The Age of Reformation

1. The Age of Reformation Chapter 11

2. Causes of the Reformation Challenges to the Medieval Church: the Great Schism, the Conciliar Period, the Renaissance papacy Urban laypeople more knowledgeable about the world and rulers as many traveled widely as soldiers, piligrims, explorers, and traders. The printing press and postal systems increased available information A new age of books and libraries raised literacy

3. Modern Devotion A religious movement in northern Europe, known as the Brothers of Common Life, and was similar to a boarding school for reform minded laity. Centered in the Netherlands, the movement practiced a life of prayer and study without surrendering the world. The brothers were also educators, worked as copyists, ran hospices for poor students, and conducted school for youths. Desiderius Erasmus was looked after by these brothers!

4. The Spread of the Printing Press

5. The Holy Roman Empire in the 16c

6. The Spread of Lutheranism

7. The Peasant Revolt - 1525

8. The Peasants Revolt The German peasantry first believed Luther to be an ally. The openly solicited Luther’s support of their alleged “Christian” political and economic rights, including the revolutionary demand of release from serfdom. Lutherans, however, were not social revolutionaries and saw no hope for their movement if they became intwined with the peasants. And so, when the peasants revolted against their landlords in 1524-1525, invoking Luther’s name, Luther condemned them as ”Un-Christian” and urged the princes to crush the revolution.

9. Luther believed that the freedom of Christian lay in the inner spiritual release from guilt and anxiety, not revolutionary politics. Had the reformers joined the peasant revolt, Luther would have contradicted his own teaching and likely shared the fate of his Lutheran peasant leaders who died in the revolts.

10. Reformation in Europe to Stay The Diet of Augsburg: 1530, an assembly of Protestant and Catholic representatives called to address the growing religious division within the empire in the wake of the Reformation’s success. The Catholic emperor, Charles V, dictated terms that adjourned the diet with orders to all Lutherans to revert to Catholicism. February 1531, Lutherans responded by creating a defensive alliance, the Schmalkaldic League, which took as its banner the Augsburg Confession which were a moderate statement of Protestant beliefs that were spurned by the emperor at the Diet of Augsburg.

11. Protestant confession was known as the Schmalkaldic Articles. Led by Landgrave Philip of Hesse and Elector John Frederick of Saxony, the league achieved a stalemate with the emperor who became distracted by renewed war with the French and Turks.

12. Expansion of the Reformation Denmark: Lutherism thrived under Frederick I who joined the Schmalkaldic League. Under Christian III, Lutheranism becomes the official state religion. Sweden: King Gustavus Vasa, supported by Swedish nobility greedy for Church lands, embraced Lutheranism, confiscated the Church lands, and subjected the clergy to royal authority at the Diet of Vesteras (1527) Poland: becomes a model of religious pluralism and toleration: Lutherans, Anabaptists, Calvinists, and even Antitrinitarians found room to practice their beliefs. This was mainly due to absence of a central political authority.

13. Reaction Against Protestants In 1540-1541, Charles V turned to military solutions after unsuccessfully reaching a compromise between Protestants and Catholics. 1547: imperial armies crushed the Protestant Schmalkaldic League and capturing John Frederick of Saxony and Philip of Hesse. Emperor put in their place puppet rulers and issued an imperial mandate that required Protestants to readopt the old Catholic beliefs and practices.

14. Protestants were granted a few concessions: Clerical marriage (with papal approval) Communion of both bread and wine Many Protestants went into exile. In Germany, the city of Madgeburg became the refuge for Protestants and the center of Lutheran resistance.

15. The Peace of Augsburg Charles V had put Maurice of Saxony in charge, Maurice, however, realizes the inevitable was happening, and so, shifts his allegiance to the Lutherans. Charles V, weary from 3 decades of war and fierce resistance, is forced to relent. He reinstates the Protestant leaders and guaranteed Lutherans religious freedoms in the Peace of Passau (1552). With this declaration he gives up his quest for European religious unity.

16. In 1555, the Peace of Augsburg made the division of Christendom permanent. Significance: recognized in law what had already been established in practice, the ruler of a land would determine its religion. It did NOT: extend official recognition to Calvinism and Anabaptism. Anabaptists, already used to exclusion, formed their own separtists communities. Calvinists, remained determined to secure the right to worship publicly as they pleased and to shape society according to their own religious convictions. So, Calvinists were organized to lead national revolutions throughout northern Europe in the second half of the 16th century.

