One of the greatest of all revolutions was the 16th-century religious revolt known as the Reformation. This stormy, often brutal, conflict separated the Christians of Western Europe into Protestants and Catholics. So far-reaching were the results of the separation that the Reformation has been called a turning point in history. It ushered in the Modern Age because, once the people's religious unity was destroyed, they began to think in terms of their own regional interests. From the diversity of those interests arose new political, social, and economic problems and beliefs.
Background
At the start of the 16th century Western Europe had only one religion, Roman Catholicism. The Catholic church was rich and powerful and had preserved Europe's classical culture. However, despite General Councils called to impose reforms, disputes and lax practices had grown up within the church.
Churchmen criticized the administration of the church and began to doubt some of its teachings. As early as the 14th century, John Wycliffe, an English priest and teacher at Oxford University, declared that people had the right to read the Bible and interpret it for themselves. Despite protests by the church, followers of Wycliffe translated the Bible from Latin into English in 1382 and carried copies throughout the countryside. Wycliffe's ideas spread into Bohemia, where Jan Hus widely preached them in powerful sermons. The work of Wycliffe and Hus greatly influenced a Saxon monk named Martin Luther.
Revolt in Germany
Luther became the leader of the Reformation in Germany. For some years he had protested that some of the clergy were selling indulgences without making clear that people must also be sincerely repentant for those sins. He especially attacked the monk Johann Tetzel for deceiving the people. In 1517 the angry Luther wrote a list of 95 theses against indulgences and nailed them to the door of the church in Wittenberg.
Luther developed new ideas opposed to the church. He rejected the authority of the pope and, like Wycliffe and Hus before him, set up the Bible as the sole source of Christian truth. He denied that priests had any power that laymen did not have. He declared that the vows taken by monks and nuns were not binding and that monasteries should be abolished. He rejected the celibacy of the clergy. Of the seven sacraments Luther kept only two, baptism and the Lord's Supper.
Spread of The Reformation
When Pope Leo X condemned Luther's teachings in a bull, or papal decree, Luther subsequently burned the document and a copy of the church's canon law. Charles V, the Holy Roman emperor, ordered him to recant in 1521. Luther declared he would not do so until he was "convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures."
Other scholars helped to spread the Reformation. Philipp Melanchthon, Luther's colleague at the University of Wittenberg, became the chief theologian of the Reformation in Germany. Johannes Reuchlin of Heidelberg enlarged the field of ideas by fostering the study of Hebrew and Greek. Knowledge of these ancient languages enabled people to read the Bible in its original forms.
Reformers in other lands were also zealous. Erasmus of Rotterdam, the great Dutch forerunner of Luther, spurred the study of the early church through his printed editions of the Greek New Testament and writings of the church fathers. Lefevre d'Etaples of France and Huldrych Zwingli of Switzerland held views similar to Luther's. In England John Colet worked for reform within the church. John Calvin made Geneva the world center of the Presbyterian and Reformed churches.
