It's autumn, 1517.
To the great consternation of his bishop and the pope, Martin Luther, the young
lecturer of the University of Wittenberg, publishes his 95-point thesis.
The Disputation on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences is reprinted in thousands
of copies and reaches all the major European countries within a year.
But how did we get here?
In 1517 the Catholic Church is still in full control.
Catholic means universal, a likely title considering the Church's monopoly over the
minds and souls of the Western world.
Which is certainly universal.
Or is it?
By the late Middle Ages the Church was in a crisis.
Popes, the figureheads of the Catholic Church, were figureheads of corruption.
They were often no better than worldly princes, only caring about wealth and
power, not shying away from war, treachery and torture.
They often kept concubines, fathered children and some were even open
homosexuals.
Cardinals, bishops and archbishops were not much better.
Being almost exclusively aristocrats, they shared the same outlook as the popes.
Their offices were usually the result of bribes, rather than competence or
devotion.
In many cases familiar ties played a role.
The sons of popes becoming cardinals, and the sons of cardinals becoming
bishops.
If clever enough, one such church potentate could amass as many offices as
he wanted, serving as bishop of two, three or even more dioceses.
And by service they often meant nothing more than collecting rent from the many
offices that they held.
Actual work was done by the humble parish priest or monk.
Most of these men were of peasant stock, just as poor and illiterate as their
congregation.
Like their superiors, they often kept concubines, fathered children and engaged
in petty corruption.
Mass was often nothing more than the priest reciting verses in broken Latin
that neither he nor his congregation understood.
Much of the 14th century and the beginning of the 15th century was marked by the
Avignon captivity of the popes, and later the Great Western Schism.
During this time there were popes and there were antipopes, both claiming
sovereignty over the church.
Later during the conciliar movement, popes battled a plethora of religious
councils for supremacy of the church.
By the time the popes won, the credibility and prestige of the church were long gone.
With such turmoil in the Catholic Church, it is no wonder that reformation was a
centuries long desire.
In the late 12th century a reforming heresy arose in Lyon.
The Waldensians advocated for a humbler and poorer church, questioning many dogmas
and religious customs such as the purgatory, saints, pilgrimages and
transubstantiation.
The church mercilessly persecuted the Waldensians, and the creed didn't spread
very far from its place of origin.
By 1517 there are only isolated buckets of worshippers.
Another sect, the Lollards, emerged in late 14th century in England.
The Lollards were followers of John Wycliffe, an Oxford scholar who translated
the Bible into English.
The Catholic Church had been using the Latin Bible since the 4th century,
however few people in England understood Latin.
Wycliffe believed that the prime authority in religious matters should be the Bible.
Based on this, the Lollards condemned the pomp and ceremony as well as the
worldliness and corruption of the church.
Similarly to the Waldensians, they did not believe in transubstantiation or the
benefits of saints and pilgrimages.
Initially some members of the nobility were backing the Lollards to oppose the
king.
However after the Peasants' Revolt of 1381, that was allegedly inspired by
Lollards, they were declared heretics and had been persecuted ever since.
Lollardry also didn't spread very far, neither did it enjoy a large following.
The first reforming heresy to succeed was that of the Hussites.
Jan Hus, director of the University of Prague started preaching in a defense of
Wycliffe's ideas.
In 1412 he openly defied the Pope over the selling of indulgences.
In 1414 Hus was lured to the Council of Constance to dispute his ideas with the
church's representatives.
In spite of having received safe conduct, he was tried as a heretic and burned at
the stake.
His followers quickly organized themselves and vowed to defy the Pope.
When the King of Bohemia died and Sigismund of Luxembourg, the king's
brother claimed the throne, the Czech nobility turned against him and adopted
Hussite beliefs.
At the urging of the Pope, Europe's monarchs launched five crusades against
the Hussites, all unsuccessful.
Fighting lasted from 1419 to 1434.
With the compacts of Basel, Ultharquists, the moderate majority of the Hussites,
reached compromise with the Catholic Church, allowing for a moderately reformed
Czech National Church.
Taborites, the more radical arm of the Hussites, lost all power, and their
members had to go into hiding.
Renaissance and humanism were the intellectual driving force behind these
reformist movements.
Humanists believe in studying and attempting to emulate the classics of the
ancient world.
While Italian humanists mostly concerned themselves with worldly matters,
their northern counterparts focused their attention on the most popular classic of
the day, the Bible.
Humanists are captivated by the apostolic church of the early Christians,
one of modesty and piety, in stark contrast with the corruption of the 16th
century church.
Humanists intend to reform the church, not by heresy, but rather by education and
careful reform.
To this end, in 1516 the leading northern humanist Erasmus of Rotterdam translates
the New Testament from its original Greek into Latin.
At first the Bible had been translated into Vulgate Latin in the 4th century.
This was copied by hand by generations of monks, many passages being added,
others being omitted.
Now with Erasmus' translation there finally is a standard Bible, and this time
instead of being laboriously copied by monks, it is disseminated all throughout
Europe in printed form.
In conjunction with humanism, capitalism is taking off in northern Europe.
Urbanization is the order of the day, and with urbanization and printing,
comes increased literacy not only for the middle classes, but also for some members
of the urban proletariat and even the peasantry.
Universities spring up left and right.
From Paris to Krakow, humanists take up increasingly important roles at these
universities, educating new generations of humanists and reformers.
In spite of the continuous wars and the church's corruption, or perhaps because of
it, popular versions of piety are more fashionable than ever.
