diff options
Diffstat (limited to '18879.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 18879.txt | 31696 |
1 files changed, 31696 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/18879.txt b/18879.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9105742 --- /dev/null +++ b/18879.txt @@ -0,0 +1,31696 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Age of the Reformation, by Preserved Smith + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Age of the Reformation + + +Author: Preserved Smith + + + +Release Date: July 20, 2006 [eBook #18879] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE AGE OF THE REFORMATION*** + + +E-text prepared by Al Haines + + + +Transcriber's note: + + In the original book, its various chapters' subsections were + denoted with the "section" symbol. In this e-text, that + symbol has been replaced with the word "SECTION". Where + two of these symbols were together, they have been replaced + with the word "SECTIONS". + + Footnotes have been moved to the end of the section they + appear in, rather than to the end of the chapter containing + that section. + + The original book had many side-notes in its pages' left or + right margin areas. Some of these sidenotes were at the + beginning of a paragraph, some were placed elsewhere alongside + a paragraph, in relation to what the sidenote referred to + inside the paragraph. In this e-text, sidenotes that appeared + at the beginning of a paragraph in the original book are + placed to precede their reference paragraph. All other + sidenotes have been enclosed in square brackets and placed + into the paragraph near where they were in the original book. + + Some of the dates in this book are accompanied by a small + dagger or sword symbol, signifying the person's year of death. + Since this symbol doesn't exist in the ASCII character set, + I've substituted "d." for it. + + Page numbers in this book are indicated by numbers enclosed + in curly braces, e.g. {99}. They have been located where page + breaks occurred in the original book. This has been done only + in the book's main chapters (I-XIV), not its front matter. + For its Bibliography and its Index, page numbers have been + placed only at the start of each of those two sections. + + + + + +THE AGE OF THE REFORMATION + +by + +PRESERVED SMITH, Ph.D. + + + + + + + +New York +Henry Holt and Company + +American Historical Series +General Editor +Charles H. Haskins +Professor of History in Harvard University + +Copyright, 1920 +by +Henry Holt and Company + + + + + VITA + CARIORI + FILIOLAE + PRISCILLAE + SACRUM + + + + +PREFACE + +The excuse for writing another history of the Reformation is the need +for putting that movement in its proper relations to the economic and +intellectual revolutions of the sixteenth century. The labor of love +necessary for the accomplishment of this task has employed most of my +leisure for the last six years and has been my companion through +vicissitudes of sorrow and of joy. A large part of the pleasure +derived from the task has come from association with friends who have +generously put their time and thought at my disposal. First of all, +Professor Charles H. Haskins, of Harvard, having read the whole in +manuscript and in proof with care, has thus given me the unstinted +benefit of his deep learning, and of his ripe and sane judgment. Next +to him the book owes most to my kind friend, the Rev. Professor William +Walker Rockwell, of Union Seminary, who has added to the many other +favors he has done me a careful revision of Chapters I to VIII, Chapter +XIV, and a part of Chapter IX. Though unknown to me personally, the +Rev. Dr. Peter Guilday, of the Catholic University of Washington, +consented, with gracious, characteristic urbanity, to read Chapters VI +and VIII and a part of Chapter I. I am grateful to Professor N. S. B. +Gras, of the University of Minnesota, for reading that part of the book +directly concerned with economics (Chapter XI and a part of Chapter X); +and to Professor Frederick A. Saunders, of Harvard, for a like service +in technical revision of the section on science in Chapter XII. While +acknowledging with hearty thanks the priceless services of these +eminent scholars, it is only fair to relieve them of all responsibility +for any rash statements that may have escaped their scrutiny, as well +as for any conclusions from which they might dissent. + +For information about manuscripts and rare books in Europe my thanks +are due to my kind friends: Mr. P. S. Allen, Librarian of Merton +College, Oxford, the so successful editor of Erasmus's Epistles; and +Professor Carrington Lancaster, of Johns Hopkins University. To +several libraries I owe much for the use of books. My friend, +Professor Robert S. Fletcher, Librarian of Amherst College, has often +sent me volumes from that excellent store of books. My sister, +Professor Winifred Smith, of Vassar College, has added to many loving +services, this: that during my four years at Poughkeepsie, I was +enabled to use the Vassar library. For her good offices, as well as +for the kindness of the librarian, Miss Amy Reed, my thanks. My +father, the Rev. Dr. Henry Preserved Smith, professor and librarian at +Union Theological Seminary, has often sent me rare books from that +library; nor can I mention this, the least of his favors, without +adding that I owe to him much both of the inspiration to follow and of +the means to pursue a scholar's career. My thanks are also due to the +libraries of Columbia and Cornell for the use of books. But the work +could not easily have been done at all without the facilities offered +by the Harvard Library. When I came to Cambridge to enjoy the riches +of this storehouse, I found the great university not less hospitable to +the stranger within her gates than she is prolific in great sons. +After I was already deep in debt to the librarian, Mr. W. C. Lane, and +to many of the professors, a short period in the service of Harvard, as +lecturer in history, has made me feel that I am no longer a stranger, +but that I can count myself, in some sort, one of her citizens and +foster sons, at least a dimidiatus alumnus. + +This book owes more to my wife than even she perhaps quite realizes. +Not only has it been her study, since our marriage, to give me freedom +for my work, but her literary advice, founded on her own experience as +writer and critic, has been of the highest value, and she has carefully +read the proofs. + +PRESERVED SMITH. + +Cambridge, + Massachusetts, + May 16, 1920. + + + + +CONTENTS + + PAGE + +CHAPTER I. THE OLD AND THE NEW . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 + +1. The World. Economic changes in the later Middle Ages. Rise of the +bourgeoisie. Nationalism. Individualism. Inventions. Printing. +Exploration. Universities. + +2. The Church. The papacy. The Councils of Constance and Basle. +Savonarola. + +3. Causes of the Reformation. Corruption of the church not a main +cause. Condition of the church. Indulgences. Growth of a new type of +lay piety. Clash of the new spirit with old ideals. + +4. The Mystics. _The German Theology_. Tauler. _The Imitation of +Christ_. + +5. The Pre-reformers. Waldenses. Occam. Wyclif. Huss. + +6. Nationalizing the churches. The Ecclesia Anglicana. The Gallican +Church. German church. The Gravamina. + +7. The Humanists. Valla. Pico della Mirandola. Lefevre d'Etaples. +Colet. Reuchlin. _Epistolae Obscurorum Virorum_. Hutten. Erasmus. + + +CHAPTER II. GERMANY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 + +1. The Leader. Luther's early life. Justification by faith only. +_The Ninety-five Theses_. The Leipzig Debate. Revolutionary Pamphlets +of 1520. + +2. The Revolution. Condition of Germany. Maximilian I. Charles V. +The bull _Exsurge Domine_ burned by Luther. Luther at Worms and in the +Wartburg. Turmoil of the radicals. The Revolt of the Knights. +Efforts at Reform at the Diets of Nuremberg 1522-4. The Peasants' +Revolt: economic causes, propaganda, course of the war, suppression. + +3. Formation of the Protestant Party. Defection of the radicals: the +Anabaptists. Defection of the intellectuals: Erasmus. The +Sacramentarian Schism: Zwingli. Growth of the Lutheran party among the +upper and middle classes. Luther's ecclesiastical polity. Accession +of many Free Cities, of Ernestine Saxony, Hesse, Prussia. Balance of +Power. The Recess of Spires 1529; the Protest. + +4. Growth of Protestantism until the death of Luther. Diet of Augsburg +1530: the Confession. Accessions to the Protestant cause. Religious +negotiations. Luther's last years, death and character. + +5. Religious War and Religious Peace. The Schmalkaldic War. The +Interim. The Peace of Augsburg 1555. Catholic reaction and Protestant +schisms. + +6. Note on Scandinavia, Poland and Hungary. + + +CHAPTER III. SWITZERLAND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146 + +1. Zwingli. The Swiss Confederacy. Preparation for the Reformation. +Zwingli's early life. Reformation at Zurich. Defeat of Cappel. + +2. Calvin. Farel. Calvin's early life. _The Institutes of the +Christian Religion_. Reformation at Geneva. Theocracy. The +Libertines. Servetus. Character and influence of Calvin. + + +CHAPTER IV. FRANCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182 + +1. Renaissance and Reformation. Condition of France. Francis I. War +with Charles. The Christian Renaissance. Lutheranism. Defection of +the humanists. + +2. The Calvinist Party. Henry II. Expansion of France. Growth and +persecution of Calvinism. + +3. The Wars of Religion. Catharine de' Medicis. Massacre of Vassy. +The Huguenot rebellion. Massacre of St. Bartholomew. The League. +Henry IV. Edict of Nantes. Failure of Protestantism to conquer France. + + +CHAPTER V. THE NETHERLANDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234 + +1. The Lutheran Reform. The Burgundian State. Origins of the +Reformation. Persecution. The Anabaptists. + +2. The Calvinist Revolt. National feeling against Spain. Financial +difficulties of Philip II. Egmont and William of Orange. The new +bishoprics. The Compromise. The "Beggars." Alva's reign of terror. +Requesens. Siege of Leyden. The Revolt of the North. Division of the +Netherlands. Farnese. The Dutch Republic. + + +CHAPTER VI. ENGLAND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277 + +1. Henry VIII and the National Church. Character of Henry VIII. +Foreign policy. Wolsey. Early Lutheranism. Tyndale's New +Testament. Tracts. Anticlerical feeling. Divorce of Catharine of +Aragon. The Submission of the Clergy. The Reformation Parliament +1520-30. Act in Restraint of Appeals. Act of Succession. Act of +Supremacy. Cranmer. Execution of More. Thomas Cromwell. Dissolution +of the monasteries. Union of England and Wales. Alliance with the +Schmalkaldic League. Articles of Faith. The Pilgrimage of Grace. +Catholic reaction. War. Bankruptcy. + +2. The Reformation under Edward VI. Somerset Regent. Repeal of the +treason and heresy laws. Rapid growth of Protestant opinion. The Book +of Common Prayer. Social disorders. Conspiracy of Northumberland and +Suffolk. + +3. The Catholic reaction under Mary. Proclamation of Queen Jane. +Accession and policy of Mary. Repeal of Reforming Acts. Revival of +Treason Laws. The Protestant Martyrs. + +4. The Elizabethan Settlement 1558-88. Policy of Elizabeth. +Respective numbers of Catholics and Protestants. Conversion of the +masses. _The Thirty-nine Articles_. The Church of England. Underhand +war with Spain. Rebellion of the Northern Earls. Execution of Mary +Stuart. The Armada. The Puritans. + +5. Ireland. + + +CHAPTER VII. SCOTLAND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350 + +Backward condition of Scotland. Relations with England. Cardinal +Beaton. John Knox. Battle of Pinkie. Knox in Scotland. The Common +Band. Iconoclasm. Treaty of Edinburgh. The Religious Revolution. +Confession of Faith. Queen Mary's crimes and deposition. Results of +the Reformation. + + +CHAPTER VIII. THE COUNTER-REFORMATION . . . . . . . . . . 371 + +1. Italy. The pagan Renaissance; the Christian Renaissance. Sporadic +Lutheranism. + +2. The Papacy 1521-90. The Sack of Rome. Reforms. + +3. The Council of Trent. First Period (1545-7). Second Period +(1551-2). Third Period (1562-3). Results. + +4. The Company of Jesus. New monastic orders. Loyola. _The Spiritual +Exercises_. Rapid growth and successes of the Jesuits. Their final +failure. + +5. The Inquisition and the Index. The medieval Inquisition. The +Spanish Inquisition. The Roman Inquisition. Censorship of the press. +_The Index of Prohibited Books_. + + +CHAPTER IX. THE IBERIAN PENINSULA AND THE EXPANSION + OF EUROPE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425 + +1. Spain. Unification of Spain under Ferdinand and Isabella. Charles +V. Revolts of the Communes and of the Hermandad. Constitution of +Spain. The Spanish empire. Philip II. The war with the Moriscos. +The Armada. + +2. Exploration. Columbus. Conquest of Mexico and of Peru. +Circumnavigation of the globe. Portuguese exploration to the East. +Brazil. Decadence of Portugal. Russia. The Turks. + + +CHAPTER X. SOCIAL CONDITIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451 + +1. Population. + +2. Wealth and Prices. Increase of wealth in modern times. Prices and +wages in the Sixteenth Century. Value of money. Trend of prices. + +3. Social Institutions. The monarchy, the Council of state, the +Parliament. Public finance. Maintenance of Order. Sumptuary laws and +"blue laws." The army. The navy. + +4. Private life and manners. The nobility; the professions; the +clergy. The city, the house, dress, food, drink. Sports. Manners. +Morals. Position of Women. Health. + + +CHAPTER XI. THE CAPITALISTIC REVOLUTION . . . . . . . . . 515 + +1. The Rise of the Power of Money. Rise of capitalism. Banking. +Mining. Commerce. Manufacture. Agriculture. + +2. The Rise of the Money Power. Ascendancy of the bourgeoisie over the +nobility, clergy, and proletariat. Class wars. Regulation of Labor. +Pauperism. + + +CHAPTER XII. MAIN CURRENTS OF THOUGHT . . . . . . . . . 563 + +1. Biblical and classical scholarship. Greek and Hebrew Bibles. +Translations. The classics. The vernaculars. + +2. History. Humanistic history and church history. + +3. Political theory. The state as power: Machiavelli. Constitutional +liberty: Erasmus, Luther, Calvin, Hotman, Mornay, Bodin, Buchanan. +Radicals: the _Utopia_. + +4. Science. Inductive method. Mathematics. Zooelogy. Anatomy. +Physics. Geography. Astronomy; Copernicus. Reform of the calendar. + +5. Philosophy. The Catholic and Protestant thinkers. Skeptics. +Effect of the Copernican theory: Bruno. + + +CHAPTER XIII. THE TEMPER OF THE TIMES . . . . . . . . . 641 + +1. Tolerance and Intolerance. Effect of the Renaissance and +Reformation. + +2. Witchcraft. Causes of the mania. Protests against it. + +3. Education. Schools. Effect of the Reformation. Universities. + +4. Art. The ideals expressed. Painting. Architecture. Music. +Effect of the Reformation and Counter-reformation. + +5. Reading. Number of books. Typical themes. Greatness of the +Sixteenth Century. + + +CHAPTER XIV. THE REFORMATION INTERPRETED . . . . . . . 699 + +1. The Religious and Political Interpretations. Burnet, Bossuet, +Sleidan, Sarpi. + +2. The Rationalist Critique. Montesquieu, Voltaire, Robertson, Hume, +Gibbon, Goethe, Lessing. + +3. The Liberal-Romantic Appreciation. Heine, Michelet, Froude, Hegel, +Ranke, Buckle. + +4. The Economic and Evolutionary Interpretations. Marx, Lamprecht, +Berger, Weber, Nietzsche, Troeltsch, Santayana, Harnack, Beard, +Janssen, Pastor, Acton. + +5. Concluding Estimate. + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 751 + +INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 819 + + + + +{3} + +THE AGE OF THE REFORMATION + + +CHAPTER I + +THE OLD AND THE NEW + +SECTION 1. THE WORLD. + +Though in some sense every age is one of transition and every +generation sees the world remodelled, there sometimes comes a change so +startling and profound that it seems like the beginning of a new season +in the world's great year. The snows of winter melt for weeks, the +cold winds blow and the cool rains fall, and we see no change until, +almost within a few days, the leaves and blossoms put forth their +verdure, and the spring has come. + +Such a change in man's environment and habits as the world has rarely +seen, took place in the generation that reached early manhood in the +year 1500. [Sidenote: 1483-1546] In the span of a single life--for +convenience let us take that of Luther for our measure--men discovered, +not in metaphor but in sober fact, a new heaven and a new earth. In +those days masses of men began to read many books, multiplied by the +new art of printing. In those days immortal artists shot the world +through with a matchless radiance of color and of meaning. In those +days Vasco da Gama and Columbus and Magellan opened the watery ways to +new lands beyond the seven seas. In those days Copernicus established +the momentous truth that the earth was but a tiny planet spinning +around a vastly greater sun. In those days was in large part +accomplished the economic shift from medieval gild to modern production +by capital and wages. In those days wealth was piled up in the coffers +of the merchants, and a new power was {4} given to the life of the +individual, of the nation, and of the third estate. In those days the +monarchy of the Roman church was broken, and large portions of her +dominions seceded to form new organizations, governed by other powers +and animated by a different spirit. + +[Sidenote: Antecedents of the Reformation] + +Other generations have seen one revolution take place at a time, the +sixteenth century saw three, the Rise of Capitalism, the end of the +Renaissance, and the beginning of the Reformation. All three, +interacting, modifying each other, conflicting as they sometimes did, +were equally the consequences, in different fields, of antecedent +changes in man's circumstances. All life is an adaptation to +environment; and thus from every alteration in the conditions in which +man lives, usually made by his discovery of new resources or of +hitherto unknown natural laws, a change in his habits of life must +flow. Every revolution is but an adjustment to a fresh situation, +intellectual or material, or both. + +[Sidenote: Economic] + +Certainly, economic and psychological factors were alike operative in +producing the three revolutions. The most general economic force was +the change from "natural economy" to "money economy," _i.e._ from a +society in which payments were made chiefly by exchange of goods, and +by services, to one in which money was both the agent of exchange and +standard of value. In the Middle Ages production had been largely +co-operative; the land belonged to the village and was apportioned out +to each husbandman to till, or to all in common for pasture. +Manufacture and commerce were organized by the gild--a society of +equals, with the same course of labor and the same reward for each, and +with no distinction save that founded on seniority--apprentice, +workman, master-workman. But {5} in the later Middle Ages, and more +rapidly at their close, this system broke down under the necessity for +larger capital in production and the possibility of supplying it by the +increase of wealth and of banking technique that made possible +investment, rapid turn-over of capital, and corporate partnership. The +increase of wealth and the changed mode of its production has been in +large part the cause of three developments which in their turn became +causes of revolution: the rise of the bourgeoisie, of nationalism, and +of individualism. + +[Sidenote: The bourgeoisie] + +Just as the nobles were wearing away in civil strife and were seeing +their castles shot to pieces by cannon, just as the clergy were wasting +in supine indolence and were riddled by the mockery of humanists, there +arose a new class, eager and able to take the helm of civilization, the +moneyed men of city and of trade. _Nouveaux riches_ as they were, they +had an appetite for pleasure and for ostentation unsurpassed by any, a +love for the world and an impatience of the meek and lowly church, with +her ideal of poverty and of chastity. In their luxurious and leisured +homes they sheltered the arts that made life richer and the philosophy, +or religion, that gave them a good conscience in the work they loved. +Both Renaissance and Reformation were dwellers in the cities and in the +marts of commerce. + +[Sidenote: National states] + +It was partly the rise of the third estate, but partly also cultural +factors, such as the perfecting of the modern tongues, that made the +national state one of the characteristic products of modern times. +Commerce needs order and strong government; the men who paid the piper +called the tune; police and professional soldiery made the state, once +so racked by feudal wars, peaceful at home and dreaded abroad. If the +consequence of this was an increase in royal power, the kings were +among those who had greatness thrust upon them, rather than achieving +it for themselves. {6} They were but the symbols of the new, proudly +conscious nation, and the police commissioners of the large bankers and +traders. + +[Sidenote: Individualism] + +The reaction of nascent capitalism on the individual was no less marked +than on state and society, though it was not the only cause of the new +sense of personal worth. Just as the problems of science and of art +became most alluring, the man with sufficient leisure and resource to +solve them was developed by economic forces. In the Middle Ages men +had been less enterprising and less self-conscious. Their thought was +not of themselves as individuals so much as of their membership in +groups. The peoples were divided into well-marked estates, or classes; +industry was co-operative; even the great art of the cathedrals was +rather gild-craft than the expression of a single genius; even learning +was the joint property of universities, not the private accumulation of +the lone scholar. But with every expansion of the ego either through +the acquisition of wealth or of learning or of pride in great exploits, +came a rising self-consciousness and self-confidence, and this was the +essence of the individualism so often noted as one of the contrasts +between modern and medieval times. The child, the savage, and to a +large extent the undisciplined mind in all periods of life and of +history, is conscious only of object; the trained and leisured +intellect discovers, literally by "reflection," the subjective. He is +then no longer content to be anything less than himself, or to be lost +in anything greater. + +Just as men were beginning again to glory in their own powers came a +series of discoveries that totally transformed the world they lived in. +So vast a change is made in human thought and habit by some apparently +trivial technical inventions that it sometimes {7} seems as if the race +were like a child that had boarded a locomotive and half accidentally +started it, but could neither guide nor stop it. Civilization was born +with the great inventions of fire, tools, the domestication of +[Sidenote: Inventions] animals, writing, and navigation, all of them, +together with important astronomical discoveries, made prior to the +beginnings of recorded history. On this capital mankind traded for +some millenniums, for neither classic times nor the Dark Ages added +much to the practical sciences. But, beginning with the thirteenth +century, discovery followed discovery, each more important in its +consequences than its last. One of the first steps was perhaps the +recovery of lost ground by the restoration of the classics. Gothic art +and the vernacular literatures testify to the intellectual activity of +the time, but they did not create the new elements of life that were +brought into being by the inventors. + +What a difference in private life was made by the introduction of +chimneys and glass windows, for glass, though known to antiquity, was +not commonly applied to the openings that, as the etymology of the +English word implies, let in the wind! By the fifteenth century the +power of lenses to magnify and refract had been utilized, as mirrors, +then as spectacles, to be followed two centuries later by telescopes +and microscopes. Useful chemicals were now first applied to various +manufacturing processes, such as the tinning of iron. The compass, +with its weird power of pointing north, guided the mariner on uncharted +seas. The obscure inventor of gunpowder revolutionized the art of war +more than all the famous conquerors had done, and the polity of states +more than any of the renowned legislators of antiquity. The equally +obscure inventor of mechanical clocks--a great improvement on the {8} +older sand-glasses, water-glasses, and candles--made possible a new +precision and regularity of daily life, an untold economy of time and +effort. + +[Sidenote: Printing] + +But all other inventions yield to that of printing, the glory of John +Gutenberg of Mayence, one of those poor and in their own times obscure +geniuses who carry out to fulfilment a great idea at much sacrifice to +themselves. The demand for books had been on the increase for a long +time, and every effort was made to reproduce them as rapidly and +cheaply as possible by the hand of expert copyists, but the +applications of this method produced slight result. The introduction +of paper, in place of the older vellum or parchment, furnished one of +the indispensable pre-requisites to the multiplication of cheap +volumes. In the early fifteenth century, the art of the wood-cutter +and engraver had advanced sufficiently to allow some books to be +printed in this manner, _i.e._ from carved blocks. This was usually, +or at first, done only with books in which a small amount of text went +with a large amount of illustration. There are extant, for example, +six editions of the _Biblia Pauperum_, stamped by this method. It was +afterwards applied, chiefly in Holland, to a few other books for which +there was a large demand, the Latin grammar of Donatus, for example, +and a guide-book to Rome known as the _Mirabilia Urbis Romae_. But at +best this method was extremely unsatisfactory; the blocks soon wore +out, the text was blurred and difficult to read, the initial expense +was large. + +The essential feature of Gutenberg's invention was therefore not, as +the name implies, printing, or impression, but typography, or the use +of type. The printer first had a letter cut in hard metal, this was +called the punch; with it he stamped a mould known as the {9} matrix in +which he was able to found a large number of exactly identical types of +metal, usually of lead. + +These, set side by side in a case, for the first time made it possible +satisfactorily to print at reasonable cost a large number of copies of +the same text, and, when that was done, the types could be taken apart +and used for another work. + +The earliest surviving specimen of printing--not counting a few undated +letters of indulgence--is a fragment on the last judgment completed at +Mayence before 1447. In 1450 Gutenberg made a partnership with the +rich goldsmith John Fust, and from their press issued, within the next +five years, the famous Bible with 42 lines to a page, and a Donatus +(Latin grammar) of 32 lines. The printer of the Bible with 36 lines to +a page, that is the next oldest surviving monument, was apparently a +helper of Gutenberg, who set up an independent press in 1454. Legible, +clean-cut, comparatively cheap, these books demonstrated once for all +the success of the new art, even though, for illuminated initials, they +were still dependent on the hand of the scribe. + +[Sidenote: Books and Reading] + +In those days before patents the new invention spread with wonderful +rapidity, reaching Italy in 1465, Paris in 1470, London in 1480, +Stockholm in 1482, Constantinople in 1487, Lisbon in 1490, and Madrid +in 1499. Only a few backward countries of Europe remained without a +press. By the year 1500 the names of more than one thousand printers +are known, and the titles of about 30,000 printed works. Assuming that +the editions were small, averaging 300 copies, there would have been in +Europe by 1500 about 9,000,000 books, as against the few score thousand +manuscripts that lately had held all the precious lore of time. In a +few years the price of books sank to one-eighth of what it had been +before. "The gentle reader" had started on his career. + +{10} The importance of printing cannot be over-estimated. There are +few events like it in the history of the world. The whole gigantic +swing of modern democracy and of the scientific spirit was released by +it. The veil of the temple of religion and of knowledge was rent in +twain, and the arcana of the priest and clerk exposed to the gaze of +the people. The reading public became the supreme court before whom, +from this time, all cases must be argued. The conflict of opinions and +parties, of privilege and freedom, of science and obscurantism, was +transferred from the secret chamber of a small, privileged, +professional, and sacerdotal coterie to the arena of the reading public. + +[Sidenote: Exploration] + +It is amazing, but true, that within fifty years after this exploit, +mankind should have achieved another like unto it in a widely different +sphere. The horror of the sea was on the ancient world; a heart of oak +and triple bronze was needed to venture on the ocean, and its +annihilation was one of the blessings of the new earth promised by the +Apocalypse. All through the centuries Europe remained sea-locked, +until the bold Portuguese mariners venturing ever further and further +south along the coast of Africa, finally doubled the Cape of Good +Hope--a feat first performed by Bartholomew Diaz in 1486, though it was +not until 1498 that Vasco da Gama reached India by this method. + +Still unconquered lay the stormy and terrible Atlantic, + + "Where, beyond the extreme sea-wall, + and between the remote sea-gates, + Waste water washes, and tall ships founder, + and deep death waits." + +But the ark of Europe found her dove--as the name Columbus +signifies--to fly over the wild, western {11} waves, and bring her news +of strange countries. The effect of these discoveries, enormously and +increasingly important from the material standpoint, was first felt in +the widening of the imagination. Camoens wrote the epic of Da Gama, +More placed his Utopia in America, and Montaigne speculated on the +curious customs of the redskins. Ariosto wrote of the wonders of the +new world in his poem, and Luther occasionally alluded to them in his +sermons. + +[Sidenote: Universities] + +If printing opened the broad road to popular education, other and more +formal means to the same end were not neglected. One of the great +innovations of the Middle Ages was the university. These permanent +corporations, dedicated to the advancement of learning and the +instruction of youth, first arose, early in the twelfth century, at +Salerno, at Bologna and at Paris. As off-shoots of these, or in +imitation of them, many similar institutions sprang up in every land of +western Europe. The last half of the fifteenth century was especially +rich in such foundations. In Germany, from 1450 to 1517, no less than +nine new academies were started: Greifswald 1456, Freiburg in the +Breisgau 1460, Basle 1460, Ingolstadt 1472, Treves 1473, Mayence 1477, +Tuebingen 1477, Wittenberg 1502, and Frankfort on the Oder 1506. Though +generally founded by papal charter, and maintaining a strong +ecclesiastical flavor, these institutions were under the direction of +the civil government. + +In France three new universities opened their doors during the same +period: Valence 1459, Nantes 1460, Bourges 1464. These were all placed +under the general supervision of the local bishops. The great +university of Paris was gradually changing its character. From the +most cosmopolitan and international of bodies it was fast becoming +strongly nationalist, and was the chief center of an Erastian +Gallicanism. Its {12} tremendous weight cast against the Reformation +was doubtless a chief reason for the failure of that movement in France. + +Spain instituted seven new universities at this time: Barcelona 1450, +Saragossa 1474, Palma 1483, Sigueenza 1489, Alcala 1499, Valencia 1500, +and Seville 1504. Italy and England remained content with the +academies they already had, but many of the smaller countries now +started native universities. Thus Pressburg was founded in Hungary in +1465, Upsala in Sweden in 1477, Copenhagen in 1478, Glasgow in 1450, +and Aberdeen in 1494. The number of students in each foundation +fluctuated, but the total was steadily on the increase. + +Naturally, the expansion of the higher education brought with it an +increase in the number and excellence of the schools. Particularly +notable is the work of the Brethren of the Common Life, who devoted +themselves almost exclusively to teaching boys. Some of their schools, +as Deventer, attained a reputation like that of Eton or Rugby today. + +The spread of education was not only notable in itself, but had a more +direct result in furnishing a shelter to new movements until they were +strong enough to do without such support. It is significant that the +Reformations of Wyclif, Huss, and Luther, all started in universities. + +[Sidenote: Growth of intelligence] + +As the tide rolls in, the waves impress one more than the flood beneath +them. Behind, and far transcending, the particular causes of this and +that development lies the operation of great biological laws, selecting +a type for survival, transforming the mind and body of men slowly but +surely. Whether due to the natural selection of circumstance, or to +the inward urge of vital force, there seems to be no doubt that the +average intellect, not of leading thinkers or of select groups, {13} +but of the European races as a whole, has been steadily growing greater +at every period during which it can be measured. Moreover, the +monastic vow of chastity