MACK P. HOLT
Professor of History
Department of History and Art History (3G1)
4400 University Drive
George Mason University
Fairfax, Virginia 22030-4444
Office: (703)-993-1250
Fax: (703)-993-1251 Email:
I. DEGREES
Ph.D. in History, Emory University, 1982
M.A. in History, Georgia State University, 1973
B.A. in History, Georgia State University, 1971
II. TEACHING POSITIONS
Visiting Fellow, Trinity College, University of Cambridge, Fall 2018
Visiting Professor,Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris, Spring 2014
Visiting Professor, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris, Spring 2005
Professor of History, George Mason University, 2001-
Associate Professor of History, George Mason University, 1989-2001
Andrew W. Mellon Assistant Professor of History, Vanderbilt University, 1987-89
Andrew W. Mellon Faculty Fellow in History, Harvard University, 1986-87
Assistant Professor of History, West Texas State University, 1984-86
Visiting Assistant Professor of History, Univ. of North Carolina-Wilmington, 1983-84
Visiting Assistant Professor of History, Emory University, 1982-83
III. AWARDS, GRANTS, AND FELLOWSHIPS
Francis S. Benjamin Prize (1979) awarded by the history department of Emory University for the best research paper written by a graduate student
John Snell Memorial Prize (1979) awarded by the European History Section of the Southern Historical Association each year for the best research paper written by a graduate student in a southern university on a topic in European history
Phi Alpha Theta National History Honorary Society
Research grants in 1985 and 1986 from the Organized Research Committee of West Texas State University for archival research in France during the summers of 1985 and 1986
Research grant from the American Philosophical Society to spend the summer of 1985 in France for archival research
Summer Stipend from the National Endowment for the Humanities to spend the summer of 1986 in France for archival research
Andrew W. Mellon Faculty Fellowship at Harvard University for the 1986-87 academic year for teaching and research
National Huguenot Society of America Book Prize (1987) awarded each year for the best book on the history of the Huguenots, for The Duke of Anjou and the Politique Struggle during the Wars of Religion (Cambridge University Press, 1986)
Research grant from the American Philosophical Society to spend the summer of 1989 in France for archival research
Grant-in-aid from the American Council of Learned Societies to spend the summer of 1989 in France for archival research
Small research grant from George Mason University for archival research in France during the summer of 1990
Summer stipend from George Mason University for research and writing during summer 1991
Amos Simpson Prize (1992) awarded by the European History Section of the Southern Historical Association for the best paper delivered at the annual meeting
Summer Stipend from the National Endowment for the Humanities to spend summer 1993 in France for archival research
Research grant from the American Philosophical Society to spend summer 1993 in France for archival research
Nancy Lyman Roelker Prize (1994) awarded by the Sixteenth Century Studies Conference for the best articled published on early modern French history for “Wine, Community and Reformation in Sixteenth-Century Burgundy,” Past & Present, no. 138 (February 1993), 58-93
Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities to spend the 1994-95 academic year in France for research (on leave 1994-95)
Fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to spend the 1996-97 academic year writing (on leave 1996-97)
Grant from the National Endowment of the Humanities to run a Summer Seminar for High School Teachers on "The Social History of the Reformation" in July 1998
