Assess the effect of reformation on England and France.
The Reformation began as an attempt to reform the Roman Catholic Church. In regular usage it implies the schism (break) that ended the ecclesiastical supremacy of the pope in Western Christendom and resulted in the establishment of the Protestant churches. With the Renaissance that preceded and the French Revolution that followed, the Reformation completely altered the medieval way of life in Western Europe and initiated the era of modern history.But this process is multi-faceted as it led to the creation of several radical and moderate folds within Christianity such as Lutherans, Calvinists, Puritans, Anabaptists, Anglicans, Presbyterians and also the efforts of some Catholics to reform the church through the counter-reformation. Apart from this, Reformation embraced a number of areas – reform of both the morals and structures of church and society, re-interpretation of Christian spirituality and the reform of its doctrine. Putting it very simply, the Reformation was a protest by churchmen and scholars of privileged classes in 16th century against their own superiors. Then there was a coalition with laymen’s political ambitions that gave its popular form to the movement. To understand it, the Reformation has therefore to be place in its regional, historical, political, social and economic context.
Reformation in France can essentially be studied in four phases: before the exile of Calvin from France, after his exile – growth of Protestantism and Calvin’s role, the Wars of Religion and thereafter. John Calvin was from the second generation of reformers and had a powerful impact on different parts of Europe. Many of his views were derived from the Bible but he was also influenced by St Augustine. His biggest contribution of Reformation was through his views on church structure and discipline. His structure of Genevan church had four major institutions: pastors, doctors, Deacons 1and Elders. Calvin sent missionaries to France, the Netherlands, Scotland and other parts of Europe to carry forward his reforms. Calvin sincerely believed that someday France would become a truly Christian commonwealth and he worked for this. The success of Calvinism is located in tits effective organisation and clarity of thought. Reformation ideas were abroad in France by 1519 as is shown by printing of Luther’s Latin writings by John Froben of Basle. The Paris theologians were reading the texts but were not very approving of it. The censoring of religious books was instituted in June 1521.
The centre for Reformation was not Paris, but a small town of weavers 30 miles east of Paris, called Meaux. France saw three important individuals who initiated some level of reforms during this phase: the Bishop of Meaux, Guillaume Briconnet, the famous humanist figure, Jacques Lefevre d’Etaples and the king’s sister, Marguerite d’Angouleme. Calvinism had begun to divide French city on religious grounds. Captivity of the king after the Battle of Pavia (1525) led to the blame for it put on the Meaux group of heresy which resulted in the fleeing of reformers including Calvin from France. As religious divisions within France hardened, the execution of heretics in the frame of “ritual as containment” broke down. The “cancer” in society was now too widespread to be excised by the deaths of individuals.
By the mid-1530s, it was clear that for Reformation to survive in France, external intervention was necessary and this came in the form of the Reformed church of Geneva. By 1567, Geneva had sent at least 120 pastors into France to organise congregations. The Reformed church spread rapidly through France (in the west and south particularly) and in some areas began worshipping publicly. Apart from the organisational genius, the rousing songs, the Psalms became source of popular appeal.
The last phase in French Reformation comes with the death of Charles IX and his succession by Henry III (1574 -89) who moved towards the third party of politiques, who placed national unity over religious uniformity. But this became a prime issue for the Guises to prevent advantageous position to the Huguenots and to Henry, king of Navarre. But in a series of dramatic political events, King of Navarre became the next ruler – Henry IV, but only after a power struggle which lasted for about five years. He also converted to Catholicism which shows his inclination towards political control as opposed to religious ideology. Henry IV understood that the separation of religion and politics were essential for a state’s survival and therefore he was an ardent supporter of absolute monarchy till the end. Thus, Calvinism did not triumph in France but it did survive under the shadows of the king’s suzerainty.
