The early 16th century was a time of change in Europa. The Discovery of America in 1492 brought much precious metal to Europa, which decreased the monetary value and increased the prices for nourishment. The Humanists started to deal with the Antiquity and sought to create a citizenry, which is able to speak and write with eloquence and clarity and which is capable of engaging in the civic life of their communities. Also many people lost their faith in the church, as the buying of church offices and roles (simony) was widespread at the time. And with the introduction of mechanical movable type printing in Europe everyone was able to spread his or her criticism much more easily. All this added up at the beginning of the Reformation, but the straw that broke the camel's back was a quite local one: Albert of Brandenburg and Johann Tetzel.
Albert of Brandenburg was born in 1490. He was the younger son of Elector John Cicero of Brandenburg. As his older brother became the next Elector of Brandenburg after their father's death in 1499, Albert entered the ecclesiastical profession. In 1513 he became Archbishop of Magdeburg and administrator of the Diocese of Halberstadt. In 1514 he planned to become also Archbishop-Elector of Mainz, but as this accumulation of offices was against the Codex Iuris Canonici, he had to obtain a special authorisation from the Pope, for which he had to loan money from Jakob Fugger. To repay his loan he had once again obtained a permission from the Pope, this time to conduct the sale of indulgences in his diocese to obtain funds. Indulgences are, according to the Roman Catholic Church, a way to reduce the amount of punishment one has to undergo for sins. The Pope agreed as long as half of the collection was forwarded to the Papacy, who wanted the money for the construction of the Saint Peter's Basilica. Entrusted with the collection of the indulgences was Johann Tetzel.
Johann Tetzel was born around 1460 in Pirna. He studied theology and philosophy at the University of Leipzig and became a Dominican friar and preacher in 1489. In January 1517 he was made Grand Commissioner of Indulgences for Archbishop Albrecht von Brandenburg in the dioceses of Magdeburg and Halberstadt. Also in 1517 he moved to Jüterbog, an exclave of the Archbishopric of Magdeburg, which then became a centre of the sale of indulgences and an attracting point for many people from the Electorate of Saxony, as the sale was prohibited there. As the reasons for the sale of indulgences were known to the public, some people started to criticise the sale. One of them was Martin Luther. Tetzel had later fallen into disrepute and died in Leipzig in 1519.
As response to the sale of indulgences Martin Luther wrote his famous Ninety-five Theses. Here you can see six of them.
5. Papa non vult nec potest ullas penas remittere preter eas, quas arbitrio vel suo vel canonum imposuit. - Der Papst will und kann keine Strafen erlassen, außer solchen, die er auf Grund seiner eigenen Entscheidung oder der der kirchlichen Satzungen auferlegt hat. - The pope neither desires nor is able to remit any penalties except those imposed by his own authority or that of the canons.
10. Indocte et male faciunt sacerdotes ii, qui morituris penitentias canonicias in purgatorium reservant. - Unwissend und schlecht handeln diejenigen Priester, die den Sterbenden kirchliche Bußen für das Fegefeuer aufsparen. - Those priests act ignorantly and wickedly who, in the case of the dying, reserve canonical penalties for purgatory.
21. Errant itaque indulgentiarum predicatres ii, qui dicunt per pape indulgentias hominem ab omni pena solvi et salvari. - Deshalb irren jene Ablaßprediger, die sagen, daß durch die Ablässe des Papstes der Mensch von jeder Strafe frei und los werde. - Thus those indulgence preachers are in error who say that a man is absolved from every penalty and saved by papal indulgences.
36. Quilibet christianus vere compunctus habet remissionem plenariam a pena et culpa etiam sine literis veniarum sibi debitam. - Jeder Christ, der wirklich bereut, hat Anspruch auf völligen Erlaß von Strafe und Schuld, auch ohne Ablaßbrief. - Any truly repentant Christian has a right to full remission of penalty and guilt, even without indulgenceletters.
41. Caute sunt venie apostolice predicande, ne polulus false intelligat eas preferri ceteris bonis operibus charitatis. - Nur mit Vorsicht darf der apostolische Ablaß gepredigt werden, damit das Volk nicht fälschlicherweise meint, er sei anderen guten Werken der Liebe vorzuziehen. - Papal indulgences must be preached with caution, lest people erroneously think that they are preferable to other good works of love.
62. Verus thesaurus ecclesie est sacrosanctum euangelium glorie et gratie dei. - Der wahre Schatz der Kirche ist das allerheiligste Evangelium von der Herrlichkeit und Gnade Gottes. - The true treasure of the church is the most holy gospel of the glory and grace of God.