Grant from George Mason University to attend summer course on “The History of Printing to 1800” at Rare Book School, University of Virginia in June 2010
IV. PUBLICATIONS
Books (all peer reviewed):
The Duke of Anjou and the Politique Struggle during the Wars of Religion (Cambridge University Press, 1986; paperback ed. 2002)
The French Wars of Religion, 1562-1629 (Cambridge University Press, 1995; second edition 2005)
(As editor) Society and Institutions in Early Modern France (University of Georgia Press, 1991)
(As editor) Aristocracies and Urban Elites in Early Modern France (published as a special issue of Historical Reflections/Réflexionshistoriques, vol. 27, no. 2 (Summer 2001)
(As editor) The Short Oxford History of France, 1500-1648 (Oxford University Press, 2002)
(As editor) Alcohol: A Social and Cultural History (Oxford: Berg Publishers, 2006)
(As editor) Adaptations of Calvinism in Reformation Europe: Essays in Honour of Brian G. Armstrong (London: Ashgate, 2007)
The Politics of Wine: Religion and Popular Culture in Burgundy, 1477-1630 (in press, Cambridge University Press, 2018)
(In progress) Reading the Bible in the Reformation: How Readers Read their Scriptures in Sixteenth-Century France
Articles and book chapters (all peer reviewed):
"Patterns of Clientèle and Economic Opportunity at Court during the Wars of Religion: The Household of François, Duke of Anjou," French Historical Studies, vol.13 (Spring 1984), 305-22
"William of Orange, Foreign Powers, and the Dutch Revolt," History Today, vol.34 (July 1984), 22-27 (commissioned for a special issue commemorating the 400th anniversary of the assassination of William of Orange)
"Attitudes of the French Nobility at the Estates-General of 1576," Sixteenth Century Journal, vol.18 (Winter 1987), 489-504
"The King in Parlement: The Problem of the Lit de justice in Sixteenth-Century France," The Historical Journal, vol.31 (September 1988), 507-23
"Order and community in sixteenth-century Burgundy," Proceedings of the Western Society for French History, vol.16 (1989), 60-71
"Popular Political Culture and Mayoral Elections in Sixteenth-Century Dijon," in Mack P. Holt, ed., Society and Institutions in Early Modern France (University of Georgia Press, 1991), pp. 98-116
"Wine, Community and Reformation in Sixteenth-Century Burgundy," Past & Present, no. 138 (February 1993), 58-93
"Putting Religion Back into the Wars of Religion," French Historical Studies, vol.18 (Fall 1993), 524-51
"From Burgundian Netherlands to the Dutch Republic: Tradition and Innovation in Sixteenth-Century Europe," History Review, (Fall 1995)
"Popular Political Culture in Sixteenth-Century France", in L. P. Repina and V. V. Sogrin, eds., Politicheskaiaistorianaporoge XXI veka: traditsiiinovatsii [Political History on the Eve of the 21st Century: Traditions and Innovations] (Moscow: Russian Academy of Sciences, 1995), pp.111-121
"Religion, Historical Method, and Historical Forces," French Historical Studies, vol.20 (Spring 1996), 863-73
"Burgundians into Frenchmen: Catholic Identity in Sixteenth-Century France," in Michael Wolfe, ed., Changing Identities in Early Modern France ( Duke University Press, 1997), pp. 345-370
"Culture politique et culture populaire au XVIIe siècle: L'émeute de Lanturelu à Dijon enfévrier 1630," Histoire, économie et société, vol. 16, no. 4 (December 1997), pp. 597-616
“The Memory of All Things Past: The Provisions of the Edict of Nantes,” in Richard L. Goodbar, ed., The Edict of Nantes: Five Essays and a New Translation (Bloomington, MN: National Huguenot Society, 1998), pp. 28-32
"Wine, Life, and Death in Sixteenth-Century Burgundy," Food and Foodways: Explorations in the History and Culture of Human Nourishment, vol. 8, no. 2 (Fall 1999), pp. 73-98
“Election Festivals, Power, and Society in Sixteenth-Century Burgundy,” in Karin Friedrich, ed., Festive Culture in Germany and Europe from the Sixteenth to the Twentieth Century (Lewiston: Edwin Mellen Press, 2000), pp. 17-30