17. The Reformation Elsewhere Zwingli and the Swiss Reformation: Switzerland loose confederacy of 13 autonomous cantons, or states. Some cantons Protestant, some remained Catholic, and others managed to effect a compromise. Preconditions for the Swiss revolt: • Growth of national sentiment with some popular opposition to foreign mercenary service • Desire for Church reform

18. Ulrich Zwingli By 1518, known for opposition to the sale of indulgences and to religious superstition 1519- Competed and received the position of people’s priest of the main church in Zurich. One of his first acts as a reformer was to petition for an end to clerical celibacy and the right for clergy to legally marry From his new position he engineered the Swiss Reformation!

19. 1522- He was party to the Lenten fast (act of protest equivalent to burning one’s national flag) Reform guide: Whatever lacked literal support in Scripture was not to be believed nor practiced Marburg Colloquy: Philip of Hesse wanted to unite Swiss and German Protestants. He brought Zwingli and Luther to his castle in Marburg in early October 1529.

20. Zwingli and Luther Differ Zwingli’s belief: a symbolic interpretation of Christ’s words, “This is my body.” Christ was spiritually, NOT bodily, present in the bread and wine of the Eucharist. Luther’s belief: Christ’s human nature was such that he shared the properties of his divine nature. So, Christ was spiritually present, but he could also be bodily present. Luther didn’t want a part of a spiritualized and abstract Christ.

21. Ok, so what happened at Marburg? Goal: to work out Luther and Zwingli’s differences Result? Luther leaves thinking Zwingli is a fanatic The disagreement splintered the Protestant movement theologically and politically.

22. Swiss Civil Wars Swiss cantons divided as Protestant or Catholic Two major battles both at Kappel June 1529: ended as a Protestant victory and so Catholic cantons were forced to break their foreign alliances and recognize the rights of the Swiss Protestants October 1531: Zwingli wounded in battle, found, executed. The treaty confirmed the right of each canton to determine its own religion. Zwingli’s, protégé and later son in law became new leader of the Swiss Reformation which eventually merges with Calvinism.

23. The Anabaptists Dutch persecution of Anabaptists (Mennonites)

24. Anabaptists and Radical Protestants Some saw the Lutheran and Zwinglian reformations as going at a moderate pace and some accused these reformations as going only halfway. One of these radical groups were the Anabaptists, the 16th century ancestors of the modern Mennonites and Amish. Beliefs: rejected infant baptism, only adult baptism as was the case with Jesus who was baptized as an adult.

25. Conrad Grebel, Anabaptism orginated, performed first adult rebaptism in Zurich in January 1525. Grebel, a former co-worker of Zwingli, will form his own group: the Swiss Brethren. The Schleitheim Confession is the document distinguished Anabaptists not only by their pacifism, refusal to swear oaths, and non-participation in secular government. Anabaptists physically separated themselves to form a more perfect communion modeled on the first Christians. However, political authorities viewed this separation as a threat to social bonds and even as sedition.

26. Anabaptists drew from a range of social classes, despite the Lutherans and Zwinglians uniting with the Catholics in opposition and persecuting them in the cities. A more rural, agrarian class came to make up a great majority of Anabaptists. 1529-rebaptism became a capital offense in the Holy Roman Empire Between 1525-1618 at least 1,000 and maybe up to 5,000 men and women were executed for rebaptizing themselves.

27. Were Anabaptists totally victims? In 1534-1535, the German city of Munster came under the control of Anabaptists extremists. Led by baker, Haarlem, and a tailor, Leiden, the Anabaptists in Munster forced Lutheran and Catholics in the city to convert of emigrate. City was blockaded by besieging armies and Munster became an Old Testament theocracy (complete with polygamy justified as a means of social control)

28. Catholic and Lutheran armies united to crush the radicals. The skeletons of the radical Anabaptist group hung as a warning to all who would offend traditional Christian sensitivities. Moderate and pacifistic Anabaptists became more of the norm. Menno Simons, founder of the Mennonites set an example of non-provocative separatist Anabaptism. This became the historical form in which Anabaptist sects survived down to the present.

