The English Reformation

 

Background: Britain/Spain/Empire vs. Scotland/France

 

·         Henry VII: 1485=King; son Arthur marries Catherine of Aragon (daughter of Ferdinand & Isabella of Spain)

·         Arthur dies 4 months later; Catherine married to Henry VIII (new heir)—against canon law—special dispensation from Pope

·         Daughter: Mary Tudor; Catherine 40 & no male heir; Henry VIII wanted annulment

·         Pope couldn’t grant: politics—Catherine’s nephew=Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (1519-56)

·         Thomas Cranmer: let professors of canon law & theology decide: sided with Henry VIII

·         1533 Henry married Anne Boleyn: daughter-Elizabeth

·         1534 Parliament 1) declared marriage invalid 2) Mary Tudor=illegitimate 3) King=head of English church

·         Under Henry—limited reform-basically Catholic but no Pope; no monks—Henry had opposed reformers

·         Many advocated further reform—esp. remnants of Wycliffe’s movement; others opposed: Sir Thomas More

·         1536 son Edward by Jane Seymour; 3 more wives, no male heirs

 

·         1547 Edward king; died 6 yrs later at 17—never really ruled (regents); period of much reform—clergy married; images removed from churches

·         Book of Common Prayer (1549)—English liturgy; rev. ed. 1552—strong Zwinglian influence

 

·         1553 Mary Tudor: devoutly Catholic—her legitimacy depended on it—attempted to restore Catholicism

·         Protestants executed, including Cranmer: “Bloody Mary”

 

·         1558 Elizabeth: Protestant—her legitimacy depended on it; restored Protestantism

·         Protestant leaders return from Switzerland—contact w/ ideas of Zwingli, Calvin

·         Elizabeth=moderate reforms—sought unity in worship; latitude for theological differences; via media

 

Scotland

 

·         John Knox (1513-72)=leader—supported by pro-English Scottish nobles

·         Exile in Switzerland under Mary Tudor (lost English support): in Geneva w/ Calvin, Zurich w/ Zwingli’s successor

·         1558 returned; organized Scottish Reformed Church—Calvinist theology & organization; Presbyterians

 

The Catholic Reformation

 

·         Attempts to reform church and responds to Protestants—esp. in Spain

·         Humanists - Erasmus of Rotterdam (1466-1536)

·         Theresa of Avila (1515-1582): new, stricter monastic orders for men and women

·         Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556): Jesuits—new order—emphasized education for missions and to combat heresy; Spiritual Exercises

·         Non-cloistered (like mendicants); special vow to obey Pope: Pope used to combat Protestants

·         Council of Trent (1545-63): aimed to reform church and answer Protestants-shaped Catholicism until Vatican II

·         Reforms: 1) condemned pluralism and absenteeism 2) regulated indulgences 3) standards for training priests 4) promoted study of Aquinas

·         Against Protestants: 1) Tradition & Scripture equal 2) 7 sacraments 3) salvation through grace & works 4) free will

 

Protestant Expansion

 

Germany

·         1532 – Peace of Nuremberg

·         Emperor Charles V; League of Schmalkald; League of Nuremberg

·         Philip of Hesse

·         Augsburg Interim; Leipzig Interim; Philip Melanchthon

·         Ferdinand I (1558)

 

Scandinavia

·         Christian II; Frederick I

·         1527 – Diet of Odense

·         Gustavus Vasa: 1521 – entered Stockholm; 1523 king of Sweden (1523-60)

·         1527 – Diet of Vasteras

·         1593 – Sweden formally accepted Lutheranism

 

Low Countries-Holland, Belgium, Luxemborg

·         Hapsburg; Charles V; Philip II

·         1567 – Duke of Alba; Requesens

·         1576 – Pacification of Ghent

·         1607 – Spain gives up

 

France

·         Francis I

·         1539 – Huguenots

·         Navarre

·         Francis I dies 1547 – succeeded by Henry II

·         Catherine de Medici – Francis II; Charles IX; Henry III

·         Henry Bourbon; 1598 – Edict of Nantes

 

Wars of Religion

 

30 Years War

 

·         Peace of Augsburg – 1555

·         1606 – DonauworthBavaria

·         Duke Maximillian; Evangelical Union; Catholic League

·         Bohemia; HussHussites

·         Defenestration of Prague – 23 May 1618

·         Frederick of the Palatinate

·         Gustavus Adolphus (1611-32) – King of Sweden

·         Peace of Westphalia – 1648

 

France

 

·         Henry IV – Edict of Nantes – 1598; assassinated 1610

·         Louis XIII (1610-43); 1622 – Cardinal Richelieu

·         Louis XIV (1643-1715); 1685 – Edict of Fontainebleau

·         1787 – Louis XVI – religious tolerance

 

The Puritan Revolution

 

·         James I (1603-25); Mary Stuart, Scotland

·         Presbyterians; Independents/Congregationalists; Baptists; Separatists

·         Charles I (1625-49); Archbishop William Laud (1633)

·         Oliver Cromwell (1653-60) – Lord Protector; “Roundheads”

·         Charles II (1660-85); James II (1685-88)

·         1688 – Prince William of Orange & Mary; 1689 – religious tolerance