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Reformation and Counter-Reformation - Toleration and Persecution…
Reformation and Counter-Reformation - Toleration and Persecution
Reformation and Counter-Reformation
Beginnings
1517 - German monk Martin Luther criticised abuses and corruption in church - nailed his Ninety-Five Theses to the door of the castle church in Wittenburg - a traditional way of inviting debate
New emphasis
-- Debate over salvation - by faith and personal relation with God, not affected by priests or via acts/works like Catholicism
-- Thought Catholics placed too much emphasis on the role of priests and intermediaries eg saints
-- Attacked rituals and establishments - sale of indulgences, paying for prayers for the dead, elaborate church ceremonies, clerical celibacy, papal power
-- Highlighted importance of vernacular Bible - translated into German 1534
-- Luther originally argued for separation of church and state but German princes started supporting him
Early Spread
1525 - German Peasants' War took inspiration from Luther but he denounced them - he had lost control of his teachings and ideas as they were combined with local grievances
1534 - Anabaptists took over Munster, ended in a bloody siege - wasn't closely tied to Luther but shared many of the same issues with the church
Protestantism became more closely tied with the authority of the state - preventing people from exploiting Luther's teachings against Catholic monarchs
Elite support for Protestantism - disillusionment with church, political reasons (eg Dutch ruled by deeply Catholic Spain), unhappy with papal rule from Rome interfering in their business
1555 - Treaty of Augsburg - legal basis for Lutheran and Catholic co-existence in Germany/HRE
-- Religion of people determined by religion of leader - Lutheran princes ruled Lutheran principalities, Catholic princes ruled Catholic principalities
-- Same top-down principle later used in England and Scandinavia
-- Only related to Lutherans - not other forms of Protestantism
Protestant Divides - Calvinism
C16 Lutherans vs Reformists and Calvinists
John Calvin - French theologian, oversaw reform in Geneva
Demanded more of a break with Catholicism - Luther didn't want a full split
Wanted changes in conduct of ceremonies, no images/statues in churches
Doctrine of predestination - idea that God specifically predestined that some would be saved and some would be damned - nothing happened that God hadn't predetermined
Rejected church government/hierarchy of bishops as it wasn't in the Bible - imposed Presbyterian grass-roots system
Idea of 'resistance' to monarch in certain cases if the monarch was 'opposing' God - different to idea of monarch as God's chosen representative - involved in rebellions in Scotland/France/Netherlands
Counter-Reformation
Reform/Calvinist beliefs the most dynamic and expansionist in N Europe especially where monarchs were absent or weak
1600 - half of Europe under Protestant rule - less than a century after Luther
1650 - 80% Catholic and 20% Protestant - success of C-R
Merritt - evidence of changes and reform within the church from before Luther - so 'counter' not entirely accurate
But rise of Prots galvanised and sped up reform
Pope Paul III - initiated major reform of clergy and abuses - Council of Trent 1543-63
-- Program of cultural and religious reform
-- Defending and clarifying Catholic religious doctrine
-- Opposition to superstition
-- Education of clergy and laity
-- Index of Prohibited Books - heretical texts
-- Expansion of inquisition against heretics - Spanish Inquisition, Roman Inquisition
Support of Catholic monarchs - Spain, France, Bavaria, Bohemia, Austria
1540 - Society of Jesus/Jesuits founded by Ignatius Loyola - preaching and missionary order with emphasis on education - had a special relationship with the papacy, attempted to become the confessors of monarchs
Legacy
Impact on culture, beliefs, practices of individuals
Formation of a strong personal religious identity
Sometimes challenged established authority but sometimes boosted the power of secular rulers
Changing alliances eg Catholic Mary I marriage to Philip of Spain vs Protestant Elizabeth I vs Spain
Growth away from religion=state, people beginning to be a different religion from monarch, questioning divine right
Altered links between monarch and Pope - Catholic monarchs started to see themselves rather than papacy as the defender of the church
Demands of tolerance as part of international agreements/treaties
Driving Force Behind the Reformation
Actions of church vs what was in the Bible - indulgences vs Jesus in the Temple
Low level of education in the clergy
Had fallen away from their own teachings
Wealth of monasteries and clergy
Power of the papacy - princes didn't want to answer to the Pope
Breaking away from suppressors eg Netherlands and Spain
Had well-educated and well-respected leaders
Use of media - woodcuts, songs, plays - later ceased with the start of puritanical Protestantism
Driving Force Behind Counter-Reformation
Pressure from Prot Reformation
Growing calls pre-Ref to reform church and correct abuses
Violent enforcement, eg Philip and Isabella, Mary I
Use of catechism to root out heretics - needed to educate people in catechism
Constant use of media via icons and church artwork but also started producing leaflets etc
Toleration and Persecution
State Religion
Ref and C-R both had popular support but also support from rulers
