Lecture - History 306

1. History of Europe:
Renaissance to 1815

2. In short, I will preach it, teach it,
write it, but I will constrain no
one by force, for faith must come
freely without compulsion.
∼ Martin Luther, 1522

3. The Protestant Reformation
Wars of Religion

4. Reformation
• Battle for the Souls of Mankind
• Catholics vs. Protestants
• Protestant vs. other Protestants
• Combination of
• Religious zeal
• Insistence on individual liberty
• Territorial rivalry and political
concerns

5. Reformation
• Spread of Protestantism
• Luther and the Printing Press
• Individual capable & responsible
• Determines his/her religious strength
• Interpret scripture on own
• Free-thinking ideas increasingly popular
• Opportunity to gain more control
• Break from authority

6. Reformation
• Spread of Protestantism
• More swiftly in northern Europe
• Denmark & Sweden:
• Protestantism eventually official religion
• Switzerland: Ulrich Zwingli made in-roads
• Followed by John Calvin: Calvinism emerged
• Scotland: Protestants known as Presbyterians
• France: Huguenot a growing minority
• Less popular in the southern countries like Italy,
Spain, Portugal

7. Reformation
• Protestant Reformation opened the floodgates
• Individuals forming own opinions
• Beginning with religion
• Willing to challenge established authority,
religious & state
• Led to centuries of bloodshed in name of
Christianity
• Between classes within a society
• Between foreign nations
• Between various sects

8. The Protestant Reformation
Class Rebellion: German Peasants’ War

9. Reformation
• The Peasants’ Wars
• Life of a peasant not easy
• Working the land of a wealthy
landowner
• Peasants paying high taxes, living on
subsistence earnings
• Clergy & nobility exempt from taxes
• Essentially slaves to the land
Rebellious peasants surrounding a knight

10. Reformation
• German Peasants’ War
• Rebellion of agrarian peasants
• In southern and central parts of
German-speaking central Europe
• Against the rulers of cities &
provinces
• Urban poor joined in the rebellion as
it spread to the cities
Woodcut of German peasants fighting
monks and the Pope, 1524

11. Reformation
• The German Peasants’ War
• Impact of Reformation
• A green light to challenge the status quo
• Including the teachings of the established Church
• And the social/economic systems of 16th c. Europe
• Freedom from authority of the Church ➠ freedom
from oppression of landlords & nobility

12. Reformation
• German Peasants’ War:
• Context
• Holy Roman Empire
• Not holy, not Roman, not
really an Empire
• Provinces or small city-
states ruled by aristocrats
• Subject to loose control
• Of Emperor
• Of Catholic Church

13. Reformation
• German Peasants’ War: Context
• This really a reflection of changing society
• Feudalism transitioning to market economy
• Princes sought to consolidate power over peasants
• And consolidate ownership of land
• Result: peasants lost some of their standing and power
• Note: Conflict is NOT between peasants & Holy Roman Empire
• Between peasants and Church and local nobles, princes, & rulers

14. Reformation
• German Peasants’ War 1524-25
• Revolt begins at Stühlingen
• Spread from there
• Peasants rarely used violence
• Except to seize weapons, supplies
• Princes hired mercenaries
• Well-trained, crushed the peasants
• Untrained, poorly armed
• By end, up to 300,000 peasants involved
• 100,000 killed Georg, Truchsess von Waldburg
“Scourge of the Peasants”

15. Reformation
• What did the peasants want?
• Twelve Articles: Statement of Principles
• Right of communities to elect & depose clergymen
• “Great tithe”:
• Used to pay the clergymen & for public purposes
• Collected by Catholic Church against wheat and
vineyard crops
• Often 10% of peasants’ income
• Abolition of “small tithe” levied against other
crops
1525 Pamphlet laying out the 12 Articles

16. Reformation
• What did the peasants want?
• Twelve Articles: Statement of Principles
• Abolition of serfdom, death tolls, exclusion
from fishing & hunting rights
• Restoration of forests, pastures, privileges
taken by the nobility
• Restriction on excessive labor, taxes & rents
• An end to arbitrary justice and administration
• Printed over 25,000 times in Spring of 1525
Title page for the Twelve Articles

17. Reformation
• German Peasants’ War
• Peasants’ tactics
• Monasteries burned down, looted
• Nobles attacked
• Land & homes destroyed
Castle at Weinsberg, surrounded by vineyards. The peasants
overwhelmed the castle, slaughtered aristocratic landlords.

