1. Q) Assess the development and impact of the Reformation in England and France in the sixteenth century.

The sixteenth century can be seen as a period of spiritual upheaval which weakened religious authority and thus played a crucial role in paving the way for the rise of the modern west. If this perspective is analyzed with regard to the Reformation in England and France a number of factors serve to discredit it. Considering the extent to which reform was borne out of and later penetrated society, religious changes in this century do not appear to have marked a radical break from the past. G R Elton therefore writes that it is ‘idle to credit the age with the beginning of modern times… if only because it’s intellectual leaders looked determinedly back rather than forward’. The changes of the sixteenth century acquire importance once they are seen in conjunction with the growth of independent states with distinct national identities and the consolidation of royal authority.

This argument can perhaps be substantiated by exploring the reasons for which religious turmoil came to the forefront in the fifteen-hundreds (and not earlier). Across Europe the fifteenth century had witnessed the beginnings of the trend towards strengthening national churches and weakening papal control. Elton proposes that the ideas of reformers and the manner in which they were able to satisfy popular spiritual thirst, which was present even prior to the Reformation, was important in distinguishing the changes of the sixteenth century. The viability of this view is contingent on the extent to which this alleged spiritual thirst existed among the majority of the population. Euan Cameron sees the Reformation as principally concerning privileged classes; it was a ‘protest by churchmen and scholars…against their own superiors’ writes Cameron. On this basis he concludes that the vast majority remained unaffected by these spiritual debates. Popular religion had a far greater hold on the masses than the prescribed theology of the church. Christianity as practiced in the countryside depended heavily on superstition and the manipulation of theology to satisfy immediate concerns and to facilitate material benefits. Cameron sees the charms and rituals prevalent in the religious practices of the medieval countryside as manifestations of this. The church’s presence was more marked in the cities and its hold was stronger among elites. With respect to these groups the church laid down rules of behavior and underlined the importance of active religious participation. The mass and community festivals enabled the church to structure social life. Despite this, the church was flexible enough for its hold over society to be enduring. Looking at the state of religion in the medieval church Cameron opines that ‘if it were only a question of piety and worship, we should be hard put to find signs of real mass dissatisfaction with the church’.

What pulled the trigger for the religious outburst of the Reformation was therefore not the buildup of spiritual unease (if there was any at all) but rather the convergence of a number of a-religious concerns. Spiritual immunities enjoyed by clergymen gave them a free-hand to dabble in politics, administration and business through which they could gain worldly advantages. Apart from its primary role of providing religious service, the medieval church was caught in a web of secondary functions related to the enforcement of law and involvement in politics. A massive, corrupt bureaucracy had grown out of the multiplicity of church functions. This parasitic organization left local priests impoverished and unable to provide adequate services. As a result, dissatisfaction with the clergy was widespread. This was, however, manifest before the sixteenth century and could not act like a mobilizing factor on its own. Anti –clericalism could only serve as a ‘hostage to fortune if the church became more generally unpopular’¹. The scale of the church’s administrative machinery did contribute to its vulnerability though. The dependence of the church for money and resources meant that the clergy’s survival relied heavily upon the will of lay rulers.

The main answer to the question as to why the Reformation commenced in the sixteenth century is therefore related to political issues. The sixteenth century was an age of ‘fervent nationalism’. In warfare national armies fought for the defence of independent states contrary to medieval notions of chivalry and a united Christendom. The most obvious proof of this was Francis the First of France’s attempt to seek assistance from the sultan. Self – contained kingdoms sought to affirm their independence by challenging papal control and appropriating church lands. Rulers were asserting their authority with greater vigor and Elton proposes that circumstances looked favourable for the ‘blossoming of royal absolutism’. The latter half of the fifteenth century had also seen the strengthening of royal authority but rulers of the sixteenth century initiated changes by inventing new ways of defining their supremacy. Francis the First managed to consolidate his position in the name of traditionalism. In England Henry the Eighth’s break with the papacy created an independent national state rooted in constitutional law and monarchical power rather than legitimacy from the pope. The success or failure of religious reform can thus be understood in this context; ‘the Reformation maintained itself wherever the lay power (princes or magistrates) favoured it, it could not survive where the authorities decided to suppress it’². Religion was of immense importance to political power in the sixteenth century. Political order could not exist in the midst of multiple forms of worship. This was due to the fact that membership of government involved membership of an ecclesiastical organization. A corollary of this was that religious dissent amounted to a challenge of political authority. In the extreme, heresy was equated with treason. The political and religious developments in England through Henrician Catholicism, Edwardian Protestantism, Marian papalism to Elizabethan Protestantism are a perfect illustration as to how inseparable the religion of the ruler and the state was.

