Book Reviews 279 Reformacja w dawnej Rzeczpospolitej i jej europejskie konteksty: Postulaty badawcze (The Reformation in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Its European Contexts: Research Postulates). Ed. Piotr Wilczek. Reformacja w Polsce i Europie środkowo-wschodniej 1. Warsaw: Sub Lupa Scientiic, 2010. 229 pp. n.p. ISBN 978-83-9292-44-3-2. Reviewed by: Michael T. Tworek, Harvard University Reformacja w dawnej Rzeczpospolitej i jej europejskie konteksty is an unconventional work of scholarship. Originating from a seminar on revitalizing the study of the Polish Reformation, the book is a collection of twenty-two research proposals, relections, and essays that challenge traditional historical narratives and reassess little-studied igures, groups, and texts from Poland-Lithuania. One could think of this volume as a “Ninety-Five heses” nailed gently to the cathedral doors of the larger scholarly establishment. Wilczek’s and his collaborators’ critique, unlike Luther’s, is much simpler: our understanding of the Reformation is greatly beret without a better and wider study of its impact on Poland-Lithuania. His and contributors’ solution is to show the intellectual, political, social, and cultural integration of this major sixteenth-century power into the movement on domestic and panEuropean levels. he overall result is a thought-provoking and productive contribution to scholarship on the Reformation and Poland-Lithuania. he volume is divided into six parts, each corresponding to an overarching theme or topic related to the Polish Reformation. hese topics include general methodological problems, Calvinism, Renaissance humanism and the Republic of Letters, Biblical exegesis, source editing, and of course, the Polish Brethren and Antitrinitarianism. Despite this thematic organization, the essays of this volume vary greatly from each other in terms of style, length, and completeness. Nonetheless, there are several gems worthy of mention that will interest Reformation scholars. Essays by Monika Kuleczka and Joanna Partyka address quite rightly approaches and issues long neglected in studies in the ield—at least in Poland—such as the role of women and the importance of social and cultural history. Jakub Koryl astutely points out the need to redeine the relationship between confessionalization and Renaissance humanism as reciprocal rather than unidirectional. Whereas Stefen Huber stresses the reformers’ debt to medieval and contemporary sources in their writing, Michał Choptiany illustrates the glaring need to look at the reception of Ramus’s work in order to understand the impact of the Reformation in Poland. Wojciech Ryczek’s essay, moreover, reveals the productive potential of contextualizing the debates concerning biblical exegesis among Catholics and Protestants in the Commonwealth. Finally, contributions by Dariusz M. Bryćko and Wilczek on Calvinist thought in Polish-Lithuania and the irenic tendencies of its proponents will help to change common perceptions of Calvinism as theologically uncompromising and instead show how the Polish-Lithuanian context could produce a “Calvinism” which would seem foreign to adherents in Western Europe. Most of the contributions are written in Polish. While English summaries are provided at the end of each chapter, unfortunately, they are oten unclear and awkwardly phrased. Still, those scholars with no knowledge of Polish will ind English-language essays by Alan S. Ross, Wilczek, and Bryćko to be highly accessible and helpful. In his paper, Ross proposes that larger-scale studies of domestic educational institutions and scholarly circles can ofer insights on the cultural, social, and intellectual conditions that enabled the institutionalization of the Reformation in certain parts of Poland-Lithuania. I would add that any study of these educational and intellectual networks must also consider their connections with other 280 Sixteenth Century Journal XLIII/1 (2012) European centers of learning and culture, such as Wittenberg, Louvain, and Padua to name a few. Wilczek’s contribution ofers a very useful summary of the major concepts of Antitrinitarian theology of the Polish Brethren and their debt to wider theological, especially Reformed, discussions. For those who wish to learn more, a bibliography, albeit brief, lists secondary sources available in languages other than Polish concerning the Reformation in Poland-Lithuania and east-central Europe. To conclude, Wilczek and his contributors are fully justiied in claiming that their proposals for further research on the Reformation are original and innovative, with one caveat. heir ideas are a new departure when applied to Poland-Lithuania. However, these approaches have been considered standard practices among Anglophone scholarly communities for decades now. Since these essays are still works-in-progress, we must await the inished works to see their methodological and scholarly potential for the wider academic community. One avenue might be to view the Reformation in Poland-Lithuania as not solely Polish- and Protestant-centered but as belonging to a confessional crossroads of Tridentine Catholicism, Orthodoxy, Judaism, as well as Islam. Still, as creators of the irst volume from the recently launched series dedicated to the study of the Reformation in Poland and East-Central Europe more broadly, Wilczek and his contributors should be lauded for taking the irst ambitious step and setting a high bar for future eforts in this ield. jr SCJ qi Isabel la Católica en la producción teatral española del siglo XVII. María Y. Caba. Rochester: Tamesis, 2008. 199 pp. $95.00. ISBN 978-1-85566-163-9. Reviewed by: Tara Ann Sujko, Boston College In Isabel la Católica en la producción teatral del siglo XVII, María Y. Caba seeks to expand the literary analyses written about Isabel la Católica. Using a new historicism approach, Caba examines Isabel’s representation as both a historical and literary igure in seventeenth-century plays. Isabel la Católica, she acknowledges, occupies a unique position in Spanish history and lore as both a notably powerful monarch and a woman. he queen can be equally seen as the saintly uniier of the regions making up modern-day Spain as well as the intolerant expeller of those who did not it well in the ideal kingdom she sought to create. his active role in an otherwise exclusively masculine realm all but characterizes Isabel as a classic mujer varonil. Hence, throughout her book, Caba analyzes the ways in which the golden age authors Lope de Vega, Tirso de Molina and Luis Vélez de Guevara attempt to reconcile and/or rectify the historically ambitious Isabel with the venerated image of a saintly, supremely feminine queen. In chapter 1, Caba centers her analysis on Lope de Vega’s works El mejor mozo de España and El niño inocente de La Guardia, which respectively portray a younger and then more mature queen. In both plays, Lope works to remodel the image of Isabel, showing her as she should be per seventeenth-century societal standards, a perfectly “feminine” woman. he Isabel he portrays unquestioningly assumes womanly tasks, happily adopts a position subordinate to her king and husband, and reluctantly participates in governing activities. In fact, her incursions into masculine environments only occur when prompted by male authorities such as nobles and/or Ferdinand himself, or even by dreams inciting her to deliver a message for the country’s salvation. All of this, Caba argues, serves to absolve Isabel of any varonil actions. Although Lope attempts to portray a model queen, Caba detects subtle elements that undermine these eforts. She speciically highlights mythological and Copyright of Sixteenth Century Journal is the property of Sixteenth Century Journal and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.