The Reformation
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The Protestant Reformation was a major 16th century European movement aimed initially at reforming the beliefs and practices of the Roman Catholic Church.Its religious aspects were supplemented by ambitious political rulers who wanted to extend their power and control at the expense of the Church.
. The Reformation (more fully the Protestant Reformation, or the European Reformation ) was a in initiated by and continued by, and other in 16th-century.
It is usually considered to have started with the publication of the by Martin Luther in 1517 and lasted until the end of the in 1648. It led to the division of Western Christianity into different confessions (, etc.). By the time of its arrival, Western Christianity was only compromised in the, where was by both the and the; in addition, various movements (including in England and in Italy and France) were still being actively suppressed.
Although there had been earlier attempts to reform the – such as those of, and – Luther is widely acknowledged to have started the Reformation with the Ninety-five Theses. Luther began by criticising the sale of, insisting that the had no authority over and that the Catholic doctrine of the had no foundation in the. The Reformation incorporated doctrinal changes such as a complete reliance on Scripture as the only source of proper belief ( ) and the belief that in, and not good works, is the only way to obtain God's pardon for sin ( ).
The core motivation behind these changes was, though many other factors played a part, including the rise of, the that eroded loyalty to the, the perceived corruption of the, the impact of, and the new learning of the that questioned much traditional thought. The initial movement in Germany diversified, and other reformers arose independently of Luther.
The groundwork of the Reformation was developed by three major: in, in and in. Depending on country, the Reformation had varying causes and different backgrounds, and also unfolded differently, than in Germany.
The spread of provided the means for the rapid dissemination of religious materials in the vernacular. Churches were founded in Germany, the Baltics and Scandinavia, and ones in Switzerland, Hungary, France, the Netherlands and Scotland. The movement influenced the after 1547, under and, although the had begun under in 1534. Reformation movements throughout continental Europe known as the gave rise to various movements. Radical Reformers, besides forming communities outside, often employed more extreme doctrinal change, such as the rejection of the of the councils of.
Anabaptism suffered a major blow early in the and was persecuted for centuries after that. The Reformation in led to the emergence of; it is historically considered an 'exceptional event in church history'.
The Catholic Church responded with a, initiated by the in 1545, and a new order, the, founded in 1540., with the exception of most of, came under the influence of Protestantism. Remained Catholic, except, which remained predominantly, as did countries of,. Became a site of a fierce conflict that culminated in the Thirty Years' War. The oldest Protestant churches, such as the and, date their origins to (John Huss) in the early 15th century. As it was led by a Bohemian noble majority, and recognised, for a time, by the Basel Compacts, the Hussite Reformation was Europe's first ' because the ruling magistrates supported it, unlike the ', which the state did not support.
The later Protestant Churches generally date their doctrinal separation from the Catholic Church to the 16th century. The Reformation began as an attempt to reform the Catholic Church, by priests who opposed what they perceived as false doctrines and ecclesiastic malpractice.
They especially objected to the teaching and the sale of indulgences, and the abuses thereof, and to, the selling and buying of clerical offices. The reformers saw these practices as evidence of the systemic corruption of the, which included the pope. Earlier schisms. Execution of in (1415). Was already formally compromised in the long before Luther with the (1436) and the (1485). Was allowed there alongside the confession. By the time the Reformation arrived, the and the both had majority populations for decades now.
Unrest due to the (1378–1416) excited wars between princes, uprisings among the peasants, and widespread concern over corruption in the Church. New perspectives came from at and from at the. Hus objected to some of the practices of the Catholic Church and wanted to return the church in and to earlier practices: in the language of the people (i.e. Czech), having lay people receive in both kinds (bread and wine – that is, in Latin, ), married priests, and eliminating and the concept of. Some of these, like the use of local language as the lithurgic language, were approved by the pope as early as in the 9th century. Hus rejected indulgences and adopted a doctrine of.
The Catholic Church officially concluded this debate at the (1414–1417) by condemning Hus, who was executed by burning despite a promise of safe-conduct. Wycliffe was posthumously condemned as a heretic and his corpse exhumed and burned in 1428. The Council of Constance confirmed and strengthened the traditional medieval conception of church and empire. The council did not address the national tensions or the theological tensions stirred up during the previous century and could not prevent and the in Bohemia. (1471–1484) established the practice of selling indulgences to be applied to the dead, thereby establishing a new stream of revenue with agents across Europe. (1492–1503) was one of the most controversial of the popes.
