The Reformation in Europe

Wittenberg, 1517: with his 95 theses, Martin Luther, monk and theology professor, challenges
the Catholic Church and its sale of indulgences. Word soon reaches far-off Rome, the centre of
the Catholic Church for a good 1,000 years. In the Vatican rules the pope, spiritual head and
secular ruler at one and the same time. Popes such as Alexander VI exploit this unique position
of power unscrupulously: in the name of the faith, huge amounts of money are collected from the
Christians. But instead of spending it on pastoral care and other good works, the Pope prefers to
finance magnificent buildings, an extravagant court and, not least, a series of wars. Many other
clergy behave similarly in Christian Europe, surrounding themselves with pomp and splendour,
seeking to expand their positions of power.

100 Years before Luther, the Prague theologian Jan Hus had already criticised the sale of
indulgences. In 1415, the early reformer was convicted as a heretic at the Council of Constance
and burned alive.

In Europe, an anticlerical mood prevails - even though the Church and its officials are basically
still held in high esteem. Apart from the alleged or actual excesses, also often deplored is the
deficient education on the part of many clerics, who are supposed to serve the people as religious
teachers and role models. The clergy, for its part, has no perception of wrong-doing.
Unashamedly, bishops have their portraits painted in lavish robes, some appearing brazenly with
their mistresses - despite their vows to live in humility and chastity.

The wealth of the Church is mainly financed through the sale of indulgences, certificates with
which the faithful can buy themselves free of sin. Business is booming. Cash is flooding into the
Church coffers, for the people are obsessed with fear for their soul’s salvation after death. They
envision the most terrible torments: purgatory and hell - visions of horror for the Day of
Judgement. In order to gain God’s grace, they prey, do pious works, pay for masses and altars,
go on pilgrimages, donate money and buy indulgences.

Martin Luther and the 95 Theses

1517: Martin Luther publishes his 95 theses, in which he strongly criticises the sale of
indulgences and challenges the practices of the Catholic Church. The monk Luther preaches in
the City Church of Wittenberg; at the same time he is professor of biblical interpretation and
translates the Holy Scriptures anew. As far as he is concerned, only the words of the Bible hold
true. He sets these at the heart of his new religious doctrine, which has enormous impact and is
soon to be preached from many pulpits.
Luther translates the Bible into German. There had already been multiple religious scriptures in
the language of the people in prior decades. Until then, books were almost exclusively written in
Latin.

Luther’s message is very simple. His initial emphasis does not involve the disempowerment of
the papal church, but “only” the salvation of the faithful. He sees the question as: how can I find
a just God? How can I serve him? His simple concept: it all depends on faith alone. No amount
of achievements, deeds, good works, or even indulgences mean a thing, if there is no faith. Only
those who believe, according to Luther, will be accorded divine grace - without having to “pay”
for it. The people must do nothing but believe.

In order to enter into a relationship with God, in Luther’s opinion, believers need neither saints
nor the institution of the “Church” as an intermediary. Luther speaks of the “universal
priesthood”, sweeping away the entire salvific system, the “holy monopolising” by the church in
one fail swoop. A message so fundamental and easy to grasp that it develops tremendous force in
the 16th Century.

The Reformers Ulrich Zwingli and Johannes Calvin

Thanks to the innovation of the printing press, Luther’s message is quickly disseminated
throughout Europe. Now further reformers also take the stage - and they are far more radical than
the theology professor from Wittenberg. For them, Luther’s doctrine doesn’t go far enough. They
are the Swiss Ulrich Zwingli and the Frenchman Johannes Calvin.

At this time, Zwingli is pastor at Zurich Cathedral, until today, the most significant church in the
Swiss city. From the pulpit, like Luther, he preaches against everything he regards as
“unbiblical”: the Church’s abuse of power, the sale of indulgences, but also the vow of celibacy,
the prescribed unmarried state of the priesthood. For him, only the words of the Bible matter.
Like Luther, Zwingli makes the Holy Scripture the centre and guiding principle of his religious
doctrine.

Zwingli convinces the City Council of his doctrine. Citizens and parishes now become a single
unit. As of 1523, the city authorities also supervise the spiritual order of the community. This
drastically changes people’s lives, intruding into the very family circle; for the citizens of Zurich
must now live godly and virtuous lives. On the street and at home, prohibitions pervade everyday
life. Cursing, playing cards and dice, ostentatious jewellery and a life in luxury, even public
festivals like carnival, are no longer permitted. In Church, Zwingli only allows the word of God,
rejecting all else - music, song and images. Nothing must distract from the true faith. Holy
pictures and altars, symbols of the old church, are everywhere destroyed.

The reformatory iconoclasm led to the total destruction of countless paintings, sculptures and
church windows. Johannes Calvin believed that the Bible prohibited the depiction of God and
that the worship of the saints was idolatry.
Faith is regarded as a purely spiritual matter. Everything superficial must be removed, for it is
nothing but idolatry. Luther is more tolerant. He believes that the simple people, who can neither
read nor write, need images for their faith, their emotions must be addressed. In 1529, it comes to
a religious discussion between Luther and Zwingli. There are many similarities, but apart from
the iconoclastic controversy, there is one other irreconcilable conflict: Holy Communion. For
Zwingli, it is only commemoration of the Last Supper before the crucifixion of Jesus. Luther, on
the other hand, insists that in the celebration of the Communion in bread and wine, Jesus is truly
present - and not just symbolically. This is such a key theological point that it leads to a schism
within the protestant movement, which can no longer be reunified. This is still the case today.
Since the 16th century, the Lutheran and the Swiss Reformed Church have gone their separate
ways.

The Frenchman Johannes Calvin founds a third reformatory stream. He, too, is more radical than
Luther. Geneva, 1537: he establishes his own church regime: puritanical and godly. Calvin
proclaims his doctrine in the Church of St. Pierre. He is convinced that, prior to birth, God has
already either chosen or rejected every soul.

Not only does Calvin seek to reform the Church, he wants to change the lives of the people; their
customs, their daily life, their work. As “tools of God”, he strives to make Geneva into the Holy
City. A religious “morals council” keeps strict vigil over the behaviour of all citizens, which also
applies to family life and sexual morals. Those who do not subject themselves to Calvin’s rules,
face draconian punishments. One sanction consists of being excluded from Communion - the
consequences of which were far more drastic in those days than they may seem today. For the
excluded are likewise ostracised from the community and completely isolated. Several dissenters
even wind up at the stake.

Despite these rigid standards, the religiously persecuted seek refuge in Geneva. Calvin later
founds his own academy, in order to train clerics according to his concepts. As preachers, they
carry Calvinism into France, England and the Netherlands.

The Anabaptists in Munster

In the Westphalian city of Munster, a particularly radical stream of the reformation comes to
power in the 1530s: the Anabaptists. As the name implies, their goal is to enforce adult baptism.
The Anabaptists reject the baptism of children after birth and thereby born automatically into the
church. As adults, people should actively decide for the faith. A radical perspective for the times.

At the Lamberti Church in Munster, three iron cages still hang, in which the Anabaptist leaders
were tortured to death and displayed. They are the originals, which were badly damaged in
WWll and had to be restored.

In Munster, an Anabaptist Kingdom emerges, ruled by its king, a certain Jan van Leiden. The
Anabaptists are certain that they are the “chosen” and await the end of the world in their “New
Jerusalem”. According to the prophecy, at Easter 1543, the Messiah will return to earth in
Munster. The Anabaptists turn city life upside down in accordance with their radical doctrine.
They introduce community of property and likewise polygamy, for all women shall imperatively
be married. And as there are many more women than men in the city at that time, many men
marry several wives. Apart from his queen, Jan van Leiden himself has 15 further wives.

Many contemporaries consider the Anabaptist rule to be a complete reversal of all order.
Catholics as well as Protestants vehemently denounce the Anabaptist doctrine. The prince bishop
of Munster, the actual sovereign, lays siege to the town, seeking to exterminate the “den of
iniquity”. Under his siege, the Anabaptist kingdom is transformed into a hideous regime. Those
who offer resistance are imprisoned - including women who do not choose to marry. For 16
months, the entrapped citizens resist attacks, despite erupting famine. A state of emergency
prevails in the town. Only in 1536, is the bishop able to retake the city.

