1

Stephen Hawes. How far did the Reformation and Counter-Reformation

open up a gap between elite and popular religion? (1,999)
The various reform movements known as the Reformation and its Catholic
counterpoint the Counter-Reformation were means by which lay and especially
religious elites gained a greater share of social power and enhanced their status.
This naturally led to a greater divide between them and ordinary people. In order
to achieve their objects, power and obedience, leaders of both movements
disrupted or demolished demotic culture and replaced it with a religious culture
that could either be employed against their rivals or used to maintain a level of
homogeneity within society. The religious practices of the elites were less
effected by the reformations, either because they were instrumental in enacting
them or because they were more powerful than the reformers; in either case,
they could not be made the subjects of religious, political and social control. In
this essay I will therefore discuss the gap created between elite and popular
religion in terms of how the former used religious structures to differentiate
themselves from the latter, through prohibiting and replacing popular culture and
using restrictive methods of poor relief to achieve their ends. I will argue that this
occurred because of the tensions that new religious ideas created, but it must
also be noted that long term factors, such as demographic changes and the
erosion of feudal systems created a need for the elite to reassert themselves.
The idea of elite domination over the majority is a simple one, but it must be
noted that Europe in the sixteenth century did not merely have two classes and
that tensions, partly caused by religion, existed between the lay elites and the
lesser nobility as well as the leading reformers and the lesser clergy who were
the preachers that converted the majority. 1 Furthermore, the division between
Protestant and Catholic reform was not binary: both contained disparate strands
and movements, although both ultimately had a similar effect on the societies in
which they operated.2
The Catholic Church prior to the Reformation was an extremely strong institution
that had endured for many years and through a large number of crises, most
recently the Great Schism 1378-1417 and the enduring threat of conciliarism.
Pettegree argues that the idea of the Reformation was therefore the only thing
that was powerful enough to break the Church in the way that it did. 3 This may
have been the case, however, it is certainly true that this idea was the
expression of socio-political and economic tensions that arose from population
1 Andrew Pettegree, 'Reformation and the Culture of Persuasion', Cambridge,
Cambridge University Press: 2005, p25.
2 P. Burke, 'Popular Culture in Early Modern Europe'. New York, Harper & Row:
1976, p207.
3Andrew Pettegree, 'Reformation and the Culture of Persuasion', p4.

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growth, price rises, urbanisation,4 and the growing control of the laity over the
Church.5 Throughout the period of extreme tension created both by the idea and
its immediate causes, the elites in society sought to maintain their place via
greater social differentiation from the other classes. This was achieved on a
personal level via the maintenance of noble regalia and pretensions of inherited
warrior status even when this had become obsolete. 6 Theologically, the elites
were better able to differentiate themselves via their higher literacy rates, which
gave them a greater self-determination in considering religious controversies at a
time where the majority of information came via word-of-mouth, preaching and
public readings.7 At this time, other groups were seeking to differentiate
themselves and improve their position in society, as one may expect when an
event such as the Reformation encourages members of a society to see the
structural weaknesses within it, but they did not have the status or power
required to confront the system which the elite protected. Examples of this can
be seen in the conflict between Maximilian I and the lesser nobility of the Holy
Roman Empire, where Maximilian's attempts to abolish the latter's customs
resulted in their unsuccessful rebellion in 1522-3 or in the 'Peasant's War'
(Bauerkrieg) of 1524-6.8 Both of these events demonstrate the tensions that
existed within Europe and would only be resolved by the implementation of a
more rigorous social order by the elites through the prism of religious control.
One of the ways that socio-religious control manifested itself was in the
administration of poor relief, which found new vigour in both Reformation and
Counter-Reformation movements. Pullan has illustrated the contempt with which
the poor were treated in both movements, particularly the homeless or other
peripatetic people, including even friars and pilgrims. At a time when poverty
was despised by the elites in society, it was often associated within the Church
with wantonness and sin. The result of this was that poor relief was often
accompanied by inhumane practices which indicate that the alleviation of
poverty was seen as a pious duty instead of a humanitarian mission. 9 It is
therefore no surprise that poor relief in the reformations period was largely
accompanied by attempts to convert or reaffirm the faith of the poor and that
4 Alister E. McGrath, 'Reformation Thought: An Introduction', Oxford, Basil
Blackwell: 1988, p14.
5R. N. Swanson, 'The Pre-Reformation Church' in The Reformation World, edited by
Andrew Pettegree. London and New York, Routledge: 2000, p13.