18. Reformation
• German Peasants’ War
• Only real beneficiaries - territorial princes
• Nobility turned to ruling princes
• Battle of Frankenhausen – May 15, 1525
• slaughter of more than 5,000 peasants
• Outcome
• Up to 300,000 peasants participated
• 100,000 killed
• Peasants won none of their demands
• Nobility imposed more repressive laws &
conditions
Burning of Little Jack Rohrbach, a peasant leader during the war

19. Reformation
• Role of Religious Leaders
• Thomas Müntzer
• Supportive of the rights of peasants
• Encouraged rebels across German provinces
• Revolutionary activity linked to his theology
• Believed end of the world was imminent
• True believers tasked to usher in a new era
in history
• Captured, tortured, executed at Battle of
Frankenhausen

20. Reformation
• Role of Religious Leaders
• Luther took a middle course
• Criticized injustices imposed on the peasants
• But also criticized rashness of peasants in
fighting back
• Favored urbanization & centralization
• Alienated lower nobility
• But won support of burghers (city
leaders) & higher nobility
Title page for “Against the Murderous, Thieving Hordes”

21. Reformation
• Luther’s Position on the Peasants’ War
• Argued work is chief duty of life on earth
• Duty of peasants = farm labor
• Duty of ruling classes = upholding the peace
• Because uprising broke the peace, couldn’t support the rebellion
• Urged princes to swiftly & violently eliminate rebelling peasants
• Based in part on divine right of kings
• Luther cited Romans 13: 1-7
• All authorities appointed by God, not to be resisted

22. Reformation
• Luther’s Position on the Peasants’ War
• Change through God’s word, not revolution
Do you know what the Devil thinks when he sees men use
violence to propagate the gospel? He sits with folded arms
behind the fire of hell and says with malignant looks and frightful
grin: "Ah, how wise these madmen are to play my game! Let
them go on; I shall reap the benefit. I delight in it." But when he
sees the Word running and contending alone on the battle-field,
then he shudders and shakes for fear.

23. Reformation
• Against the Murderous, Thieving Hordes of Peasants
• Denounced the peasants in written pamphlet
• Peasants had violated oaths of loyalty
• And therefore deserved secular punishment
• Peasants had committed crimes that went against
their faith
• Their crimes committed using Christ's name which
was blasphemy
“become faithless, perjured, disobedient, rebellious,
murderers, robbers, and blasphemers, whom even a
heathen ruler has the right and authority to punish”

24. The Protestant Reformation
Protestant Extremism: The Münster Rebellion

25. Reformation
The Anabaptists and the Münster Rebellion

26. Reformation
• Münster, Germany
• Area of Westphalia, NW region
• By 1500, over 15,000 population
• Territorial leader, the elected Prince-Bishop
• Considerable degree of self-government
• Economically sound
• Favorable position at intersection of long-standing trade routes
• Wool trade with England
• Influential position in the Hanseatic League
Late medieval market scene

27. Reformation
• In 1530 – Munster a divided city
• Lutheran city council & Catholic Church vied for control of the town
• Aristocrats – had owned land, nearly everything on it
• At odds with peasants, craftsmen, trade guilds
• Beginning to threaten economic dominance of aristocracy
• Meanwhile, Germany recovering from Peasants’ War
• Not much impact on Münster, but ruling class on edge

28. Reformation
• Bernard Rothmann
• Ex-Priest turned Evangelical Protestant preacher
• Anti-Catholic sermons
• Large following in Münster
• Peasants, Trade Guilds
• Reaction of the Catholic Church: alarm at threat
to their dominance
• 1532: Banned Rothmann from preaching in
parish churches
• Supporters forced his return to the pulpit