29. Spiritualists Diverse and highly individualistic Distinguished by their disdain for external, institutional religion. They believed the only religious authority was the Spirit of God, which speaks here and now in the heart and mind of every listening individual. Examples: Thomas Muntzer, contacts with Anabaptist leaders in Germany and Switzerland, died as a leader of a peasants’ revolt in Germany. Sebastian Franck, proclaimed religious autonomy and freedom of every individual soul. Caspar Schwenckfeld, prolific writer and wanderer after whom the Schwenckfeldian Church is named.

30. Antitrinitarians Another persecuted radical Protestant group Prominent among them: Spaniard Michael Servetus, executed in Geneva in 1553 at the encouragement of John Calvin for “blasphemies against the Holy Trinity.” Italians, Lelio and Faustus Sozzini, the founders of Socinianism These thinkers were the strongest opponents of Calvinism, especially its belief in original sin and predestination, and have a deserved reputation as defenders of religious toleration.

31. Calvin’s World in the 16c

32. John Calvin and the Genevan Reformation Second half of 16th century, Calvinism replaces Lutheranism as the dominant Protestant force in Europe. Doctrine of predestination was at the center of Calvin’s theology as justification by faith was of Luther’s. Both criticized, Luther’s denying the believers need to do good works and Calvin’s for denying the existence of human free will.

33. Calvin’s theological work: Institutes of the Christian Religion, he believes that for true believers, predestination recognized that the world and all who live in it are in God’s hands for eternity eternity regardless of all else. True believers, can rest easy, that no matter what devilish forces take over the world, their present life and future are determined by a loving and ever-lasting God. Calvin arrived in Geneva on his way to Strasbourg, in flight from the persecution of Protestants in France. Due to warring between the French and Spanish, Calvin was forced to turn south to Geneva.

34. Calvin would join with a reformer from the city of Bern, Guillame Farel. Because of their strong measures they proposed to govern Geneva’s moral life, many suspected the reformers of trying to create a “new papacy.” Geneva’s powerful Protestant ally, Bern, which adopted a more moderate Protestant reform, pressured the magistrates of Geneva to do the same. Calvin and Farel opposed this and so were sent into exile. Calvin to Strasbourg where he became pastor to French exiles, wrote biblical commentaries, produced a second edition to his Institutes of the Christian reform and he learned from a Strasbourg reformer, Martin Bucer, how to achieve his goals.

35. The English Reformation Protestant ideas enter England in the 16th century. Lutheran writings are smuggled into England in the early 1520s by merchants and scholars such as William Tyndale. England was ripe for religious reform because of: • Lollardy • Humanism • Anticlerical sentiments

36. Major players: Cardinal Thomas Wolsey (1475-1530): chief minister of King Henry VIII Sir Thomas More (1478-1535), Wolsey’s successor, guided royal opposition to English Protestantism King Henry VIII (1509-1547), known as the “Defender of the Faith” from Pope Leo X because of his defending of the seven sacraments against Luther

37. Henry’s Six Wives! Catherine of Aragon (mother of Mary) Anne Boelyn (mother of Elizabeth) Jane Seymour (mother of Edward VI)

38. Henry’s Wives Continued Anne of Cleves (purpose to create an alliance with Protestant princes Germany) Catherine Howard (beheaded for adultery) Catherine Parr (patron of humanists and reformers, survived to marry again)

39. Background for Henry as the Church of England Henry was obsessed having a male heir. He had married Catherine of Aragon, daughter of Isabella and Ferdinand of Spain and the aunt of Emperor Charles V, in 1509. Catherine and Henry produced a daughter, Mary, and even though a woman could inherit the throne, Henry worried about the political consequences of leaving the throne to a female heir. Surprise, in this era, people believed it unnatural to have women rule over men!

40. I spy an attractive lady – in-waiting called Anne Boleyn. If only I could marry her instead. Will the Pope give me a divorce? I need a son. I have been married for 20 years and my wife, Catherine of Aragon is too old to have any more children. Who will inherit my throne when I die? The Church is very rich. I need money for my luxurious court. If only I could get my hands on it. The new Protestant ideas are spreading in Germany. Princes there are reforming their churches and throwing out the Catholic Church. The Church takes money out my country in taxes to help build St Peter’s in Rome. What do I get in return? Some people in England like the new Protestant ideas. They believe that the Bible should be in English not Latin.