“La paix de Vervins et l’Edit de Nantes: Unevictorie des politiques,” in J.-P. Labourdette, J.-P. Poussou, and M.-C. Vignal, eds., Le Traité de Vervins(Paris: Presses de l’Université de Paris-Sorbonne, 2000), pp. 297-310
“Popular and Elite Politics in Seventeenth-Century Dijon,” Historical Reflections/Réflexionshistoriques, vol. 27, no. 2 (Summer 2001), pp. 325-45
“L’évolution des politiques face aux églises, 1561-1598,” in Thierry Wanegffelen, ed., De Michel de l’Hôpital à l’Edit de Nantes: Politique et religion face aux églises (Clermont-Ferrand: Presses Universitaires Blaise-Pascal, 2002), pp. 591-607
“The Kingdom of France in the Sixteenth Century” and “Redrawing the Lines of Authority,” in Mack P. Holt, ed., The Short Oxford History of France, 1500-1648 (Oxford University Press, 2002), pp. 1-26 and 202-33
“The Social History of the Reformation: Recent Trends and Future Agendas,” The Journal of Social History, vol. 37, no. 1 (Fall 2003), pp. 133-44
“The League in Burgundy: A bourgeoisie seconde?” French History, vol. 17 (December 2003), pp. 1-15
“Confessionalization Beyond the Germanies: The Case of France,” in John Headley and Hans Hillerbrand, eds., Confessionalization in Europe, 1550-1700 (London: Ashgate Press, 2004), pp. 241-57
“Europe Divided: Wine, Beer, and the Reformation in Sixteenth-Century Europe,” in Mack P. Holt, ed., Alcohol: A Social and Cultural History (Oxford: Berg Publishers, 2006), pp. 25-40
“Philippe Duplessis-Mornay et le sacrement de la Cène,” in HuguesDaussy et Véronique Ferrer, eds., ServirDieu, le roi et l’état: Philippe Duplessi-Mornay, 1549-1623 (Paris: Honoré Champion, 2006), 101-111
“Divisions within French Calvinism: Philippe Duplessis-Mornay and the Eucharist,” in Mack P. Holt, ed., Adaptations of Calvinism in Reformation Europe: Essays in Honour of Brian G. Armstrong (London: Ashgate, 2007), 165-177
“Historical Writing in English on the French Reformation: The Last Thirty Years,” ArchivfürReformationsgeschichte / Archive for Reformation History 100 (2009): 256-270
“Henri IV et les privileges municipaux à Dijon: La politique de la réconciliation,” in Michel De Waele, ed., Lendemains de guerre civile: Réconciliation et restauration en France (Québec: Presses de l’Université Laval, 2011): 17-38
“Religious Violence in Sixteenth-Century France: Moving Beyond Pollution and Purification,” in Graeme Murdock, Andrew Spicer, and Penny Roberts, eds., Ritual and Violence: Natalie Zemon Davis and Early Modern France (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012), 52-74
“La religion vécueen Bourgogne à la veille des guerres de Religion,” in Fabien Salesse, ed., Le bon historian sait faire parler les silences: Hommages à Thierry Wanegffelen (Toulouse: Méridiennes, 2012), 165-191.
“Les réseauxd’autorité et de pouvoir à l’Hôtel de ville at au Parlement de Dijon entre 1580 et 1630,” Annales de Bourgogne 85 (2013): 19-35.
“Belief and its Limits,” in Hamish Scott, ed., The Oxford Handbook of Early Modern European History, 1350-1750, 2 vols. (Oxford: Oxford University Press,2015), 1:720-744.
“Urban Elites and Politics in Sixteenth-Century Dijon,” in Barbara B. Diefendorf, ed., Social Relations, Politics, and Power in Early Modern France: Robert Descimon and the Historian’s Craft (Kirksville, MO: Truman State University Press, 2016), 87-105.
“Calvin and Reformed Protestantism,” in UlinkaRublack, ed., The Oxford Handbook of the Protestant Reformations (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016), 214-232.
“Reading the Bible in Sixteenth-Century France,” in Karen E. Spierling, R. Ward Holder, and Erik A. De Boer, eds., Emancipating Calvin: Culture and Confessional Identity in Francophone Reformed Communities (Leiden: Brill, 2018), forthcoming.