England had been under the influence both of France and Central Europe and was thus affected by Swiss Protestantism and the plots of the kings of France and Spain. There are two schools of thought regarding the English reformation. The revisionists believe that it was imposed from above, occurred slowly and with difficulty on a population which did not want to do away with the age old Catholic belief. The second explanation, as given by A. G. Dickens and Claire Cross suggests that the Reformation and religious rather than political roots and arose from below. There were instalments of Reformations which have been correlated with the death of monarchs. Contemporary scholarship continues to recognize the crucial role of the Tudors in revolutionising ecclesiastical authority “by statute”, but corrects the one-sidedness of former political interpretation with social and religious studies.
The origins of the Reformation in England can be traced back to the middle ages. The endemic English resentments, coupled with the enthusiasm for new learning promoted by Colet and Erasmus among others, provided the fertile ground for Lutheran ideas to come to the region in around 1520.
The background to the reformation is in two significant incidents: the rupture of alliance between Spain and England the inability of the cardinal-legate of England, Thomas Wolsey to convince the Pope to allow the king to divorce his wife Catherine. Also after Charles V’s troops had run amok in Rome, Pope Clement VII was effectively in the Spanish Emperor’s power and could hardly solve Henry’s matrimonial problems by allowing him to discard Charles’s relatives.
The Reformations were complex movements of the century with direct or indirect ramifications on the political, socio-economic and religious life of European nations including England and France. The most obvious was the division of the medieval Catholic Church into a number of churches. This process of “Confessionalization” basically designates the fragmentation of the unitary Christendom into at least three confessional churches- Lutheran, Calvinist or “Reformed” and post-tridentine Roman Catholic. Each formed a highly organized system, which tended to monopolize the world-view with respect to the individual, the state and society and which laid down strictly formulated norms in politics and morals. The Protestant communities began to develop their own cultural and social identities informed by both their specific theologies and their hostilities to each other as well as to the old faith. The Reformers’ original understanding of faith as trust and confidence in God’s promises shifted in the heat of battle to understanding faith in terms of intellectual assent to correct doctrine as evident from highly rationalized chart of election and reprobation drawn up by the Elizabethan Puritan William Perkins. A rationalistic and creed-bound Protestantism and Catholicism contributed politically to the developments of the consolidation of the early modern state and its imposition of social discipline and intellectually to the rationalism that fed the Enlightenment of the 18th and 19th centuries.
Lindberg argues that Protestant triumphalism, in some cases, contributed too the development of a “chosen nation” syndrome, for instance England’s overcoming of the threats of Spanish Armada in 1588 and the failure of catholic conspiracy to blow up the Houses of Parliament and the king were interpreted in terms of God’s election and blessing of the nation. Protestantism has been interpreted by others as both a product of the rising nation state concept as well as a catalyst to emerging national identity. On the other hand, Protestantism influenced political resistance as expressed in the Lutheran Magdeburg Confession, which in turn had a direct impact on French Calvinist political thought. Huguenot arguments for a constitutionalism that limited royal power and defended individual conscience were advanced by Francois Hotman, Theodore Beza and Phippe du Plessis-Mornay who authorized individual rebellion on the explicitly religious grounds that God may “raise up new liberators” outside the constitutional framework. In England, John Poynet’s ‘A Short Treatise of Politic Power’ was also similarly influenced by Luther. Further, the Calvinist idea of the church as a covenanted community contributed to the idea of social contract. The anti-hierarchical, leveling processes were corrosive of political as well as ecclesiastical structures. Witte’s magisterial study ‘Law and Protestantism’ makes clear, the fundamental legal institutions and modern understanding of human rights have been profoundly shaped by Luther’s theological teachings.
Hickerson explores the role of gender in her study of the account of women martyrs in Tudor England. In Foxe’s work, they are “models of disobedience- they are politically dangerous symbols.” His catholic critics found them troubling, so apparently, did a number of his admirers. There was a pressure from preachers on women to leave their convents and it has been argued that the closing of this monastic option restricted their choices to spouse whereas in the convent, women had opportunities to engage in management and education.