41. Now, Henry began to believe God had cursed his marriage to Catherine because of her many miscarriages and still births. Keep in mind, Catherine was previously married to Henry’s brother, Arthur. When Arthur prematurely died, Henry VIII’s father, Henry VII, had Henry VIII marry Catherine to ensure the alliance between England and Spain remained intact. So, because marriage to a wife of one’s brother is prohibited by both canon and biblical law, the marriage had required a special dispensation from Pope Julius II.

42. Henry will become infatuated with one of Catherine’s ladies in waiting, Anne Boleyn. So, in order for Henry to get rid of Catherine in Catholic England, he needed a papal annulment of the marriage to Catherine. Problem? In 1527, Pope Clement VII was a prisoner of Emperor Charles V, who was Catherine’s nephew. So, is Charles going to encourage his prisoner to grant this request for an annulment to his aunt? And despite, Charles V taking the Pope prisoner, it was pretty much impossible for the Pope to grant an annulment on a marriage that had lasted for 18 years and was founded on the basis of a papal dispensation in the first place.

43. The Soap Opera Continues…. Cardinal Wolsey, who aspired to be pope, was placed in charge of securing the royal annulment. Wolsey was Lord Chancellor since 1515 and papal legate at large since 1518, and also the object of popular resentment. When he failed to secure the annulment, at no fault of his own—since it was really impossible for the pope to grant the request, he was dismissed in disgrace in 1529.

44. Thomas Cramner and Thomas Cromwell, both harbored Lutheran sympathies, became the king’s new closest advisers. Their idea, have the king declare himself the supreme of English spiritual affairs as he was in temporal affairs. Wait, so the head of the church of England is now the king! 1529, the Parliament convened for a seven-year session earning the title of “ReformationParliament.” It established a precedent that would remain a part of English government: Whenever fundamental charges are made in religion, the monarch must consult with and work through Parliament.

45. In 1531, the Convocation (legislative assembly representing English nobles), publicly recognized Henry as the head of the Church of England. Parliament, aside from publishing official grievances against the church, passed the Submission of the Clergy: placed canon law under royal control and thereby the clergy under royal jurisdiction. And so, 1533, Henry wed the pregnant Anne Boleyn.

46. 1534, The Act of Succession, made Anne’s children (Elizabeth), legitimate heirs to the throne. And the Act of Supremacy declared Henry “the only supreme head in earth of the Church of England.” Thomas More and bishop of Rochester John Fisher, refused to recognize the Act of Succession and the Act of Supermacy and so both were executed. In 1536-1538, Parliament dissolved England’s monasteries and nunneries.

47. The King’s Religious Conservatism Despite the break with Rome, Henry remained decidedly conservative in his religious beliefs. The Ten Articles of 1536, made mild concessions to the Protestants but Catholic Doctrine was mostly maintained. Angered by popularity with Protestantism, Henry created the Six Articles, known to Protestants as “the whip with six stings,” he stated: denied the Eucharist cup to the laity, declared celibate vows to inviolable, provided for private masses, and ordered the continuation of oral confession.

48. Under Edward VI, England enacts Protestant Reformation Henry died in 1547, and his son, Edward VI was heir to the throne at 10 years old. Edward reigned under the regencies of Edward Seymour, duke of Somerset and the earl of Warwick, who became known as the duke of Northumberland. The new king and Somerset correspond directly to John Calvin and during Somerset’s regency, Henry’s Six Articles and laws and law against Protestant heresy were repealed. Clerical marriages and communion with cup were sanctioned.

49. Under Edward’s reign: 1549, Thomas Cramner’s Book of Common Prayer was imposed on all churches 1550, images and altars were removed from churches Charles V’s victory over the German princes, 1547, forced Protestant leaders to flee to England for refuge. Among them was Martin Bucer who directly assisted the completion of the English Reformation. 1552, Second Act of Uniformity imposed a revised Book of Common Prayer on all Churches (set forth a moderate Protestant doctrine)

50. These changes were short-lived because Edward dies in his teens and is succeeded by Catherine of Aragon’s daughter, Mary I. Mary will restore Catholic doctrine. It won’t be until Elizabeth I, Anne Boelyn’s daughter, comes to power that a lasting religious settlement is achieved. Edward I Mary I Elizabeth I