tended to sterilize and thus to eliminate the +religiously-minded sort. Operating over a long period, and on both +sexes, this cause of the growing secularization of the world, though it +must not be exaggerated, cannot be overlooked. + + +SECTION 2. THE CHURCH + +Over against "the world," "the church." . . . As the Reformation was +primarily a religious movement, some account of the church in the later +Middle Ages must be given. How Christianity was immaculately conceived +in the heart of the Galilean carpenter and born with words of beauty +and power such as no other man ever spoke; how it inherited from him +its background of Jewish monotheism and Hebrew Scripture; how it was +enriched, or sophisticated, by Paul, who assimilated it to the current +mysteries with their myth of a dying and rising god and of salvation by +sacramental rite; how it decked itself in the white robes of Greek +philosophy and with many a gewgaw of ceremony and custom snatched from +the flamen's vestry; how it created a pantheon of saints to take the +place of the old polytheism; how it became first the chaplain and then +the heir of the Roman Empire, building its church on the immovable rock +of the Eternal City, asserting like her a dominion without bounds of +space or time; how it conquered and tamed the barbarians;--all this +lies outside the scope of the present work to describe. But of its +later fortunes some brief account must be given. + +[Sidenote: Innocent III 1198-1216] + +By the year 1200 the popes, having emerged triumphant from their long +strife with the German emperors, successfully asserted their claim to +the {14} suzerainty of all Western Europe. Innocent III took realms in +fief and dictated to kings. The pope, asserting that the spiritual +power was as much superior to the civil as the sun was brighter than +the moon, acted as the vicegerent of God on earth. But this supremacy +did not last long unquestioned. Just a century after Innocent III, +Boniface VIII [Sidenote: Boniface VIII 1294-1303] was worsted in a +quarrel with Philip IV of France, and his successor, Clement V, a +Frenchman, by transferring the papal capital to Avignon, virtually made +the supreme pontiffs subordinate to the French government and thus +weakened their influence in the rest of Europe. This "Babylonian +Captivity" [Sidenote: The Babylonian Captivity 1309-76] was followed by +a greater misfortune to the pontificate, the Great Schism, [Sidenote: +The Great Schism 1378-1417] for the effort to transfer the papacy back +to Rome led to the election of two popes, who, with their successors, +respectively ruled and mutually anathematized each other from the two +rival cities. The difficulty of deciding which was the true successor +of Peter was so great that not only were the kingdoms of Europe divided +in their allegiance, but doctors of the church and canonized saints +could be found among the supporters of either line. There can be no +doubt that respect for the pontificate greatly suffered by the schism, +which was in some respects a direct preparation for the greater +division brought about by the Protestant secession. + +[Sidenote: Councils--Pisa, 1409, Constance, 1414-18] + +The attempt to end the schism at the Council of Pisa resulted only in +the election of a third pope. The situation was finally dealt with by +the Council of Constance which deposed two of the popes and secured the +voluntary abdication of the third. The synod further strengthened the +church by executing the heretics Huss and Jerome of Prague, and by +passing decrees intended to put the government of the church in the +hands of representative assemblies. It asserted that it {15} had power +directly from Christ, that it was supreme in matters of faith, and in +matters of discipline so far as they affected the schism, and that the +pope could not dissolve it without its own consent. By the decree +_Frequens_ it provided for the regular summoning of councils at short +intervals. Beyond this, other efforts to reform the morals of the +clergy proved abortive, for after long discussion nothing of importance +was done. + +For the next century the policy of the popes was determined by the wish +to assert their superiority over the councils. The Synod of Basle +[Sidenote: Basle 1431-43] reiterated all the claims of Constance, and +passed a number of laws intended to diminish the papal authority and to +deprive the pontiff of much of his ill-gotten revenues--annates, fees +for investiture, and some other taxes. It was successful for a time +because protected by the governments of France and Germany, for, though +dissolved by Pope Eugene IV in 1433, it refused to listen to his +command and finally extorted from him a bull ratifying the conciliar +claims to supremacy. + +In the end, however, the popes triumphed. The bull _Execrabilis_ +[Sidenote: 1458] denounced as a damnable abuse the appeal to a future +council, and the _Pastor Aeternus_ [Sidenote: 1516] reasserted in +sweeping terms the supremacy of the pope, repealing all decrees of +Constance and Basle to the contrary, as well as other papal bulls. + +[Sidenote: The secularization of the papacy] + +At Rome the popes came to occupy the position of princes of one of the +Italian states, and were elected, like the doges of Venice, by a small +oligarchy. Within seventy years the families of Borgia, Piccolomini, +Rovere, and Medici were each represented by more than one pontiff, and +a majority of the others were nearly related by blood or marriage to +one of these great stocks. The cardinals were appointed from the +pontiff's sons or nephews, and the numerous other {16} offices in their +patronage, save as they were sold, were distributed to personal or +political friends. + +Like other Italian princes the popes became, in the fifteenth century, +distinguished patrons of arts and letters. The golden age of the +humanists at Rome began under Nicholas V [Sidenote: Nicholas V 1447-55] +who employed a number of them to make translations from Greek. It is +characteristic of the complete secularization of the States of the +Church that a number of the literati pensioned by him were skeptics and +scoffers. Valla, who mocked the papacy, ridiculed the monastic orders, +and attacked the Bible and Christian ethics, was given a prebend; +Savonarola, the most earnest Christian of his age, was put to death. + +[Sidenote: 1453] + +The fall of Constantinople gave a certain European character to the +policy of the pontiffs after that date, for the menace of the Turk +seemed so imminent that the heads of Christendom did all that was +possible to unite the nations in a crusade. This was the keynote of +the statesmanship of Calixtus III [Sidenote: Calixtus III 1455-8] and +of his successor, Pius II. [Sidenote: Pius II 1458-64] Before his +elevation to the see of Peter this talented writer, known to literature +as Aeneas Sylvius, had, at the Council of Basle, published a strong +argument against the extreme papal claims, which he afterwards, as +pope, retracted. His zeal against the Turk and against his old friends +the humanists lent a moral tone to his pontificate, but his feeble +attempts to reform abuses were futile. + +[Sidenote: Paul II 1464-71] + +The colorless reign of Paul II was followed by that of Sixtus IV, +[Sidenote: Sixtus IV 1471-84] a man whose chief passion was the +aggrandizement of his family. He carried nepotism to an extreme and by +a policy of judicial murder very nearly exterminated his rivals, the +Colonnas. + +[Sidenote: Innocent VIII 1484-92] + +The enormous bribes paid by Innocent VIII for his election were +recouped by his sale of offices and spiritual graces, and by taking a +tribute from the Sultan, {17} in return for which he refused to +proclaim a crusade. The most important act of his pontificate was the +publication of the bull against witchcraft. + +[Sidenote: Alexander VI 1492-1503] + +The name of Alexander VI has attained an evil eminence of infamy on +account of his own crimes and vices and those of his children, Caesar +Borgia and Lucretia. One proof that the public conscience of Italy, +instead of being stupified by the orgy of wickedness at Rome was rather +becoming aroused by it, is found in the appearance, just at this time, +of a number of preachers of repentance. These men, usually friars, +started "revivals" marked by the customary phenomena of sudden +conversion, hysteria, and extreme austerity. The greatest of them all +was the Dominican Jerome Savonarola [Sidenote: Savonarola] who, though +of mediocre intellectual gifts, by the passionate fervor of his +convictions, attained the position of a prophet at Florence. He began +preaching here in 1482, and so stirred his audiences that many wept and +some were petrified with horror. His credit was greatly raised by his +prediction of the invasion of Charles VIII of France in 1494. He +succeeded in driving out the Medici and in introducing a new +constitution of a democratic nature, which he believed was directly +sanctioned by God. He attacked the morals of the clergy and of the +people and, besides renovating his own order, suppressed not only +public immorality but all forms of frivolity. The people burned their +cards, false hair, indecent pictures, and the like; many women left +their husbands and entered the cloister; gamblers were tortured and +blasphemers had their tongues pierced. A police was instituted with +power of searching houses. + +It was only the pope's fear of Charles VIII that prevented his dealing +with this dangerous reformer, who now began to attack the vices of the +curia. In 1495, however, the friar was summoned to Rome, and {18} +refused to go; he was then forbidden to preach, and disobeyed. In Lent +1496 he proclaimed the duty of resisting the pope when in error. In +November a new brief proposed changes in the constitution of his order +which would bring him more directly under the power of Rome. +Savonarola replied that he did not fear the excommunication of the +sinful church, which, when launched against him May 12, 1497, only made +him more defiant. Claiming to be commissioned directly from God, he +appealed to the powers to summon a general council against the pope. + +At this juncture one of his opponents, a Franciscan, Francis da Puglia, +proposed to him the ordeal by fire, stating that though he expected to +be burnt he was willing to take the risk for the sake of the faith. +The challenge refused by Savonarola was taken up by his friend Fra +Domenico da Peseta, and although forbidden by Alexander, the ordeal was +sanctioned by the Signory and a day set. A dispute as to whether +Domenico should be allowed to take the host or the crucifix into the +flames prevented the experiment from taking place, and the mob, furious +at the loss of its promised spectacle, refused further support to the +discredited leader. For some years, members of his own order, who +resented the severity of his reform, had cherished a grievance against +him, and now they had their chance. Seized by the Signory, he was +tortured and forced to confess that he was not a prophet, and on May +22, 1498, was condemned, with two companions, to be hung. After the +speedy execution of the sentence, which the sufferers met calmly, their +bodies were burnt. All effects of Savonarola's career, political, +moral, and religious, shortly disappeared. + +Alexander was followed by a Rovere who took the name of Julius II. +[Sidenote: Julius II 1503-13] Notwithstanding his advanced age this +pontiff proved one of the most vigorous and able {19} statesman of the +time and devoted himself to the aggrandizement, by war and diplomacy, +of the Papal States. He did not scruple to use his spiritual thunders +against his political enemies, as when he excommunicated the Venetians. +[Sidenote: 1509] He found himself at odds with both the Emperor +Maximilian and Louis XII of France, who summoned a schismatic council +at Pisa. [Sidenote: 1511] Supported by some of the cardinals this +body revived the legislation of Constance and Basle, but fell into +disrepute when, by a master stroke of policy, Julius convoked a council +at Rome. [Sidenote: 1512-16] This synod, the Fifth Lateran, lasted +for four years, and endeavored to deal with a crusade and with reform. +All its efforts at reform proved abortive because they were either +choked, while in course of discussion, by the Curia, or, when passed, +were rendered ineffective by the dispensing power. + +[Sidenote: Leo X 1513-21] + +While the synod was still sitting Julius died and a new pope was +chosen. This was the son of Lorenzo the Magnificent, the Medici Leo X. +Having taken the tonsure at the age of seven, and received the red hat +six years later, he donned the tiara at the early age of thirty-eight. +His words, as reported by the Venetian ambassador at Rome, "Let us +enjoy the papacy, since God has given it to us," exactly express his +program. To make life one long carnival, to hunt game and to witness +comedies and the antics of buffoons, to hear marvellous tales of the +new world and voluptuous verses of the humanists and of the great +Ariosto, to enjoy music and to consume the most delicate viands and the +most delicious wines--this was what he lived for. Free and generous +with money, he prodigally wasted the revenues of three pontificates. +Spending no less than 6000 ducats a month on cards and gratuities, he +was soon forced to borrow to the limit of his credit. Little recked he +that Germany was being {20} reft from the church by a poor friar. His +irresolute policy was incapable of pursuing any public end +consistently, save that he employed the best Latinists of the time to +give elegance to his state papers. His method of governing was the +purely personal one, to pay his friends and flatterers at the expense +of the common good. One of his most characteristic letters expresses +his intention of rewarding with high office a certain gentleman who had +given him a dinner of lampreys. + + +SECTION 3. CAUSES OF THE REFORMATION + +[Sidenote: Corruption of the church not a main cause of the Reformation] + +In the eyes of the early Protestants the Reformation was a return to +primitive Christianity and its principal cause was the corruption of the +church. That there was great depravity in the church as elsewhere cannot +be doubted, but there are several reasons for thinking that it could not +have been an important cause for the loss of so many of her sons. In the +first place there is no good ground for believing that the moral +condition of the priesthood was worse in 1500 than it had been for a long +time; indeed, there is good evidence to the contrary, that things were +tending to improve, if not at Rome yet in many parts of Christendom. If +objectionable practices of the priests had been a sufficient cause for +the secession of whole nations, the Reformation would have come long +before it actually did. Again, there is good reason to doubt that the +mere abuse of an institution has ever led to its complete overthrow; as +long as the institution is regarded as necessary, it is rather mended +than ended. Thirdly, many of the acts that seem corrupt to us, gave +little offence to contemporaries, for they were universal. If the church +sold offices and justice, so did the civil governments. If the clergy +lived impure lives, so did the laity. Probably the standard of the {21} +church (save in special circumstances) was no worse than that of civil +life, and in some respects it was rather more decent. Finally, there is +some reason to suspect of exaggeration the charges preferred by the +innovators. Like all reformers they made the most of their enemy's +faults. Invective like theirs is common to every generation and to all +spheres of life. It is true that the denunciation of the priesthood +comes not only from Protestants and satirists, but from popes and +councils and canonized saints, and that it bulks large in medieval +literature. Nevertheless, it is both _a priori_ probable and to some +extent historically verifiable that the evil was more noisy, not more +potent, than the good. But though the corruptions of the church were not +a main cause of the Protestant secession, they furnished good excuses for +attack; the Reformers were scandalized by the divergence of the practice +and the pretensions of the official representatives of Christianity, and +their attack was envenomed and the break made easier thereby. It is +therefore necessary to say a few words about those abuses at which public +opinion then took most offence. + +[Sidenote: Abuses: Financial] + +Many of these were connected with money. The common man's conscience was +wounded by the smart in his purse. The wealth of the church was +enormous, though exaggerated by those contemporaries who estimated it at +one-third of the total real estate of Western Europe. In addition to +revenues from her own land the church collected tithes and taxes, +including "Peter's pence" in England, Scandinavia and Poland. The clergy +paid dues to the curia, among them the _servitia_ charged on the bishops +and the annates levied on the income of the first year for each appointee +to high ecclesiastical office, and the price for the archbishop's pall. +The priests recouped themselves by charging high fees for their +ministrations. At a time {22} when the Christian ideal was one of +"apostolic poverty" the riches of the clergy were often felt as a scandal +to the pious. + +[Sidenote: Simony] + +Though the normal method of appointment to civil office was sale, it was +felt as a special abuse in the church and was branded by the name of +simony. Leo X made no less than 500,000 ducats[1] annually from the sale +of more than 2000 offices, most of which, being sinecures, eventually +came to be regarded as annuities, with a salary amounting to about 10 per +cent. of the purchase price. + +Justice was also venal, in the church no less than in the state. Pardon +was obtainable for all crimes for, as a papal vice-chamberlain phrased +it, "The Lord wishes not the death of a sinner but that he should pay and +live." Dispensations from the laws against marriage within the +prohibited degrees were sold. Thus an ordinary man had to pay 16 +grossi[2] for dispensation to marry a woman who stood in "spiritual +relationship" [3] to him; a noble had to pay 20 grossi for the same +privilege, and a prince or duke 30 grossi. First cousins might marry for +the payment of 27 grossi; an uncle and niece for from three to four +ducats, though this was later raised to as much as sixty ducats, at least +for nobles. Marriage within the first degree of affinity (a deceased +wife's mother or daughter by another husband) was at one time sold for +about ten ducats; marriage within the second degree[4] was {23} permitted +for from 300 to 600 grossi. Hardly necessary to add, as was done: "Note +well, that dispensations or graces of this sort are not given to poor +people." [5] Dispensations from vows and from the requirements of +ecclesiastical law, as for example those relating to fasting, were also +to be obtained at a price. + +[Sidenote: Indulgences] + +One of the richest sources of ecclesiastical revenue was the sale of +indulgences, or the remission by the pope of the temporal penalties of +sin, both penance in this life and the pains of purgatory. The practice +of giving these pardons first arose as a means of assuring heaven to +those warriors who fell fighting the infidel. In 1300 Boniface VIII +granted a plenary indulgence to all who made the pilgrimage to the +jubilee at Rome, and the golden harvest reaped on this occasion induced +his successors to take the same means of imparting spiritual graces to +the faithful at frequent intervals. In the fourteenth century the +pardons were extended to all who contributed a sum of money to a pious +purpose, whether they came to Rome or not, and, as the agents who were +sent out to distribute these pardons were also given power to confess and +absolve, the papal letters were naturally regarded as no less than +tickets of admission to heaven. In the thirteenth century the +theologians had discovered that there was at the disposal of the church +and her head an abundant "treasury of the merits of Christ and the +saints," which might be applied vicariously to anyone by the pope. In +the fifteenth century the claimed power to free living men from purgatory +was extended to the {24} dead, and this soon became one of the most +profitable branches of the "holy trade." + +The means of obtaining indulgences varied. Sometimes they were granted +to those who made a pilgrimage or who would read a pious book. Sometimes +they were used to raise money for some public work, a hospital or a +bridge. But more and more they became an ordinary means for raising +revenue for the curia. How thoroughly commercialized the business of +selling grace and remission of the penalties of sin had become is shown +by the fact that the agents of the pope were often bankers who organized +the sales on purely business lines in return for a percentage of the net +receipts plus the indirect profits accruing to those who handle large +sums. Of the net receipts the financiers usually got about ten per +cent.; an equal amount was given to the emperor or other civil ruler for +permitting the pardoners to enter his territory, commissions were also +paid to the local bishop and clergy, and of course the pedlars of the +pardons received a proportion of the profits in order to stimulate their +zeal. On the average from thirty to forty-five per cent. of the gross +receipts were turned into the Roman treasury. + +It is natural that public opinion should have come to regard indulgences +with aversion. Their bad moral effect was too obvious to be disregarded, +the compounding with sin for a payment destined to satisfy the greed of +unscrupulous prelates. Their economic effects were also noticed, the +draining of the country of money with which further to enrich a corrupt +Italian city. Many rulers forbade their sale in their territories, +because, as Duke George of Saxony, a good Catholic, expressed it, before +Luther was heard of, "they cheated the simple layman of his soul." +Hutten mocked at Pope Julius II for selling to others the heaven he could +not win himself. Pius II [Sidenote 1458-64] was obliged {25} to confess: +"If we send ambassadors to ask aid of the princes, they are mocked; if we +impose a tithe on the clergy, appeal is made to a future council; if we +publish an indulgence and invite contributions in return for spiritual +favors, we are charged with greed. People think all is done merely for +the sake of extorting money. No one trusts us. We have no more credit +than a bankrupt merchant." + +[Sidenote: Immorality of clergy] + +Much is said in the literature of the latter Middle Ages about the +immorality of the clergy. This class has always been severely judged +because of its high pretensions. Moreover the vow of celibacy was too +hard to keep for most men and for some women; that many priests, monks +and nuns broke it cannot be doubted. And yet there was a sprinkling of +saintly parsons like him of whom Chancer [Transcriber's note: Chaucer?] +said + + "Who Christes lore and his apostles twelve + He taught, but first he folwed it himselve," + +and there were many others who kept up at least the appearance of +decency. But here, as always, the bad attracted more attention than the +good. + +The most reliable data on the subject are found in the records of church +visitations, both those undertaken by the Reformers and those +occasionally attempted by the Catholic prelates of the earlier period. +Everywhere it was proved that a large proportion of the clergy were both +wofully ignorant and morally unworthy. Besides the priests who had +concubines, there were many given to drink and some who kept taverns, +gaming rooms and worse places. Plunged in gross ignorance and +superstition, those blind leaders of the blind, who won great reputations +as exorcists or as wizards, were unable to understand the Latin service, +and sometimes to repeat even the Lord's prayer or creed in any language. + +{26} + +[Sidenote: Piety] + +The Reformation, like most other revolutions, came not at the lowest ebb +of abuse, but at a time when the tide had already begun to run, and to +run strongly, in the direction of improvement. One can hardly find a +sweeter, more spiritual religion anywhere than that set forth in +Erasmus's _Enchiridion_, or in More's _Utopia_, or than that lived by +Vitrier and Colet. Many men, who had not attained to this conception of +the true beauty of the gospel, were yet thoroughly disgusted with things +as they were and quite ready to substitute a new and purer conception and +practice for the old, mechanical one. + +Evidence for this is the popularity of the Bible and other devotional +books. Before 1500 there were nearly a hundred editions of the Latin +Vulgate, and a number of translations into German and French. There were +also nearly a hundred editions, in Latin and various vernaculars, of _The +Imitation of Christ_. There was so flourishing a crop of devotional +handbooks that no others could compete with them in popularity. For +those who could not read there were the _Biblia Pauperum_, picture-books +with a minimum of text, and there were sermons by popular preachers. If +some of these tracts and homilies were crude and superstitious, others +were filled with a spirit of love and honesty. Whereas the passion for +pilgrimages and relics seemed to increase, there were men of clear vision +to denounce the attendant evils. A new feature was the foundation of lay +brotherhoods, like that of the Common Life, with the purpose of +cultivating a good character in the world, and of rendering social +service. The number of these brotherhoods was great and their popularity +general. + +[Sidenote: Clash of new spirit with old institutions] + +Had the forces already at work within the church been allowed to operate, +probably much of the moral reform desired by the best Catholics would +have been {27} accomplished quietly without the violent rending of +Christian unity that actually took place. But the fact is, that such +reforms never would or could have satisfied the spirit of the age. Men +were not only shocked by the abuses in the church, but they had outgrown +some of her ideals. Not all of her teaching, nor most of it, had become +repugnant to them, for it has often been pointed out that the Reformers +kept more of the doctrines of Catholicism than they threw away, but in +certain respects they repudiated, not the abuse but the very principle on +which the church acted. In four respects, particularly the ideals of the +new age were incompatible with those of the Roman communion. + +[Sidenote: Sacramental theory of the church] + +The first of these was the sacramental theory of salvation and its +corollary, the sacerdotal power. According to Catholic doctrine grace is +imparted to the believer by means of certain rites: baptism, +confirmation, the eucharist, penance, extreme unction, holy orders, and +matrimony. Baptism is the necessary prerequisite to the enjoyment of the +others, for without it the unwashed soul, whether heathen or child of +Christian parents, would go to eternal fire; but the "most excellent of +the sacraments" is the eucharist, in which Christ is mysteriously +sacrificed by the priest to the Father and his body and blood eaten and +drunk by the worshippers. Without these rites there was no salvation, +and they acted automatically (_ex opere operato_) on the soul of the +faithful who put no active hindrance in their way. Save baptism, they +could be administered only by priests, a special caste with "an indelible +character" marking them off from the laity. Needless to remark the +immense power that this doctrine gave the clergy in a believing age. +They were made the arbiters of each man's eternal destiny, and their +moral character had no more to do with their binding and loosing sentence +than does the moral {28} character of a secular officer affect his +official acts. Add to this that the priests were unbound by ties of +family, that by confession they entered into everyone's private life, +that they were not amenable to civil justice--and their position as a +privileged order was secure. The growing self-assurance and +enlightenment of a nascent individualism found this distinction +intolerable. + +[Sidenote: Other-worldliness] + +Another element of medieval Catholicism to clash with the developing +powers of the new age was its pessimistic and ascetic other-worldliness. +The ideal of the church was monastic; all the pleasures of this world, +all its pomps and learning and art were but snares to seduce men from +salvation. Reason was called a barren tree but faith was held to blossom +like the rose. Wealth was shunned as dangerous, marriage deprecated as a +necessary evil. Fasting, scourging, celibacy, solitude, were cultivated +as the surest roads to heaven. If a good layman might barely shoulder +his way through the strait and narrow gate, the highest graces and +heavenly rewards were vouchsafed to the faithful monk. All this grated +harshly on the minds of the generations that began to find life glorious +and happy, not evil but good. + +[Sidenote: Worship of saints] + +Third, the worship of the saints, which had once been a stepping-stone to +higher things, was now widely regarded as a stumbling-block. Though far +from a scientific conception of natural law, many men had become +sufficiently monistic in their philosophy to see in the current +hagiolatry a sort of polytheism. Erasmus freely drew the parallel +between the saints and the heathen deities, and he and others scourged +the grossly materialistic form which this worship often took. If we may +believe him, fugitive nuns prayed for help in hiding their sin; merchants +for a rich haul; gamblers for luck; and prostitutes for generous {29} +patrons. Margaret of Navarre tells as an actual fact of a man who prayed +for help in seducing his neighbor's wife, and similar instances of +perverted piety are not wanting. The passion for the relics of the +saints led to an enormous traffic in spurious articles. There appeared +to be enough of the wood of the true cross, said Erasmus, to make a ship; +there were exhibited five shin-bones of the ass on which Christ rode, +whole bottles of the Virgin's milk, and several complete bits of skin +saved from the circumcision of Jesus. + +[Sidenote: Temporal power of the church] + +Finally, patriots were no longer inclined to tolerate the claims of the +popes to temporal power. The church had become, in fact, an +international state, with its monarch, its representative legislative +assemblies, its laws and its code. It was not a voluntary society, for +if citizens were not born into it they were baptized into it before they +could exercise any choice. It kept prisons and passed sentence +(virtually if not nominally) of death; it treated with other governments +as one power with another; it took principalities and kingdoms in fief. +It was supported by involuntary contributions.