Short essays and other writings (reviewed by editors only):
"Advisors to the Powerful in Seventeenth-Century France: A Comment," Proceedings of the Western Society for French History, vol.15 (1988), 93-97
Articles on “François, Duke of Anjou” and “The Montmorency Family” commissioned for The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reformation, 3 vols., ed. Hans Hillerbrand (Oxford University Press, 1995)
Sub-editor and compiler of annotated bibliography for section on "France, 1450-1789" for a new edition of The American Historical Association Guide to Historical Literature (Oxford University Press, 1995)
Various entries on “Huguenots,” “Louis XI,” “Louis XII,” “Louis XIII,” “Louis XIV,” “Louis XV,” “Louis XVI,” “Louis XVII,” and “Louis XVIII” in The New Book of Knowledge (New York: Grolier Press, 1998)
Various entries on Marc Bloch, Lucien Febvre, Léopold Delisle, Pierre Goubert, Roland Mousnier, and Henri Pirenne inThe Encyclopedia of Global Historiographical Writing ed. D.W. Wolfe (New York: Garland Press, 1998), vol. 1, pp. 93-4, 229-30, 310, 373; vol. 2, pp. 638, 715
Articles on “French Wars of Religion, 1562-1598” and “French Peasant Revolts, 1594-1648” in Jack H. Goldstone, ed., The Encyclopedia of Political Revolutions (Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly Press, 1998)
Articles on “Burgundy” and “François, ducd’Anjou” in Paul F. Grendler, ed., The Encyclopedia of the Renaissance (New York: Charles Scribner, 1999)
Article on “Festivals” in Peter N. Stearns, ed., The Encyclopedia of European Social History, 1350-2000, 6 vols. (New York: Charles Scribner, 2001)
Foreword to a new edition of Robert M. Kingdon, Geneva and the Coming of the Wars of Religion in France, 1555-1563 (Geneva: Droz, 2007): vii-xii
Book reviews:
Review of Raymond A. Mentzer, Heresy Proceedings in Languedoc, 1500-1560 (Philadelphia, 1984) in Sixteenth Century Journal, XVI (1985), 578
Review of AndrejsPlakans, Kinship in the Past: An Anthology of European Family Life, 1500-1900 (Oxford, 1984) in Journal of Social History, XX (1987), 624-25
Review of Robert Muchembled, Popular Culture and Elite Culture in France, 1400-1750 (Baton Rouge, 1985) in The Historian, XLIX (1987), 404-05
Review of Ellery Schalk, From Valor to Pedigree: Ideas of Nobility in France in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries (Princeton, 1986) in Sixteenth Century Journal, XVIII (1987), 445-46
Review of Frederic J. Baumgartner, Change and Continuity in the French Episcopate: The Bishops and the Wars of Religion, 1547-1610 (Durham, NC, 1986) in Sixteenth Century Journal, XVIII (1987), 609-10
Review of Charles Tilly, The Contentious French (Cambridge, Mass., 1986) in History of European Ideas, IX (1988), 242-43
Review of Frederic J. Baumgartner, Henry II: King of France, 1547-1559 (Durham, NC, 1988) in Sixteenth Century Journal, XIX (1988), 495-96
Review of Elizabeth Wirth Marvick, Louis XIII: The Making of a King (New Haven, 1986) in Sixteenth Century Journal, XIX (1988), 474
Review of James R. Farr, Hands of Honor: Artisans and their World in Dijon, 1550-1650 (Ithaca, NY, 1988) in The Journal of Modern History, LXIII (March 1991), 140-1
Review of Arlette Jouanna, Le devoir de révolte: La noblesse françaisete la gestation de l'Etatmoderne, 1559-1661 (Paris, 1989) in The American Historical Review, XCV (October 1990), 1205
Review of James B. Collins, Fiscal Limits of Absolutism: Direct Taxation in Early Seventeenth-Century France (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1988) in The Journal of Economic History, L (March 1990), 191-2
Review of Jean Delumeau, Rassurer et protéger: Le sentiment de sécuritédansl'Occidentd'autrefois (Paris, 1989) in Journal of Social History, XXIV (1991), 851-3
