This article critically appraises the heuristic plausibility and usefulness of centre-periphery models for explaining processes of cultural transformation in early modern Europe. The confessional history of 17th and 18th c Hungary is explored with a view to assessing the significance of (supposed) historical 'marginality' for our understanding of processes of identity formation in a period and region that defies easy classification in terms of its place in the grand narrative of the making of the European nation state
