Chapter 11 - The Age of Reformation

Protestant Reformation occurred during conflict between nation-states in Europe

• First in imperial cities of Germany and Switzerland
• Deep social and political divisions
• Certain groups favored the reformation - like printers who were literate

POPULAR RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS AND CRITICISM OF THE CHURCH

• The reformation could not have happened without the numerous conflicts that had risen within the church during the Renaissance.
• Diet of Worms (Germany) presented the emperor with 102 oppressive church burdens and abuses
• Urban laypeople were more knowledgeable about the world around them
• Lay religious movements had one common goal: Religious simplicity in the imitation of Jesus.
• Egalitarian church - gives members and head of church power
• Spiritual church - lived according to the New Testament model
• The Modern Devotion
• Aka. Brothers of the Common Life - boarding school for reform-minded laity
• Religious life outside of church offices & formal vows
• Prayer and study without sacrifice of the world
• Mostly N. Europe
• Also educators, educated Nicholas of Cusa, Hebraist Johannes Reuchlin, and Desiderius Erasmus
• Summarized in the Kempis' book - The Imitation of Christ
• Lay Control over Religious Life
• Rome's international network of church offices was failing
• Benefice system (church positions sold) of early church began to die out
• Communities protested the financial and spiritual abuses of the church before Luther
• He wrote Address to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation
• Indulgences, good deeds
• Endowing preacherships - hiring well-trained pastors to provide services apart from Mass
• Clerical privileges diminished, and now were subject to judgment and other authority

MARTIN LUTHER AND THE GERMAN REFORMATION TO 1525

• Germany lacked political unity to enforce national religious reforms
• Luther dropped out of law school to fulfill a promise and become a monk
• JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONE
• Righteousness not earned, but given to those who believe in God
• Faith without charitable service is dead
• ATTACK ON INDULGENCES
• Church sold indulgences - starting with Pope Clement VI
• Pope Leo X - Jubilee Indulgence to rebuild St. Peter's basilica
• Luther thought these were ridiculous, included in 95 theses
• Election of Charles V
• Got votes of seven imperial electors to become emperor
• Frederick the Wise (supported Luther)
• Luther's Excommunication and the Diet of Worms
• Luther debated John Eck and challenged the pope and church councils and their authority
• Defended the teachings of John Huss
• Wrote 3 pamphlets
• Address to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation - urged German princes to force reforms on Roman church
• Babylonian Captivity of the Church attacked the 7 sacraments - defending only 2 (communion and baptism)
• Freedom of a Christian - salvation by faith alone
• Leo's Papal Bull (Exsurge Domine) condemned Luther for heresy, and excommunicated him
• Luther presented his ideas before the Diet of Worms, but refused to recant his statements
• Imperial Distractions - War W/ France and the Turks
• Edict of Worms could be enforced against Luther, made precedent for final settlement of religious conflict
• Peace of Augsburg enshrined princely control over religion and imperial law
• How the Reformation Spread
• Passed from theologians and pamphleteers to magistrates and princes
• Reformation became law
• The Peasants' Revolt
• At first, reformation suffered the most from internal division
• Peasants saw Luther's views as very close to their own
• Luther did not want his movement to be associated with a peasant revolt

Reformation Elsewhere

• ZWINGLI AND THE SWISS REFORMATION
• Switz was a loose confederacy of 13 states, some Catholic, some Protestant, some both.
• Growth of national sentiment
• Desire for church reform
• Reformation in Zurich
• Zwingli (leader of Swiss reformation) was humanistically educated
• Erasmus > Luther
• Opposed indulgences and religious superstition
• Had an affair thing, and protested for the right for clergy to marry legally
• Broke the Lenten fast
• His beliefs had to be literally stated in the Bible
• The Marburg Colloquy
• Disputes over the literal meaning or interpretation of the Eucharist 
• Swiss Civil Wars
• Divisions in religion caused civil wars to break out
• Zwingli won the second battle and was executed and chopped into pieces.
• ANABAPTISTS AND RADICAL PROTESTANTS
• Devout Protestants who wanted quicker implementation of Apostolic Christianity
• Most important were Anabaptists (ancestors of Mennonites & Amish)
• Rejected infant baptism
• Conrad Grebel originated Anabaptism
• Swiss Bretheren
• Schleitheim Confession - document that distinguished Anabaptists by their adult baptism, pacifism, refusal to take oaths, and not taking part in secular governments, and polygamy
• Physically separated themselves from society
• Became composed as a mainly agrarian class
• Rebaptism became a capital offense in the HRE
• Came to power in Munster, Germany and forced Lutherans and Catholics to convert or emigrate
• Menno Simons founded the Mennonites - a non-provocative separatist Anabaptism - which survived.
• Spiritualists
• Disdained from external, institutional religion
• Believed the only religious authority was the Spirit of God which spoke here and now
• Thomas Muntzer, Sebastian Franck, Caspar Schwenckfeld
• Antrinitarians
• Exponents of a commonsense, rational, and ethical religion
• Michel Servetus (executed by request of John Calvin)
• Lelio and Faustus Sozzini - founders of Socinianism
• Strongest opposers of Calvinsim - especially his belief in predestination
• Did not believe in the Trinity