Review of Joseph Bergin, The Rise of Richelieu (New Haven, 1991) in The Journal of Interdisciplinary History, (1992), 168-170
Review of Henry Heller, Iron and Blood: Civil War in Sixteenth-Century France (Montreal, 1991) in Histoire sociale, vol. 25 (1992), 185-7
Review of Philippe Guignet, Le pouvoirdans la ville au XVIIIe siècle: Pratiquespolitiques, notabilité et éthiquesociale de part et d'autre de la frontièrefranco-belge (Paris, 1990) in The Journal of Modern History, vol. 66 (1994), 151-2
Review of OrestRanum, The Fronde: A French Revolution (New York, 1993), in The Historian, vol. 56 (Summer 1994), 802-03
Review of Nicholas Henshall, The Myth of Absolutism (London, 1992), in Continuity: A Journal of History, vol.18 (1994), 113-14
Review of Raymond A. Mentzer, Blood and Belief: Family Survival and Confessional Identity among the Provincial Huguenot Nobility (W. Lafayette, IN, 1994) in The Journal of Ecclesiastical History
Review of Irena Backus, Le miracle de Laon (Paris, 1994) in The Journal of Ecclesiastical History, vol. 48 (April 1997), 374-76
Review of Irena Backus, Guillaume Postel et Jean Boulaese (Geneva, 1995) in The Journal of Ecclesiastical History, vol. Vol. 48 (April 1997), 374-76
Review of Malcolm C. Smith, Ronsard and Du Bellay versus Bèze: Allusiveness in Renaissance Literary Texts (Geneva, 1995) in The Journal of Ecclesiastical History, vol. 48 (April 1997), 374-76
Review of Judith Pugh Meyer, Reformation in la Rochelle: Tradition and Change in Early Modern Europe, 1500-1568 (Geneva, 1996) in Renaissance Quarterly, vol. 51 (Summer 1998), 642-43
Review of Brigitte Maillard, ed., Foi, fidelité, amitiéen Europe à la périodemoderne: Mélanges offerts à Robert Sauzet, 2 vols. (Tours, 1995) in Sixteenth Century Journal, vol. 28 (1997), 309-12
Review of Judy Sproxton, Violence and Religion: Attitudes Toward Militancy in the French Civil Wars and the English Revolution (Routledge, 1995) in Religious Studies Review, vol. 23 (January 1997), 84
Review of Danièle Thomas, Henri IV: Images d’un roi entre réalité et mythe (Paris, 1996) for H-FRANCE (appeared electronically in February 1997) and is available at <
Review of Ole Peter Grell and Bob Scribner, eds., Tolerance and Intolerance in the European Reformation (Cambridge University Press, 1996) in Renaissance Quarterly, vol. 51 (Summer 1998), 659-60
Review of Mark W. Konnert, Civic Agendas and Religious Passion: Châlons-sur-Marne during the French Wars of Religion (Sixteenth Century Studies Press, 1996) in Journal of Ecclesiastical History, vol. 50 (January 1999), 166-67
Review of Seong-Hak Kim, Michel de l’Hôpital: The Vision of a Reformist Chancellor during the French Religious Wars (Sixteenth Century Studies Press, 1996) in The Journal of Religious History, vol. 23 (October 1999), 374
Review of Adriana Bakos, Images of Kingship in Early Modern France:: Louis XI in Political Thought (Routledge Press, 1997) in Sixteenth Century Journal, vol. 29 (1998), 1182-83
Review of Thierry Wanegffelen, Ni Rome, ni Genève: Des fidèles entre deaxchairesen France au XVIe siècle (Honoré Champion, 1997) in Sixteenth Century Journal, vol. 29 (Summer 1998), 575-77
Review of William Beik, Urban Protest in Seventeenth-Century France: The Culture of Retribution (Cambridge University Press, 1996) in The Journal of Modern History, vol. 27 (March 2000), pp. 210-12
Review of John Bossy, Peace in the Post-Reformation (Cambridge University Press, 1998), in Journal of Ecclesiastical History, vol. 51 (April 2000), pp. 424-427
Review of Stuart Carroll, Noble Power during the French Wars of Religion: The Guise Affinity and the Catholic Cause in Normandy (Cambridge University Press, 1998) in Journal of Ecclesiastical History, vol. 51 (April 2000), pp. 424-427
