“The Protestant Reformation: Luther, Zwingli and Calvin” Note
- Luther’s career and teaching; relationship with Erasmus and humanis
- The dispute over indulgences and the developing con ict with the Papacy; the debates;
excommunication; the Diet of Worm
- The appeal of Luther; people, provinces, cities and intellectual
- The development of Lutheran teaching and of the movement by Luther’s followers and
colleague
- Radical Protestantism in Germany; the Anabaptists; the Peasants’ Wa
- Charles V’s attempts to deal with Lutheranism; the Peace of Augsbur
- The spread of Lutheranism beyond German
- Zwingli’s teaching and in uence; his relationship with Luther and the radical
- Calvin’s career and teaching; his followers and interpreter
- Calvin’s Genev
- Explanations for the impact of Calvinis
- The spread of Calvinism outside Geneva; its in uence in the French Wars of Religion and
Revolt of the Netherlands; ‘a creed for rebels’
Question
1) Which made the more important contribution to the spread and consolidation of
Lutheranism in Germany – the princes or the towns and cities? (2010
2) To what extent can it be argued that the spread and success of Calvinism resulted from
its system of Church government rather than its teachings? (2010
3) Why, by 1521, had the Papacy excommunicated Luther? (2011
4) Evaluate the respective contributions of Zwingli and Calvin to the evolution of the
Protestant Reformation. (2012
5) What best explains the appeal of Lutheranism in this period? (2013
6) ‘It was not so much the message, but the ways in which it was delivered, that explains
the success of Calvinism in the period to 1559.’ Discuss. (2013
7) Why did Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses have such profound consequences? (2014
8) ‘Calvin’s success in Geneva was dependent on the foundations laid in Switzerland by
Zwingli.’ Discuss. (2014
9) A very conservative reformer.’ Assess this view of Luther. (2015
10) What best explains the impact of Calvinism in this period? (2016
Luthe
Catholic theolog
Beliefs of the Churc
- Papal infallibility (the supremacy of the Pope in all religious matters)
- The Church was sole interpreter of the Bible and no-one else was allowed to read it
- Purgatory: A state after death in which souls were cleansed of sin before entering heaven. The
period spent in purgatory could be shortened by purchasing indulgences and by good deeds
- The worship of saints and relics was thought to help the individual to obtain eternal salvation.
For purists, this fusion of piety and popular entertainment was itself corruption
- The Eucharist (Mass). Bread and wine transformed into the body and blood of Christ
(transubstantiation). Wine was taken only by priests
- Clerical marriage forbidden
- Monasteries: Monks isolated themselves from the world in search of truth and salvation
What background factors made the German Reformation possible
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, 1) Nature of the Empir
2) The papac
3) Abuses within the Churc
4) Humanis
5) Earlier attempts at refor
6) The nature of popular religio
7) Short-term sparks (the printing press and the indulgence controversy
1) The nature of the Empir
Background
- 400 separate states, each with its own laws, leader and customs. This made it dif cult for the
Diet to agree on important issues, let alone enforce its decisions
- 1519: Charles V elected as Holy Roman Emperor. He also inherited the Netherlands, Spain, and
parts of Italy
This was important for several reasons
Firstly, it increased anti-clerical and anti-papal sentiments in Germany, making Germans more
receptive to Luther’s teachings
- Tension on a variety of levels (emperor/princes; peasants/landowners, many of whom were
churchmen; in the cities; amongst the imperial knights) had made some kind of political or
religious change possible for a century or more before 1520
- The Holy Roman Empire’s lack of centralisation meant that lacked a strong central government
which could resist the nancial demands of the Pope. This was an insult to national pride. Ulrich
von Hutten: “We see that there is no gold and almost no silver in our German land.
