counterreformation

We return today to St. Peter's Basilica and do an inventory of the contents of its nave, aisles, and transept. Do its many chapels, altars, statues, and funeral monuments have a unifying theme? I think so. It is the Triumph of the Catholic Church, which then draws our attention to the Protestant Reformation, then raging in Europe as St. Peter's was being built.

This week we take a break from the scientific narrative to look at the events following the Protestant Reformation in the Holy Roman Empire.  We specifically discuss the Peace of Augsburg, The Inquisition, The Counter Reformation and the Thirty Years War before turning to a brief account of the life of Giordano Bruno and the German witch trials.