menu_book Chapter 14

Section 14 of Europe and Renaissance and Reformation by Mary A. Hollings. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Read by Pamela Nagami. Chapter 7. The Reformation, Part 1. Renaissance and Reformation are words commonly enough used, but a clear understanding is needed of their meaning in relation to each other. They are, alike the outcome of the spirit of intellectual activity that quickened Europe in the 15th century.

This new spirit first made itself felt in Italy, and across the ages it communicated with and became mastered by the kindred spirit of Greek civilization. So, for the most part, the Italian Renaissance was pagan, classical, and artistic. By the failure of Savonarola's movement, we can measure the slight extent of religious revival in Italy. Upon the German mind, this spirit of inquiry had a different effect. Italian civilization was older than Christianity, but to the Teutonic

world, civilization had come through Christianity. Though the German mind was slower, it was more earnest and religious than the Italian. When, therefore, later than in Italy, the spirit of inquiry took hold upon it, and as in Italy, stirred it to its depths. It was not pagan, but Christian thought, as expressed by the fathers of the Church, that came uppermost. So we understand the important part played by the theology of St. Augustine in the German

Reformation. In Italy, criticism applied itself to literature and the arts, in Germany to religion. We may take the great scholar Erasmus, whose translation of the New Testament into Latin appeared in 1516 as typical of the Renaissance movement in Germany. He was linked to it by his learning and to the Reformation by his sympathies, though he was too broad-minded and perhaps also too timid to make a reformer. The new intellectual movement in Germany took a religious form for

several other reasons. The close connection between the Catholic Church and the Holy Roman Empire had made Germany the greatest sufferer from the exactions and tyranny of the Holy See. With the rise of the state system in the empire, the all-embracing papal authority was irreconcilable, and the great variety of the states made it almost certain that somewhere among them the reformed doctrines would take root. In every way, Germany was prepared by her past to be the leader

of a revolt, which should be at once religious, national, and social. The doctrine of justification by faith, the financial burden of indulgences and the shortcomings of the clergy, combined to produce the religious movement. The condition of the peasants caused a social insurrection, and papal interference with justice and taxation had to answer for the national movement led by the princes. The hour produced the man, and the man was Martin Luther. In medieval Christendom,

church and state were so closely bound up together that acceptance of the Reformation by an individual meant also a revolt against the state, while its acceptance by a state meant revolt from the European system. Thus England, Denmark, and Sweden, following the lead of their kings, put themselves outside the pale of the general community, and in these countries the movement was favorable to the monarchy. In Germany, after a weary struggle, it was settled in favor of the

princes and nobles, as against the monarchy, and the same nearly happened in the strife between the Scots lords of the congregation and their sovereign. In France, however, Calvinism allied itself at different times with aristocratic and republican movements against the crown. In Holland, it upset one monarchy and set up another, and in certain German states, it took the part of monarchy against republicanism. Whether for a nation or an individual,

acceptance of the Reformation at first meant isolation, and self-chosen isolation generally means some degree of courage, and among Luther's many gifts, courage was perhaps the greatest. Martin Luther, 1483 to 1546, was the son of a Thuringian minor and born at Eisleben in 1483. His parents were simple, pious people who brought up their children strictly. The boy Martin was intended to be a lawyer, but in the midst of his studies at Erfurt,

religious doubt and despair drove him suddenly into the Augustinian convent. There he at last found conviction and peace in the study of the Bible and the writings of St. Augustine, particularly in the doctrine that men are justified in God's sight, not by works, but by simple faith. The elector of Saxony, anxious to secure the best teachers for his new University of Wittenberg, appointed Luther professor of theology. Before taking up

his duties, he paid a visit to Rome, which revealed to him the true state of affairs in the capital of Christendom. Through his success in lecturing and preaching, Luther had already become a force in Wittenberg, when in 1517 a monk named Tetzel came round selling indulgences in aid of the building fund of the new St. Peter's at Rome. The practice of the Church allowed indulgences to be obtained as from a kind of spiritual bank in which were accumulated the

good works of all the faithful. The shortcomings of sinners could be made good by drawing, with the Pope's authority, upon this inexhaustible treasury in return for some act of penitence. By degrees, however, money payments took the place of these penances, and the system became at last the recognized means of raising funds for any ecclesiastical object. In Tetzel's hands, this doctrine of indulgences became a mere matter of commercial dealing, and Luther's wrath was

aroused by the error which was being sown among his flock. On All Saints' Day, 1517, he nailed to the door of the university church, 95 theses or headings on the subject of indulgences, challenging Tetzel to a discussion. With this famous act began the first stage in the Reformation. Leo X appointed Dr. Eck to meet Luther at Leipzig. The discussion was chiefly important in arousing interest in Luther, and encouraged by the sympathy of his countrymen, he published

a series of pamphlets, in one of which he appealed to the Christian nobility of the German nation to rally together against Rome. Thus, Luther advanced rapidly from his original attack on indulgences to a position from which he proceeded to reject the authority of the Pope, and finally, even the doctrine of the Roman Church. Leo X, who had been at first inclined to make little of the German movement, was roused at last to publish a bull of excommunication against the truculent