JOHN CALVIN AND THE GENEVAN REVOLUTION

• Second half of 16th century - Calvinism replaced Lutheranism as the dominant Protestant force in Europe
• Inspired or accompanied massive political influence in France, the Netherlands, and Scotland
• Established itself in the Palatinate (in Germany) during the rule of Elector Frederick III
• Believed in predestination and an individual responsibility to reorder society according to God's plan.
• Political Revolt and Religious Reform in Geneva
• In many places, religion came before political reform, but in Geneva it was different
• City of Bern sent 2 protestant reformers to Geneva - Guillaume Farel & Antione Froment
• Protestants triumphed and officially voted to accept the Reformation
• Calvin arrived afterwards and help draw up reformation documents
• Calvin went and became a preacher to French exiles,
• Wrote second edition of Institutes of the Christian Religion

Calvin's Geneva

• Geneva called Calvin back to help obtain independence from Bern
• Genevan Church organized into 4 offices:
• 1. Pastors (5)
• 2. Teachers or doctors to teach the people and defend the doctrine
• 3. Elders (12 laypeople)
• 4. Deacons to dispense church goods and services to the less fortunate
• Predestination was a controversial issue - like Luther's justification of faith
• "only doctrine for mature Christians"
• Not necessarily whether or not one was going to heaven or hell, but that everything in this world was already planned out by God before time began
• Calvin played a role in the capture and execution of Michael Servetus
• Persecuted Protestants flocked to Geneva (a "woman's paradise" because men couldn't beat their wives)

POLITICAL CONSOLIDATION OF THE LUTHERAN REFORMATION

• The Diet of Augsburg
• 1530 Charles V returned HRE to Diet of Augsburg - assembly of Catholic and Protestant Reps came together to address growing religious division
• Diet adjourned with the order of all Lutherans to convert back to Catholicism
• Lutherans responded with the Schmalkaldic League - took Augsburg Confession (statement of Protestant beliefs)  as its banner
• Luther drew up Schmalkaldic Articles
• Expansion of the Reformation
• German Lutherans formed regional bodies to create new churches
• Educational reforms
• Reformation was introduced to Denmark by King Christian II, where it thrived under Frederick I
• Under Christian III Lutheranism became the official state religion
• Sweden - King Gustavus Vasa embraced Lutheranism and subjected church authority to the Diet of Vesteras
• Poland was split between Lutherans, Anabaptists, Calvinists, and Antitrinitarians
• Reaction Against Protestants
• Charles V tried to enforce a compromise between Protestants and Catholics
• Turned to a military solution
• Established puppet rulers in Saxony and Hesse, and issued imperial law that Protestants had to return to Catholicism
• The Peace of Augsburg
• Charles reinstated Protestant leaders and guaranteed Lutherans religious freedoms in the Peace of Passau - surrendering his request for religious unity
• Peace of Augsburg made division of Christendom permanent
• Ruler of a land could determine its religion