He was the father of seven children, including. In response to papal corruption, particularly the sale of indulgences, Luther wrote The Ninety-Five Theses. A number of theologians in the preached reformational ideas in the 1510s, shortly before or simultaneously with Luther, including in (as early as 1513). Martin Luther and the beginning. Martin Luther at the, where he refused to recant his works which were deemed heretical by the (painting from, 1877, ) The Reformation is usually dated to 31 October 1517 in, when Luther sent his to the.
The theses debated and criticised the Church and the papacy, but concentrated upon the selling of indulgences and doctrinal policies about, and the authority of the pope. He would later in the period 1517–1521 write works on the Catholic devotion to, the intercession of and devotion to the saints, the sacraments, mandatory clerical celibacy, monasticism, further on the authority of the pope, the ecclesiastical law, censure and excommunication, the role of secular rulers in religious matters, the relationship between Christianity and the law,. Reformers made heavy use of inexpensive pamphlets as well as vernacular Bibles using the relatively new printing press, so there was swift movement of both ideas and documents. Magisterial Reformation. Main article: Parallel to events in Germany, a movement began in under the leadership of. These two movements quickly agreed on most issues, 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. Other Protestant movements grew up along lines of mysticism or, sometimes breaking from Rome or from the Protestants, or forming outside of the churches. After this first stage of the Reformation, following the of Luther and condemnation of the Reformation by the Pope, the work and writings of were influential in establishing a loose consensus among various groups in Switzerland, Hungary, Germany and elsewhere. The Reformation foundations engaged with; both Luther and Calvin thought along lines linked with the theological teachings of. The Augustinianism of the reformers struggled against, a heresy that they perceived in the Catholic Church. In the course of this religious upheaval, the of 1524–1525 swept through the Bavarian, and principalities, including the of, a knight from who joined the peasants in the general outrage against the Catholic hierarchy. And Lutheran ideas had influence with preachers within the regions that the Peasants' War occurred and upon works such as the.
Luther, however, condemned the revolt in writings such as; Zwingli and Luther's ally also did not condone the uprising. Some 100,000 peasants were killed by the end of the war. Radical Reformation. Main article: The Radical Reformation was the response to what was believed to be the corruption in the Catholic Church and the expanding led by and many others. Beginning in Germany and Switzerland in the 16th century, the Radical Reformation gave birth to many radical Protestant groups throughout. The term covers radical reformers like and, groups like the, and groups like the.
In parts of Germany, Switzerland and Austria, a majority sympathized with the Radical Reformation despite intense persecution. Although the surviving proportion of the European population that rebelled against Catholic, and churches was small, Radical Reformers wrote profusely and the literature on the Radical Reformation is disproportionately large, partly as a result of the proliferation of the Radical Reformation teachings in the. Literacy. Officially, Protestantism remained an exclusively German phenomenon that concerned only the through the late 1510s and the 1520s.
It did not became an international issue until the 1530s. In 1517, the Reformation began with Luther and caught on instantly. Different reformers arose independently of Luther in 1518 (for example, and ), 1519 (for example, ) and so on. Each year drew new theologians to embrace the Reformation and participate in the ongoing, European-wide discussion about faith. Before princely support. Main article: The early Reformation in Germany mostly concerns the life of Martin Luther until he was excommunicated by Pope Leo X on 3 January 1521, in the bull.
The exact moment realized the key doctrine of is described in German as the Turmerlebnis. It is often seen as the breakthrough of the reformational ideas. In, Luther describes it as a sudden realization. Experts often speak of a gradual process of realization between 1514 and 1518. After the (1518) and the (1519), the faith issues were more and more brought to the attention of other German theologians throughout the Empire. Other arose independently from Luther almost immediately throughout Germany. The pace of the Reformation proved unstoppable already by 1520.
Reformational ideas and Protestant church services were first introduced in cities, being supported by local citizens and also some nobles. The Reformation did not receive state support until 1525. It was more of a movement among the German people between 1517 and 1525, and then also a political one beginning in 1525. Princes' Reformation. See also: The first state to formally adopt a confession was the (1525). Formally declared to be the.