Saints and pilgrimages, popular devotions to Mary and to the 14 stages of the cross
are the rage.
Lay people form religious fraternities all across Europe, and particularly in the low
countries.
They live piously like monks, without being ordained themselves.
They preach and teach, doing the church's job, but without being in the church.
One could almost think that the Catholic Church and its services are not needed
anymore.
This is the world Luther was born into in 1483.
Luther turns out to be a bright young man, therefore his middle class parents sent
him to law school, where Luther receives a humanist education.
One fine day while walking home from university, Luther is almost struck by
lightning.
He interprets this as a message from God, and to the consternation of his father
decides to become a monk.
In his novice year he is wracked by doubts about his salvation, and becomes
profoundly depressed.
Getting to heaven is not a simple thing.
According to the Catholic Church, first of all one needs to have faith in
God, second he has to do good works.
Doing good works means doing good deeds, living like a pious Christian,
praying and being charitable.
Luther does good works to the extreme and gets even more depressed.
Johan von Staupitz, his superior convinces him that salvation comes from faith alone.
At this realization, Luther snaps out of his depression and becomes well adjusted
to monkish life.
Later he becomes a lecturer at the newly founded University of Wittenberg,
run by his order the Augustines.
Here he develops his theory of predestination that is based on the
letters of Paul.
According to Paul, in Luther's interpretation, salvation can only be
achieved by faith, human effort and free will being completely excluded.
However if one is saved, one will automatically be inclined to do good
works.
Therefore good works are the result of salvation, not the cause.
Luther begins to teach his theory at Wittenberg, however he fails to attract
significant attention, since such theories are quite common nowadays.
The great sale of indulgences of 1517 will change everything.
Indulgences are a key component in the absolution of sin.
According to the Catholic Church, to be absolved from sin, one has to
complete three steps.
First, one has to confess his sin.
Second, he has to be sorry.
And third, he has to do penance.
Completing all the steps is very important, because otherwise one would end
up in purgatory, a place almost as bad as hell.
Doing penance in general means doing good works.
However if your sin is too great, or you're just lazy, there's a shortcut.
Indulgences are special documents dispensed by the Pope, which can be used
to replace good works.
Their power is derived from the Treasure House of Merit.
The Treasure House of Merit is the collection of all the merit of Jesus
Christ and of the early Christians.
The Pope, as the head of the Catholic Church, holds the key to this endless
amount of merit.
Indulgences had been around for centuries, however as the purchasing power of the
population had grown, so grew the scope and power of indulgences.
As it happened, Albrecht of Brandenburg, the Archbishop of Magdeburg, Luther's
superior, had recently obtained another archbishopric, that of the Electorate of
Mainz.
To pay the bribes that are necessary to buy such a position, Albrecht took up
loans from the Fugers.
Now he is penniless and unable to pay his debt.
He asks the Pope for a loan, however Leo proposes something even better.
He will organize a massive sale of indulgences.
He will keep half the profit and use it to rebuild St. Peter's Basilica, and Albrecht
will get the other half to repay his debt.
The best market for this great sale is Germany, and the Pope sends the best
salesman to complete the job.
Johann Tetzel bursts on the indulgence market like a storm.
He claims indulgences sold by him can be used to atone for future sins,
or for the sins of the deceased.
These claims are unheard of, as indulgences are only supposed to be valid
in the here and now for sins already committed, and only for those living,
not for the dead.
However as long as there is a market for them, Tetzel is there to satisfy the
demand.
Luther takes this for what it is.
Not simply a scam, but a grave endangerment of people's souls.
He formulates his grievances in a 95-point thesis, not only denouncing the sale of
indulgences, but also questioning the Pope's right to the Treasure House of
Merit.
On October 31, 1517, Luther sends his disputation to his superior, Albrecht of
Brandenburg.
Albrecht immediately sees the problem with it, and forwards a copy to the Pope.
Leo X is very displeased.
What is to come if Luther questions his right to the Treasure House of Merit?
Papal power will again be eroded.
Leo must prevent this at all costs.
His answer is blunt and unprecedented.
He decrees that the Pope is infallible, and also that the Pope is the highest
authority in the Church, even surpassing the Bible.
As for Luther, in 1518 the Pope dispatches his best theologian to try to convince him
of his errors and determine him to recant.
Luther remains recalcitrant and insists he is right about indulgences.
In 1519 the Pope deploys the hardliner Johann Eck to debate Luther in Leipzig.
Eck is determined to incriminate Luther, so during the three-day public debate he
relentlessly questions him on papal superiority.
By the end he backs Luther into a corner.
Luther makes declarations that may well be interpreted as challenging the power of
the Pope and of the religious councils.
Eck declares Luther to be a heretic and a hussite and runs back to the Pope with
evidence.
The Pope issues an edict calling on Luther to recant his heretical views within 60
days, or else be excommunicated.
Luther will do no such thing.
He takes the papal bull and publicly burns it.
Thus Luther officially becomes a heretic on the 3rd of January 1521.
Luther has nothing to lose now, so he concludes that as long as he is a
heretic, he might as well formulate his heresy.
To this end he writes a series of books outlining his views on religion.
Luther reaffirms his belief that salvation can only be achieved through faith.
In the humanist tradition he denies transubstantiation.
Transubstantiation refers to the miracle of the Mass, when according to the
Catholic Church Christ's body and blood turns into bread and wine.
Luther believes in consubstantiation, meaning Christ's body and blood is present
during the Mass, but it does not turn into bread and wine.
