The
Protestant Reformation was a
ChristianA Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic, religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, who Christians believe was the Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible, and the Son of God.The term "Christian" is also used adjectivally to...
reform movementA reform movement is a kind of social movement that aims to make gradual change, or change in certain aspects of society rather than rapid or fundamental changes. A reform movement is distinguished from more radical social movements such as revolutionary movements.Reformists' ideas are often...
in
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
which is generally deemed to have begun with
Martin LutherMartin Luther changed the course of Western civilization by initiating the Protestant Reformation. As a priest and theology professor, he confronted indulgence salesmen with his The Ninety-Five Theses in 1517. Luther strongly disputed their claim that freedom from God's punishment of sin could...
's
Ninety-Five Theses in 1517 although a number of precursors such as
Jan HusJan Hus aka Jan Huss, John Hus, John Huss , often referred to in English as John Huss or variations thereof, was a Czech Catholic priest, philosopher, reformer, and master at Charles University in Prague.He is famed for having been burned at the stake for what the Roman Catholic Church considered...
predate that event. The Reformation is considered to have ended with the
Peace of WestphaliaThe term Peace of Westphalia refers to the two peace treaties of Osnabrück and Münster, signed on May 15 and October 24, 1648, respectively, and written in French, that ended both the Thirty Years' War in the Holy Roman Empire and the Eighty Years' War between Spain and the Republic of the Seven...
in 1648; however, many of the denominations that arose during that period continue to exist and
ProtestantismProtestantism is a branch within Christianity, containing many denominations with some differing practices and doctrines, that principally originated in the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation. It is considered to be one of the major divisions within Christianity, together with the Roman...
constitutes one of the branches of
ChristianityChristianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented by the revelations in the New Testament....
today.
Introduction
The movement began as an attempt to reform the Catholic Church. Many western Catholics were troubled by what they saw as false doctrines and malpractices within the church, particularly involving the teaching and sale of
indulgenceAn indulgence, in Catholic Theology, is the full or partial remission of temporal punishment due for sins which have already been forgiven. The indulgence is granted by the church after the sinner has confessed and received absolution. The belief is that indulgences draw on the storehouse of merit...
s. Another major contention was the practice of buying and selling church positions (
simonySimony is the ecclesiastical crime of paying for holy offices or positions in the hierarchy of a church, named after Simon Magus, who appears in the Acts of the Apostles 8:18-24. Simon Magus offers the disciples of Jesus, Peter and John payment so that anyone he would place his hands on would...
) and what was seen at the time as considerable corruption within the
church's hierarchyIn the Catholic Church, the term hierarchy has a variety of related usages. Literally, "holy government", the term is employed in different instances. There is a Hierarchy of Truths, which refers to the levels of solemnity of the official teaching of the faith. There is a hierarchical nature of the...
. This corruption was seen by many at the time as systemic, even reaching the position of the
PopeThe pope is the Bishop of Rome and, as such, is leader of the worldwide Catholic Church...
.
Martin Luther's spiritual predecessors included men such as
John WycliffeJohn Wycliffe was an English theologian, lay preacher, translator, reformist and university teacher who was known as early dissident in the Roman Catholic Church during the 14th century...
and Johannes Hus, who had attempted to reform the church along similar lines. The Reformation is generally deemed to have begun on October 31, 1517, in
WittenbergWittenberg, officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg, is a town in Germany in the Bundesland Saxony-Anhalt, on the Elbe River. It has a population of about 50,000....
,
SaxonyThe Electorate of Saxony or Duchy of Upper Saxony was an independent hereditary electorate of the Holy Roman Empire from 1356 to 1806...
(in present-day Germany). There, Luther nailed his
Ninety-Five Theses to the door of the
All Saints' ChurchAll Saints' Church, commonly referred to as Schlosskirche, meaning "Castle Church" — to distinguish it from the "town church", the Stadtkirche of St. Mary — and sometimes known as the Reformation Memorial Church, is a Lutheran church in Lutherstadt Wittenberg, Germany...
, which served as a notice board for university-related announcements. These were points for debate that criticized the church and the Pope. The most controversial points centered on the practice of selling indulgences and the church's policy on
purgatoryPurgatory is the condition or process of purification in which the souls of those who die in a state of grace are made ready for Heaven. This is an idea that has ancient roots and is well-attested in early Christian literature, while the conception of purgatory as a geographically situated place is...
. Other reformers, such as Ulrich Zwingli, soon followed. Beliefs and practices under attack by Protestant reformers included purgatory, particular judgment, devotion to
MaryMary , usually referred to by Christians as the Virgin Mary or Saint Mary, was a Jewish woman of Nazareth in Galilee, identified in the New Testament as the mother of Jesus of Nazareth. Muslims also refer to her as the Virgin Mary or Syeda Mariam which means Our Lady Mary...
(Mariology), the intercession of and devotion to the
saintSaints, individuals of exceptional holiness, are significant in many religions, particularly Christianity.-General characteristics :Though the term is mostly used for Christians considered holy or virtuous, many religions use similar concepts to elevate people worthy of respect, e.g. see Hindu...
s, most of the sacraments, the mandatory
celibacyCelibacy is defined as the lifestyle of someone who is, and is striving to remain, unmarried all his/her life. It is also used to describe a state of life where one chooses to abstain from all sexual activities...
requirement of its clergy (including
monasticismMonasticism is the religious practice in which one renounces worldly pursuits in order to fully devote one's life to spiritual work...
), and the authority of the
PopeThe pope is the Bishop of Rome and, as such, is leader of the worldwide Catholic Church...
.
The reform movement soon split along certain doctrinal lines. Spiritual disagreements between Luther and Zwingli, and later between Luther and
John CalvinJohn Calvin was an influential French theologian and pastor during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system of Christian theology later called Calvinism. Originally trained as a humanist lawyer, he broke from the Roman Catholic Church around 1530...
, led to the emergence of rival Protestant churches. The most important
denominationA Christian denomination is an identifiable religious body under a common name, structure, and doctrine within Christianity.Worldwide, Christians are divided, often along ethnic and linguistic lines, into separate churches and traditions. Technically, divisions between one group and another are...
s to emerge directly from the Reformation were the Lutherans, and the Reformed/Calvinists/Presbyterians. The process of reform had decidedly different causes and effects in other countries. In England, where it gave rise to
AnglicanismAnglicanism is a tradition within Christianity comprising churches with historical connections to the Church of England or similar beliefs, worship and church structures...
, the period became known as the
English ReformationThe English Reformation was the series of events in 16th century England by which the Church of England first broke away from the authority of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church....
. Subsequent Protestant denominations generally trace their roots back to the initial reforming movements. The reformers also accelerated the
Catholic or Counter ReformationThe Counter-Reformation denotes the period of Catholic revival beginning with the Council of Trent and ending at the close of the Thirty Years' War, 1648....
within the Catholic Church. The Protestant Reformation is also referred to as the
German Reformation,
Protestant Revolution or
Protestant Revolt.
History and origins
All mainstream Protestants generally trace their separation from the Catholic Church to the 16th century. The origin of mainstream Protestantism is sometimes called the
Magisterial Reformation because the movement received support from the magistrates, the ruling authorities (as opposed to the
Radical ReformationThe Radical Reformation was a 16th century response to what was believed to be both the corruption in the Roman Catholic Church and the expanding Magisterial Protestant movement led by Martin Luther and many others. Beginning in Switzerland, the Radical Reformation birthed many Anabaptist groups...
, which had no state sponsorship). Older Protestant churches, such as the
Unitas FratrumThis article is about the coordinating body of the Moravian Church worldwide. For the Christian denomination based in Texas see Unity of the Brethren....
(
Unity of the BrethrenThe Unity of the Brethren is a Christian denomination whose roots are in the pre-reformation work of Jan Hus, who was martyred in 1415....
), Moravian Brethren or the Bohemian Brethren trace their origin to the time of
Jan HusJan Hus aka Jan Huss, John Hus, John Huss , often referred to in English as John Huss or variations thereof, was a Czech Catholic priest, philosopher, reformer, and master at Charles University in Prague.He is famed for having been burned at the stake for what the Roman Catholic Church considered...
in the early 15th century. As it was led by a majority of Bohemian nobles and recognized for a time by the Basel Compacts, this was the first Magisterial Reformation in Europe. In Germany, a hundred years later, the protests erupted in many places at once, during a time of threatened Islamic
OttomanThe Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State , also known by its contemporaries as the Turkish Empire or Turkey , was an empire that lasted from 1299 to November 1, 1922 The Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State (Ottoman Turkish: دَوْلَتِ عَلِیَّهِ عُثْمَانِیَّه Dawlet-il ʿAliyyat-il ʿOs̠māniyye, Modern Turkish:...
invasionThe wars of the Ottoman Empire in Europe are also sometimes referred to as the Ottoman Wars or as Turkish Wars, particularly in older, European texts.- Rise :...
¹ which distracted German princes in particular. To some degree, the protest can be explained by the events of the previous two centuries in Europe and particularly in Bohemia.
Roots and precursors: 14th century and 15th century
Unrest due to the
Great Schism of Western ChristianityThe Great Schism of Western Christianity or Papal Schism was a split within the Roman Catholic Church from 1378 to 1417. By its end, three men simultaneously claimed to be the true pope. Driven by politics rather than any real theological disagreement, the schism was ended by the Council of...
(1378–1416) excited wars between princes, uprisings among the peasants, and widespread concern over corruption in the church. A new
nationalismNationalism is an ideology, a sentiment, a form of culture, or a social movement that focuses on the nation. It is a type of collectivism emphasizing the collective of a specific nation...
also challenged the relatively internationalist medieval world.
The first of a series of disruptive and new perspectives came from
John WycliffeJohn Wycliffe was an English theologian, lay preacher, translator, reformist and university teacher who was known as early dissident in the Roman Catholic Church during the 14th century...
at Oxford University, then from
Jan HusJan Hus aka Jan Huss, John Hus, John Huss , often referred to in English as John Huss or variations thereof, was a Czech Catholic priest, philosopher, reformer, and master at Charles University in Prague.He is famed for having been burned at the stake for what the Roman Catholic Church considered...
at the
University of PragueCharles University in Prague is the oldest and largest university in the Czech Republic. Founded in 1347, it was the first university in the Holy Roman Empire and in Central Europe in general...
. The Catholic Church officially concluded this debate at the
Council of ConstanceThe Council of Constance is the 16th ecumenical council recognized by the Roman Catholic Church, held from 1414 to 1418. The council ended the Western Schism, by deposing the remaining Papal claimants and electing Pope Martin V....
(1414–1417). The conclave condemned Jan Hus, who was executed by burning in spite of a promise of safe-conduct. Wycliffe was posthumously burned as a
hereticHeresy is proposing some unorthodox change to an established system of belief, especially a religion, that conflicts with the previously established opinion of scholars of that belief such as canon. It is sometimes confused with apostasy which is disaffiliation from orthodoxy and blasphemy which is...
.
