Prize: Winner of a Choice Outstanding Academic Title Award for 2014 'These 25 tightly argued essays from leading international scholars will serve for some time as an essential starting point for research on the origins, conduct, and legacies of the wars and the peace. Each author offers a clear interpretation of the topic framed in a full, up-to-date historiographic context. ... Essential.' Choice 'The Thirty Years' War occupies a central place in courses in early modern European history at sixth-form and university level. This accessible and notably well-organised collection of essays, all up-to-date in their coverage of specialised research and by leading experts in the field, is a most valuable addition to existing literature on the subject, and a volume that should be in all scholarly libraries.' Hamish Scott, University of Glasgow, UK 'This comprehensive collection of essays provides an invaluable guide to the historical revisionism that has transformed scholarly views of the Thirty Years' War. In reassessing the effectiveness of the Holy Roman Empire, showing how wider conflicts are linked into a continuous struggle, and in challenging notions of the Peace of Westphalia as a transformative moment in international politics, the book deserves to be widely read and cited.' David Parrott, University of Oxford, UK 'Throughout this volume questions about church and state, religion and politics, and various other sources of power and authority, and the complex relationships between all these, abound ... [it is] thorough ... on a great many issues.' Seventeenth-Century News '... an ambitious work, treating numerous facets of the Thirty Years' War in a detailed and interesting fashion. The work will be of use to early modernist scholars and students alike.' H-Net Reviews 'The Research Companion demonstrates the intensive scholarly engageÂ-ment with the Thirty Years War that has taken place since 1984. As a compleÂ-ment and supplement to Europe's Tragedy,