From this Luther deduces that clergy have no divine powers, therefore they should
also not have special status in society.
Instead of a rigid church hierarchy, Luther believes in the priesthood of all
believers.
He insists that everyone should read and interpret the Bible, not just the priests.
Most importantly he states that the Bible, and not the Pope, is the supreme authority
in religion.
By now Luther's works are widely circulated.
With every major town having a printing press, books are usually reprinted.
This allows books and pamphlets to spread like wildfire.
After the Leipzig debate, Luther's ideas begin to garner nationwide fame.
To stop this once and for all, Luther is summoned to the Imperial Diet of
1521 to be held at Worms with the newly crowned Emperor Charles V and all the
princes of the realm in attendance.
To ensure he gets a fair hearing and doesn't end up burned at the stake,
he is given safe conduct by the Emperor.
On his way there, he is cheered and celebrated by large and enthusiastic
crowds.
Luther never intended to start a heresy, however now to his surprise he discovered
he did just that, and was quite successful at it to say the least.
At Worms he is confronted by his arch enemy Eck.
He is ordered to recant all his heretical views.
To everyone's dismay, Luther decides to listen to his conscience and refuses to
disavow anything he had said or written.
In response, the Emperor issues the Edict of Worms, condemning Luther and all those
who hate him or follow him as heretics of the highest order.
Practically a death sentence.
Luther still has two days worth of safe conduct, however after that he is fair
game.
As an infamous outlaw, he may be killed or captured by anyone looking for a rich
reward.
With this premise, Luther sets out for Wittenberg, and a certainty of uncertainty
awaiting him there.
With his days numbered, he can only trust in God, as unpredictable as God's ways
are.
It's 1521.
Luther is traveling home from the Diet of Worms.
He has just been declared an outlaw and a dangerous heretic.
His days are numbered.
Predictably he is set upon by armed men.
He is held at gunpoint and kidnapped.
The twist is that the kidnappers are working for his prince, Frederick III,
Elector of Saxony.
Frederick is far from being a Lutheran, however he will not miss out on such a
good chance to oppose the Emperor.
Like all princes of the realm, he has a deep disdain for the all-powerful
Habsburg.
The Holy Roman Empire is a collection of around 300 de facto independent states and
statelets.
The most important principalities are the electorates of Brandenburg, Saxony and the
Palatinate, as well as Hesse and Bavaria.
There are also extensive ecclesiastical states, particularly in the west,
the most important ones being the electorates of Trier, Mainz and Cologne.
Germany is a priest-ridden and fragmented place.
Since the Emperor is merely a figurehead, all the church lands are governed directly
from Rome.
Therefore all the money collected from Germany flows to Rome.
Frederick would like to see the Emperor even more powerless and the church a lot
poorer, with his wealth and his power thus increased.
If he could become head of the church within his realm, he and not Rome would
dispose of the church's income.
Simply put, Frederick sees Luther as a useful pawn in his dynastic plans.
After whisking him away, he hides Luther at Wartburg Castle, all the while pleading
ignorance about his whereabouts.
Luther keeps busy while at Wartburg.
He translates the New Testament into German, so that every man can read and
interpret the Bible.
He also establishes that confession should be a private affair without a priest,
and that vows of celibacy and those made to religious orders are invalid and may be
broken at will.
Hearing this, monks and nuns escape their monasteries and nunneries, and become
newcomers to Lutheranism.
While Luther is away, his colleague, Andreas Karlstadt, implements his
reforming ideas in Wittenberg.
After Christmas, a group of three strange men appears in Wittenberg.
The Zwickau prophets have the curious custom of only baptizing adults.
This custom is quite unnerving, since all Christendom agrees that one
should be baptized shortly after birth, never to be rebaptized again.
Additionally, these Anabaptists believe that revelation of the Holy Spirit is the
supreme authority, not the Bible.
They are also millenarians, believing the end times are near, when only those chosen
by Christ will get resurrected.
These chosen ones then will live for a thousand years in the Kingdom of God.
When Luther hears of this, he rushes back to Wittenberg and puts an end to the
nonsense.
He is horrified by recent developments, as he intended for a slow and controlled
evolution, instead of a fast and out of control revolution.
To Luther's surprise, he soon discovers people do have free will.
Franz von Sickingen, the most colorful character in Germany, is one of many who
intend to use Luther's ideas to further their own interests.
As a petty prince, Sickingen had to look out for himself, gaining fame in the
emperor's service, as well as infamy when he invaded most of his neighbors.
He is typical of the knightly class.
The knightly class are a remnant of feudalism.
They are quickly losing their power to the more adaptive city-dwelling middle class.
They also feel oppressed by the princes who are encroaching on their territory,
and they are jealous of the vast amounts of wealth and land the church controls.
Similarly to Frederick, Sickingen intends to justify his politics with Lutheranism.
In 1522 he gathers a large army of knights and claims to act in the emperor's name,
while Charles V is away in Spain.
The knights formulate several demands.
They want the abolition of princely power and the creation of a centralized
monarchy, where all men of noble birth would be equal.
More importantly, they want to secularize church property using Lutheran arguments.
To add weight to their word, the knights attack the archbishopric of Trier.
The siege of Trier ends 5 days later, when Sickingen runs out of gunpowder.
Soon Philip of Hesse and Elector Palatine come to the archbishop's aid and easily
crush the rebellious knights.
Sickingen dies fighting, and the knights are a coherent force no more.
Luther strongly disapproves of the knights' interpretation of his doctrine.