The Council of Constance confirmed and strengthened the traditional medieval conception of church and empire. It did not address the national tensions, or the theological tensions which had been stirred up during the previous century. The council could not prevent
schismThe word schism , from the Greek σχίσμα, skhísma , means a split or a division, usually in an organization or a movement. A schismatic is a person who creates or incites schism in an organization or who is a member of a splinter group...
and the
Hussite WarsThe Hussite Wars, also called the Bohemian Wars involved the military actions against and amongst the followers of Jan Hus in Bohemia in the period 1420 to circa 1434. The Hussite Wars were arguably the first European war in which hand-held gunpowder weapons such as hand cannons made a decisive...
in
BohemiaBohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands, currently the Czech Republic...
.
Historical upheaval usually yields much new thinking as to how society should be organized. This was the case leading up to the Protestant Reformation. Following the breakdown of monastic institutions and
scholasticismScholasticism is derived from the Latin word scholasticus , which means "that [which] belongs to the school," and was a method of learning taught by the academics of medieval universities circa 1100–1500...
in late medieval Europe, accentuated by the "Babylonian Captivity" of the
Avignon PapacyThe Avignon Papacy, also known as the "Babylonian Captivity", was the period from 1305 to 1378 during which seven Popes resided in Avignon . The period was one of conflict and controversy during which French Kings held considerable sway over the Papacy and rulers across Europe felt sidelined by the...
, the Great Schism, and the failure of the
Conciliar movementConciliarism, or the conciliar movement, was a reform movement in the 14th and 15th century Roman Catholic Church which held that final authority in spiritual matters resided with the Roman Church as corporation of Christians, embodied by a general church council, not with the pope...
, the sixteenth century saw the fomenting of a great cultural debate about religious reforms and later fundamental religious values (See
German mysticismGerman mysticism, sometimes called Dominican mysticism or Rhineland mysticism, was a late medieval Christian mystical movement, that was especially prominent within the Dominican order and in Germany. Although its origins can be traced back to Hildegard of Bingen, it is mostly represented by...
). Historians would generally assume that the failure to reform (too many vested interests, lack of coordination in the reforming coalition) would eventually lead to a greater upheaval or even revolution, since the system must eventually be adjusted or disintegrate, and the failure of the conciliar movement helped lead to the Protestant Reformation in Europe. These frustrated reformist movements ranged from
nominalismNominalism is a metaphysical view in philosophy according to which general or abstract terms and predicates exist, while universals or abstract objects, which are sometimes thought to correspond to these terms, do not exist. Thus, there are at least two main versions of nominalism...
,
devotio moderna (modern devotion)Devotio Moderna, or Modern Devotion, was a religious movement of the Late Middle Ages. It came into advocation at the same time as Christian Humanism, a meshing of Humanism and Christianity. Christian Humanism advocated studying the fundamental texts of Christianity to come to one's own...
, to
humanismHumanism is a perspective common to a wide range of ethical stances that attaches importance to human dignity, concerns, and capabilities, particularly rationality. Although the word has many senses, its meaning comes into focus when contrasted to the supernatural or to appeals to authority...
occurring in conjunction with economic, political and demographic forces that contributed to a growing disaffection with the wealth and power of the
eliteElite is taken originally from the Latin, eligere, "to elect". In sociology as in general usage, the elite is a relatively small dominant group within a large society, having a privileged status perceived as being envied by others of a lower line of order.The elite at the top of the social strata...
clergyClergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given religion. The term ultimately comes from the Greek κλῆρος - klēros, "a lot", "that which is assigned by lot" or metaphorically, "inheritence"....
, sensitizing the population to the financial and moral corruption of the secular
RenaissanceThe Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Florence in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe...
church.
The outcome of the
Black DeathThe Black Death was one of the deadliest pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. It is widely thought to have been an outbreak of bubonic plague caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, but this view has recently been challenged...
encouraged a radical reorganization of the economy, and eventually of European society. In the emerging urban centers, however, the calamities of the fourteenth and early fifteenth century, and the resultant labor shortages, provided a strong impetus for economic diversification and technological innovations. Following the Black Death, the initial loss of life due to famine, plague, and pestilence contributed to an intensification of capital accumulation in the urban areas, and thus a stimulus to trade, industry, and burgeoning urban growth in fields as diverse as banking (the
FuggerThe Fugger family was a historically prominent group of European bankers, members of the fifteenth and sixteenth-century mercantile patriciate of Augsburg, international mercantile bankers, and venture capitalists like the Welser and the Höchstetter families. This banking family replaced the...
banking family in
AugsburgAugsburg is a city in the south-west of Bavaria in Germany. It is a College town and home of the Regierungsbezirk Schwaben and the Bezirk Schwaben. Augsburg is an urban district and home to the institutions of the Landkreis Augsburg. It is, as of 2008, the third-largest city in Bavaria with a...
and the
MediciThe House of Medici was a political dynasty, banking family and later royal house who first began to gather prominence under Cosimo de' Medici in the Republic of Florence during the late 14th century. The family originated in the Mugello region of the Tuscan countryside, gradually rising until...
family of
FlorenceFlorence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence...
being the most prominent); textiles,
armamentsA weapon is a tool used to apply force for the purpose of hunting, attack, self-defense, or defense in combat.Weapons can be as simple as a club, or as complex as an intercontinental ballistic missile, and include those that damage individual or group morale.-Prehistoric weapons:Very simple weapon...
, especially stimulated by the
Hundred Years' WarThe Hundred Years' War was a prolonged conflict lasting from 1337 to 1453 between two royal houses for the French throne, which was vacant with the extinction of the senior Capetian line of French kings. The two primary contenders were the House of Valois and the House of Plantagenet, also known...
, and mining of iron ore due, in large part, to the booming armaments industry. Accumulation of surplus, competitive
overproductionIn economics, overproduction refers to excess of supply over demand of products being offered to the market. This leads to lower prices and/or unsold goods.- Explanation :...
, and heightened competition to maximize economic advantage, contributed to civil war, aggressive
militarismMilitarism is the belief or desire of a government or people that a country should maintain a strong military capability and be prepared to use it aggressively to defend or promote national interests....
, and thus to centralization. As a direct result of the move toward centralization, leaders like
Louis XI of FranceLouis XI , called the Prudent and the Universal Spider or the Spider King, was the King of France from 1461 to 1483...
(1461–1483), the "spider king", sought to remove all constitutional restrictions on the exercise of their authority. In
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
,
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
, and
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
the move toward centralization begun in the thirteenth century was carried to a successful conclusion.
But as recovery and prosperity progressed, enabling the population to reach its former levels in the late 15th and 16th centuries, the combination of both a newly-abundant labor supply as well as improved productivity, were 'mixed blessings' for many segments of Western European society. Despite tradition, landlords started the move to exclude
peasantA peasant is an agricultural worker who subsists by working a small plot of ground. The word is derived from 15th century French païsant meaning one from the pays, or countryside, ultimately from the Latin pagus, or outlying administrative district A peasant is an agricultural worker who subsists...
s from "
common landCommon land is land owned collectively or by one person, but over which other people have certain traditional rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect firewood, or to cut turf for fuel. By extension, the term "commons" has come to be applied to other resources which a...
s". With trade stimulated, landowners increasingly moved away from the
manorialManorialism or Seigneurialism or Feudal Society was the organizing principle of rural economy and society widely practiced in medieval western and parts of central Europe...
economy. Woollen manufacturing greatly expanded in
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
,
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
, and the
NetherlandsThe Netherlands is a country in Northwestern Europe, constituting the major portion of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east...
and new textile industries began to develop.
The invention of
movable typeMovable type is the system of printing and typography that uses movable components to reproduce the elements of a document . The first known movable type system was invented in China by Bi Sheng out of ceramic between 1041 and 1048. Metal movable type was first invented in Korea during the Goryeo...
would lead to the Protestant zeal for translating the
BibleThe Bible contains the central religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. Modern Judaism generally recognizes a single set of canonical books known as the Tanakh, or Hebrew Bible, as it is written almost entirely in the Hebrew language, with some small portions in Aramaic...
and getting it into the hands of the laity. This would advance the culture of biblical literacy.
The "humanism" of the
RenaissanceThe Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Florence in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe...
period stimulated unprecedented academic ferment, and a concern for
academic freedomAcademic freedom is the belief that the freedom of inquiry by students and faculty members is essential to the mission of the academy, and that scholars should have freedom to teach or communicate ideas or facts without being targeted for repression, job loss, or imprisonment.Still, academic freedom...
. Ongoing, earnest theoretical debates occurred in the universities about the nature of the church, and the source and extent of the authority of the papacy, of councils, and of princes.
16th century
The protests against Rome began in earnest when
Martin LutherMartin Luther changed the course of Western civilization by initiating the Protestant Reformation. As a priest and theology professor, he confronted indulgence salesmen with his The Ninety-Five Theses in 1517. Luther strongly disputed their claim that freedom from God's punishment of sin could...
, a
friarA friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders.-Friars and monks:Friars differ from monks in that they are called to live the evangelical counsels in service to a community, rather than through cloistered asceticism and devotion...
of the
Order of Saint AugustineThe Order of St. Augustine , generally called Augustinians are a Catholic religious order which, although more ancient, were formally constituted in the thirteenth century and combined of several previous Augustinian monastic societies...
and professor at the university of
WittenbergWittenberg, officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg, is a town in Germany in the Bundesland Saxony-Anhalt, on the Elbe River. It has a population of about 50,000....
, called in 1517 for a reopening of the debate on the sale of
indulgenceAn indulgence, in Catholic Theology, is the full or partial remission of temporal punishment due for sins which have already been forgiven. The indulgence is granted by the church after the sinner has confessed and received absolution. The belief is that indulgences draw on the storehouse of merit...
s. Luther's dissent marked a sudden outbreak of a new and irresistible force of discontent which had been pushed underground but not resolved. The quick spread of discontent occurred to a large degree because of the
printing pressA printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a medium , thereby transferring an image. The mechanical systems involved were first assembled in Germany by the goldsmith Johannes Gutenberg around 1440, based on existing screw-presses used to press...
and the resulting swift movement of both ideas and documents, including
The Ninety-Five Theses. Information was also widely disseminated in manuscript form, as well as by cheap prints and woodcuts amongst the poorer sections of society.
Parallel to events in Germany, a movement began in
SwitzerlandSwitzerland , officially the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 states named cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities...
under the leadership of Ulrich Zwingli. These two movements quickly agreed on most issues, as the recently introduced
printing pressA printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a medium , thereby transferring an image. The mechanical systems involved were first assembled in Germany by the goldsmith Johannes Gutenberg around 1440, based on existing screw-presses used to press...
spread ideas rapidly from place to place, but some unresolved differences kept them separate. Some followers of Zwingli believed that the Reformation was too conservative, and moved independently toward more radical positions, some of which survive among modern day
AnabaptistAnabaptists are Christians of the Radical Reformation. This article describes the Anabaptists of 16th-century Europe and their direct descendants, particularly the Amish, Hutterites, and Mennonites.Anabaptists rejected conventional Christian practices such as wearing wedding rings, taking oaths, and...
s. Other Protestant movements grew up along lines of mysticism or humanism (
cf.cf. is an abbreviation for the Latin word confer, meaning "compare" or "consult", and is hence used to refer to other material or ideas which may provide different information or arguments...