29. Reformation
• Bernard Knipperdolling
• Wealthy wool merchant, Rothmann’s ally
• Published Rothmann’s many pamphlets
• Spread throughout northern Germany
• Initially: anti-Catholic, radical Lutheran view
• Then: Bible called for absolute equality,
including distribution of wealth
• Called upon poor to come to Münster
Bernard Knipperdolling

30. Reformation
• Franz von Waldeck, Prince-Bishop of Münster
• Highest ranking Catholic official in Münster
• Wealthy family, access to family money & military
power
• Rothmann and supporters
• Peasants, working class, guilders
• Threatened Catholic dominance in Münster
• Von Waldeck hired mercenaries, blockaded the town
• City Council refused to exile Rothmann & his allies

31. Reformation
• People of Münster struck back
• Surprise attack on von Waldeck
• Home raided
• Took several high-born hostages
• 1533 – treaty of religious toleration signed
• Recognized Münster as Lutheran city
• Allowing Protestant pastors to preach from
Münster’s parish churches

32. Reformation
• Anabaptists
• Radical Protestants in NW Germany &
Netherlands
• Jan Matthys: Haarlem, Netherlands
• Job: Baker, until converted to
Anabaptism
• Leader of Anabaptists
• Preached violent response to
oppression
• Announced Münster as New
Jerusalem

33. Reformation
• Anabaptists in Münster
• January 1534, Matthys’ emissaries arrived
• Rebaptized 1,400 people
• 20% of town’s population
• Including Rothmann and Knipperdolling
• Spread Matthys’ prophecy
• Jesus Christ would return that Easter
• All Christians needed to prepare for
imminent end of world
Jan Matthys

34. Reformation
• Jan Matthys
• In Münster, Matthys preached the
Apocalypse
• Armed city employees
• Telling non-Anabaptists to leave the city
• Matthys called for execution of Catholics and
Lutherans alike:
Everywhere we are surrounded by dogs and
sorcerers and whores and killers and the
godless and all who love lies and commit
them!
• Settled for expelling them from the city

35. Reformation
• Anabaptists poured into Münster
• New city council
• Gave control of city to Anabaptists
• Led by Jan Matthys
• For Bishop von Waldeck – goes too far
• Münster prepares for a siege
• Forced baptism or leave city; beefed up walls
• Abolished private property, cancelled all
debt, eliminated money

36. Reformation
• Easter came and went – no Apocalypse
• Matthys has a new divine vision
• Rides out with small group to break von
Waldeck’s siege
• And is killed … head on pike tells Münster
their prophet is dead
• A new prophet: Jan van Leiden
• Matthys’ chief lieutenant
• Takes the occupation of Münster to a
whole new level

37. Reformation
• Jan van Leiden
• Reinterpreting, delaying the apocalypse
• Dissolved city council
• Appointed 12 elders to run city
• Increasingly militarized
• Increasingly an authoritarian rule
• Dictating daily life of citizens
• From proper clothes to erasing social
distinctions

38. Reformation
The 2nd Siege
• Bishop launched massive engineering project
• With siege, causing hardship in city
• Attack of mercenaries failed, drunk soldiers repelled
• Van Leiden’s reaction?
• Ordered mandatory marriage
• Imprisoned women who wouldn’t
• Ok’d polygamy, took 16 wives himself
• Declared himself the new King David
• To rule until Jesus returned

39. Reformation
• Backlash in Münster
• Van Leiden dressed as a king
• Created a royal court
• Acting as a tyrant
• Coup by 47 conspirators against van
Leiden
• Failed, all were executed
• Siege persisted, leading to starvation
• Desperate man escaped, surrendered
to Bishop
• Helped besiegers take the city

40. Reformation
• Arrest & Execution
• Only Rothmann escaped (or killed)
• Van Leiden, Knipperdolling & another
executed
• Chained to stakes in Münster public
square
• Tortured with hot, flesh-tearing tongs
• Daggers to the heart