THE ENGLISH REFORMATION TO 1553

• The Preconditions of Reform
• English reformers met in Cambridge to discuss Lutheran writings that had been smuggled into England
• One was William Tyndale (Translated New Testament to English)
• Cardinal Thomas Wolsey and Sir Thomas More guided royal opposition to English Protestantism
• King Henry VII defended the 7 sacraments against Luther - gaining title of "Defender of the Faith" from Pope Leo X
• The King's Affair
• Henry VII married Catherine of Aragon (daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella) 
• They never had a son, and their daughter was a girl so unfit to rule
• Henry thought that they couldn't have kids because their marriage was bad (he married his brother's wife after he died - had to get special permission from the Pope)
• Henry liked Anne Boleyn and wanted the Pope to annul his marriage.  This was almost impossible in the first place, but even more so under the circumstances of war at hand
• Cardinal Wolsey was assigned the task of getting the annulment and failed  - he was fired.  Thomas Cranmer and Thomas Cromwell took his place
• The "Reformation Parliament"
• 1529 - parliament convened for a 7 year session
• Established precedent that whenever fundamental changes are made in religion, the monarch must consult and work with the Parliament
• Convocation publicly recognized Henry as the head of the Church of England
• Henry then wed pregnant Anne Boleyn
• Act of Succession made Boleyn's children legitimate heirs to the throne
• Act of Supremacy declared Henry the only supreme head in earth of the Church of England
• Henry had those who refused to accept this (More & Fisher) executed
• Wives of Henry VII
• Anne Boleyn executed for alleged treason and adultery and her daughter was declared illegitimate
• Henry had 4 more marriages
• Jane Seymour - gave birth to Edward VI
• Anne of Cleves - tried to create alliance with Protestant princes of Germany
• Catherine Howard - beheaded for adultery
• Catherine Parr - patron of humanists and reformers
• The King's Religious Conservatism
• Henry's boldness in politics did not transfer to religion
• Ten Articles of 1536 - made mild concessions to Protestant tenets
• Still forbade clergy to marry
• Struck directly at Protestant views in Six Articles of 1539
• Reaffirmed transubstantiation, denied communion wine to the laity, declared celibate vows inviolable, provided for private masses, and ordered continuation of oral confession
• The Protestant Reformation under Edward VI
• Edward was only 10 when Henry VIII died
• Ruled under/with Edward Seymour
• During this time, England enacted Protestant reformation
• Corresponded directly with John Calvin
• Henry's Six Articles were repealed
• Chantries -places where masses were said for the dead - were dissolved
• Act of Uniformity imposed Thomas Cranmer's  Book of Common Prayer on all English Churches
• Second Act of Uniformity - imposed Book of Common Prayer on all English churches
• Changes were short-lived, Edward died in his teens, Mary took over, and later Elizabeth took over and worked out a religious settlement

CATHOLIC REFORM AND COUNTER-REFORMATION

• Sources of Catholic Reform
• Many new religious orders sprang up in the 1500s to revive piety in the church
• Order of Theatines - to groom devout and reform-minded leaders at high levels of church
• Bishop Gian Pietro Carafa (Pope Paul IV)
• Capuchins Order - sought to return original ideals of St. Francis
• Somaschi & Barnabites worked to repair moral, spiritual, and physical damage done to the people in war-torn Italy
• Uruslines - for women, established convents in Italy and France
• Oratorians - clerics devoted to the promotion of religious literature and church music
• Giovanni Perluigi da Palestrina
• Piety and medieval monasticism were revived by St. Theresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross
• Ignatius of Loyola and the Jesuits
• The Society of Jesus - most important counter-reformation group (The order of Jesuits)
• Organized by Ignatius of Loyola
• Inspired by the stories of saints
• Created a program of religious and moral self-discipline as written in his Spiritual Exercises
• Contained mental and emotional exercises that were meant to teach absolute spiritual self-mastery over one's feelings
• Intended to teach Catholics how to deny themselves and submit without questioning church authority
• Perfect discipline and self-control were the essential conditions of obedience
• Grew exponentially
• Helped win many Protestants back to the Catholic religion
• Council of Trent (1545 - 1563)
• The success of the reformation made Charles V force Pope Paul III to reassert church doctrine
• Pope appointed a commission,  chaired by Caspar Contarini
• Strictly under the Pope's control
• Three sessions - spread out over 18 years
• Rules were set to uphold and reinforce church discipline
• Reaffirmed scholastic education of the clergy, role of good works in salvation, authority of tradition, seven sacraments, transubstantiation, the withholding of the Eucharistic cup from the laity, clerical celibacy, purgatory, veneration of saints, relics, and sacred images, and indulgences

