AP Euro Chapter 11: The Age of Reformation

Society and Religion

Monarch progressively take away local power; townspeople lose rights and freedoms. Religious
revolt seen as ally to stay politically free.

Social and Political Conflict

 Reformation first in free imperial cities of Germany (Lutheran), Switzerland
(Zwinglian).
 65 free imperial cities.
 Some quickly turn, some slow, some mixed.
 Economic and social prosperity -> more enthusiastic to reform.
 Printers’ guild. Literate, sophisticated, rapidly growing.
 Bullied—certain guilds with government control, regions with powerful monarch.

Popular Religions Movements and Criticism of the Church [big idea]

 “Exile” in Avignon
 Great Schism
 Conciliar period (?)
 Renaissance papacy
 Diet of Worms (1521) German nobility present 102 oppressive, corrupting church bur-
dens.
In general, increasing frustration with Catholic Church by end of Middle Ages.

Lay Criticism
 Urban laypeople knew more about the world: travels, post, printing press, library.
 Religious simplicity; imitation of Jesus. Members equal, modeled on New Testament

The Modern Devotion (Brothers of the Common Life a/k/a The Modern Devotion)
 Religious life of prayer and study w/o church commitments or abandoning World.
 Zwolle, Deventer in Netherlands.
 Educated public; civic minded.
 Nicholas of Cusa; Johannes Reuchlin, Desiderius Eramus studied here.
 Thomas a Kempis: Imitation of Christ – most popular religious book.
 Personal piety. Conservative (retain old values) but not hierarchy.

Lay Control over Religious Life

 Network of church offices collapse: sense of regional identity, better regional administra-
tion.
 Benefice – church sell offices to highest bidder.
 Often benefice holders didn’t live in their diocese -> badly administer them. Greedy.

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  Rulers/administrators allowed/encouraged indulgences because taxed.
 Governments take more control of church properties, tax them, etc.

Martin Luther and the German Reformation to 1525

English/French national religion reformation: Statutes of Provisors and Paemunire/Pragmatic
Sanction of Bourges.

Bio [details]
 Son of Thuringian miner
 Educated Mansfeld, Magdeburg (Brothers o/t Common Life), Eisenach.
 1501 – 1505 Univ. of Erfurt. Did not pursue law like expected...
 Listened to William of Ockham, Gabriel Biel
 Entered Order of the Hermits of Saint Augustine in Erfurt on 17 July 1505.
 1510 – Went to Rome and verified criticisms.
 1511 – Augustinian monastery in Wittenberg, doctorate in theology 1512.

Justification by Faith Alone [big idea]

 Did not believe humans could achieve God-required perfection.
 Instead, don’t do good works for the sake of salvation. That prevents you from acting
selflessly b/c you always fear. Know faith will save you, then selflessly act. Not whether
to do good things; what to think about them.
 God does not account good works because that would be God a puppet to man.

The Attack on Indulgences

 Priestly absolution transform eternal penalty of sin into temporal (work: fast, pray, alms,
...)
 Indulgences originally given to Crusaders who couldn’t complete penance b/c died.
 1343 – Pope Clement 6 (r. 1342-1352) declare treasury of merit – infinite reserve of
Church’s good works. Dispensed by Pope.
 Sixtus 4 – Indulge sins of people in Purgatory.
 Leo 10 – revived Jubilee Indulgence (plenary) (first issued by Julius 2) to rebuild St.
Peter’s Basilica.
 Archbishop Albrecht of Mainz needed money to pay debt for holding 3 ecclesiastical of-
fices.
 Albrecht, Fugger banking house, and Pope Leo sold indulgences. Half to Leo; half
to Albrecht and creditors.
 John Tetzel preached indulgences good persuasively.
Luter’s 95 Theses argued indulgences to save Purgatory people trivialized salvation into a
product.

Election of Charles 5 [big idea; recurring]

Nuremberg humanists translated/distributed 95 Theses.
Death of Emperor Maximilian 1 (1519) bought time for Luther. Fortunate.