Ducal Prussia was followed by many and other minor. The next sizeable territories were the (1526; at the ) and the (1527; Luther's homeland), (1530s) and the (1534). The reformational wave swept first the, and then extended beyond it to the rest of the European continent. Germany was home to the greatest number of that developed the Reformation. Nearly each state that turned Protestant had their own reformers responsible for the implementation of the renewed faith and the foundation of churches.
Pioneered these activities in, where under his own supervision, the was organized and served as an example for other states. Reformation outside Germany. Main article: This predominantly religious movement was propelled by social issues and strengthened Czech national awareness. In 1417, two years after the execution of Jan Hus, the Czech reformation quickly became the chief force in the country. Made up the vast majority of the population, forcing the Council of Basel to recognize in 1437 a system of two 'religions' for the first time signing the for the kingdom (Catholic and Czech, a Hussite movement).
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Bohemia later also elected two Protestant kings. After took control of the region, the Hussite churches were prohibited and the kingdom partially recatholicized. Even later gained a substantial following, after being permitted by the Habsburgs with the continued persecution of the Czech native Hussite churches. Many Hussites thus declared themselves Lutherans. Two churches with Hussite roots are now second and third biggest churches in the predominantly agnostic country: (which gave origin to the international church known as the ). Switzerland. Launched the Reformation in Switzerland.
Parallel to events in Germany, a movement began in the under the leadership of Huldrych Zwingli. Zwingli was a scholar and preacher who moved to – the then-leading city state – in 1518, a year after Martin Luther began the Reformation in Germany with his. Although the two movements agreed on many issues of theology, as the recently introduced spread ideas rapidly from place to place, some unresolved differences kept them separate. Long-standing resentment between the German states and the Swiss Confederation led to heated debate over how much Zwingli owed his ideas to Lutheranism.
Although does hold uncanny resemblance to Lutheranism (it even had its own equivalent of the Ninety-five Theses, called the 67 Conclusions), historians have been unable to prove that Zwingli had any contact with Luther's publications before 1520, and Zwingli himself maintained that he had prevented himself from reading them. The German Prince saw potential in creating an alliance between Zwingli and Luther, seeing strength in a united Protestant front. A meeting was held in his castle in 1529, now known as the, which has become infamous for its complete failure. The two men could not come to any agreement due to their disputation over one key doctrine. Although Luther preached in the over, he believed in the at the Mass. Zwingli, inspired by Dutch theologian, believed that the mass was only representative and memorial – Christ was not present.
Luther became so angry that he famously carved into the meeting table in chalk Hoc Est Corpus Meum – a Biblical quotation from the meaning 'This is my body'. Zwingli countered this saying that est in that context was the equivalent of the word significant (signifies). 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. One famous incident illustrating this was when radical Zwinglians fried and ate sausages during Lent in Zurich city square by way of protest against the Church teaching of.
Other Protestant movements grew up along the lines of mysticism or humanism (cf. ), sometimes breaking from Rome or from the Protestants, or forming outside of the churches. John Calvin. Was one of the leading figures of the Reformation. His legacy remains in a variety of churches. Following the 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, Hungary, Germany and elsewhere. After the expulsion of its Bishop in 1526, and the unsuccessful attempts of the Berne reformer, Calvin was asked to use the organisational skill he had gathered as a student of law to discipline the 'fallen city' of Geneva.
His 'Ordinances' of 1541 involved a collaboration of Church affairs with the City council and to bring morality to all areas of life. After the establishment of the Geneva academy in 1559, Geneva became the unofficial capital of the Protestant movement, providing refuge for Protestant exiles from all over Europe and educating them as Calvinist missionaries. These missionaries dispersed Calvinism widely, and formed the French in Calvin's own lifetime, as well as causing the conversion of Scotland under the leadership of the cantankerous in 1560. The faith continued to spread after Calvin's death in 1563 and reached as far as Constantinople by the start of the 17th century. The Reformation foundations engaged with. Both Luther and Calvin thought along lines linked with the theological teachings of.
The Augustinianism of the Reformers struggled against, a heresy that they perceived in the Catholic Church of their day. Ultimately, since Calvin and Luther disagreed strongly on certain matters of theology (such as double-predestination and Holy Communion), the relationship between Lutherans and Calvinists was one of conflict. Nordic countries See also:,. Broke England's ties with the Catholic Church, becoming the sole head of the English Church.