According to the legend he posted his theses at the doors of the Castle Church in Wittenberg on the 31st October 1517. Although historians are today not sure if he really posted them, Martin Luther for sure sent his Disputatio pro declaratione virtutis indulgentiarum to Albert of Brandenburg with aim to start a academic disputation about the sale of indulgences. It is also known for sure that after the Archbishop did not answered the letter, Luther gave the theses to some friends, who published them unknown to Luther and thus started a public disputation in the whole Empire. No matter if Martin Luther posted them at the doors of the Castle Church or just sent them to Albert of Brandenburg, the "Thesenanschlag" became a foundation myth of the Reformation. On the other side, although he did not answered, Albrecht von Brandenburg had read Luther's letter, but instead of accepting the criticism, he started an ecclesiastical trial against Luther and sent the issue to Rome.
After the Ninety-five Theses were publicised, Martin Luther's life would never be the same again. The monk and professor was then talked of by everyone. During the Heidelberg Disputation, that was held on 25th April 1518, he was able to articulate his views and to defend his theses for the first time. Among the listeners were Johannes Brenz, Martin Bucer and Philip Melanchthon, who later became important supporters of Luther.
In June 1518 Luther was summoned to Rome, as he was accused of heresy, but with the help of Elector Frederick the Wise he was able to move the trial from Rome to Augsburg. During the Diet of Augsburg (12th to 14th October 1518) Luther was interrogated by Cardinal Thomas Cajetan. Luther refused to revoke his theses if there would not be an evidence for their falseness in the Bible. Cajetan rated this as heresy and to escape the threatening arrest Luther fled from Augsburg.
In the meantime Johann Eck prepared theses for a debate with Andreas Karlstadt and Philip Melanchthon, friends and supporters of Luther. The theses were clearly against Luther and so Luther decided to join the Leipzig Debate himself in July 1519. Eck's debating skills led Luther to declare that the Pope does not have power, as he is not mentioned in the Bible, and that also Councils can be wrong (meant was the one in Constance).
In 1520 Martin Luther published his important works To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation, On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church and On the Freedom of a Christian. These works can be summarised by the four "soli": sola gratia (only the grace of God), sola fide (only the faith), sola scriptura (only the Bible), solus Christus (only Jesus the Christ).
The Leipzig Debate led Pope Leo X to censor Luther and threaten him with excommunication from the Catholic Church in June 1520 with the papal bull Exsurge Domine, which banned Luther's views from being preached or written. As Luther burned this papal bull on 10th December 1520, Pope Leo X issued the bull Decet Romanum Pontificem on 3rd January 1521, which excommunicated Martin Luther.
Owing to Frederick the Wise Martin Luther was allowed to articulate and defend his views once again during the Diet of Worms on 17th April 1521, where he was interrogated and requested to revoke his theses. He refused and answered with his famous, but undocumented, sentence: "Here I stand, I can do no other, God help me. Amen." The Edict of Worms declared Luther to be an obstinate heretic and banned the reading or possession of his writings. Luther was declared an outlaw, but Emperor Charles V still kept the promise of safe-conduct which he had given Frederick the Wise. On his way home Martin Luther was "abducted" by Frederick's soldiers on 4th May 1521 and was brought to the safe Wartburg Castle.
At Wartburg Castle Martin Luther lived as Junker Jörg and translated the New Testament into German in only eleven weeks. It was the first German bible translation that was understandable for the most people and had a large impact on the German language. Due to riots and the radicalisation of the Reformation under Karlstadt, Martin Luther returned to Wittenberg on 1st March 1522. After just one week quiet set in again.
Sparked by social hardship and grievances in the ruling classes and inspired by the Reformation and especially Martin Luther's On the Freedom of a Christian, the German peasants started to revolt against their landlords in 1524. Despite the strong reference to the Reformation, Luther, Melanchthon and other reformers condemned the behaviour of the peasants and supported the ruling princes. A reformer who supported the peasants was Thomas Müntzer. At the beginning Müntzer was a dedicated supporter and admirer of Martin Luther, but compared to Luther Müntzer was more radical and the German Peasants' War resulted in a final dissociation of the two. As part of the war the peasants assembled in "Bauernhaufen" in many parts of the German Empire and started the fight. In March 1525 the Twelve Articles were worked out by the peasants in Memmingen. They included the peasants' demands and are considered to be the first draft of human rights and civil liberties in Europe. As the peasants were poorly armed, the princes did not have big problems in defeating them and the Twelve Articles were not accepted. The Battle of Frankenhausen, fought in Thuringia on 15 May 1525, was the largest and final battle of the German Peasants' War. Thomas Müntzer was arrested after the battle and later executed. Until September 1525 the fighting ended. Up to 100000 peasants lost their lives and none of their goals was achieved.