Erasmus), sometimes breaking from Rome or from the Protestants, or forming outside of the churches.
After this first stage of the Reformation, following the
excommunicationExcommunication is a religious censure used to deprive or suspend membership in a religious community. The word literally means putting [someone] out of communion. In some religions, excommunication includes spiritual condemnation of the member or group...
of Luther and condemnation of the Reformation by the Pope, the work and writings of
John CalvinJohn Calvin was an influential French theologian and pastor during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system of Christian theology later called Calvinism. Originally trained as a humanist lawyer, he broke from the Roman Catholic Church around 1530...
were influential in establishing a loose consensus among various groups in Switzerland,
ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, Hungary, Germany and elsewhere.
The Reformation foundations engaged with
AugustinianismThe Augustinians, named after Saint Augustine of Hippo , are several Christian monastic orders and congregations of both men and women living according to a guide to religious life known as the Rule of Saint Augustine...
. Both Luther and Calvin thought along lines linked with the theological teachings of
Augustine of HippoAugustine of Hippo , Bishop of Hippo Regius, also known as St. Augustine or St. Austin, was an Algerian Berber philosopher and theologian....
. The Augustinianism of the Reformers struggled against
PelagianismPelagianism is a theological theory named after Pelagius . It is the belief that original sin did not taint human nature and that mortal will is still capable of choosing good or evil without special Divine aid. Thus, Adam's sin was "to set a bad example" for his progeny, but his actions did not...
, a heresy that they perceived in the Catholic Church of their day. In the course of this religious upheaval, the
Peasants' WarThe Peasants' War was a popular revolt that took place in Europe during 1524-1525...
of 1524–1525 swept through the
BavariaBavaria , with an area of and almost 12.5 million inhabitants, is located in the southeast of Germany and is the largest state of Germany by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
n,
ThuringiaThe Free State of Thuringia is located in central Germany. It has an area of and 2.29 million inhabitants, making it the sixth smallest by area and the fifth smallest by population of Germany's sixteen
Bundesländer...
n and
SwabiaSwabia, Suabia, or Svebia is both a historic and linguistic region in Germany. Swabia consists of much of the present-day state of Baden-Württemberg , as well as the Bavarian administrative region of Swabia...
n principalities, leaving scores of Catholics slaughtered at the hands of Protestant bands, including the
Black CompanyThe Black Company or the Black Troops was a unit of Franconian mercenaries during the Peasant's Revolt in the 1520s during the Protestant Reformation in Germany.The original German name of the Black Company was "Schwarzer Haufen"...
of Florian Geier, a knight from
GiebelstadtGiebelstadt is a municipality in the district of Würzburg in Bavaria in Germany.The town is the birthplace of Florian Geyer , also known as "Florian Geier from Giebelstadt", a Franconian nobleman who led the Black Company during the Peasants War resulting from the Protestant Reformation in Germany...
who joined the peasants in the general outrage against the Catholic hierarchy.
Even though Luther and Calvin had very similar theological teachings, the relationship between their followers turned quickly to conflict. Frenchman
Michel de MontaigneMichel Eyquem de Montaigne was one of the most influential writers of the French Renaissance. Montaigne is known for popularizing the essay as a literary genre...
told a story of a Lutheran pastor who once claimed that he would rather celebrate the mass of Rome than participate in a Calvinist service.
The political separation of the
Church of EnglandThe Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England, the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the oldest among the communion's thirty-eight independent national and regional churches...
from Rome under
Henry VIIIHenry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was also Lord of Ireland and claimant to the Kingdom of France. Henry was the second monarch of the House of Tudor, succeeding his father, Henry VII.Henry VIII was a significant figure in the history of the English monarchy...
, beginning in 1529 and completed in 1536, brought England alongside this broad Reformed movement. However, religious changes in the English national church proceeded more conservatively than elsewhere in Europe. Reformers in the Church of England alternated, for centuries, between sympathies for Catholic traditions and Protestantism, progressively forging a stable compromise between adherence to ancient tradition and Protestantism, which is now sometimes called the via media.
Martin Luther, John Calvin, and Ulrich Zwingli are considered Magisterial Reformers because their reform movements were supported by ruling authorities or "magistrates". Frederick the Wise not only supported Luther, who was a professor at the university he founded, but also protected him by hiding Luther in
Wartburg CastleThe Wartburg is a castle situated on a 1230-foot precipice to the southwest of, and overlooking the town of Eisenach, in the state of Thuringia, Germany...
in
EisenachEisenach is a city in Thuringia, Germany. It is situated between the northern foothills of the Thuringian Forest and the Hainich National Park. Population was 43,626 in 2006.-History:...
. Zwingli and Calvin were supported by the city councils in
ZurichZürich or Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. The city is Switzerland's main commercial and cultural centre and sometimes called the Cultural Capital of Switzerland, the political capital of Switzerland being Berne...
and
GenevaGeneva, is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie...
. Since the term "magister" also means "teacher", the Magisterial Reformation is also characterized by an emphasis on the authority of a teacher. This is made evident in the prominence of Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli as leaders of the reform movements in their respective areas of ministry. Because of their authority, they were often criticized by
Radical ReformersThe Radical Reformation was a 16th century response to what was believed to be both the corruption in the Roman Catholic Church and the expanding Magisterial Protestant movement led by Martin Luther and many others. Beginning in Switzerland, the Radical Reformation birthed many Anabaptist groups...
as being too much like the Roman Popes. For example, Radical Reformer
Andreas KarlstadtAndreas Rudolph Bodenstein von Karlstadt , better known as Andreas Karlstadt or Andreas Carlstadt or Karolostadt, was a German Christian theologian during the Protestant Reformation. He was born in Karlstadt, Franconia.-Education:Karlstadt received his doctorate of theology in 1510 from the...
referred to the Wittenberg theologians as the "new papists".
Humanism to Protestantism
The frustrated reformism of the humanists, ushered in by the
RenaissanceThe Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Florence in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe...
, contributed to a growing impatience among reformers. Erasmus and later figures like Martin Luther and Zwingli would emerge from this debate and eventually contribute to another major schism of Christendom. The crisis of theology beginning with
William of OckhamWilliam of Ockham was an English Franciscan friar and scholastic philosopher, from Ockham, a small village in Surrey, near East Horsley...
in the fourteenth century was occurring in conjunction with the new
burgherHistorically, the bourgeoisie were a social class of people, characterized by their ownership of capital and the related culture. They were a part of the middle or merchant classes of European feudalism, where their power came from employment, education, and wealth, as distinguished from those...
discontent. Since the breakdown of the
philosophicalPhilosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing these questions by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on reasoned...
foundations of
scholasticismScholasticism is derived from the Latin word scholasticus , which means "that [which] belongs to the school," and was a method of learning taught by the academics of medieval universities circa 1100–1500...
, the new
nominalismNominalism is a metaphysical view in philosophy according to which general or abstract terms and predicates exist, while universals or abstract objects, which are sometimes thought to correspond to these terms, do not exist. Thus, there are at least two main versions of nominalism...
did not bode well for an institutional church legitimized as an intermediary between man and
GodIn Christianity, God is the eternal being that created and preserves the universe. The Bible never speaks of God in an impersonal sense. Instead, it refers to him in personal terms — as one who is, who speaks, who sees, hears, acts, and loves. God is understood to have a will and personality...
. New thinking favored the notion that no religious
doctrine
Doctrine is a codification of beliefs or "a body of teachings" or "instructions", taught principles or positions, as the body of teachings in a branch of knowledge or belief system...
can be supported by philosophical arguments, eroding the old alliance between
reasonReason is the mental faculty that is able to generate conclusions from assumptions or premisses.Reason in this sense is often contrasted with authority, intuition, emotion, mysticism, superstition, and faith, and is thought by rationalists to be more reliable than these in discovering what is true...
and
faithFaith is the confident belief or trust in the truth or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing. The word "faith" can refer to a religion itself or to religion in general....
of the medieval period laid out by
Thomas AquinasSaint Thomas Aquinas, O.P. was a priest of the Roman Catholic Church in the Dominican Order from Italy, and an immensely influential philosopher and theologian in the tradition of scholasticism, known as Doctor Angelicus and Doctor Communis...
.
The major individualistic reform movements that revolted against medieval scholasticism and the institutions that underpinned it were
humanismHumanism is a perspective common to a wide range of ethical stances that attaches importance to human dignity, concerns, and capabilities, particularly rationality. Although the word has many senses, its meaning comes into focus when contrasted to the supernatural or to appeals to authority...
, devotionalism, (see for example, the Brothers of the Common Life and
Jan StandonckJan Standonck was a Dutch priest and reformer.He was part of the great movement for reform in the XVth century French church. His approach was to reform the recruitment and education of the clergy, along very ascetic lines, heavily influenced by the hermit saint Francis of Paola...
) and the observatine tradition. In
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
, "the modern way" or devotionalism caught on in the universities, requiring a redefinition of God, who was no longer a rational governing principle but an arbitrary, unknowable will that cannot be limited. God was now a ruler, and religion would be more fervent and emotional. Thus, the ensuing revival of Augustinian theology, stating that man cannot be saved by his own efforts but only by the grace of God, would erode the legitimacy of the rigid institutions of the church meant to provide a channel for man to do good works and get into
heavenHeaven may refer to the physical heavens, the sky or the seemingly endless expanse of the universe beyond. This is the traditional literal meaning of the term in English...
. Humanism, however, was more of an educational reform movement with origins in the
RenaissanceThe Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Florence in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe...
's revival of
classical learningThe Classical education movement advocates a form of education based in the traditions of Western culture, with a particular focus on education as understood and taught in the Middle Ages, with a further glance back to the Ancient Greek concept of Paideia. "Classical education" was first developed...
and thought. A revolt against
AristotelianAristotle was a Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. He wrote on many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology.Together with Plato and Socrates , Aristotle is one of...
logic, it placed great emphasis on reforming individuals through eloquence as opposed to reason. The European Renaissance laid the foundation for the Northern humanists in its reinforcement of the traditional use of
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Roman conquest, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe...
as the great unifying cultural language.
The polarization of the scholarly community in Germany over the Reuchlin (1455–1522) affair, attacked by the elite clergy for his study of
HebrewBiblical Hebrew, also called Classical Hebrew, is an archaic form of the Hebrew language in which the Hebrew Bible and various Israelite inscriptions were written....
and Jewish texts, brought Luther fully in line with the humanist educational reforms who favored
academic freedomAcademic freedom is the belief that the freedom of inquiry by students and faculty members is essential to the mission of the academy, and that scholars should have freedom to teach or communicate ideas or facts without being targeted for repression, job loss, or imprisonment.Still, academic freedom...
. At the same time, the impact of the Renaissance would soon backfire against traditional Catholicism, ushering in an age of reform and a repudiation of much of medieval Latin tradition. Led by Erasmus, the humanists condemned various forms of corruption within the church, forms of corruption that might not have been any more prevalent than during the medieval zenith of the church. Erasmus held that true religion was a matter of inward devotion rather than outward symbols of ceremony and ritual. Going back to ancient texts, scriptures, from this viewpoint the greatest culmination of the ancient tradition, are the guides to life. Favoring
moralMorality has three principal meanings.In its first, descriptive usage, morality means a code of conduct or belief concerning matters of what is moral or immoral...
reforms and de-emphasizing didactic ritual, Erasmus laid the groundwork for Luther.
