Roland H. Bainton, 1894 - 1984, was the Titus Street Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Yale University, the advisor of many Ph.D. students, the author of over a dozen important books, including the now classic Here I Stand (1954). He was an ardent supporter of early modern studies and was president of the Center for Reformation Research the year the Sixteenth Century Society was planned at a meeting of the Center’s advisory board.

Four prizes are awarded yearly for the best books written in English dealing with four categories within the time frame of the Early Modern Era (1450-1750): Art and Music History, History and Theology, Literature, and Reference Works. The prize-winning book in each category is chosen by a committee of three Society members.

History and Theology: Marjorie Elizabeth Plummer, Stripping the Veil: Convent Reform, Protestant Nuns, and Female Devotional Life in Sixteenth-Century German (Oxford University Press) 2022

Literature: Douglas S. Pfeiffer, Authorial Personality and the Making of Renaissance Texts: The Force of Character (Oxford University Press) 2022

Reference: Elizabeth Scott-Baumann, Danielle Clark, and Sarah C.E. Ross (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Early Modern Women’s Writing in English, 1540-1700 (Oxford University Press) 2022

Art and Music History: Walter S. Melion, Karel van Mander and his Foundation of the Noble, Free Art of Painting (Brill) 2022

Details can be accessed on: https://www.sixteenthcentury.org/baintonprize