The Birth of Modernity?

Part II: “Freedom of Conscience” in the European Reformations, c.1500-

1700

Outline and Key Terms

I. The Early Reformations

II. Europe in the “Confessional Age”

III. Self-determination, toleration, and “modernity”

Definitions• reformare (lat.) – to

transform, re-shape, restore

• Why “the Reformation”?

• Significance for “early modern” Europe?– Permanent division in

western Christianity– Religious conflict and

warfare – The growth of state power

A “Luther Bible” (The Complete Holy Scripture in German), 1534

Historiography• Max Weber (1864-1920)

• Famous for his concept of the “Protestant ethic,”• Explaining the rapid

economic and social advancement of northern Europe

• Weber linked the Protestant ethos to the birth of “modern” society– Entzauberung

(“disenchantment”)

Above: Max Weber (1864-1920)Right: The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1905)

Reformation Europe

“Confession”: a religious creed or statement of faith

Criticism of the Church • Problem:

– The Church a bastion of power and wealth in the Renaissance centuries…

– ….. by 1500, many people dissatisfied with the “worldliness” (i.e. corruption) of the Roman Church

• Responses: – Widespread anti-clericalism

– Protests and rebellions

– Moving outside the Church (the Devotio Moderna movement)

– Criticizing the Church from within (Christian Humanists)

The “Drummer of Niklashausen - visionary Hans Böhm preaching an uprising against monks and priests, 1476

Ad fontes re-applied• “Christian Humanism” –

A contradiction in terms?

• The ad fontes method applied to Christian matters– Scripture– Canon Law (church law)

• “Christian humanists” used Petrarch’s method to critique Church doctrine and tradition The Pope selling Indulgences,

woodcut by Lucas Cranach the Elder (1521)

Martin Luther (1483-1546)• Born in Eisleben, 1483

– Original Career goals?

• Conversion Experience, 1505

• Monastic Life (1505-1520)– Pilgrimage to Rome, 1510

• Criticizes Roman Church leadership:– Ninety-Five Theses Against Indulgences (1517)– To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation

(1520)– The Babylonian Captivity of the Church (1520)– The Freedom of A Christian (1520)

• Teachings:• Sola Scriptura – The Bible as the only authority!• The “priesthood of all believers” • “Christian freedom”

Luther as Augustinian Monk (engraving by Lucas Cranach, 1520)

Break with the Church • Luther’s writings threaten

Roman Church authority

• Luther prosecuted– June 1519 – the “Leipzig

Disputation” against Johannes Eck

– 1520 - Pope Leo X threatens Luther with excommunication

– 1521 – Luther judged at Diet of Worms, excommunicated and made an outlaw

– Luther claims that an individual Christian’s freedom of conscience permits him to disobey worldly authority!! Luther Before the Diet of Worms, by

Anton Alexander von Werner (1843-1915)

From Reform to “Reformation”• “Reformation” = reform

movement becomes a political phenomenon

• The implications of Luther’s movement

• Many princes and Imperial Cities adopt the Reformation….

• …but the Emperor and other princes remain loyal to the Roman Church!!

Confessional Age Europe (1555-1648)

The Reformation in England • Henry VIII (Tudor), King of England

(r. 1509-47)

• Succession problem (from 1525)• Known as Henry’s “Great Matter”

• Solution – a papal annulment from Pope Clement VII (?) • Cardinal Thomas Wolsey sent to Pope

Clement VII to annul Henry‘s marriage

• Chief Minister Thomas Cromwell suggests that Henry take over as head of the Church in England !

• Henry issues the “Act of Supremacy” (November 1534) – Act of Parliament making the king the

sole head of the church in England

Above: Queen Catherine, by Lucas Hornebolte; Left above: Henry VIII, by Hans Holbein the Younger (1537) Left: Sir Thomas More, by Holbein (1473-1530)

The Swiss Reformation

“Turning Swiss” - Historian Thomas A. Brady on the Swiss model of reform.

Debate in many south German Cities – Lutheran or Swiss reform model?