Humanism's intellectual
anti-clericalismAnti-clericalism is a historical movement that opposes religious institutional power and influence, real or alleged, in all aspects of public and political life, and the involvement of religion in the everyday life of the citizen...
would profoundly influence Luther. The increasingly well-educated
middleThe middle class are any class in the middle of a social schema. In Weberian socio-economic terms they are the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socioeconomically between the working class and upper class. In Marxist terms, middle class commonly refers to either the...
sectors of Northern Germany, namely the educated community and city dwellers would turn to Luther's rethinking of religion to conceptualize their discontent according to the cultural medium of the era. The great rise of the burghers, the desire to run their new businesses free of institutional barriers or outmoded cultural practices, contributed to the appeal of humanist
individualismIndividualism is the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology, or social outlook that stresses independence and self-reliance. Individualists promote the exercise of one's goals and desires, while opposing most external interference upon one's choices, whether by society, or any other group or...
. To many,
papalThe pope is the Bishop of Rome and, as such, is leader of the worldwide Catholic Church...
institutions were rigid, especially regarding their views on just price and
usuryUsury originally meant the charging of interest on loans. This would have included charging a fee for the use of money, such as at a bureau de change. After countries legislated to limit the rate of interest on loans, usury came to mean the interest above the lawful rate...
. In the North, burghers and monarchs were united in their frustration for not paying any
taxTo tax is to impose a financial charge or other levy upon a taxpayer by a state or the functional equivalent of a state such that failure to pay is punishable by law.Taxes are also imposed by many subnational entities...
es to the nation, but collecting taxes from
subjectsCitizenship is the state of being a citizen of a particular social, political, or national community.Citizenship status, under social contract theory, carries with it both rights and responsibilities...
and sending the revenues disproportionately to the Pope in
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
.
These trends heightened demands for significant reform and revitalization along with anticlericalism. New thinkers began noticing the divide between the priests and the flock. The clergy, for instance, were not always well-educated. Parish priests often did not know
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Roman conquest, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe...
and rural parishes often did not have great opportunities for theological education for many at the time. Due to its large landholdings and institutional rigidity, a rigidity to which the excessively large ranks of the clergy contributed, many
bishopA bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
s studied
lawLaw is a system of rules, usually enforced through a set of institutions. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a primary social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus ticket to trading on derivatives markets...
, not theology, being relegated to the role of property managers trained in administration. While priests emphasized works of religiosity, the respectability of the church began diminishing, especially among well educated urbanites, and especially considering the recent strings of political humiliation, such as the apprehension of
Pope Boniface VIIIPope Boniface VIII , born Benedetto Caetani, was Pope of the Roman Catholic Church from 1294 to 1303. Today, Boniface VIII is probably best remembered for his feuds with Dante, who placed him in a circle of Hell in his Commedia, and King Philip IV of France.- Biography :Caetani was born in 1235 in...
by
Philip IV of FrancePhilip IV , called the Fair , son and successor of Philip III, reigned as King of France from 1285 until his death. He was the husband of Joan I of Navarre, by virtue of which he was King of Navarre and Count of Champagne from 1284 to 1305...
, the "Babylonian Captivity", the Great Schism, and the failure of conciliar reformism. In a sense, the campaign by
Pope Leo XPope Leo X was Pope from 1513 to his death. He was the last non-priest to be elected Pope. He is known primarily for the sale of indulgences to reconstruct St. Peter's Basilica and his challenging of Martin Luther's 95 theses. He was the second son of Lorenzo de' Medici, the most famous ruler of...
to raise funds to rebuild St. Peter's Basilica was too much of an excess by the secular
RenaissanceThe Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Florence in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe...
church, prompting high-pressure indulgences that rendered the clergy establishments even more disliked in the cities.
Luther borrowed from the humanists the sense of individualism, that each man can be his own priest (an attitude likely to find popular support considering the rapid rise of an educated urban middle class in the North), and that the only true authority is the
BibleThe Bible contains the central religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. Modern Judaism generally recognizes a single set of canonical books known as the Tanakh, or Hebrew Bible, as it is written almost entirely in the Hebrew language, with some small portions in Aramaic...
, echoing the reformist zeal of the conciliar movement and opening up the debate once again on limiting the authority of the Pope. While his ideas called for the sharp redefinition of the dividing lines between the
laityIn religious organizations, the laity comprises all persons who are not clergy. A person who is a member of a religious order who is not ordained clergy is considered as a member of the laity, even though they are members of a religious order .In the past in Christian cultures, the term lay priest...
and the clergy, his ideas were still, by this point, reformist in nature. Luther's contention that the human will was incapable of following good, however, resulted in his rift with Erasmus finally distinguishing Lutheran reformism from
humanismHumanism is a perspective common to a wide range of ethical stances that attaches importance to human dignity, concerns, and capabilities, particularly rationality. Although the word has many senses, its meaning comes into focus when contrasted to the supernatural or to appeals to authority...
.
Lutheranism adopted by the German princes
Luther affirmed a theology of the
EucharistThe Eucharist, also called Holy Communion, Sacrament of the Table, the Blessed Sacrament, or The Lord's Supper and other names, is a Christian sacrament or ordinance, generally considered to be a commemoration of the Last Supper, the final meal that Jesus Christ shared with his disciples before his...
called
Real PresenceReal Presence is a term used in various Christian traditions to express belief that in the Eucharist, Jesus Christ is really present in what was previously just bread and wine, and not merely present in symbol, a figure of speech , or by his power .Not all Christian traditions accept this dogma...
, a doctrine of the presence of Christ in the Eucharist which affirms the real presence yet upholding that the bread and wine are not "changed" into the body and blood; rather the divine elements adhere "in, with, and under" the earthly elements. He took this understanding of Christ's presence in the Eucharist to be more harmonious with the Church's teaching on the Incarnation. Just as Christ is the union of the fully human and the fully divine (cf. Council of Chalcedon) so to the Eucharist is a union of Bread and Body, Wine and Blood. According to the doctrine of real presence, the substances of the body and the blood of Christ and of the bread and the wine were held to coexist together in the consecrated Host during the communion service. While Luther seemed to maintain the perpetual consecration of the elements, other Lutherans argued that any consecrated bread or wine left over would revert to its former state the moment the service ended. Most Lutherans accept the latter.
A Lutheran understanding of the Eucharist is distinct from the Reformed doctrine of the Eucharist in that Lutherans affirm a real, physical presence of Christ in the Eucharist (as opposed to either a "spiritual presence" or a "memorial") and Lutherans affirm that the presence of Christ does not depend on the faith of the recipient; the repentant receive Christ in the Eucharist worthily, the unrepentant who receive the Eucharist risk the wrath of Christ.
Luther, along with his colleague
Philipp MelanchthonPhilipp Melanchthon was a German reformer, collaborator with Martin Luther, the first systematic theologian of the Protestant Reformation, intellectual leader of the leader of the Lutheran Reformation, and a influential designer of educational systems...
, emphasized this point in his plea for the Reformation at the
ReichstagThe Reichstag was the parliament of the Holy Roman Empire, and subsequently of the North German Confederation, and of Germany until 1945...
in 1529 amid charges of
heresyHeresy is proposing some unorthodox change to an established system of belief, especially a religion, that conflicts with the previously established opinion of scholars of that belief such as canon. It is sometimes confused with apostasy which is disaffiliation from orthodoxy and blasphemy which is...
. But the changes he proposed were of such a fundamental nature that by their own logic they would automatically overthrow the old order; neither the Emperor nor the Church could possibly accept them, as Luther well knew. As was only to be expected, the edict by the
Diet of WormsThe Diet of Worms
[p] was a general assembly of the Imperial Estates of the Holy Roman Empire that took place in 1521 at Worms, a small town on the Rhine River located in what is now Germany. It was conducted from 28 January to 25 May 1521, with Emperor Charles V presiding...
(1521) prohibited all innovations. Meanwhile, in these efforts to retain the guise of a Catholic reformer as opposed to a heretical revolutionary, and to appeal to German princes with his religious condemnation of the peasant revolts backed up by the
Doctrine of the Two KingdomsMartin Luther's doctrine of the two kingdoms of God teaches that God is the ruler of the whole world and that he rules in two ways....
, Luther's growing conservatism would provoke more radical reformers.
At a religious conference with the Zwinglians in 1529, Melanchthon joined with Luther in opposing a union with Zwingli. There would finally be a schism in the reform movement due to Luther's belief in
real presenceReal Presence is a term used in various Christian traditions to express belief that in the Eucharist, Jesus Christ is really present in what was previously just bread and wine, and not merely present in symbol, a figure of speech , or by his power .Not all Christian traditions accept this dogma...
—the real (as opposed to symbolic) presence of Christ at the Eucharist. His original intention was not schism, but with the
ReichstagThe Reichstag was the parliament of the Holy Roman Empire, and subsequently of the North German Confederation, and of Germany until 1945...
of Augsburg (1530) and its rejection of the Lutheran "Augsburg Confession", a separate Lutheran church finally emerged. In a sense, Luther would take theology further in its deviation from established Catholic dogma, forcing a rift between the humanist Erasmus and Luther. Similarly, Zwingli would further repudiate ritualism, and break with the increasingly conservative Luther.
Aside from the enclosing of the lower classes, the middle sectors of northern Germany, namely the educated community and city dwellers, would turn to religion to conceptualize their discontent according to the cultural medium of the era. The great rise of the burghers, the desire to run their new businesses free of institutional barriers or outmoded cultural practices contributed to the appeal of individualism. To many, papal institutions were rigid, especially regarding their views on just price and
usuryUsury originally meant the charging of interest on loans. This would have included charging a fee for the use of money, such as at a bureau de change. After countries legislated to limit the rate of interest on loans, usury came to mean the interest above the lawful rate...
. In the North, burghers and monarchs were united in their frustration for not paying any taxes to the nation, but collecting taxes from subjects and sending the revenues disproportionately to Italy. In northern Europe, Luther appealed to the growing national consciousness of the German states because he denounced the Pope for involvement in politics as well as religion. Moreover, he backed the nobility, which was now justified to crush the Great Peasant Revolt of 1525 and to confiscate church property by Luther's
Doctrine of the Two KingdomsMartin Luther's doctrine of the two kingdoms of God teaches that God is the ruler of the whole world and that he rules in two ways....
. This explains the attraction of some territorial princes to Lutheranism, especially its Doctrine of the Two Kingdoms. However, the Elector of Brandenburg, Joachim I, blamed Lutheranism for the revolt and so did others. In Brandenburg, it was only under his successor Joachim II that Lutheranism was established, and the old religion was not formally extinct in Brandenburg until the death of the last Catholic bishop there, Georg von Blumenthal, who was Bishop of Lebus and sovereign Prince-Bishop of Ratzeburg.
With the church subordinate to and the agent of civil authority and peasant rebellions condemned on strict religious terms, Lutheranism and German nationalist sentiment were ideally suited to coincide.