| 1521 | Lutheran books appear in England. Cambridge students form a study-group at the White Horse Tavern; Thomas Cranmer is perhaps among them. Henry VIII writes a book on the sacraments against Luther. The bishop of Rome gives him a golden rose and names him "defender of the faith". |
| 1525 | Henry VIII, who long ago got special permission from the bishop of Rome to marry his brother's virgin widow Catherine, has been upset because she cannot bear him a son. This is the year Henry meets pretty Anne Boleyn. This begins the "King's affair." The bishop of Rome will not annul Henry's marriage to Catherine, because Catherine's nephew is holding him prisoner.... |
| 1526 | Cardinal Wolsey presides at a massive burning of Lutheran books. |
| 1527 | Thomas Bilney, respected Cambridge preacher and Lutheran sympathizer, is dragged from his pulpit. (He is burned in 1531.) |
| 1528 | Simon Fish, a London attorney and amateur actor who has fled to Antwerp after spoofing the clergy, writes "A Supplication for Beggars", which urges an end to taxes for Rome. (Henry VIII really likes this book.) |
| 1529 | Henry VIII decides he does not need to get permission from the bishop of Rome to have his marriage annulled. (The idea is probably Thomas Cromwell's.) He declares himself head of the English church (whatever that means), forcibly cuts the Anglican bishops off from communion with Rome, calls the Reformation Parliament, and marries Anne Boleyn. Services at the churches, however, remain essentially the same. (The mass is in Latin, there is no sermon or systematic Bible reading, and the people are passive and receive communion only at Easter, getting only the consecrated bread.) |
| 1532 | Cranmer made archbishop of Canterbury. (This effectly ends clerical celibacy among Anglicans, as Cranmer is twice-married). The "Act in Restraint of Appeals" prohibits appeals to the bishop of Rome. |
| 1534 | "Act of Succession." Everyone must swear allegiance to Henry VIII as head of the English church. Thomas More, his Prime Minister and author of "Utopia", and John Fisher, saintly bishop of Rochester, refuse to swear. |
| 1535 | Henry VIII beheads Fisher and More after the bishop of Rome makes Fisher a cardinal. Henry is sorry to have to do this, and his court wears mourning for two weeks. Henry had intended to execute Mary, his daughter by Catherine, who also refused to swear. He was dissuaded from doing this by Cranmer. |
| 1536 | Henry VIII executes Anne Boleyn and marries Jane Seymour. He continues to oppose the introduction of an English-language Bible for his people. |
| 1536 | (Brussels) William Tyndale, a priest and Lutheran sympathizer who is responsible for an illegal English translation of the Bible, is strangled at the stake. Tyndale's last words are "Lord, open the King of England's eyes." |
| 1536 | Henry VIII ensures the permanent popularity of the English reformation by abolishing the monasteries and sharing the loot with almost everyone. |
| 1538 | John Rogers (alias Thomas Matthew) prints the Tyndale Bible translation (finished by Miles Coverdale) in Paris. It is approved by the Henry VIII as the "Great Bible" to be read by all his people. |
| 1538 | Jane Seymour dies following the birth of Henry VIII's only legitimate son, Edward. |
| 1539 | The Six Articles, against Lutheranism. Hugh Latimer, bishop of Winchester, resigns in protest. Henry VIII is still occasionally burning Lutherans and hanging Roman Catholics. |
| 1540 | Henry VIII marries and divorces Anne of Cleves, executes the now-unpopular Thomas Cromwell, and marries Katherine Howard. |
| 1543 | Katherine Howard beheaded. Henry VIII marries Katherine Parr. |
| 1544 | Cranmer instructed to write prayers and a litany (for the army) in English. He does this so well that he is asked to make a prayer book in English, based on the service at Salisbury Cathedral. |
| 1545 | Henry VIII's last speech to Parliament. He says Papist, Lutheran, Anabaptist are names devised by the devil to sunder one man's heart from another. |
| 1546 | (Germany) Council of Trent. Bishops in communion with the bishop of Rome decide that the church "venerates equally" the Bible and the written and unwritten traditions (whatever that means). This is the beginning of the Tridentine Church (today's Roman Catholic church). England is becoming a haven for Protestants from the continent. |
| 1547 | Henry VIII dies. He has executed around 60 people for "religious" reasons, among a total of about 130 political executions. He is succeeded by his sickly teenaged son, Edward VI. Chantries suppressed. |
| 1548 | Prayer of Humble Access, for the people to say in English, introduced into Latin mass. |
| 1548 | "Images" ordered removed from all churches by the council of regents. This also means no vestments, ashes, palms, holy water, or crucifixes. This causes so much resentment that an order suppressing all preaching follows. |
| 1549 | First Book of Common Prayer (Cranmer's work), introduced on Day of Pentecost. It is written in English, emphasizes the people's participation in the eucharist, and requires the Bible to be read from cover to cover. Fast days are retained (supposedly to help fishermen), but saints' days are not. Roman Catholic rebels in Cornwall claim they cannot understand English. |
| 1550 | New ordinal requires that a Bible be given to newly-ordained bishops (not a staff) and priests (not eucharistic vessels). |
| 1550 | "Hooper's visitation". A bishop surveys the parish priests and finds them concerned about their work but poorly educated. |
| 1552 | Book of Common Prayer revised to suit Protestants. No more "real presence" at the eucharist (the "black rubric" permits kneeling, however). No vestments, no signing of the cross at confirmation, no holy oil, no reserved sacrament, no prayers for the departed. |
| 1553 | Forty-two articles drafted. The Calvinist influence is obvious. |
| 1553 | (Geneva) Calvin burns Michael Servetus, a Unitarian who has fled to escape the Spanish Inquisition. Liberals lose their illusions about Calvinism. |
| 1553 | Edward VI dies. People are tired of Protestant looting of churches. Mary Tudor ("Bloody Mary"), a militant Roman Catholic, becomes queen. Popular at first, she soon marries the hated Philip II of Spain. Persecution of Protestants begins; Mary appoints new bishops and fires all married priests. During her reign, about 300 Protestans are burned, including 5 bishops, 100 priests, 60 women. An attempt by Cardinal Pole (Mary's archbishop of Canterbury) to restore monasticism fizzles when, among 1500 surviving monks, nuns, and friars, fewer than 100 are willing to return to celibacy. All this ensures Roman Catholics will remain unpopular in England. |
| 1555 | Mary burns bishops Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley at the stake (Oct. 16). |
| 1556 | Mary succeeds in brainwashing Thomas Cranmer, who signs a retraction which he later repudiates. Mary burns him at the stake (March 21). |
| 1558 | Mary dies. (Cardinal Pole dies minutes later.) Elizabeth I, a Protestant, becomes queen. Despite many problems (including frequent assassination plots from Roman Catholics), she supports the enterprising middle class and England prospers. |
| 1559 | Ordination of the moderate Matthew Parker as archbishop of Canterbury. |
| 1559 | Book of Common Prayer revised. Elizabeth I reintroduces the surplice, explaining that it is a clergyman's uniform. The Black Rubric is gone. A special license is required to preach. There is no church music except metrical psalms sung to ballad tunes. |
| 1560 | Saints' days are reintroduced. |
| 1560 | John Jewel writes "An Apology for the Church of England". Rome, not England, is schismatic. |
| 1563 | Thirty-Nine Articles drafted as a doctrinal statement by a convocation of the Church of England. |
| 1563 | "Foxe's Book of Martyrs." The bishop of Rome is portrayed as the Antichrist; Foxe writes speeches as needed for such "Protestant martyrs" as Thomas Cromwell. |
| 1568 | Archbishop Parker produces the "Bishop's Bible". |
| Memorable Events |
| The most dramatic event of this religious revolt took place in Germany. It was in Wittenberg, Saxony, that Luther posted his list of 95 theses in 1517 and burned the papal bull in 1520. A year later he was condemend by the Diet of Worms. in 1525 German nobles encouragd by Luther put down the Peasants Revolt. |
| In 1529 the word Protestant was formally used for the first time. In Germany the Diet of Speyer decreed that changes of religion must stop and that the authority of the Catholic church be restored. The Lutheran minority in the Diet signed a protest against that decree. From this protest comes the modern term for the religious denominations of Protestantism. |
| Peace treaties, followed the religious wars. The most important of these was the Peace of Augsburg in 1555. By that treaty Charles V was at last forced to grant to the ruler of each German state the right to choose Catholicism or Lutheranism. The state's religion was still imposed by the ruler, but the treaty gave a temporary religious peace to Germany. |
| The Lutheran faith spread chiefly in northern Germany and in Scandinavia. The Swiss were influenced early by Huldrych Zwingli, but like the French and Dutch they drew their Protestantism from a movement led by John Calvin a generation later. From this grew the zealous work of John Knox, who brought Presbyterianism to Scotland. |
| The English Reformation began in 1533 when Henry VIII broke with the pope, who had refused to annul Henry's marriage to Catherine of Aragon. The introduction of Protestant doctrine in the Church of England, however, did not take place until 1549, during the reign of Edward VI. |