Destabilising force in Europe - could lead to internal conflict within nations or conflict between opposing nations
Rise of religious pluralism - diversity in religion
Kaplan - older scholarship shows rise of ‘modern’ toleration - recent scholarship emphasizes fluctuation, coexistence, compromise
General agreement that state development characterised by monopoly of armed forces and taxation -
Schilling says also monopoly of religion
Confessionalisation Model
Proposed by
Schilling
Characterised by social control and homogenisation
Features of both Catholic and Protestant countries
More bureaucracy to impose a single state religion
Widening state activity - moral regulation, monitoring religious practice and church attendance
Religious identity binding nation together
Enhanced religious position of rulers
Religion of ruler determining religion of subjects eg 1555 Treaty of Augsburg
Confessionalism later declines and is followed by 'rational'/secular state
-- Alternatively - not a linear progression, varies
Critiques of confessionalisation model
-- Weakness of central state power
-- Ignores existence of widespread religious pluralism
Legal Toleration vs Persecution
France
-- Toleration of Huguenot Protestants in Edict of Nantes - not to protect Huguenots but to try and end Wars of Religion
-- Ended 1685 by Louis XIV in Edict of Fontainebleau because he was powerful enough to deal with rebellions
England
-- Legally required all citizens to attend church but not really enforced - Catholics tolerated as long as they swore an oath of loyalty
-- 1689 Act of Toleration for Protestant 'dissenters' aka non-CofE Prots
Dutch Republic
-- Prot state church but most of population Catholic
-- Freedom of conscience but no freedom of worship aka could be another religion but not practice it but Catholics and Jews need worship as part of religion - so effectively no freedom of religion
--
Schuikerken
/clandestine churches and synagogues were hidden in attics or warehouses although were more of an open secret - authorities turned a blind eye as long as they weren't public or trying to convert people
Vienna
-- No freedom of worship for Prots - would leave the city en masse to worship in another state right outside Vienna
Community and Religious Identity
Strong popular support for 'established religion' and popular dislike for opposing religions
Growth of religion identity limited power of rulers to make religious changes
-- Catholic Sigismund III of Poland was also king of Sweden until Protestant Swedes thought he was going to try and impose Catholicism and revolted - his uncle got popular support by portraying himself as a Protestant hero fighting their foreign Catholic monarch
-- John Sigismund, Elector of Brandenburg tried to impose Calvinism on Lutherans and was forced to back down
-- England Revolution of 1688 against James II/VII replacing Catholic king with Prot William of Orange
Strong role for communities in maintaining tolerance - people rarely sentenced to death for heresy as community saw it as unfair, generally peaceful co-existence within towns or villages
Episodes of severe intolerance often prompted by political or social crises
Dixon
Reformation traditionally originated with Luther posting the Ninety-Five Theses and his declaration before the HRE
Until mid-C20 historians accepted that Reformation originated in Wittenberg with Luther then spread across Europe to become a series of movements
Nowadays not so much - still give pride of place to Luther etc - but central concern is finding place of Wittenberg in wider context of the narrative of the Ref
Different trajectories in mostly Zurich, Geneva and Wittenberg, also in Strasbourg and London etc
Oberman
- 'grand narrative with a radical marginalising of German political, cultural and theological sentiment'
No longer approached as a linear narrative anchored in political and religious turning points - historians focus on particular fields and smaller settings
Some people say sparked individualism and liberalism, some say created new fetters and added nothing
Kumin
Jewish Toleration/Persecution
Relatively well-integrated until C12
Not allowed to own landed property so engaged in crafts, trading and money-lending - guilds became more powerful and local resentment grew then restricted
Culture overlapped but not accepted - part of Renaissance, helped translate Biblical texts from Hebrew etc
Allowed to practice religion by papal policy but restricted dress and behaviour - believed they would eventually embrace voluntary conversion
Late medieval/early modern - believed by rulers to no longer serve financial purposes - in debt to Jewish moneylenders etc - expulsions 1200s onwards
Mass conversions on Iberian peninsula - Spanish Inquisition established to investigate conversos and make sure they weren't becoming heretics - conversos ended up becoming powerful and influential in church and state, unknown how many were still practicing Jews
Germany - Martin Luther attacked Jews - originally condescending and said that if the Catholic church had taught them better they would convert, when they wouldn't convert under his own teaching he said they were blasphemous and recommended burning of synagogues and houses, forced labour for children etc - but used a similar tone for other enemies eg papacy and Turks
1530 Lutheran
Osiander
- if Jews aren't killing Christians then Christian slaughter of 'innocent Jews' is 'shameful'