Though
Charles VCharles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I of Spain, of the Spanish realms from 1516 until his abdication in 1556...
fought the Reformation, it is no coincidence either that the reign of his nationalistic predecessor
Maximilian IMaximilian I may refer to:*Maximilian of Mexico, reigned April 1864 to May 1867*Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, reigned 1508 to 1519*Maximilian I, Duke of Bavaria, reigned 1597 to September 1651...
saw the beginning of the movement. While the centralized states of western Europe had reached accords with the Vatican permitting them to draw on the rich property of the church for government expenditures, enabling them to form state churches that were greatly autonomous of Rome, similar moves on behalf of the Reich were unsuccessful so long as princes and prince bishops fought reforms to drop the pretension of the secular universal empire.
Zwingli
Parallel to events in Germany, a movement began in Switzerland under the leadership of
Huldrych ZwingliHuldrych Zwingli was a leader of the Reformation in Switzerland. Born during a time of emerging Swiss patriotism and increasing criticism of the Swiss mercenary system, he attended the University of Vienna and the University of Basel, a scholarly centre of humanism...
. These two movements quickly agreed on most issues, as the recently introduced
printing pressA printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a medium , thereby transferring an image. The mechanical systems involved were first assembled in Germany by the goldsmith Johannes Gutenberg around 1440, based on existing screw-presses used to press...
spread ideas rapidly from place to place, but some unresolved differences kept them separate. Some followers of Zwingli believed that the Reformation was too conservative, and moved independently toward more radical positions, some of which survive among modern day
AnabaptistAnabaptists are Christians of the Radical Reformation. This article describes the Anabaptists of 16th-century Europe and their direct descendants, particularly the Amish, Hutterites, and Mennonites.Anabaptists rejected conventional Christian practices such as wearing wedding rings, taking oaths, and...
s. Other Protestant movements grew up along lines of mysticism or humanism (
cf.cf. is an abbreviation for the Latin word confer, meaning "compare" or "consult", and is hence used to refer to other material or ideas which may provide different information or arguments...
Erasmus), sometimes breaking from Rome or from the Protestants, or forming outside of the churches.
John Calvin
Following the
excommunicationExcommunication is a religious censure used to deprive or suspend membership in a religious community. The word literally means putting [someone] out of communion. In some religions, excommunication includes spiritual condemnation of the member or group...
of Luther and condemnation of the Reformation by the Pope, the work and writings of John Calvin were influential in establishing a loose consensus among various groups in Switzerland,
ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, Hungary, Germany and elsewhere. Geneva became the unofficial capital of the Protestant movement, led by the Frenchman Calvin, until his death (when Calvin's ally,
William FarelWilliam Farel , né Gillaume Farel, was a French evangelist, and a founder of the Reformed Church in the cantons of Neuchâtel, Berne, Geneva, and Vaud in Switzerland. He is most often remembered for having persuaded John Calvin to remain in Geneva in 1536, and for persuading him to return there in...
, assumed the spiritual leadership of the group).
The Reformation foundations engaged with
AugustinianismThe Augustinians, named after Saint Augustine of Hippo , are several Christian monastic orders and congregations of both men and women living according to a guide to religious life known as the Rule of Saint Augustine...
. Both Luther and Calvin thought along lines linked with the theological teachings of
Augustine of HippoAugustine of Hippo , Bishop of Hippo Regius, also known as St. Augustine or St. Austin, was an Algerian Berber philosopher and theologian....
. The Augustinianism of the Reformers struggled against
PelagianismPelagianism is a theological theory named after Pelagius . It is the belief that original sin did not taint human nature and that mortal will is still capable of choosing good or evil without special Divine aid. Thus, Adam's sin was "to set a bad example" for his progeny, but his actions did not...
, a heresy that they perceived in the Catholic Church of their day. Ironically, even though both Luther and Calvin had very similar theological teachings, the relationship between Lutherans and Calvinists evolved into one of conflict.
Scandinavia
All of
ScandinaviaScandinavia is a geographical region in northern Europe that includes, and is named after, the Scanian Province. It consists of the kingdoms of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark...
ultimately adopted Lutheranism over the course of the sixteenth century, as the monarchs of
DenmarkDenmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe and the senior member of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries; southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and it is bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark borders both the Baltic and the North Sea...
(who also ruled
NorwayNorway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a country in Northern Europe occupying the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, as well as Jan Mayen and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard under the Spitsbergen Treaty...
and
IcelandThe Republic of Iceland is a European island country located in the North Atlantic Ocean. It has a population of about 320,000 and a total area of 103,000 km². Its capital and largest city is Reykjavík, whose surrounding area is home to approximately two thirds of the national population...
) and
SwedenSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe...
(who also ruled
FinlandFinland , officially the Republic of Finland
, is a Nordic country and democracy situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. It borders Sweden on the west, Russia on the east, and Norway on the north, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland...
) converted to that faith.
In Sweden the Reformation was spearheaded by Gustav Vasa, elected king in 1523. Friction with the pope over the latter's interference in Swedish ecclesiastical affairs led to the discontinuance of any official connection between Sweden and the papacy from 1523. Four years later, at the Diet of Västerås, the king succeeded in forcing the diet to accept his dominion over the national church. The king was given possession of all church property, church appointments required royal approval, the clergy were subject to the civil law, and the "pure Word of God" was to be preached in the churches and taught in the schools—effectively granting official sanction to Lutheran ideas.
Under the reign of
Frederick IFrederick I of Denmark and Norway was the son of the first Oldenburg King Christian I of Denmark, Norway and Sweden and of Dorothea of Brandenburg...
(1523–33), Denmark remained officially Catholic. But though Frederick initially pledged to persecute Lutherans, he soon adopted a policy of protecting Lutheran preachers and reformers, of whom the most famous was
Hans TausenHans Tausen , the protagonist of the Danish Reformation, was born at Birkende on Funen in 1494. The quick-witted peasant lad ran away from the plough at an early age, finally settling down as a friar in the Johanniter cloister of Antvorskov near Slagelse...
. During his reign, Lutheranism made significant inroads among the Danish population. Frederick's son, Christian, was openly Lutheran, which prevented his election to the throne upon his father's death. In 1536, the authority of the Catholic bishops was terminated by national assembly. The next year, following his victory in the civil war, he became
Christian IIIChristian III , king of Denmark and Norway, was the son of Frederick I of Denmark and his first consort, Anna of Brandenburg.-Childhood:...
and continued the reformation of the state church.
England
Church of England
The separation of the
Church of EnglandThe Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England, the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the oldest among the communion's thirty-eight independent national and regional churches...
(or Anglican Church) from Rome under
Henry VIIIHenry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was also Lord of Ireland and claimant to the Kingdom of France. Henry was the second monarch of the House of Tudor, succeeding his father, Henry VII.Henry VIII was a significant figure in the history of the English monarchy...
, beginning in 1529 and completed in 1536, brought England alongside this broad Reformation movement; however, religious changes in the English national church proceeded more conservatively than elsewhere in Europe. Reformers in the Church of England alternated, for centuries, between sympathies for Catholic tradition and more reformed principles, gradually developing into a tradition which is considered a middle way (via media) between the Roman Catholic and Protestant traditions.
The
English ReformationThe English Reformation was the series of events in 16th century England by which the Church of England first broke away from the authority of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church....
followed a different course from the Reformation in continental Europe. There had long been a strong strain of anti-clericalism, and England had already given rise to the Lollard movement of
John WycliffeJohn Wycliffe was an English theologian, lay preacher, translator, reformist and university teacher who was known as early dissident in the Roman Catholic Church during the 14th century...
, which played an important part in inspiring the
HussiteThe Hussites were a Christian movement following the teachings of Czech reformer Jan Huss , who became one of the forerunners of the Protestant Reformation...
s in
BohemiaBohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands, currently the Czech Republic...
. Lollardy was suppressed and became an underground movement so the extent of its influence in the 1520s is difficult to assess. The different character of the English Reformation came rather from the fact that it was driven initially by the political necessities of
Henry VIIIHenry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was also Lord of Ireland and claimant to the Kingdom of France. Henry was the second monarch of the House of Tudor, succeeding his father, Henry VII.Henry VIII was a significant figure in the history of the English monarchy...
. Henry had once been a sincere Catholic and had even authored a book strongly criticizing Luther, but he later found it expedient and profitable to break with the Papacy. His wife,
Catherine of AragonCatherine of Aragon was Princess of Wales as the wife of Arthur, Prince of Wales, and Queen of England as the first wife of King Henry VIII of England....
, bore him only a single child,
MaryMary I , was Queen of England and Queen of Ireland from 19 July 1553 until her death. She was the oldest daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. The fourth crowned monarch of the Tudor dynasty, she is remembered for restoring England to Roman Catholicism after succeeding her short-lived...
. As England had recently gone through a lengthy dynastic conflict (
see Wars of the RosesThe Wars of the Roses were a series of dynastic civil wars between supporters of the rival houses of Lancaster and York, for the throne of England. They are generally accepted to have been fought in several spasmodic episodes between 1455 and 1487...
), Henry feared that his lack of a male heir might jeopardize his descendants' claim to the throne. However, Pope Clement VII, concentrating more on Charles V's "sack of Rome", denied his request for an annulment. Had Clement granted the annulment and therefore admitted that his predecessor, Julius II, had erred, Clement would have given support to the Lutheran assertion that Popes replaced their own judgement for the will of God. King Henry decided to remove the
Church of EnglandThe Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England, the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the oldest among the communion's thirty-eight independent national and regional churches...
from the authority of Rome. In 1534, the Act of Supremacy made Henry the
Supreme HeadSupreme Head of the Church of England was a title held by King Henry VIII of England signifying his leadership of the Church of England.-History:...
of the Church of England. Between 1535 and 1540, under
Thomas CromwellThomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex was an English statesman who served as King Henry VIII's chief minister from 1532 to 1540. Cromwell rose to such power because he was one of the strongest advocates of the English Reformation, the English Church's break with the papacy in Rome...
, the policy known as the
Dissolution of the MonasteriesThe Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, denotes the administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, nunneries and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their income, disposed...
was put into effect. The veneration of some
saintSaints, individuals of exceptional holiness, are significant in many religions, particularly Christianity.-General characteristics :Though the term is mostly used for Christians considered holy or virtuous, many religions use similar concepts to elevate people worthy of respect, e.g. see Hindu...
s, certain pilgrimages and some pilgrim shrines were also attacked. Huge amounts of church land and property passed into the hands of the crown and ultimately into those of the nobility and gentry. The vested interest thus created made for a powerful force in support of the dissolutions.
There were some notable opponents to the Henrician Reformation, such as
Thomas MoreSir Thomas More , also known as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, scholar, author, and statesman....
and Bishop
John FisherSaint John Fisher was an English Roman Catholic Bishop, cardinal and martyr. He shares his feast day with Saint Thomas More on 22 June in the Roman Catholic calendar of saints and 6 July on the Anglican calendar of saints...
