This first contextualized study of the rich tradition of Ramism has wide-ranging implications for the intellectual, cultural, and social histories not only of the Holy Roman Empire but also of the entire Protestant world in the crucial decades immediately preceding the advent of the 'new philosophy' in the mid-seventeenth century.

Ramism was the most controversial pedagogical movement to sweep through the Protestant world in the latter sixteenth century. This book, the first contextualized study of this rich tradition, has wide-ranging implications for the intellectual, cultural, and social histories not only of the Holy Roman Empire but also of the entire Protestant world in the crucial decades immediately preceding the advent of the "new philosophy" in the mid-seventeenth century.

Ramus sought to instruct clearly and efficiently, and he would have appreciated Hotson's clear prose and well organized presentation. Hotson succeeds in bringing together an impressive array of sources, including manuscripts and printed texts from across Europe, and in showing that they can all be seen as part of a broad debate about human knowledge. Commonplace Learning is indispensable for understanding Reformed theology and education of the early seventeenth century.