However the knights' revolt was just the beginning.
Peasants are the largest class within society.
They enjoy increasing wealth and mobility, with serfdom being almost abolished.
As princes are centralizing their rule, these meager gains of the peasantry are in
danger again.
The proletariat of the cities have similar qualms.
They feel they are held back by the rigid system of guilds implemented by the
oligarchy of the cities.
In the autumn of 1524, in the south of Germany, a group of peasants are ordered
by their lord to collect snail shells.
The peasants refuse and tell their lord that those days are over.
The rebellion quickly spreads throughout Swabia.
Rebellious peasants and urban poor take over Memmingen, where their
representatives meet to formulate their grievances.
In the 12 articles, the peasants demand the abolition of serfdom, the abolition of
the church city and the death tax.
An end to the enclosure of common land, the right to hunt and fish, lower rents
and the right of communities to elect church officials.
To underline their points, the peasants begin to rob, murder and rape,
the rebellion extending all the way up north into Thuringia, and south into the
Swiss lands and Tyrol by next year.
The ransacking of castles and monasteries by mobs is nothing new.
This time however, the peasants have an ideology.
They are doing exactly what Luther told them.
They read the Bible and interpreted it to the best of their knowledge.
In their reading, the Bible says the meek will inherit the earth, consequently taxes
and social classes should be abolished.
Printing is extensively used by the rebels, circulating tens of thousands of
pamphlets filled with inflammatory propaganda.
Their spiritual leader is Thomas Müntzer, a radical reformer associated with the
Zwickau prophets.
Müntzer is also a millenarian.
He believes the apocalypse is near, and he will lead the righteous to victory.
Luther is outraged that his ideas of reforming the church are being used as
arguments for a rebellion and mob rule.
He strongly condemns the rebels in several pamphlets calling on the princes to put
them down like rabid dogs.
Initially the princes were caught off guard, however by early 1525 they begin to
mobilize their forces.
Since the emperor is in Spain and his armies are on campaign in Italy,
it is left to the Swabian League, a coalition of southern German states to
put down the rebellion.
In April League armies defeat a large peasant army at Leipheim near Augsburg.
In May they crush a peasant army at Frankenhausen.
Müntzer is captured, tortured and executed.
Simultaneously other League armies annihilate the peasant army at Böblingen.
Fighting continues for a while, but the resistance of the peasants is
already broken.
They never managed to unite their forces, they had been defeated in every battle,
and the cities closed their gates when they saw the tide turn.
Repression is brutal, with at least 100.000 peasants killed.
Social mobility is finished, and the princes have confirmed that they are the
true rulers in their land.
By this time several princely states and imperial cities had adopted Lutheranism.
Luther as a consequence of the peasants' war decided that reforming the Church from
the bottom up is undesirable.
Instead of preaching to the masses, he starts to preach to princes.
Two of his most important converts are Philip of Hesse and John of Saxony.
They are the champions of Lutheranism at the Diet of Speyer in 1526.
The Emperor is represented by his brother, the Archduke Ferdinand.
Ferdinand comes to the table with a very bad hand.
The Turks have just defeated the Kingdom of Hungary at Mohacs, killing the young
King Louis II.
This vacated both the thrones of the Crown of Bohemia and Hungary, with Ferdinand
having the best claim.
Bohemia is added to the empire without a problem, however in Hungary Charles and
Ferdinand have to contend with the anti-Habsburg faction on one part,
and the Ottomans on the other.
In Italy, imperial forces are still engaged against France, Venice,
Florence and the Pope in the War of the League of Cognac.
Thus Ferdinand has to make concessions to the Lutherans in order to obtain their
help and cooperation.
The Edict of Worms is temporarily suspended, and it is left up to the
princes to the religion of their provinces.
Therefore princes become the effective heads of their churches, establishing the
cuius regio eius religio principle, meaning he who rules the land chooses the
religion.
While Lutherans are being burned at the stake in Habsburg lands, more and more
German states become Lutheran.
Prussia, Ansbach, Brunswick, Hesse, Saxony, Silesia, the cities of Nuremberg,
Strasbourg, Augsburg, Frankfurt, Lübeck, Bremen and Hamburg had become
Lutheran.
Luther doesn't take direct part in the process of reformation, as he believes the
worldly power of the prince or the city oligarchs should decide.
Thus church and state are no longer separate.
Printers, pamphleteers and the young graduates of the University of Wittenberg
provide the foot soldiers for the reformation.
Luther continues his writing and serves as advisor for several Protestant princes.
Lutheranism also spreads beyond Germany.
In 1527 Gustav Vasa initiates the Swedish Reformation.
Lutheranism had already developed roots in Sweden.
The New Testament had been translated to Swedish in 1526, and Olaus Petri,
a Wittenberg-educated theologian is advising the king.
Sweden had just gained independence from the Kalmar Union, a personal union of
Scandinavian countries headed by the Danish king.
During the Kalmar Union, power shifted from the monarch to the nobility and the
clergy.
Gustav I, a shrewd politician clearly sees Lutheranism's advantages in building a
strong centralized monarchy.
Therefore in 1527 at the Assembly of the Estates he proposes to make himself the
head of the church, to confiscate all clerical assets, to subject clergy to
secular law, and to declare the Bible the supreme authority in matters of religion.
The Estates approves his proposal, and Lutheranism becomes the official state
religion of Sweden, and by default of Finland, then in personal union with
Sweden.
Lutheranism had also come to Denmark.