6 Mark Greengrass, 'Christendom Destroyed: Europe 1517-1648', London,

Penguin: 2015, p.p. 123-6.
7 Andrew Pettegree, 'Reformation and the Culture of Persuasion', p4.
8 E. Cameron, 'The European Reformation'. Oxford, Clarendon Press: 1991, p.p.
204-6.

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the administration of the sacraments and other religious functions were seen as
more important in than almsgiving or the physical treatment of illness. 10 The
poor, as dependent on the Church for alms, were also ideal targets for coerced
conversion in a way that the elites were not vulnerable to and it was therefore
common in areas where Protestantism and Catholicism were in local conflict for
poor relief to be offered in return for support of one faction over another. 11
However, the most significant way in which poverty presented the elites with a
way in which social control could be executed was in the establishment of penal
houses, work houses and 'hospitals' for the poor. These were created by both
Protestant and Catholic orders, though in the former case this was funded
through a reduction to the size of the monastic system whereas in Catholicism it
was through an extension of it. The removal of the poor, sick and mentally ill
from society by people who regarded them with contempt can be seen as the
beginning of what Foucault describes as the 'Great Confinement' of the
undesirable elements of society. 12 This is a powerful demonstration of the power
being seized by the elites through the guise of reformation as it was enacted to
prevent the sinful behaviour of the unfortunate from spreading to other members
of society.13 It can therefore be seen that reformations helped to create a divide
between the elite and the poor by allowing the churches, hierarchical institutions
ruled by the elites, to control poor relief and the exclusion of social deviants for
their own objectives.
During the Reformation period, the heightened religious zeal meant that the
pagan origins of popular culture -- as highlighted by Erasmus and Sir James
Frazer -- were no longer tolerable. This sentiment was felt with vehemence by
the Protestant elites who regarded Catholic traditions as pagan, for example by
associating the worship of the Virgin Mary with the Cult of Venus or the
traditional emphasis on the saints as being derived from polytheism. However,
Catholics also emphasised the pagan aspect of some folk culture traditions, an
example being against the maypole dancing. 14 Popular culture was also
contemptible to lay rulers as festivals were often occasions for disorder and folk
9 B. Pullan, 'Catholics and the Poor in Early Modern Europe', Transactions of the
Royal Historical Society, 1976, p.p. 17-8 & 15-6.
10 Ibid. Passim.
11 Ibid, p. 24.
12 Michel Foucault, 'Madness and Civilisation,' ed. Richard Howard. New York,
Vintage Books: 1988, p39.
13 B. Pullan, 'Catholics and the Poor in Early Modern Europe', p32.
14 P. Burke, 'Popular Culture in Early Modern Europe', p.p. 209-10.

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songs were known to glorify criminality. 15 In response to these grievances, the
elites -- including religious elites, princes and local authorities -- abolished what
Burke describes as the 'amorphous, spontaneous and generous popular culture'
and replaced it with the 'worldly asceticism' that would come to be associated
with the petty-bourgeoisie.16 Importantly, this was a process that occurred across
Europe, not simply under Protestant and Catholic jurisdiction, but also under the
authority of the Eastern Orthodox.17 The changes to the social order were
enforced in a variety of ways, but namely this occurred through the use of
detailed record-keeping and new interpretations to existing legislation which
allowed for a greater level of interference in the lives of ordinary people by
authorities, which had previously been relatively absent in rural areas. 18 One of
the key methods for effecting social change was to break down and abolish the
kinship group, which posed a threat to the authority of the elites and also to the
unity desired by any respective Church within the area under its control. The
erosion of kinship ties was extremely unpopular, including with local parish
priests who were not far removed from being ordinary members of the
community, but was eventually successful in ending feuds, which the Church saw
as the main threat to civil unity. Bossy notes that it was during the CounterReformation that the first attempts to end feuds for reasons of social control
rather than ethical good were made, showing the impetus for social control
created by the tensions of the Reformation. 19 As is evidenced by the continuing
dynastic conflicts in Europe throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries,
this control was not extended to the elites. Aside from abolishing kinship, the
reformers also sought to alter popular cultural experience. This took different
forms depending on which faith the reformers were, but all cultural reform had
similar themes. Plays, though initially popular with Protestant reformers for
spreading their religious message, were gradually prohibited, as were
undesirable books, songs and the use of church-buildings for social functions
such as wakes and as a general forum. Festivals were banned or -- especially in
Catholic areas -- replaced with festivities, the mocking of which was strictly
prohibited. Psalms and catechisms -- for example Luther's extremely successful
Little Catechism -- were used in an attempt to force the general population to
receive religious doctrine.20 This relied on an increase in information, distributed
via preaching, printed materials and other propaganda. 21 Thus it can be seen
how religious reforms gradually replaced popular culture with a religious one
15 Ibid, p212.
16 Ibid, p213.
17 Ibid, p214-5
18 J. Bossy, 'The Counter-Reformation and the People of Catholic Europe'. Past
and Present, No. 47: 1970, p54.
19 Ibid, p.p. 54-6.