Parallel to the growth of national allegiance was the development of vernacular literature. The printing press facilitated the circulation of religious ideas and texts through vernacular languages. This garnered greater popular involvement in religious debates. Vernacular literature enhanced what Elton describes as the ‘mental climate’ of the Reformation- rigorous discussion on questions of theology. The spread of ideas across Europe was made possible by printing and translations. The influence of humanism on religious reform is another factor to be considered, though the nature of this influence is different in England and in France. Thus, far from being purely a religious revival or upheaval the Reformation was rooted firmly in the development of national identities and the political ambitions of the laity. The sixteenth century heralded religious changes because political circumstances across Europe found them conducive, and developments in one part of the continent directly influenced events in other parts. It is in this context that the progress of the Reformation in England and France can be traced.

The first two decades of the sixteenth century in France and England were characterized by relative freedom of belief and the widespread circulation of religious literature. In England Lutheran ideas were gaining ground in the universities; first Cambridge and then, with the transfer of staff from the former, Oxford. Henry the Eighth was staunchly Catholic and distinguished himself as being firmly opposed to Luther’s ideas. Pope Leo the Tenth even bestowed upon him the title ‘Defender of the Faith’. As a result of this William Tyndale left England to publish his translation of the bible at Cologne and Worms (1525-26). Lindenburg highlights the significance of Tyndale’s translation which was done without using the words church or priest. Copies of Tyndale’s translation were easily shipped into England, though, and this stirred religious thought. In France, the relative peace of the opening years of the century fostered spiritual and intellectual thought. Whereas in France the two complemented each other, by the late 1520s in England, religious speculation ran contrary to the wishes of humanist intellectuals. English humanists like Thomas More and John Fisher remained loyal to the Catholic Church. The Lord Chancellor Thomas Wolsey was a close ally of the Pope but his secular leanings kept the persecution of Protestants in check. His removal in 1529 cleared the ground for his successor More to encourage bishops to suppress the spread of Lutheran ideas. Cameron remarks that partly because of More’s efforts England in the 1520s was efficient in the persecution of early protestant thought.

In contrast, contemporary events in France served to encourage the spread of protestant ideas. The sack of Rome (1527) at the hands of the Spanish army in the midst of conflict between France and Spain put Francis at odds with the Pope (now virtually under Spanish control). Military conflicts kept Francis pre-occupied with the regions towards France’s southern border; as a result her north- western border with Germany was left open to the entry of Lutheran ideas. For security reasons Francis also pursued a favorable policy towards German Protestant princes. Foreign policy therefore favored religious toleration and freedom of thought was condoned in 1520. The independent authority of the Gallican Church had already been undermined by the Concordat of 1516. This established ‘royal gallicanism’ by which the king could nominate bishops, archbishops and abbeys. Lutheran ideas found support among members of the French royal family such as Margaret of Navarre. This influenced the translation and circulation of the ideas of German reformers. Men such as Robert Estienne contributed with his repeated publications of the bible. Unlike More in England, the Reformation in France was initially aided by humanists. This is reflected in the example of Jacques Lefevre of Etaples, among the first preachers of the new doctrine and a supporter of justification by faith, who was also a distinguished scholar familiar with physics and mathematics. While Henry was gaining praise for his persecution, Francis was initially in favour of religious discourse. While protestant ideas had spread to the extent of encouraging Guillaume Briconnet to reform his clergy at Meaux, opposition from conservative elements grew quickly in the face of such threats. In France the universities supplied the first opposition to the Reformation. The Sorbonne Faculty of Theology condemned Luther in April 1521 and in 1522 Briconnet was forced to agree to the measures taken against Luther’s books. Francis’ absence from France after his defeat at Pavia (1525) enabled conservative academicians to curtail protestant expansion.