It was already adopted in the south in the lands ruled by the crown prince Christian,
and tolerated in the rest of the country.
When King Frederick I dies in 1533, the nobility and the clergy side with
Christian's younger brother.
A civil war ensues, however when the rebels ask Lübeck for help, popular
opinion turns against them.
Christian III is victorious, and in 1536 Lutheranism becomes the state religion of
Denmark.
Like in Sweden, the king uses religion to strengthen himself, confiscating clerical
estates and arresting bishops and nobles who opposed him.
Later Lutheranism would be spread to the king's other domains, Norway, Iceland and
Greenland.
Simultaneously, Lutheranism spreads to France.
Unlike lesser kings, France's monarch already has the right to name bishops and
tax the church.
Therefore Francis I has no particular motivation to reform the church,
however being an avid humanist, he has a natural curiosity and tolerance
to new ideas.
The downfall of this nascent Protestantism comes in 1534, when radicals nail an
anti-Catholic pamphlet to the door of the king's bedchamber.
Francis sees this as a personal affront, and starts to persecute Protestants.
Many flee, others go underground, waiting for more favorable conditions.
Across the channel the exact opposite happens.
King Henry VIII is a staunch conservative who hates Luther, but he has a major
problem.
His wife Catherine of Aragon hasn't given him a male heir, and she is already over
40.
Therefore in 1527 he requests a divorce from the pope.
Catherine however is Charles V's aunt, and after the sack of Rome, Pope Clement
VII is in the emperor's pocket.
Henry's request is refused, so the king decides to follow the Protestant example
and break from Rome.
He achieves this in 1534 and subsequently starts to confiscate church property.
In 1536 a pro-Catholic rebellion breaks out in the north.
The Pilgrimage of Grace convinces Henry that further religious reform is not
needed.
Since all he wanted was to become the head of the church, he considers the English
Reformation done.
Meanwhile Germany prepares for the Imperial Diet of 1529 to be held at
Speyer.
Ferdinand has a much stronger hand than 3 years before.
Imperial armies were once again victorious in Italy, and Francis I seems finally
ready to make peace.
Ferdinand declares that all heretical activities must be suspended until a
proper church council is convened, and all property and offices of the
Catholic Church should be restored.
This is unacceptable to the Lutherans, therefore they leave the Diet in protest.
This is where the name Protestant comes from.
A few months later fortunes turn.
The Ottomans have attacked again and are besieging Vienna.
Charles V decides to convene another Diet the next year, where he would attend in
person.
His plan is to hammer out some sort of a compromise so that the resources of the
Holy Roman Empire could be used to fight the Turk instead of being wasted on
internal squabbles.
The Protestants also come with compromise in mind.
Philip Melanchthon, Luther's colleague drafts the Augsburg Confessions,
a document detailing what Lutheran convictions are and defending them based
on the Bible.
Even though the Augsburg Confession was intended to be a rather conciliatory
document, Charles still judges it excessive.
Nevertheless he proposes for the Catholic princes to write a refutation.
Six weeks later the refutation is published and Charles realizes that
compromise between Catholics and Protestants is impossible.
The Augsburg Diet ends in a stalemate.
Charles is unable to take action against the Protestants as France allies with the
Ottomans and attacks against the Empire continue from the East, the West and the
Mediterranean.
In 1532 as the Ottomans approach Vienna once again, Ferdinand is forced to grant
religious peace to the Lutherans in return for their help.
Nevertheless the Lutheran princes see the writing on the wall.
They are safe for now, but what about later?
To guard themselves against Catholic aggression, the Protestants form the
Schmalkadik League in 1531.
With the leadership of Philip of Hesse and Frederick of Saxony, the League grows
powerful, even concluding an alliance with Denmark.
Lutheranism now has a sure footing in a Holy Roman Empire.
However events elsewhere will overtake Lutheranism in scope and determination.
It's 1519.
Huldrych Zwingli starts his job as a priest in Zürich.
Zürich is already leaning towards church reform, so Zwingli is the perfect man for
the job.
Zwingli was born in the canton of St. Gallen and is the same age as Luther.
Like Luther he was educated at a humanist university in Basel.
In 1506 he became a priest.
In 1513 he joined the Swiss army and participated in the Battle of Novara.
Returning home he started reading humanists, particularly Erasmus.
By the time he assumes his position in Zürich, he is already aware of Luther's
teachings.
His doctrine will be a mixture of Lutheranism and Erasmian humanism.
Like Erasmus, Zwingli believes that the ideal world would be one resembling the
apostolic church of the early Christians as portrayed in the Bible.
A world based on simplicity and piety, and nothing else.
But unlike Luther, Zwingli is a practical man.
He believes there should be absolutely no separation between church and state.
Zwingli is primarily interested in civic reform.
He believes religious and secular authorities should work hand in hand and
on equal footing to conduct civic reforms that would be informed by the Bible.
Zwingli's first open conflict with the church comes in 1522 when he organizes a
barbecue during Lent.
He argues that the concept of Lent is not in the Bible, therefore it's irrelevant.
Later Zwingli and a few other priests cause controversy again when they marry
their girlfriends in a very public ceremony.
Zwingli again argues that priestly celibacy is not in the Bible, therefore
it's unnecessary.
Wanting to resolve the conflict, in 1523 the city authorities call a debate
between Zwingli and Catholic representatives.
Zwingli wins the debate, and henceforth he will decide the future of Zürich's church
and the city's politics.
He begins with the abolishing of the mass.