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  Pope support Francis 1.
 Habsburg and Fugger support (buy 7 votes) Charles 1 of Spain.
 Fredrick the Wise – Luther’s lord and protector.
 Exchange for votes, Charles 1 -> Charles 5 revive Imperial Supreme Court, Council of
Regency, and consult with diet on major FX/DX affairs.
 Prevented unilateral imperial action against reformists.

Luther’s Excommunication and the Diet of Worms

1520 – wrote
 Address to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation
 Rulers should force reforms and church and reduce its power.
 Babylonian Captivity of the Church
 Only 2/7 sacraments (Baptism, Eucharist) Biblical. Prince > Pope.
 Freedom of a Christian – Salvation by faith alone.
(Same year) Leo’s Papal Bull (Charter) Exsurge Domine declare heretic; give 60 days.
(Jan. 1521) bull of exocommunication.
(Apr. 1521) argued before Diet of Worms, presided by Chuck 5; ordered to recant. Said contra-
dicted Scripture, reason, conscience.
(May 1521) imperial ban declared him outlaw. Hid and disguised at Wartburg Castle for a year.
Translated New Testament to German using Erasmus.

Imperial Distractions: War with France and the Turks [big idea; recurring]
War with France and Ottoman Turks. Also worked on relationships with princes to get German
troops.
Diet of Speyer (1526) – declared princes free to enforce Edict of Worms (1521) (condemned
Luther) gave princes authority to religion.
Peace of Augsburg (1555) grant princely control over religion in imperial law.

How the Reformation Spread

1520s – 1530 : magistrates and princes adopted reformation and legislated reform.
Many rulers supported reforms for decades.
1530s: Schmaldkaldic League – German protestant lands; prepared for war against Catholic
emperor.

The Peasants’ Revolt

 Reformation plagued by internal division.
 Peasants, Luter initially sympathized each other. Peasants see criticism of Christian
freedoms and monastic landowners as their own.
 Lutherans not social revolutionaries; viewed intertwine with peasant revolution as doom.
 Revolt 1524-5 invoking Luther’s name. He condemned as un-Christian. Suppressed;
70,000 – 100,000 died.
 If Luther supported revolution, he’d contradict himself and probably die.
 Critics believe decision ended hope of Reformation as social and moral force.

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The Reformation Elsewhere

Zwingli and the Swiss Reformations [big idea]

Switz. 13 cantons. Some P, C, both.
1. Popular opposition to mercenary service.
2. Desire for reform since Councils of Constance (1414-1417) and Basel (1431-1449).

Reformation in Zurich
Ulrich Zwingli (1484-1531) humanist, credited more Erasmus, less Luther, Chaplain with mer-
cenaries in Battle of Marignano in Italy in 1515 (they lost). Then criticized; (1) threaten sover-
eignty and (2) morality. Opposed indulgences.
1519 – competed for People’s Priest in Church of Zurich.
 Affair with barber’s daughter, who had child. Minimized it.
 Not so scandalous; they sympathized with celibate clergy.
st
 1 reforming act: No longer need to be celibate.
 1522 – broken Lenten fast (~ burning own flag). Reject what is not literally supported by
scripture.
 1523 – city government sanctioned Scripture Test, concluding a dispute.
 Discipline: puritanical Protestantantism.

Marburg Colloquy
Landgrave Philip of Hesse (1504-1567) wanted to united Swiss and German under mutual de-
fense.
Zwingli advocate symbolic interpretation; “This is my body” -> only spiritually in bread.
Thought Luther still stuck in Medieval theology.
Luther advocate when Christ in spirit, he is also in body. No symbolize at all.
Though Zwingli was a dangerous fanatic.
Tetrapolitan Confession – semi-Zwinglian views, prepared by reformers Martin Bucer, Caspar
Hedio in 1530.

Swiss Civil Wars

Both at Kappel, 1529:Protestant victory Catholic cantons had to sever alliances and recognize
Protestant rights. 1531: Zwingli wounded, executed, dismembered, scattered. Treaty allowed
cantons to determine own religion.
Heinrich Bullinger (1504-1575), son-in-law, successor of Zwingli.

Anabaptists and Radical Protestants

Fundamentalists want faster, more through Apostolic Christianity.
Anabaptists: ancestors of modern Mennonite, Amish. Only baptize as adult (b/c Jesus baptized
as adult).
Luther, Zwingli argue congregation stood for infant’s place. Communual church more funda-
mental then individualism.