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| The German Peasants' War was of great importance to the conception of history in East Germany describing it as the greatest revolutionary attempt in the German history. |
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| A view of Memmingen |
The next important event of the Lutheran Reformation was the Diet of Speyer in 1526. Archduke Ferdinand I of Austria, who presided the diet instead of his brother Emperor Charles V, wanted to postpone any final decisions on religion until the meeting of a general council and planned a concentration on the threatening invasion of the Turks. The princes, however, managed to negotiate some very different conclusions to the diet. The diet's ambiguous edict resulted in a temporary suspension of the Edict of Worms and aided the expansion of Protestantism. After the diet separate state churches in the Protestant states of the Holy Roman Empire were established.
Charles V had then called on the Princes and Free Territories in Germany to explain their religious convictions in an attempt to restore the religious and political unity in the Holy Roman Empire and rally support against the Turkish invasion. The protestants subsequently presented the Confessio Augustana to the Emperor at the Diet of Augsburg on 25 June 1530. The Emperor clearly rejected the statements of the Confessio Augustana and answered with the Confutatio Augustana written by Johann Eck. As a consequence he confirmed the Edict of Worms. The Confessio Augustana, written by Philipp Melanchthon, is today the primary confession of faith of the Lutheran Church and one of the most important documents of the Lutheran Reformation. As Luther was still under the Imperial Ban, he had to stay at the Veste Coburg and was not able to take part in presentation of the Confessio Augustana.
After Charles V rejected the Confessio Augustana, there were discussions among the Protestant Princes and Imperial Cities of the Holy Roman Empire if they should form an alliance against the Emperor. On 22nd December 1530 Elector Johann of Saxony invited representatives of the Protestant territories to Schmalkalden and on 27th February 1531 they founded the Schmalkaldic League, a defensive military alliance with the obligation of support in the case of a Catholic attack. The founding members included Saxony, Hesse, Brunswick-Lüneburg, Strasbourg and Ulm. In the following time more cities and territories joined the league and it became an important factor of power. At the beginning Charles V was not able to take action against the alliance, as he needed the support of all Princes in the war against the Turks, but in the early 1540s differences between the members of the Schmalkaldic League became more difficult to settle and it was effectively petrified.
Before the Schmalkaldic League got its big appearance, two other events in 1534 and 1545 attracted the attention of the contemporaries: the Anabaptists' Rebellion in Münster and the Council of Trent.
From the beginning of the Reformation there have been conflicts between Catholics and Protestants in Münster. Starting in 1531 the guilds of the craftsmen began to support Münster's evangelical movement under Bernd Rothmann and formed a committee which had big influence on the politics of the city. As the city had not joined the Confessio Augustana in 1530, it was isolated from the other Protestant cities and states, but due to the weakness of the territorial lord (the Prince-Bishop of Münster) the movement was able to thrive. Soon after Rothmann joined the Anabaptism and became more radical. The new Prince-Bishop, Franz von Waldeck, sanctioned the city, but the conflict escalated and had to be mediated by Philip of Hesse. In the following time Münster became a centre for emigrating Protestants and Anabaptists from the Netherlands. In January 1534 the young Anabaptist John of Leiden moved to Münster and at that time also the Credobaptism began. But as Credobaptism was against the imperial law, Franz von Waldeck had another chance to take action against Münster. In February 1534 Jan Matthys, a charismatic Anabaptist leader, reached Münster and radically started to convert the political structures of Münster as his New Jerusalem. Matthys expected the apocalypse and the appearance of Jesus Christ in Münster at Easter 1534. At the time Franz von Waldeck also started his siege of the city. As Jesus Christ did not appeared, Matthys went outside of Münster's walls, where he was killed. John of Leiden became the new even more radical leader of the rebellion. He introduced the Polygyny and executed many death sentences. Due to the siege and the radicalisation the support for the rebellion in the population decreased. Meanwhile Franz von Waldeck's siege was supported by other princes, both Catholics and Protestants. On 24th June 1535 Münster was finally captured and the rebellion ended with a bloodbath.
John of Leiden and two other leaders of the rebellion were imprisoned. In 1536 their corpses were exhibited in cages at the Saint Lambert's Church in Münster, after they had been tortured and executed in front of it. The iron cages can be still seen today.
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| Prinzipalmarkt and Saint Lambert's Church in Münster |
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| Emergency Money issued in Münster after World War I showing John of Leiden |
On 10th July 1546, after Charles V had assured himself the neutrality of the other European powers and the support of the Pope, the Schmalkaldic War began. At the beginning the war was fought in Southern Germany, but it was later shifted to Central Germany. After the capture of Elector John Frederick I of Saxony and Philip of Hesse and the victory of Charles V in the Battle of Mühlberg on 24th April 1547, the Schmalkaldic War was over and the Schmalkaldic League was dissolved. In May 1548 Charles V ordered the Augsburg Interim, which forced Protestants to readopt traditional Catholic beliefs and practices, but also allowed some Protestant practices like the right to marry for clergyman.
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| This is not a postcard, but a picture from the Internet. |
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