and the Development of Reformed Protestantism. byAndrew PettegreeReview by: Andrew FixThe Sixteenth Century Journal, Vol. 25, No. 1 (Spring, 1994), pp. 196-197Published by: The Sixteenth Century JournalStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2542569 .

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196 Sixteenth Century Journal XXV / 1 (1994)

niques and terminology which he had proposed were adapted by the private Royal Society of London (ca. 1645) to a new method for natural philosophy. Regarding an institutional structure for the pursuit of natural knowledge it is shown that a seventeenth-century succes- sor was formed elsewhere than in England. Bacon's anticipation of science in the service of a centralizing and imperial state found favor at the court of Louis XIV and, in particular, was taken into consideration by the Sun-King's chief minister Colbert when he created the Pa- risian Royal Academy of Sciences (1666).

Professor Martin generates new light for scholars working in the integration of early modern science with legal and political history. An appended table of comparisons listing the variations in volume and page references between the London and American editions of writings by Francis Bacon, footnotes, bibliographies, and index add to the excellence of this

intellectually stimulating study. Harriet Dorothy Rothschild ........................ University of Rhode Island

Emden and the Dutch Revolt: Exile and the Development of Reformed Protestantism. Andrew Pettegree. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1992. vii + 350 pp. n.p. This study examines the role of the Dutch exile church in Emden in the emergence of

Calvinism as the dominant force in the Reformation in the Netherlands after 1566. Despite official persecution that reached an intensity unknown elsewhere in Europe (between 1523 and 1566, some 1,300 inhabitants of the Netherlands were executed for their religious be- liefs) and the presence of a strong Anabaptist community as well as a Lutheran movement, the Calvinists seized the initiative during the "WonderYear" of 1566, assuming a central role in the rebellion against Spain, pushing other evangelical groups from center stage, and begin- ning the construction of a Reformed church. According to Pettegree, this was possible in part because of the leadership and support of the Emden exile church during the years 1555- 1566. During these years Emden provided the secret Dutch Calvinist congregations with ministers; with a wide array of books and printed materials ranging from vernacular Bibles to liturgies, catechisms, polemical works, and works of exhortation; and with guidance and direction in difficult theological matters. Emden supplied Dutch Calvinists with confessional writings and a model of church organization that helped the Reformed to distinguish them- selves from other Protestant groups. Increasingly unified in doctrine and with the beginnings of church organization, they were well prepared to take an active role in spreading Protes- tantism in the Low Countries when Dutch nobles forced concessions from Spanish govern- ess Margaret of Parma in 1566.

After the coming of the Duke of Alva to the Low Countries Dutch Calvinism entered a renewed period of underground operations and exile 1567-1572. During this period the Emden church, along with other exile churches in England and the Rhineland, continued to lay foundations for doctrinal unity and church government that paved the way for the or- ganization of the Reformed church in Holland and Zeeland after the 1572 conquests of the Sea Beggars. Particularly important in this respect was the Synod of Emden in 1571, in which Dutch Calvinists from exile congregations in the Rhineland, the Palatinate, and Emden instituted an organized system of church government and unified around clear doc- trinal positions, thus establishing a formal structure for the future Dutch Reformed church. Also in this second exile period the Calvinist diaspora provided William of Orange with his strongest supporters as he planned a renewal of the military struggle against Spain.When the

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Book Reviews 197

resistance movement established itself in Holland after 1572, Calvinists were again Orange's staunchest allies in the difficult struggle.

After rebel victories in Holland and the open establishment of the Reformed church there, the influence of Emden necessarily diminished as the congregations of Holland took the lead in spreading and supporting Calvinism in other parts of the Low Countries. But the exile churches, and especially Emden, had offered the often embattled Dutch Calvinists a

place to regroup and reform as part of an international movement when times were hard in their native land. The exile experience had helped Dutch Calvinists to organize and define themselves as a distinct and powerful force within Dutch Protestantism, and it helped them to lay the foundations for the Dutch Reformed church.

This is a solid scholarly work that is especially valuable as a complement to Heinz Schil-

ling's work on Emden church discipline and ecclesiastical history. Because of such excellent works as these we are learning much more about a once neglected but very important area: the Reformation in northwest Germany and the northeast Netherlands. Further studies in this area will no doubt be able to further elucidate the important links between the German Reformation and the Dutch revolt.

Andrew Fix .............................................................Lafayette College

The Townshends and Their World: Gentry, Law and Land in Norfolk, c. 1450-1551. C. E. Moreton. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1992. xiv, 279 pp. n.p.

The Townshends of East Raynham, Norfolk, produced a succession of important figures in English history, including "Turnip" Townshend of agricultural improvement fame and a line of Marquises Townshend. In this book, C. E. Moreton is concerned with the family's initial rise from yeoman to gentry status. The early Townshends, father and son Sirs Roger I and II, who died in 1493 and 1551, were lawyers, county officers, and royal servants as well as landowners and sheep farmers in Norfolk. By a combination of hard work and luck, these men established a foundation of wealth and status for the family.

The Townshends left an unusually rich documentary record. Moreton has mastered this difficult material, wringing out details of land acquisitions and management of the sheep business.Yet the book rises significantly above purely local history, as Moreton examines the wider questions of the economic, social, and political position of the Townshends among the East Anglian gentry and their role in regional and national politics.

The gentry played a major role in the maintenance of good order in the localities but re- mained heavily dependent on the leadership of the magnates such as the duke of Norfolk, whose fall in 1547 left an unmanageable power vacuum in the county and led to Ket's Re- bellion. There was much less of a "county community" in Norfolk, Moreton argues, than recent studies have suggested; the Townshends sought ties to the crown and to nobles, rather than within the gentry, but self-interest usually came first. As the free-for-all which ensued with the destruction of the Howards in 1547 showed, there was an "every man for himself" attitude evident among the gentry as former Howard allies and retainers scrambled to ensure their own safety. Perhaps because of the risks of high politics, not all gentry took an equal role in politics; the Townshends were unusual for the extent of their service as justices of the peace, sheriffs, and members of Parliament, reaping the rewards of wealth and status that others lacked the boldness to seek.

While agreeing that early modern English society was contentious, Moreton finds much less violence and somewhat less litigation than others have suggested;". . . violence had no

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