The Essays of Patrick Collinson: Or, Politics with the Religion Put Back

Abstract This essay analyses Patrick Collinson's contributions as an essayist and writer of short‐form historical articles, with special attention to his concept of the ‘monarchical republic’ but more broadly focused on his vision of the interplay between religion and politics throughout his long career. It argues that Collinson saw politics as fundamentally a struggle of ideas, especially religious ideas, but that he downplayed the potential instability or violence of religious politics by emphasizing the sincerity with which early modern figures sought to reform their world. This might, the article concludes, be giving religious politics just a bit too much credit.