[6] + +The expanding world had burst the bands of the old church. It needed a +new spiritual frame, and this frame was largely supplied by the +Reformation. Prior to that revolution there had been several distinct +efforts to transcend or to revolt from the limitations imposed by the +Catholic faith; this was done by the mystics, by the pre-reformers, by +the patriots and by the humanists. + + + +[1] A ducat was worth intrinsically $2.25, or nine shillings, at a time +when money had a much greater purchasing power than it now has. + +[2] The grossus, English groat, German Groschen, was a coin which varied +considerably in value. It may here be taken as intrinsically worth about +8 cents or four pence, at a time when money had many times the purchasing +power that it now has. + +[3] A spiritual relationship was established if a man and woman were +sponsors to the same child at baptism. + +[4] Presumably of affinity, i.e., a wife's sister, but there is nothing +to show that this law did not also apply to consanguinity, and at one +time the pope proposed that the natural son of Henry VIII, the Duke of +Richmond, should marry his half sister, Mary. + +[5] "Nota diligenter, quod huiusmodi gratiae et dispensationes non +conceduntur pauperibus." _Taxa cancellariae apostolicae_, in E. +Friedberg: _Lerbuch des katholischen und evangelischen Kirchenrechts_, +1903, pp. 389 ff. + +[6] Maitland: _Canon Law in the Church of England_, p. 100. + + +SECTION 4. THE MYSTICS + +One of the earliest efforts to transcend the economy of salvation +offered by the church was made by a school of mystics in the fourteenth +and fifteenth {30} century. In this, however, there was protest +neither against dogma nor against the ideal of other-worldliness, for +in these respects the mystics were extreme conservatives, more +religious than the church herself. They were like soldiers who +disregarded the orders of their superiors because they thought these +orders interfered with their supreme duty of harassing the enemy. With +the humanists and other deserters they had no part nor lot; they sought +to make the church more spiritual, not more reasonable. They bowed to +her plan for winning heaven at the expense of earthly joy and glory; +they accepted her guidance without question; they rejoiced in her +sacraments as aids to the life of holiness. But they sorrowed to see +what they considered merely the means of grace substituted for the end +sought; they were insensibly repelled by finding a mechanical instead +of a personal scheme of salvation, an almost commercial debit and +credit of good works instead of a life of spontaneous and devoted +service. Feeling as few men have ever felt that the purpose and heart +of religion is a union of the soul with God, they were shocked to see +the interposition of mediators between him and his creature, to find +that instead of hungering for him men were trying to make the best +bargain they could for their own eternal happiness. While rejecting +nothing in the church they tried to transfigure everything. Accepting +priest and sacrament as aids to the divine life they declined to regard +them as necessary intermediaries. + +[Sidenote: Eckhart, 1260-1327] + +The first of the great German mystics was Master Eckhart, a Dominican +who lived at Erfurt, in Bohemia, at Paris, and at Cologne. The +inquisitors of this last place summoned him before their court on the +charge of heresy, but while his trial was pending he died. He was a +Christian pantheist, teaching that God was the only true being, and +that man was capable of reaching {31} the absolute. Of all the mystics +he was the most speculative and philosophical. Both Henry Suso and +John Tauler were his disciples. [Sidenote: Suso, 1300-66] Suso's +ecstatic piety was of the ultra-medieval type, romantic, poetic, and +bent on winning personal salvation by the old means of severe +self-torture and the constant practice of good works. Tauler, a +Dominican of Strassburg, belonged to a society known as The Friends of +God. [Sidenote: Tauler c. 1300-61] Of all his contemporaries he in +religion was the most social and practical. His life was that of an +evangelist, preaching to laymen in their own vernacular the gospel of a +pure life and direct communion with God through the Bible and prayer. +Like many other popular preachers he placed great emphasis on +conversion, the turning (_Kehr_) from a bad to a good life. Simple +faith is held to be better than knowledge or than the usual works of +ecclesiastical piety. Tauler esteemed the holiest man he had ever seen +one who had never heard five sermons in his life. All honest labor is +called God's service, spinning and shoe-making the gifts of the Holy +Spirit. Pure religion is to be "drowned in God," "intoxicated with +God," "melted in the fire of his love." Transcending the common view +of the average Christian that religion's one end was his own salvation, +Tauler taught him that the love of God was greater than this. He tells +of a woman ready to be damned for the glory of God--"and if such a +person were dragged into the bottom of hell, there would be the kingdom +of God and eternal bliss in hell." + +One of the fine flowers of German mysticism is a book written +anonymously--"spoken by the Almighty, Eternal God, through a wise, +understanding, truly just man, his Friend, a priest of the Teutonic +Order at Frankfort." _The German Theology_, [Sidenote: _The German +Theology_] as it was named by Luther, teaches in its purest form entire +abandonment to God, simple passivity in his hands, utter {32} +self-denial and self-surrender, until, without the interposition of any +external power, and equally without effort of her own, the soul shall +find herself at one with the bridegroom. The immanence of God is +taught; man's helpless and sinful condition is emphasized; and the +reconciliation of the two is found only in the unconditional surrender +of man's will to God. "Put off thine own will and there will be no +hell." + +Tauler's sermons, first published 1498, had an immense influence on +Luther. They were later taken up by the Jesuit Canisius who sought by +them to purify his church. [Sidenote: 1543] _The German Theology_ was +first published by Luther in 1516, with the statement that save the +Bible and St. Augustine's works, he had never met with a book from +which he had learned so much of the nature of "God, Christ, man, and +all things." But other theologians, both Protestant and Catholic, did +not agree with him. Calvin detected secret and deadly poison in the +author's pantheism, and in 1621 the Catholic Church placed his work on +the Index. + +The Netherlands also produced a school of mystics, later in blooming +than that of the Germans and greater in its direct influence. The +earliest of them was John of Ruysbroeck, a man of visions and +ecstasies. [Sidenote: Ruysbroeck, 1293-1381] He strove to make his +life one long contemplation of the light and love of God. Two younger +men, Gerard Groote and Florence Radewyn, socialized his gospel by +founding the fellowship of the Brethren of the Common Life. [Sidenote: +Groote, 1340-84] [Sidenote: Radewyn, 1350-1400] Though never an order +sanctioned by the church, they taught celibacy and poverty, and devoted +themselves to service of their fellows, chiefly in the capacity of +teachers of boys. + +The fifteenth century's rising tide of devotion brought forth the most +influential of the products of all the mystics, the _Imitation of +Christ_ by Thomas a Kempis. [Sidenote: Thomas a Kempis, c. 1380-1471] +Written in a plaintive minor key of {33} resignation and pessimism, it +sets forth with much artless eloquence the ideal of making one's +personal life approach that of Christ. Humility, self-restraint, +asceticism, patience, solitude, love of Jesus, prayer, and a diligent +use of the sacramental grace of the eucharist are the means recommended +to form the character of the perfect Christian. It was doubtless +because all this was so perfect an expression of the medieval ideal +that it found such wide and instant favor. There is no questioning of +dogma, nor any speculation on the positions of the church; all this is +postulated with child-like simplicity. Moreover, the ideal of the +church for the salvation of the individual, and the means supposed to +secure that end, are adopted by a Kempis. He tacitly assumes that the +imitator of Christ will be a monk, poor and celibate. His whole +endeavor was to stimulate an enthusiasm for privation and a taste for +things spiritual, and it was because in his earnestness and +single-mindedness he so largely succeeded that his book was eagerly +seized by the hands of thousands who desired and needed such +stimulation and help. The Dutch canon was not capable of rising to the +heights of Tauler and the Frankfort priest, who saw in the love of God +a good in itself transcending the happiness of one's own soul. He just +wanted to be saved and tried to love God for that purpose with all his +might. But this careful self-cultivation made his religion +self-centered; it was, compared even with the professions of the +Protestants and of the Jesuits, personal and unsocial. + +Notwithstanding the profound differences between the Mystics and the +Reformers, it is possible to see that at least in one respect the two +movements were similar. It was exactly the same desire to get away +from the mechanical and formal in the church's scheme of salvation, +that animated both. Tauler and Luther {34} both deprecated good works +and sought justification in faith only. Important as this is, it is +possible to see why the mystics failed to produce a real revolt from +the church, and it is certain that they were far more than the +Reformers fundamentally, even typically Catholic. [Sidenote: +Mysticism] It is true that mysticism is at heart always one, neither +national nor confessional. But Catholicism offered so favorable a +field for this development that mysticism may be considered as the +efflorescence of Catholic piety _par excellence_. Hardly any other +expression of godliness as an individual, vital thing, was possible in +medieval Christendom. There is not a single idea in the fourteenth and +fifteenth century mysticism which cannot be read far earlier in +Augustine and Bernard, even in Aquinas and Scotus. It could never be +anything but a sporadic phenomenon because it was so intensely +individual. While it satisfied the spiritual needs of many, it could +never amalgamate with other forces of the time, either social or +intellectual. As a philosophy or a creed it led not so much to +solipsism as to a complete abnegation of the reason. Moreover it was +slightly morbid, liable to mistake giddiness of starved nerve and +emotion for a moment of vision and of union with God. How much more +truly than he knew did Ruysbroeck speak when he said that the soul, +turned inward, could see the divine light, just as the eyeball, +sufficiently pressed, could see the flashes of fire in the mind! + + +SECTION 5. PRE-REFORMERS + +The men who, in later ages, claimed for their ancestors a Protestantism +older than the Augsburg Confession, referred its origins not to the +mystics nor to the humanists, but to bold leaders branded by the church +as heretics. Though from the earliest age Christendom never lacked +minds independent enough {35} to differ from authority and characters +strong enough to attempt to cut away what they considered rotten in +ecclesiastical doctrine and practice, the first heretics that can +really be considered as harbingers of the Reformation were two sects +dwelling in Southern France, the Albigenses and the Waldenses. +[Sidenote: Albigenses] The former, first met with in the eleventh +century, derived part of their doctrines from oriental Manichaeism, +part from primitive gnosticism. The latter were the followers of Peter +Waldo, a rich merchant of Lyons who, about 1170, sold his goods and +went among the poor preaching the gospel. [Sidenote: Waldenses] +Though quite distinct in origin both sects owed their success with the +people to their attacks on the corrupt lives of the clergy, to their +use of the vernacular New Testament, to their repudiation of part of +the sacramental system, and to their own earnest and ascetic morality. +The story of their savage suppression, at the instigation of Pope +Innocent III, [Sidenote: 1209-29] in the Albigensian crusade, is one of +the darkest blots on the pages of history. A few remnants of them +survived in the mountains of Savoy and Piedmont, harried from time to +time by blood-thirsty pontiffs. In obedience to a summons of Innocent +VIII King Charles VIII of France massacred many of them. [Sidenote: +1437] + +The spiritual ancestors of Luther, however, were not so much the French +heretics as two Englishmen, Occam and Wyclif. [Sidenote: Occam, d. c. +1349] William of Occam, a Franciscan who taught at Oxford, was the +most powerful scholastic critic of the existing church. Untouched by +the classic air breathed by the humanists, he said all that could be +said against the church from her own medieval standpoint. He taught +determinism; he maintained that the final seat of authority was the +Scripture; he showed that such fundamental dogmas as the existence of +God, the Trinity, and the Incarnation, cannot be deduced by logic from +the given premises; he {36} proposed a modification of the doctrine of +transubstantiation in the interests of reason, approaching closely in +his ideas to the "consubstantiation" of Luther. Defining the church as +the congregation of the faithful, he undermined her governmental +powers. This, in fact, is just what he wished to do, for he went ahead +of almost all his contemporaries in proposing that the judicial powers +of the clergy be transferred to the civil government. Not only, in his +opinion, should the civil ruler be totally independent of the pope, but +even such matters as the regulation of marriage should be left to the +common law. + +[Sidenote: Wyclif, 1324-84] + +A far stronger impression on his age was made by John Wyclif, the most +significant of the Reformers before Luther. He, too, was an Oxford +professor, a schoolman, and a patriot, but he was animated by a deeper +religious feeling than was Occam. In 1361 he was master of Balliol +College, where he lectured for many years on divinity. At the same +time he held various benefices in turn, the last, the pastorate of +Lutterworth in Leicestershire, from 1374 till his death. He became a +reformer somewhat late in life owing to study of the Bible and of the +bad condition of the English church. [Sidenote: 1374] At the peace +congress at Bruges as a commissioner to negotiate with papal +ambassadors for the relief of crying abuses, he became disillusioned in +his hope for help from that quarter. He then turned to the civil +government, urging it to regain the usurped authority of the church. +This plan, set forth in voluminous writings, in lectures at Oxford and +in popular sermons in London, soon brought him before the tribunal +[Sidenote: 1377] of William Courtenay, Bishop of London, and, had he +not been protected by the powerful prince, John of Lancaster, it might +have gone hard with him. Five bulls launched against him by Gregory XI +from Rome only confirmed him in his course, for he {37} appealed from +them to Parliament. Tried at Lambeth he was forbidden to preach or +teach, and he therefore retired for the rest of his life to +Lutterworth. [Sidenote: 1378] He continued his literary labors, +resulting in a vast host of pamphlets. + +Examining his writings we are struck by the fact that his program was +far more religious and practical than rational and speculative. Save +transubstantiation, he scrupled at none of the mysteries of +Catholicism. It is also noticeable that social reform left him cold. +When the laborers rose under Wat Tyler, [Sidenote: 1381] Wyclif sided +against them, as he also proposed that confiscated church property be +given rather to the upper classes than to the poor. The real +principles of Wyclif's reforms were but two: to abolish the temporal +power of the church, and to purge her of immoral ministers. It was for +this reason that he set up the authority of Scripture against that of +tradition; it was for this that he doubted the efficacy of sacraments +administered by priests living in mortal sin; it was for this that he +denied the necessity of auricular confession; it was for this that he +would have placed the temporal power over the spiritual. The bulk of +his writings, in both Latin and English, is fierce, measureless abuse +of the clergy, particularly of prelates and of the pope. The head of +Christendom is called Antichrist over and over again; the bishops, +priests and friars are said to have their lips full of lies and their +hands of blood; to lead women astray; to live in idleness, luxury, +simony and deceit; and to devour the English church. Marriage of the +clergy is recommended. Indulgences are called a cursed robbery. + +To combat the enemies of true piety Wyclif relied on two agencies. The +first was the Bible, which, with the assistance of friends, he +Englished from the {38} Vulgate. None of the later Reformers was more +bent upon giving the Scriptures to the laity, and none attributed to it +a higher degree of inspiration. As a second measure Wyclif trained +"poor priests" to be wandering evangelists spreading abroad the message +of salvation among the populace. For a time they attained considerable +success, notwithstanding the fact that the severe persecution to which +they were subjected caused all of Wyclif's personal followers to +recant. [Sidenote: 1401] The passage of the act _De Haeretico +Comburendo_ was not, however, in vain, for in the fifteenth century a +number of common men were found with sufficient resolution to die for +their faith. It is probable that, as Cuthbert Tunstall, Bishop of +London wrote in 1523, the Lollards, as they were called, were the first +to welcome Lutheranism into Britain. + +But if the seed produced but a moderate harvest in England it brought +forth a hundred-fold in Bohemia. Wyclif's writings, carried by Czech +students from Oxford to Prague, were eagerly studied by some of the +attendants at that university, the greatest of whom was John Huss. +[Sidenote: Huss, 1369-1415] Having taken his bachelor's degree there +in 1393, he had given instruction since 1398 and became the head of the +university (Rector) for the year 1402. Almost the whole content of his +lectures, as of his writings, was borrowed from Wyclif, from whom he +copied not only his main ideas but long passages verbatim and without +specific acknowledgment. Professors and students of his own race +supported him, but the Germans at the university took offence and a +long struggle ensued, culminating in the secession of the Germans in a +body in 1409 to found a new university at Leipsic. The quarrel, having +started over a philosophic question,--Wyclif and Huss being realists +and the Germans nominalists,--took a more serious turn when it came to +a definition of the church {39} and of the respective spheres of the +civil and ecclesiastical authorities. Defining the church as the body +of the predestinate, and starting a campaign against indulgences, Huss +soon fell under the ban of his superiors. After burning the bulls of +John XXIII Huss withdrew from Prague. Summoned to the Council of +Constance, he went thither, under safe-conduct from the Emperor +Sigismund, and was immediately cast into a noisome dungeon. [Sidenote: +1411, 1412] + +[Sidenote: 1414] + +The council proceeded to consider the opinions of Wyclif, condemning +260 of his errors and ordering his bones to be dug up and burnt, as was +done twelve years later. Every effort was then made to get Huss to +recant a list of propositions drawn up by the council and attributed to +him. Some of these charges were absurd, as that he was accused of +calling himself the fourth person of the Trinity. Other opinions, like +the denial of transubstantiation, he declared, and doubtless with +truth, that he had never held. Much was made of his saying that he +hoped his soul would be with the soul of Wyclif after death, and the +emperor was alarmed by his argument that neither priest nor king living +in mortal sin had a right to exercise his office. He was therefore +condemned to the stake. + +His death was perfect. His last letters are full of calm resolution, +love to his friends, and forgiveness to his enemies. Haled to the +cathedral where the council sat on July 6, 1415, he was given one last +chance to recant and save his life. Refusing, he was stripped of his +vestments, and a paper crown with three demons painted on it put on his +head with the words, "We commit thy soul to the devil"; he was then led +to the public square and burnt alive. Sigismund, threatened by the +council, made no effort to redeem his safe-conduct, and in September +the reverend fathers passed a decree that no safe-conduct to a heretic, +and {40} no pledge prejudicial to the Catholic faith, could be +considered binding. Among the large concourse of divines not one voice +was raised against this treacherous murder. + +Huss's most prominent follower, Jerome of Prague, after recantation, +returned to his former position and was burnt at Constance on May 30, +1416. A bull of 1418 ordered the similar punishment of all heretics +who maintained the positions of Wyclif, Huss, or Jerome of Prague. + +As early as September a loud remonstrance against the treatment of +their master was voiced by the Bohemian Diet. The more radical party, +known as Taborites, rejected transubstantiation, worship of the saints, +prayers for the dead, indulgences, auricular confession, and oaths. +They allowed women to preach, demanded the use of the vernacular in +divine service and the giving of the cup to the laity. A crusade was +started against them, but they knew how to defend themselves. The +Council of Basle [Sidenote: 1431-6] was driven to negotiate with them +and ended by a compromise allowing the cup to the laity and some other +reforms. Subsequent efforts to reduce them proved futile. Under King +Podiebrad the Ultraquists maintained their rights. + +Some Hussites, however, continued as a separate body, calling +themselves Bohemian Brethren. First met with in 1457 they continue to +the present day as Moravians. They were subject to constant +persecution. In 1505 the Catholic official James Lilienstayn drew up +an interesting list of their errors. It seems that their cardinal +tenet was the supremacy of Scripture, without gloss, tradition, or +interpretation by the Fathers of the church. They rejected the primacy +of the pope, and all ceremonies for which authority could not be found +in the Bible, and they denied the efficacy of masses for the dead and +the validity of indulgences. + +{41} With much reason Wyclif and Huss have been called "Reformers +before the Reformation." Luther himself, not knowing the Englishman, +recognized his deep indebtedness to the Bohemian. All of their +program, and more, he carried through. His doctrine of justification +by faith only, with its radical transformation of the sacramental +system, cannot be found in these his predecessors, and this was a +difference of vast importance. + + +SECTION 6. NATIONALIZING THE CHURCHES + +Inevitably, the growth of national sentiment spoken of above reacted on +the religious institutions of Europe. Indeed, it was here that the +conflict of the international, ecclesiastical state, and of the secular +governments became keenest. Both kings and people wished to control +their own spiritual affairs as well as their temporalities. + +[Sidenote: The ecclesia Anglicana] + +England traveled farthest on the road towards a national church. For +three centuries she had been asserting the rights of her government to +direct spiritual as well as temporal matters. The Statute of Mortmain +[Sidenote: 1279] forbade the alienation of land from the jurisdiction +of the civil power by appropriating it to religious persons. The +withdrawing of land from the obligation to pay taxes and feudal dues +was thus checked. The encroachment of the civil power, both in England +and France, was bitterly felt by the popes. Boniface VIII endeavored +to stem the flood by the bull _Clericis laicos_ [Sidenote: 1296] +forbidding the taxation of clergy by any secular government, and the +bull _Unam Sanctam_ [Sidenote: 1302] asserting the universal monarchy +of the Roman pontiff in the strongest possible terms. But these +exorbitant claims were without effect. The Statute of Provisors +[Sidenote: 1351 and 1390] forbade the appointment to English benefices +by the pope, and the Statute of Praemunire [Sidenote: 1353 and 1393] +took away the right of {42} English subjects to appeal from the courts +of their own country to Rome. The success of Wyclif's movement was +largely due to his patriotism. Though the signs of strife with the +pope were fewer in the fifteenth century, there is no doubt that the +national feeling persisted. + +[Sidenote: The Gallican Church] + +France manifested a spirit of liberty hardly less fierce than that of +England. It was the French King Philip the Fair who humiliated +Boniface VIII so severely that he died of chagrin. During almost the +whole of the fourteenth century the residence of a pope subservient to +France at Avignon prevented any difficulties, but no sooner had the +Council of Constance restored the head of the unified church to Rome +than the old conflict again burst forth. [Sidenote: 1438] The extreme +claims of the Gallican church were asserted in the law known as the +Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges, by which the pope was left hardly any +right of appointment, of jurisdiction, or of raising revenue in France. +The supremacy of a council over the pope was explicitly asserted, as +was the right of the civil magistrate to order ecclesiastical affairs +in his dominions. When the pontiffs refused to recognize this almost +schismatical position taken by France, the Pragmatic Sanction was +further fortified by a law sentencing to death any person who should +bring into the country a bull repugnant to it. Strenuous efforts of +the papacy were directed to secure the repeal of this document, and in +1461 Pius II induced Louis XI to revoke it in return for political +concessions in Naples. This action, opposed by the University and +Parlement of Paris, proved so unpopular that two years later the +Gallican liberties were reasserted in their full extent. + +Harmony was established between the interests of the curia and of the +French government by the compromise known as the Concordat of Bologna. +[Sidenote: 1516] The {43} concessions to the king were so heavy that +it was difficult for Leo X to get his cardinals to consent to them. +Almost the whole power of appointment, of jurisdiction, and of taxation +was put into the royal hands, some stipulations being made against the +conferring of benefices on immoral priests and against the frivolous +imposition of ecclesiastical punishments. What the pope gained was the +abandonment of the assertion made at Bourges of the supremacy of a +general council. The Concordat was greeted by a storm of protest in +France. The Sorbonne refused to recognize it and appealed at once to a +general council. The king, however, had the refractory members +arrested and decreed the repeal of the Pragmatic Sanction in 1518. + +In Italy and Germany the growth of a national state [Sidenote: Italy] +was retarded by the fact that one was the seat of the pope, the other +of the emperor, each of them claiming a universal authority. Moreover, +these two powers were continually at odds. The long investiture +strife, culminating in the triumph of Gregory VII at Canossa [Sidenote: +1077] and ending in the Concordat of Worms, [Sidenote: 1122] could not +permanently settle the relations of the two. Whereas Aquinas and the +Canon Law maintained the superiority of the pope, there were not +lacking asserters of the imperial preeminence. William of Occam's +argument to prove that the emperor might depose an heretical pope was +taken up by Marsiglio of Padua, whose _Defender of the Peace_ +[Sidenote: c. 1324] ranks among the ablest of political pamphlets. In +order to reduce the power of the pope, whom he called "the great dragon +and old serpent," he advanced the civil government to a complete +supremacy in ecclesiastical affairs. He stated that the only authority +in matters of faith was the Bible, with the necessary interpretation +given it by a general council composed of both clergy and laymen; that +the emperor had the right to convoke and {44} direct this council and +to punish all priests, prelates and the supreme pontiff; that the Canon +Law had no validity; that no temporal punishment should be visited on +heresy save by the state, and no spiritual punishment be valid without +the consent of the state. + +[Sidenote: Germany] + +With such a weapon in their hands the emperors might have taken an even +stronger stand than did the kings of England and France but for the +lack of unity in their dominions. Germany was divided into a large +number of practically independent states. It was in these and not in +the empire as a whole that an approach was made to a form of national +church, such as was realized after Luther had broken the bondage of +Rome. When Duke Rudolph IV of Austria in the fourteenth century stated +that he intended to be pope, archbishop, archdeacon and dean in his own +land, when the dukes of Bavaria, Saxony and Cleves made similar boasts, +they but put in a strong form the program that they in part realized. +The princes gradually acquired the right of patronage to church +benefices, and they permitted no bulls to be published, no indulgences +sold, without their permission. The Free Cities acted in much the same +way. The authority of the German states over their own spiritualities +was no innovation of the heresy of Wittenberg. + +For all Germany's internal division there was a certain national +consciousness, due to the common language. In no point were the people +more agreed than in their opposition to the rule of the Italian Curia. +[Sidenote: 1382] At one time the monasteries of Cologne signed a +compact to resist Gregory XI in a proposed levy of tithes, stating +that, "in consequence of the exactions by which the Papal Court burdens +the clergy the Apostolic See has fallen into contempt and the Catholic +faith in these parts seems to be seriously imperiled." Again, {45} a +Knight of the Teutonic Order in Prussia [Sidenote: 1430] wrote: "Greed +reigns supreme in the Roman Court, and day by day finds new devices and +artifices for extorting money from Germany under pretext of +ecclesiastical fees. Hence arise much outcry, complaint and +heart-burning. . . . Many questions about the papacy will be answered, +or else obedience will ultimately be entirely renounced to escape from +these outrageous exactions of the Italians." + +The relief expected from the Council of Basle failed, and abuses were +only made worse by a compact between Frederick III and Nicholas V, +known as the Concordat of Vienna. [Sidenote: 1448] This treaty was by +no means comparable with the English and French legislation, but was +merely a division of the spoils between the two supreme rulers at the +expense of the people. The power of appointment to high ecclesiastical +positions was divided, annates were confirmed, and in general a +considerable increase of the authority of the Curia was established. + +Protests began at once in the form of "Gravamina" or lists of +grievances drawn up at each Diet as a petition, and in part enacted +into laws. In 1452 the Spiritual Electors demanded that the emperor +proceed with reform on the basis of the decrees of Constance. In 1457 +the clergy refused to be taxed for a crusade. In 1461 the princes +appealed against the sale of indulgences. The Gravamina of this year +were very bitter, complaining of the practice of usury by priests, of +the pomp of the cardinals and of the pope's habit of giving promises of +preferment to certain sees and then declaring the places vacant on the +plea of having made a "mental reservation" in favor of some one else. +The Roman clergy were called in this bill of grievances "public +fornicators, keepers of concubines, ruffians, pimps and sinners in +various other {46} respects." Drastic proposals of reform were +defeated by the pope. + +[Sidenote: Gravamina] + +The Gravamina continued. Those of 1479 appealed against the Mendicant +Orders and against the appointment of foreigners. They clamored for a +new council and for reform on the basis of the decrees of Basle; they +protested against judicial appeals to Rome, against the annates and +against the crusade tax. It was stated that the papal appointees were +rather fitted to be drivers of mules than pastors of souls. Such words +found a reverberating echo among the people. The powerful pen of +Gregory of Heimburg, sometimes called "the lay Luther," roused his +countrymen to a patriotic stand against the Italian usurpation. + +The Diet of 1502 resolved not to let money raised by indulgences leave +Germany, but to use it against the Turks. Another long list of +grievances relating to the tyranny and extortion of Rome was presented +in 1510. The acts of the Diet of Augsburg in the summer of 1518 are +eloquent testimony to the state of popular feeling when Luther had just +begun his career. To this Diet Leo X sent as special legate Cardinal +Cajetan, requesting a subsidy for a crusade against the Turk. It was +proposed that an impost of ten per cent. be laid on the incomes of the +clergy and one of five per cent. on the rich laity. This was refused +on account of the grievances of the nation against the Curia, and +refused in language of the utmost violence. It was stated that the +real enemy of Christianity was not the Turk but "the hound of hell" in +Rome. Indulgences were branded as blood-letting. + +When such was the public opinion it is clear that Luther only touched a +match to a heap of inflammable material. The whole nationalist +movement redounded to the benefit of Protestantism. The state-churches +of {47} northern Europe are but the logical development of previous +separatist tendencies. + + +SECTION 7. THE HUMANISTS + +But the preparation for the great revolt was no less thorough on the +intellectual than it was on the religious and political sides. The +revival of interest in classical antiquity, aptly known as the +Renaissance, brought with it a searching criticism of all medieval +standards and, most of all, of medieval religion. The Renaissance +stands in the same relationship to the Reformation that the so-called +"Enlightenment" stands to the French Revolution. The humanists of the +fifteenth century were the "philosophers" of the eighteenth. + +The new spirit was born in Italy. If we go back as far as Dante +[Sidenote: Dante, 1265-1321] we find, along with many modern elements, +such as the use of the vernacular, a completely medieval conception of +the universe. His immortal poem is in one respect but a commentary on +the _Summa theologiae_ of Aquinas; it is all about the other world. +The younger contemporaries of the great Florentine [Sidenote: Petrarch, +1304-1374] began to be restless as the implications of the new spirit +dawned on them. Petrarch lamented that literary culture was deemed +incompatible with faith. Boccaccio was as much a child of this world +as Dante was a prophet of the next. [Sidenote: Boccaccio, 1313-1375] +Too simple-minded deliberately to criticize doctrine, he was +instinctively opposed to ecclesiastical professions. Devoting himself +to celebrating the pleasures and the pomp of life, he took especial +delight in heaping ridicule on ecclesiastics, representing them as the +quintessence of all impurity and hypocrisy. The first story in his +famous Decameron is of a scoundrel who comes to be reputed as a saint, +invoked as such and performing miracles {48} after death. The second +story is of a Jew who was converted to Christianity by the wickedness +of Rome, for he reasoned that no cult, not divinely supported, could +survive such desperate depravity as he saw there. The third tale, of +the three rings, points the moral that no one can be certain what +religion is the true one. The fourth narrative, like many others, +turns upon the sensuality of the monks. Elsewhere the author describes +the most absurd relics, and tells how a priest deceived a woman by +pretending that he was the angel Gabriel. The trend of such a work was +naturally the reverse of edifying. The irreligion is too spontaneous +to be called philosophic doubt; it is merely impiety. + +[Sidenote: Valla, 1406-56] + +But such a sentiment could not long remain content with scoffing. The +banner of pure rationalism, or rather of conscious classical +skepticism, was raised by a circle of enthusiasts. The most brilliant +of them, and one of the keenest critics that Europe has ever produced, +was Lorenzo Valla, a native of Naples, and for some years holder of a +benefice at Rome. Such was the trenchancy and temper of his weapons +that much of what he advanced has stood the test of time. + +[Sidenote: The Donation of Constantine] + +The