The period after Francis’ return to France was one of repression. Francis’ position had been weakened by the Treaty of Madrid and the Ladies’ Peace of Cambrai. This bound the king to the two main agents of persecution – the parlement of Paris and the Sorbonne. The church looked to reinstate its authority through the provincial councils of Sens and Bourges (1528). The former granted the church the authority to distinguish between heresy and orthodoxy in addition to strengthening its control over preaching, the latter extended the church’s control over heretical sermons. In return the councils would aid the king in raising badly needed funds. The councils coincided with the execution of Lutherans at Paris and Rouen. The cooperation of humanistic thought with religious questioning which had marked the previous decades began to give way to the separation of religious enthusiasm from literary production. This did not mark the end of persecution, however. X suggests that this, along with the long list of ‘humble victims’ who suffered at the hands of the persecutors, reveals the popular character of this stage of the French Reformation. The climax of this repression was reached in 1534 when placards crudely denouncing priests and criticizing the mass in Paris and Amboise were posted across French towns and even nailed to the king’s bedchamber. While many protestors fled to Germany two hundred people were arrested, twenty four of whom were burned to death. Attacks were temporarily calmed by the edict of Coucy (1535) which suspended the persecutions for a period of six months. Francis’ moderation was followed by an attack on Italy. Once the war came to an end in 1538 repression was renewed. The king handed over jurisdiction of heresy to provincial parlements, courts and bishops. The Sorbonne compiled a list of prohibited books and with the massacre of Protestants at Provence in 1545 repression reached its height. After Francis’ death in 1547, repression continued with increased vigour at the hands of his son Henry the Second.

Contemporary to this period of persecution in France, England was embarking upon a slow move away from Catholicism. Henry the Eighth’s alliance with Charles the Fifth (the Habsburg Emperor of Spain) was unravelling and with this he sought to carry out the long desired annulment of his marriage to Charles’ aunt Catherine of Aragon. In 1529 Catherine appealed to Rome on the marriage issue. Wolsey then failed to successfully persuade the Pope to annul the marriage. With the sack of Rome the papacy came under the overbearing influence of Charles the Fifth. Persuasion could no longer work and Henry was driven to force compliance on the Pope through hostile demonstrations of his independent authority. The English Church was more closely tied to Rome than its French counterpart. As Roman canon law applied in England several cases concerning matters related to marriages, baptisms and wills were appealed to Rome. Furthermore, the papacy extracted substantial revenues from the English clergy. As a part of his new policy towards the Pope, Henry stripped the clergy of much of its independent powers and linkages with Rome. Anti – clericalism was already rampant among the public. Along with a dislike of corrupt priests (the case of Richard Hunne revealed the extent of this corruption) and resentment of the tithe, the gentry also coveted ecclesiastical lands which encompassed about one- third of England’s lands. The removal of Wolsey in 1529 facilitated the reform of the clergy. The parliament of 1529 placed restrictions on the fees extracted by certain Church courts. In 1531 two Church councils were fined 118,000 pounds. Despite these threatening measures the divorce failed to progress. Meanwhile a group of intellectuals with protestant leanings, including Thomas Cranmer and Thomas Cromwell, proposed that the king settle his divorce independently through the English clergy. Henry’s desire for papal consent remained unchanged though the resolution of the divorce through Rome seemed increasingly unlikely. An attempt to involve the Sorbonne so as to sway the Pope in favour of the annulment failed. More, who had never supported the king in his marriage plans, resigned as Lord Chancellor in 1532. Persuaded by Cromwell after More’s departure Henry agreed to settle the divorce independently even if it meant a religious schism.