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Conrad Grebel and the Swiss Brethren
Grebel (1498-1526) founded Anabaptistism.
Schleitheim Confession (1527): define anabaptists pacifist, refusal to oath, no participate in secu-
lar government.
Separate from society to more perfect model of New Testament Church.
Authorities viewed separatism as threat, sedition.
The Anabaptist Reign in Munster – Lutherns, Zwinglians, and Catholics persecute them in
city.
1529 – Anabaptism capital. 1,000 – 5,000 K.
Jan Matthys of Haarlem, Jan Beukelsz of Leiden controlled Munster from 1534-5
 Kicked/forced convert Lutheran and Catholics
 Besieged.
 Adopted polygamy (many widowed/deserted women), Old Testament theocracy.
 Protestant and Catholic armies killed them, hung their skeletons.
Menno Simons (1496-1561) founded Mennonites, non-provocative separatist Anabaptist.

Spiritualists
God speaks directly to you, in the present.
Thomas Muntzer, died in a peasant’s revolt.
Sebastian Franck – K dogmatic religion; advocate religious autonomy.
Caspar Schwenckfeld – writer, wanderer. Schwenckfeldian Church named after.

Antitritinarians
Believed in commonsense, rational, ethical religion.
Michael Servetus (1511-1553), executed in Geneva for blasphemy against Trinity
Lelio, Faustus Sozzini founded Socinianism, opponenets of Calvinism, original sin, predestina-
tion.

John Calvin and the Genevan Reformation [big ideas]

1550+: Calvinism replace Lutheranism.
Established in Palatinate (Germany in Rhineland).
1. Predestination.
2. Reorder society according to God’s plan.
John Calvin (1509-64) son of secretary to bishop of Noyon; received benefices that paid for edu-
cation and law degree. Joined French Reform Party. Contributed to intellectual preparations.
1534 – conversion. Judge citizens compared to his own experience.
God’s will is sovereign and humans must conform.
May 1534 – surrendered benefices; joined Reformation.

Political Revolt and Religious Reform in Geneva

 1533 – Bern sent reformers Guillaume Farel (1489-1565) and Antoine Froment (1508-
1581) to Geneva.
 21 May 1536: Geneva officially adopt Reformation.
 Calvin arrive in July 1536. Farel convince him to stay.

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  Presented articles of governance and catechism in 1537.
 People thought they were too strong. Restored traditional ceremonies; exiled Calvin and
Farel.
nd
 Cavin went to Strasbourg. 2 edition Institutes of the Christian Religion; definitive mor-
al statement of Protestant faith.
Calvin’s Geneva
 1540 – Genevan officials who liked Calvin elected. Invited him to return; he never left.
 Implemented his reforms.
 Predestination: <Calvin says:> offend nonbelievers but true Christians take comfort be-
cause they know their lives are determined by a loving God.
 Enforced moral discipline. Had to practice what you preach.
 1553 – Execution of Michael Servetus, who K’d Trinity. Damaged Calvin’s reputation.
 Home to exiled Protestants from France, England, Scotland. 5,000 refugees, 1/3 popula-
tion, loyal to Calvin.
 All magistrates Calvinists.
 “woman’s paradise” because they beat men who beat women.

Political Consolidation of the Lutheran Reformation

The Diet of Augsburg [details]

Charles 5 focus on empire direct Diet of Augsburg (1530) to order Lutherans to recvert to Cath-
olicism.
1531 – Lutherans form Augsburg Confession, moderate statement of beliefs.
1538 – Luthern writes Schmalkaldic Articles, more strongly worded.
Led by Landgrave Philip of Hesse and Elector John Frederick of Saxony, stalemate with emper-
or; distracted by France and Turks once again.

The Expansion of the Reformation [details]

Consistories – theologians and lawyers replaced Catholic episcopates with Protestant churches.
Education reforms provided compulsory education, girls’ schools, humanist curriculum.
Christian 2 (r. 1513-1523) introduced Ref. to Denmark; promoted by Frederick 1; Christian 3
(r. 1536-1559) established as state religion.
Gustavus Vasa (r. 1523-1560) confiscated church property, Diet of Vesteras (1527) examined
clergy with royal authority. Supported by greedy nobility.
Poland: no central political authority; all Protestant sects could practice. Model of toleration in
1550+.