papal claim to temporal supremacy in the Western world rested +largely on a spurious document known as the Donation of Constantine. +In this the emperor is represented as withdrawing from Rome in order to +leave it to the pope, to whom, in return for being cured of leprosy, he +gives the whole Occident. An uncritical age had received this forgery +for five or six centuries without question. Doubt had been cast on it +by Nicholas of Cusa and Reginald Peacock, but Valla demolished it. He +showed that no historian had spoken of it; that there was no time at +which it could have occurred; that it is contradicted by other +contemporary acts; that the barbarous style contains {49} expressions +of Greek, Hebrew, and German origin; that the testimony of numismatics +is against it; and that the author knew nothing of the antiquities of +Rome, into whose council he introduced satraps. Valla's work was so +thoroughly done that the document, embodied as were its conclusions in +the Canon Law, has never found a reputable defender since. In time the +critique had an immense effect. Ulrich von Hutten published it in +1517, and in the same year an English translation was made. In 1537 +Luther turned it into German. + +[Sidenote: Valla attacks the Pope] + +And if the legality of the pope's rule was so slight, what was its +practical effect? According to Valla, it was a "barbarous, +overbearing, tyrannical, priestly domination." "What is it to you," he +apostrophizes the pontiff, "if our republic is crushed? You have +crushed it. If our temples have been pillaged? You have pillaged +them. If our virgins and matrons have been violated? You have done +it. If the city is innundated with the blood of citizens? You are +guilty of it all." + +[Sidenote: Annotations on the New Testament] + +Valla's critical genius next attacked the schoolman's idol Aristotle +and the humanist's demigod Cicero. More important were his +_Annotations on the New Testament_, first published by Erasmus in 1505. +The Vulgate was at that time regarded, as it was at Trent defined to +be, the authentic or official form of the Scriptures. Taking in hand +three Latin and three Greek manuscripts, Valla had no difficulty in +showing that they differed from one another and that in some cases the +Latin had no authority whatever in the Greek. He pointed out a number +of mistranslations, some of them in passages vitally affecting the +faith. In short he left no support standing for any theory of verbal +inspiration. He further questioned, and successfully, the authorship +of the Creed attributed {50} to the Apostles, the authenticity of the +writings of Dionysius the Areopagite and of the letter of Christ to +King Abgarus, preserved and credited by Eusebius. + +[Sidenote: Attack on Christian ethics] + +His attack on Christian ethics was still more fundamental. In his +_Dialogue on Free Will_ he tried with ingenuity to reconcile the +freedom of the will, denied by Augustine, with the foreknowledge of +God, which he did not feel strong enough to dispute. In his work on +_The Monastic Life_ he denied all value to asceticism. Others had +mocked the monks for not living up to their professions; he asserted +that the ideal itself was mistaken. But it is the treatise _On +Pleasure_ that goes the farthest. In form it is a dialogue on ethics; +one interlocutor maintaining the Epicurean, the second the Stoical, and +the third the Christian standard. The sympathies of the author are +plainly with the champion of hedonism, who maintains that pleasure is +the supreme good in life, or rather the only good, that the prostitute +is better than the nun, for the one makes men happy, the other is +dedicated to a painful and shameful celibacy; that the law against +adultery is a sort of sacrilege; that women should be common and should +go naked; and that it is irrational to die for one's country or for any +other ideal. . . . It is noteworthy that the representative of the +Christian standpoint accepts tacitly the assumption that happiness is +the supreme good, only he places that happiness in the next life. + +Valla's ideas obtained throughout a large circle in the half-century +following his death. Masuccio indulged in the most obscene mockery of +Catholic rites. Poggio wrote a book against hypocrites, attacking the +monks, and a joke-book largely at the expense of the faithful. +Machiavelli assailed the papacy with great ferocity, attributing to it +the corruption of Italian morals and the political disunion and +weakness of {51} Italy, and advocating its annihilation. [Sidenote: +Machiavelli, 1469-1530] In place of Christianity, habitually spoken of +as an exploded superstition, dangerous to the state, he would put the +patriotic cults of antiquity. + +It is not strange, knowing the character of the popes, that pagan +expressions should color the writings of their courtiers. Poggio was a +papal secretary, and so was Bembo, a cardinal who refused to read +Paul's epistles for fear of corrupting his Latinity. In his exquisite +search for classical equivalents for the rude phrases of the gospel, he +referred, in a papal breve, to Christ as "Minerva sprung from the head +of Jove," and to the Holy Ghost as "the breath of the celestial +Zephyr." Conceived in the same spirit was a sermon of Inghirami heard +by Erasmus at Rome on Good Friday 1509. Couched in the purest +Ciceronian terms, while comparing the Saviour to Gurtius, Cecrops, +Aristides, Epaminondas and Iphigenia, it was mainly devoted to an +extravagant eulogy of the reigning pontiff, Julius II. + +But all the Italian humanists were not pagans. There arose at +Florence, partly under the influence of the revival of Greek, partly +under that of Savonarola, a group of earnest young men who sought to +invigorate Christianity by infusing into it the doctrines of Plato. +The leaders of this Neo-Platonic Academy, Pico della Mirandola +[Sidenote: Pico della Mirandola, 1462-94] and Marsiglio Ficino, sought +to show that the teachings of the Athenian and of the Galilean were the +same. Approaching the Bible in the simple literary way indicated by +classical study, Pico really rediscovered some of the teachings of the +New Testament, while in dealing with the Old he was forced to adopt an +ingenious but unsound allegorical interpretation. "Philosophy seeks +the truth," he wrote, "theology finds it, religion possesses it." His +extraordinary personal influence extended through {52} lands beyond the +Alps, even though it failed in accomplishing the rehabilitation of +Italian faith. + +[Sidenote: Faber Stapulensis, c. 1455-1536] + +The leader of the French Christian Renaissance, James Lefevre +d'Etaples, was one of his disciples. Traveling in Italy in 1492, after +visiting Padua, Venice and Rome, he came to Florence, learned to know +Pico, and received from him a translation of Aristotle's Metaphysics +made by Cardinal Bessarion. Returning to Paris he taught, at the +College of Cardinal Lemoine, mathematics, music and philosophy. He did +not share the dislike of Aristotle manifested by most of the humanists, +for he shrewdly suspected that what was offensive in the Stagyrite was +due more to his scholastic translators and commentators than to +himself. He therefore labored to restore the true text, on which he +wrote a number of treatises. It was with the same purpose that he +turned next to the early Fathers and to the writer called Dionysius the +Areopagite. But he did not find himself until he found the Bible. In +1509 he published the _Quintuplex Psalterium_, the first treatise on +the Psalms in which the philological and personal interest was +uppermost. Hitherto it had not been the Bible that had been studied so +much as the commentaries on it, a dry wilderness of arid and futile +subtlety. Lefevre tried to see simply what the text said, and as it +became more human it became, for him, more divine. His preface is a +real cry of joy at his great discovery. He did, indeed, interpret +everything in a double sense, literal and spiritual, and placed the +emphasis rather on the latter, but this did not prevent a genuine +effort to read the words as they were written. Three years later he +published in like manner the Epistles of St. Paul, with commentary. +Though he spoke of the apostle as a simple instrument of God, he yet +did more to uncover his personality than any of the previous {53} +commentators. Half mystic as he was, Lefevre discovered in Paul the +doctrine of justification by faith only. To I Corinthians viii, he +wrote: "It is almost profane to speak of the merit of works, especially +towards God. . . . The opinion that we can be justified by works is an +error for which the Jews are especially condemned. . . . Our only hope +is in God's grace." Lefevre's works opened up a new world to the +theologians of the time. Erasmus's friend Beatus Rhenanus wrote that +the richness of the _Quintuplex Psalter_ made him poor. Thomas More +said that English students owed him much. Luther used the two works of +the Frenchman as the texts for his early lectures. From them he drew +very heavily; indeed it was doubtless Lefevre who first suggested to +him the formula of his famous "sola fide." + +The religious renaissance in England was led by a disciple of Pico +della Mirandola, John Colet, [Sidenote: Colet, d. 1519] a man of +remarkably pure life, and Dean of St. Paul's. He wrote, though he did +not publish, some commentaries on the Pauline epistles and on the +Mosaic account of creation. Though he knew no Greek, and was not an +easy or elegant writer of Latin, he was allied to the humanists by his +desire to return to the real sources of Christianity, and by his search +for the historical sense of his texts. Though in some respects he was +under the fantastic notions of the Areopagite, in others his +interpretation was rational, free and undogmatic. He exercised a +considerable influence on Erasmus and on a few choice spirits of the +time. + +The humanism of Germany centered in the universities. At the close of +the fifteenth century new courses in the Latin classics, in Greek and +in Hebrew, began to supplement the medieval curriculum of logic and +philosophy. At every academy there sprang up a circle of "poets," as +they called themselves, often of {54} lax morals and indifferent to +religion, but earnest in their championship of culture. Nor were these +circles confined entirely to the seats of learning. Many a city had +its own literary society, one of the most famous being that of +Nuremberg. Conrad Mutianus Rufus drew to Gotha, [Sidenote: Mutian, +1471-1526] where he held a canonry, a group of disciples, to whom he +imparted the Neo-Platonism he had imbibed in Italy. Disregarding +revelation, he taught that all religions were essentially the same. "I +esteem the decrees of philosophers more than those of priests," he +wrote. + +[Sidenote: Reuchlin, 1455-1522] + +What Lefevre and Colet had done for the New Testament, John Reuchlin +did for the Old. After studying in France and Italy, where he learned +to know Pico della Mirandola, he settled at Stuttgart and devoted his +life to the study of Hebrew. His _De Rudimentis Hebraicis_, [Sidenote: +1506] a grammar and dictionary of this language, performed a great +service for scholarship. In the late Jewish work, the _Cabbala_, he +believed he had discovered a source of mystic wisdom. The extravagance +of his interpretations of Scriptual passages, based on this, not only +rendered much of his work nugatory, but got him into a great deal of +trouble. The converted Jew, John Pfefferkorn, proposed, in a series of +pamphlets, that Jews should be forbidden to practise usury, should be +compelled to hear sermons and to deliver up all their Hebrew books to +be burnt, except the Old Testament. When Reuchlin's aid in this pious +project was requested it was refused in a memorial dated October 6, +1510, pointing out the great value of much Hebrew literature. The +Dominicans of Cologne, headed by their inquisitor, James Hochstraten, +made this the ground for a charge of heresy. The case was appealed to +Rome, and the trial, lasting six years, excited the interest of all +Europe. In Germany it was argued with much heat in a host of {55} +pamphlets, all the monks and obscurantists taking the side of the +inquisitors and all the humanists, save one, Ortuin Gratius of Cologne, +taking the part of the scholar. The latter received many warm +expressions of admiration and support from the leading writers of the +time, and published them in two volumes, the first in 1514, under the +title _Letters of Eminent Men_. It was this that suggested to the +humanist, Crotus Bubeanus, the title of his satire published +anonymously, _The Letters of Obscure Men_. In form it is a series of +epistles from monks and hedge-priests to Ortuin Gratius. [Sidenote: +_Epistolae Obscurorum Virorum_] + +Writing in the most barbarous Latin, they express their admiration for +his attack on Reuchlin and the cause of learning, gossip about their +drinking-bouts and pot-house amours, expose their ignorance and +gullibility, and ask absurd questions, as, whether it is a mortal sin +to salute a Jew, and whether the worms eaten with beans and cheese +should be considered meat or fish, lawful or not in Lent, and at what +stage of development a chick in the egg becomes meat and therefore +prohibited on Fridays. The satire, coarse as it was biting, failed to +win the applause of the finer spirits, but raised a shout of laughter +from the students, and was no insignificant factor in adding to +contempt for the church. The first book of these _Letters_, published +in 1515, was followed two years later by a second, even more caustic +than the first. This supplement, also published without the writer's +name, was from the pen of Ulrich von Hutten. + +[Sidenote: Hutten, 1488-1523] + +This brilliant and passionate writer devoted the greater part of his +life to war with Rome. His motive was not religious, but patriotic. +He longed to see his country strong and united, and free from the +galling oppression of the ultramontane yoke. He published Valla's +_Donation of Constantine_, and wrote epigrams on the popes. His +dialogue _Fever the First_ is a {56} vitriolic attack on the priests. +His _Vadiscus or the Roman Trinity_ [Sidenote: 1520] scourges the vices +of the curia where three things are sold: Christ, places and women. +When he first heard of Luther's cause he called it a quarrel of monks, +and only hoped they would all destroy one another. But by 1519 he saw +in the Reformer the most powerful of allies against the common foe, and +he accordingly embraced his cause with habitual zeal. His letters at +this time breathe out fire and slaughter against the Romanists if +anything should happen to Luther. In 1523, he supported his friend +Francis von Sickingen, in the attempt to assert by force of arms the +rights of the patriotic and evangelic order of knights. When this was +defeated, Hutten, suffering from a terrible disease, wandered to +Switzerland, where he died, a lonely and broken exile. His epitaph +shall be his own lofty poem: + + I have fought my fight with courage, + Nor have I aught to rue, + For, though I lost the battle, + The world knows, I was true! + + +[Sidenote: Erasmus, 1466-1536] + +The most cosmopolitan, as well as the greatest, of all the Christian +humanists, was Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam. Though an illegitimate +child, he was well educated and thoroughly grounded in the classics at +the famous school of Deventer. At the age of twenty he was persuaded, +somewhat against his will, to enter the order of Augustinian Canons at +Steyn. Under the patronage of the Bishop of Cambrai he was enabled to +continue his studies at Paris. [Sidenote: 1499-1509] For the next ten +years he wandered to England, to various places in Northern France and +Flanders, and Italy, learning to know many of the intellectual leaders +of the time. From 1509-14 he was in England, part of the time +lecturing at Cambridge. He then spent some {57} years at Louvain, +seven years at Basle and six years at Freiburg in the Breisgau, +returning to Basle for the last year of his life. + +Until he was over thirty Erasmus's dominant interest was classical +literature. Under the influence of Colet and of a French Franciscan, +John Vitrier, he turned his attention to liberalizing religion. His +first devotional work, _The Handbook of the Christian Knight_, +perfectly sets forth his program of spiritual, as opposed to formal, +Christianity. [Sidenote: _Enchiridion Militis Christiani_, 1503] It +all turns upon the distinction between the inner and the outer man, the +moral and the sensual. True service of Christ is purity of heart and +love, not the invocation of saints, fasting and indulgences. + +In _The Praise of Folly_ Erasmus mildly rebukes the foibles of men. +[Sidenote: 1511] There never was kindlier satire, free from the savage +scorn of Crotus and Hutten, and from the didactic scolding of Sebastian +Brant, whose _Ship of Fools_ [Sidenote: 1494] was one of the author's +models. Folly is made quite amiable, the source not only of some +things that are amiss but also of much harmless enjoyment. The +besetting silliness of every class is exposed: of the man of pleasure, +of the man of business, of women and of husbands, of the writer and of +the pedant. Though not unduly emphasized, the folly of current +superstitions is held up to ridicule. Some there are who have turned +the saints into pagan gods; some who have measured purgatory into years +and days and cheat themselves with indulgences against it; some +theologians who spend all their time discussing such absurdities as +whether God could have redeemed men in the form of a woman, a devil, an +ass, a squash or a stone, others who explain the mystery of the Trinity. + +In following up his plan for the restoration of a simpler Christianity, +Erasmus rightly thought that a return from the barren subtleties of the +schoolmen to {58} the primitive sources was essential. He wished to +reduce Christianity to a moral, humanitarian, undogmatic philosophy of +life. His attitude towards dogma was to admit it and to ignore it. +Scientific enlightenment he welcomed more than did either the Catholics +or the Reformers, sure that if the Sermon on the Mount survived, +Christianity had nothing to fear. In like manner, while he did not +attack the cult and ritual of the church, he never laid any stress on +it. "If some dogmas are incomprehensible and some rites +superstitious," he seemed to say, "what does it matter? Let us +emphasize the ethical and spiritual content of Christ's message, for if +we seek his kingdom, all else needful shall be added unto us." His +favorite name for his religion was the "philosophy of Christ," +[Sidenote: Philosophy of Christ] and it is thus that he persuasively +expounds it in a note, in his Greek Testament, to Matthew xi, 30: + + Truly the yoke of Christ would be sweet and his burden + light, if petty human institutions added nothing to what + he himself imposed. He commanded us nothing save + love one for another, and there is nothing so bitter that + charity does not soften and sweeten it. Everything + according to nature is easily borne, and nothing accords + better with the nature of man than the philosophy of + Christ, of which almost the sole end is to give back to + fallen nature its innocence and integrity. . . . How pure, + how simple is the faith that Christ delivered to us! How + close to it is the creed transmitted to us by the apostles, + or apostolic men. The church, divided and tormented by + discussions and by heresy, added to it many things, of + which some can be omitted without prejudice to the + faith. . . . There are many opinions from which impiety + may be begotten, as for example, all those philosophic + doctrines on the reason of the nature and the distinction + of the persons of the Godhead. . . . The sacraments + themselves were instituted for the salvation of men, but + we abuse them for lucre, for vain glory or for the oppression + of the humble. . . . What rules, what superstitions + we have about vestments! How many are judged as to + {59} + their Christianity by such trifles, which are indifferent + in themselves, which change with the fashion and of which + Christ never spoke! . . . How many fasts are instituted! + And we are not merely invited to fast, but obliged to, on + pain of damnation. . . . What shall we say about + vows . . . about the authority of the pope, the abuse of + absolutions, dispensations, remissions of penalty, law-suits, + in which there is much that a truly good man cannot see + without a groan? The priests themselves prefer to + study Aristotle than to ply their ministry. The gospel + is hardly mentioned from the pulpit. Sermons are + monopolized by the commissioners of indulgences; often + the doctrine of Christ is put aside and suppressed for + their profit. . . . Would that men were content to let + Christ rule by the laws of the gospel and that they + would no longer seek to strengthen their obscurant + tyranny by human decrees! + + +[Sidenote: Colloquies] + +In the _Familiar Colloquies_, first published in 1518 and often +enlarged in subsequent editions, Erasmus brought out his religious +ideas most sharply. Enormous as were the sales and influence of his +other chief writings, they were probably less than those of this work, +intended primarily as a text-book of Latin style. The first +conversations are, indeed, nothing more than school-boy exercises, but +the later ones are short stories penned with consummate art. Erasmus +is almost the only man who, since the fall of Rome, has succeeded in +writing a really exquisite Latin. But his supreme gift was his dry +wit, the subtle faculty of exposing an object, apparently by a simple +matter-of-fact narrative, to the keenest ridicule. Thus, in the +_Colloquies_, he describes his pilgrimage to St. Thomas's shrine at +Canterbury, the bloody bones and the handkerchief covered with the +saint's rheum offered to be kissed--all without a disapproving word and +yet in such a way that when the reader has finished it he wonders how +anything so silly could ever have existed. Thus again he strips the +worship of Mary, and all the {60} stupid and wrong projects she is +asked to abet. In the conversation called _The Shipwreck_, the people +pray to the Star of the Sea exactly as they did in pagan times, only it +is Mary, not Venus that is meant. They offer mountains of wax candles +to the saints to preserve them, although one man confides to his +neighbor in a whisper that if he ever gets to land he will not pay one +penny taper on his vow. Again, in the _Colloquy on the New Testament_, +a young man is asked what he has done for Christ. He replies: + + A certain Franciscan keeps reviling the New Testament + of Erasmus in his sermons. Well, one day I called + on him in private, seized him by the hair with my left + hand and punished him with my right. I gave him so + sound a drubbing that I reduced his whole face to a + mere jelly. What do you say to that? Isn't that + maintaining the gospel? And then, by way of absolution for + his sins I took this book [Erasmus's New Testament, a + folio bound with brass] and gave him three resounding + whacks on the head in the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Ghost. + + +"That," replies his friend, "was truly evangelic; defending the gospel +by the gospel. But really it is time you were turning from a brute +beast into a man." + +So it was that the man who was at once the gentlest Christian, the +leading scholar, and the keenest wit of his age insinuated his opinions +without seeming to attack anything. Where Luther battered down, he +undermined. [Sidenote: Methods of argument] Even when he argued +against an opinion he called his polemic a "Conversation"--for that is +the true meaning of the word Diatribe. With choice of soft vocabulary, +of attenuated forms, of double negatives, he tempered exquisitely his +Latin. Did he doubt anything? Hardly, "he had a shade of doubt" +(_subdubito_). Did he think he wrote well? Not at all, but he +confessed that he produced "something more like Latin than the average" +(_paulo latinius_). Did he {61} like anything? If so, he only +admitted--except when he was addressing his patrons--"that he was not +altogether averse to it." But all at once from these feather-light +touches, like those of a Henry James, comes the sudden thrust that made +his stylus a dagger. Some of his epigrams on the Reformation have been +quoted in practically every history of the subject since, and will be +quoted as often again. + +[Sidenote: His wit] + +But it was not a few perfect phrases that made him the power that he +was, but an habitual wit that never failed to strip any situation of +its vulgar pretense. When a canon of Strassburg Cathedral was showing +him over the chapter house and was boasting of the rule that no one +should be admitted to a prebend who had not sixteen quarterings on his +coat of arms, the humanist dropped his eyes and remarked demurely, with +but the flicker of a smile, that he was indeed honored to be in a +religious company so noble that even Jesus could not have come up to +its requirements. The man was dumfounded, he almost suspected +something personal; but he never forgot the salutary lesson so +delicately conveyed. + +Erasmus was a man of peace; he feared "the tumult" which, if we trust a +letter dated September 9, 1517--though he sometimes retouched his +letters on publishing them--he foresaw. "In this part of the world," +he wrote, "I am afraid that a great revolution is impending." It was +already knocking at the door! + + + + +{62} + +CHAPTER II + +GERMANY + +SECTION 1. THE LEADER + +It is superfluous in these days to point out that no great historical +movement is caused by the personality, however potent, of a single +individual. The men who take the helm at crises are those who but +express in themselves what the masses of their followers feel. The +need of leadership is so urgent that if there is no really great man at +hand, the people will invent one, endowing the best of the small men +with the prestige of power, and embodying in his person the cause for +which they strive. But a really strong personality to some extent +guides the course of events by which he is carried along. Such a man +was Luther. [Sidenote: Luther, 1483-1546] Few have ever alike +represented and dominated an age as did he. His heart was the most +passionately earnest, his will the strongest, his brain one of the most +capacious of his time; above all he had the gift of popular speech to +stamp his ideas into the fibre of his countrymen. If we may borrow a +figure from chemistry, he found public opinion a solution +supersaturated with revolt; all that was needed to precipitate it was a +pebble thrown in, but instead of a pebble he added the most powerful +reagent possible. + +On that October day when Columbus discovered the new world, Martin, a +boy of very nearly nine, was sitting at his desk in the school at +Mansfeld. Though both diligent and quick, he found the crabbed Latin +primer, itself written in abstract Latin, very difficult, and was +flogged fourteen times in one morning by {63} brutal masters for +faltering in a declension. When he returned home he found his mother +bending under a load of wood she had gathered in the forest. Both she +and his father were severe with the children, whipping them for slight +faults until the blood came. Nevertheless, as the son himself +recognized, they meant heartily well by it. But for the self-sacrifice +and determination shown by the father, a worker in the newly opened +mines, who by his own industry rose to modest comfort, the career of +the son would have been impossible. + +Fully as much as by bodily hardship the boy's life was rendered unhappy +by spiritual terrors. Demons lurked in the storms, and witches plagued +his good mother and threatened to make her children cry themselves to +death. God and Christ were conceived as stern and angry judges ready +to thrust sinners into hell. "They painted Christ," says Luther--and +such pictures can still be seen in old churches--"sitting on a rainbow +with his Mother and John the Baptist on either side as intercessors +against his frightful wrath." + +At thirteen he was sent away to Magdeburg to a charitable school, and +the next year to Eisenach, where he spent three years in study. He +contributed to his support by the then recognized means of begging, and +was sheltered by the pious matron Ursula Cotta. In 1501 he +matriculated at the old and famous university of Erfurt. [Sidenote: +Erfurt] The curriculum here consisted of logic, dialectic, grammar, +and rhetoric, followed by arithmetic, ethics, and metaphysics. There +was some natural science, studied not by the experimental method, but +wholly from the books of Aristotle and his medieval commentators, and +there were also a few courses in literature, both in the Latin classics +and in their later imitators. Ranking among the better {64} scholars +Luther took the degrees of bachelor in 1502 and of master of arts in +1505, and immediately began the study of jurisprudence. While his +diligence and good conduct won golden words from his preceptors he +mingled with his comrades as a man with men. He was generous, even +prodigal, a musician and a "philosopher"; in disputations he was made +"an honorary umpire" by his fellows and teachers. "Fair fortune and +good health are mine," he wrote a friend on September 5, 1501, "I am +settled at college as pleasantly as possible." + +For the sudden change that came over his life at the age of twenty-one +no adequate explanation has been offered. Pious and serious as he was, +his thoughts do not seem to have turned towards the monastic life as a +boy, nor are the old legends of the sudden death of a friend well +substantiated. As he was returning to Erfurt from a visit home, he was +overtaken by a terrific thunderstorm, in which his excited imagination +saw a devine warning to forsake the "world." In a fright he vowed to +St. Ann to become a monk and, though he at once regretted the rash +promise, on July 17, 1505, he discharged it by entering the Augustinian +friary at Erfurt. After a year's novitiate he took the irrevocable +vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. In 1507 he was ordained +priest. In the winter of 1510-1 he was sent to Rome on business of the +order, and there saw much of the splendor and also of the corruption of +the capital of Christendom. Having started, in 1508, to teach +Aristotle at the recently founded University of Wittenberg, a year +later he returned to Erfurt, but was again called to Wittenberg to +lecture on the Bible, a position he held all his life. [Sidenote: 1511] + +During his first ten years in the cloister he underwent a profound +experience. He started with the horrible and torturing idea that he +was doomed to hell. {65} "What can I do," he kept asking, "to win a +gracious God?" The answer given him by his teachers was that a man +must work out his own salvation, not entirely, but largely, by his own +efforts. The sacraments of the church dispensed grace and life to the +recipient, and beyond this he could merit forgiveness by the asceticism +and privation of the monastic life. Luther took this all in and strove +frantically by fasting, prayer, and scourging to fit himself for +redemption. But though he won the reputation of a saint, he could not +free himself from the desires of the flesh. He was helpless; he could +do nothing. Then he read in Augustine that virtue without grace is but +a specious vice; that God damns and saves utterly without regard to +man's work. He read in Tauler and the other mystics that the only true +salvation is union with God, and that if a man were willing to be +damned for God's glory he would find heaven even in hell. He read in +Lefevre d'Etaples that a man is not saved by doing good, but by faith, +like the thief on the cross. + +In May, 1515, he began to lecture on Paul's Epistles to the Romans, and +pondered the verse (i, 17) "The just shall live by his faith." +[Sidenote: Justification by faith only] All at once, so forcibly that +he believed it a revelation of the Holy Ghost, the thought dawned upon +him that whereas man was impotent to do or be good, God was able freely +to make him so. Pure passivity in God's hands, simple abandonment to +his will was the only way of salvation; not by works but by faith in +the Redeemer was man sanctified. The thought, though by no means new +in Christianity, was, in the application he gave it, the germ of the +religious revolution. In it was contained the total repudiation of the +medieval ecclesiastical system of salvation by sacrament and by the +good works of the cloister. To us nowadays the thought seems remote; +the question which called it forth outworn. But to the {66} sixteenth +century it was as intensely practical as social reform is now; the +church was everywhere with her claim to rule over men's daily lives and +over their souls. All progress was conditioned on breaking her claims, +and probably nothing could have done it so thoroughly as this idea of +justification by faith only. + +The thought made Luther a reformer at once. He started to purge his +order of Pharisaism, and the university of the dross of Aristotle. +Soon he was called upon to protest against one of the most obtrusive of +the "good works" recommended by the church, the purchase of +indulgences. Albert of Hohenzollern was elected, through political +influence and at an early age, to the archiepiscopal sees of Magdeburg +and Mayence, this last carrying with it an electorate and the primacy +of Germany. For confirmation from the pope in the uncanonical +occupation of these offices, Albert paid a huge sum, the equivalent of +several hundred thousand dollars today. Mayence was already in debt +and the young archbishop knew not where to turn for money. To help +him, and to raise money for Rome, Leo X declared an indulgence. In +order to get a large a profit as possible Albert employed as his chief +agent an unscrupulous Dominican named John Tetzel. [Sidenote: Tetzel] +This man went around the country proclaiming that as soon as the money +clinked in the chest the soul of some dead relative flew from +purgatory, and that by buying a papal pardon the purchaser secured +plenary remission of sins and the grace of God. + +The indulgence-sellers were forbidden to enter Saxony, but they came +very near it, and many of the people of Wittenberg went out to buy +heaven at a bargain. Luther was sickened by seeing what he believed to +be the deception of the poor people in being taught to rely on these +wretched papers instead of on real, lively faith. He accordingly +called their value in question, {67} in Ninety-five Theses, or heads +for a scholastic debate, which he nailed to the door of the Castle +Church on October 31, 1517. [Sidenote: The Ninety-five Theses, 1517] +He pointed out that the doctrine of the church was very uncertain, +especially in regard to the freeing of souls from purgatory; that +contrition was the only gate to God's pardon; that works of charity +were better than buying of indulgences, and that the practices of the +indulgence-sellers were extremely scandalous and likely to foment +heresy among the simple. In all this he did not directly deny the +whole value of indulgences, but he pared it down to a minimum. + +The Theses were printed by Luther and sent around to friends in other +cities. They were at once put into German, and applauded to the echo +by the whole nation. Everybody had been resentful of the extortion of +greedy ecclesiastics and disgusted with their hypocrisy. All welcomed +the attack on the "holy trade," as its supporters called it. Tetzel +was mobbed and had to withdraw in haste. The pardons no longer had any +sale. The authorities took alarm at once. Leo X directed the general +of the Augustinians to make his presumptuous brother recant. +[Sidenote: February 3, 1518] The matter was accordingly brought up at +the general chapter of the Order held at Heidelberg in May. Luther was +present, was asked to retract, and refused. On the contrary he +published a Sermon on Indulgence and Grace and a defence of the theses +stating his points more strongly than before. + +The whole of Germany was now in commotion. The Diet which met at +Augsburg in the summer of 1518 was extremely hostile to the pope and to +his legate, Cardinal Cajetan. At the instance of this theologian, who +had written a reply to the Theses, and of the Dominicans, wounded in +the person of Tetzel, Luther was summoned to Rome to be tried. On +August 5 the {68} Emperor Maximilian promised his aid to the pope, and +in order to expedite matters, the latter changed the summons to Rome to +a citation before Cajetan at Augsburg, at the same time instructing the +legate to seize the heretic if he did not recant. At this juncture +Luther was not left in the lurch by his own sovereign, Frederic the +Wise, Elector of Saxony, through whom an imperial safe-conduct was +procured. Armed with this, the Wittenberg professor appeared before +Cajetan at Augsburg, was asked to recant two of his statements on +indulgences, and refused. [Sidenote: October 12-14, 1518] A few days +later Luther drew up an appeal "from the pope badly informed to the +pope to be better informed," and in the following month appealed again +from the pope to a future oecumenical council. In the meantime Leo X, +in the bull _Cum postquam_, authoritatively defined the doctrine of +indulgences in a sense contrary to the position of Luther. + +The next move of the Vicar of Christ was to send to Germany a special +agent, the Saxon Charles von Miltitz, with instructions either to +cajole the heretic into retraction or the Elector into surrendering +him. In neither of these attempts was he successful. [Sidenote: +January 1519] At an interview with Luther the utmost he could do was +to secure a general statement that the accused man would abide by the +decision of the Holy See, and a promise to keep quiet as long as his +opponents did the same. + +Such a compromise was sure to be fruitless, for the champions of the +church could not let the heretic rest for a moment. The whole affair +was given a wider publicity than it had hitherto attained, and at the +same time Luther was pushed to a more advanced position than he had yet +reached, by the attack of a theologian of Ingolstadt, John Eck. When +he assailed the Theses on the ground that they seriously impaired the +authority of the Roman see, Luther retorted: + + {69} The assertion that the Roman Church is superior to all + other churches is proved only by weak and vain papal + decrees of the last four hundred years, and is repugnant to + the accredited history of the previous eleven hundred + years, to the Bible, and to the decree of the holiest of all + councils, the Nicene. + + +[Sidenote: The Leipzig Debate, 1519] + +A debate on this and other propositions between Eck on the one side and +Luther and his colleague Carlstadt on the other took place at Leipzig +in the days from June 27 to July 16, 1519. The climax of the argument +on the power of popes and councils came when Eck, skilfully manoeuvring +to show that Luther's opinions were identical with those of Huss, +forced from his opponent the bold declaration that "among the opinions +of John Huss and the Bohemians many are certainly most Christian and +evangelic, and cannot be condemned by the universal church." The words +sent a thrill through the audience and throughout Christendom. Eck +could only reply: "If you believe that a general council, legitimately +convoked, can err, you are to me a heathen and a publican." +Reconciliation was indeed no longer possible. When Luther had +protested against the abuse of indulgences he did so as a loyal son of +the church. Now at last he was forced to raise the standard of revolt, +at least against Rome, the recognized head of the church. He had begun +by appealing from indulgence-seller to pope, then from the pope to a +universal council; now he declared that a great council had erred, and +that he would not abide by its decision. The issue was a clear one, +though hardly recognized as such by himself, between the religion of +authority and the right of private judgment. + +His opposition to the papacy developed with extraordinary rapidity. +His study of the Canon Law made him, as early as March, 1519, brand the +pope as either Antichrist or Antichrist's apostle. He {70} applauded +Melancthon, a brilliant young man called to teach at Wittenberg in +1518, for denying transubstantiation. He declared that the cup should +never have been withheld from the laity, and that the mass considered +as a good work and a sacrifice was an abomination. His eyes were +opened to the iniquities of Rome by Valla's exposure of the Donation of +Constantine, published by Ulrich von Hutten in 1519. After reading it +he wrote: + + Good heavens! what darkness and wickedness is at + Rome! You wonder at the judgment of God that such + unauthentic, crass, impudent lies not only lived but + prevailed for many centuries, that they were incorporated + into the Canon Law, and (that no degree of horror might + be wanting) that they became as articles of faith. + + +Like German troops Luther was best in taking the offensive. These +early years when he was standing almost alone and attacking one abuse +after another, were the finest of his whole career. Later, when he +came to reconstruct a church, he modified or withdrew much of what he +had at first put forward, and re-introduced a large portion of the +medieval religiosity which he had once so successfully and fiercely +attacked. The year 1520 saw him at the most advanced point he ever +attained. It was then that he produced, with marvellous fecundity, a +series of pamphlets unequalled by him and unexcelled anywhere, both in +the incisive power of their attack on existing institutions and in the +popular force of their language. + +[Sidenote: _To the Christian Nobility_, 1520] + +His greatest appeal to his countrymen was made in his _Address to the +Christian Nobility of the German Nation on the Improvement of the +Christian Estate_. In this he asserts the right of the civil power to +reform the spiritual, and urges the government to exercise this right. +The priests, says he, defend themselves against all outside +interference by three "walls," of {71} which the first is the claim +that the church is superior to the state, in case the civil authority +presses them; the second, the assertion, if one would correct them by +the Bible, that no one can interpret it but the pope; the third, if +they are threatened with a general council, the contention that no one +can convoke such a council save the pope. Luther demolishes these +walls with words of vast import. First, he denies any distinction +between the spiritual and temporal estates. Every baptized Christian, +he asserts, is a priest, and in this saying he struck a mortal blow at +the great hierarchy of privilege and theocratic tyranny built up by the +Middle Ages. The second wall is still frailer than the first, says the +writer, for anyone can see that in spite of the priests' claims to be +masters of the Bible they never learn one word of it their whole life +long. The third wall falls of itself, for the Bible plainly commands +everyone to punish and correct any wrong-doer, no matter what his +station. + +[Sidenote: Reform measures] + +After this introduction Luther proposes measures of reform equally +drastic and comprehensive. The first twelve articles are devoted to +the pope, the annates, the appointment of foreigners to German +benefices, the appeal of cases to Rome, the asserted authority of the +papacy over bishops, the emperor, and other rulers. All these abuses, +as well as jubilees and pilgrimages to Rome should be simply forbidden +by the civil government. The next three articles deal with sacerdotal +celibacy, recommending that priests be allowed to marry, and calling +for the suppression of many of the cloisters. It is further urged that +foundations for masses and for the support of idle priests be +abolished, that various vexatious provisions of the Canon Law be +repealed, and that begging on any pretext be prohibited. The +twenty-fourth article deals with the Bohemian schism, saying that Huss +was wrongly {72} burned, and calling for union with the Hussites who +deny transubstantiation and demand the cup for the laity. Next, the +writer takes up the reform of education in the interests of a more +biblical religion. Finally, he urges that sumptuary laws be passed, +that a bridle be put in the mouth of the great monopolists and usurers, +and that brothels be no longer tolerated. + +Of all the writer's works this probably had the greatest and most +immediate influence. Some, indeed, were offended by the violence of +the language, defended by Luther from the example of the Bible and by +the necessity of rousing people to the enormities he attacked. But +most hailed it as a "trumpet-blast" calling the nation to arms. Four +thousand copies were sold in a few days, and a second edition was +called for within a month. Voicing ideas that had been long, though +vaguely, current, it convinced almost all of the need of a reformation. +According to their sympathies men declared that the devil or the Holy +Ghost spoke through Luther. + +[Sidenote: The Babylonian Captivity, 1520] + +Though less popular both in form and subject, _The Babylonian Captivity +of the Church_ was not less important than the _Address to the German +Nobility_. It was a mortal blow at the sacramental system of the +church. In judging it we must again summon the aid of our historical +imagination. In the sixteenth century dogmas not only seemed but were +matters of supreme importance. It was just by her sacramental system, +by her claim to give the believer eternal life and salvation through +her rites, that the church had imposed her yoke on men. As long as +that belief remained intact progress in thought, in freedom of +conscience, in reform, remained difficult. And here, as is frequently +the case, the most effective arguments were not those which seem to us +logically the strongest. Luther made no appeal to reason as such. He +{73} appealed to the Bible, recognized by all Christians as an +authority, and showed how far the practice of the church had +degenerated from her standard. [Sidenote: Sacraments] In the first +place he reduced the number of sacraments, denying that name to +matrimony, orders, extreme unction and confirmation. In attacking +orders he demolished the priestly ideal and authority. In reducing +marriage to a civil contract he took a long step towards the +secularization of life. Penance he considered a sacrament in a certain +sense, though not in the strict one, and he showed that it had been +turned by the church from its original significance of "repentance" [1] +to that of sacramental penance, in which no faith was required but +merely an automatic act. Baptism and the eucharist he considered the +only true sacraments, and he seriously criticized the prevalent +doctrine of the latter. He denied that the mass is a sacrifice or a +"good work" pleasing to God and therefore beneficial to the soul either +of living or of dead. He denied that the bread and wine are +transubstantiated into the body and blood of Jesus, though he held that +the body and blood are really present with the elements. He demanded +that the cup be given to the laity. + +The whole trend of Luther's thought at this time was to oppose the +Catholic theory of a mechanical distribution of grace and salvation +(the so-called _opus operatum_) by means of the sacraments, and to +substitute for it an individual conception of religion in which faith +only should be necessary. How far he carried this idea may be seen in +his _Sermon on the New Testament, that is on the Holy Mass_,[2] +published in the same year as the pamphlets just analysed. In it he +makes the essence of the sacrament forgiveness, and the vehicle of this +forgiveness the word of God apprehended by {74} faith, _not_ the actual +participation in the sacred bread and wine. Had he always been true to +this conception he would have left no place for sacrament or priest at +all. But in later years he grew more conservative, until, under +slightly different names, almost the old medieval ideas of church and +religion were again established, and, as Milton later expressed it, +"New presbyter was but old priest writ large." + + +[1] In Latin _penitentia_ means both penance and repentance. + +[2] _Cf_. Matthew, xxvi, 28. + + +SECTION 2. THE REVOLUTION + +[Sidenote: Germany] + +Although the Germans had arrived, by the end of the fifteenth century, +at a high degree of national self-consciousness, they had not, like the +French and English, succeeded in forming a corresponding political +unity. The Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, though continuing +to assert the vast claims of the Roman world-state, was in fact but a +loose confederacy of many and very diverse territories. On a map drawn +to the scale 1:6,000,000 nearly a hundred separate political entities +can be counted within the limits of the Empire and there were many +others too small to appear. The rulers of seven of these territories +elected the emperor; they were the three spiritual princes, the +Archbishops of Mayence, Treves and Cologne, the three German temporal +princes, the Electors of the Rhenish Palatinate, Saxony, and +Brandenburg, and in addition the King of Bohemia, who, save for +purposes of the imperial choice, did not count as a member of the +Germanic body. Besides these there were some powerful dukedoms, like +Austria and Bavaria, and numerous smaller bishoprics and counties. +There were also many free cities, like Augsburg and Nuremberg, small +aristocratic republics. Finally there was a large body of "free +knights" or barons, whose tiny fiefs amounted often to no more than a +castle and a few acres, but who owned no feudal superior save {75} the +emperor. The unity of the Empire was expressed not only in the person +of the emperor, but in the Diet which met at different places at +frequent intervals. Its authority, though on the whole increasing, was +small. + +With no imperial system of taxation, no professional army and no +centralized administration, the real power of the emperor dwindled. +Such as it was he derived it from the fact that he was always elected +from one of the great houses. Since 1438 the Hapsburgs, Archdukes of +Austria, had held the imperial office. Since 1495 there was also an +imperial supreme court of arbitration. [Sidenote: 1495] The first +imperial tax was levied in 1422 to equip a force against the Hussites. +In the fifteenth century also the rudiments of a central administration +were laid in the division of the realm into ten "circles," and the levy +of a small number of soldiers. And yet, at the time of the +Reformation, the Empire was little better than a state in dissolution +through the centrifugal forces of feudalism. + +So little was the Empire an individual unit that the policy of her +rulers themselves was not imperial. The statesmanship of Maximilian +was something smaller than national; it was that of his Archduchy of +Austria. The policy of his successor, on the other hand, was +determined by something larger than Germany, the consideration of the +Spanish and Burgundian states that he also ruled. Maximilian tried in +every way to aggrandize his personal power, not that of the German +Nation. [Sidenote: Maximilian I, 1493-1519] The Diet of Worms of 1495 +tried to remodel the constitution. It proclaimed a perpetual public +peace, provided that those who broke it should be outlawed, and placed +the duty of executing the ban upon all territories within ninety miles +of the offender. It also passed a bill for taxation, called the +"common penny," which combined features of a poll tax, an {76} income +tax and a property tax. The difficulty of collecting it was great; +Maximilian himself as a territorial prince tried to evade it instead of +setting his subjects the good example of paying it. He probably +derived no more than the trifling sum of 50,000-100,000 gulden from it +annually. The Diet also revived the Supreme Court and gave it a +permanent home at Frankfort-on-the-Main. Feeble efforts to follow up +this beginning of reform were made in subsequent Diets, but they failed +owing to the insuperable jealousies of the princes and because the +party of national unity lost the sympathy of the common people, to whom +alone they could look for support. + +Maximilian's external policy, though adventurous and unstable, was +somewhat more successful. His only principle was to grasp whatever +opportunity seemed to offer. Thus at one time he seriously proposed to +have himself elected pope. His marriage with Mary, the daughter of +Charles the Bold, added to the estates of his house Burgundy--the land +comprising what is now Belgium, Luxemburg, most of Holland and large +portions of north-eastern France. On the death of Mary, in 1482, +Maximilian had much trouble in getting himself acknowledged as regent +of her lands for their son Philip the Handsome. A part of the domain +he also lost in a war with France. This was more than made up, +however, by the brilliant match he made for Philip in securing for him +the hand of Mad Joanna, the daughter and heiress of Ferdinand and +Isabella of Spain. This marriage produced two sons, Charles and +Ferdinand. The deaths of Isabella (1504), of Philip (1506) and of +Ferdinand of Aragon (1516) left Charles at the age of sixteen the ruler +of Burgundy and of Spain with its immense dependencies in Italy and in +America. [Sidenote: Charles V, 1500-1558] From this time forth the +policy of Maximilian concentrated in the effort to {77} secure the +succession of his eldest grandson to the imperial throne. + +When Maximilian died on January 12, 1519, there were several candidates +for election. So little was the office considered national that the +kings of France and England entered the lists, and the former, Francis +I, actually at one time secured the promise of votes from the majority +of electors. Pope Leo made explicit engagements to both Charles and +Francis to support their claims, and at the same time instructed his +legate to labor for the choice of a German prince, either Frederic of +Saxony, if he would in return give up Luther, or else Joachim of +Brandenburg. But at no time was the election seriously in doubt. The +electors followed the only possible course in choosing Charles on June +28. They profited, however, by the rivalry of the rich king of France +to extort enormous bribes and concessions from Charles. The banking +house of Fugger supplied the necessary funds, and in addition the +agents of the emperor-elect were obliged to sign a "capitulation" +making all sorts of concessions to the princes. One of these, exacted +by Frederic of Saxony in the interest of Luther, was that no subject +should be outlawed without being heard. + +The settlement of the imperial election enabled the pope once more to +turn his attention to the suppression of the rapidly growing heresy. +After the Leipzig debate the universities of Cologne and Louvain had +condemned Luther's positions. Eck went to Rome in March, 1520, and +impressed the curia, which was already planning a bull condemning the +heretic, with the danger of delay. After long discussions the bull +_Exsurge Domine_ was ratified by the College of Cardinals and +promulgated by Leo on June 15. [Sidenote: Bull against Luther, 1520] +In this, forty-one of Luther's sayings, relating to the sacraments of +penance and the eucharist, to indulgences and {78} the power of the +pope, to free will and purgatory, and to a few other matters, were +anathematized as heretical or scandalous or false or offensive to pious +ears. His books were condemned and ordered to be burnt, and unless he +should recant within sixty days of the posting of the bull in Germany +he was to be considered a heretic and dealt with accordingly. Eck was +entrusted with the duty of publishing this fulmination in Germany, and +performed the task in the last days of September. + +The time given Luther in which to recant therefore expired two months +later. Instead of doing so he published several answers to "the +execrable bull of Anti-christ," and on December 10 publicly and +solemnly burnt it, together with the whole Canon Law. This he had come +to detest, partly as containing the "forged decretals," partly as the +sanction for a vast mechanism of ecclesiastical use and abuse, +repugnant to his more personal theology. The dramatic act, which sent +a thrill throughout Europe, symbolized the passing of some medieval +accretions on primitive Christianity. There was nothing left for the +pope but to excommunicate the heretic, as was done in the bull _Decet +Pontificem Romanum_ drawn up at Rome in January, [Sidenote: 1521] and +published at Worms on May 6. + +In the meantime Charles had come to Germany. For more than a year +after his election he remained in Spain, where his position was very +insecure on account of the revolt against his Burgundian officers. +Arriving in the Netherlands in the summer of 1520 Charles was met by +the special nuncios of the pope, Caracciolo and Aleander. After he was +crowned emperor at Aix-la-Chapelle, he opened his first Diet, at Worms. +[Sidenote: October 23, 1520 January 27, 1521 The Diet of Worms] + +Before this august assembly came three questions of highest import. +The first related to the dynastic {79} policy of the Hapsburgs. For +the chronic war with France an army of 24,000 men and a tax of 128,000 +gulden was voted. The disposition of Wuerttemberg caused some trouble. +Duke Ulrich had been deposed for rebellion in 1518, and his land taken +from him by the Swabian League and sold to the emperor in 1520. +Together with the Austrian lands, which Charles secretly handed over to +his young brother Ferdinand, this territory made the nucleus of +Hapsburg power in Germany. + +The Diet then took up the question of constitutional reform. In order +to have a permanent administrative body, necessary during the long +absences of the emperor, an Imperial Council of Regency was established +and given a seat at Nuremberg. [Sidenote: Council of Regency] The +emperor nominated the president and four of the twenty-two other +members; each of the six German electors nominated one member; six were +chosen by the circles into which the Empire was divided and six were +elected by the other estates. The powers of the council were limited +to the times when the emperor was away. + +The third question treated by the Diet was the religious one. As +usual, they drew up a long list of grievances against the pope, to +which many good Catholics in the assembly subscribed. Next they +considered what to do with Luther. Charles himself, who could speak no +language but French, and had no sympathy whatever with a rebel from any +authority spiritual or temporal, would much have preferred to outlaw +the Wittenberg professor at once, but he was bound by his promise to +Frederic of Saxony. Of the six electors, who sat apart from the other +estates, Frederic was strongly for Luther, the Elector Palatine was +favorably inclined towards him, and the Archbishop of Mayence +represented a mediating policy. The other three electors were opposed. +Among the {80} lesser princes a considerable minority was for Luther, +whereas among the representatives of the free cities and of the +knights, probably a majority were his followers. The common people, +though unrepresented, applauded Luther, and their clamors could not +pass unheeded even by the aristocratic members of the Diet. [Sidenote: +February 13] The debate was opened by Aleander in a speech dwelling on +the sacramental errors of the heretic and the similarity of his +movement to that of the detested Bohemians. After a stormy session the +estates decided to summon the bold Saxon before them and accordingly a +citation, together with a safe-conduct, was sent him. + +Though there was some danger in obeying the summons, Luther's journey +to Worms, was a triumphal progress. Brought before the Diet in the +late afternoon of April 17, he was asked if a certain number of books, +the titles of which were read, were his and if he would recant the +heresy contained in them. The form of the questions took him by +surprise, for he had expected to be confronted with definite charges +and to be allowed to defend his positions. He accordingly asked for +time, and was granted one more day. [Sidenote: April 18, 1521] On his +second appearance he made a great oration admitting that the books were +his and closing with the words: + + Unless I am convicted by Scripture or by right reason + (for I trust neither popes nor councils since they have + often erred and contradicted themselves) . . . I neither + can nor will recant anything since it is neither safe nor + right to act against conscience. God help me. Amen. + +There he stood, braving the world, for he could do no other. . . . He +left the hall the hero of his nation. + +Hoping still to convince him of error, Catholic theologians held +protracted but fruitless conferences with him before his departure from +Worms on the 26th of {81} April. The sympathy of the people with him +was shown by the posting at Worms of placards threatening his enemies. +Charles was sincerely shocked and immediately drew up a statement that +he would hazard life and lands on the maintenance of the Catholic faith +of his fathers. An edict was drafted by Aleander on the model of one +promulgated in September in the Netherlands. [Sidenote: Luther banned] +The Edict of Worms put Luther under the ban of the Empire, commanded +his surrender to the government at the expiration of his safe-conduct, +and forbade all to shelter him or to read his writings. Though dated +on May 8, to make it synchronize with a treaty between Charles and Leo, +the Edict was not passed by the Diet until May 26. At this time many +of the members had gone home, and the law was forced on the remaining +ones, contrary to the wishes of the majority, by intrigue and imperial +pressure. + +After leaving Worms Luther was taken by his prince, Frederic the Wise, +and placed for safe-keeping in the Wartburg, a fine old castle near +Eisenach. [Sidenote: The Wartburg] Here he remained in hiding for +nearly a year, while doing some of his most important work. Here he +wrote his treatise _On Monastic Vows_, declaring that they are wrong +and invalid and urging all priests, nuns and monks to leave the +cloister and to marry. In thus freeing thousands of men and women from +a life often unproductive and sterile Luther achieved one of the +greatest of his practical reforms. At the Wartburg also Luther began +his translation of the Bible. The New Testament appeared in September +1522, and the Old Testament followed in four parts, the last published +in 1532. + +[Sidenote: The radicals] + +While Luther was in retirement at the Wartburg, his colleagues +Carlstadt and Melanchthon, and the Augustinian friar Gabriel Zwilling, +took up the movement at Wittenberg and carried out reforms more radical +{82} than those of their leader. The endowments of masses were +confiscated and applied to the relief of the poor on new and better +principles. Prostitution was suppressed. A new order of divine +service was introduced, in which the words purporting that the mass was +a sacrifice were omitted, and communion was given to the laity in both +kinds. Priests were urged to marry, and monks were almost forced to +leave the cloister. An element of mob violence early manifested itself +both at Wittenberg and elsewhere. An outbreak at Erfurt against the +clergy occurred in June, 1521, and by the end of the year riots took +place at Wittenberg. + +Even now, at the dawn of the revolution, appeared the beginnings of +those sects, more radical than the Lutheran, commonly known as +Anabaptist. The small industrial town of Zwickau had long been a +hotbed of Waldensian heresy. Under the guidance of Thomas Muenzer the +clothweavers of this place formed a religious society animated by the +desire to renovate both church and state by the readiest and roughest +means. Suppression of the movement at Zwickau by the government +resulted only in the banishment, or escape, of some of the leaders. +[Sidenote: December 27, 1521] Three of them found their way to +Wittenberg, where they proclaimed themselves prophets divinely +inspired, and conducted a revival marked with considerable, though +harmless, extravagance. + +[Sidenote: January 20, 1522] + +As the radicals at Wittenberg made the whole of Northern Germany +uneasy, the Imperial Council of Regency issued a mandate forbidding all +the innovations and commanding the Elector of Saxony to stop them. It +is remarkable that Luther in this felt exactly as did the Catholics. +Early in March he returned to Wittenberg with the express purpose of +checking the reforms which had already gone too far {83} for him. His +personal ascendency was so great that he found no trouble in doing so. +Not only the Zwickau prophets, but Carlstadt and Zwilling were +discredited. Almost all their measures were repealed, including those +on divine service which was again restored almost to the Catholic form. +Not until 1525 were a simple communion service and the use of German +again introduced. + +[Sidenote: Rebellion of the knights, 1522-3] + +It soon became apparent that all orders and all parts of Germany were +in a state of ferment. The next manifestation of the revolutionary +spirit was the rebellion of the knights. This class, now in a state of +moral and economic decay, had long survived any usefulness it had ever +had. The rise of the cities, the aggrandizement of the princes, and +the change to a commercial from a feudal society all worked to the +disadvantage of the smaller nobility and gentry. About the only means +of livelihood left them was freebooting, and that was adopted without +scruple and without shame. Envious of the wealthy cities, jealous of +the greater princes and proud of their tenure immediately from the +emperor, the knights longed for a new Germany, more centralized, more +national, and, of course, under their special direction. In the +Lutheran movement they thought they saw their opportunity; in Ulrich +von Hutten they found their trumpet, in Francis von Sickingen their +sword. A knight himself, but with possessions equal to those of many +princes, a born warrior, but one who knew how to use the new weapons, +gold and cannon, Sickingen had for years before he heard of Luther kept +aggrandizing his power by predatory feuds. So little honor had he, +that though appointed to high military command in the campaign against +France, he tried to win personal advantage by treason, playing off the +emperor against King Francis, with whom, for a long time, he almost +{84} openly sided. In 1520 he fell under the influence of Hutten, who +urged him to espouse the cause of the "gospel" as that of German +liberty. By August 1522 he became convinced that the time was ripe for +action, and issued a manifesto proclaiming that the feudal dues had +become unbearable, and giving the impression that he was acting as an +ally of Luther, although the latter knew nothing of his intentions and +would have heartily disapproved of his methods. + +Sickingen's first march was against Treves. The archbishop's +"unchristian cannon" forced him to retire from this city. On October +10 the Council of Regency declared him an outlaw. A league formed by +Treves, the Palatinate and Hesse, defeated him and captured his castle +at Landstuhl in May, 1523. Mortally wounded he died on May 7. + +Alike unhurt and unhelped by such incidents as the revolt of the +knights, the main current of religious revolution swept onwards. Leo X +died on December 1, 1521, and in his place was elected Adrian of +Utrecht, a man of very different character. [Sidenote: Adrian VI, +1522-33] Though he had already taken a strong stand against Luther, he +was deeply resolved to reform the corruption of the church. To the +Diet called at Nuremberg [Sidenote: Diet of Nuremberg, 1522] in the +latter part of 1522 he sent as legate Chieregato with a brief demanding +the suppression of the schism. It was monstrous, said he, that one +little brother should seduce a whole nation from the path trodden by so +many martyrs and learned doctors. Do you suppose, he asked, that the +people will longer respect civil government if they are taught to +despise the canons and decrees of the spiritual power? At the same +time Adrian wrote to Chieregato: + + Say that we frankly confess that God permits this + persecution of his church on account of the sins of men, + especially those of the priests and prelates. . . . We + {85} + know that in this Holy See now for some years there have + been many abominations, abuses in spiritual things, + excesses in things commanded, in short, that all has become + perverted. . . . We have all turned aside in our ways, + nor was there, for a long time, any who did right,--no, + not one. + + +This confession rather strengthened the reform party, than otherwise, +making its demands seem justified; and all that the Diet did towards +the settlement of the religious question was to demand that a council, +with representation of the laity, should be called in a German city. A +long list of grievances against the church was again drawn up and laid +before the emperor. + +The same Diet took up other matters. The need for reform and the +impotence of the Council of Regency had both been demonstrated by the +Sickingen affair. A law against monopolies was passed, limiting the +capital of any single company to fifty thousand gulden. In order to +provide money for the central government a customs duty of 4 per cent. +ad valorem was ordered. Both these measures weighed on the cities, +which accordingly sent an embassy to Charles. They succeeded in +inducing him to disallow both laws. + +[Sidenote: Diet of Nuremberg, 1524] + +The next Diet, which assembled at Nuremberg early in 1524, naturally +refrained from passing more futile laws for the emperor to veto, but on +the other hand it took a stronger stand than ever on the religious +question. The Edict of Worms was still nominally in force and was +still to all intents and purposes flouted. Luther was at large and his +followers were gaining. In reply to a demand from the government that +the Edict should be strictly carried out, the Diet passed a resolution +that it should be observed by each state as far as its prince deemed it +possible. Despairing of an oecumenical council the estates demanded +that a {86} German national synod be called at Spires before the close +of the year with power to decide on what was to be done for the time +being. + +There is no doubt that by this time the public opinion of North +Germany, at least, was thoroughly Lutheran. Ferdinand hardly +exaggerated when he wrote his brother that throughout the Empire there +was scarce one person in a thousand not infected with the new +doctrines. [Sidenote: 1523] The place now occupied by newspapers and +weekly reviews was taken by a vast swarm of pamphlets, most of which +have survived. [Sidenote: Popular pamphlets] Those of the years +immediately following the Diet of Worms reveal the first enthusiasm of +the people for the "gospel." The greater part of the broadsides +produced are concerned with the leader and his doctrines. The +comparison of him to Huss was a favorite one. One pamphleteer, at +least, drew the parallel between his trial at Worms and that of Christ +before Pilate. The whole bent of men's minds was theological. +Doctrines which now seem a little quaint and trite were argued with new +fervor by each writer. The destruction of images, the question of the +real presence in the sacrament, justification by faith, and free will +were disputed. Above all the Bible was lauded in the new translation, +and the priests continued, as before, to be the favorite butt of +sarcasm. + +Among the very many writers of these tracts the playwright of +Nuremberg, Hans Sachs, took a prominent place. In 1523 he published +his poem on "the Nightingale of Wittenberg, whose voice sounds in the +glorious dawn over hill and dale." This bird is, of course, Luther, +and the fierce lion who has sought his life is Leo. [Sidenote: Hans +Sachs] The next year Hans Sachs published no less than three pamphlets +favoring the reform. They were: 1. A Disputation between a Canon and a +Shoemaker, defending the Word of God and the Christian {87} Estate. 