GHIL Library

Image showing a desk and chair in one of the first floor library rooms. The chair is pulled out invitingly, and a book is lying on the desk.

The library of the GHIL is an important and well-regarded institution for British historians of German history, students at London universities, and the general public. Its holdings on German history, British-German relations from the Middle Ages to the present day, and wider European history are comprehensive, up to date, free to use, and form a unique collection in Britain.

Visiting and joining the Library

Spring opening hours:
The library is open Monday-Friday, 9.30am–8pm

New readers need to register for a library card and have a short introductory tour of the library before or during their first visit (Mo-Fr, 9.30am-4pm). Photo ID (passport, ID card or driving licence) must be provided.

Library staff are also available for general enquiries at library@ghil.ac.uk.

If you would like to receive regular updates on recent acquisitions, featured books, and other library news, then you can sign up to the Library Newsletter.

Library Guide

Take a look at the flipbook below for an introduction to our library.

Featured Books

The Peasants' War

April and May 1525 saw some of the major battles and skirmishes of the German Peasants' War. Amid the changes and uncertainties brought about by the Reformation, German peasants and townspeople protested unjust treatment and taxation by the aristocracy, and mounted armed insurrections. Many religious reformers were on the side of the rebels, with Luther as a notable exception. Faced by armies with superior equipment, tactics, and numbers, the peasant rebels were eventually defeated, with at least 100,000 killed. The 500th Anniversary of the revolt has prompted a flurry of new publications on the topic, some of which we have chosen to be part of this month's feature.

You can see these books in the display case in the Common Room at the GHIL. There is an additional display on the history of medieval and early modern diplomacy in the display case facing onto the stairs.

See in library catalogue

Lyndal Roper

Summer of fire and blood : the German Peasants' War

London : Basic Books, 2025

Sd.6/1328

Gerd Schwerhoff

Auf dem Weg zum Bauernkrieg : Unruhen und Revolten am Beginn des 16. Jahrhunderts

Konflikte und Kultur : Historische Perspektiven. Band 43

Tübingen : UVK, 2024

Sc.8/945

Ulrich Niggemann (ed.)

Der Bauernkrieg von 1525 : Staatlichkeit und Ordnungsvorstellungen

Staatsverständnisse. Band 185

Baden-Baden : Nomos, 2025

ask librarian

Kurt Andermann and Gerrit Jasper Schenk (eds.)

Bauernkrieg : regionale und überregionale Aspekte einer sozialen Erhebung.

Kraichtaler Kolloquien. Band 1

Ostfildern : Jan Thorbecke Verlag, 2024

Sd.6/1363

Peter Blickle

Der Bauernkrieg : die Revolution des Gemeinen Mannes

Beck'sche Reihe. 2103

München : C.H.Beck, 2024

Sd.6/1308

Andrew Drummond

The dreadful history and judgement of God on Thomas Müntzer : the life and times of an early German revolutionary

London ; New York, N.Y. : Verso, 2024

Sd.13/Muent 26

Horst Buszello and Konrad Krimm (eds.)

Zwischen Bauernkrieg und Französischer Revolution - Untertanenkonflikte am Oberrhein

Oberrheinische Studien. Band 44

Ostfildern : Jan Thorbecke Verlag, 2022

Sa.6/6135

Thomas T. Müller

Mörder ohne Opfer : die Reichsstadt Mühlhausen und der Bauernkrieg in Thüringen : Studien zu Hintergründen, Verlauf und Rezeption der gescheiterten Revolution von 1525

Schriftenreihe der Friedrich-Christian-Lesser-Stiftung. Band 40

Petersberg : Michael Imhof Verlag, 2021

Sd.6/1452

Benjamin Heidenreich

Ein Ereignis ohne Namen? : zu den Vorstellungen des "Bauernkriegs" von 1525 in den Schriften der "Aufständischen" und in der zeitgenössischen Geschichtsschreibung

Quellen und Forschungen zur Agrargeschichte. Band 59

Berlin ; Boston : De Gruyter Oldenbourg, 2019

eBook ProQuest

Werner Greiling, Thomas T. Müller, Uwe Schirmer (eds.)

Reformation und Bauernkrieg

Quellen und Forschungen zu Thüringen im Zeitalter der Reformation. Band 12

Wien ; Köln ; Weimar : Böhlau Verlag, 2019

eBook ProQuest

Peter Blickle

Der Bauernjörg : Feldherr im Bauernkrieg. Georg Truchsess von Waldburg 1488-1531

München : Beck, 2015

Sd.13/Waldb 1

Tom Scott and Bob Scribner (eds.)

The German Peasants' War : A History in Documents

Atlantic Highlands, N.J., London : Humanities Press International, 1991

Sd.6/1300

James M. Stayer

The German Peasants' War and Anabaptist Community of Goods

McGill-Queen's Studies in the History of Religion. Serie 1. 6

Montreal : McGill-Queen's University Press, 1991

Sd.6/1331

Gerd Schwerhoff

Der Bauernkrieg : Geschichte einer wilden Handlung

München : C.H. Beck, 2024

Sd.6/1322

Marion Kobelt-Groch

Aufsässige Töchter Gottes : Frauen im Bauernkrieg und in den Täuferbewegungen

Geschichte und Geschlechter. Bd 4

Frankfurt/Main ; New York, N.Y. : Campus Verlag, 1993

Sd.8/2685

Thomas Adam

Joß Fritz - das verborgene Feuer der Revolution : Bundschuhbewegung und Bauernkrieg am Oberrhein im frühen 16. Jahrhundert

Veröffentlichungen der Historischen Kommission der Stadt Bruchsal. Bd 20

Ubstadt-Weiher : Verlag Regionalkultur, 2002

Sd.6/1372

Keith Moxey

Peasants, Warriors and Wives : Popular Imagery in the Reformation

Chicago, IL ; London : University of Chicago Press, 2004

Sd.11/6068

Thomas Kaufmann

Der Bauernkrieg : Ein Medienereignis

München : Verlag Herder, 2024

ask librarian

Library Catalogue

All of our books, journals and electronic resources can be found via our online catalogue.

Recently published books can be made available to readers very quickly, and we invite readers to suggest new acquisitions at library@ghil.ac.uk.

Start your search

Library Collections

The GHIL Library's holdings comprise around 95,000 volumes, with a growing number of electronic resources. The collection's focus is largely on German history, with a special emphasis on the 19th and 20th centuries. Around a third of the library's resources are English-language materials.

Access and Services

The library is open to anyone with an interest in German history, British-German relations, or comparative historiography. The collection is reference only, so books cannot be taken out on loan.

There are no membership or joining fees but a passport photo and recent proof of address should be provided on the first visit so that a library card can be issued.

Contact and opening hours

Contact

German Historical Institute Library
17 Bloomsbury Square
London WC1A 2NJ

Tel. +44-(0)20-7309 2050
Email: library@ghil.ac.uk

Opening hours:

The library is open Monday-Friday, 9.30am–8pm

Meet the Team

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German Historical Institute London