MR SPENCE HISTORY
Key Content
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State of the Catholic church at the beginning of the sixteenth century.
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The religious ideas and impact of Luther
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Religion and conflict in Germany
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The response of the Catholic Church.
Aspects of the Reformation
1500-1563
The religious reformation in Europe at the beginning of the sixteenth century was a pivotal moment in the continent's history. Perhaps the movement's acknowledged founder, Martin Luther, sought more than his supposed claim of an academic debate when he posted 95 Theses at the All Saint's Church in the small German town of Wittenberg. Still, he could never have imagined that his criticisms would undermine the church's authority across Central and Northern Europe, triggering religious wars that lasted for centuries. We will begin the topic by examining the state of the church at the beginning of the sixteenth century. There are divisions over whether the acceptance of papal power in Germany was waning or whether the discontent was no greater than previously. Alongside studying the printing press' importance in disseminating Luther's ideas, we will test how far he was a singular figure or whether he was part of established Medieval theological scholasticism. Following Luther's ex-communication following the Leipzig debates, we will conduct an in-depth study of Luther's three critical tracts. These works were the clearest and most powerful articulation of his ideas, rattled off in succession in the autumn of 1520 as he waited for his apparent execution. Finally we will discuss the highpoint of Luther's career, his infamous 1521 showdown with the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V.
Beginning of the Reformation
While Luther was ensconced at Warburg, he struggled to control the implementation of his reforms. We will examine why the Reformation moved in a direction that Luther never envisaged or approved. You also need to examine the relationship he had with his followers, especially Phillip Melanchthon. More interesting is perhaps his relationship with his old colleague Andreas Karlstadt and how this relationship turned Luther from a revolutionary to a reactionary in the eyes of many - especially Thomas Muntzer. Karlstadt and Zwilling are not explicitly on the syllabus, but it is impossible to understand what is going on without examining their influence. We also study the importance of Zwingli and the Swiss reformers. They claimed to have emerged without influence of Luther and their Reformation will be more drastic and have a greater lasting influence.
While Luther established some control over events in Germany after he left confinement, not all were content with his leadership. Tensions increased between those who wanted the reformation to be a genuinely populist revolution which would also encompass social and political reform, and those that wanted to contain the forces within the control of the existing civic authorities. The climax of this is the Peasant's War which would be the largest social uprising in Europe prior to 1789. You will need to understand the various arguments around its causes and also evaluate the role that Muntzer and Luther played in the events. The syllabus also emphasises the Knights' Revolt as a key event to know; why that it is a mystery. Most modern works fail to mention it at all, and if it is, it is contained in a paragraph or two. Nevertheless, you will need to able to use it as a point of comparison to the Peasant's Revolt.
The Radical Reformation
There are four questions that you will need to consider as we study the rest of the Protestant Reformation:
1. Whether the Reformation effectively created an ‘absolutist’ state in Germany;
2. Whether the secular powers plundered the church for their own ends;
3. Whether Lutheran Protestantism was at this point a conservative or even an authoritarian creed;
4. Whether the attempted Christian reform of society was in any sense successful.
The survival of the Protestant movement had been fortuitous. It was never able to agree on a common identity and had almost ripped itself apart in the Knights and Peasant's revolts. The upheavals of the Peasant's Revolt may have preserved Luther's reformation from destruction by those he viewed as Schwarmer, but it had left divisions within the movement. The revolts convinced Charles that further action needed to be taken against the reformers. But at the Imperial Diet in Speyer, the exact opposite happened. His brother Ferdinand handled negotiations with the Protestants, which saw the Edict of Worms suspended as a goodwill gesture to promote unity against the Ottoman threat. In 1529 a second Diet of Speyer aimed to solidify the alliance against the Turks. However, Ferdinand, angered by the Protestant actions since the first Diet, was far more contentious. The Diet ended with the Princes of Germany making their protestation which called for a hearing by the Emperor, a General Council of the Church or impartial German judges. Charles decided to settle the matter at Augsburg in 1530 (he felt Ferdinand had not been conciliatory enough). You will need to understand why the Protestants were not able to unify before the Diet and why the Diet ended in failure. You will also need to see how Melanchthon's actions solidified Protestant opposition to his compromises and why the German Princes now formed a defensive league against their own Emperor. How far the Schmalkaldic League was a religious league or whether it represented a German nationalistic movement was not evident. They did fight an unsuccessful war against Charles in 1547, before achieving victory in 1551. Charles' defeat saw him abdicate both his crowns. Protestantism under princely control was secure in Germany until the Thirty Years War in 1618.