- With around one fth of Germany under the control of virtually independent bishops and
archbishops, there was plenty of scope for lucrative dealings. This was especially true of the
archbishops of Mainz, Cologne and Trier who were Electors
Secondly, it prevented Charles from dealing effectively with the spread of Lutheranism
- Charles had to negotiate with leaders of individual states
- The princes wanted to develop power at the Emperor’s expense and were therefore often
unwilling to provide him with an army, for fear that it could be used to subjugate them
- Other countries felt threatened by the Empire’s size and were willing to ally with princes within
the Empire
- Charles was constantly moving around his vast empire and thus unable to maintain full control
- Charles was limited by the ‘doctrine of the two swords’ (the Pope controlled religion, the
Emperor politics). He believed that these roles should be kept separate, limiting his efforts to
deal with Luther (a religious matter)
In his Wahlkapituation (concessions Charles made to the 7 electors in order to be elected), Charles
promised to
- Respect the rights and privileges of the electors
- Not bring foreign troops into the Empire
- Not declare wars without the electors' consent
- Consult the electors on imperial matters
This limited Charles' power and made it dif cult for him to deal with the Reformation
2) Papac
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, This was a similarly long-term factor
The Pope was the most powerful and visible gure within the church and his personal integrity was
therefore essential for the Church’s reputation
However, the authority of the Pope had been called into question and reduced by the Babylonish
Captivity (1305-1378) and the Great Schism (1378-1417). This encouraged the belief that the
hierarchy of the Church was corrupt, leading to an upsurge in heresy
Even when the papacy returned to Rome at the end of the Great Schism in 1417, it continued to be
a worldly institution:
- The Popes sought to restore the prestige of their of ce by patronising the arts (e.g. Julius II)
- As the papacy had lost its European in uence (e.g. monarchs in France and England had the
right to appoint bishops), it became more Italianised. This meant that the Popes of the sixteenth
century were more concerned with Italy’s cultural and political concerns, at the expense of their
pastoral care for the whole Church
- The papacy was growing increasingly corrupt in attempting to maintain its political position
against French and Habsburg attempts to dominate Italy after 1500. Powerful families got their
own candidates elected as Pope to further their own interests. The Popes were therefore
generally cynical politicians who wished to increase family fortunes and did not care for spiritual
matters
- Alexander VI: invited prostitutes to parties at the Vatican and carved a kingdom out of the Papal
States for his son Cesare Borgia
- Luther: “All good men who have seen Rome bear witness to [its impiety]; all bad ones come
back worse than before”
- Anti-papal sentiment was sharpened by a strong feeling in Germany that the Church was under
the control of foreigners (nearly every Pope and Cardinal was Italian)
Some historians argue that although the Church had its faults, the papacy itself remained a
respected institution. Many of the pilgrims to Rome saw the mounting grandeur of Rome as proof
of the glory of their Church. However, many were shocked by the papacy’s excesses, which they
themselves were nancing
Anti-Papalism did not automatically mean the rejection of Catholic doctrine, but the enemy of the
Pope might well be seen as the friend of the German people. The Pope was described as a
‘Hellhound’ by the Diet of Augsburg, whilst Luther was depicted as the Hercules Germanicus in
contemporary woodcuts
Link to humanism: These events coincided with Valla's discovery that documents justifying papal
supremacy and the papal claim to the Papal States (e.g. the Donation of Constantine) were
forgeries, further undermining the papacy
3) Abuses within the Churc
Early historians of the Reformation were Churchmen and so emphasised “abuses” in the late
medieval Church to
- If they were Catholic, absolve post-Tridentine Catholics of guilt
- If they were Protestants, justify Luther’s attack on a corrupt institution
The extent of these has therefore been exaggerated. Not all monasteries were corrupt (e.g. the
Augustinians) and it was not shocking to most contemporaries that priests lived with women
However, it is true that a mixture of corruption (bishops’ pluralism) and incompetence (ignorance of
parish priests) had been endemic for generations before 1520
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, - Simony (the sale of church posts and sacred objects to the highest bidder, rather than the most
quali ed), nepotism, pluralism and absenteeism were rife
- In Germany only one parish in fourteen had its priest in residence
- As a result of these abuses, most priests were poorly educated and could only provide basic
spiritual guidance. Preaching was of poor quality
Corruption and unprofessionalism in the priesthood were considered unacceptable given:
- The importance of having a priest, who administered the sacraments and thereby secured the
laity’s salvation.
- The expense of having a parish priest. The tithe, an annual tax of 10% of income, was
supposedly in return for spiritual care by the Church (which it wasn’t providing to a satisfactory
level)
The long line of reformers emphasise the unhealthy nature of the Catholic Church in 1500
These abuses weakened the Church morally. However, it remained strong and powerful as people
still believed in the Church’s teachings and feared that they would go to hell if they did not follow
them
- It was ordinary people’s strong belief in the sacraments and the role of the priest that made
abuses so unacceptable
- Oberman stresses the religious vitality of the pre-Reformation Catholic church in Germany,
something echoed in studies of the pre-Reformation church in England by Haigh and
Scarisbrick.
- Wycliffe and Huss failed to make a major impact e.g. the Lollards were driven underground
- Christian humanists provide evidence that the Catholic church was opened to fresh ideas.
- It was arguably misunderstandings and missed opportunities for reconciliation that led to the
rupture between the Catholic and Protestant Churches rather than disagreements over doctrine
4) Humanis
Signi cance of Humanism and Erasmu
Theolog
Medieval theology was rooted in scholasticism, which argued that readers should take the most
recent edition of a text and clarify its meaning
The dominant theological school from 1350 - 1500 was Nominalism:
- Two main types: “via moderna” (optimistic as if a man performed good works, God was obliged
to justify him) and “schola Augustiniana moderna” (pessimistic as man was sinful and depended
wholly on God for salvation)
- Luther was an extension of this divergence of opinion on doctrines such as justi cation. When
Luther challenged some of the teachings of the “via moderna”, the Church was unable to
respond with one voice
The role of humanis
This was key for several reasons
1) It provided Luther with the tools to arrive at his own interpretation of scripture
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