This is the first book to bring together studies of a wide variety of millenarians who were active in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in France, The Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, and eastern Europe.
The sheer variety of millenarian ideas and movements and their myriad of ebbs and flows and interactions teach us that millenarianism was a much more complex and influential factor than most studies have recognized. It was part and parcel of the growth of science, the progress of philosophy, and the genesis of political reform. This volume provides much food for thought for students and teachers of early modern ideas, the history of philosophy and religion, and the making of the modern world. Researchers in these fields will find that it opens up many avenues for further work.