The Survival of the German Reformation
​There is a consensus that the Catholic church failed to recognise the threat that Luther's ideas posed to their existence and that their response was torpid. Luther was able to publish his texts and win political support before Leo X excommunicated him in 1520. Throughout the 1520s the church through Cajetan, Eck and others , met Luther head-on theologically. Their arguments may have identified inconsistencies in the protestant doctrine, but they were too intellectual to win popular support, lacking humour or satire. The Catholics made their arguments through structured debates, but the Protestant focus on sola-scriptura meant non-biblical traditions were harder to defend. That they took place in the towns meant the magistrates who declared the winner were primarily protestant. There were some Catholics who hoped to bring the churches together, such as Charles V, but as we know, there was strong political resistance to this. Often well-intentioned colloquies were held, but the theologians would find doctrinal differences, and their political masters could not force them to overcome them. There was also a preoccupation with Luther and his ideas; if we use hindsight bias (correctly), it is apparent to us that Luther had put parameters on his reformation in 1625, which would effectively contain it within Germany. The failure to properly counter the ultimately more influential ideas of Zwingli on church reform would see the ideas of the Swiss reformed church of Calvin become the biggest opposition to Rome in the 17th Century.
The repeated failure of the Catholic church to either stem Protestant advancement or find agreements with them led them to undertake their own Reformation, and it will be our job to judge the success of this as well as understanding how the actions taken by the Protestants limited their own success.
The Catholic Reformation
Potential IA Questions
Was the Reformation damaging for European women?
How far did Augustine of Hippo influence Martin Luther?
Has the importance of the Printing Press been overstated as a cause of the Reformation?
How far was Luther motivated by fears of the Apocalypse?
Can we view the reformation as an 'early bourgeois revolution'?
Why did Frederick the Wise protect Luther?
Why did the Catholic Church not take action against Luther between 1517-1520?
How strong was the objection to the sale of indulgences in Germany at the beginning of the 16th Century?
How loyal were the German states to the Catholic church prior to 1517?
How much should we believe about the scandalous behaviour of Pope Alexander VI?
Did a resurgent papacy cause the Reformation?
How far did the discovery of the 'New World' trigger the Reformation?
How far did the Reuchlin affair inspire Luther?
How deep was Luther's hatred of Aristotelian thought?
How far did opposition to his father determine Luther's nature?
Was Luther appalled by his trip to Rome?
How important was Wittenberg responsible for the success of Luther?
Was there anything remarkable about the Tetzel Mission?
Did the 95 Theses actually exist?
How radical were the 95 Theses?
Who won the Leipzig Debates?
Did the papacy botch Excurge Domine?
How far did Erasmus influence Address to the Christian Nobility of Germany?
How far should Address to the Christian Nobility of Germany be viewed as a democratic work?
What explains the change in tone between Address to the Christian Nobility of Germany and The Babylonian Captivity of the Church?
What were Luther's views on the Eucharist?
Why is The Freedom of a Christian regarded as Luther's greatest work?
Was it the inexperience of Charles V that prevented an effective counter to Luther's ideas between 1520 and 1521?
Did Frederick the Wise protect Luther for constitutional reasons?
How far was the Diet of Worms a success for Luther?
How important was Andreas Karlstadt to the radical reformation?
How far was jealousy the reason for Martin Luther's condemnation of Andreas Karlstadt?
Did Luther bully Philip Melanchthon?
Just how radical were the ideas of Thomas Muntzer?
How accepted were the ideas of Thomas Muntzer?
Had Huldrych Zwingli encountered Lutheran ideas prior to 1520?
Why was it that Zurich experienced a complete reformation prior to 1525?
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Why does the IB require a study of the Knight's Revolt?
Should the Peasant's War be labelled this?
Was the Peasant's War about religion?
How serious was the Peasant's War?
Should the Peasant's War be viewed as a Southern German phenomenon?
How far was Zwingli an influence on the Peasant's War?
Why did Luther not support the peasants?
How great was the role of Thomas Muntzer in the War?
Did the German prince's power increase after the War?
Did the Peasant's War end the reformation in rural Germany?
How far were political circumstances responsible for Charles V's compromises at the First Diet of Speyer?
Why could Luther not include the Anabaptists in his reformation?
How important were catechisms to the reformation?
How committed to the reformation were the German protestant princes?
How far could Luther be considered the leader of the protestant movement after 1525?
Was there any prospect of success for the Marburg Colloquy?
How genuine was Charles V in reaching an accomodation at Augsburg?
How far was the Schmalkaldic League formed for religious reasons?
How much power did Ferdinand really have on his accession to Holy Roman Emperor in 1531?
How far does Henry VIII's desire to marry Anne Boleyn explain his decision to adopt Protestantism?
How far was the Schmalkaldic League successful in protecting the Protestant reformation?
Why did Luther protect Phillip of Hesse?
How tolerant was Poland-Lithuania in the early 16th Century?
How far was a lack of French assistance in causing the Protestant defeat in the First Schmalkaldic War?
Was it defeat in the Second Schmalkaldic War that caused Charles V to abdicate?
Has the importance of the Ursulines been underappreciated?
How far was the Jesuit success due to their religious message?
How similar were Ignatius Loloya and Martin Luther?
How exaggerated were Protestant fears of the overturning of the reformation by the beginning of the seventeenth century?
How radical was the Council of Trent?
How much responsibility should the papacy take for the Catholic reformation?
How far was the Catholic reformation a response to Protestantism?
Was it the Council of Trent that was responsible for the success of the counter-reformation?
How successful was the Catholic reformation?