Unlike Luther, he doesn't believe in either transubstantiation or
consubstantiation, claiming that the body and blood of Christ is not present in any
form in bread and wine.
Henceforth communion will only be had four times a year, and church service will
focus solely on preaching.
He also orders the removal of statues, paintings and stained glass windows,
since these weren't in the Bible either, therefore according to Zwingli they
constitute idolatry.
Church property is ceased, and Zwingli opens a school to train missionaries and
manufacture pamphlets.
He exports his ideas far and wide, and soon the more urbanized northern
cantons join Zürich in adopting Zwinglianism.
This is too much for the more rural and more conservative cantons in the south.
To the urging of Johann Eck, Luther's old nemesis, five Catholic cantons form an
alliance to protect themselves from Zwingli's reformation.
As a consequence, Zwingli and his followers become alarmed, and form an even
larger Protestant alliance to protect themselves from Catholics.
In response the Catholic concludes an alliance with Ferdinand.
Zwinglians see this alliance as a declaration of war.
Both sides mobilize, however war is averted when saner minds prevail.
To strengthen his alliance, Zwingli appeals to the Lutheran princes of Germany
for help.
Filippo Fesse is eager to form an alliance with the Swiss, therefore in 1529 he
organizes a meeting between Luther and Zwingli.
Zwingli had been conversing with Luther for a while, however the two men don't
think very highly of each other.
Luther brings a list of 15 principles Zwingli must agree to.
Zwingli agrees to 14 points, however he disputes the last point,
consubstantiation.
Luther believes that the spirit of Jesus Christ is present in bread and wine,
in the form of consubstantiation.
Zwingli insists this is nonsense.
The negotiations break down on this one issue, and the Zwinglians are left to face
the Catholics alone.
Zwingli tries to plead his case to France and then to the Emperor at the Diet of
Augsburg, but nobody gives him much thought.
He becomes even more radicalized and urges his allies to attack the Catholics.
Eventually a blockade is imposed against the Catholic cantons, however all this
does is anger them even more.
In 1531 the Catholics decide to attack.
This catches the Protestants by surprise, and they fail to mobilize effectively.
Zurich's forces are outnumbered 3 to 1, however Zwingli is undeterred.
He dons his armor and fights in the front ranks.
As his army is routed, he himself falls.
Protestants are left without a leader, however Protestantism is strong enough to
survive.
Peace is concluded with the Catholics, and the north of Switzerland becomes a
bastion of Protestantism.
But Zwinglians weren't the only Protestants in the Swiss Confederacy.
With Zwingli's rise there came the Anabaptists of Zurich.
Like their German counterparts, these Anabaptists believe in adult baptism
and reject infant baptism.
They are even more radical in their desire to return to the apostolic Church.
Unlike Zwingli, they outright reject the state, seeing it as evil.
They refuse to pay taxes, refuse to serve in the army, they don't have priests,
and they isolate themselves from the rest of the community.
Understandably Zwingli doesn't take kindly to the Anabaptists.
In 1526 they are given an ultimatum, either stop adult baptism or die.
After Zwingli shows them he means business, by drowning a few heretics,
the Anabaptists flee Zurich.
Due to their unconventional beliefs, both Catholics and Protestants persecute
them wherever they go.
A group winds up in Moravia under the leadership of Jakob Hutter, who advocates
communal ownership of goods, a primitive form of communism.
Hutter is eventually burned as a heretic, however his followers will become the
ancestors of the Hutterites, eventually ending up in the New World.
Another group seeks refuge in the Netherlands.
Their leader is Melchior Hoffmann, a visionary millenarian.
He believes the second coming of Christ is near, and it will happen in Strasbourg.
Hoffmann goes to Strasbourg, where he is promptly arrested.
One of his lieutenants, Jan Matthys becomes the man in charge.
Matthys also has a vision.
He claims the second coming will happen in Münster.
Therefore in 1534 Matthys and his followers go there, and through an
audacious coup take over the city.
Adult baptism is immediately introduced, and those who refuse are driven out.
Münster's expelled bishop soon gathers reinforcements from the princes,
who are anxious to avoid another peasant's war.
As the bishop lays siege to the city, Matthys introduces communism and later
polygamy.
After a year Münster succumbs, and the Anabaptists are massacred to the
last person.
The Anabaptists still in the Netherlands reform themselves under the leadership of
Menno Simons.
They denounce all violence and survive in the Netherlands at the fringes of society.
Their descendants will become the Amish and the Mennonites.
Another group influenced by the Anabaptists are the Unitarians.
Their ideas are very similar to the Aryan Christians of the 5th century and agnostic
movements of the High Middle Ages.
They reject the trinity of Father, Son and the Holy Spirit and insist that
God alone is divine, and Jesus was a mere person.
They are also persecuted and finally end up in Poland and Transylvania,
where religious toleration is already the norm.
Later these denominations will spawn numerous offshoots, ending up in England
and from there in the New World.
Shortly after Zwingli's death, the Swiss Confederation again becomes the
center of the Reformation with John Calvin.
Calvin was born in 1509 in Picardy, a full 26 years after Luther.
In his youth he studies law and comes under the influence of the Humanist and
Protestants of Paris.
His awakening and conversion is a slow process, but by the mid 1530s he considers
himself a Protestant.
In 1534 Francis I starts persecuting Protestants, therefore in 1535 Calvin
flees to Basel.
Here he continues his religious studies and starts to formulate his belief in his
book The Institutions of the Christian Religion.