Cromwell coupled his program for the annulment with his belief in the strength of parliament and common law as well as his desire to transform England into a sovereign, self- contained national State. The Submission of the Clergy (1532) suspended the payment of the Annates (a clerical tax) to Rome. By prohibiting appeals from courts within England to ones outside, the Act in Restraint of Appeals (1533) destroyed papal control over canon law. Thus in May, Henry’s marriage to Catherine was annulled. The most important of Cromwell’s legal initiatives was the Act of Supremacy (1534) which declared that the king was the supreme head of the Church of England. In France the Concordat had established royal controls over the church and thus given rise to theories of Divine Right. Lawyers and schools of law undertook the study of Roman law with the aim of reinforcing royal authority. Close to twenty years after this, the Act of Supremacy enhanced the King of England’s standing to that of ‘God’s vicar on earth’. While the Reformation was characterized by substantial parliamentary involvement (as the aforementioned statutes reveal), the Act of Supremacy made the authority of the king completely independent and thus not even derived from parliament. The Supremacy was reinforced by an oath which bound the taker to accept the position of the king and his new Queen (Anne Boleyn). This test of loyalty led to persecutions; catholic humanists Fisher and More refused to take the oath and were consequently executed along with sixty three other victims. The first policy concerning religion after the Supremacy was the dissolution of the monasteries (1535). On the grounds of ill – discipline, small monasteries, friaries and convents were dissolved. The king gained direct advantages from this in 1540 with an act vesting such estates with the crown. This first radical step made towards religious reform was thus less concerned with theology than the pragmatic benefits of such policies. The measures directed at the clergy are nonetheless important as they reveal the extent to which religious reform was dependant on support from the secular arm. Anti – clericalism would not have gained voice if royal intervention had not unleashed it. There was little opposition to these initial changes; apart from brief uprisings in the north (where religious dissent coincided with political demands), most of England remained loyal to the Crown and Church.

Cromwell had secured the break with the papacy but the religion of the English Church remained essentially catholic. Reformation in England did come to be defined by religious and spiritual considerations and an essential figure in this respect was the new Archbishop Thomas Cranmer. Foreign affairs bolstered reform; Cromwell sought security in the face of a new Franco – Spanish alliance by seeking the aid of German Protestant Princes. Lutheran principles were embodied in the Ten Articles (1536) and the Injunctions on the clergy (1536, 1538). By the Injunctions baptism, Holy Communion and penance were the only accepted sacraments. Additionally every parish church was bound to display a copy of the vernacular bible. Religious reform was thus making progress, but remained confined to statute. Consequently steps were taken to popularize the new ideas embodied in these laws. Between 1535 and 1540 a propaganda exercise was launched; this involved the publication of treatises on obedience and even the satirical plays written by John Bale, a protestant. The progress of protestant reforms was briefly hampered by court intrigue. Headed by the duke of Norfolk, rebel leaders rallied for Cromwell’s removal. They instituted conservative measures embodied in the proclamation of 1538 and the Six Articles of 1539. They called for the persecution of heretics and Cromwell was executed under the charge of treason. Despite this, Cranmer continued to strive towards reform and the repeal of these repressive measures left the door open to new religious ideas from the continent. By the time of Henry’s death in 1547 the character of the independent Church of England remained undefined. The reign of Edward the Sixth was to bring in more visibly protestant doctrines.