41. Reformation
• Aftermath
• Bishop von Waldeck re-Catholicized Münster
• End of militant phase of Anabaptism
• Accounts of Rebellion spread through Europe
• Universal condemnation
• Some exaggeration that’s hard to substantiate
• Bodies hung in cages at St. Lambert’s Church
• Reminder for remaining citizens of Münster

42. The Protestant Reformation
State Religion: Henry VIII & the Church of England

43. Reformation
• Henry VIII and the Church of England
• Initially supported the Pope
• Wrote Defence of the Seven Sacraments
• Earned title of Defender of the Faith
• Opposed Luther, reformation tenets
• Until it benefitted him

44. Reformation
• A Note About Henry:
• Jousting – sport played by knights & lords
• Included set of rules
• Lots of betting involved
• Riders charged at each other, holding a lance
• Dangerous, though not intentionally trying
to hurt opponent
Henry VIII jousting in front of Catherine of Aragon, 1511

45. Reformation
• A Note About Henry:
• Two serious jousts would impact English history
• March, 1524
• Henry VIII seriously injured in jousting accident
• Henry forgot to lower visor, opponent had
limited vision
• Lance struck Henry in the head, serious blow
• January, 1536
• Much more serious accident, leaving Henry
unconscious
• Behavior changed dramatically following
accident

46. Reformation
• Henry VIII
• Protestant Reformation in England
• Rooted in desire to have a male heir
• And his desire for Anne Boleyn
• One of most admired ladies at Court
• Sought annulment from Catherine of
Aragon
• Denied by the Pope, separated from
Catholic Church

47. Reformation
• Henry VIII
• Series of bills passed Parliament
• King became the Supreme Head of the Church in
England
• Seizure of Church property
• Including monasteries, convents, church
properties
• Taking the wealth for the monarchy

48. Reformation
• England’s Reformation
• Late in Henry’s reign
• Strong evangelical party at court
• Edward VI – Henry’s young son by Jane Seymour
• Firm Protestant in doctrine, not just politically
• Major changes:
• 2 evangelical Prayer Books
• New English order of service
• Stripping Catholic paraphernalia from churches

49. Reformation
• England’s Reformation
• Edward’s death and the “reign” of Lady Jane Grey
• Protestant cousin, in line of succession
• Edward VI named her successor in his will
• Removed half-sisters on basis of their
“illegitimacy”
• Support for rightful heir – Mary, a Catholic –
spread quickly
• Jane & husband captured, executed

50. Reformation
• England’s Reformation
• Mary I – daughter by Catherine of Aragon
• Committed Catholic
• Marriage to Spanish King Philip
• Reinstatement of Catholic service
• Persecution of Protestants – “Bloody Mary”
• Short reign
• Prevented long-term return of Catholicism
• As official state religion

51. Reformation
• England’s Reformation
• Elizabeth I – daughter by Anne Boleyn
• Reversed changes brought by Mary
• Many English subjects wanted “old
ways”
• 1559: Protestant Book of Prayer
• Elizabeth balked at full Calvinist program
• Didn’t care about belief, required assent
I have no desire to make windows into men’s souls

52. The Protestant Reformation
A State vs. Its People: French Wars of Religion

53. Reformation
• Peace of Augsburg - 1555
• Lutheranism given official toleration
• Princes of each territory determined the faith of their
people
• Completely ignored Calvinism
• Would contribute to outbreak of 30 Years’ War –
1618-1648

54. Reformation
• Council of Trent
• Launched Counter-Reformation
• 1563 – ecumenical Church council
• Met to define Church doctrines
• Lessen corruption, end abuses of power and
finances
• Bible the final word, had EQUAL authority with
Church
• Rituals upheld
• Emphasis on discipline & education of clergy
Council of Trent, ecumenical council of the Church

55. Reformation
• French Wars of Religion
• 1562-1598
• 8 wars over 36 years
• 1st War (1562-1563)
• Murder of Protestant Huguenots while
worshipping in a Church in Vassy
• 63 killed, over 100 wounded
• Provoked open hostilities and split within
the nobility
• Edict of Amboise – guaranteed Huguenots
religious privileges, freedoms