The separation of the Church of England from Rome under, beginning in 1529 and completed in 1537, 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 decades, between sympathies for ancient Catholic tradition and more Reformed principles, gradually developing, within the context of robustly Protestant doctrine, a tradition considered a middle way ( ) between the Catholic and Protestant traditions. The English Reformation followed a different course from the Reformation in continental Europe. There had long been a strong strain of. England had already given rise to the movement of, which played an important part in inspiring the in.
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 VIII. Henry had once been a sincere Catholic and had even authored a book strongly criticising Luther.
His wife, bore him only a single child that survived infancy,. Henry strongly wanted a male heir, and many of his subjects might have agreed, if only because they wanted to avoid another dynastic conflict like the. Proved essential in the development of the English Reformation.
King Henry decided to remove the Church of England from the authority of Rome. In 1534, the recognized Henry as 'the only on earth of the Church of England'. Between 1535 and 1540, under, the policy known as the was put into effect. The veneration of some, 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 and Cardinal, who were executed for their opposition. There was also a growing party of reformers who were imbued with the Calvinistic, Lutheran and Zwinglian doctrines now current on the Continent. When Henry died he was succeeded by his Protestant son, who, through his empowered councillors (with the King being only nine years old at his succession and fifteen at his death) the Duke of Somerset and the Duke of Northumberland, ordered the destruction of images in churches, and the closing of the.
Under Edward VI the moved closer to continental Protestantism. Yet, at a popular level, religion in England was still in a state of flux. Following a brief Catholic restoration during the reign of Mary (1553–1558), a loose consensus developed during the reign of, though this point is one of considerable debate among historians. This ' largely formed into a distinctive church tradition.
The compromise was uneasy and was capable of veering between extreme on one hand and Catholicism on the other. But compared to the bloody and chaotic state of affairs in contemporary France, it was relatively successful, in part because Queen Elizabeth lived so long, until the Puritan Revolution or in the 17th century. English dissenters. Was a devout Puritan and military leader, who became Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland. The success of the on the Continent and the growth of a Puritan party dedicated to further Protestant reform polarised the, although it was not until the 1640s that England underwent religious strife comparable to what its neighbours had suffered some generations before. The early Puritan movement (late 16th–17th centuries) was Reformed (or ) and was a movement for reform in the.
Its origins lay in the discontent with the. The desire was for the Church of England to resemble more closely the Protestant churches of Europe, especially. The Puritans objected to ornaments and ritual in the churches as (vestments, surplices, organs, genuflection), which they castigated as ' pomp and rags'. (See.) They also objected to ecclesiastical courts. Their refusal to endorse completely all of the ritual directions and formulas of the and the imposition of its liturgical order by legal force and inspection sharpened Puritanism into a definite opposition movement. The later Puritan movement, often referred to as and, eventually led to the formation of various. The most famous emigration to America was the migration of Puritan separatists from the Anglican Church of England.
They fled first to Holland, and then later to America to establish the English in New England, which later became one of the original United States. These Puritan separatists were also known as 'the '. After establishing a colony at (which became part of the colony of Massachusetts) in 1620, the Puritan pilgrims received a charter from the that legitimised their colony, allowing them to do trade and commerce with merchants in England, in accordance with the principles of. The Puritans persecuted those of other religious faiths.
Was hanged in Boston for repeatedly defying a Puritan law banning Quakers from the colony. She was one of the four executed Quakers known as the.
Executions ceased in 1661 when explicitly forbade Massachusetts from executing anyone for professing Quakerism. In 1647, Massachusetts passed a law prohibiting any priests from entering territory under Puritan jurisdiction. Any suspected person who could not clear himself was to be banished from the colony; a second offense carried a death penalty. The Pilgrims held radical Protestant disapproval of, and its celebration was outlawed in Boston from 1659 to 1681. The ban was revoked in 1681 by the English-appointed governor, who also revoked a Puritan ban on festivities on Saturday nights. Nevertheless, it was not until the mid-19th century that celebrating Christmas became fashionable in the Boston region.