reformer. Luther's reply was an act of open defiance. He publicly burned the bull at Wittenberg in 1520. Intense national feelings stirred Germany to the depths. All eyes were turned to the new emperor, who in the midst of this mighty agitation was about to make his first appearance in the country, neither understanding nor sympathizing with its vital needs, its hopes, and fears. The Pope urged Charles to publish the ban of the empire against Luther, and though inclined to

condemn him unheard, the emperor gave way to the force of public opinion and summoned the reformer Tuvalms. At that famous diet, the fate of Germany, it is not too much to say, hung in the balance. Here were problems, religious, constitutional, social and economic, foreign and political, awaiting solution, and first in importance and difficulty was the religious problem. Luther's journey to Worms had been as that of a hero, conquering and to conquer, but when first

confronted with the emperor and princes, nervousness made him appear ineffective. This man will never make a heretic of me, said Charles. In reply to the question whether he would retract the opinions expressed in his writings, he asked for time to consider his answer. On the next evening it was ready. In plain and vigorous terms, Luther boldly declared himself unable to recant unless convinced by scripture or clear

argument. Against conscience he could not act. The audience was over. As he left the hall, Luther lifted his hand, the signal of a Lanzknecht who had delivered a telling stroke. Next morning, Charles read to the princes his decision to stake upon this cause all his dominions, his friends, his body and blood, his life and soul. Proceedings against Luther must no longer be delayed, and he was ordered to quit Worms at once. He left the city

amid the profound sympathy of Germany, and a fortnight later, before his safe conduct had expired, he mysteriously disappeared. By the order of the Elector of Saxony, he was carried off by an armed band to the Wartburg, where he could follow events in safety, working at his translation of the Bible, till the danger was over. The Emperor's decision reads like his honest and unalterable conviction, and in face of it, it is difficult to condemn him for failing to rise to the height of

his great opportunity to unite Germany in a national movement. If it be granted that Charles was an orthodox and devout Catholic, it is still impossible to deny that time and again he allowed political considerations to outweigh his religious principles. At the Diet of Worms itself, his eagerness to condemn Luther was due to his desire to secure the alliance of the Pope in the coming war with France. The attitude of Charles to the whole course of the German Reformation

was determined by political events unconnected with religion. For stronger even than his zeal for holy church was his hostility to his rival Francis. Whichever side Charles had adopted, he could not expect the unanimous support of his subjects and religion. But had he identified himself with the national and larger party, at least he would have avoided the danger of falling between them both. The Catholics would have upheld an attempt to reform the abuses of Rome and of the

clergy. The Protestants would not have been driven by relentless opposition into a more extreme position of reform. A review of Charles's dealings with his later diets leads to the conclusion that at Worms he sacrificed an opportunity, how great a one he was perhaps ignorant, not to his unalterable belief, but to temporary advantage. In comparison with the religious question, the other business of the diet flagged an interest, but one or two points must be noticed. The Council of Regency,

which had broken down under Maximilian was restored. It was to consist of a president, four delegates of the emperor's choosing, and seventeen sent by the electors and circles of the empire, and to deal with general business and the question of alliances, in particular during the emperor's absence. The imperial chamber, under the council's supervision, was revived as the Supreme Judicial Court, representing all interests but those of the towns. A general tax was voted,

but the principle of the common penny levied on every individual was abandoned in favor of the matricular role on which each state was rated according to its resources. Charles gave up to Ferdinand the South Austrian provinces of Austria, Tyrol, Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola, to which were added later the Schwabian and Alsatian territories and Württemberg. This was the origin of the later division of the Habsburg Empire between the Spanish and German branches of the

family. The Edict of Worms, issued by the Diet against Luther, was followed by two social outbreaks in Germany. They were not directly caused by the Reformation, but the Reformation brought all their forces up to fighting point. They were the Knights' War and the Peasants' Revolt. The Knights' War, 1522 to 1523, followed hard upon the crushing blow dealt by the Diet of Worms to the hopes of political and religious reform. Its leaders were Franz von Siekingen,

a recent supporter of Charles at his election, the typical German knight of the age, an enemy of the peaceful life, and his friend Ulrich von Hutten, the trenchant champion of humanism. The war itself grew out of a little preliminary feud between von Sikingen and the Archbishop of Treve, round whom the lay and ecclesiastical princes rallied when the struggle became general in the district. Sikingen's castles of Eberburg and Landstuhl on the Rhine

crumbled beneath the fire of the enemy artillery, and their master fell mortally wounded at Landstuhl. Hutton fled to Switzerland, to perish sadly a few months later. The princes used to the full this opportunity of trampling out the resistance of their ancient foes, the knights, and with the knights, self-condemned for its failure to keep the peace, fell the Council of Regency, in the last hope of setting up a representative national government. The heralds of the approaching

social revolution, the Peasants' Revolt, 1524 to 1525, were a band of popular preachers, the prophets of Zviikau, who took up their abode at Wittenberg. Rumors of their extravagances reached Luther in the Wartburg, and he left his retreat to silence and disperse them. Soon, however, they won even greater notoriety as traveling preachers, wandering far into South Germany and preparing the minds of the peasants for revolt, as the Wycliffeite priests had done