THE SOCIAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE REFORMATION IN WESTERN EUROPE

• Religious reformers wanted to have reform take shape in reigning laws and institutions
• The Revolution in Religious Practices and Institutions
• Religion in Fifteenth-Century Life
• Church calendar regulated daily life - 1/3 of the year was a religious holiday or observance
• Monasteries and nunneries were prominent institutions
• The Mass and liturgy were read entirely in Latin
• Saints were commonly displayed
• Religious shrines and indulgences were still popular
• Many clergy had children - even though they were forbidden to marry and were strictly sworn to celibacy
• Townspeople were worried that the church had too much influence
• Religion in Sixteenth-Century Life
• After the Reformation, few changes were really evident
• Same powerful families ruled and rich got richer, poor got poorer
• Number of clergy fell by 2/3 and there were fewer religious holidays
• Number of churches was reduces and sermons and worship were in the vernacular
• Indulgences and shrines were gone, venerating saints and relics became a crime
• Luther's New Testament was present in many homes, studied individually
• Almost 1/2 of the original converts returned to the Catholic Church before the 17th century
• The Reformation and Education
• There was an implementation of many educational reforms of humanism in Protestant schools
• Ignatius Loyola insisted when the Bible and Church Fathers were read directly, they be read under the guidance of scholastic theologians: Peter Lombard, Bonaventure, and Aquinas
• Philip Melanchthon - a humanist and professor of Greek - wanted to reform curriculum to the humanist model
• His inaugural address On Improving the Studies of the Young portrayed himself as a defender of good letters and classical studies
• Together with Luther - they restructured the University of Wittenberg's curriculum
• Straightforward historical study replaced scholastic lectures
• In Geneva, John Calvin and Theodore Beza founded the Genevan Academy (University of Geneva)
• The Reformation and the Changing Role of Women
• Protestant reformers favored clerical marriage
• Moved from condemning women as temptresses (Eve) to exalting them as Virgins (Mary)
• Women were important to family and home life, and companionship
• Women held almost equal divorce rights, especially in cases of abuse
• Women were to be educated in the vernacular so that they could read the Bible and improve themselves

Family Life in Early Modern Europe

• Later Marriages
• Men and women began to marry later, in their late twenties and early twenties respectively
• The church sanctioned age for marriage was still 14 and 12
• After Reform, parental consent and public vows were needed for a marriage to be fully licit
• People were not materially ready for marriage at such a young age
• Women who had children at "later" ages died more often, do men remarried more
• Delayed marriage = more premarital sex and illegitimate children
• Arranged Marriages
• It was "arranged" because parents met and discussed the terms of the marriage beforehand
• Wealth and social standing were not the only important things, they usually knew each other and parents respected emotional feelings
• Family Size
• Conjugal, or nuclear, consisting of a father, mother, and 2-4 children that lived to adulthood
• Lived with a larger household including servants, in-laws, laborers and borders
• Average husband and wife had 6-7 children
• Birth Control
• Artificial birth control has existed for a long time
• The church had condemned coitus interruptus (pulling out method)
• Methods were not super effective, and were condemned by the church
• Wet Nursing
• High class women would hire nurses to feed their babies
• Increased risk of infant mortality because it was unusual milk that was in less sanitary conditions
• Husbands approved because lactating women weren't supposed to have sex
• Nursing had a contraceptive effect
• Loving Families?
• Families often sent children ages 8-13 off to school or apprenticeships
• Best way to get a good life for some children
• Spouses may have not had a great connection because they often remarried super quick after being widowed

LITERARY IMAGINATION IN TRANSITION

• Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra: Rejection of Idealism
• Spanish literature reflected peculiar religious history there since Catholicism was a major influence
• The piety of Spanish rulers and preoccupation with the chivalry of medieval virtues like honor and loyalty influenced writings
• Lope de Vega and Pedro Calderon de la Barca were writers who became priests
• Cervantes wrote Don Quixote which included realism with religious idealism

William Shakespeare : Dramatist of the Age

• A political conservative
• Member and principal writer for a play company called the King's Men
• Thomas Kyd and Christopher Marlowe influenced Shakespeare
• Kyd wrote the first dramatic version of Hamlet
• Marlowe's tragedies set an example for Shakespeare
• Wrote Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet