“Alone Before God”
Religious Reform and Warfare,
1500-1648
“Alone Before God”
The Big Picture
Wars in the Netherlands
Catholic Reform
Protestant Reformation
Thirty Years’ War
Witchcraft Trials
Baroque Art
French Wars of Religion
1515
1600
1700
2
The Clash of Dynasties
Land-Hungry Monarchs
A Royal Rivalry
In June 1520, two of the most powerful
monarchs in Europe met for a tournament
and diplomatic discussion. Francis I of
France wanted Henry VIII of England to
become an ally against the powerful Holy
Roman Emperor, Charles V (r. 15191556). Both tried to outdo each other with
such ostentatious displays of wealth that
the meeting became known as the “Field
of Golden Cloth.” Henry was offended by
Francis outspending him, so he ultimately
allied England with Charles and the Holy
Roman Empire.
Henry VIII
of England
r. 1509-1547
Francis I
of France
r. 1515-1547
3
The Clash of Dynasties
Land-Hungry Monarchs
The “Field of Golden Cloth”
4
The Clash of Dynasties
Land-Hungry Monarchs
A Royal Rivalry
– Charles V: This ruler, the grandson of
Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, inherited a
multinational empire that included Habsburg lands
in the Netherlands, Spain, Austria, and southern
Italy.
– Turkish Expansion: During Charles’s reign, he
fought the Ottomans frequently, as Suleiman I (r.
1520-1566) pushed against his eastern flank. In
1529, the Turks laid siege to Vienna, the city at he
heart of Habsburg Austria, creating a panic in
Europe. But their century of unchecked expansion
was stopped at the city’s walls.
Emperor Charles V
r. 1519-1556
5
The Clash of Dynasties
Siege of Vienna from the Turkish Perspective
6
The Clash of Dynasties
The Changing Rules of Warfare
– No More Knights: By the 1500s, infantry had completely replaced
knights as the prime weapon of warfare.
– Improved Guns: Unreliable guns and “hand cannons” of the
Hundred Years’ War had been replaced by 1500 by long-barreled
guns that began to resemble modern muskets. They were far more
accurate and their matchlock firing mechanisms were much more
dependable.
– Growing Armies: Sheer numbers often determined outcomes of
battles, so bigger was indeed better. Around 1500, most armies had
fewer than 50,000 men. Later, armies had as much almost 150,000
men, as was the case with Charles V’s army (although it was
dispersed throughout his vast lands).
7
The Clash of Dynasties
The Changing Rules of Warfare
– Conscription: Mercenaries were not enough to make up these big
armies, so monarchs turned to drafting able-bodied men in their
kingdoms. Poorly paid mercenaries and draftees made for many
discipline problems, so they were drilled constantly and strict rule
were put in place; violators were punished very harshly.
– Expense: The new style of warfare was massively expensive. The
new artillery cannon and the massive defensive walls around cities
that could resist them cost huge amounts of money, as did the larger
navies. For example, Charles V borrowed 5.4 million gold coins
from rich merchants to pay his troops between 1520 and 1532, but
still fell short.
8
Habsburg Wars with the Ottoman Empire
and France during Charles V’s Reign,
1520s-1550s
9
The Clash of Dynasties
Winners and Losers
– Winners: Very rarely did monarchs win decisive victories in this new
style of warfare. Bankers who lent them money profited by charging
high interest, while manufacturers of the new weapons (many in the
Netherlands) profited immensely.
– Losers: Bigger armies meant more casualties. The use of gunpowder,
artillery shells, and lead shot led to new types of injuries. Limbs
crushed by artillery shells were common, leading to a huge rise in
amputations. Many of the legless and armless soldiers became beggars
in European cities.
– Hunger and Disease: Constant wars led to the ruin of crops and
inflation in the price of basic foodstuffs. Hunger, and its counterpart,
diseases like typhoid fever, typhus and smallpox, became common in
the European countryside of the 1500s.
10
The Clash of Dynasties
The Cripples by Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1568)
11
The Clash of Dynasties
Biography: Martin Guerre
Peasant, Soldier, and Reluctant Family Man
A peasant from a well-to-family from a village in Southern France, Martin
Guerre married a village woman, and after eight years, at last conceived a
child with his wife. After arguing with his father one day in 1548, he
disappeared. Records show that he fled to Spain and joined the Spanish
army, fighting in Flanders and the Netherlands. He was shot in the leg and
it needed to be amputated. Meanwhile, and impostor claiming to be Martin
showed up in his village fourteen years after the real Martin had
disappeared. The impostor, Arnaud du Tilh, lived for many years happily
with Martin’s wife until he got into a fight with Martin’s uncle, in part due
to the new Protestant ideas that had divided the village. The uncle accused
Arnaud of impersonating Martin, and hundreds of villagers testified on
both sides. During the trial, the real Martin showed up with a peg leg, and
Arnaud was sentenced to death. An acclaimed French dramatic film was 12
The Clash of Dynasties
The Habsburg-Valois Wars, 1521-1544
– Rival Dynasties: The Habsburg, the imperial family of Austria, and the
Valois, the royal family of France, initiated an almost 25-year war over
competing claims to lands in Italy. The Italian city-states could not field
armies as big as the two great powers, and were devastated by the invaders.
– Weary Imperialists: Neither Charles nor Francis could win a decisive
victory, so they negotiated a peace in 1544 by which Francis renounced his
claims on Italy. The two Catholic powers agreed to unite to fight their
supposed common enemies: the Lutherans and the Turks.
– Habsburgs Split: Charles abdicated his various thrones in 1555 and 1556,
and retired to a palace in Spain. He gave his Austrian lands to his brother
Ferdinand I (r. 1558-1564); the Low Countries, Spain, and Naples to his
son, Philip II (r. 1556-1598). The two branches of the family were never
united again. Charles died two years later, suffering from an enlarged jaw
and gout.
13
A Tide of Religious Reform
A Tide of Religious Reform
– The Best Path to Salvation? At the beginning of the 1500s, the
question of the role of the church in an individual’s path to salvation
was being challenged, particularly whether or not it was necessary to
remain obedient the pope to attain salvation.
– Seven Sacraments: The church claimed it offered the faithful a path to
salvation through its hierarchy and through a system of seven sacraments,
and that no salvation was available outside of the church.
– Devotio moderna: A new spiritual emphasis on personal connection to
God, bolstered by Renaissance individualism, had arisen in the 1400s.
Theologians like Thomas á Kempis (1380-1471) argued that personal piety
and ethics were just as important for salvation as religious dogma. A
movement outside of official church dogma called the Brethren of the
Common Life, whose members tried to live simply like Christ.
14
A Tide of Religious Reform
A Tide of Religious Reform
“Prince of Humanists”: Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536)
applied techniques of humanist education to Christian thought.
Believed to be the illegitimate son of a priest, he sought to
become a priest himself, but found traditional religious training
boring. He went to England and became friends with Thomas
More. He studied Latin, Greek, and Hebrew so he could read
the testaments of the bible in the original. He created a new
translation of the New Testament that was more faithful to
Original. He also criticized the church’s corruption, as in his
Satire, Julius Excluded from Heaven (1517), which depicts Pope Julius II
being denied entry to heaven since he was too worldly. Erasmus’s most
famous work was The Praise of Folly (1511), which used a sharp with to
promote greater spirituality in religion, and also made fun of himself and
virtually everyone else, satirizing almost every aspect of day-to-day life.
15
A Tide of Religious Reform
Luther’s Revolution
– Martin Luther (1483-1546): Luther was the son of
a successful mine owner, and his father expected him to
become a lawyer so that he could look after the family
business. He turned to religious life after being struck
down by a lightning bolt, promising to become a monk
if he recovered, which he did. He also became a priest and
a doctor of religion. Yet he never felt that he was worthy
of salvation. Tormented, he found relief in the bible when
he came upon a passage that promised salvation to all that
had faith, not just those who followed ritual. Christ’s
sacrifice saved humans as long as they had faith in the
Christian God, a concept called “justification by faith.”
“The righteous shall live by their faith.” – Romans 1:17
16
A Tide of Religious Reform
Luther’s Revolution
– Attack on Indulgences: Aflame with new ideas, Luther challenged church
doctrine on the granting of indulgences. Indulgences supposedly lessened a soul’s
time in purgatory. Pope Leo X had issued a special indulgence to finance the new
St. Peter’s Church in Rome, and the sale of them infuriated Luther, who thought it
impossible for humans to sell off God’s good graces.
– Ninety-Five Theses: tradition says that Luther tacked his Ninety-Five Theses on
to the door of the Wittenberg cathedral, but it is more likely that he just sent them
to the bishop. His theses touched a nerve, however, and were translated into
German and widely reprinted, in part due to the new network of printing presses.
His message appealed to intellectuals across Europe: personal conscience was
more important for salvation than institutional obedience.
– The Individual and God: Monastic life made no sense under Luther’s new
system of belief, so he left the monastery and married. He believed each person
needed to read the bible for himself, and not rely on priests to do the interpretation.
17
A Tide of Religious Reform
Protestant Religious Ideas
– Protestant: This term embraces Lutheranism and other sects that
would break away from it later, coming from the “protests” of certain
German princes at an assembly (called a “Diet”) in 1529 over a
decision to favorable to the Roman church.
– Sacraments: All Protestant groups shared that the idea that it was
unnecessary for an ordained priesthood to administer the sacraments,
and that all believers were responsible for their own individual
salvation, a “priesthood of believers.” Each person stands alone before
God, as opposed to Catholic theology, in which no one does so.
Protestants rejected pilgrimages to visit saints relics, rejected sacred
images and even destroyed some, and rejected transubstantiation, the
Catholic belief that the bread and wine of the Eucharist actually became
the body and blood of Christ during mass.
18
A Tide of Religious Reform
The Reformed Church Takes Root in Germany
– Luther Defended: Luther was called before Charles V at the
Diet of Worms and refused to recant his position despite pressure
from the emperor to do so. At another time, it is likely that
Luther would have been tried and executed for heresy. But the
delicate political situation in Germany and the protection of his
prince, Frederick the Wise of Saxony, kept him out of trouble.
Many German princes embraced Luther’s call to stop sending
money to Rome for reasons of economy, benefitted by
confiscating wealthy Catholic properties, and by using the
religious issue to weaken the Holy Roman Emperor.
19
A Tide of Religious Reform
The Reformed Church Takes Root in Germany
– Peasant’s War: Peasants, overburdened by manorial dues, took up Luther’s
call for religious reform to improve their lot, demanding a reduction of
manorial dues and more access to land, resorting to violence in 1524. Luther
was not a social revolutionary and denounced the revolutionaries. The princes
brutally crushed the rebellion, killing more than 100,000 peasants. Many
princes appreciated Luther’s support at the time, and thus concluded that his
movement aligned with their political needs. Charles V was in no position to
suppress the new movement, as even his army contained many Lutherans. He
tried to have Lutherans and Catholics reconcile in the 1540s, but these attempts
failed.
– Peace of Augsburg: Charles V successor, Ferdinand I, met with the princes to
negotiate a settlement to stop the religious turmoil. The Peace of Augsburg
made Lutheranism a legitimate alternative to the Catholic church in Germany.
It was decided that the ruler decided the religion of any principality, and those
who disagreed could move to another state.
20
A Tide of Religious Reform
Bringing Reform to the States in Switzerland
– Swiss Reformation: Switzerland in the 1500s was a land of thirteen
loosely linked “cantons,” each having its own independent government.
This separateness facilitated the acceptance of new religious ideas.
– Ulrich Zwingli (1484-1531): Living in the Canton of Zurich, this reformer
had been influenced by the writings of Erasmus. In 1519, he became the
priest of Zurich’s main church, and preached that Christian should practice
only things written in scripture, which did not include veneration of saints,
pilgrimages, purgatory, priestly celibacy, and most of the sacraments. In
1523, the city government approved Zwingli’s reforms, and Zurich became
a Protestant city.
– Civil War: On 1529, civil war broke out between the Catholic and
Protestant cantons, and Zingli died on the battlefield in 1531. Eventually
the Swiss worked out a peace deal similar to the Augsburg treaty.
21
A Tide of Religious Reform
Anabaptists: The Radical Reformers
– Anabaptists: The most radical reformers were called
“Anabaptists” (meaning “Re-Baptizers”) by their opponents, and
were comprised mostly of artisans and peasants. The believed
that baptism should be reserved for adults, who could make a
conscious choice.
– Church v. State: The Anabaptists believed in total separation of
church and state, and some went as far as saying that the “saved”
should not participate in politics.
– Radical Reformers: In 1534, a preacher named Melchior and
his followers seized the city of Münster, burned all books but the
bible, abolished private property, and established polygamy as
they awaited the second coming of Christ.
22
A Tide of Religious Reform
Calvinism and the Growing Middle Class
– John Calvin (1509-1564): The brilliant French scholar was
preparing to become a lawyer when he read Luther’s work, and
it had a profound effect on him, turning him to the study of
theology. After talking publicly about his ideas, he was forced to
flee France and settle in the Swiss city of Geneva.
– Appeal to Rising Middle Class: Calvin approved of Luther’s
ideas, but gave them his own emphasis. While Luther focused on
individual salvation, Calvin focused on the majesty, power, and
justice of God.
23
A Tide of Religious Reform
Calvinism and the Growing Middle Class
– Predestination: This concept that Calvin originated was the belief that
God preordained who would be saved or damned even before the
individual was born. If God were just, according to Calvin, everyone
would be damned since all humans are sinners. But God through his
mercy plucked individuals out of the fire of damnation, making them
members of the “elect.”
– Spread of Calvinism: Geneva became a hotbed of religious activity,
and between 1555 and 1562, Calvin sent out 100 preachers to all
corners of Europe, even where authorities were hostile. Groups in
French cities converted to Calvinism, becoming known as Huguenots.
John Knox (1514-1572), a Scottish man, met Calvin, and then took his
message back to Scotland, making Calvinism the dominant Protestant
sect there.
24
A Tide of Religious Reform
Henry VIII and the English Church
– An Unlikely Ally: Protestant sentiments were
growing in England in the 1520s, but Henry VIII
(r. 1509-1547) seemed like an unlikely ally to
religious reformers. He had even written an attack
against Martin Luther in 1521 called Defense of the
Seven Sacraments, for which the pope gave him a
special title, “Defender of the Faith.”
– Seeking a Male Heir: Yet Henry’s need to secure a male
heir superseded his religious devotion. His wife, Catherine of
Aragon, was pregnant six times, but had only one healthy child
who survived: the future Queen Mary.
25
A Tide of Religious Reform
Henry VIII and the English Church
– Anne Boleyn: Henry had fallen in love with a beautiful and intelligent
young woman, Anne Boleyn, who refused his
advances until she was certain that he would
marry her, which at last came about in 1533.
– Henry’s Annulment: Henry’s top advisors,
Thomas Cromwell and the Archbishop of
Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, devised a plan
to obtain an annulment of Henry’s marriage to
Catherine: have Parliament pass a law making
the Archbishop of Canterbury the highest
ecclesiastical authority in England, cutting off
the authority of the pope. When this was done,
Cranmer then granted Henry the annulment.
26
Anne gave birth to a daughter soon thereafter, named Elizabeth.
A Tide of Religious Reform
Henry VIII and the English Church
– Church of England: The pope excommunicated Henry and Cranmer
in 1534, and Parliament passed an “Act of Supremacy” that declared
the king the supreme head of the Church of England, making the break
with Rome complete. But Henry did not dismiss Catholic doctrine; for
example, he still believed in transubstantiation, which Luther had
dismissed. He did like Luther’s idea about the worthlessness of
monastic life, and took the opportunity to confiscate church lands to
enrich his coffers.
– Edward VI: Henry’s third wife, Jane Seymour, at last gave birth to a
son, Edward, who was sickly but intelligent. Edward took the throne at
Henry’s death in 1547, but only ruled for six years before dying. He
and his regents did, however, make England officially a Protestant
country.
27
A Tide of Religious Reform
Mary and Elizabeth
– “Bloody Mary”: Edward’s successor, Mary I (r. 1553-1558), the
daughter of Henry and Catherine, was a devout Catholic and
wanted to roll back the Protestant reforms of her half-brother.
She had 280 Protestants burned for “religious treason,” including
Thomas Cranmer. She angered much of the public by marrying
Philip II of Spain, but she did not have any heirs.
– Elizabeth I (r. 1558-1603): The throne then went to Anne
Boleyn’s daughter, Elizabeth, who earned the name “Good
Queen Bess.” A brilliant politician, she remain unmarried largely
for political reasons. In matters of religion, she was a moderate
Protestant who did not obsess over theology. She allowed
different Protestants to worship together in the national church. 28
A Tide of Religious Reform
Mary and Elizabeth
Mary I
Elizabeth I
29
A Tide of Religious Reform
Europe Divided
– Scotland’s Church: Scotsman John Knox had met Calvin in
Geneva and was deeply impressed by him. Calvinism brought to
Scotland by John Knox took deep root. The Calvinists focused
more on individual conscience than ecclesiastical authority, and
the Scottish went even further with this idea. They organized
their church not with bishops, but by vesting authority with local
church elders. This type of organization came to be known as
Presbyterianism.
– Europe Divided: Protestantism by its nature always seemed
ready to split into many different sects, and it continued to do so.
It wasn’t just Protestant and Catholic, but many different
variations that took route all over Europe.
30
Religions in Europe, ca. 1600
31
The Catholic Reformation
Catholic Reformation or Counter-Reformation?
– Before Luther: Several predecessors of Luther worked to reform the
Church well before he wrote his Theses. Savonarola in Florence, for
example, called for the reform of the papacy, as had Erasmus in his satires.
Even popes themselves had called councils to try to address the worst
abuses.
– Catholic Reformation vs. Counter-Reformation: Catholics call this
movement of reform the Catholic Reformation, while Protestants call it the
Counter-Reformation, seeing it as a response to the Protestant challenge.
Yet many of the Catholic movements for reform had been ongoing since
the time of Great Schism, the Conciliar movement, and the rule of active
Renaissance popes. Yet the Habsburg-Valois Wars had slowed this
movement because they preoccupied the popes and the two most powerful
Catholic monarchs, the King of France and Holy Roman Emperor.
32
The Catholic Reformation
The Stirring of Reform in Spain
– Ferdinand and Isabella: The marriage of these two monarchs in 1469
helped to create a powerful and unified Spanish state, joining the
kingdoms of Leon-Castile and Aragon. They immediately began
centralizing the state and weakening the power of the nobility. They
also obtained permission from the pope to create their own Inquisition,
which focused on rooting out converted Jews and Muslims who
supposedly still secretly practiced their former religions. The Spanish
Inquisition in some ways were a precursor to modern secret police.
– Cardinal Ximénez: The most influential religious figure in Spain at
this time was Cardinal Ximénez de Cisneros, who was an admirer of
Erasmus and who brought Christian humanist values to Spain. He was
also confessor to the queen, Bishop of Toldedo, and Grand Inquisitor of
the Spanish Inquistion.
33
The Catholic Reformation
The Society of Jesus
– Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556): This soldier of a noble family served the
Spanish monarchy until a cannonball crushed both of his legs. While
recuperating, he read stories of Christian saints and Thomas à Kempis’s
Imitation of Christ, and then decided to become a soldier for God. He
wrote a book called The Spiritual Exercises, which emphasized satisfying
spiritual longing by remaining disciplined and totally obedient to the
Catholic Church.
– Jesuits Established: In 1540, the pope acknowledged Ignatius’s new
movement and allowed the establishment of a new monastic order, the
Society of Jesus, also known as the Jesuits. The Jesuits emphasized
Christian humanist education above all, and became highly effective
“shock troops” against Protestantism. They could use logic and rhetoric to
dismantle Protestant arguments. They also proved excellent missionaries,
being sent to the New World and Far East to convert people to Catholicism.
34
The Catholic Reformation
Baroque Art
– Baroque Paintings: Several great painters like the Flemish Artists
Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) and El Greco (1547-1614) took up the
subjects that supported the Catholic cause. El Greco, who was born on
the island of Crete but worked in Spain, often created paintings that
reflected and supported Catholic theology, like in the Burial of Count
Orgaz (ca. 1586), which showed the “community of the dead” that
supported a soul’s voyage in the afterlife. Catholics did not “stand
alone before god” in judgment, as did Protestants.
35
The Catholic Reformation
The Council of Trent, 1545-1563
– Calling the Council: After the Habsburg-Valois Wars ended, Charles
V pressured the pope to convene a council to reform the worst abuses.
It met periodically over the next eighteen years.
– Reforming Corruption: The council banned the sale of indulgences
and the office of indulgence-seller.
– Affirming Doctrine: The Council determined that Catholics did not
stand alone before God, like Luther claimed, and the community of
faithful, both living and dead, played a role in salvation. Praying to
saints and the Virgin Mary could help with salvation. the church also
reaffirmed the existence of purgatory.
– Scripture and Tradition: Catholics argued that the body of practices
and writing that had accrued over the last 1,000 years could help with
salvation, and that the Bible alone was not the only source.
36
The Catholic Reformation
Catholics on the Offense
– Spanish Inquisition: The Inquisition now went on
the offensive against Lutherans and Calvinists as well
as secretly practicing Jews an Muslims, and also
policed Catholic practice. In 1542, the Inquisition was
reestablished in Rome, and in 1557, the papacy began
to publish an Index of Forbidden Books to prevent
Catholics from encountering anti-Catholic ideas (the
list was abolished only in 1966).
– Philip II (r. 1556-1588): Charles V’s heir to Spain and
the Netherlands had an unrivaled zeal for religion and
empire. Philip faced two dire threats to the Catholic
faith: the Turks in the Mediterranean, and the
Protestants to the North.
37
The Catholic Reformation
Catholics on the Offense
Battle of Lepanto: Philip assembled a
large navy with his own ships and those
of Italian city-states like Venice to
challenge the Turks’ naval supremacy.
The navy had 208 galleons, sleek and
fast ships armed with cannons. This fleet
confronted a slightly bigger Turkish fleet
off the coast of Greece in 1571, and
defeated it decisively, losing only ten ships compared to the Turks’ 200
vessels lost. Tens of thousands of men died, and accounts told of the sea
being red with blood. But the victory raised the spirits of Catholics
everywhere.
38
Europe Erupts Again:
A Century of Religious Warfare, 1559-1648
French Wars of Religion, 1562-1598
– Religious and Political Loyalty Challenged: Ever since Constantine
supported the Roman Church, the European assumption was that
political and religious loyalty were virtually one in the same. The
Reformation began to challenge this long-accepted idea. Furthermore,
the wars between 1559 and 1648 were not only about religious practice,
but about the state and what role it should play in relation to religion.
– Catholics vs. Huguenots: Calvinism had obtained a strong hold in
villages and towns of southwest France by the 1550s. Despite being
only 7 percent of the population, they were well organized and
succeeded in recruiting almost 40 percent of France’s nobility. Two
major noble families were on the opposite sides of the coming struggle:
the Guises were Catholics, while the Bourbons were Huguenots (the
French name for Catholics.)
39
Europe Erupts Again:
A Century of Religious Warfare, 1559-1648
French Wars of Religion, 1562-1598
– Catholic Kings: Francis I (r. 1515-1547), and his heir, Henry II (r.
1547-1559), were both kings who based their authority on their
Catholic stance. Yet Henry’s death in 1559 due to a freak jousting
accident undermined the Catholic foundation of French royal power.
– Catherine de’ Medici: Henry’s widow, Catherine de’ Medici, ruled as
regent for her young son Charles IX, who became king in 1561. But
she found her power destabilized by the struggle between the Catholic
Guises and the Huguenot Bourbons, during which violence frequently
broke out over a thirty-six-year period. The cycle began when the Duke
of Guise massacred a Huguenot congregation in 1562.
40
Europe Erupts Again:
A Century of Religious Warfare, 1559-1648
French Wars of Religion, 1562-1598
– Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre: On August 23, 1572, a wedding
was to take place between Catherine’s daughter and the Bourbon leader
of the Huguenots, Henry of Navarre. The Guise family persuaded the
young king, Charles IX (r. 1560-1574) that the wedding was a plot
against him. The king ordered his guard to slaughter the Protestant
leadership ion Paris, which occurred on St. Bartholomew’s Day.
Catholics went on a six-day rampage, killing Protestants in Paris and the
provinces, and thousands were murdered. Henry Navarre, however,
managed to escape.
41
Europe Erupts Again:
A Century of Religious Warfare, 1559-1648
French Wars of Religion, 1562-1598
– Continued Violence: When Charles IX died of tuberculosis in 1574, his
younger brother Henry III (r. 1574-1589) took the throne. His reign was
characterized by religious violence, and he himself was assassinated
without an heir in 1589.
– Peace in France: Henry of Navarre, the Huguenot prince who escaped
the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, was next in line for the throne.
Realizing that the Catholic majority would never accept a Protestant
King, he converted to Catholicsim, reportedly saying, “Paris is worth a
mass.” Becoming Henry IV (r. 1589-1610), he issued the Edict of Nantes
in 1598, which introduced religious tolerance. (The edict would be
revoked later by King Louis XIV.)
42
Europe Erupts Again:
A Century of Religious Warfare, 1559-1648
French Wars of Religion, 1562-1598
Henry IV of France
r. 1589-1610
(formerly Henry of Navarre)
author of the
Edict of Nantes (1598)
43
Europe Erupts Again:
A Century of Religious Warfare, 1559-1648
A “Council of Blood” in the Netherlands, 1566-1609
– Dutch Revolt: Philip II of Spain wished to tighten his authority over the
Netherlands, so he restructured the Catholic Church to weaken the local
nobility, billeted troops locally, and levied new taxes. In response, riots broke
out, and the Dutch Protestants—still a small minority—began an informal revolt
against the Spanish overlords in 1566.