By 1547 the incorporation of Protestant ideas into the religious mainstream was well underway in England. In France, on the other hand, the reign of Henry the Second promised even less space for any toleration of such ideas. In his first year as king Henry created a special tribunal under the Paris parlement to manage the persecution of heresy; it issued a number of edicts to do so and came to be known as the Chambre ardente (the burning chamber) because of the vigour of its repression. A clear procedure for persecution was defined by the edict of Chateaubriant (1551). Henry’s reign is also significant as it marked the introduction of Calvinism into France. Originally a French native, Calvin’s ideas spread quickly from Geneva to France assisted by common language and socio- economic conditions in France. French towns such as Bourges, Meaux and Lyons which lay along the main arteries of trade faced economic stagnation through much of the 1550s. Increasingly such towns were turning towards Calvinism and thus their history was subsequently marked by the persecution of heresy. Calvinism stressed the power of divine grace and perhaps this serves to explain its popularity in these towns. Y proposes that the fact that Calvin accepted the importance of a moral law of God which could be enforced by church discipline appealed to the French legal tradition and ‘instinct for order and discipline’. Henry’s preoccupation with the war against the Habsburgs until the Peace of Cateau- Cambresis (1559) slowed the attacks on heresy and thus enabled the spread of Calvinism. ‘Conventicles’ (secret assemblies) of Calvinist sympathizers were taking root in Meaux, Tours and the border town of Strasbourg where Calvin ministered in the 1540s. Calvin sought to play an active role in the French Reformation; aristocratic patronage aided him in his efforts. Through a series of letters written in the mid 1540s he encouraged covert Protestants to venture out of the conventicles and congregate at reformed churches. In May of 1558, taking off from a public assembly of Protestant nobles a year earlier (which had been broken up), some four thousand protestants headed by Antoine de Bourbon sang the psalms and declared their faith at open air meetings. By then an estimated thirty-four Calvinist churches with ministers had sprung up across France, the growing body of believers which constituted these came to be called Huguenots. The assembly of the national synod at Paris (1539) sought to give Calvinism national cohesion. While the Calvinist movement was gaining ground, the death of Henry the Second was followed by a Catholic attempt to control the crown.

Meanwhile, across the channel, changes at the top of the English church structure had not altered the medieval character of regular worship. Edward the Fifth’s Lord Protector the duke of Somerset, whose position of dominance was soon to be appropriated by the duke of Northumberland, slowly goaded the entire structure of Christianity in England towards Protestantism. This phase of the English Reformation centred round reforms enacted by Parliament, rather than the royal supremacy over the Church which characterized Henry’s reign. A new Prayer Book was authorized in 1549 but was criticized for its moderate introduction of Protestant ideas. The first years of Edward’s reign coincided with the entry of imminent theologians from Germany, Italy and Poland. The ideas of the Swiss reformer Zwingli influenced Cranmer. Northumberland had come to the fore by 1549 and followed a severely anti-clerical policy. A more clearly protestant revised Prayer Book was issued in 1552. A year later, the Forty-two Articles forced the clergy to subscribe to Protestant teachings. Edward’s reign was thus characterized by the state-sponsored initiation of Protestantism. This is most overtly reflected in the Act of Uniformity which not only made attendance to the services of the State Church compulsory but also penalized the exercise of other forms of worship. Cranmer even began to codify a Protestant code of canon law, though he failed to complete this. Extreme though they were, the religious policies formulated under Edward failed to be enduring. Legally England seemed to be a Protestant country but the consequences of this depended on the enforcement of new measures. Old forms of worship persisted in many parts of the country. As discussed above, contemporary events in France demonstrated the growth in the popular support base for Protestantism before it influenced political events at court, whereas in England State initiation of Protestantism had not yet ignited popular involvement. Elton thus states that ‘the Edwardian Reformation went but skin-deep’.

Edward’s death in 1553 brought Mary – a staunch Catholic- to the throne. Mary came in with the intention of bridging the schism to restore Roman Catholicism and eradicate heresy in England. Religious reform made under Edward was almost immediately repealed. Cardinal-Legate Reginald Pole was influential in restoring papal authority. From 1555 Mary launched a fervent attack on heretics; the persecution had claimed the lives of over 300 people by 1558. Mary’s brief yet bloody reign cannot be removed from her Spanish affiliations. As a half- cousin of Charles the Fifth it was under Mary that England came increasingly within the Habsburg sphere of influence. Apart from its violence, Mary’s policies had two lasting consequences. A number of Protestants fled England during the persecutions and sought refuge in cities such as Geneva on the continent. Here they came in close contact with Calvinism; the return of these Marian exiles under Elizabeth was to play a definitive role in shaping the Anglican Church. Secondly, rather than restoring Catholicism, Mary’s repression had the counter effect of fostering support for Protestantism. Catholicism was subsequently identified as foreign while martyred Protestants, who were considered foreign-inspired elite up to that point, became national legends. Mary’s death in 1558 restored religious peace under the moderating influence of Elizabeth Tudor.

If the coup against Cromwell (1538-40) had demonstrated how conspiracies at court could influence the shape of religious reform in England, the events of 1559 revealed the effect of aristocratic tensions on reform in France. Henry the Second was to be succeeded by his young son Francis the Second. On the grounds that the prince was not yet of a ripe age, the fanatically Catholic family of Guise persuaded the Queen Mother Catherine de Medici to entrust them with the task of governance. Shaken by the possibility of Catholic advance at the hands of the Guise, the Protestant Bourbon nobles attempted to orchestrate a coup. The ‘Conspiracy of Amboise’ aimed to displace the king and the Guise brothers in order to install Antoine de Bourbon (king of Navarre) as regent. The plot was crushed before it could be put into action. It encouraged the Guise to act with caution; they moderated their ecclesiastical policy and slowed persecutions. This turn in Catholic attitudes culminated with the Colloquy of Poissy (1561), a serious of theological debates between Catholics and Protestants (who were represented by Calvin’s disciple Theodore de Beza). These discussions reached a gridlock on the issue of mass and the Eucharist. Catholics continued to stress the importance of the aforementioned in offering the Christian community access to the corporeal spirit of Christ while Protestants continued to look upon such practice as idolatrous. Despite this failure, on behalf of the next young king Charles the Ninth (who succeeded to the throne after Francis’ death), the Queen Mother allowed toleration to Huguenots through the edict of Saint-Germain-des-Pres (1562).

Almost immediately after this though, militant Catholic reactions led by the duke of Guise destroyed any promise of compromise. The massacre of seventy four Huguenots at a congregation in Vassy provided the trigger for the first of the Wars of Religion which ended with the Peace of Amboise (1563). The Wars of Religion played a crucial role in shaping the character of French Calvinism. From the massacre of Vassy onwards, Huguenotism went on the defensive. If in its early years it was marked by popular demand to hear the sermon from qualified theologians, it was now dominated by lay power. Nobles styled themselves as protectors of the faith, organizing the movement on a militant basis. The desire for an egalitarian church organization gave way to a system which instead ‘resembled…the military religious brotherhood of the Sikhs in India’³. With the Huguenot movement thus redefined the next phase of the French Reformation was marked by the repeated outbreak of fighting. After skirmishes in 1567 – 68 the Peace of Monsieur granted religious toleration to Huguenots. Catholic reaction to growing Huguenot influence after this reached its zenith in 1572. Large scale Huguenot massacres in Paris on the eve of St. Bartholomew’s feast in August soon spread to other cities claiming the lives of close to 30,000 Protestants. This incident was an important turning point. Y proposes that the idea of political rebellion was already written into Calvinism. Cameron argues that St. Bartholomew’s massacre converted this into all-out republicanism.

The Wars of Religion became increasingly embroiled in the succession struggles of French nobles. Initially Huguenotism had been presented as a threat to national unity. By 1584 extreme Catholicism advocated by the house of Guise manifested in a Catholic league which was willing to go against the king and even seek Spanish aid in its attack on heresy. Thus the Counter- Reformation was beginning to pose as much a threat to national unity as Huguenotism had. This gave rise to an attitude of toleration which advocated State control over the church only to the extent of curbing fanaticism. This approach was called the ‘politique’. Changes in the line of succession left the throne open to Henry the Fourth (a Huguenot from Navarre) in 1593. He converted to Catholicism at a crucial moment in order to secure Paris; perhaps influenced by the politique Henry was certain that Paris was after all ‘worth a mass’(?). With Henry firmly on the throne, religious turmoil came to a close. Reconciliation between Catholics and Protestants within the framework of the Gallican Church with the supremacy of the king replacing the authority of Rome (similar to the model of the Anglican Church) was impossible in France. The Huguenots remained a militant minority, only fifteen percent of the population, but the Edict of Nantes (1598) carved out a safe space for them. They were granted the right to hold public office, liberty of conscience and 150 cities which became sanctuaries of Calvinism. Huguenotism did not shed its militant mindset after this though. Many of the cities granted to the Huguenots were garrisoned by Protestant troops. The reign of Henry the Fourth thus also reinforced the French tradition of ‘one king, one law, one faith’.

In France, royal persecution during the Wars of Religion had goaded Calvinism into militancy. The reign of Elizabeth in England would also demonstrate the impact of royal policy in moulding Calvinism, though the end result would be vastly different. Catholicism and Protestantism had tried to grasp their way towards extreme measures under Mary and Edward respectively. Elizabeth, though probably inclined towards Protestantism, was intent upon safeguarding royal power and initially had to combat rival claims to power from Mary Queen of Scotts. She therefore treaded carefully in initiating religious reform. In 1559 parliament restored the monarch’s supreme command over the Church of England (once again made independent from Rome) and restored the Protestant Prayer Book of 1552 (though this was stripped of much of its anti- Catholic ideas). Other statutes in the same year defined the nature of worship and reinstated the traditional structure of the Church along with the changes installed by the Act of Supremacy. These policies formed the basis of the Elizabethan settlement on religion. After the settlement instances of persecution were rare and trends towards sectarianism were moderated. The remainder of Elizabeth’s reign was defined by her attempts to temper the demands of radical Calvinists in threshing out further reform.

Elizabeth managed to subdue extreme Calvinist influence by filling vacant sees in the episcopacy with returned exiles. Nevertheless a group of extreme Protestants who remained firmly loyal to Calvinist views on Church structure remained. This group, which came to encompass a diversity of views, primarily rallied for further reform to the Prayer Book as well as extreme changes to church organization. Protestants who shared these demands and belonged to this group came to be called puritans. In 1563 the Church’s stand on doctrine was elucidated by the Thirty-nine Articles which drew largely from the Forty-two Articles issued under Edward. Elizabeth’s archbishops influenced the extent to which she was able to get Calvinists to conform to her measures. While Mathew Parker was archbishop Elizabeth tried to introduce reform through parliament. Parallel to this puritans looked for support from members of the gentry in the House of Commons. Attempts to initiate puritan reform through parliament failed and even radicalized a few puritans. These rallied around Thomas Cartwright who vehemently attacked the episcopacy. The failed attempts to initiate reform through parliament also gave rise to a puritan ‘campaign in print’. In 1575 Grindal, a Marian exile, replaced Parker and began to pursue a more accommodating policy towards puritans. Disagreements with Elizabeth on the issue of prophesying led to his removal in 1583. With this, attempts to win over moderate puritans with practical reforms ended.

Grindal was succeeded by John Whitgift. He provided further resistance to puritan reform launched from parliament and went further by demanding puritan obedience to the ecclesiastical order as it stood. Puritans turned towards secret meetings and surreptitious attacks on bishops through underground publications. Those responsible were prosecuted and later forced to conform. Whitgift’s measures thus drove puritans down a self-defeating path; while some fled, others undertook radical actions (such calling for a schism from the Church) and were consequently denounced by public opinion. Thus towards the end of Elizabeth’s rule Calvinism was losing ground. In addition to widespread disagreement on its extreme proposals for church structure, theologians in the universities were turning away from Calvin’s views on pre-destination. Calvinist ideas did influence policy indirectly though. This can be seen in Elizabethan attempts to alter ornamentation involved in Church service and incorporate local assemblies or ‘classes’ into the church structure. There was, therefore, enough space in the Church structure by the end of the fifteenth century to enable further Calvinist reform. In the fifteenth century, however, Calvinism’s effect on England remained limited.