A gruesome end awaits Jan van Leiden and other Anabaptists. Their tongues are ripped out with
red-hot tongs, their bodies flayed. After hours of torture, they are stabbed to death and their
corpses publicly displayed in cages on the tower of the Lamberti Church: “As a warning for the
people, and food for the animals”. The three iron cages at the Lamberti Church still bear witness
to the terrible end of the Anabaptist kingdom, an early-modern theocracy on earth.

The Reformation in Scandinavia and England

Merchants and evangelists bring the Lutheran movement very early to Scandinavia. King
Christian III of Denmark becomes the first protestant king in 1536. Having witnessed Luther
years before at the Imperial Diet in Worms, he is an enthusiastic follower of his doctrine, which
is soon proclaimed throughout the churches of his country. Luther’s translation of the Holy
Scripture becomes the template for the Danish bible. The Wittenberg parish priest Johannes
Bugenhagen visits Denmark and compiles the new ecclesiastical order or church constitution. By
the end of the 16th century, all Scandinavia is a mighty bastion of the Lutheran Church.

King Henry VIII of England knows no scruples when it comes to power. For that, he establishes
his own church. Wives, who stand in his way, are executed.

The Reformation takes quite a different course in England. King Henry VIII is actually a staunch
Catholic. He celebrates mass several times a day and attacks the writings of Luther. He is a true
ally of the Pope and the Church of Rome - that is, until Rome refuses a personal request: the
dissolution of his marriage. As his wife has been unable to bear him an heir to the throne, he
wishes to marry his mistress Anne Boleyn. When the Pope demurs, he breaks with Rome.

Henry VIII manages to win Parliament over to his side and declares himself head of the English
Church. Henry covers himself theologically and legally. In 1534, Parliament adopts a law
making the king the head of the English Church in place of the Pope. The “Book of Common
Prayer” becomes the foundation for the “Church of England”. This state church, however, is not
completely based on reformatory theology. From the new doctrine, Henry VIII picks and
chooses what suits him best as king, for instance, criticism of the monasteries. Henry VIII
dissolves the monasteries, which enables him to take possession of their huge landholdings and
vast wealth.
Only under his daughter Elisabeth I, is the Anglican Church permanently established. It is the
beginning of a confessional dualism between Protestantism and Catholicism which continues to
this day.

The Struggle of Faith: The Inquisition, Jesuits, Religious

Wars, Confessionalisation
The spread of the Reformation seals the end of the Catholic Church as the only universal church
of western Christianity. Within just 40 years, the Reformation has conquered large swathes of
Europe, reaching its farthest expansion around 1570. But then there is a turning point. The papal
church goes on the offensive. In Rome, a new authority takes up the fight against the
“evangelical heresy” - the Inquisition. Reformatory writings are soon on the index, a list of
forbidden books. Obstinate and recidivist heretics risk ending up at the stake. Those who do not
recant, who do not profess to the true Catholic faith, must risk prison and the death penalty.

The St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre, also described as the Blood Wedding of Paris, is a
massacre of the French Protestants, known as Huguenots. Later, many of them flee to Germany
as religious refugees.

The Papal church also reacts theologically to the challenges posed by the Reformation. In 1545,
Pope Paul III convenes the Council of Trent, in order to renew the Catholic Church “root and
branch”. The council mitigates some of the worst abuses and introduces reforms. The Catholic
doctrine is now formalised, in order to clearly delineate it from evangelical “Heresy”.

The Catholic Church undergoes a powerful thrust towards modernisation. It, too, now avails
itself of the printing press, to disseminate its dogmas. These are now very precisely formulated
and clearly defined in a new catechism, a new creed. And the Catholic Church relies on
propaganda. Endorsed by the pope, the Jesuits begin their missionary work under their founder
Ignatius von Loyola. The “Society of Jesus” is to regain lost terrain for the Catholic Church.

The question of faith profoundly divides Europe in the latter half of the 16th century, even within
individual nations, as in France, where there is a very strong Calvinist movement. When in 1572,
in Paris, the Catholic daughter of the king is to marry a Calvinist, a Huguenot, foreseen as a sign
of reconciliation - it comes to a bloodbath. In what becomes known as the St. Bartholomew’s
Day Massacre, blind, religious hatred erupts over the course of several days, resulting in 10,000
dead throughout France, 3,000 in Paris alone. The floods of the Seine are said to have turned
blood-red. It is the gruesome harbinger of the coming religious wars in Europe.