Review of Larissa Juliet Taylor, Heresy and Orthodoxy in Sixteenth-Century Paris: François Le Picart and the Beginnings of the Catholic Reformation (E. J. Brill, 1999) in Sixteenth Century Journal, vol. 31 (Summer 2000), pp. 533-34
Review of Michel Cassan, Les temps des guerres de religion: le cas de Limousin, vers 1530-vers 1630 (Publisud, 1996), in La Revue d’histoiremoderne et contemporaine, vol. 47, no. 3 (2000), 624
Review of David M. Bryson, Queen Jeanne and the Promised Land: Dynasty, Homeland, Religion, and Violence in Sixteenth-Century France (Brill, 1999) in Sixteenth Century Journal, vol. 31 (Winter 2000), 1106-8
Review of Brendan Dooley, The Social History of Skepticism: Experience and Doubt in Early Modern Culture (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999) in Journal of Social History, vol. 34 (Summer 2001), pp. 984-5
Review of Natalie Zemon Davis, The Gift in Sixteenth-Century France (University of Wisconsin Press, 2000) in Journal of Social History, vol. 35. No. 3 (Spring 2002), 734-6
Review of Michel de Certeau, The Possession at Loudun (University of Chicago Press, 2000) in Journal of Interdisciplinary History, vol. 32 (Winter 2002), pp. 467-8
Review of Joel Cornette, La Mélancloie du pouvoir: Omer Talon et le procès de la raison d’état (LibrairieFayard, 1998) in La Revue d’histoiremoderne et contemporaine, vol. 49, no. 3 (2002), 213
Review of Scott M. Manetsch, Theodore Beza and the Quest for Peace in France, 1572-1598 (Brill, 2000) in Renaissance Quarterly, vol. 55 (Spring 2002), 310-12
Review of Myriam Yardeni, Repenserl’histoire: Aspects de l’historiographiehuguenote des guerres de religion à la Révolutionfrançaise (Honoré Champion, 2000) in Renaissance Quarterly, vol. 55 (Spring 2002), 310-12
Review of HuguesDaussy, Les Huguenots et le roi: Le combat politique de Philippe Duplessis-Mornay, 1572-1600 (Droz, 2002) in The English Historical Review, vol. 118, no. 477 (June 2003), 710-11
Review of Philip Conner, Huguenot Heartland: Montauban and Southern French Calvinism during the Wars of Religion (Ashgate, 2002) reviewed electronically on H-FRANCE in April 2003 and available at<
Review of Ken Albala, Eating Right in the Renaissance (University of California Press, 2002) in Sixteenth Century Journal, vol. 34 (Summer 2003), 586-7
Review of Jeremy Black, European Warfare, 1494-1660 (Routledge, 2002) in The Journal of Military History, vol. 67 (April 2003), 552-3
Review of Raymond A. Mentzer and Andrew Spicer, eds., Society and Culture in the Huguenot World, 1559-1685 (Cambridge University Press, 2002) in Renaissance Quarterly, vol. 56 (2003), 800-1
Review of Philip Benedict, Christ’s Churches Purely Reformed: A Social History of Calvinism (Yale University Press, 2002) in The American Historical Review, vol. 108 (October 2003), 1209-10
Review of Philip Benedict, The Faith and Fortune of France’s Huguenots, 1600-1685 (Ashgate, 2001) in Renaissance Quarterly 55 (Winter 2002): 1515-17
Review of Henry Heller, Anti-Italianism in Sixteenth-Century France (University of Toronto Press, 2003) in The Catholic Historical Review 90 (April 2004): 319-20
Review of Glenn S. Sunshine, Reforming French Protestantism: The Development of Huguenot Ecclesiastical Institutions, 1557-1572 (Truman State University Press, 2003) in Renaissance Quarterly 57 (Winter 2004): 1418-19
Review of Evelyne Berriot-Salvadore, et al., eds., Jeanne d’Albret et sacour (Honoré Champion, 2004) in Renaissance Quarterly 58 (Fall 2005): 940-1
Review of Barbara B. Diefendorf, From Penitence to Charity: Pious Women and the Catholic Reformation in Paris (Oxford University Press, 2004), in The Historian 68 (2006): 181-2
Review of Richard W. Ungar, Beer in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance (University of Pennsylvania Press) in Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture 6 (Winter 2006): 103-4