In most questions Calvin agrees with Luther, however on the question of the
Lord's Supper he shares Zwingli's view.
He is also stricter on predestination, claiming that God has already decided not
only who goes to heaven, but also who goes to hell.
There is no way to influence the outcome, or to know who is selected for what.
However Calvin assumes that those who are selected for heaven will live pious and
successful lives.
Little does Calvin know, but this feature will make his teachings very attractive to
virtue signaling middle class.
In 1536 Calvin is on his way to Strasbourg, however he makes a detour to
Geneva, where a fellow reformer, William Farrell is working as a pastor.
Calvin is also hired as a pastor, and the two men begin to reform Geneva.
Here Calvin's real nature comes out.
Like Zwingli, Calvin is mainly concerned with ethics rather than theology.
He is also a reformer, and believes that church and state should work hand in hand
to bring about a total reform of society that would be strictly based on the Bible.
This is much to the displeasure of the nobles and merchants of the city,
as they see it as an attack on their liberties.
In 1538 Calvin and Farrell are asked to leave Geneva.
Calvin receives an invitation from Martin Busser, the reformer of Strasbourg.
Strasbourg was one of the first cities to adopt Lutheranism, and Busser,
its leader and civic reformer is an excellent role model for Calvin.
In 1541 the citizens of Geneva have a change of heart and ask Calvin to come
back.
Calvin agrees on condition that they will let him do the necessary reforms.
Calvin puts the greatest emphasis on religious education, especially of the
young.
He establishes four groups of church officials.
Pastors to preach, doctors to instruct believers in the faith, elders to provide
discipline, and deacons to administer to the poor.
He introduces the consistory, a religious court made up of pastors and laypeople.
He also bans painting, sculpture, music, dancing, swearing, and theater.
However he does allow usury, provided the interest is fair.
Pubs are only allowed to function if scripture is read aloud to the patrons.
Calvin's detractors try to resist, but this is an uphill battle.
Calvin wins argument after argument, and when Protestant refugees arrive from
France, the balance of power shifts in Calvin's favor.
By 1555 his power is unchallenged.
Under his leadership Geneva becomes the most pious, most industrious, and most
orderly city in Europe.
All who visit Geneva are amazed.
Missionaries range far and wide, and Calvin's pamphlets are being read all
across Europe.
The middle and upper classes find it particularly attractive, seeing it as a
more potent and more fashionable form of Protestantism.
Many who were already open to Lutheranism soon become Calvinists.
The southwest of France and the Low Countries soon become bastions of
Calvinism.
In these places Calvinism becomes even more politicized than Lutheranism.
In France the southern aristocrats see Calvinism as a counterweight to the
centralizing policy of the monarchs.
In the Low Countries it becomes a vehicle for the province's quest for autonomy and
later independence.
As the Counter-Reformation kicks into high gear, Calvinism and Catholicism are on a
crash course.
Many fear that war cannot be averted.
It's the 1530s.
While Calvin is working on his theory, in Germany there is a sort of Cold War.
The religious peace of 1532 is holding, but just barely.
The emperor is just as eager to crush the rebellious Protestant princes,
but for now he is still embroiled in a vicious war on three fronts with the
Ottomans and the French.
He absolutely needs the help of the princes, therefore he must accommodate
even the most bellicose ones.
John Frederick I, Elector of Saxony and Philip of Hesse are on a warpath.
They have a longstanding feud with Duke Henry of Brunswick the last Catholic
prince in the north.
In 1541, when the duke attacks the Protestant city of Goslar, the two princes
mobilize against him and occupy his dukedom.
Church property is ceased, and the dukedom is forcefully converted to Protestantism.
The emperor tries to help Henry, however at this time he can barely spare
any resources, so Henry is defeated again and imprisoned.
But not everyone is as eager about punishing the duke and forcefully
converting Catholics.
The southern states and cities of the Schmalkaldic League see this as a
foolhardy gamble that will surely result in the ruin of the Protestant cause.
Instead of strengthening the League, this show of force weakens and divides it.
Meanwhile fortune is turning for Charles.
In 1544 he makes peace with France and a few years later with the Ottomans.
Now he can finally focus all his power and energy on his German subjects who are in
open rebellion.
But even though Charles is acting in the name of Catholicism, he cannot count on
the support of Catholic princes who are just as skeptical of imperial power as the
Protestants.
The most Charles can get is their neutrality, therefore he must gather his
own Habsburg forces from all across the empire.
This however will take time.
The League's plan hinges precisely on this fact.
They can mobilize and concentrate their forces faster, therefore they can attack
preemptively and defeat the Emperor's forces one by one.
In 1546 they go on the attack, catching the Emperor by surprise and
forcing him to retreat south.
Next they strike into Tyrol, but due to John Frederick's ineptitude they fail to
prevent Italian reinforcements from linking up with Charles.
This is when the Emperor strikes back.
He has an ace up his sleeves.
Decades ago Saxony had been split between two lines of the same dynasty.
The Ernestine line represented by John Frederick rules the Electorate of Saxony,
and his cousin Maurice of Saxony of the Albertine line rules the Dukedom of
Saxony.
Maurice is a Protestant and a member of the League, however Charles had already
bought his favor, promising a rich reward if he turned against his own side.
Just as League forces almost grasp victory in the south, Maurice and Archduke
Ferdinand launch an attack in the north.
John Frederick has no other choice but to take his forces north to defend his lands.
Charles immediately seizes the opportunity and moves to pacify the south.
His forces are led by the Duke of Alba, the best general of his time.