Reactions Against Protestants [big idea]

Charles 5 tried to compromise Protestants and Catholics 1540-1.
1547 – Imperial army defeat Schmalkaldic League; capture Frederick of Saxony and Philip of
Hesse.
Exiled; refuge in German city Magdeburg. Became center of Lutheran Resistance.

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The Peace of Augsburg
1552 – Chalres defeated by protestants.
Granted religious freedom in Peace of Passau (Aug. 1552).
Peace of Augsburg (Sept. 1555): ruler of land determine religion. Lutherans can keep seized
church land. Catholic prelates couldn’t take their lands and titles with them. Freedom to migrate
to different region w/ diff. religion. Did not accept Calvinism and Anabaptism.
Calvinists planned revolutions to gain freedom.

The English Reformation to 1553

Centrally resisted Pope’s influence since late Medieval.

The Preconditions to Reform

1520s – Cambridge discuss smuggled Lutheran writings.
 William Tyndale (ca. 1492-1536) translated New Testament to English 1524-5 in Ger-
many. Circulate in England 1526.
 Cardinal Thomas Wolsey (ca. 1475-1530), King Henry 8 (r. 1509-47) Sir Thomas More
(1478-1535) led royal opposition to Protestantism.
 King receive “Defender of the Faith” from Leo 10.
 More wrote Response to Luther in 1523.

The King’s Affair [big idea]

 Henry + Catherine -> (only) Mary.
 Female monarch unstable. Unnatural for women to rule over men.
 Henry believed God cursed him marriage because of Catherine’s previous marriage to his
brother Arthur.
 Prohibited by canon and Biblical law; required special permission from Pope.
 1527 – infatauted with Anne Boleyn, one of Catherine’s lady-in-waiting.
 Problem: Pope Leo was prisoner of Charles 5 b/c of the Sack of Rome in 1527.
 Charles 5 was Catherine’s nephew.
 Couldn’t annul.
 Cardinal Wolsey aspired to be Pope; put in charge of securing annulment and failed;
dismissed in 1529.
 [Lutherans] Thomas Cranmer (1489-1556), Thomas Cromwell (1485-1540) became
King’s advisers. Advised him to declare King supreme in English spiritual affairs.

The “Reformation Parliament” [details]

1529 – 7-year session; “Reformation parliament.” Subordinated clergy.
1531 – Convocation – legislative assembly representing English clergy, recognize Henry as head
of English church.
1532 – Parliament published grievances against church; Submission of the Clergy – put canon
law under royal control, clergy under royal jurisdiction.
1533 – Henry web (pregnant) Anne.

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Feb – King highest court of appeals.
Mar – Cranmer became archbishop of Canterbury; led invalidating marriage to Catherine.
1534 – Ended payments to Rome; King authority of church appointments.
Act of Succession: Anne’s children were legit heirs to the throne.
Act of Supremancy: Henry only supreme head in earth of Church of England.
Executed Thomas More and John Fisher when they refused Acts.
1536, 1538 – Dissolved monasteries, nunneries.

Wives of Henry 8
1536 – Anne executed for (alleged) treason, adultery. Daughter Elizabeth, Mary declared illegit.
Married four times. Marriage with Anne of Cleves intended to ally with Protestant German
Princes; wasn’t worth the trouble.

The King’s Religious Conservatism

1536 – Ten Articles only minor protestant concessions. Remained Catholic (w/o Rome).
Six Articles of 1539 – reaffirm Catholic doctrines.
Tyndale’s Bible grew into Coverdale Bible (1535) and Great Bible (1539).

The Protestant Reformation Under Edward 6

 Edward 6 was only 10; regency of Edware Seymour -> Duke of Somerset; Earl of
Warwick -> Duke of Northumberland.
 Reformed. Communicated with John Calvin.
 1549 – Act of Uniformity enforcced Cranmer’s Book of Common Prayer.
 German Protestant leaders fled to England in refuge after Charles 8’s Victory over
princes (1547).
 1552 – Second Act of Uniformity; revised Common Prayer; moderate Protestant doctrine.
1553 – Catherine’s daughter Mary 1 (d. 1558) succeeded Edward (died as teen); restore Cathol-
ic.

