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xii Acknowledgments not many, many more can be attributed to her keen eye and deep knowl- edge of the sixteenth century. Portions of Chapter 10 on resistance were previously published in “From Speyer to Magdeburg: The Development and Maturation of a Hybrid Theory of Resistance,” Archive for Reformation History 96 (2005): 57–80. This book could not have been written without Baylor Univer- sity’s support. The move to Baylor has been wonderful. I am blessed with amazing colleagues and students. My undergraduate assistant, Chelsey Art, read each page of the manuscript, asked me to clarify things that were unclear, and then also helped proof the fi nal copy. She has made this a more readable and student-friendly book. The university supported the writing of the fi nal draft of this book with a summer grant. I would never have fi nished it without that support. I wish to thank William Bellinger, my chair, for writing a letter supporting my application for the grant and for being simply the most supportive academic administrator for whom I’ve ever worked. Deans Nordt and Driskell also supported the applica- tion, and I owe them both immeasurably for helping to make the transi- tion to Baylor so smooth. I look forward to many years as a Baylor Bear. Finally, a word about those to whom this book is dedicated. They are the three mothers in my life: my mother, Ann my mother-in-law, Barbara and Laurel (my wife, and Abby’s mom). Philipp of Hesse’s mother does not get anywhere near as much attention in this book as she probably de- serves. She was married at fi fteen and a widow at twenty-four. She became a fi erce and determined defender of her son’s inheritance. Without her care, he might never have become landgrave. Though none of them were married so young, or ever had to defend their children’s lives and futures the way that Anna, Landgravine of Hesse, had to, the three to whom I dedicate this book are no less fi erce in their love for their children. I love and admire all three of them more than I can express in words.