, who were executed for their opposition. There was also a growing party of reformers who were imbued with the Zwinglian and Calvinistic doctrines now current on the Continent. When Henry died he was succeeded by his Protestant son Edward VI, who, through his empowered councillors (with the King being only nine years old at his succession and not yet sixteen at his death) the Duke of Somerset and the Duke of Northumberland, ordered the destruction of images in churches, and the closing of the
chantriesChantry is the English term for the establishment of an institutional chapel on private land or within a greater church, where a priest would celebrate Mass. The same term is also used for the endowment itself. The word derives from the Latin cantaria, meaning 'licence to sing mass'...
. Under Edward VI the reform of the
Church of EnglandThe Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England, the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the oldest among the communion's thirty-eight independent national and regional churches...
was established unequivocally in doctrinal terms. Yet, at a popular level, religion in England was still in a state of flux. Following a brief Roman Catholic restoration during the reign of
MaryMary I , was Queen of England and Queen of Ireland from 19 July 1553 until her death. She was the oldest daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. The fourth crowned monarch of the Tudor dynasty, she is remembered for restoring England to Roman Catholicism after succeeding her short-lived...
1553–1558, a loose consensus developed during the reign of
Elizabeth IElizabeth I was Queen of England and Queen of Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called the Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
, though this point is one of considerable debate among historians. Yet it is the so-called "
Elizabethan Religious SettlementThe Elizabethan Religious Settlement was Elizabeth I’s response to the religious divisions created over the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and Mary I. This response, described as "The Revolution of 1559", was set out in two Acts of the Parliament of England...
" to which the origins of
AnglicanismAnglicanism is a tradition within Christianity comprising churches with historical connections to the Church of England or similar beliefs, worship and church structures...
are traditionally ascribed. The compromise was uneasy and was capable of veering between extreme
CalvinismCalvinism is a theological system and an approach to the Christian life...
on the one hand and Catholicism on the other, but compared to the bloody and chaotic state of affairs in contemporary France, it was relatively successful until the Puritan Revolution or
English Civil WarThe English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists. The first and second civil wars pitted the supporters of King Charles I against the supporters of the Long Parliament, while the third war saw fighting between supporters of...
in the seventeenth century.
Puritan movement
The success of the
Counter-ReformationThe Counter-Reformation denotes the period of Catholic revival beginning with the Council of Trent and ending at the close of the Thirty Years' War, 1648....
on the Continent and the growth of a
PuritanA Puritan of 16th and 17th-century England was an associate of any number of religious groups advocating for more "purity" of worship and doctrine, as well as personal and group piety. Puritans felt that the English Reformation had not gone far enough, and that the Church of England was tolerant...
party dedicated to further Protestant reform polarized the Elizabethan Age, although it was not until the 1640s that England underwent religious strife comparable to that which its neighbours had suffered some generations before.
The early
Puritan movement (late 16th century-17th century) was Reformed or
CalvinistCalvinism is a theological system and an approach to the Christian life...
and was a movement for reform in the
Church of EnglandThe Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England, the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the oldest among the communion's thirty-eight independent national and regional churches...
. Its origins lay in the discontent with the
Elizabethan Religious SettlementThe Elizabethan Religious Settlement was Elizabeth I’s response to the religious divisions created over the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and Mary I. This response, described as "The Revolution of 1559", was set out in two Acts of the Parliament of England...
. The desire was for the Church of England to resemble more closely the Protestant churches of Europe, especially
GenevaGeneva, is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie...
. The Puritans objected to ornaments and ritual in the churches as
idolatrousIdolatry is usually defined as worship of any cult image, idea, or object, as opposed to the worship of a monotheistic God. It is considered a major sin in the Abrahamic religions whereas in religions where such activity is not considered a sin, the term "idolatry" itself is absent...
(vestments, surplices, organs, genuflection), which they castigated as "
popishPapist is an adjective, usually critical, referring to the Roman Catholic Church, its teaching, practices or adherents.It was coined during the English Reformation to denote a Christian whose loyalties were to the Pope, rather than to the Church of England...
pomp and rags". (See
Vestments controversyThe vestments controversy arose in the English Reformation, ostensibly concerning vestments, but more fundamentally concerned with English Protestant identity, doctrine, and various church practices...
.) They also objected to ecclesiastical courts. They refused to endorse completely all of the ritual directions and formulas of the
Book of Common PrayerThe Book of Common Prayer is the common title of a number of prayer books of the Church of England and of other Anglican churches, used throughout the Anglican Communion. The first book, published in 1549 , in the reign of Edward VI, was a product of the English Reformation following the break with...
; the imposition of its liturgical order by legal force and inspection sharpened Puritanism into a definite opposition movement.
The later Puritan movement were often referred to as dissenters and nonconformists and eventually led to the formation of various reformed
denominationsA Christian denomination is an identifiable religious body under a common name, structure, and doctrine within Christianity.Worldwide, Christians are divided, often along ethnic and linguistic lines, into separate churches and traditions. Technically, divisions between one group and another are...
.
The most famous and well-known emigration to
AmericaThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
was the migration of the Puritan separatists from the Anglican Church of England, who fled first to
HollandRotterdam
The Hague
Haarlem
Dordrecht |} Holland is a name in common usage given to a region in the western part of the Netherlands. The name 'Holland' is also often informally used to refer to the whole of the country of the Netherlands...
, and then later to America, to establish the English colonies of
New EnglandNew England is a region of the United States. It is located at the northeastern corner of the US, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean, Canada and the state of New York, consisting of the modern U.S...
, which later became the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
These Puritan separatists were also known as "the Pilgrims". After establishing a colony at
PlymouthPlymouth Colony was an English colonial venture in North America from 1620 to 1691. The first settlement was at New Plymouth, a location previously surveyed and named by Captain John Smith. The settlement, which served as the capital of the colony, is today the modern town of Plymouth, Massachusetts...
(which would become part of the colony of
MassachusettsThe Massachusetts Bay Colony was an English settlement on the east coast of North America in the 17th century, in New England, centered around the present-day cities of Salem and Boston...
) in 1620, the Puritan pilgrims received a charter from the King of England which legitimized their colony, allowing them to do trade and commerce with merchants in England, in accordance with the principles of
mercantilismMercantilism is an economic theory that holds that the prosperity of a nation is dependent upon its supply of capital, and that the global volume of international trade is "unchangeable." Economic assets or capital, are represented by bullion held by the state, which is best increased through a...
. This successful, though initially quite difficult, colony marked the beginning of the Protestant presence in America (the earlier French, Spanish and Portuguese settlements had been Catholic), and became a kind of oasis of spiritual and
economic freedomEconomic freedom is a term used in economic research and policy debates. As with freedom generally, there are various definitions, but no universally accepted concept of economic freedom...
, to which persecuted Protestants and other minorities from the British Isles and Europe (and later, from all over the world) fled to for peace, freedom and opportunity. The Pilgrims of
New EnglandNew England is a region of the United States. It is located at the northeastern corner of the US, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean, Canada and the state of New York, consisting of the modern U.S...
disapproved of
ChristmasChristmas , also referred to as Christmas Day, is an annual holiday celebrated on December 25 that commemorates the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. The day marks the beginning of the larger season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days. The nativity of Jesus, which is the basis for the anno Domini...
and celebration was outlawed in Boston from 1659 to 1681. The ban was revoked in 1681 by Sir Edmund Andros, who also revoked a Puritan ban against festivities on Saturday night. However it wasn't until the mid 1800's that celebrating Christmas became fashionable in the Boston region.
The original intent of the colonists was to establish spiritual Puritanism, which had been denied to them in England and the rest of Europe to engage in peaceful commerce with England and the native
American IndiansNative Americans in the United States is the phrase that describes indigenous peoples from North America now encompassed by the continental United States, including parts of Alaska and the island state of Hawaii. They comprise a large number of distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of...
and to Christianize the peoples of the
AmericasThe Americas, or America, are lands in the Western hemisphere or New World, comprising the continents of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions. America may be ambiguous in English, as it is more commonly used to refer to the United States of America...
.
Scotland
The Reformation in Scotland's case culminated ecclesiastically in the re-establishment of the church along reformed lines, and politically in the triumph of
EnglishEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
influence over that of
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
.
John KnoxJohn Knox was a Scottish clergyman and leader of the Protestant Reformation who is considered the founder of the Presbyterian denomination. He was educated at the University of St Andrews and worked as a notary-priest. Influenced by early church reformers such as George Wishart, he joined the...
is regarded as the leader of the Scottish reformation
The
reformation parliamentThe Scottish Reformation Parliament is the name given to the Scottish Parliament commencing in 1560 that passed the major pieces of legislation leading to the Scottish Reformation, most importantly Confession of Faith Ratification Act 1560; and Papal Jurisdiction Act 1560 .right|thumb|[[John...
of 1560, which repudiated the pope's authority, forbade the celebration of the
massThe Mass is the Eucharistic celebration in the Latin liturgical rites of the Catholic Church. The term is used also of similar celebrations in Old Catholic Churches, in the Anglo-Catholic tradition of Anglicanism, in many Lutheran Churches, and in a small amount of High Church Methodist parishes...
and approved a Protestant
Confession of FaithA Confession of Faith is a statement of doctrine very similar to a creed, but usually longer and polemical, as well as didactic.Confessions of Faith are in the main, though not exclusively, associated with Protestantism...
, was made possible by a revolution against
FrenchFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
hegemony under the regime of the
regentA regent, from the Latin regens "reigning", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Thus, the common use is for an acting deputy governor....
Mary of GuiseMary of Guise was the Queen of Scots as the second spouse of King James V of Scotland. She was the mother of Queen Mary I of Scotland and served as regent of Scotland in her daughter's name from 1554 to 1560....
, who had governed Scotland in the name of her absent daughter
Mary Queen of ScotsMary I was Queen of Scots from 14 December 1542 to 24 July 1567. She was the only surviving legitimate child of King James V. She was six days old when her father died and made her Queen of Scots...
(then also
QueenA queen consort is the wife of a reigning king. A queen consort usually shares her husband's rank and holds the feminine equivalent of the king's monarchical titles...
of France).
The Scottish reformation decisively shaped the
Church of ScotlandThe Church of Scotland , known informally by its Scots language name, The Kirk, is a Presbyterian church, decisively shaped by the Scottish Reformation....
and, through it, all other Presbyterian churches worldwide.
A spiritual revival also broke out among Catholics soon after Martin Luther's actions, and led to the
Scottish Covenanters' movementThe Covenanters formed an important movement in the religion and politics of Scotland in the 17th century. In religion the movement is most associated with the promotion and development of Presbyterianism as a form of church government favoured by the people, as opposed to Episcopacy, favoured by...
, the precursor to
ScottishScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
PresbyterianismPresbyterianism is the religion of a number of different Christian churches adhering to the Calvinist theological tradition within Protestantism, and organized according to a characteristic Presbyterian polity...
. This movement spread, and greatly influenced the formation of Puritanism among the Anglican Church in
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. The Scottish covenanters were persecuted by the Roman Catholic Church. This persecution by the Catholics drove some of the Protestant covenanter leadership out of Scotland, and into
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
and later,
SwitzerlandSwitzerland , officially the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 states named cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities...
.
