Reformation and the writing of national history in East- Central and Northern Europe

In the sixteenth century, especially after 1550, the processes of early modern state-building and of confessionalization accelerated within European societies. These tendencies strengthened the formation of identities in the new national states.1 These developments found expression in their respective views of history, a trend which can often be traced back to lines of development stemming from the Middle Ages and which now showed an unmistakably national character.