The Protestant Reformation had an important impact on the rise of literacy in some parts of England. Reformers successfully used and implemented humanist methods in their schools and universities. Martin Luther advocated education for all children and expenses to be provided by the state. There was great stress on individual’s relationship with God as the central aspect of Christianity. Puritanism is seen in historical literature as one of the great factors leading to modernization. Interest aroused in the history of religion and the first comprehensive history of Church was written under editorship of Matthew Flacius. The rise of a national church in various states played a role in this and promoted national literatures.
The question whether Lutheran view and Calvinism was responsible for an emergent capitalism or whether a connection already existed between business and religious zeal remains a major issue of contention among scholars. It is claimed that the most dynamic businessmen lived in the most industrialized regions of Anglican England and the Huguenots as business community dominated Catholic France. Karl Marx suggested that Protestantism succeeded because it gave expression to the new capitalist values of thrift, hard work, self-discipline and rationality. Engels agrees that Calvinism was the faith suitable for the boldly aspiring bourgeois or early capitalists. Max Weber believes that Calvin and his followers influenced the capitalist spirit through the idea that every man’s worldly ‘calling’ was assigned to him by God and emphasis on hard work instilled a profit-making ethos into the society. Felix Rachfahl criticizes this view through his claims that free-for-all capitalism was not tolerated even in Calvinism and Catholic Antwerp remained an important trading centre. H.M. Robertson rejects the importance of ‘calling’ which he argues existed in the Catholic Church also. R.H. Tawney turned the thesis round and argued that Calvinists in 17th Century adapted itself to the capitalist ethos of commercial classes and encouraged entrepreneurs. Hence, they were welcomed in the Netherlands and England where they contributed to the economic development.
The Reformations from the outset were literary events stimulating and building upon the vernaculars of the day. Elizabethan dramatist William Shakespeare’s literary brilliance and insight into human life remains unequaled. A.G. Dickens feels that the vernacular Bible “worked as a midwife to bring forth a whole great literature and fortified the spirit of the pioneers in New England”. Similarly, King James Bible commissioned by James I in 1604 has influenced English language and expressions up to today. Reformation also stimulated passionate controversies over religious art informed by the various participants’ theologies. The Reformers’ critique of images of saints shifted the subject matter from mediators with God to portraits of the living, hence lack of church patronage and need for artists to find secular ones. In music, too, it stimulated compositions that continue to enrich modern life despite all Protestants not complementing the liturgy with art and music as glorious gifts of God. The well known themes of justification by faith alone, law and gospel and the theology of the cross echo through Johann Sebastian Bach’s works in both music and words. The tunes and texts of Calvin’s ‘Geneva Psalter’ made a memorable musical contribution. Reformed churches were to be completely free of images and it was emphasized through the restructured Ten Commandments. Hence the Reformed artists had to at times accept Roman Catholic commissions.
Reformation thus not only changed the composition and nature of the population but significantly altered deep set beliefs and ideologies It also highlighted the relationship between the crown and nobility and the power struggle between the two. Reformation also led to development of new literature, including new forms of writing i.e. the psalms. Also, reformation in Europe as whole, integrated different nations together in a common thread of ideological similarity of a unique character – it was the common link that people held on to in times of political strife. Moreover, this bond led to integration of economies leading to travelling of commodities as well as people.
Though Reformation concluded differently in different regions and did not necessarily lead to the establishment of a new order but it changed the way the people lived, thought and perceived changes, things as well as life. We clearly see how religion became less the province of a highly privileged clergy and more a direct expression of the beliefs of the people. Religious intolerance, however, raged unabated, and all the sects continued to persecute one another for at least a century.
Bibliography:
- R. Elton : Reformation Europe, 1517 – 1559
Stephen J. Lee : Aspects of European History, 1494 – 1789
Geoffrey R. Elton : Reformation Europe: 1517-1559
Christopher Haigh ed. : The English Reformation Revised
Arthur Geoffrey Dickens : English Reformation