German princes tolerated or persecuted according to economic needs and public pressure - HRE Charles V protected German Jews from Protestant princes but supported the Inquisition as king of Spain
Counter-ref papacy had restrictive policy but didn't implement properly - aimed for rapid conversion and implementation of ghettos in all cities but sporadic success and ghettos fostered protection and community spirit preventing conversion
If conversos moved to Prot North Europe some reverted to Judaism (ancestral, not the same person)
Fared best in Poland-Lithuania where kings had granted privileges for own advantage -1490 30,000 Jews, 1650 450,000 Jews, 1750 750,000 Jews (about half the world's Jewish population)
Benefited from late C16 onwards - Europeans concentrating on their own religious and dynastic wars - well-placed to benefit when power of guilds was reduced
Cultural emancipation - Jewish Enlightenment/
Haskalah
began in Germany in 1750 onwards - encouraged to study secular subjects and enter a wider range of occupations, Jewish women encouraged to be educated -
Mendelssohn
tried to improve legal situation and argue for increased tolerance
French Revolution - treat Jews as citizens without special privileges - 'refuse everything to the Jews as a nation and give everything to the Jews as individuals'
Kumin
Theological arguments spilling into socio-political sphere and gripping population
First experience of formal religious division for the West - conflict etc
Luther had hoped for a 'purified' universal church but instead Catholicism survived and regenerated while two main branches and dozens of smaller groups emerged
Easy to alter ecclesiastic structures but harder to implant new beliefs
Peasant and Urban Reformations
Peasants attracted to social messages read into Luther's teachings by leaders like Muntzer who interpreted them as justification for the end of serfdom - when German peasant revolt put down reverted mainly to Catholicism
Dickens
- cities responsible for saving the Reformation when peasant uprisings had been suppressed and few princes supported it - Reformation introduced to cities by popular pressure and city councils established new churches and used them to reinforce their rule
Recently suggested that 1520s councillors sympathetic to Ref but cautious of antagonising the church, emperor and princes - caution meant long drawn-out Refs eg Wimpfen had eight different religious allegiances in a century
1548 - Treaty of Augsburg by Charles V to persuade cities to return to Catholicism - changed constitutions to concentrate power on patricians rather than guilds and councils but miscalculated - majority of patricians now Prot so most didn't return to Catholicism
Princely Reformations
Most princes didn't adopt Ref to seize church lands or oppose the emperor - most reluctant to cross the emperor unless a pressing reason
1529 - Protestation of Speyer (reason why 'Protestant') only six princes and fourteen cities signed a declaration rejecting the reimposition of the Edict of Worms against Luther
Sometimes served princely purposes but also personal religious convictions - rulers engaged in theological study, sometimes took a generation plus influence of advisors or female relatives
Fate of Ref lay with princes from 1530 onwards - began to accept Ref in greater numbers, even if only because most nobles and cities had already converted
1520 Luther hadn't wanted rulers to control the church but by 1525 turned to princes as 'emergency bishops' because old institutions collapsing and church income draining, needed to restore order
Rulers refused to abandon power once stable and Luther became a reluctant supporter of state churches - protested when they tried to use preaching for their political purposes
Used their power to consolidate the church but also the church to consolidate their power
Bishoprics and monastic lands incorporated, universities reformed or founded and religious matters became affairs of state
Reformation Politics
Charles V undecided between policy of repression or conciliation (Erasmus)
1530s emergence of armed Protestant League against him, many Prot rulers no longer accepted his authority on politico-religious decisions - imperial authority under threat
Major aim of 1546-7 war was to convince them to attend the Council of Trent to try and come to a compromise
Inclined to a peaceful solution between 1530-45 - political factors - no strong Catholic party amongst princes, bishops refused to implement reforms fearing for their privileges
1555 Peace of Augsburg - political solution to religious problem - archbishop proposed that each ruler determine his own land's religion - grudging acceptance of Lutherans
Success or Failure?
1530 Luther optimistic about their success but Reformers despondent by 1560
Still poor clergy competence, poor church attendance, rote learning of catechism, towns had better preachers and schools but complaints of lack of true religion - improvements over the course of C16
Swept away 'harmful' Catholic teachings but peasants selective in adopting Lutheran teachings
By late C16 Lutheranism no longer focused on quality of education and clergy - doctrinal quarrels, infighting with other Prot denominations, hereditary clergy
Re-rise of anticlericalism by end of C16/into C17 - religious apathy in places where official religion repeatedly changed
Indifference instead of enthusiasm except for in places where they remained a disadvantaged minority
'had radically altered the institutions of Church and State, but human nature hardly at all