 Joachim Whaley was educated at St Joseph's Academy, Blackheath and Christ's College, Cambridge, where he received his BA (1975) and PhD (1983) in History.He primarily teaches and researches in German history and culture since 1500 and contemporary German politics; additionally, he is an instructor of the German language and has a special interest in translation.Whaley is the author of "Religious Toleration and Social Change in Hamburg, 1529-1819 "(Cambridge, 1985) and "Germany and the Holy Roman Empire 1493-1806" (Oxford, 2012), a study of the Holy Roman Empire published in two volumes as part of the "Oxford History of Early Modern Europe".