Calvinist Preaching and Iconoclasm in the Netherlands 1544–1569

This book is a study of the relationship between ideology and social behaviour. Professor Crew analyses the attitudes and characters of the Calvinist ministers who preached in the Netherlands in the mid-sixteenth century and their effect on the popular religious upheavals which occurred during the summer of 1566. The hedge-preaching and iconoclasm which erupted in the period before the Dutch Revolt have been the subject of considerable speculation among historians, who have have developed a variety of interpretations of these events. Professor Crew views the Troubles in the broader context of the international Calvinist movement and iconoclastic violence in France and England. She questions whether the Netherlands ministers were clearly and strongly Calvinist, whether they shared specific characteristics of personality, social status or education, and whether they were 'charismatic leaders' in the sense given to the term by Max Weber.