Catholic Reform and Counter-Reformation

Sources of Catholic Reform

 Many reform proposals made, but popes squashed them b/c they had already lost enough
power in Council of Constance + Basel.
 New orders within church:
 Theatines reform-minded, founded by Bishop Gian Pietro Carafa -> Pope Paul 4
 Caupuchins, return to Saint Francis ideals.
 Somaschi, Barnabites repair Italy morally and physically.
 Ursulines – covents in France, Italy for all social classes.
 Oratorians – elite clerics to promote religious literature and music.
 Medieval monasticism: 2 mysticists St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross

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Ignatius of Loyola and the Jesuits [big idea]
 Ignatius of Loyala (1491-1556) originally courtier and soldier; conversion when he was
wounded and passed time reading Christian classics. Impressed by self-sacrifice of
Saints; wanted to be soldier of Christ.
 Spiritual Exercises encouraged absolute spiritual self-discipline. Control own behavi-
or.
 Teach to submit unquestioningly to church authority.
 Attached traditional spirituality and mysticism; drew back some Protestants.

[Catholic Reform] The Council of Trent (1545-1563) [big idea]

 Success of Reformation + Charles 5 --> Pope Paul 3 (r. 1534-1549) call council of
church.
 Pope appointed reform commission chaired by Caspar Contarini (1483-1542), liberal
theologian.
 His report so critical pope suppressed; distributed amongst protestants as justification.
 Trent = imperial city in northern Italy.
 3 sessions over 18 years b/c of war, plague and politics.
 Spanned 4 different Pope reigns.
 Reformed internal rules.
 No sell church offices or other stuff.
 Bishops must move back to diocese and preach regularly; regularly visit parishes.
 Parish priests had to be educated, well-dressed, celibate.
 Seminary in every diocese.
 Reaffirm traditional Catholic doctrine. Aquinas take precedence.
 Pope promised only religious reforms, no gain political power. Rulers gradually accept.

The Social Significance of the Reformation in Western Europe

 Luther, Zwingli, Calvin politically conservative.
 “magisterial reformers” – used magistrates to coerce populace.
 Some say this made them compromise principles.
 They didn’t want to change reigning laws and institutions.
 Some scholars say they encouraged acceptance of socio political SQUO.

The Revolution in Religious Practices and Institutions

Religion in 1400s (15th Cent.) Life
 Clergy 6-8% population; political and spiritually powerful.
 1/3 of year was some religious observation. 100 days could not eat eggs, butter, fat,
meat.
 Children of most powerful lived in Monasteries, Nunneries.
 Mass completely in Latin.
 Aristocrats donated to churches and chapels; building walls recorded their lineage.
 100s-1,000s pilgrims gather to shrines in search of cure or miracle. Some entertainment.

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  Sold indulgences many times a year.
 Clergy in public w/ concubines and children. Church tolerated if they paid penitential
fine.
 Clergy exempt from tax, often criminal law too.
 Poorly trained and paid substitutes of church offices “take care of souls.”
Religion in 1500s (16th Cent.) Life
 Clergy decrease 2/3.
 Religious holidays decrease 1/3.
 Cloisters gone; many transformed into hospice or school.
 Churches reduced 1/3.
 Service in vernacular.
 Shrines closed; fined and punished those venerating saints.
 Encouraged meditation of Bible.
 Clergy under civil jurisdiction. Could marry; most did.
 Not everybody happy; ½ original coverts converted back before 1600. Only 1/5 protest-
ant by 1650.

