"Louthan's concise treatment is not restrictive: he examines complicated issues with finely balanced judgment that precludes sermonizing while suggesting that wisdom must prefer honorable compromise to bloody polarization. Excellent control of both primary and secondary sources and details of late-16th-century Central European humanism inform this useful study....Highly recommended." -- Choice

• List of illustrations; Acknowledgements; A political and cultural chronology; List of abbreviations; Introduction; Part I. The Emergence of an Irenic Court: 1. From confrontation to conciliation: the conversion of Lazarus von Schwendi; 2. Jacopo Strada and the transformation of the imperial court; Part II. Maximilian II and the High Point of Irenicism: Introduction; 3. Hugo Blotius and the intellectual foundation of Austrian irenicism; 4. Ordering a chaotic world: the reformation of the imperial library; 5. Protestant ecumenism and Catholic reform: the case of Johannes Crato; 6. Finding a via media: Lazarus von Schwendi and the climax of Austrian irenicism; Part III. The Failure of Irenicism: Introduction; 7. Confessional ambiguity and unambiguous critics: religion and the Austrian middle way; 8. The funeral of Maximilian II: struggling for the soul of central Europe; 9. Matthias in the Netherlands: the political failure of irenicism; Conclusion: storm clouds on the horizon: from the great milk war to the Thirty Years War; Epilogue: the wider circle of irenicism; Select bibliography; Index.