– Philip Responds: Enraged, Philip sent the largest land army ever assembled to
crush the Netherlands into submission. In 1572, official war broke out, igniting
a forty-year armed struggle. A Spanish general known as the “Iron Duke of
Alba” presided over what he called the “Council of Troubles,” but what
Protestants called the “Council of Blood,” in which thousands of Protestants
were slaughtered.
– Protestants Fight Back: Calvinists preachers gave citizens permission to kill
the invaders. Some even opened the dikes to drown Spanish troops. They found
a capable leader in William of Orange, who was assassinated but then served as
a martyr to the Protestant cause.
44
Europe Erupts Again:
A Century of Religious Warfare, 1559-1648
Elizabeth, Henry, and the Spanish Armada
– Elizabeth Refuses Philip: Henry VIII’s daughter, Mary (r. 15531558) had married Philip II. But when she died, Philip proposed
marriage to her successor and half-sister, Elizabeth I. But
Protestant Elizabeth refused his attentions and even dared support
the Protestant Dutch against him.
– Armada against England: Philip responded by throwing the full
force of his navy against England, launching a huge fleet across
the English Channel in 1588. Instead of a great victory like at
Lepanto, the Armada was beaten badly. Well armed English ships
did considerable damage, but then an onslaught of violent storms
in the North Sea finished the job (the English called this the
“Protestant Wind”).
45
Europe Erupts Again:
A Century of Religious Warfare, 1559-1648
Elizabeth, Henry, and the Spanish Armada
Defeat of the
Spanish Armada,
August 1588
46
Europe Erupts Again:
A Century of Religious Warfare, 1559-1648
Peace in the Netherlands
– Dutch Resistance: Philip never succeeded in crushing the Dutch
revolt, beyond the deaths of both Philip and Elizabeth. In 1609,
both sides drew up an agreement that gave the northern provinces
considerable autonomy (the Dutch would not actually have full
independence until the peace of Westphalia in 1648).
– Religious Separation: Protestants moved north into the
Protestant Dutch Republic, while Catholics moved south into the
Spanish Netherlands (which later became Belgium). Religious
conflict was not over in Europe, however. Instead it moved East
into the Holy Roman Empire.
47
Europe Erupts Again:
A Century of Religious Warfare
The Thirty Years’ War, 1618-1648
– Temporary Peace: The Peace of Augsburg of 1555 only temporarily
brought peace to the Holy Roman Empire. As various Protestant sects
spread across the various principalities, tensions built up until conflict once
again erupted in 1618.
– War Breaks Out: When Ferdinand II (r. 1619-1637), a Catholic prince,
took over Bohemia (now the modern Czech Republic), the Protestant
nobles were angered. When representatives of Ferdinand met with a group
of Protestant nobles, the nobles threw the prince’s men out of a third-story
window of the royal castle in Prague, only surviving because they landed in
a pile of manure (this was known as the “Defenestration of Prague” and
was a Czech tradition: Hussites had thrown Catholic city council members
out of window in 1419). This small act triggered a massive civil war in
which Catholics and Protestants across the Holy Roman Empire faced off
on the battlefield.
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Europe Erupts Again:
A Century of Religious Warfare
The Thirty Years’ War, 1618-1648
– Battle of the White Mountain: In 1620, Ferdinand won a stunning victory
over the Bohemian Protestants, in which his enemies were killed or exiled.
It seemed as if the war was over, but the Protestants continued to fight.
– Wallenstein: A Bohemian nobleman and soldier of fortune
named Albrecht von Wallenstein realized the emperor would
need a new army to carry out the fight. He asked for
permission to raise funds for the army wherever it was,
forcing local princes to a war tax. Previously, losers of a
conflict paid for war through sacking and looting. With
Wallenstein’s innovation, potential winners and losers paid
for the war. Wallenstein became very rich and seemed to be
on his way to reclaiming the northern part of the empire from the
Protestants. The emperor even issued an Edict of Restitution in 1629,
ordering the return of Protestant lands to Catholic nobility.
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Europe Erupts Again:
A Century of Religious Warfare
The Thirty Years’ War, 1618-1648
– From Religion to Politics: By 1630, the tide of the war began to change
not for religious reasons, but for political ones. For example, the Catholic
king of France chose to support the Protestants in order to weaken his rival,
the Catholic Holy Roman Emperor.
– Swedish King Gustavus Adophus (r. 1611-1632): The Swedish
intervened on behalf of the Protestants; the Swedish kind was appalled at
the treatment of the Protestants. The Swedes tuned tide in favor of the
Protestants since they brought innovative ideas about gunpowder weapons.