56. Reformation
• French Wars of Religion
• 2nd War (1567-1568)
• Huguenot expansion in southern France
• Massacre of leading Catholics in Nîmes
• Edict of Longjumeau – confirmed terms of
Edict of Amboise
• 3rd War (1568-1570)
• Huguenot advances, increased tolerance

57. Reformation
• French Wars of Religion
• 4th War (1572-1573)
• St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre
• Catholic monarchy vs. Huguenots (Protestant)
• Margaret of France & Henry of Navarre wedding
• Catholic and Protestant, to bring about peace
• But Catherine, Queen mother, approved of plot
to assassinate leader of Huguenots

58. Reformation
• St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre
• Catherine authorized death of all Huguenot
leaders
• To avoid discovery of her role in plot
• Over following weeks, up to 70,000 killed
• 3,000 in Paris alone
• Revived hatred between two religious factions
• Huguenots adopted policy of resistance to
tyrants

60. Reformation
• French Wars of Religion
• 5th – 7th Wars
• Reflected tensions & rivalry at French court
• 8th War (1585-1598)
• Henri of Navarre becomes French King Henry IV
• “Paris is well worth a mass”
• Absolution from the Pope
• Edict of Nantes

61. Reformation
• Henry IV: Edict of Nantes (1598)
• Aimed to end the French Wars of Religion
• Restored peace & internal unity to France
• For Huguenots, it granted certain privileges
• Granted safe havens – military strongholds
• Guaranteed protection for Huguenots traveling
abroad
• Still had to pay special tithe for not being Catholic
Huguenot Lovers on St. Bartholomew’s Day, Milais

62. Reformation
• Henry IV: Edict of Nantes (1598)
• Catholics opposed
• Although still official religion
• Huguenots had to
• Recognize Catholic holidays & marriage restrictions
• And freedom to worship limited to specific geographical areas
• Nevertheless, Catholics resented the Edict
• Some blamed Henry, leading to numerous assassination attempts
• Catholic zealot François Ravaillac finally succeeded in 1610
Assassination of Henry IV

63. Reformation
• Louis XIII
• Took throne on death of Henry IV
• Not interested in governing
• Definitely not very talented at it
• Government administered by Cardinal
Richelieu for 18 years
• Extremely capable minister
• One of the greatest builders of absolutism
Louis XIII

64. Reformation
• Louis XIII
• Cardinal Richelieu
• Goal: Secure absolute obedience to the monarchy
• Subduing the rebellious nobility
• Gaining control over the religious question
• Raising international prestige of France & its
monarchy
• (Also the evil protagonist in The Three Musketeers)

65. Reformation
• Cardinal Richelieu & Huguenots
• Huguenots could maintain armed
fortresses
• Under Edict of Nantes
• Weakened King’s position, at home
and abroad
• Rebellions in 1625, 1627:
• Richelieu reacted with direct
confrontation
• Eg, Siege of La Rochelle
• 14-month siege
Cardinal Richelieu at the Siege of La Rochelle

66. Reformation
• Cardinal Richelieu
• Siege of La Rochelle 1627-1628
• City of over 30,000
• Center of Huguenot seapower
• Resistance against central government
• Rebellions followed return to pro-Catholic policies
• Beginning 1621
• Attack on La Rochelle to end uprisings once &
for all

67. Reformation
• Siege of La Rochelle 1627-1628
• Disease, casualties, famine
• Led to decimation of population
• 27,000 to 5,000 in 14 months
• Unconditional surrender
• Lost territorial, political, military rights
• Kept religious freedom
• Creation of strong central government in France
• Intolerant of regional defiance or religious challenge

68. Reformation
• Peace of Westphalia – 1648
• No real victor in the war
• Holy Roman Empire stripped of its lands
• Resolved the question of religious
tolerance in Europe
• Established precedent of peace through
diplomacy
Allegory o the Peace of Westphalia, Jacob Jordaens