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Northern European Reformations: Transnational Perspectives. Edited by James E. Kelly, Henning Laugerud, and Salvador Ryan. Cham: Palgrave MacMillan, 2020. xvii + 420 pp. £99.99 hardcover; £94.99 e-book.

the disciplinary practices fostered by the religious and civil authorities had percolated through the community, as was the case, for instance, when Genevan inhabitants reprimanded their neighbors for public swearing or blasphemy. However, though Watt points to the 1536 public vote in Geneva to adopt the Reformation, adding that “the fact remains that Genevans collectively chose the Reformed faith” (68), it is important to remember that this decision only reflected the views of some Genevans, since noncitizens and women were not eligible to vote. In various chapters, but particularly in the one on sex and marriage, Watt discusses the impact of the consistory on women. Susannah Lipscomb’s recent study The Voices of Nîmes: Women, Sex, & Marriage in Reformation Languedoc (Oxford University Press, 2019) made the case that women in southern France deliberately made use of their local consistory to advance their own cause, especially when it came to enforcing promises to marry. Watt’s assessment of the Genevan evidence is more cautious. While he noted that the consistory was equally ready to chastise men and women when it came to illicit sexuality, he underscored that the Genevan consistory’s patriarchal mindset left women vulnerable, especially in instances of domestic abuse or sexual assault. Furthermore, the consistory’s insistence on reconciliation in cases of conflict could pressure women to make peace with someone who had used force against them. Among the aspects of the consistory’s work that have not received as much attention in other studies, Watt sheds light on the consistory’s general unwillingness to pursue people accused of magical practices, because it remained largely skeptical that the accused genuinely possessed such powers. He also highlights the consistory’s commitment to train up young people (especially young men) to become diligent and productive members of the community by targeting the idle and the spendthrift. Watt’s monograph offers early modern historians an accessible and thorough study of the Genevan consistory’s work. Alongside the ongoing project to publish the last few volumes of the consistory registers up to 1564, this book lays the ground for further research on social discipline, both in Geneva and comparatively across other early modern disciplinary bodies.