Wales Bishop and dissident Protestant cleric introduced Calvinist theology to Wales. In 1588, the Bishop of Llandaff published the entire Bible in the. The translation had a significant impact upon the Welsh population and helped to firmly establish Protestantism among the. The Welsh Protestants used the model of the of 1618–1619.
Calvinism developed through the Puritan period, following the restoration of the monarchy under Charles II, and within Wales' movement. However few copies of Calvin's writings were available before mid-19th century. Scotland.
Was a leading figure in the Scottish Reformation. The Reformation in Scotland's case culminated ecclesiastically in the establishment of a church along lines, and politically in the triumph of English influence over that of France. Is regarded as the leader of the Scottish reformation. The of 1560 repudiated the pope's authority by the, forbade the celebration of the and approved a. It was made possible by a revolution against French hegemony under the regime of the, who had governed Scotland in the name of her absent daughter (then also of France).
Although Protestantism triumphed relatively easily in Scotland, the exact form of Protestantism remained to be determined. The 17th century saw a complex struggle between (particularly the ). The Presbyterians eventually won control of the, which went on to have an important influence on Presbyterian churches worldwide, but Scotland retained a relatively large. Although a Catholic clergyman himself, allied France with Protestant states.
Protestantism also spread from the German lands into France, where the Protestants were nicknamed; this eventually led to decades of civil warfare. Though not personally interested in religious reform, (reigned 1515–1547) initially maintained an attitude of tolerance, in accordance with his interest in the movement. This changed in 1534 with the. In this act, Protestants denounced the 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 came 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 ('Burning Chamber') was established (1535) within the to deal with the rise in prosecutions for heresy. Several thousand French Protestants fled the country, most notably, who emigrated to Basel in 1535 before eventually settling in in 1536. 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 kings, regularly trained pastors to lead congregations in France. Despite heavy persecution by King (reigned 1547–1559), the, largely in direction, made steady progress across large sections of the nation, in the urban and parts of the, appealing to people alienated by the obduracy and the complacency of the Catholic establishment. Painting by French Protestantism, though its appeal increased under persecution, came to acquire a distinctly political character, made all the more obvious by the conversions of nobles during the 1550s.
This established the preconditions for a series of destructive and intermittent conflicts, known as the. The civil wars gained impetus with the sudden death of in 1559, which began a prolonged period of weakness for the French crown. And outrage became the defining characteristics of the time, illustrated at their most intense in the of August 1572, when the Catholic party annihilated between 30,000 and 100,000 Huguenots across France. The wars only concluded when, himself a former Huguenot, issued the (1598), 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 (1685), which revoked the Edict of Nantes and made Catholicism the sole legal religion of France. In response to the Edict of Fontainebleau, declared the (October 1685), giving free passage to Huguenot refugees and tax-free status to them for ten years.
In the late 17th century many Huguenots fled to England, the Netherlands, Prussia, Switzerland, and the English and Dutch overseas colonies. A significant community in France remained in the region. A separate Protestant community, of the faith, existed in the newly conquered (1639– ) province of, its status not affected by the Edict of Fontainebleau. Was a Catholic priest who inspired some of the Protestant reformers.
The Reformation in the Netherlands, unlike in many other countries, was not initiated by the rulers of the, 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 movement enjoyed popularity in the region in the early decades of the Reformation, Calvinism, in the form of the, became the dominant Protestant faith in the country from the 1560s onward. In the early internal within the Calvinist church between two tendencies of Calvinism, the and the liberal (or ), resulted in Gomarist Calvinism becoming the de facto state religion. Belgium Harsh of Protestants by the Spanish government of contributed to a desire for independence in the provinces, which led to the and, eventually, the separation of the largely Protestant from the Catholic-dominated (present-day ). In 1566, at the peak of Belgian Reformation, there were an estimated 300,000 Protestants, or 20% of the Belgian population.
Luxembourg , a part of the Spanish Netherlands, remained Catholic. Prevented the Holy Roman Emperor from imposing Catholicism on Hungarians. Much of the population of the adopted Protestantism during the 16th century. After the 1526, the Hungarian people were disillusioned by the inability of the government to protect them and turned to the faith they felt would infuse them with the strength necessary to resist the invader. They found this in the teaching of Protestant reformers such as.