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without the consent or consideration of the majority. This contrasts with the selfdetermination of the elites' attitudes to religion, which were formulated via deep
psychological contemplation and conversions often likened to those of Augustine
or Saul on the Road to Damascus. 22 One of the key differences between elite and
popular religion in this period is therefore ignored by Pettegree, who talks about
the different interpretations of reformation, which in reality was interpreted on
the behalf of the majority of people. 23 Despite the fact that he is aware that
understanding and activism were aspects of the new religious zeal that were not
afforded to popular religion, his assertion that awareness and identification were
components of faith to the ordinary worshiper he seems unaware of the fact that
these were not choices made by them but for them. 24 It can therefore be seen
how the reformation period created the conditions for an attempted dismantling
of popular culture and its replacement with what would evolve into Puritanism or
extreme Catholicism.
Although the elites had always exercised control over the rest of the population,
there is clear evidence that this period was significant in its systematic attempt
to coerce the majority into accepting a new culture. This was in part due to the
greater ability of governments and religious institutions to disseminate
information. Religion was an important aspect, but emerged because of the
social, economic and political tensions that had occurred in a developing Europe.
In light of these developments, the elites responded to the challenge to their
system of order by asserting themselves to an even greater and more systematic
degree. This was achieved via a cooperation between the lay and ecclesiastical
elites who -- despite conflicting on an individual level -- as social groups had the
reconcilable aim of maintaining their dominant place in the social order. An
interesting aspect to this phenomenon is the similarity between Catholicism and
Protestantism. Despite the latter's rejection of the hierarchies or the established
Church, Protestantism and Puritanism were at least as oppressive as Catholicism.
That both sought to establish order over their populations is an indication of the
wider factors that contributed to reformation -- a purely religious dispute would
surely have resulted in the two factions behaving differently from each other
towards their respective populations. Thus it is demonstrable that the
Reformation and Counter-Reformation were largely opportunities for the elites to
differentiate themselves by establish and exercising greater social control over
the general population.
20 P. Burke, 'Popular Culture in Early Modern Europe', p.p. 214-24.
21 Andrew Pettegree, 'Reformation and the Culture of Persuasion', passim.
22 Andrew Pettegree, 'Reformation and the Culture of Persuasion', p2-5.
23 Ibid, p3.
24 Ibid, p.p. 6-7.

Bibliography:
Bossy, J., 'The Counter-Reformation and the People of Catholic Europe'. Past and
Present, No. 47: 1970.
Burke, P., 'Popular Culture in Early Modern Europe'. New York, Harper & Row:
1976.
Cameron, E., 'The European Reformation'. Oxford, Clarendon Press: 1991.
Foucault, Michel, 'Madness and Civilisation,' ed. Richard Howard. New York,
Vintage Books: 1988.
Greengrass, Mark, 'Christendom Destroyed: Europe 1517-1648', London,
Penguin: 2015.
McGrath, Alister E., 'Reformation Thought: An Introduction', Oxford, Basil
Blackwell: 1988.
Pettegree, Andrew, 'Reformation and the Culture of Persuasion', Cambridge,
Cambridge University Press: 2005.
Pullan, B., 'Catholics and the Poor in Early Modern Europe', Transactions of the
Royal Historical Society, 1976.
Swanson, R. N., 'The Pre-Reformation Church' in The Reformation World, edited
by Andrew Pettegree. London and New York, Routledge: 2000.