The southern Protestants, who were already reluctant participants in the war,
quickly yield before the imperial army.
Meanwhile John Frederick successfully defends his lands and gathers
reinforcements, however he has to send part of his army into Bohemia to block
Maurice and Ferdinand.
Meanwhile Alba marches north unopposed.
His army already outnumbers John Frederick's by 2 to 1.
On the 23rd of April 1547 he stealthily crosses the river Elbe and utterly crushes
the Protestants.
John Frederick is captured and the League falls apart.
Philip of Hesse quickly surrenders and is also imprisoned.
Seemingly the Protestants are finished, however as soon as the emperor turns his
back, resistance continues to simmer, now centered around Magdeburg.
Charles wants to end the war at all costs, so he proposes a compromise.
The Augsburg Interim of 1548 gives a little and takes a little, leaving both
Catholics and Protestants unsatisfied.
The Protestants form a new league and secretly agree with the French to attack
the emperor from two sides.
The unlikely leader of this new league is none other than Maurice of Saxony.
Even though the emperor made him the elector of Saxony, he is still
unsatisfied.
He is a German first and a subject of the emperor's second.
In the autumn of 1551 the French attack along the Rhine, and in spring 1552 the
princes launch an attack against Tirol.
Charles is desperate to avoid another war on two fronts, so he is forced to give the
Protestants a better deal.
In 1555 the Peace of Augsburg is proclaimed, reinstating the cuius regio
eius religio principle, meaning Protestant princes are free to choose the religion of
their states.
This freedom however only refers to Lutherans.
Calvinists are not included and may be persecuted as heretics.
This aspect is most unfortunate, as Calvinism had just begun its
exponential rise all across Europe and within the Empire.
While all this was going on, Catholics were not sitting still.
Preoccupation with Church reform is not exclusive to Protestants.
The first Pope to seriously consider internal reform is Adrian VI.
Adrian is Dutch and is thus far removed from Italian dynastic politics that
prevented reform during the reign of Leo X.
His papacy however is short-lived, lasting from 1522 to 1523.
Adrian's reign is again followed by 11 years of ineffective Popes preoccupied
with Italian affairs.
In 1534 however, the reformer Paul III is elected, and his papacy will last for 15
years, giving him ample time to launch a vigorous reaction to Protestantism.
Paul recognizes that such things as simony, absenteeism, pluralism,
nepotism and the mass sales of indulgences cannot continue.
Therefore these aspects are purged from the Church.
Paul also recognizes the importance of education, not just for the higher
echelons of the clergy, but also for the humble parish priest, who up until now was
barely literate.
To make sure that his reforms will continue after his death, Paul only
appoints fellow reformers to the College of Cardinals.
His biggest achievement however is the Council of Trent convened in 1545.
This grand council of bishops, cardinals and religious scholars from all
across Europe lasts for 18 years, and will prove to be a milestone of
Catholicism.
The council affirms that the Bible is not the only authority in religion,
but in fact authority is shared between the Pope, the religious councils,
various Catholic traditions and the Bible.
Also they recognize that the 5th century Latin translation of the Bible is the
official one.
They reaffirm the 7 sacraments of the Church, and that salvation can be achieved
through faith and good works.
They stand by the elaborate ceremonies of the Church, as these are done to celebrate
the glory of God.
The council also stands by the concept of transubstantiation, meaning members of the
clergy do have special powers, and therefore they should have a special
status within society.
All these assertions and reassertions are very important to strengthen the base,
and to show a united front to the Protestants and also to those who are
wavering.
Parallel to the Council of Trent, a new religious order is being set up.
Ignatius of Loyola establishes the militant order of the Society of Jesus,
otherwise known as the Jesuits.
Loyola had been a soldier fighting in the Emperor's service.
After he was wounded, he withdrew to a monastery where he had a vision of God
that lasted for 8 days.
Awakened to his new purpose, Loyola writes The Spiritual Exercises, a self-help book
focusing on meditation and developing a deep religious calling.
Loyola soon gathers a cadre of loyal followers, and in 1540 Paul III grants him
permission to establish a religious order.
The Jesuits prove to be a nemesis to the Protestants.
They recognize that Protestantism grew out of the universities, therefore they place
an even greater emphasis on education.
Jesuits are like soldiers, armed with the most up-to-date knowledge and the best
debating skills.
They are often the bridge between church and state, most Catholic princes having a
Jesuit advisor or two.
In Catholic countries courts of inquisition are set up, and an index of
forbidden books is published, making sure that all future heresy is nipped in the
bud.
Protestantism is finally contained, and will not spread any further than it
already did.
But by the 1550s with the rise of Calvinism, Europe is already a powder keg
waiting to explode.
It is true that even in Catholic France and the Habsburg Netherlands there is a
sort of accommodation with Protestantism, but this does not mean religious
tolerance.
Catholics, Lutherans and Calvinists all live in the designated enclaves.
With rare exceptions like Transylvania or Poland, confessionalism becomes the norm.
This means that in Lutheran states one must agree to the points laid out in the
Augsburg Confession.
In Catholic countries one must conform to the decisions of the Council of Trent,
and in Calvinist lands one must agree to the confessions of faith of Calvin and
various other Calvinist scholars.
In the Holy Roman Empire the Peace of Augsburg will hold until 1618,
however in France and the Low Countries, Calvinists are on a collision course with
Catholics.
The French Wars of Religion and the Dutch Revolt will be followed by the bloodiest
period of European history, the Thirty Years' War.