They used cannons not just against fortifications, but turned them against
infantry to devastating effect. In 1632, Gustavus won a decisive battle
against Wallenstein, but was killed during the fight. The loss turned the
emperor against Wallenstein, who was assassinated a few months later.
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Europe Erupts Again:
A Century of Religious Warfare
The Thirty Years’ War, 1618-1648
– Protestant Victories: Gustavus started a new phase of the war (from 1632
to 1648), during which the emperor lost all of his previous gains. By 1635,
Ferdinand had to agree to suspend the Edict of Restitution and to grant
amnesty to Protestant nobles. In return, they joined together to drive out the
Swedes. However, the Catholic king of France, launched a war against the
Holy Roman Empire in 1635, commencing a fourteen-year conflict that
devastated the German lands as French and Swedish troops swept through.
– Devastation: By the 1640s, all of the original princes who had started the
war were long dead and their heirs were exhausted. Contemporaries were
stunned by the total devastation, with some historians claiming that
Germany lost nearly a third of its population. Spain went bankrupted and
never recovered its leading position in Europe. France and Sweden
emerged as the leading powers.
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The Thirty
Years’ War,
1618-1648
52
Europe Erupts Again:
A Century of Religious Warfare
Peace at Westphalia
– Political Results: The series of agreements that ended the war were
known collectively as the Peace of Westphalia. German princes had the
freedom to choose the religion of their states, but the individual’s right
to choose was still not recognized. However, Calvinism for the first
time was recognized with Lutheranism and Catholicism as an accepted
religious option. The Northwest—England, Holland, and the
Scandinavian states—remained Protestant, while the south remained
Catholic.
– Balance of Power: An idea imported from the Italian city-states
influenced the framers of the peace. The idea that each actor should
remain relatively equal in power and that no one actor should be
dominant was how the Peace of Westphalia system operated. This idea
would dominate European relations up through the twentieth century.
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Europe
in 1648
54
Life After the Reformation
New Definitions of Courtship and Marriage
– Marriage: The Protestant exclusion of marriage as a sacrament changed
the institution in unexpected ways. Luther himself had left monastic life
and married his wife, Katherina, having five children. Luther wrote how
that this relationship was part of God’s plan. Calvin also ridiculed the
Roman Church’s idea celibacy. Couples began to expect mutual love
between man and wife rather than just fulfilling a duty. In the late sixteenth
century, the Catholic Church even reflected this change, using the word
love in reference to relationships between husband and wife.
– Courtship: Arranged marriages continued, but during this period, each
potential partner began to have the right to see if each was compatible with
the other, and daughters had some say in vetoing a match.
55
Life After the Reformation
Forging a Link Between Education and Work
– Valuing Literacy: The Reformation on both sides valued
literacy and education. Erasmus urged all to read the Bible, as
did Luther. Luther encouraged the public funding of schools in
Saxony. Higher literacy allowed for new types of work to
become more common, and benefitted a rising middle class.
– Valuing Work: In the medieval social structure, those who
worked were seen as the bottom of the social structure. But
Protestants saw work differently. Luther wrote that work was a
virtuous activity, and one sociologist wrote in the early twentieth
century of the rise of a “Protestant work ethic.”
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Life After the Reformation
• Anxiety and Spiritual Insecurity
– Charitable Institutions: Protestantism forced a decline in
charitable institutions, with the idea that each individual was
responsible for his or her own plight. Protestant states passed
“poor laws” that forced the impoverished into workhouses and
outlawed begging. These laws were never entirely enforceable,
but did much to shape negative attitudes toward the poor.
– Decline of “Magic”: The Protestants abandoned beliefs in
magic and miraculous cures, which the Catholic Church still
embraced.
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Life After the Reformation
Searching for Scapegoats: The Hunt for Witches
– Fear of the Devil: Europeans had longed believed in magical charms and
spells that could effect the weather. Catholic priests had long offered
prayers and countercharms to counteract the effects of those who cast
spells with bad intentions. Yet in the 1500s, casters of spells—known as
witches—became linked increasingly with the devil, holding ceremonies in
his service. Many people were accused of working as the devil’s assistants.
A monk even published a handbook for hunting witches, called the Malleus
Maleficarum (the “Hammer of the Witches”).
– Persecutions: Both Catholics and Protestants hunted witches, with trials
peaking in Europe between 1560 and 1640. roughly 100,000 people were
executed, while 200,000 were put on trial. These trials perhaps reflect the
tremendous anxiety over the social and political upheaval of the era.
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