The spread of Protestantism in the country was assisted by its large ethnic German minority, which could understand and translate the. While gained a foothold among the German- and Slovak-speaking populations, became widely accepted among ethnic Hungarians. A devout Catholic, started the first, which, ironically, soon came to be associated with Protestantism. The Reformation in Ireland was a movement for the reform of religious life and institutions that was introduced into Ireland by the English administration at the behest of King Henry VIII of England. His desire for an annulment of his marriage was known as the. Ultimately refused the petition; consequently it became necessary for the King to assert his lordship over the Catholic Church in his realm to give legal effect to his wishes.
The confirmed the King's supremacy over the Church in the Kingdom of England. This challenge to resulted in a breach with the Catholic Church. By 1541, the had agreed to the change in status of the country from that of a to that of. Unlike similar movements for religious reform on the continent of Europe, the various phases of the English Reformation as it developed in Ireland were largely driven by changes in government policy, to which public opinion in England gradually accommodated itself.
However, a number of factors complicated the adoption of the religious innovations in Ireland; the majority of the population there adhered to the Catholic Church. However, in the city of the reformation took hold under the auspices of. Waldensian symbol Lux lucet in tenebris ('Light glows in the darkness') Word of the Protestant reformers reached Italy in the 1520s but never caught on. Its development was stopped by the Counter-Reformation, the Inquisition and also popular disinterest. Not only was the Church highly aggressive in seeking out and suppressing heresy, but there was a shortage of Protestant leadership. No one translated the Bible into Italian; few tracts were written. No core of Protestantism emerged.
The few preachers who did take an interest in 'Lutheranism,' as it was called in Italy, were suppressed or went into exile to northern countries where their message was well received. As a result, the Reformation exerted almost no lasting influence in Italy, except for strengthening the Catholic Church and motivating the Counter-Reformation. Some Protestants left Italy and became outstanding activists of the European Reformation, mainly in the (e.g., Giovanni Alciato, Giovanni Battista Cetis, and ), who propagated there and were chief instigators of the movement of. Some also fled to England and Switzerland, including. In 1532, the, who had been already present centuries before the Reformation, aligned themselves and adopted the Calvinist theology. The survived in the through many persecutions and remains a Protestant church in Italy. Poland and Lithuania.
Sought unity between various Christian churches in the Commonwealth, and participated in the English Reformation. In the first half of the 16th century, the enormous was a country of many creeds, but Catholicism remained the dominating religion. Reformation reached Poland in the 1520s and quickly gained popularity among mostly German-speaking inhabitants of such major cities as (now ), (now ) and (now ). In (now ), in 1530, a Polish-language edition of was published.
The, which was a Polish, emerged as a key center of the movement, with numerous publishing houses issuing not only Bibles, but also catechisms, in German, Polish and Lithuanian. Gained popularity in the northern part of the country, while caught the interest of the nobility (known as ), mainly in and the. Several publishing houses were opened in Lesser Poland in the mid-16th century in such locations as. At that time, and came to Poland, with the latter settling mostly in around.
In 1565, the appeared as yet another reformation movement. The Commonwealth was unique in Europe in the 16th century for its widespread tolerance confirmed by the. In 1563, the was published (see also ). The period of tolerance ended during the reign of King, who was under the strong influence of and other. After the, and other wars of the mid-17th century in which all enemies of Poland were either Protestant or Orthodox Christians, the Poles' attitude changed, and the prevailed: in 1658 the Polish Brethren were forced to leave the country, and in 1666, the banned from Catholicism to any other religion, under punishment of death. Finally, in 1717, the banned non-Catholics from becoming deputies of the Parliament.
Among most important Protestants of the Commonwealth were,. A Lutheran reformer in Slovenia is notable for consolidating the and is considered to be the key figure of Slovenian cultural history and in many aspects a major Slovene historical personality. He was the key figure of the Protestant Church of the, as he was its founder and its first superintendent. The first books in Slovene, and, were written by Trubar.
Slovakia At one point in history, the majority of (60%) were. Was popular among the Hungarians who inhabited the southernmost parts of what is now Slovakia. Back then, Slovakia used to be a part of the. The implemented by the severely damaged Slovakian Protestantism, although in the 2010s Protestants are still a substantial minority (10%) in the country. Croatia reached northern parts of the country.