France
Protestantism also spread into France, where the Protestants were
nicknameA nickname is a descriptive name given in place of or in addition to the official name of a person, place or thing. It can also be the familiar or truncated form of the proper name, which may sometimes be used simply for convenience A nickname (also spelled "nick name") is a descriptive name...
d "Huguenots", and this touched off decades of warfare in France, after initial support by Henry of Navarre was lost due to the "
Night of the PlacardsThe Affair of the Placards was an incident in which anti-Catholic posters appeared in public places in Paris and in four major provincial cities: Blois, Rouen, Tours and Orléans, overnight during 17 October 1534. One was actually posted on the bedchamber door of King Francis I at Amboise, an...
" affair. Many French Huguenots, however, still contributed to the Protestant movement, including many who emigrated to the English colonies.
Though he was not personally interested in religious reform,
Francis IFrancis I , was king of France from 1515 until his death.Francis I is considered to be France's first Renaissance monarch. His reign saw France make immense cultural advances...
(1515–47) initially maintained an attitude of tolerance, arising from his interest in the
humanistRenaissance Humanism was a European intellectual movement that was a crucial component of the Renaissance, beginning in Florence in the latter half of the 14th century. The humanist movement developed from the rediscovery by European scholars of Latin literary and Greek literary texts. Initially,...
movement. This changed in 1534 with the
Affair of the PlacardsThe Affair of the Placards was an incident in which anti-Catholic posters appeared in public places in Paris and in four major provincial cities: Blois, Rouen, Tours and Orléans, overnight during 17 October 1534. One was actually posted on the bedchamber door of King Francis I at Amboise, an...
. In this act, Protestants denounced the mass in placards that appeared across France, even reaching the royal apartments. The issue of religious faith having been thrown into the arena of politics, Francis was prompted to view the movement as a threat to the kingdom's stability. This led to the first major phase of anti-Protestant persecution in France, in which the
Chambre ArdenteChambre Ardente , the term for an extraordinary court of justice in France, mainly held for the trials of heretics.The name is perhaps an allusion to the fact that the proceedings took place in a room from which all daylight was excluded, the only illumination being from torches, or there may be a...
("Burning Chamber") was established within the Parlement of Paris to handle with the rise in prosecutions for heresy. Several thousand French Protestants fled the country during this time, most notably
John CalvinJohn Calvin was an influential French theologian and pastor during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system of Christian theology later called Calvinism. Originally trained as a humanist lawyer, he broke from the Roman Catholic Church around 1530...
, who settled in
GenevaGeneva, is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie...
.
Calvin continued to take an interest in the religious affairs of his native land and, from his base in Geneva, beyond the reach of the French king, regularly trained pastors to lead congregations in France. Despite heavy persecution by
Henry IIHenry II of the House of Valois and son and successor of Francis I was King of France from 31 March 1547, until his death in 1559.-Early years:...
, the
Reformed Church of FranceThe Reformed Church of France is a denomination in France . It is the original, and largest, Protestant denomination in France....
, largely Calvinist in direction, made steady progress across large sections of the nation, in the urban
bourgeoisieHistorically, the bourgeoisie were a social class of people, characterized by their ownership of capital and the related culture. They were a part of the middle or merchant classes of European feudalism, where their power came from employment, education, and wealth, as distinguished from those...
and parts of the
aristocracyAristocracy is a form of government, in which a few of the most prominent citizens rule. This may be a hereditary elite, or it may be by a system of cooption where a council of prominent citizens add leading soldiers, merchants, land owners, priests, and lawyers to their number...
, appealing to people alienated by the obduracy and the complacency of the Catholic establishment.
French Protestantism, though its appeal increased under persecution, came to acquire a distinctly political character, made all the more obvious by the noble conversions of the 1550s. This had the effect of creating the preconditions for a series of destructive and intermittent conflicts, known as the
Wars of ReligionThe French Wars of Religion is the name given to a period of civil infighting and military operations, primarily fought between French Catholics and Protestants...
. The civil wars were helped along by the sudden death of
Henry IIHenry II of the House of Valois and son and successor of Francis I was King of France from 31 March 1547, until his death in 1559.-Early years:...
in 1559, which saw the beginning of a prolonged period of weakness for the French crown. Atrocity and outrage became the defining characteristic of the time, illustrated at its most intense in the
St. Bartholomew's Day massacreThe St. Bartholomew's Day massacre in 1572 was a targeted group of assassinations, followed by a wave of Roman Catholic mob violence, both directed against the Huguenots , during the French Wars of Religion...
of August 1572, when the Catholic Church annihilated between 30,000 and 100,000 Huguenots across France. The wars only concluded when
Henry IVHenry IV was King of France from 1589 to 1610 and King of Navarre from 1572 to 1610. He was the first monarch of the Bourbon branch of the Capetian dynasty in France. His parents were Queen Jeanne III and King Antoine of Navarre.As a Huguenot, Henry was involved in the Wars of Religion before...
, himself a former Huguenot, issued the
Edict of NantesThe Edict of Nantes was issued on April 13, 1598. by Henry IV of France to grant the Calvinist Protestants of France substantial rights in a nation still considered essentially Catholic...
, promising official toleration of the Protestant minority, but under highly restricted conditions. Catholicism remained the official state religion, and the fortunes of French Protestants gradually declined over the next century, culminating in Louis XIV's
Edict of FontainebleauThe Edict of Fontainebleau was an edict issued by Louis XIV of France, also known as the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes of 1598, which had granted to the Huguenots the right to practice their religion without persecution from the state...
—which revoked the Edict of Nantes and made Catholicism the sole legal religion of France. In response to the Edict of Fontainebleau,
Frederick WilliamThe name Frederick William usually refers to several monarchs of the Hohenzollern dynasty:*Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg *Frederick William I , King of Prussia*Frederick William II , King of Prussia...
of
BrandenburgBrandenburg is one of the sixteen states of Germany. It lies in the east of the country and is one of the new federal states that were re-created in 1990 upon the reunification of the former West Germany and East Germany. The capital is Potsdam...
declared the
Edict of PotsdamThe Edict of Potsdam was a proclamation issued by Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg, in Potsdam on October 29, 1685, as a response to the revocation of the Edict of Nantes by the Edict of Fontainebleau.- Background :...
, giving free passage to French Huguenot refugees, and tax-free status to them for 10 years.
Netherlands
The Reformation in the Netherlands, unlike in many other countries, was not initiated by the rulers of the
Seventeen ProvincesThe Seventeen Provinces were a personal union of states in the Low Countries in the 15th century and 16th century, roughly covering the current Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, a good part of the North of France , and a small part of the West of Germany.The Seventeen Provinces were originally held...
, but instead by multiple popular movements, which in turn were bolstered by the arrival of Protestant refugees from other parts of the continent. While the
AnabaptistAnabaptists are Christians of the Radical Reformation. This article describes the Anabaptists of 16th-century Europe and their direct descendants, particularly the Amish, Hutterites, and Mennonites.Anabaptists rejected conventional Christian practices such as wearing wedding rings, taking oaths, and...
movement enjoyed popularity in the region in the early decades of the Reformation, Calvinism, in the form of the
Dutch Reformed ChurchDutch Reformed Church was one of many branches of churches established during the Protestant Reformation in Europe in the sixteenth century. While the Dutch Reformed Church was based in the Netherlands, other churches holding similar theological views were founded in France, Switzerland, Germany,...
, became the dominant Protestant faith in the country from the 1560s onward.
Harsh persecution of Protestants by the Spanish government of Phillip II contributed to a desire for independence in the provinces, which led to the Eighty Years' War and eventually, the separation of the largely Protestant
Dutch RepublicThe Republic of the Seven United Netherlands was a European republic between 1581 and 1795, in about the same location as the modern Kingdom of the Netherlands,...
from the Catholic-dominated
Southern NetherlandsThe Southern Netherlands were a part of the Low Countries controlled by Spain , Austria and captured by France...
(present-day
BelgiumThe Kingdom of Belgium is a country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters, as well as those of other major international organizations, including NATO...
).
Hungary
Much of the population of the
Kingdom of HungaryThe Kingdom of Hungary , emerged in 1000, when the Principality of Hungary, founded in 896, was recognized as a Kingdom. The form of government was changed from Monarchy to Republic briefly in 1918 and again in 1946, ending the Kingdom and creating the Republic of Hungary...
adopted Protestantism during the sixteenth century. After the 1526
Battle of MohácsThe Battle of Mohács was fought on August 29, 1526 near Mohács, Hungary. In the battle, forces of the Kingdom of Hungary led by King Louis II of Hungary and Bohemia were defeated by forces of the Ottoman Empire led by Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent.The Ottoman victory led to the partition of...
the Hungarian people were disillusioned by the ability of the government to protect them and turned to the faith which would infuse them with the strength necessary to resist the invader. They found this in the teaching of the Protestant reformers such as Luther. The spread of Protestantism in the country was aided by its large ethnic German minority, which could understand and translate the writings of
Martin LutherMartin Luther changed the course of Western civilization by initiating the Protestant Reformation. As a priest and theology professor, he confronted indulgence salesmen with his The Ninety-Five Theses in 1517. Luther strongly disputed their claim that freedom from God's punishment of sin could...
. While Lutheranism gained a foothold among the German-speaking population,
CalvinismCalvinism is a theological system and an approach to the Christian life...
became widely accepted among ethnic Hungarians.
In the more independent northwest the rulers and priests, protected now by the
Habsburg MonarchyThe Habsburg Monarchy covered the territories ruled by the junior Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg , and then by the successor House of Habsburg-Lorraine , between 1526 and 1867/1918. The capital was mainly Vienna, except from 1583 to 1611, when the capital was Prague...
which had taken the field to fight the Turks, defended the old Catholic faith. They dragged the Protestants to prison and the stake wherever they could. Such strong measures only fanned the flames of protest, however. Leaders of the Protestants included Matthias Biro Devai, Michael Sztarai, and Stephen Kis Szegedi.
Protestants likely formed a majority of Hungary's population at the close of the sixteenth century, but
Counter-ReformationThe Counter-Reformation denotes the period of Catholic revival beginning with the Council of Trent and ending at the close of the Thirty Years' War, 1648....
efforts in the seventeenth century reconverted a majority of the kingdom to Catholicism. A significant Protestant minority remained, most of it adhering to the Calvinist faith.
Conclusion and legacy
The Reformation led to a
series of religious warsThe name Wars of Religion has been given to a series of European wars of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, following the onset of the Protestant Reformation...
that culminated in the
Thirty Years' WarThe Thirty Years' War was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history. The war was fought primarily in Germany and at various points involved most of the countries of Europe...
. From 1618 to 1648 the Catholic House of Habsburg and its allies fought against the Protestant princes of Germany, supported at various times by
DenmarkDenmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe and the senior member of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries; southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and it is bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark borders both the Baltic and the North Sea...
,
SwedenSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe...
and
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
. The Habsburgs, who ruled
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
,
AustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.3 million people in Central Europe. It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west...
, the Spanish Netherlands and much of
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
and
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
, were staunch defenders of the Catholic Church. Some historians believe that the era of the Reformation came to a close when Catholic France allied itself, first in secret and later on the battlefields, with Protestant states against the Habsburg dynasty. For the first time since the days of Luther, political and national convictions again outweighed religious convictions in Europe.
