Conclusions

Abstract

It has been the aim throughout to present a narrative account of early modern Lindauers’ social and cultural struggles and conflicts. Considerable care has been taken not to reduce a very complex historical situation and, in particular, not to isolate and elevate singular ‘causes’. It has been argued that the essentially political culture of Lindau, together with a particular set of social conditions and circumstances, produced a bourgeois republican ideology. Arguably, the most significant development in the recent historiography of early modern Europe has been the concept of confessionalization. Certainly, the concept has been widely and hotly debated. It seems, however, that actual historical process has nearly been eclipsed by the historiographical debate. Too often, indeed, discussions have centred on the historiographical ‘ifs’, rather than on the historical ‘hows’ and ‘whys’. Thus our conception of confessionalization has remained very sketchy. The purpose here, therefore, has been to describe the process in Lindau, where confessionalization apparently occurred piecemeal, over time, and with much conflict.