Serbia turned partially. Greece The Protestant teachings of the Western Church were also briefly adopted within the Eastern Orthodox Church through the in 1629 with the publishing of the Confessio (Calvinistic doctrine) in. Motivating factors in their decision to adopt aspects of the Reformation included the and mistrust between the and Catholic church along with their concerns of priests entering Greek lands in their attempts to propagate the teachings of the to the Greek populace. He subsequently sponsored 's into the and it was published in Geneva in 1638. Upon Lucaris's death in 1638, the conservative factions within the Eastern Orthodox Church held two synods: the Synod of Constantinople (1638) and (1642) criticizing the reforms and in the 1672 convocation led by, they officially condemned the Calvinistic doctrines. Spread The Reformation spread throughout Europe beginning in 1517, reaching its peak between 1545 and 1620, and ending in 1648.
At its peak. Religious fragmentation in at the outbreak of the (1618). The high point of the Reformation occurred at some point between 1545 and 1620. In 1545, it was first considered a serious threat to the Catholic Church and the Papacy at the Council of Trent, prompting counterreformational measures by Catholic religious hierarchy.
In 1620, the put an end to Protestantism in Bohemia (now the Czech Republic). The began in 1618 and brought a drastic territorial and demographic decline when the House of Habsburg introduced counterreformational measures throughout their vast possessions in Central Europe.
The Reformation & the Counter-Reformation—both at their end—and superimposed on modern European borders Conclusion and legacy End of the Reformation There is no universal agreement on the exact or approximate date the Reformation ended. Various interpretations emphasize different dates, entire periods, or argue that the Reformation never really ended. However, there are a few popular interpretations that are used by large groups of observers. Historically, the is considered to be the event that ended the Reformation.
This is the most commonly held interpretation;. According to other historical interpretations, the Reformation could truly be considered to have ended in the middle 18th century, as the Peace of Westphalia did not specify, nor did it mean that it concluded; that is around time the (1730–1755) took place. People who hold this interpretation often argue that the emergence of Pietism prolonged the Reformation up to this point;. Some argue that the Reformation never ended as new groups have splintered from the Catholic Church (e.g., Old Catholics, Polish National Catholic Church, etc.), as well as all the various Protestant churches that exist today. No group splintering from the Catholic Church since the 17th century has done so on the basis of the same issues animating the Reformation, however. Thirty Years' War: 1618–1648.
Allowed to be freely exercised The Reformation led to a that culminated in the (1618–1648), which devastated much of, killing between 25% and 40% of its entire population. Catholic and its allies fought against the Protestant princes of Germany, supported at various times by Denmark, Sweden. The Habsburgs, who ruled Spain, Austria, the, the and much of Germany and Italy, 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 with Protestant states against the Habsburg dynasty.
For the first time since the days of Martin Luther, political and national convictions again outweighed religious convictions in Europe. Two main tenets of the, which ended the Thirty Years' War, were:. All parties would now recognise the 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 ).
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 Papacy's pan-European political power.
Declared the treaty 'null, void, invalid, iniquitous, unjust, damnable, reprobate, inane, empty of meaning and effect for all times' in his bull Zelo Domus Dei. European sovereigns, Catholic and Protestant alike, ignored his verdict. Consequences of the Reformation The following outcomes of the Reformation regarding formation, the, and 'dark' outcomes have been identified by scholars: Human capital formation.
Higher literacy rates. Lower gender gap in school enrollment and literacy rates. Higher primary school enrollment.
Higher public spending on schooling and better educational performance of military conscripts. Higher capability in reading, numeracy, essay writing, and history. Protestant ethic. More hours worked. Divergent work attitudes of Protestant and Catholics. Fewer referenda on leisure, state intervention, and redistribution in Swiss cantons with more Protestants.
Lower life satisfaction when unemployed. Pro-market attitudes. Income differences between Protestants and Catholics. Economic development. Different levels of income tax revenue per capita,% of labor force in manufacturing and services, and incomes of male elementary school teachers. Growth of Protestant cities. Greater entrepreneurship among religious minorities in Protestant states.
Different social ethics. Governance. The Reformation has been credited as a key factor in the development of the state system. The Reformation has been credited as a key factor in the formation of transnational advocacy movements. The Reformation impacted the Western legal tradition.
Establishment of State churches. Poor relief and social welfare regimes.