The main tenets of the
Peace of WestphaliaThe term Peace of Westphalia refers to the two peace treaties of Osnabrück and Münster, signed on May 15 and October 24, 1648, respectively, and written in French, that ended both the Thirty Years' War in the Holy Roman Empire and the Eighty Years' War between Spain and the Republic of the Seven...
, which ended the Thirty Years' War, were:
- All parties would now recognize the Peace of Augsburg
The Peace of Augsburg was a treaty between Charles V and the forces of the Schmalkaldic League, an alliance of Lutheran princes, on September 25, 1555, at the imperial city of Augsburg, now in present-day Bavaria, Germany. It provided the first legal basis for the co-existence of Catholicism and...
of 1555, by which each prince would have the right to determine the religion of his own state, the options being Catholicism, Lutheranism, and now Calvinism (the principle of cuius regio, eius religioCuius regio, eius religio is a phrase in Latin loosely translated as "Whose realm, his religion". In other words, the religion of the ruler dictated the religion of the ruled...
)
- Christians living in principalities where their denomination was not the established church were guaranteed the right to practice their faith in public during allotted hours and in private at their will.
The treaty also effectively ended the Pope's pan-European political power. Fully aware of the loss,
Pope Innocent XPope Innocent X , born Giovanni Battista Pamphilj , was Pope from 1644 to 1655. Born in Rome of a family from Gubbio in Umbria who had come to Rome during the pontificate of Pope Innocent IX, he graduated from the Collegio Romano and followed a conventional cursus honorum, following his uncle...
declared the treaty "null, void, invalid, iniquitous, unjust, damnable, reprobate, inane, empty of meaning and effect for all times." European sovereigns, Catholic and Protestant alike, ignored his verdict.
See also
- European wars of religion
The name Wars of Religion has been given to a series of European wars of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, following the onset of the Protestant Reformation...
- Exsurge Domine
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Title page of first printed edition of Exsurge DomineExsurge Domine is a papal bull issued on 15 June 1520 by Pope Leo X in response to the teachings of Martin Luther in his 95 theses and subsequent writings which opposed the views of the papacy...
- Free Grace theology
Free Grace theology is a soteriological view within Protestantism teaching that everyone receives eternal life the moment they believe in Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and Lord. "Lord" refers to the belief that Jesus is the Son of God and therefore able to be their "Savior"...
- Johann Tetzel
Johann Tetzel was a German Dominican preacher remembered for selling indulgences and for a couplet attributed to him, "As soon as a coin in the coffer rings...
- Matthias Flacius
Matthias Flacius Illyricus was a Lutheran reformer.He was born in Carpano, a part of Albona in Istria, son of Andrea Vlacich alias Francovich and Jacobea Luciani, daughter of a wealthy and powerful Albanian family...
- Menno Simons
Menno Simons was a Dutch Anabaptist religious leader from the Friesland region of the Low Countries. Simons was a contemporary of the Protestant Reformers and his followers became known as Mennonites.-Early life:...
- Nicolaus Von Amsdorf
Nicolaus von Amsdorf was a German theologian and Protestant reformer.-Biography:He was born in Torgau, on the Elbe....
- Pierre Viret
Pierre Viret was a Swiss Reformed theologian.- Youth :Pierre Viret, a learned theologian and close friend of John Calvin, was born in Orbe, a small town located in present-day Switzerland in 1511...
- Primož Trubar
Primož Trubar was a Slovene protestant reformer, the founder and the first superintendent of the Protestant Church of the Slovene Lands, a consolidator of the Slovene language and the author of the first Slovene printed book....
- Propaganda during the Reformation
Propaganda during the Reformation, helped by the spread of the printing press throughout Europe, and in particular within Germany, caused new ideas, thoughts, and doctrine to be made available to the public in ways that had never been seen before the sixteenth century...
- Protestantism
Protestantism is a branch within Christianity, containing many denominations with some differing practices and doctrines, that principally originated in the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation. It is considered to be one of the major divisions within Christianity, together with the Roman...
- Reformation in Denmark
The Reformation in Denmark meant the transition from Roman Catholicism to Protestant Lutheranism in the Church of Denmark which was implemented in 1536 at the decision of King Christian III...
- Reformation in Germany
- Reformation in Iceland
- Reformation in Norway
- Reformation in Sweden
- Schmalkaldic League
The Schmalkaldic League was a defensive alliance of Lutheran princes within the Holy Roman Empire during the mid-16th century. Although originally started for religious motives soon after the start of the Protestant Reformation, its members eventually intended for the League to replace the Holy...
- Theologia Germanica
Theologia Germanica, also known as Theologia Deutsch, is a mystical treatise believed to have been written in the mid 14th century by an anonymous author, usually associated with the Friends of God. According to the introduction of the "Theologia" the author was a priest and a member of the...
- Thomas Müntzer
Thomas Müntzer was an early Reformation-era German theologian and Anabaptist. He turned against Luther with several anti-Lutheran writings, and became a rebel leader during the Peasants' War. In the battle at Frankenhausen, Müntzer and his farmers were defeated...
- Concordat of Worms
The Concordat of Worms, sometimes called the Pactum Calixtinum by papal historians, was an agreement between Pope Calixtus II and Holy Roman Emperor Henry V on September 23, 1122 near the city of Worms...
- Martin Luther
Martin Luther changed the course of Western civilization by initiating the Protestant Reformation. As a priest and theology professor, he confronted indulgence salesmen with his The Ninety-Five Theses in 1517. Luther strongly disputed their claim that freedom from God's punishment of sin could...
- 95 Theses
The Ninety-Five Theses on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences , commonly known as The Ninety-Five Theses, were written by Martin Luther in 1517 and are widely regarded as the primary catalyst for the Protestant Reformation...
- Timelines
- Renaissance & Reformation
- English Reformation
- History of Protestantism
The History of Protestantism with the Reformation movement, which began as an attempt to reform the Catholic Church and led to the fracturing of Christendom. Many western Christians were troubled by what they saw as false doctrines and malpractices within the Church, particularly involving the...
- Middle Ages in history
The Middle Ages in history is an overview of how previous periods have both romanticised and disparaged the Middle Ages. After the period came to an end with the Renaissance, subsequent cultural movements such as the Enlightenment and Romantics created images of the Middle Ages that say as much...
- List of Protestant Reformers
- Protestant Reformers
The 'Protestant Reformers' were those theologians, churchmen, and statesmen whose careers, works, and actions brought about the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century...
- The Book of Common Prayer
The Book of Common Prayer is the common title of a number of prayer books of the Church of England and of other Anglican churches, used throughout the Anglican Communion. The first book, published in 1549 , in the reign of Edward VI, was a product of the English Reformation following the break with...
- The Book of Concord
- Institutes of the Christian Religion
Institutes of the Christian Religion is John Calvin's seminal work on Protestant systematic theology. Highly influential in the Western world and still widely read by theological students today, it was published in Latin in 1536 and in his native French in 1541, with the definitive editions...
by John CalvinJohn Calvin was an influential French theologian and pastor during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system of Christian theology later called Calvinism. Originally trained as a humanist lawyer, he broke from the Roman Catholic Church around 1530...
- Corpus Reformatorum
The Corpus Reformatorum , is the general Latin title given to a large collection of Reformation writings. This collection, which runs to 101 volumes, contains reprints of the collected works of John Calvin, Philip Melanchthon, and Huldrych Zwingli, three of the leading protestant reformers...
- Confessionalization
Confessionalization is a recent concept employed by Reformation historians to describe the parallel processes of "confession-building" taking place in Europe between the Peace of Augsburg and the Thirty Years' War...
Scholarly secondary resources
Chronological order of publication (oldest first)
- The Cambridge Modern History. Vol 2: The Reformation (1903).
- Kirsch, J.P. "The Reformation", The Catholic Encyclopedia (1911). (Catholic view)
- Smith, Preserved. The Age of Reformation. New York: Henry Holt and Co., 1920. (a Catholic perspective)
- Schottenloher, K. (1933) Bibliographie zur deutschen Geschichte im Zeitalter der Glaubensspaltung, 1517-1585. 6 vols. 1933-1940 (focuses on religious teachings)
- Gonzales, Justo. The Story of Christianity, Vol. 2: The Reformation to the Present Day. San Francisco: Harper, 1985. ISBN 0-06-063316-6.
- Estep, William R. Renaissance & Reformation. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1986. ISBN 0-8028-0050-5.
- Spitz, Lewis W. The Renaissance and Reformation Movements: Volume I, The Renaissance. Revised Edition. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1987. ISBN 0-570-03818-9.
- Kolb, Robert. Confessing the Faith: Reformers Define the Church, 1530-1580. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1991. ISBN 0-570-04556-8.
- Cameron, Euan. The European Reformation. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1991. (a standard textbook)
- Braaten, Carl E.
Carl E. Braaten is a Lutheran theologian.Braaten was ordained 1958. He was professor of systematic theology at Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. Together with Robert Jenson he founded the Center for Catholic and Evangelical Theology in 1991...
and Robert W. Jenson. The Catholicity of the Reformation. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996. ISBN 0-8028-4220-8.
- MacCulloch, Diarmaid
Diarmaid Ninian John MacCulloch is Professor of the History of the Church in the University of Oxford and Fellow of St Cross College, Oxford...
. The Reformation: A HistoryThe Reformation: A History is a history book by English historian Diarmaid MacCulloch. It is a survey of the European Reformation between 1490 and 1700. It won the 2004 National Book Critics Circle Award and the 2003 Wolfson History Prize ....
. New York: Penguin 2003. Most important recent synthesis
- Spitz, Lewis W. The Renaissance and Reformation Movements: Volume II, The Reformation. Revised Edition. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1987. ISBN 0-570-03819-7.
- Hendrix, Scott H. "Recultivating the Vineyard: The Reformation Agendas of Christianization." Louisville & London: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004. ISBN 0-664-22713-9.
- Various undeclared editors, (1999) "What Life was Like in Europe's Golden Age; Northern Europe AD 1500-1675". Alexandria, Time-Life Books, ISBN 0-78355-464-8.
Primary sources in translation
- Spitz, Lewis W. The Protestant Reformation: Major Documents. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1997. ISBN 0-570-04993-8
- Luther, Martin
Martin Luther changed the course of Western civilization by initiating the Protestant Reformation. As a priest and theology professor, he confronted indulgence salesmen with his The Ninety-Five Theses in 1517. Luther strongly disputed their claim that freedom from God's punishment of sin could...
Luther's Correspondence and Other Contemporary Letters, 2 vols., tr.and ed. by Preserved Smith, Charles Michael Jacobs, The Lutheran Publication Society, Philadelphia, Pa. 1913, 1918. vol.I (1507-1521) and vol.2 (1521-1530) from Google Books. Reprint of Vol.1, Wipf & Stock Publishers (March 2006). ISBN 1-59752-601-0.
- Gorham, George Cornelius
George Cornelius Gorham was a priest in the Church of England who caused some controversy in the Victorian Age.-Early life:...
, Gleanings of a few scattered ears, during the period of Reformation in England and of the times immediately succeeding : A.D. 1533 to A.D. 1588:, London, Bell and Daldy, 1857.
External links