2. +Conversation on the Hypocritical Works of the Clergy and their Vows, by +which they hope to be saved to the disparagement of Christ's Blood. 3. +A Dialogue against the Roman Avarice. Multiply these pamphlets, the +contents of which is indicated by their titles, by one hundred, and we +arrive at some conception of the pabulum on which the people grew to +Protestantism. Of course there were many pamphlets on the other side, +but here, as in a thousand other cases, the important thing proved to +be to have the cause ventilated. So long as discussion was forced in +the channels selected by the reformers, even the interest excited by +their adversaries redounded ultimately to their advantage. + +[Sidenote: The Peasants' War, 1524-5] + +The denunciation of authority, together with the message of the +excellence of the humblest Christian and the brotherhood of man, +powerfully contributed to the great rising of the lower classes, known +as the Peasants' War, in 1524-5. It was not, as the name implied, +confined to the rustics, for probably as large a proportion of the +populace of cities as of the tillers of the soil joined it. Nor was +there in it anything entirely new. The cry for justice was of long +standing, and every single element of the revolt, including the hatred +of the clergy and demand for ecclesiastical reform, is to be found also +in previous risings. Thus, the rebellion of peasants under Hans Boehm, +commonly called the Piper of Niklashausen, in 1476, was brought about +by a religious appeal. The leader asserted that he had special +revelations from the Virgin Mary that serfdom was to be abolished, and +the kingdom of God to be introduced by the levelling of all social +ranks; and he produced miracles to certify his divine calling. There +had also been two risings, closely connected, the first, in 1513, +deriving its name of "Bundschuh" from the peasant's tied shoe, a class +emblem, and the {88} second, in 1514, called "Poor Conrad" after the +peasant's nickname. If the memory of the suppression of all these +revolts might dampen the hopes of the poor, on the other hand the +successful rise of the Swiss democracy was a perpetual example and +encouragement to them. + +[Sidenote: Causes] + +The most fundamental cause of all these risings alike was, of course, +the cry of the oppressed for justice. This is eternal, as is also one +of the main alignments into which society usually divides itself, the +opposition of the poor and the rich. It is therefore not very +important to inquire whether the lot of the third estate was getting +better or worse during the first quarter of the sixteenth century. In +either case there was a great load of wrong and tyranny to be thrown +off. But the question is not uninteresting in itself. As there are +diametrically opposite answers to it, both in the testimony of +contemporaries and in the opinion of modern scholars, it is perhaps +incapable of being answered. In some districts, and in some respects, +the lot of the poor was becoming a little easier; in other lands and in +different ways it was becoming harder. The time was one of general +prosperity, in which the peasant often shared. The newer methods of +agriculture, manufacture and commerce benefited him who knew how to +take advantage of them. That some did so may be inferred from the +statement of Sebastian Brant that the rustics dress like nobles, in +satin and gold chains. On the other hand the rising prices would bear +hard on those laborers dependent on fixed wages, though relieving the +burden of fixed rents. The whole people, except the merchants, +disliked the increasing cost of living and legislated against it to the +best of their ability. Complaints against monopoly were common, and +the Diets sometimes enacted laws against them. Foreign trade was +looked on with {89} suspicion as draining the country of silver and +gold. Again, although the peasants benefited by the growing stability +of government, they felt as a grievance the introduction of the new +Roman law with its emphasis upon the rights of property and of the +state. Burdens directly imposed by the territorial governments were +probably increasing. If the exactions from the landlords were not +becoming greater, it was simply because they were always at a maximum. +At no time was the rich gentleman at a loss to find law and precedent +for wringing from his serfs and tenants all that they could possibly +pay. [Sidenote: Peasant classes] The peasants were of three classes: +the serfs, the tenants who paid a quit-rent, and hired laborers. The +former, more than the others, perhaps, had now arrived at the +determination to assert their rights. For them the Peasants' War was +the inevitable break with a long economic past, now intolerable and +hopeless. There is some evidence to show that the number of serfs was +increasing. This process, by menacing the freedom of the others, +united all in the resolve to stop the gradual enslavement of their +class, to reckon with those who benefited by it. + +How little now there was in the ideals of the last and most terrible of +the peasant risings may be seen by a study of the programs of reform +put forward from time to time during the preceding century. There is +nothing in the manifestos of 1525 that may not be found in the +pamphlets of the fifteenth century. The grievances are the same, and +the hope of a completely renovated and communized society is the same. +One of the most influential of these socialistic pamphlets was the +so-called _Reformation of the Emperor Sigismund_, written by an +Augsburg clergyman about 1438, first printed in 1476, and reprinted a +number of times before the end of the century. Its title bears witness +to the Messianic belief of the people that one of their {90} great, old +emperors should sometime return and restore the world to a condition of +justice and happiness. The present tract preached that "obedience was +dead and justice sick"; it attacked serfdom as wicked, denounced the +ecclesiastical law and demanded the freedom given by Christ. + +The same doctrine, adapted to the needs of the time, is preached in the +_Reformation of the Emperor Frederic III_, published anonymously in +1523. Though more radical than Luther it reflects some of his ideas. +Still more, however, does it embody the reforms proposed at Nuremberg +in 1523. It may probably have been written by George Ruexner, called +Jerusalem, an Imperial Herald prominent in these circles. It advocated +the abolition of all taxes and tithes, the repeal of all imperial civil +laws, the reform of the clergy, the confiscation of ecclesiastical +property, and the limitation of the amount of capital allowed any one +merchant to 10,000 gulden. + +Though there was nothing new in either the manner of oppression or in +the demands of the third estate during the last decade preceding the +great rebellion, there does seem to be a new atmosphere, or tone, in +the literature addressed to the lower classes. While on the one hand +the poor were still mocked and insulted as they always had been by +foolish and heartless possessors of inherited wealth and position, from +other quarters they now began to be also flattered and courted. The +peasant became in the large pamphlet literature of the time an ideal +figure, the type of the plain, honest, God-fearing man. [Sidenote: The +peasant idealized] Nobles like Duke Ulrich of Wuerttemberg affected to +be called by popular nicknames. Carlstadt and other learned men +proclaimed that the peasant knew better the Word of God and the way of +salvation than did the learned. Many radical preachers, especially the +Anabaptist {91} Muenzer, carried the message of human brotherhood to the +point of communism. There were a number of lay preachers, the most +celebrated being the physician Hans Maurer, who took the sobriquet +"Karsthans." This name, "the man with the hoe," soon became one of the +catch-words of the time, and made its way into popular speech as a +synonym for the simple and pious laborer. Hutten took it up and urged +the people to seize flails and pitchforks and smite the clergy and the +pope as they would the devil. [Sidenote: 1521] Others preached hatred +of the Jews, of the rich, of lawyers. Above all they appealed to the +Bible as the devine law, and demanded a religious reform as a condition +and preliminary to a thorough renovation of society. Although Luther +himself from the first opposed all forms of violence, his clarion +voice rang out in protest against the injustice of the nobles. "The +people neither can nor will endure your tyranny any longer," he said to +them in 1523, "God will not endure it; the world is not what it once +was when you drove and hunted men like wild beasts." + +The rising began at Stuehlingen, not far from the Swiss frontier, in +June 1524, and spread with considerable rapidity northward, until the +greater part of Germany was in the throes of revolution. The rebels +were able to make headway because most of the regular troops had been +withdrawn to the Turkish front or to Italy to fight the emperor's +battle against France. In South Germany, during the first six months, +the gatherings of peasants and townsmen were eminently peaceable. They +wished only to negotiate with their masters and to secure some +practical reforms. But when the revolt spread to Franconia and Saxony, +a much more radically socialistic program was developed and the rebels +showed themselves readier to enforce their demands by arms. For the +year 1524 there {92} was no general manifesto put forward, but there +were negotiations between the insurgents and their quondam masters. In +this district or in that, lists of very specific grievances were +presented and redress demanded. In some cases merely to gain time, in +others sincerely, the lords consented to reply to these petitions. +They denied this or that charge, and they promised to end this or that +form of oppression. Neither side was prepared for civil war. In all +it was more like a modern strike than anything else. + +In the early months of 1525 several programs were drawn up of a more +general nature than those previously composed, and yet by no means +radical. The most famous of these was called _The Twelve Articles_, +printed and widely circulated in February. [Sidenote: _The Twelve +Articles_] The exact place at which they originated is unknown. The +authorship has been much disputed, and necessarily so, for they were +the work of no one brain, but were as composite a production as is the +Constitution of the United States. The material in them is drawn from +the mouths of a whole people. Far more than in other popular writings +one feels that they are the genuine expression of the public opinion of +a great class. Probably their draftsman was Sebastian Lotzer, the +tanner who for years past had preached apostolic communism. It is not +impossible that the Anabaptist Balthasar Huebmaier had a hand in them. +Their demands are moderate and would be considered matters of +self-evident justice to-day. The first article is for the right of +each community to choose its own pastor. The second protests against +the minor tithes on vegetables paid to the clergy, though expressly +admitting the legality of the tithes on grain. The third article +demands freedom for the serfs, the fourth and fifth, ask for the right +to hunt and to cut wood in the forests. The sixth, seventh and eighth +articles {93} protest against excessive forced labor, illegal payments +and exorbitant rents. The ninth article denounces the new (Roman) law, +and requests the reestablishment of the old (German) law. The tenth +article voices the indignation of the poor at the enclosure by the rich +of commons and other free land. The eleventh demands the abolition of +the heriot, or inheritance-tax, by which the widow of a rustic was +obliged to yield to her lord the best head of cattle or other valuable +possession. The final article expresses the willingness of the +insurgents to have all their demands submitted to the Word of God. +Both here and in the preamble the entire assimilation of divine and +human law is postulated, and the charge that the Lutheran Gospel caused +sedition, is met. + +[Sidenote: Other manifestos] + +Though the _Twelve Articles_ were adopted by more of the bands of +peasants than was any other program, yet there were several other +manifestos drawn up about the same time. Thus, in the _Fifty-nine +Articles_ of the Stuehlingen peasants the same demands are put forth +with much more detail. The legal right to trial by due process of law +is asserted, and vexatious payments due to a lord when his peasant +marries a woman from another estate, are denounced. But here, too, and +elsewhere, the fundamental demands were the same: freedom from serfdom, +from oppressive taxation and forced labor, and for unrestricted rights +of hunting and woodcutting in the forests. Everywhere there is the +same claim that the rights of the people are sanctioned by the law of +God, and generally the peasants assume that they are acting in +accordance with the new "gospel" of Luther. The Swabians expressly +submitted their demands to the arbitration of a commission of four to +consist of a representative of the emperor, Frederic of Saxony, Luther +and either Melanchthon or Bugenhagen. + +{94} When the revolt reached the central part of Germany it became at +once more socialistic and more bloody. [Sidenote: Muenzer] The baleful +eloquence of Thomas Muenzer was exerted at Muehlhausen to nerve the +people to strike down the godless with pitiless sword. Already in +September 1524 he preached: "On! on! on! This is the time when the +wicked are as fearful as hounds. . . . Regard not the cries of the +godless. . . . On, while the fire is hot. Let not your swords be cold +from blood. Smite bang, bang on the anvil of Nimrod; cast his tower to +the ground!" Other leaders took up the message and called for the +extirpation of the tyrants, including both the clergy and the lords. +Communism was demanded as in the apostolic age; property was denounced +as wrong. Regulation of prices was one measure put forward, and the +committing of the government of the country to a university another. + +The propaganda of deeds followed close upon the propaganda of words. +During the spring of 1525 in central Germany forty-six cloisters and +castles were burned to the ground, while violence and rapine reigned +supreme with all the ferocity characteristic of class warfare. On +Easter Sunday, April 16, one of the best-armed bands of peasants, under +one of the most brutal leaders, Jaecklein Rohrbach, attacked Weinsberg. +The count and his small garrison of eighteen knights surrendered and +were massacred by the insurgents, who visited mockery and insult upon +the countess and her daughters. Many of the cities joined the +peasants, and for a short time it seemed as if the rebellion might be +successful. + +[Sidenote: Suppression of the rising] + +But in fact the insurgents were poorly equipped, untrained, without +cooeperation or leadership. As soon as the troops which won the battle +of Pavia in Italy were sent back to Germany the whole movement +collapsed. [Sidenote: February 24, 1525] The Swabian League inflicted +decisive {95} defeats upon the rebels at Leipheim on April 4, and at +Wurzach ten days later. Other blows followed in May. In the center of +Germany the Saxon Electorate lay supine. Frederic the Wise died in the +midst of the tumult [Sidenote: May 5, 1525] after expressing his +opinion that it was God's will that the common man should rule, and +that it would be wrong to resist the divine decree. His young +neighbor, Philip, Landgrave of Hesse, acted vigorously. After coming +to terms with his own subjects by negotiations, he raised troops and +met a band of insurgents at Frankenhausen. He wished to treat with +them also, but Muenzer's fanaticism, promising the deluded men +supernatural aid, nerved them to reject all terms. In the very ancient +German style they built a barricade of wagons, and calmly awaited the +attack of the soldiers. [Sidenote: May 15] Undisciplined and poorly +armed, almost at the first shot they broke and fled in panic, more than +half of them perishing on the field. Muenzer was captured, and, after +having been forced by torture to sign a confession of his misdeeds, was +executed. After this there was no strength left in the peasant cause. +The lords, having gained the upper hand, put down the rising with great +cruelty. The estimates of the numbers of peasants slain vary so widely +as to make certainty impossible. Perhaps a hundred thousand in all +perished. The soldiers far outdid the rebels in savage reprisals. The +laborers sank back into a more wretched state than before; oppression +stalked with less rebuke than ever through the land. + + +SECTION 3. THE FORMATION or THE PROTESTANT PARTY + +[Sidenote: Defections from Luther] + +In the sixteenth century politics were theological. The groups into +which men divided had religious slogans and were called churches, but +they were also political parties. The years following the Diet of {96} +Worms saw the crystallization of a new group, which was at first +liberal and reforming and later, as it grew in stability, conservative. +At Worms almost all the liberal forces in Germany had been behind +Luther, the intellectuals, the common people with their wish for social +amelioration, and those to whom the religious issue primarily appealed. +But this support offered by public opinion was vague; in the next years +it became, both more definite and more limited. At the same time that +city after city and state after state was openly revolting from the +pope, until the Reformers had won a large constituency in the Imperial +Diets and a place of constitutional recognition, there was going on +another process by which one after another certain elements at first +inclined to support Luther fell away from him. During these years he +violently dissociated himself from the extreme radicals and thus lost +the support of the proletariat. In the second place the growing +definiteness and narrowness of his dogmatism and his failure to show +hospitality to science and philosophy alienated a number of +intellectuals. Third, a great schism weakened the Protestant church. +But these losses were counterbalanced by two gains. The first was the +increasing discipline and coherence of the new churches; the second was +their gradual but rapid attainment of the support of the middle and +governing classes in many German states. + +[Sidenote: The Radicals] + +Luther's struggle with radicalism had begun within a year after his +stand at Worms. He had always been consistently opposed to mob +violence, even when he might have profited by it. At Worms he +disapproved Hutten's plans for drawing the sword against the Romanists. +When, from his "watchtower," he first spied the disorders at +Wittenberg, he wrote that notwithstanding the great provocation given +to the common man by the clergy, yet tumult was the work of {97} the +devil. When he returned home he preached that the only weapon the +Christian ought to use was the Word. "Had I wished it," said he then, +"I might have brought Germany to civil war. Yes, at Worms I might have +started a game that would not have been safe for the emperor, but it +would have been a fool's game. So I did nothing, but only let the Word +act." Driven from Wittenberg, the Zwickau prophets, assisted by Thomas +Muenzer, continued their agitation elsewhere. As long as their +propaganda was peaceful Luther was inclined to tolerate it. "Let them +teach what they like," said he, "be it gospel or lies." But when they +began to preach a campaign of fire and sword, Luther wrote, in July +1524, to his elector begging him "to act vigorously against their +storming and ranting, in order that God's kingdom may be advanced by +word only, as becomes Christians, and that all cause of sedition may be +taken from the multitude [Herr Omnes, literally Mr. Everybody], more +than enough inclined to it already." + +When the revolt at last broke out Luther was looked up to and appealed +to by the people as their champion. In April 1525 he composed an +_Exhortation to Peace on the Twelve Articles of the Swabian Peasants_, +[Sidenote: Exhortation to Peace] in which he distributed the blame for +the present conditions liberally, but impartially, on both sides, +aristocrats and peasants. To the former he said that their tyranny, +together with that of the clergy had brought this punishment on +themselves, and that God intended to smite them. To the peasants he +said that no tyranny was excuse for rebellion. Of their articles he +approved of two only, that demanding the right to choose their pastors +and that denouncing the heriot or death-duty. Their second demand, for +repeal of some of the tithes, he characterized as robbery, and the +third, for freedom of the serf, as unjustified because it made +Christian {98} liberty a merely external thing, and because Paul had +said that the bondman should not seek to be free (I Cor. vii, 20 f). +The other articles were referred to legal experts. + +Hardly had this pamphlet come from the press before Luther heard of the +deeds of violence of Rohrbach and his fellows. Fearing that complete +anarchy would result from the triumph of the insurgents, against whom +no effective blow had yet been struck, he wrote a tract _Against the +Thievish, Murderous Hordes of Peasants_. [Sidenote: The peasants +denounced] In this he denounced them with the utmost violence of +language, and urged the government to smite them without pity. +Everyone should avoid a peasant as he would the devil, and should join +the forces to slay them like mad dogs. "If you die in battle against +them," said he to the soldiers, "you could never have a more blessed +end, for you die obedient to God's Word in Romans 13, and in the +service of love to free your neighbor from the bands of hell and the +devil." A little later he wrote: "It is better that all the peasants +be killed than that the princes and magistrates perish, because the +rustics took the sword without divine authority. The only possible +consequence of their Satanic wickedness would be the diabolic +devastation of the kingdom of God." And again: "One cannot argue +reasonably with a rebel, but one must answer him with the fist so that +blood flows from his nose." Melanchthon entirely agreed with his +friend. "It is fairly written in Ecclesiasticus xxxiii," said he, +"that as the ass must have fodder, load, and whip, so must the servant +have bread, work, and punishment. These outward, bodily servitudes are +needful, but this institution [serfdom] is certainly pleasing to God." + +Inevitably such an attitude alienated the lower classes. From this +time, many of them looked not to {99} the Lutheran but to the more +radical sects, called Anabaptists, for help. The condition of the +Empire at this time was very similar to that of many countries today, +where we find two large upper and middle-class parties, the +conservative (Catholic) and liberal (Protestant) over against the +radical or socialistic (Anabaptist). + +[Sidenote: The Anabaptists] + +The most important thing about the extremists was not their habit of +denying the validity of infant baptism and of rebaptizing their +converts, from which they derived their name. What really determined +their view-point and program was that they represented the poor, +uneducated, disinherited classes. The party of extreme measures is +always chiefly constituted from the proletariat because it is the very +poor who most pressingly feel the need for change and because they have +not usually the education to judge the feasibility of the plans, many +of them quack nostrums, presented as panaceas for all their woes. A +complete break with the past and with the existing order has no terrors +for them, but only promise. + +A radical party almost always includes men of a wide variety of +opinions. So the sixteenth century classed together as Anabaptists men +with not only divergent but with diametrically opposite views on the +most vital questions. Their only common bond was that they all alike +rejected the authoritative, traditional and aristocratic organization +of both of the larger churches and the pretensions of civil society. +It is easy to see that they had no historical perspective, and that +they tried to realize the ideals of primitive Christianity, as they +understood it, without reckoning the vast changes in culture and other +conditions, and yet it is impossible not to have a deep sympathy with +the men most of whose demands were just and who sealed their faith with +perpetual martyrdom. {100} [Sidenote: Spread of radicalism] +Notwithstanding the heavy blow to reform given in the crushing of the +peasants' rising, radical doctrines continued to spread among the +people. As the poor found their spiritual needs best supplied in the +conventicle of dissent, official Lutheranism became an established +church, predominantly an aristocratic and middle-class party of vested +interest and privilege. + +It is sometimes said that the origin and growth of the Anabaptists was +due to the German translation of the Bible. This is not true and yet +there is little doubt that the publication of the German version in +1522 and the years immediately following, stimulated the growth of many +sects. The Bible is such a big book, and capable of so many different +interpretations, that it is not strange that a hundred different +schemes of salvation should have been deduced from it by those who came +to it with different prepossessions. While many of the Anabaptists +were perfect quietists, preaching the duty of non-resistance and the +wickedness of bearing arms, even in self-defence, others found sanction +for quite opposite views in the Scripture, and proclaimed that the +godless should be exterminated as the Canaanites had been. In ethical +matters some sects practised the severest code of morals, while others +were distinguished by laxity. By some marriage was forbidden; others +wanted all the marriage they could get and advocated polygamy. The +religious meetings were similar to "revivals," frequently of the most +hysterical sort. Claiming that they were mystically united to God, or +had direct revelations from him, they rejected the ceremonies and +sacraments of historic Christianity, and sometimes substituted for them +practices of the most absurd, or most doubtful, character. When +Melchior Rink preached, his followers howled like dogs, bellowed like +cattle, neighed like horses, and brayed like asses--some of them very +{101} naturally, no doubt. In certain extreme cases the meetings ended +in debauchery, while we know of men who committed murder in the belief +that they were directed so to do by special revelation of God. Thus at +St. Gall one brother cut another's throat, while one of the saints +trampled his wife to death under the influence of the spirit. But it +is unfair to judge the whole movement by these excesses. + +The new sectaries, of course, ran the gauntlet of persecution. In 1529 +the emperor and Diet at Spires passed a mandate against them to this +effect: "By the plenitude of our imperial power and wisdom we ordain, +decree, oblige, declare, and will that all Anabaptists, men and women +who have come to the age of understanding, shall be executed and +deprived of their natural life by fire, sword, and the like, according +to opportunity and without previous inquisition of the spiritual +judges." Lutherans united with Catholics in passing this edict, and +showed no less alacrity in executing it. As early as 1525 the +Anabaptists were persecuted at Zurich, where one of their earliest +communities sprouted. Some of the leaders were drowned, others were +banished and so spread their tenets elsewhere. Catholic princes +exterminated them by fire and sword. In Lutheran Saxony no less than +thirteen of the poor non-conformists were executed, and many more +imprisoned for long terms, or banished. + +And yet the radical sects continued to grow. The dauntless zeal of +Melchior Hofmann braved all for the propagation of their ideas. For a +while he found a refuge at Strassburg, but this city soon became too +orthodox to hold him. He then turned to Holland, where the seed sowed +fell into fertile ground. Two Dutchmen, the baker John Matthys of +Haarlem and the tailor John Beuckelssen of Leyden went to the episcopal +city of Muenster in Westphalia [Sidenote: Muenster] near the Dutch {102} +border, and rapidly converted the mass of the people to their own +belief in the advent of the kingdom of God on earth. An insurrection +expelled the bishop's government and installed a democracy in February, +1534. After the death of Matthys on April 5, a rising of the people +against the dictatorial power of Beucklessen was suppressed by this +fanatic who thereupon crowned himself king under the title of John of +Leyden. Communism of goods was introduced and also polygamy. The city +was now besieged by its suzerain, the Bishop of Muenster, and after +horrible sufferings had been inflicted on the population, taken by +storm on June 25, 1535. The surviving leaders were put to death by +torture. + +The defeat itself was not so disastrous to the Anabaptist cause as were +the acts of the leaders when in power. As the Reformer Bullinger put +it: "God opened the eyes of the governments by the revolt at Muenster, +and thereafter no one would trust even those Anabaptists who claimed to +be innocent." Their lack of unity and organization told against them. +Nevertheless the sect smouldered on in the lower classes, constantly +subject to the fires of martyrdom, until, toward the close of the +century, it attained some cohesion and respectability. The