Jonathan W. Zophy is a professor of history at the University of Houston-Clear Lake, where he teaches courses in Renaissance and Reformation history. A winner of several teaching awards, his previous books are: "Patriarchal Politics and Christoph Kress (1484-1535) of Nuremberg, The Social History of the Reformation (edited with Lawrence P. Buck), The Holy Roman Empire: A Dictionary Handbook, "and "An Annotated Bibliography of the Holy Roman Empire."