New publication: Radikaler Pietismus, Alchemie und Freidenkerei 1729–1741

Vera Faßhauer and Martin Mulsow (eds.)
Radikaler Pietismus, Alchemie und Freidenkerei 1729–1741 
Berleburg zur Zeit von Dippel und Edelmann
(series: Gothaer Forschungen zur Frühen Neuzeit, Volume 24)
Franz Steiner publishing house Stuttgart, 2026
ISBN: 978-3-515-12302-0
745 pages
106 EUR

During the first four decades of the 18th century, the territory of the reformed Counts of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg was a refuge for radical-minded religious migrants with different social, appointment and denominational backgrounds. The tolerant Count Casimir not only granted them religious freedom and tax concessions, but also allowed them to print their writings without censorship. However, disputes inevitably arose between the local religious individualists; some of them also tried to influence the sovereign in their favour.

On the basis of numerous previously unpublished documents and personal testimonies, this volume traces the various religious positions, intellectual and commercial activities as well as the social interaction and conflicts between the spiritualists around the Berleburg court. It also offers an annotated edition of J. Chr. Senckenberg's notes on two journeys to Berleburg in 1732.