The Reformed Tradition (“Calvinism”)• John Calvin (1509-1564)

• Born Jean Cauvin in Picardie, France (1509)

• Studied law at Paris and Orleans (1528-1534)

• Calvin moves to Basel, Switzerland • Writes Institutes of the Christian Religion

(1536)

• Moves to Geneva, 1541 - presents his model for religious reform to city council

• Geneva becomes a “Protestant Rome”• Sin and heresy prosecuted by law

• Geneva-trained pastors spread “Calvinism” in France and Germany!

John Calvin, by Hans Holbein

The “Confessional Age”• When? The 16th and 17th centuries

Milestones:– The Edict of Worms (1521) – The Augsburg Confession (1530)– The Religious Peace of Augsburg (1555)– The Peace of Westphalia (1648)

• What? A new era of competing religious creeds

• The European “Wars of Religion”

– German Peasants’ War (1524-26)– Schmalkaldic War in Germany (1546-47)– Wars of Religion in France (1562-98)– Dutch Eighty Years’ War (1568-1648)– The Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648)

• Legacy for the early-modern state?

Emperor Charles V at the Battle of Mühlberg, by Titian (1548)

Religious War in Germany• The Reformation divides the Empire

– The “Protestation” (Speyer, 1529) and “Augsburg Confession” (Augsburg, 1530)

• Protestant princes form a defensive alliance at Schmalkalden, Feb 1531 – The “Schmalkaldic League” meets

annually– “Schmalkaldic Articles” issued 1537

• The “Schmalkaldic War,” 1546-1547

• Catholic Emperor Charles V defeats the Lutheran princes!– Battle of Mühlberg (Saxony), 24 April

1547 Top Left: Philip II, Landgrave of Hesse (1534-37)Top Right: Johann Friedrich I, Elector of Saxony, by Lucas Cranach the Younger (1537)Above: Charles V, by Titian (1548)

Toleration in Germany• German protestant princes

make new alliance with Henry II of France!

• Charles agrees to the Treaty of Passau (1552)– Guarantees toleration of German

Lutheranism

• The Religious Peace of Augsburg (1555)– Cuius regio, eius religio

• “Lutheranism” as defined by the Augsburg Confession officially becomes a legal religion (in the Holy Roman Empire) Title page of The Religious Peace of

Augsburg (Mainz, 1555)

War and Peace in France• Persecution of French Protestants

– The Massacre of Vassy (1562)– The St. Bartholomew’s Day

Massacre (1572)

• The “Wars of Religion,” 1562-1598– Nobility divided by religion

• Civil war resolved by victories of Huguenot leader Henry of Navarre (Bourbon)– Converts to Catholicism, 1593 –

“Paris is Worth A Mass”

• Royal toleration for Huguenots – the Edict of Nantes (April, 1598)

Top: Henry IV, King of France, by Frans Porbus (1610)Bottom: The Edict of Nantes (with royal seal)

The St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre

The Massacre of St. Bartholomew’s Day, by Francois Dubois (c. 1572-1584)

The Dutch Revolt• 80 years of conflict!

– 1565: Spanish King Philip II rejects religious toleration for the Spanish Netherlands

– Dutch Protestants revolt

• Philip’s response – send a Spanish army – 1567 - Duke of Alba invades Belgium

• The “Spanish Fury”

• Dutch resurgence - The “Dutch Republic” declared in 1581

• King Philip III and the “Twelve Years’ Truce” (signed April, 1609)

• What can we conclude about the origins of religious toleration?

Above: Dominions of Philip II in 1580Left: William, Prince of Orange, by Adriaen Thomasz

Reform and “modernity”?• Does the Reformation create a “modern”

worldview?• Luther’s emphasis on individual salvation,

right to freedom of conscience (self-determination)

• Tudor reform (Henry VIII) – the state takes control of the church!

• Zwingli and Calvin condemn “idolatry” and “superstition”

• Wars of religion produce religious toleration

• Does the Reformation create a “modern” society? • Growth of state power over the church• Multiple legal religions (after 1555): • What did “religious toleration” mean in the

1500s and 1600s?

A “tolerant” society?