Negative outcomes. Witch trials became more common in areas where Protestants and Catholics contested the religious market. Protestants were far more likely to vote for Nazis than their Catholic German counterparts.
Christopher J. Probst, in his book Demonizing the Jews: Luther and the Protestant Church in Nazi Germany (2012), shows that a large number of German Lutheran clergy and theologians during the Nazi Third Reich used Luther's hostile publications towards the Jews and Judaism to justify at least in part the anti-Semitic policies of the National Socialists. Higher suicide rate and greater suicide acceptability.
Historiography Margaret C. Jacob argues that there has been a dramatic shift in the historiography of the Reformation. Until the 1960s, historians focused their attention largely on the great leaders and theologians of the 16th century, especially Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli. Their ideas were studied in depth. However, the rise of the in the 1960s look at history from the bottom up, not from the top down. Historians began to concentrate on the values, beliefs and behavior of the people at large. She finds, 'in contemporary scholarship, the Reformation is now seen as a vast cultural upheaval, a social and popular movement, textured and rich because of its diversity.'
Music and the Reformation Partly due to Martin Luther's love for music, music became important in Lutheranism. The study and practice of music was encouraged in Protestant-majority countries. Songs such as the, or the Calvinist Psalter became tools for the spread of Protestant ideas and beliefs, as well as identity flags. Similar attitudes developed among Catholics, who in turn encouraged the creation and use of music for religious purposes.
See also. In the end, while the Reformation emphasis on Protestants reading the Scriptures was one factor in the development of literacy, the impact of printing itself, the wider availability of printed works at a cheaper price, and the increasing focus on education and learning as key factors in obtaining a lucrative post, were also significant contributory factors.
In the first decade of the Reformation, Luther's message became a movement, and the output of religious pamphlets in Germany was at its height. See the wikipedia entry on, the priest who did the translation. His manuscript is considered to be a cornerstone in Basque literature, and a pioneering attempt towards Basque language standardization. References. Atkinson, Benedict; Fitzgerald, Brian (2014). 'Printing, Reformation and Information Control'. Bertoglio, Chiara (2017).
Bray, Gerald (ed.). Documents of the English Reformation.
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Firpo, Massimo (2004). Jacob, Margaret C. Living the Enlightenment: Freemasonry and Politics in Eighteenth-century Europe. Oxford University Press. MacCulloch, Diarmaid (2005). The Reformation.
Oberman, Heiko Augustinus; Walliser-Schwarzbart, Eileen (2006) 1982. Luther: Man between God and the Devil. Yale University Press. Patrick, James (2007). Renaissance and Reformation.
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'Luther and Cranach on Justification in Word and Image'. Lutheran Quarterly.
18 (4): 387–405. Whaley, Joachim (2012). Oxford University Press. Yarnell III, Malcolm B.
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Bagchi, David, and David C. Steinmetz, eds.
The Cambridge Companion to Reformation Theology (2004). (1952).
The Reformation of the Sixteenth Century. Boston: The Beacon Press. Barrett, Matthew, and Michael Horton.
Reformation Theology: A Systematic Summary ((2017). and Robert W. The Catholicity of the Reformation. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996. Cunningham, William.
Summary Of The Reformation
The Reformers and the Theology of the Reformation (2013). Payton, James R., Jr. Getting the Reformation Wrong: Correcting Some Misunderstandings (IVP Academic, 2010). (1984). Reformation of Church and Dogma (1300–1700). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Primary sources in translation.
Fosdick, Harry Emerson, ed. Great Voices of the Reformation and of other putative reformers before and after it: an Anthology, ed., with an introd. And commentaries, by Harry Emerson Fosdick. (Modern Library, 1952). Janz, Denis, ed.
A Reformation Reader: Primary Texts with Introductions (2008). Littlejohn, Bradford, and Jonathan Roberts eds. Reformation Theology: A Reader of Primary Sources with Introductions (2018).
The Reformation History
Luther's Correspondence and Other Contemporary Letters, 2 vols., tr. By Preserved Smith, Charles Michael Jacobs, The Lutheran Publication Society, Philadelphia, Pa. Reprint of Vol. 1, Wipf & Stock Publishers (March 2006). Spitz, Lewis W. The Protestant Reformation: Major Documents.
Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1997. Historiography.