Parish Studies and the Debates on Religious Life in the Low Countries (Late Middle Ages and Early Modern Period)

Abstract

Only very recently has the parish church gained more serious interest among the public and academics in the Low Countries. Until a few years ago, historians studying religious life in the Low Countries ascribed little agency to the parish or parishioners. If the parish was studied, it was usually from an institutional or an art historical point of view. Furthermore, as this strong top-down approach has persisted in the historiography of religion throughout the 20th century, the idea of medieval decline has remained central in the study of religious change. Debates on Reformation and Counter-Reformation have also been influenced by this idea of medieval decay. International parish studies and recent studies on religious life during the Late Middle Ages and Early Modern period have, however, illustrated that ordinary believers and communities had an important role in shaping religion. Parish studies that use a perspective from below might just be the key to understanding how religion and religious life changed in the Low Countries during this turbulent period.