in England before the rising of 1381. The outbreak began in Schwabia in the autumn of 1524 on the estate of a certain count who compelled his serfs on a holiday to gather snail shells on which to wine the countess's wool. Everywhere the ecclesiastical lords especially were attacked. The peasants drew up the celebrated twelve articles, supported by scriptural references, and bearing mainly upon the abolition of serfdom, the lords' rights of the chase,

of fishing and of enclosure, arbitrary punishments, and increase of dues. It must be remembered that the peasants were entirely unrepresented and without constitutional means of expressing their very real grievances. Though not bent on using violence, they were driven to it by the utter indifference displayed by their lords to their reasonable demands. The Schwabian League at once joined hands with the nobles to crush the insolent serfs.

Two bloody battles on the Algau and on the Danube brought the Schwabian rebellion to an end. But the movement had already spread north to the Neckar, where the hasty action of the serfs in putting to death their lord, the Count of Helfenstein, drew upon them a terrible vengeance. In savage cruelty, there was nothing to choose between the lords and serfs. In Franconia, the rising under Goetz von Berlichingen, the robber knight, was strongly

political in character and actually aimed at strengthening the monarchy on a democratic basis. In Thuringia, on the other hand, where the leading spirit was Münzer, one of the prophets of Zwickau, religious fanaticism was the chief feature, and under the rule of saints, most excessive doctrines were put into practice. After the Battle of Frankenhausen, in which 5,000 of his followers were slain, the prophet was executed, and the revolt which had spread over nearly all Germany

save the north was stamped out with the utmost rigor at a cost of about 100,000 peasant lives. The general result was to make harder the already hard lot of the peasants and to delay their emancipation till the middle of the nineteenth century. Lack of able leaders, of united action and discipline, and above all the declared hostility of Luther and his party to the movement, were the chief causes of its failure. The insurgents had laid great stress on the

oppression of the lower classes, thereby encouraging the growth of democratic ideas. But Luther saw clearly that the whole future of Protestantism was doomed if it once became associated with disorder, and he hounded on the nobles in suppressing the outbreak. From this time forth, he learned to rely on the support of the princes rather than on the national enthusiasm that had surrounded him at Worms. It has been said that in his attitude to

the progress of reform in Germany, Charles allowed himself to be influenced by foreign policy. In fact, the embarrassments arising out of his relations with Francis and with the Pope were the strongest allies of the Protestant cause. To the Pope, as an Italian power, fell the task of holding the balance between France and the empire, while as a spiritual power his main object was to defeat the plan of a general council with which Charles proposed from time to time to settle

religious difficulties in Germany. In the Italian Wars, when Charles seemed on the brink of disaster, he was often in reality nearest to victory. The reverse is true of his experience in Germany. Indeed, an Italian victory sometimes wrought failure in Germany. Thus, after the Battle of Pavia, when the fate of the Reformation seemed at his mercy, followed the League of Cognac, which drove Charles to consent to the decrees of the first Diet of Speyer, the first measure

of toleration that the Reformers received. It established a temporary settlement in the spirit of the famous compromise, Cuyus Regio Eius Religio, which finally closed the struggle at Augsburg. In other words, it left to each prince the power to decide the religion of his own subjects. A few years of success for Charles in Italy resulted in the upsetting of this decision at the Second Diet of Speyer in 1529 and the reenactment of the Edict of Worms.

This was followed by the formal protest of the Reform Party, the rejection by Charles of the statement of the Protestant doctrines as drawn up by Melanchthon in the Confession of Augsburg and the formation of the Armed League of Schmalkalde by the Protestant princes and cities in 1531. But the Turks were threatening Vienna, and to use force against the Reform Party was out of the question. Indeed, the Protestant princes hailed this chance of showing that Protestantism was

no enemy of patriotism, and even if gratitude for their timely aid had not prevented the emperor from taking action against them, his absorption in the difficult business of Ferdinand's election as king of the Romans had the same effect. At the Peace of Nuremberg, it was decreed that no persecution should be permitted until a general council had been assembled, and all processes against the Protestants in the lately revived imperial chamber should be stopped.

This arrangement the emperor regarded as merely temporary, but since the first Diet of Speia, Luther's Bible and hymns had been largely adopted, Protestant doctrines taught in the schools, and monastic revenues used for the endowment of Lutheran churches and of education, and the Protestants expected some recognition of their position. At this point, Charles was called away from Germany by Italian and Spanish affairs, and reform went steadily forward,

invading South Germany, with the restoration of Ulrich of Württemberg to his duchy. The duke had previously been expelled, had become a Protestant, and was reinstated by the League of Schmalkalde, with the sanction of Ferdinand, whose attention was urgently claimed for the defense of Hungary against the Turks. Not long after, changes in the ruling families of Brandenburg and Albertine Saxony ranged those states upon the side of Protestantism. Indeed, about 1540,

the only influential states left to Catholicism were Austria, Bavaria, the Duchy of Brunswick, and the ecclesiastical electorates of Mayence and Treve. End of section 14.