These key events of the Reformations in England and France show how they ran opposite courses. In France the main question being decided was how much room, if any, should be allowed to Protestantism. An explanation for this is the French tradition of one national faith shared by king and country. The monarchy in France had made the largest strides towards royal absolutism during the fifteenth century. The king had control over nominations to the Church and could legislate freely. The fact that the monarch remained entrenched in the Gallican Church rendered the accommodation of alternate belief systems politically difficult. The end of the fifteenth century did mark a move towards tolerance as the edict of Nantes provided Huguenots with religious safeguards. They continued to remain outside of the mainstream, however. In contrast, royal absolutism in England was borne out of the king’s renunciation of Catholicism. The fact that the theology of the National Church had not been set down naturally allowed for a greater variety of religious views. The spiritual inclination of individual rulers mattered little as long as the king’s position as the head of the Church remained. Unlike in France, in England Calvinists remained within the mainstream (as long as they conformed). The main question which concerned the Reformation in England, therefore, was to what extent the religion of the State reform without challenging national unity. At the core of both of these questions, therefore, was the maintenance of royal authority and national unity. Within this framework the different roles played by humanists, printing, the universities, foreign policy and the will of the gentry and the aristocracy in determining the course of events in both Reformations can be assessed.

The Reformation in England and France did have similar impacts on literature, thought and the cult of Kingship. With the advance of religious discourse humanism ‘went underground’. The overwhelming emphasis being given to the grace of God left little room for the assertion and enhancement of human reasoning. Though the fifteenth century is not generally associated with great strides in art and literature, the writings of theologians played an influential role in the development of northern vernacular languages in Europe. The character of religious advancement or persecution in both countries was always shaped by the will of the crown. More than religion, the figure of the monarch came to be identified with national identity. The fifteenth century came to be associated with exaggerated devotion to the crown which, according to Elton, approached idolatry. Neither the French nor the English Reformation heralded great social changes. Popular religion remained more or less insulated from the debates that ensued in the universities. The official religion of the National Church did not yet penetrate into the traditions of the countryside. Cameron states that even after the Reformation ‘both Protestant and Catholic priests fought long and hard to domesticate’ these unofficial views of religion. Furthermore, Elton opines that there was nothing democratic about religious reform. He argues that religious upheaval only represented social protest in the movements of the Anabaptists. The religious developments of the fifteenth century had a lasting impact on the balance of power across Europe. The rise of independent kingdoms in England, France and Spain shifted the focus away from central Europe and the Mediterranean. While the Reformation in England and France did bring in significant changes in the structure of religion in both countries, it had not closed the door on further change. Instead the events of the fifteenth century were to be of crucial importance for later religious developments.

Notes

  1. Cameron, Euan. 1991.

Bibliography

  1. G R Elton. 1951. Introduction: The Age of Reformation. In G R Elton (ed.), the New Cambridge Modern History: Volume Two – The Reformation – 1520 to 1559. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  2. -. 1951. The Reformation in Difficulties. In G R Elton (ed.), the New Cambridge Modern History: Volume Two – The Reformation – 1520 to 1559. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (X)
  3. G R Elton. 1951. The Reformation in England. In G R Elton (ed.), the New Cambridge Modern History: Volume Two – The Reformation – 1520 to 1559. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  4. -. -. Catholic Reform and Christian Missions. In – (Y)
  5. Euan Cameron. 1991. The European Reformation. United States: Clarendon Press, Oxford.
  6. Lindenburg