The Social and Political Consequences of the

Reformation

Overview

● Review Defining Features of the Reformation● Confusion & Popular Unrest● Fear of Political Fragmentation● Purification● Women and the Reformation● Theological Rigidity● Cultural Differentiation● Literacy & Censorship● Conclusion

Religious Fragmentation

● Luther Challenge to Papal authority undermined the coherence of the divergent forms of Christianity that had developed during the High and Late Middle Ages

● As religious authority came under attack, numerous sects emerged:– HRE during the 1520s and 1530s– England during the 1640s and 1650s

Radical Sects

● 1520s and early 1530s, radical preacher proliferated throughout Germany; thousands of small sects

● One of the largest of these was the Melchiorites, located in the NW HRE town of Munster

– Established a “heavenly Jerusalem”– Practiced polygamy– Burned all books except Bible– Abolished private property– Prepared for the immanent arrival of Jesus– Destroyed by coalition of Lutheran and Catholic forces

Confusion & Popular Unrest

● Following the Diet of Worms, various groups throughout Germany embraced the most radical notions of Luther's reforms, such as the priesthood of all believers, and began to interpret the Bible according to their own circumstances

● In cities and towns throughout the Empire, radical preacher and religious motivated crowds smashed icons and defiled churches

● In the summer of 1522, the imperial knights launched an attack on the Archbishop of Trier

● By 1524, peasants in SW Germany were organizing and printing pamphlets that echoed Luther's ideas; the following year they revolted against manorial lords

Calvinism: A movement toward purification

● Shortly after leaving Paris in 1534, John Calvin (with help from Thomas Platter) publishes his Institutes of the Christian Religion

● Calvins settles in Geneva in 1536 and opens a school● Citizens of Geneva overthrow their Catholic overlord in

early 1540s and establish Calvinist Church● Calvin established committees to oversee public morality

and to punish sinful behavior, such as dancing, public displays of affection

● Geneva developed a reputation as one of the cleanest and most Christian cities of Europe

Thomas Cromwell

● Involved in suppression of monasteries in 1520s

● Architect of Henry’s break with Rome: Act of supremacy (1534)

Edward, Prince of Wales

1539

Puritans

Calvinist Worship

Queen Elizabeth

1558-1603

James I● Son of Mary Stuart● Ruled England 1603-25● Wrote Concerning the Divine

Right of Kings● His favorite, the Duke of

Buckingham undermined his popularity

● Engaged in ideological quarrel with Sir Edward Coke over prerogative courts

Charles I● Maintained a lifelong

devotion to the divine right of kings

● Even his advocates considered him less than brilliant and lacking people skills

● By Van Dyck, 1635

Henrietta Maria

Catholic Queen to Charles I

Archbishop William Laud

1633-45

Chapbooks,Pamphlets,Broadsides

What does Friedman mean that common people had a totemistic view of the world?

How was this totemistic view of the world related to pamphlets?

WHAT IS DIVINE RETRIBUTION?

How does Friedman connect it to the English Revolution?

How likely is it that people believed in it?

Who was William Lily?

A. A parliamentary astrologer who published pamphlets

B. The Archbishop of Canterbury who was executed for his relationship with the King Charles I

C. The leader of the parliamentary army

D. Not sure

Papermaking, Bibliotheque Nationale, ParisInside a Printing Works, Bibliotheque des Arts

Decoratifs, Paris

The Gutenberg Bible

1455

Caxton’s Press in Westminster

First Item Printed in England

1476

Fleet Street, c. 1890