later +Baptists, Independents, and Quakers all inherited some portion of its +spiritual legacies. To the secular historian its chief interest is in +the social teachings, which consistently advocated tolerance, and +frequently various forms of anarchy and socialism. + + +[Sidenote: Defection of the humanists] + +Next to the defection of the laboring masses, the severest loss to the +Evangelical party in these years was that of a large number of +intellectuals, who, having hailed Luther as a deliverer from +ecclesiastical bondage, came to see in him another pope, not less {103} +tyrannous than he of Rome. Reuchlin the Hebrew scholar and Mutian the +philosopher had little sympathy with any dogmatic subtlety. Zasius the +jurist was repelled by the haste and rashness of Luther. The so-called +"godless painters" of Nuremberg, George Penz and the brothers Hans and +Bartholomew Beham, having rejected in large part Christian doctrine, +were naturally not inclined to join a new church, even when they +deserted the old. + +But a considerable number of humanists, and those the greatest, after +having welcomed the Reformation in its first, most liberal and hopeful +youth, deliberately turned their backs on it and cast in their lot with +the Roman communion. The reason was that, whereas the old faith +mothered many of the abuses, superstitions, and dogmatisms abominated +by the humanists, it had also, at this early stage in the schism, +within its close a large body of ripe, cultivated, fairly tolerant +opinion. The struggling innovators, on the other hand, though they +purged away much obsolete and offensive matter, were forced, partly by +their position, partly by the temper of their leaders, to a raw +self-assertiveness, a bald concentration on the points at issue, +incompatible with winsome wisdom, or with judicial fairness. How the +humanists would have chosen had they seen the Index and Loyola, is +problematical; but while there was still hope of reshaping Rome to +their liking they had little use for Wittenberg. + + I admit that for some years I was very favorably + inclined to Luther's enterprise [wrote Crotus Rubeanus in + 1531] [Sidenote: Rubeanus], but when I saw that nothing + was left untorn and undefiled . . . I thought the devil + might bring in great evil in the guise of something good, + using Scripture as his shield. So I decided to remain + in the church in which I was baptized, reared and taught. + Even if some fault might be found in it, yet in time it + {104} + might have been proved, sooner, at any rate, than in the + new church which in a few years has been torn by so many sects. + + +Wilibald Pirckheimer, the Greek scholar and historian of Nuremberg, +hailed Luther so warmly at first that he was put under the ban of the +bull _Exsurge Domine_. By 1529, however, he had come to believe him +insolent, impudent, either insane or possessed by a devil. + + I do not deny [he wrote] that at the beginning all + Luther's acts did not seem to be vain, since no good man + could be pleased with all those errors and impostures that + had accumulated gradually in Christianity. So, with + others, I hoped that some remedy might be applied to + such great evils, but I was cruelly deceived. For, before + the former errors had been extirpated, far more intolerable + ones crept in, compared to which the others seemed + child's play. + + +[Sidenote: Appeal to Erasmus] + +To Erasmus, the wise, the just, all men turned as to an arbiter of +opinion. From the first, Luther counted on his support, and not +without reason, for the humanist spoke well of the Theses and +commentaries of the Wittenberger. On March 28, 1519, Luther addressed +a letter to him, as "our glory and hope," acknowledging his +indebtedness and begging for support. Erasmus answered in a friendly +way, at the same time sending a message encouraging the Elector +Frederic to defend his innocent subject. + +Dreading nothing so much as a violent catastrophe, the humanist labored +for the next two years to find a peaceful solution for the threatening +problem. Seeing that Luther's two chief errors were that he "had +attacked the crown of the pope and the bellies of the monks," Erasmus +pressed upon men in power the plan of allowing the points in dispute to +be settled by an impartial tribunal, and of imposing silence on both +parties. At the same time he begged Luther to do nothing {105} violent +and urged that his enemies be not allowed to take extreme measures +against him. But after the publication of the pamphlets of 1520 and of +the bull condemning the heretic, this position became untenable. +Erasmus had so far compromised himself in the eyes of the inquisitors +that he fled from Louvain in the autumn of 1521, and settled in Basle. +He was strongly urged by both parties to come out on one side or the +other, and he was openly taunted by Ulrich von Hutten, a hot Lutheran, +for cowardice in not doing so. Alienated by this and by the dogmatism +and intolerance of Luther's writings, Erasmus finally defined his +position in a _Diatribe on Free Will_. [Sidenote: 1524] As Luther's +theory of the bondage of the will was but the other side of his +doctrine of justification by faith only--for where God's grace does all +there is nothing left for human effort--Erasmus attacked the very +center of the Evangelical dogmatic system. The question, a deep +psychological and metaphysical one, was much in the air, Valla having +written on it a work published in 1518, and Pomponazzi having also +composed a work on it in 1520, which was, however, not published until +much later. It is noticeable that Erasmus selected this point rather +than one of the practical reforms advocated at Wittenberg, with which +he was much in sympathy. Luther replied in a volume on _The Bondage of +the Will_ reasserting his position more strongly than ever. [Sidenote: +1525] How theological, rather than philosophical, his opinion was may +be seen from the fact that while he admitted that a man was free to +choose which of two indifferent alternatives he should take, he denied +that any of these choices could work salvation or real righteousness in +God's eyes. He did not hesitate to say that God saved and damned souls +irrespective of merit. Erasmus answered again in a large work, the +_Hyperaspistes_ (_Heavy-Armed Soldier_), which came {106} out in two +parts. [Sidenote: 1526-7] In this he offers a general critique of the +Lutheran movement. Its leader, he says, is a dogmatist, who never +recoils from extremes logically demanded by his premises, no matter how +repugnant they may be to the heart of man. But for himself he is a +humanist, finding truth in the reason as well as in the Bible, and +abhorring paradoxes. + +The controversy was not allowed to drop at this point. Many a barbed +shaft of wit-winged sarcasm was shot by the light-armed scholar against +the ranks of the Reformers. "Where Lutheranism reigns," he wrote +Pirckheimer, "sound learning perishes." "With disgust," he confessed +to Ber, "I see the cause of Christianity approaching a condition that I +should be very unwilling to have it reach . . . While we are +quarreling over the booty the victory will slip through our fingers. +It is the old story of private interests destroying the commonwealth." +Erasmus first expressed the opinion, often maintained since, that +Europe was experiencing a gradual revival both of Christian piety and +of sound learning, when Luther's boisterous attack plunged the world +into a tumult in which both were lost sight of. On March 30, 1527, he +wrote to Maldonato: + + I brought it about that sound learning, which among + the Italians and especially among the Romans savored of + nothing but pure paganism, began nobly to celebrate + Christ, in whom we ought to boast as the sole author of + both wisdom and happiness if we are true Christians. . . . + I always avoided the character of a dogmatist, except + in certain _obiter dicta_ which seemed to me conducive + to correct studies and against the preposterous judgments + of men. + +In the same letter he tells how hard he had fought the obscurantists, +and adds: "While we were waging a fairly equal battle against these +monsters, behold {107} Luther suddenly arose and threw the apple of +Discord into the world." + +In short, Erasmus left the Reformers not because they were too liberal, +but because they were too conservative, and because he disapproved of +violent methods. His gentle temperament, not without a touch of +timidity, made him abhor the tumult and trust to the voice of +persuasion. In failing to secure the support of the humanists +Protestantism lost heavily, and especially abandoned its chance to +become the party of progress. Luther himself was not only disappointed +in the disaffection of Erasmus, but was sincerely rebelled by his +rationalism. A man who could have the least doubt about a doctrine was +to him "an Arian, an atheist, and a skeptic." He went so far as to say +that the great Dutch scholar's primary object in publishing the Greek +New Testament was to make readers doubtful about the text, and that the +chief end of his _Colloquies_ was to mock all piety. Erasmus, whose +services to letters were the most distinguished and whose ideal of +Christianity was the loveliest, has suffered far too much in being +judged by his relation to the Reformation. By a great Catholic[1] he +has been called "the glory of the priesthood and the shame," by an +eminent Protestant scholar[2] "a John the Baptist and Judas in one." + +[Sidenote: Sacramentarian schism] + +The battle with the humanists was synchronous with the beginnings of a +fierce internecine strife that tore the young evangelical church into +two parts. Though the controversy between Luther and his principal +rival, Ulrich Zwingli, was really caused by a wide difference of +thought on many subjects, it focused its rays, like a burning-glass, +upon one point, the doctrine of the real presence of the body and blood +of Christ in the {108} eucharist. The explanation of this mystery +evolved in the Middle Ages and adopted by the Lateran Council of 1215, +was the theory, called "transubstantiation," that the substance of the +bread turned into the substance of the body, and the substance of the +wine into the substance of the blood, without the "accidents" of +appearance and taste being altered. Some of the later doctors of the +church, Durand and Occam, opposed this theory, though they proposed a +nearly allied one, called "consubstantiation," that the body and blood +are present with the bread and wine. Wyclif and others, among whom was +the Italian philosopher Pico della Mirandola, proposed the theory now +held in most Protestant churches that the bread and wine are mere +symbols of the body and blood. + +At the dawn of the Reformation the matter was brought into prominence +by the Dutch theologian Hoen, from whom the symbolic interpretation +[Sidenote: Symbolism] was adopted first by Carlstadt and then by the +Swiss Reformers Zwingli and Oecolampadius. Luther himself wavered. He +attacked the sacrifice of the mass, in which he saw a "good work" +repugnant to faith, and a great practical abuse, as in the endowed +masses for souls, but he finally decided on the question of the real +presence that the words "this is my body" were "too strong for him" and +meant just what they said. + +After a preliminary skirmish with Carlstadt, resulting in the latter's +banishment from Saxony, there was a long and bitter war of pens between +Wittenberg and the Swiss Reformers. Once the battle was joined it was +sure to be acrimonious because of the self-consciousness of each side. +Luther always assumed that he had a monopoly of truth, and that those +who proposed different views were infringing his copyright, so to +speak. "Zwingli, Carlstadt and Oecolampadius would never have known +Christ's gospel rightly," he {109} opined, "had not Luther written of +it first." He soon compared them to Absalom rebelling against his +father David, and to Judas betraying his Master. Zwingli on his side +was almost equally sure that he had discovered the truth independently +of Luther, and, while expressing approbation of his work, refused to be +called by his name. His invective was only a shade less virulent than +was that of his opponent. + +The substance of the controversy was far from being the straight +alignment between reason and tradition that it has sometimes been +represented as. Both sides assumed the inerrancy of Scripture and +appealed primarily to the same biblical arguments. Luther had no +difficulty in proving that the words "hoc est corpus meum" meant that +the bread was the body, and he stated that this must be so even if +contrary to our senses. Zwingli had no difficulty in proving that the +thing itself was impossible, and therefore inferred that the biblical +words must be explained away as a figure of speech. In a long and +learned controversy neither side convinced the other, but each became +so exasperated as to believe the other possessed of the devil. In the +spring of 1529 Lutherans joined Catholics at the Diet of Spires in +refusing toleration to the Zwinglians. The division of Protestants of +course weakened them. Their leading statesman, Philip, Landgrave of +Hesse, seeing this, did his best to reconcile the leaders. For several +years he tried to get them to hold a conference, but in vain. Finally, +he succeeded in bringing together at his castle at Marburg on the Lahn, +Luther, Melanchthon, Zwingli, Oecolampadius, and a large number of +other divines. [Sidenote: Marburg colloquy October 1-3, 1529] The +discussion here only served to bring out more strongly the +irreconcilability of the two "spirits." Shortly afterwards, when the +question of a political alliance came up, the Saxon theologians drafted +a memorial stating that {110} they would rather make an agreement with +the heathen than with the "sacramentarians." [Sidenote: 1530] The +same attitude was preserved at the Diet of Augsburg, where the +Lutherans were careful to avoid all appearance of friendship with the +Zwinglians lest they should compromise their standing with the +Catholics. Zwingli and his friends were hardly less intransigeant. + +[Sidenote: October 11, 1531] + +When Zwingli died in battle with the Catholic cantons and when +Oecolampadius succumbed to a fever a few weeks later, Luther loudly +proclaimed that was a judgment of God and a triumph for his own party. +Though there was no hope of reconciling the Swiss, the South German +Zwinglians, headed by the Strassburg Reformers Bucer and Capito, +hastened to come to an understanding with Wittenberg, without which +their position would have been extremely perilous. Bucer claimed to +represent a middle doctrine, such as was later asserted by Calvin. As +no middle ground is possible, the doctrine is unintelligible, being, in +fact, nothing but the statement, in strong terms, of two mutually +exclusive propositions. After much humiliation the divines succeeded, +however, in satisfying Luther, with whom they signed the Wittenberg +Concord on May 29, 1536. The Swiss still remained without the pale, +and Luther's hatred of them grew with the years. Shortly before his +death he wrote that he would testify before the judgment-seat of God +his loathing for the sacramentarians. He became more and more +conservative, bringing back to the sacrament some of the medieval +superstitions he had once expelled. He began again to call it an +offering and a sacrifice and again had it elevated in church for the +adoration of the faithful. He wavered on this point, because, as he +said, he doubted whether it were more his duty to "spite" the papists +or the sacramentarians. He finally decided on the latter, "and if +necessary," {111} continued he, "I will have the host elevated three, +seven, or ten times, for I will not let the devil teach me anything in +my church." + +[Sidenote: Growth of Lutheranism in middle and upper classes] + +Notwithstanding the bitter controversies just related Lutheranism +flourished mightily in the body of the people who were neither peasants +nor intellectuals nor Swiss. The appeal was to the upper and middle +classes, sufficiently educated to discard some of the medievalism of +the Roman Church and impelled also by nationalism and economic +self-interest to turn from the tyranny of the pope. City after city +and state after state enlisted under the banner of Luther. He +continued to appeal to them through the press. As a popular +pamphleteer he must be reckoned among the very ablest. His faults, +coarseness and unbridled violence of language, did not alienate most of +his contemporaries. Even his Latin works, too harshly described by +Hallam as "bellowing in bad Latin," were well adapted to the spirit of +the age. But nothing like his German writings had ever been seen +before. In lucidity and copiousness of language, in directness and +vigor, in satire and argument and invective, in humor and aptness of +illustration and allusion, the numerous tracts, political and +theological, which poured from his pen, surpassed all that had hitherto +been written and went straight to the hearts of his countrymen. And he +won his battle almost alone, for Melanchthon, though learned and +elegant, had no popular gifts, and none of his other lieutenants could +boast even second-rate ability. + +[Sidenote: German Bible, 1522-32] + +Among his many publications a few only can be singled out for special +mention. The continuation of the German Bible undoubtedly helped his +cause greatly. In many things he could appeal to it against the Roman +tradition, and the very fact that he claimed to do so while his +opponents by their attitude seemed to {112} shrink from this test, +established the Protestant claim to be evangelical, in the eyes of the +people. Next came his hymns, many popular, some good and one really +great. [Sidenote: Hymns, 1528] _Ein' feste Burg_ has been well called +by Heine the Marseillaise of the Reformation. The Longer and Shorter +Catechisms [Sidenote: Catechisms, 1529] educated the common people in +the evangelical doctrine so well that the Catholics were forced to +imitate their enemy, though tardily, by composing, for the first time, +catechisms of their own. + +Having overthrown much of the doctrine and discipline of the old church +Luther addressed himself with admirable vigor and great success to the +task of building up a substitute for it. In this the combination of +the conservative and at the same time thoroughly popular spirit of the +movement manifested itself. In divine service the vernacular was +substituted for Latin. New emphasis was placed upon preaching, +Bible-reading and hymn-singing. Mass was no longer incomprehensible, +but was an act of worship in which all could intelligently participate; +bread and wine were both given to the laity, and those words of the +canon implying transubstantiation and sacrifice were omitted. Marriage +was relegated from the rank of a sacrament to that of a civil contract. +Baptism was kept in the old form, even to the detail of exorcizing the +evil spirit. Auricular confession was permitted but not insisted upon. + +[Sidenote: Church government] + +The problems of church government and organization were pressing. Two +alternatives, were theoretically possible, Congregationalism or state +churches. After some hesitation, Luther was convinced by the +extravagances of Muenzer and his ilk that the latter was the only +practicable course. The governments of the various German states and +cities were now given supreme power in ecclesiastical matters. They +took over the property belonging to the old church and {113} +administered it generally for religious or educational or charitable +purposes. A system of church-visitation was started, by which the +central authority passed upon the competence of each minister. Powers +of appointment and removal were vested in the government. The title +and office of bishop were changed in most cases to that of +"superintendent," though in some German sees and generally in Sweden +the name bishop was retained. + +[Sidenote: Lutheran accessions] + +How genuinely popular was the Lutheran movement may be seen in the fact +that the free cities, Nuremberg, Augsburg, Strassburg, Ulm, Luebeck, +Hamburg, and many others were the first to revolt from Rome. In other +states the government led the way. Electoral Saxony evolved slowly +into complete Protestantism. Though the Elector Frederic sympathized +with almost everything advanced by his great subject, he was too +cautious to interfere with vested interests of ecclesiastical property +and endowments. On his death [Sidenote: May 5, 1525] his brother John +succeeded to the title, and came out openly for all the reforms +advocated at Wittenberg. The neighboring state of Hesse was won about +1524, [Sidenote: 1424-5] though the official ordinance promulgating the +evangelical doctrine was not issued until 1526. A very important +acquisition was Prussia. [Sidenote: 1525] Hitherto it had been +governed by the Teutonic Order, a military society like the Knights +Templars. Albert of Brandenburg became Grand Master in 1511, +[Sidenote: Albert of Brandenburg, 1490-1568] and fourteen years later +saw the opportunity of aggrandizing his personal power by renouncing +his spiritual ties. He accordingly declared the Teutonic Order +abolished and himself temporal Duke of Prussia, shortly afterwards +marrying a daughter of the king of Denmark. He swore allegiance to the +king of Poland. + +The growth of Lutheranism unmolested by the imperial government was +made possible by the {114} absorption of the emperor's energies in his +rivalry with France and Turkey and by the decentralization of the +Empire. [Sidenote: Leagues] Leagues between groups of German states +had been quite common in the past, and a new stimulus to their +formation was given by the common religious interest. The first league +of this sort was that of Ratisbon, [Sidenote: 1524] between Bavaria and +other South German principalities; its purpose was to carry out the +Edict of Worms. This was followed by a similar league in North Germany +between Catholic states, known as the League of Dessau, [Sidenote: +1525] and a Protestant confederation known as the League of Torgau. + +[Sidenote: The Diet of Spires, 1526] + +The Diet held at Spires in the summer of 1526 witnessed the strength of +the new party, for in it the two sides treated on equal terms. Many +reforms were proposed, and some carried through against the obstruction +by Ferdinand, the emperor's brother and lieutenant. The great question +was the enforcement of the Edict of Worms, and on this the Diet passed +an act, known as a Recess, providing that each state should act in +matters of faith as it could answer to God and the emperor. In effect +this allowed the government of every German state to choose between the +two confessions, thus anticipating the principle of the Religious Peace +of Augsburg of 1555. + +The relations of the two parties were so delicate that it seemed as if +a general religious war were imminent. In 1528, this was almost +precipitated by a certain Otto von Pack, who assured the Landgrave of +Hesse that he had found a treaty between the Catholic princes for the +extirpation of the Lutherans and for the expropriation of their +champions, the Elector of Saxony and Philip of Hesse himself. This was +false, but the Landgrave armed and attacked the Bishops of Wuerzburg and +Bamberg, named by Pack as parties to the treaty, and he forced them to +pay an indemnity. + +{115} + +[Sidenote: Recess of Spires] + +The Diet which met at Spires early in 1529 endeavored to deal as +drastically as possible with the schism. The Recess passed by the +Catholic majority on April 7 was most unfavorable to the Reformers, +repealing the Recess of the last Diet in their favor. Catholic states +were commanded to execute the persecuting Edict of Worms, although +Lutheran states were forbidden to abolish the office of the (Catholic) +mass, and also to allow any further innovations in their own doctrines +or practices until the calling of a general council. The princes were +forbidden to harbor the subjects of another state. The Evangelical +members of the Diet, much aggrieved at this blow to their faith, +published a Protest [Sidenote: Protest, April 19] taking the ground +that the Recess of 1526 had been in the nature of a treaty and could +not be abrogated without the consent of both parties to it. As the +government of Germany was a federal one, this was a question of +"states' rights," such as came up in our own Civil War, but in the +German case it was even harder to decide because there was no written +Constitution defining the powers of the national government and the +states. It might naturally be assumed that the Diet had the power to +repeal its own acts, but the Evangelical estates made a further point +in their appeal to the emperor, [Sidenote: April 25] by alleging that +the Recess of 1526 had been passed unanimously and could only be +repealed by a unanimous vote. The Protest and the appeal were signed +by the Elector of Saxony, the Landgrave of Hesse, a few smaller states, +and fourteen free cities. From the Protest they became immediately +known as "the Protesting Estates" and subsequently the name Protestant +was given to all those who left the Roman communion. + + +[1] Alexander Pope. + +[2] Walther Koehler. + + +{116} + +SECTION 4. THE GROWTH OF PROTESTANTISM UNTIL + THE DEATH OF LUTHER + +Certain states having announced that they would not be bound by the +will of the majority, the question naturally came up as to how far they +would defend this position by arms. [Sidenote: March 6, 1530] +Luther's advice asked and given to the effect that all rebellion or +forcible resistance to the constituted authorities was wrong. Passive +resistance, the mere refusal to obey the command to persecute or to +act, otherwise contrary to God's law, he thought was right but he +discountenanced any other measures, even those taken in self-defence. +All Germans, said he, were the emperor's subjects, and the princes +should not shield Luther from him, but leave their lands open to his +officers to do what they pleased. This position Luther abandoned a +year later, when the jurists pointed out to him that the authority of +the emperor was not despotic but was limited by law. + +The Protest and Appeal of 1529 at last aroused Charles, slow as he was, +to the great dangers to himself that lurked in the Protestant schism. +Having repulsed the Turk and having made peace with France and the pope +he was at last in a position to address himself seriously to the +religious problem. Fully intending to settle the trouble once for all, +he came to Germany and opened a Diet at Augsburg [Sidenote: June 20, +1530] to which were invited not only the representatives of the various +states but a number of leading theologians, both Catholic and Lutheran, +all except Luther himself, an outlaw by the Edict of Worms. + +The first action taken was to ask the Lutherans to state their position +and this was done in the famous Augsburg Confession, [Sidenote: June +25] read before the Diet by the Saxon Chancellor Brueck. It had been +drawn up by {117} Melanchthon in language as near as possible to that +of the old church. Indeed it undertook to prove that there was in the +Lutheran doctrine "nothing repugnant to Scripture or to the Catholic +church or to the Roman church." Even in the form of the Confession +published 1531 this Catholicizing tendency is marked, but in the +original, now lost, it was probably stronger. The reason of this was +not, as generally stated, Melanchthon's "gentleness" and desire to +conciliate all parties, for he showed himself more truculent to the +Zwinglians and Anabaptists than did Luther. It was due to the fact +that Melanchthon [Sidenote: Melanchthon] was at heart half a Catholic, +so much so, indeed, that Contarini and others thought it quite possible +that he might come over to them. In the present instance he made his +doctrine conform to the Roman tenets to such an extent that (in the +lost original, as we may judge by the Confutation) even +transubstantiation was in a manner accepted. The first part of the +Confession is a creed: the second part takes up certain abuses, or +reforms, namely: the demand of the cup for the laity, the marriage of +priests, the mass as an _opus operatum_ or as celebrated privately, +fasting and traditions, monastic vows and the power of the pope. + +But the concessions did not satisfy the Catholics. A Refutation was +prepared by Eck and others, and read before the Diet on August 3. +Negotiations continued and still further concessions were wrung from +Melanchthon, concessions of so dangerous a nature that his +fellow-Protestants denounced him as an enemy of the faith and appealed +to Luther against him. Melanchthon had agreed to call the mass a +sacrifice, if the word were qualified by the term "commemorative," and +also promised that the bishops should be restored to their ancient +jurisdictions, a measure justified by him as a blow at turbulent +sectaries but one also most {118} perilous to Lutherans. On the other +hand, Eck made some concessions, mostly verbal, about the doctrine of +justification and other points. + +That with this mutually conciliatory spirit an agreement failed to +materialize only proved how irreconcilable were the aims of the two +parties. [Sidenote: September 22] The Diet voted that the Confession +had been refuted and that the Protestants were bound to recant. The +emperor promised to use his influence with the pope to call a general +council to decide doubtful points, but if the Lutherans did not return +to the papal church by April 15, 1531, they were threatened with +coercion. + +[Sidenote: League of Schmalkalden] + +To meet this perilous situation a closer alliance was formed by the +Protestant states at Schmalkalden in February 1531. This league +constantly grew by the admission of new members, but some attempts to +unite with the Swiss proved abortive. + +On January 5, 1531, Ferdinand was elected King of the Romans--the title +taken by the heir to the Empire--by six of the electors against the +vote of Saxony. Three months later when the time granted the Lutherans +expired, the Catholics were unable to do anything, and negotiations +continued. [Sidenote: July 23, 1532] These resulted in the Peace of +Nuremberg, a truce until a general council should be called. It was an +important victory for the Lutherans, who were thus given time in which +to grow. + +The seething unrest which found expression in the rebellion of the +knights, of the peasants and of the Anabaptists at Muenster, has been +described. One more liberal movement, which also failed, must be +mentioned at this time. It was as little connected with religion as +anything in that theological age could be. [Sidenote: Luebeck, 1533-35] +The city of Luebeck, under its burgomaster George Wullenwever, tried to +free itself from the influence of Denmark and at the same time to get a +more popular {119} government. In 1536 it was conquered by Christian +III of Denmark, and the old aristocratic constitution restored. The +time was not ripe for the people to assert its rights in North Germany. + +[Sidenote: May 1534] + +The growth of Protestantism was at times assisted by force of arms. +Thus, Philip of Hesse restored the now Protestant Duke Ulrich of +Wurttemberg, who had been expelled for his tyranny by the Swabian +League fifteen years before. This triumph was the more marked because +the expropriated ruler was Ferdinand, King of the Romans. If in such +cases it was the government which took the lead, in others the +government undoubtedly compelled the people to continue Catholic even +when there was a strongly Protestant public opinion. Such was the case +in Albertine Saxony,[1] whose ruler, Duke George, though an estimable +man in many ways, was regarded by Luther as the instrument of Satan +because he persecuted his Protestant subjects. When he died, his +brother, [Sidenote: April, 1539] the Protestant Henry the Pious, +succeeded and introduced the Reform amid general acclamation. Two +years later this duke was followed by his son, the versatile but +treacherous Maurice. In the year 1539 a still greater acquisition came +to the Schmalkaldic League in the conversion of Brandenburg and its +Elector Joachim II. + +[Sidenote: Philip of Hesse, 1504-67] + +Shortly afterwards the world was scandalized by the bigamy of Philip of +Hesse. This prince was utterly spoiled by his accession to the +governing power at the age of fifteen. Though he lived in flagrant +immorality, his religion, which, soon after he met Luther at Worms, +became the Evangelical, was real enough to make his sins a burden to +conscience. Much attracted {120} by the teachings of some of the +Anabaptists and Carlstadt that polygamy was lawful, and by Luther's +assertion in the _Babylonian Captivity_ that it was preferable to +divorce, [Sidenote: 1526] he begged to be allowed to take more wives, +but was at first refused. His conscience was quickened by an attack of +the syphilis in 1539, and at that time he asked permission to take a +second wife and received it on December 10, from Luther, Melanchthon, +and Bucer. His secret marriage to Margaret von der Saal [Sidenote: +March 4, 1540] took place in the presence of Melanchthon, Bucer, and +other divines. Luther advised him to keep the matter secret and if +necessary even to "tell a good strong lie for the sake and good of the +Christian church." Of course he was unable to conceal his act, and his +conduct, and that of his spiritual advisers, became a just reproach to +the cause. As no material advantages were lost by it, Philip might +have reversed the epigram of Francis I and have said that "nothing was +lost but honor." Neither Germany nor Hesse nor the Protestant church +suffered directly by his act. [Sidenote: 1541] Indeed it lead +indirectly to another territorial gain. Philip's enemy Duke Henry of +Brunswick, though equally immoral, attacked him in a pamphlet. Luther +answered this in a tract of the utmost violence, called _Jack Sausage_. +Henry's