The Reformation and Education

 Protestants humanist; humanist tools of primary sources better suited for Protestantism
than scholasticism
 Ignatius encouraged adopting authoritative scholastic theologians’ perspectives.
 Philip Melanchthon (1497-1560) – “praeceptor of Germany” On Improving the Studies
of the Young (address, not book); argue Scholasticism undermined sound Biblical doc-
trine, bred contempt for Greek, mathematics, and oratory. Encouraged study history, po-
etry, etc.
 Luther and Melanchthon reform Univ. of Wittenerg curriculum. Scholastic stuff
dropped. Read original sources, defend original study. Study Greek, Hebrew.
 John Calvin and Theodore Beza form Genevan Academy -> Unv. Of Geneva. Similar
goals to Wittenberg.
 Some feared Protestantism narrowed Humanism (Erasmus).
 But Protestant educational institutions preserved for modernity many humanist works and
achievements.

The Reformation and the Changing Role of Women

 Rejected medieval tendency to (1) degrade women as temptresses; (2) exalt as virgins.
 Praised women in own right; esp. Biblical job as mother, housewife.
 Luther, Calvin greatly helped by wives. Companionate marriage: Coworkers in God-
ordained family.
 Women gain divorce rights. Before, couldn’t divorce, remarry.
 Expose: nunnery administered by men; just as abusive as husband.
 Higher classes protested closing nunneries because cloistered life more interesting for
them than secular.
 Reformation encouraged literacy of women to model lives after own reading of Bible.

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  Also gave roles as independent authors for Reformation.

Family Life in Early Modern Europe

Later Marriages
 Men marry 25-30; women 20-25.
 After Reformation, marriage required parental consent and public vows in Church.
 Took longer to prepare materially for marriage.
 1/5 women never married; 15% unmarried widows.
 Higher childbirth mortality rates -> more remarriage for men.
 Increased premarital sex, illegitimate children.

Arranged Marriages
 Parents discussed first.
 By 1400s, usual for partners to have had some prior relationship.
 Parents respected emotional feelings
 Coerced marriages invalid.

Family Size
 Nuclear: father, mother, 2-4 children who survive as adults.
 Lived in larger household w/ in-laws, servants, laborers, boarders.
 6-7 children; 1 birth/2 yrs. 1/3 die by 5; ½ die by teen.

Birth Control
 13th, 14th century: church prohibitions evidence contraceptive mentality.
 Not effective; Aquinas doctrine morality = no frustrate nature’s goal. Contraception frus-
trates natural goal of childbirth.

Wet Nursing
 Increase risk of mortality: strange, shared milk supply; nurse less healthy and sanitary.
 Men preferred wives not nurse.
 Church forbade lactating mother to have sex.
 Nursing 75% effective contraception --> males wanted more heirs quickly.
 Women wanted vanity, convenience.

Loving Families?
 Children sent to school, apprenticeship, employment.
 Widowers, widows remarried within months.
 However, loving to prepare child for future; remarry soon to survive.

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Literary Imagination in Transition

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra: Rejection of Idealism

 No Protestant Reformation; entrench Church and Inquisition.
 Spanish literature intertwine piety + political power --> chivalry.
 Preoccupied with heroes.
 Cervantes (1547-1616) self-educated.
 Worked in Rome for Spanish cardinal.
 Soldier decorated in Battle of Lepanto (1571) against Turks.
 Ship pirated in Algiers (1575); spent 5 years as slave.
 Imprisoned as tax collector for padding.
■ Wrote Don Quixote in 1603 in prison.
■ Part I appeared in 1605. Satire chivalric romance. But only satire on surface.
Appeal to philosophers and theologians.
■ Don was middle-aged man. Read too many romances; believed he was night and
got rusty armor; fancied peasant girl Dulcinea as noble. Fights windmill (think is
dragon), makes fool of himself. Defeated by friend in combat; returns to die
broken-hearted. Sancho Panza, Quixote’s squire, laughs at him. Realist
■ Reader believes both should be admired; needed for happy balance.

William Shakespeare: Dramatist of the Age

 1564-1616; married Anne Hathaway 1582.
 Worked as schoolteacher; learned Renaissance literature.
 Conservative; viewed governments as rulers instead of ideals.
 Participated in every part of the theater.
 1590-1610: many played performed at court.
 English drama blend many forms: classical comedy and tragedy, medieval morality, con-
temporary Italian short story.
 Richard 3 (1593) is a history. Not as good as his tragedies.
 4 tragedies/3 yrs. Hamlet (1603) Othello (1604) King Lear (1605) Macbeth (1606).

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