rejoinder was followed by war between him and the Schmalkaldic +princes, in which he was expelled from his dominions and the +Reformation introduced. + +[Sidenote: 1541] + +Further gains followed rapidly. The Catholic Bishop of Naumburg was +expelled by John Frederic of Saxony, and a Lutheran bishop instituted +instead. About the same time the great spiritual prince, Hermann von +Wied, Archbishop Elector of Cologne, became a Protestant, and invited +Melanchthon and Bucer to reform his territories. One of the last +gains, before the Schmalkaldic war, was the Rhenish Palatinate, under +{121} its Elector Frederic III. [Sidenote: 1545] His troops fought +then on the Protestant side, though later he turned against that church. + +The opportunity of the Lutherans was due to the engagements of the +emperor with other enemies. In 1535 Charles undertook a successful +expedition against Tunis. The war with France simmered on until the +Truce of Nice, intended to be for ten years, signed between the two +powers in 1538. In 1544 war broke out again, and fortune again favored +Charles. He invaded France almost to the gates of Paris, but did not +press his advantage and on September 18 signed the Peace of Crepy +giving up all his conquests. + +Unable to turn his arms against the heretics, Charles continued to +negotiate with them. The pressure he brought to bear upon the pope +finally resulted in the summoning by Paul III of a council to meet at +Mantua the following year. [Sidenote: June 2, 1536] The Protestants +were invited to send delegates to this council, and the princes of that +faith held a congress at Schmalkalden to decide on their course. +[Sidenote: February 1537] Hitherto the Lutherans had called themselves +a part of the Roman Catholic church and had always appealed to a future +oecumenical or national synod. They now found this position untenable, +and returned the papal citation unopened. Instead, demands for reform, +known as the Schmalkaldic Articles, were drawn up by Luther. The four +principal demands were (1) recognition of the doctrine of justification +by faith only, (2) abolition of the mass as a good work or _opus +operatum_, (3) alienation of the foundations for private masses, (4) +removal of the pretentions of the pope to headship of the universal +church. As a matter of fact the council was postponed. + +[Sidenote: April 19, 1539] + +Failing to reach a permanent solution by this method, Charles was again +forced to negotiate. The {122} Treaty of Frankfort agreed to a truce +varying in length from six to fifteen months according to +circumstances. This was followed by a series of religious conferences +with the purpose of finding some means of reconciling the two +confessions. [Sidenote: Religious Colloquies] Among the first of +these were the meetings at Worms and Hagenau. Campeggio and Eck were +the Catholic leaders, Melanchthon the spokesman for the Lutherans. +[Sidenote: 1540-1] Each side had eleven members on the commission, but +their joint efforts were wrecked on the plan for limiting the papal +power and on the doctrine of original sin. When the Diet of Ratisbon +was opened in the spring of 1541 a further conference was held at which +the two parties came closer to each other than they had done since +Augsburg. The Book of Ratisbon was drawn up, emphasizing the points of +agreement and slurring over the differences. Contarini made wide +concessions, later condemned by the Catholics, on the doctrine of +justification. Discussion of the nature of the church, the power of +the pope, the invocation of saints, the mass, and sacerdotal celibacy +seemed likely to result in some _modus vivendi_. What finally +shattered the hopes of union was the discussion of transubstantiation +and the adoration of the host. As Contarini had found in the +statements of the Augsburg Confession no insuperable obstacle to an +understanding he was astonished at the stress laid on them by the +Protestants now. + +[Sidenote: 1542] + +It is not remarkable that with such results the Diet of Spires should +have avoided the religious question and have devoted itself to more +secular matters, among them the grant to the emperor of soldiers to +fight the Turk. Of this Diet Bucer wrote "The Estates act under the +wrath of God. Religion is relegated to an agreement between +cities. . . . The cause of our evils is that few seek the Lord +earnestly, but {123} most fight against him, both among those who have +rejected, and of those who still bear, the papal yoke." At the Diet of +Spires two years later the emperor promised the Protestants, in return +for help against France, recognition until a German National Council +should be called. For this concession he was sharply rebuked by the +pope. [Sidenote: 1545] The Diet of Worms contented itself with +expressing its general hope for a "Christian reformation." + +[Sidenote: 1545] + +During his later years Luther's polemic never flagged. His last book, +_Against the Papacy of Rome, founded by the Devil_, surpassed Cicero +and the humanists and all that had ever been known in the virulence of +its invective against "the most hellish father, St. Paul, or Paula III" +and his "hellish Roman church." "One would like to curse them," he +wrote, "so that thunder and lightning would strike them, hell fire burn +them, the plague, syphilis, epilepsy, scurvy, leprosy, carbuncles, and +all diseases attack them"--and so on for page after page. Of course +such lack of restraint largely defeated its own ends. The Swiss +Reformer Bullinger called it "amazingly violent," and a book than which +he "had never read anything more savage or imprudent." Our judgment of +it must be tempered by the consideration that Luther suffered in his +last years from a nervous malady and from other painful diseases, due +partly to overwork and lack of exercise, partly to the quantities of +alcohol he imbibed, though he never became intoxicated. + +Nevertheless, the last twenty years of his life were his happiest ones. +His wife, Catherine von Bora, an ex-nun, and his children, brought him +much happiness. Though the wedding gave his enemies plenty of openings +for reviling him as an apostate, [Sidenote: June 13, 1525] and though +it drew from Erasmus the scoffing jest that what had begun as a tragedy +ended as a comedy, it {124} crowned his career, symbolizing the return +from medieval asceticism to modern joy in living. Dwelling in the fine +old friary, entertaining with lavish prodigality many poor relatives, +famous strangers, and students, notwithstanding unremitting toil and +not a little bodily suffering, he expanded in his whole nature, +mellowing in the warmth of a happy fireside climate. His daily routine +is known to us intimately through the adoring assiduity of his +disciples, who noted down whole volumes of his _Table Talk_. + +[Sidenote: Death and character of Luther] + +On February 18, 1546, he died. Measured by the work that he +accomplished and by the impression that his personality made both on +contemporaries and on posterity, there are few men like him in history. +Dogmatic, superstitious, intolerant, overbearing, and violent as he +was, he yet had that inscrutable prerogative of genius of transforming +what he touched into new values. His contemporaries bore his invective +because of his earnestness; they bowed to "the almost disgraceful +servitude" which, says Melanchthon, he imposed upon his followers, +because they knew that he was leading them to victory in a great and +worthy cause. Even so, now, many men overlook his narrowness and +bigotry because of his genius and bravery. + +His grandest quality was sincerity. Priest and public man as he was, +there was not a line of hypocrisy or cant in his whole being. A sham +was to him intolerable, the abomination of desolation standing where it +ought not. Reckless of consequences, of danger, of his popularity, and +of his life, he blurted out the whole truth, as he saw it, "despite all +cardinals, popes, kings and emperors, together with all devils and +hell." Whether his ideal is ours or not, his courage in daring and his +strength to labor for it must command our respect. + +Next to his earnestness he owed his success to a {125} wonderful gift +of language that made him the tongue, as well as the spear-point, of +his people. [Sidenote: His eloquence] In love of nature, in wonder, +in the power to voice some secret truth in a phrase or a metaphor, he +was a poet. He looked out on the stars and considered the "good +master-workman" that made them, on the violets "for which neither the +Grand Turk nor the emperor could pay," on the yearly growth of corn and +wine, "as great a miracle as the manna in the wilderness," on the +"pious, honorable birds" alert to escape the fowler's net, or holding a +Diet "in a hall roofed with the vault of heaven, carpeted with the +grass, and with walls as far as the ends of the earth." Or he wrote to +his son a charming fairy-tale of a pleasant garden where good children +eat apples and pears and cherries and plums, and where they ride on +pretty ponies with golden reins and silver saddles and dance all day +and play with whistles and fifes and little cross-bows. + +Luther's character combined traits not usually found in the same +nature. He was both a dreamy mystic and a practical man of affairs; he +saw visions and he knew how to make them realities; he was a +God-intoxicated prophet and a cool calculator and hard worker for +results. His faith was as simple and passionate as his dogmatic +distinctions were often sophistical and arid. He could attack his foes +with berserker fury, and he could be as gentle with a child as only a +woman can. His hymns soar to heaven and his coarse jests trail in the +mire. He was touched with profound melancholy and yet he had a +wholesome, ready laugh. His words are now brutal invectives and again +blossom with the most exquisite flowers of the soul--poetry, music, +idyllic humor, tenderness. He was subtle and simple; superstitious and +wise; limited in his cultural sympathies, but very great in what he +achieved. + + +[1] Saxony had been divided in 1485 into two parts, the Electorate, +including Wittenberg, Weimar and Eisenach, and the Duchy, including +Leipzig and Dresden. The former was called after its first ruler +Ernestine, the latter Albertine. + + +{126} + +SECTION 5. THE RELIGIOUS WAR AND THE RELIGIOUS PEACE + +[Sidenote: The Schmalkaldic War, 1546-7] + +Hardly had Luther been laid to rest when the first general religious +war broke out in Germany. There had been a few small wars of this +character before, such as those of Hesse against Bamberg and Wurzburg, +and against Wuerttemberg, and against Brunswick. But the conflicts had +been successfully "localized." Now at last was to come a general +battle, as a foretaste of the Thirty Years War of the next century. + +It has sometimes been doubted whether the Schmalkaldic War was a +religious conflict at all. The emperor asserted that his sole object +was to reduce rebellious subjects to obedience. Several Protestant +princes were his allies, and the territories he conquered were not, for +the most part, forced to give up their faith. Nevertheless, it is +certain that the fundamental cause of the strain was the difference of +creed. A parallel may be found in our own Civil War, in which Lincoln +truly claimed that he was fighting only to maintain the union, and yet +it is certain that slavery furnished the underlying cause of the appeal +to arms. + +It has recently been shown that the emperor planned the attack on his +Protestant subjects as far back, at least, as 1541. All the +negotiations subsequent to that time were a mere blind in disguise his +preparations. For he labored indefatigably to bring about a condition +in which it would be safe for him to embark on the perilous enterprise. +Though he was a dull man he had the two qualities of caution and +persistence that stood him in better stead than the more showy talents +of other statesmen. If, with his huge resources, he never did anything +brilliant, still less did he ever take a gambler's chance of failing. + +{127} The opportune moment came at last in the spring of 1546. Two +years before, he had beaten France with the help of the Protestants, +and had imposed upon her as one condition of peace that she should make +no allies within the Empire. In November of the same year he made an +alliance with Paul III, receiving 200,000 ducats in support of his +effort to extirpate the heresy. + +Other considerations impelled him to attack at once. The secession of +Cologne and the Palatinate from the Catholic communion gave the +Protestants a majority in the Electoral College. Still more decisive +was it that Charles was able at this time by playing upon the +jealousies and ambitions of the states, to secure important allies +within the Empire, including some of the Protestant faith. First, +Catholic Bavaria forgot her hatred of Austria far enough to make common +cause against the heretics. Then, two great Protestant princes, +Maurice of Albertine Saxony and John von Kuestrin--a brother of Joachim +II, Elector of Brandenburg--abandoned their coreligionists and bartered +support to the emperor in return for promises of aggrandizement. + +[Sidenote: January 1546] + +A final religious conference held at Ratisbon demonstrated more clearly +than ever the hopelessness of conciliation. Whereas a semi-Lutheran +doctrine of justification was adopted, the Protestants prepared two +long memoirs rejecting the authority of the council recently convened +at Trent. And then, in the summer, war broke out. At this moment the +forces of the Schmalkaldic League were superior to those of its +enemies. But for poor leadership and lack of unity in command they +would probably have won. + +Towards the last of August and early in September the Protestant troops +bombarded the imperial army at Ingolstadt, but failed to follow this up +by a decisive {128} attack, as was urged by General Schaertlin of +Augsburg. Lack of equipment was partly responsible for this failure. +When the emperor advanced, the Elector of Saxony and the Landgrave of +Hesse retired each to his own land. Another futile attempt of the +League was a raid on the Tyrol, possibly influenced by the desire to +strike at the Council of Trent, certainly by no sound military policy. +The effect of these indecisive counsels was that Charles had little +trouble in reducing the South German rebels, Augsburg, Ulm, Nuremberg, +and Wuerttemberg. The Elector Palatine hastened to come to terms by +temporarily abandoning his religion. [Sidenote: February, 1547] A +counter-reformation was also effected in Cologne. Augsburg bought the +emperor's pardon by material concessions. + +[Sidenote: October 1546] + +In the meantime Duke Maurice of Albertine Saxony, having made a bargain +with the emperor, attacked his second cousin the Elector. Though +Maurice was not obliged to abjure his faith, his act was naturally +regarded as one of signal treachery and he was henceforth known by the +nickname "Judas." Maurice conquered most of his cousin's lands, except +the forts of Wittenberg and Gotha. Charles's Spanish army under Alva +now turned northward, forced a passage of the Elbe and routed the +troops of John Frederic at the battle of Muelberg, near Torgau, on April +24, 1547. John Frederic was captured wounded, and kept in durance +several years. Wittenberg capitulated on May 19, and just a month +later Philip of Hesse surrendered at Halle. He also was kept a +prisoner for some years. Peace was made by the mediation of +Brandenburg. The electoral vote of Saxony was given to Maurice, and +with it the best part of John Frederic's lands, including Wittenberg. +No change of religion was required. The net result of the war was to +{129} increase the imperial power, but to put a very slight check upon +the expansion of Protestantism. + +And yet it was for precisely this end that Charles chiefly valued his +authority. Immediately, acting independently of the pope, he made +another effort to restore the confessional unity of Germany. The Diet +of Augsburg [Sidenote: 1547-8] accepted under pressure from him a +decree called the Interim because it was to be valid only until the +final decisions of a general council. Though intended to apply only to +Protestant states--the Catholics had, instead, a _formula +reformationis_--the Interim [Sidenote: The Interim, June 30, 1548], +drawn up by Romanist divines, was naturally Catholic in tenor. The +episcopal constitution was restored, along with the canon of the mass, +the doctrine of the seven sacraments, and the worship of saints. On +some doctrinal points vagueness was studied. The only concessions made +to the Reformation were the _pro tempore_ recognition of the marriage +of the clergy and the giving of the cup to the laity. Various other +details of practical reform were demanded. The Interim was intensely +unpopular with both parties. The pope objected to it and German +Catholics, especially in Bavaria, strongly opposed it. The South +German Protestant states accepted it only under pressure. Maurice of +Saxony adopted it in a modified form, known as the Leipzig Interim, in +December 1548. The assistance rendered him by Melanchthon caused a +fierce attack on the theologian by his fellow-Lutherans. In enforcing +the Interim Maurice found his own profit, for when Magdeburg won the +nickname of "our Lord God's pulpit" by refusing to accept it, Maurice +was entrusted with the execution of the imperial ban, and captured the +city on November 9, 1551. + +Germany now fell into a confused condition, every state for itself. +The emperor found his own {130} difficulties in trying to make his son +Philip successor to his Brother Ferdinand. His two former Protestant +allies, Maurice and John von Kuestrin, made an alliance with France and +with other North German princes and forced the emperor to conclude the +Convention of Passau. [Sidenote: 1552] This guaranteed afresh the +religious freedom of the Lutherans until the next Diet and forced the +liberation of John Frederic and Philip of Hesse. Charles did not +loyally accept the conditions of this agreement, but induced Albert, +Margrave of Brandenburg-Culmbach, to attack the confederate princes in +the rear. After Albert had laid waste a portion of North Germany he +was defeated by Maurice at the battle of Sievershausen. [Sidenote: +July 9, 1553] Mortally wounded, the brilliant but utterly unscrupulous +victor died, at the age of thirty-two, soon after the battle. As the +conflict had by this time resolved itself into a duel between him and +Charles, the emperor was now at last able to put through, at the Diet +of Augsburg, a settlement of the religious question. + +[Sidenote: Religious Peace of Augsburg, September 25, 1555] + +The principles of the Religious Peace were as follows: + +(1) A truce between states recognizing the Augsburg Confession and +Catholic states until union was possible. All other confessions were +to be barred--a provision aimed chiefly at Calvinists. + +(2) The princes and governments of the Free Cities were to be allowed +to choose between the Roman and the Lutheran faith, but their subjects +must either conform to this faith--on the maxim famous as _cujus regio +ejus religio_--or emigrate. In Imperial Free Cities, however, it was +specially provided that Catholic minorities be tolerated. + +(3) The "ecclesiastical reservation," or principle that when a Catholic +spiritual prince became Protestant he should be deposed and a successor +appointed {131} so that his territory might remain under the church. +In respect to this Ferdinand privately promised to secure toleration +for Protestant subjects in the land of such a prince. All claims of +spiritual jurisdiction by Catholic prelates in Lutheran lands were to +cease. All estates of the church confiscated prior to 1552 were to +remain in the hands of the spoliators, all seized since that date to be +restored. + +The Peace of Augsburg, like the Missouri Compromise, only postponed +civil war and the radical solution of a pressing problem. But as we +cannot rightly censure the statesmen of 1820 for not insisting on +emancipation, for which public opinion was not yet prepared, so it +would be unhistorical and unreasonable to blame the Diet of Augsburg +for not granting the complete toleration which we now see was bound to +come and was ideally the right thing. Mankind is educated slowly and +by many hard experiences. Europe had lain so long under the domination +of an authoritative ecclesiastical civilization that the possibility of +complete toleration hardly occurred to any but a few eccentrics. And +we must not minimize what the Peace of Augsburg actually accomplished. +It is true that choice of religion was legally limited to two +alternatives, but this was more than had been allowed before. +[Sidenote: Actual results] It is true that freedom of even this choice +was complete only for the rulers of the territories or Free Cities; +private citizens might exercise the same choice only on leaving their +homes. The hardship of this was somewhat lessened by the consideration +that in any case the nonconformist would not have to go far before +finding a German community holding the Catholic or Lutheran opinions he +preferred. Finally, it must be remembered that, if the Peace of +Augsburg aligned the whole nation into two mutually hostile camps, it +at least kept them from war for more than {132} half a century. Nor +was this a mere accident, for the strain was at times severe. When the +imperial knight, Grumbach, broke the peace by sacking the city of +Wuerzburg, [Sidenote: 1563-7] he was put under the ban, captured and +executed. His protector, Duke John Frederic of Saxony, was also +captured and kept in confinement in Austria until his death. + +Notwithstanding such an exhibition of centralized power, it is probable +that the Peace of Augsburg increased rather than diminished the +authority of the territorial states at the expense of the imperial +government. Charles V, worn out by his long and unsuccessful struggle +with heresy, after giving the Netherlands to his son Philip in 1555, +abdicated the crown of the Empire to his brother Ferdinand in 1556. +[Sidenote: Ferdinand, 1556-64] He died two years later in a monastery, +a disappointed man, having expressed the wish that he had burned Luther +at Worms. The energies of Ferdinand were largely taken up with the +Turkish war. His son, Maximilian II, [Sidenote: Maximilian II, +1564-76] was favorably inclined to Protestantism. + +[Sidenote: Catholic reaction] + +Before Maximilian's death, however, a reaction in favor of Catholicism +had already set in. The last important gains to the Lutheran cause in +Germany came in the years immediately following the Peace of Augsburg. +Nothing is more remarkable than the fact that practically all the +conquests of Protestantism in Europe were made within the first half +century of its existence. After that for a few years it lost, and +since then has remained, geographically speaking, stationary in Europe. +It is impossible to get accurate statistics of the gains and losses of +either confession. The estimate of the Venetian ambassador that only +one-tenth of the German empire was Catholic in 1558 is certainly wrong. +In 1570, at the height of the Protestant tide, probably 70 per cent. of +Germans--including Austrians--were Protestant. In 1910 the Germans of +the {133} German Empire and of Austria were divided thus: Protestants +37,675,000; Catholics 29,700,000. The Protestants were about 56 per +cent., and this proportion was probably about that of the year 1600. + +[Sidenote: Lutheran schisms] + +Historically, the final stemming of the Protestant flood was due to the +revival of energy in the Catholic Church and to the internal weakness +and schism of the Protestants. Even within the Lutheran communion +fierce conflicts broke out. Luther's lieutenants fought for his +spiritual heritage as the generals of Alexander fought for his empire. +The center of these storms was Melanchthon until death freed him from +"the rage of the theologians." [Sidenote: April 19, 1560] Always half +Catholic, half Erasmian at heart, by his endorsement of the Interim, +and by his severe criticisms of his former friends Luther and John +Frederic, he brought on himself the bitter enmity of those calling +themselves "Gnesio-Lutherans," or "Genuine Lutherans." Melanchthon +abolished congregational hymn-singing, and published his true views, +hitherto dissembled, on predestination and the sacrament. He was +attacked by Flacius the historian, and by many others. The dispute was +taken up by still others and went to such lengths that for a minor +heresy a pastor, Funck, was executed by his fellow-Lutherans in +Prussia, in 1566. "Philippism" as it was called, at first grew, but +finally collapsed when the Formula of Concord was drawn up in 1580 and +signed by over 8000 clergy. This document is to the Lutheran Church +what the decrees of Trent were to the Catholics. The "high" doctrine +of the real presence was strongly stated, and all the sophistries +advanced to support it canonized. The sacramental bread and wine were +treated with such superstitious reverence that a Lutheran priest who +accidentally spilled the latter was punished by having his fingers cut +off. Melanchthon was against such "remnants of {134} papistry" which +he rightly named "artolatry" or "bread-worship." + +But the civil wars within the Lutheran communion were less bitter than +the hatred for the Calvinists. By 1550 their mutual detestation had +reached such a point that Calvin called the Lutherans "ministers of +Satan" and "professed enemies of God" trying to bring in "adulterine +rites" and vitiate the pure worship. The quarrel broke out again at +the Colloquy of Worms. Melanchthon and others condemned Zwingli, thus, +in Calvin's opinion, "wiping off all their glory." Nevertheless Calvin +himself had said, in 1539, that Zwingli's opinion was false and +pernicious. So difficult is the path of orthodoxy to find! In 1557 +the Zwinglian leader M. Schenck wrote to Thomas Blaurer that the error +of the papists was rather to be borne than that of the Saxons. +Nevertheless Calvinism continued to grow in Germany at the expense of +Lutheranism. Especially after the Formula of Concord the "Philippists" +went over in large numbers to the Calvinists. + +[Sidenote: Effect on the nation] + +The worst thing about these distressing controversies was that they +seemed to absorb the whole energies of the nation. No period is less +productive in modern German history than the age immediately following +the triumph of the Reformation. The movement, which had begun so +liberally and hopefully, became, temporarily at least, narrower and +more bigoted than Catholicism. It seemed as if Erasmus had been quite +right when he said that where Lutheranism reigned culture perished. Of +these men it has been said--and the epigram is not a bad one--that they +made an intellectual desert and called it religious peace. + +And yet we should be cautious in history of assuming _post hoc propter +hoc_. That there was nothing {135} necessarily blighting in +Protestantism is shown by the examples of England and Poland, where the +Reform was followed by the most brilliant literary age in the annals of +these peoples. [Sidenote: 16th century literature] The latter part of +the sixteenth century was also the great period of the literature of +Spain and Portugal, which remained Catholic, whereas Italy, equally +Catholic, notably declined in artistic production and somewhat also in +letters. The causes of the alterations, in various peoples, of periods +of productivity and of comparative sterility, are in part inscrutable. +In the present case, it seems that when a relaxation of intellectual +activity is visible, it was not due to any special quality in +Protestantism, but was rather caused by the heat of controversy. + + +SECTION 7. NOTE ON SCANDINAVIA, POLAND, AND HUNGARY + +[Transcriber's note: The above section number is what appears in the +original book, but it is a case of misnumbering, and is actually the +chapter's sixth section.] + +A few small countries bordering on the Empire, neither fully in the +central stream of European culture, nor wholly outside of it, may be +treated briefly. All of them were affected by the Protestant +revolution, the Teutonic peoples permanently, the others transiently. + +Scandinavia looms large in the Middle Ages as the home of the teeming +multitudes of emigrants, Goths and Vandals, who swarmed over the Roman +Empire. Later waves from Denmark and the contiguous portion of Germany +flooded England first in the Anglo-Saxon conquest and then in the +Danish. The Normans, too, originally hailed from Scandinavia. But +though the sons of the North conquered and colonized so much of the +South, Scandinavia herself remained a small people, neither politically +nor intellectually of the first importance. The three kingdoms of +Denmark, Norway, and Sweden became one in 1397; and, after Sweden's +temporary separation from the other two, were again united. The +fifteenth century saw the {136} great aggrandizement of the power of +the prelates and of the larger nobles at the expense of the _boender_, +who, from a class of free and noble small proprietors degenerated not +only into peasants but often into serfs. [Sidenote: 1513] When +Christian II succeeded to the throne, it was as the papal champion. +His attempt to consolidate his power in Sweden by massacring the +magnates under the pretext that they were hostile to the pope, +[Sidenote: November 8-11, 1520] an act called the "Stockholm bath of +blood," aroused the people against him in a war of independence. + +[Sidenote: Denmark] + +Christian found Denmark also insubordinate. It is true that he made +some just laws, protecting the people and building up their prosperity, +but their support was insufficient to counterbalance the hatred of the +great lords spiritual and temporal. He was quick to see in the +Reformation a weapon against the prelates, and appealed for help to +Wittenberg as early as 1519. His endeavors throughout 1520 to get +Luther himself to visit Denmark failed, but early in 1521 he succeeded +in attracting Carlstadt for a short visit. This effort, however, cost +him his throne, for he was expelled on April 13, 1523, and wandered +over Europe in exile until his death. [Sidenote: 1559] + +The Duke of Schleswig-Holstein, to whom the crown was offered, reigned +for ten years as Frederic I. Though his coronation oath bound him to +do nothing against the church, he had only been king for three years +before he came out openly for the Reformation. In this again we must +see primarily a policy, rather than a conviction. He was supported, +however, by the common people, who had been disgusted by the +indulgences sold by Arcimboldi [Sidenote: 1516-19] and by the constant +corruption of the higher clergy. The cities, as in Germany, were the +strongest centers of the movement. The Diet of 1527 decreed that +Lutherans should be recognized on equal terms with Catholics, that +marriage of priests {137} and the regular clergy be allowed. In 1530 a +Lutheran confession was adopted. + +Christian III, who reigned until 1559, took the final step, though at +the price of a civil war. His victory enabled him to arrest all the +bishops, August 20, 1536, and to force them to renounce their rights +and properties in favor of the crown. Only one, Bishop Roennow of +Roskilde, refused, and was consequently held prisoner until his death. +The Diet of 1536 abolished Catholicism, confiscated all church property +and distributed it between the king and the temporal nobles. +Bugenhagen was called from Wittenberg to organize the church on +Lutheran lines. [Sidenote: 1537-9] In the immediately following years +the Catholics were deprived of their civil rights. The political +benefits of the Reformation inured primarily to the king and +secondarily to the third estate. + +[Sidenote: Norway] + +Norway was a vassal of Denmark from 1380 till 1814. At no time was its +dependence more complete than in the sixteenth century. Frederic I +introduced the Reformation by royal decree as early as 1528, and +Christian III put the northern kingdom completely under the tutelage of +Denmark, [Sidenote: 1536] in spiritual as well as in temporal matters. +The adoption of the Reformation here as in Iceland seemed to be a +matter of popular indifference. + +[Sidenote: Sweden] + +After Sweden had asserted her independence by the expulsion of +Christian II, Gustavus Vasa, an able ruler, ascended the throne. +[Sidenote: Gustavus Vasa, 1523-60] He, too, saw in the Reformation +chiefly an opportunity for confiscating the goods of the church. The +way had, indeed, been prepared by a popular reformer, Olaus Petri, but +the king made the movement an excuse to concentrate in his own hands +the spiritual power. The Diet of Westeras [Sidenote: 1527] passed the +necessary laws, at the same time expelling the chief leader of the +Romanist party, John Brask, {138} Bishop of Linkoeping. The Reformation +was entirely Lutheran and extremely conservative. Not only the +Anabaptists, but even the Calvinists, failed to get any hold upon the +Scandinavian peoples. In many ways the Reformation in Sweden was +parallel to that in England. Both countries retained the episcopal +organization founded upon the "apostolical succession." Olaus Magni, +Bishop of Westeras, had been ordained at Rome in 1524, and in turn +consecrated the first Evangelical Archbishop, Lawrence Petri, +[Sidenote: Petri 1499-1573] who had studied at Wittenberg, and who +later translated the Bible into Swedish [Sidenote: 1541] and protected +his people from the inroads of Calvinism. The king, more and more +absolutely the head of the church, as in England, did not hesitate to +punish even prominent reformers when they opposed him. The reign of +Gustavus's successor, Eric XIV, [Sidenote: Eric XIV, 1560-8] was +characterless, save for the influx of Huguenots strengthening the +Protestants. King John III [Sidenote: John III, 1569-92] made a final, +though futile, attempt to reunite with the Roman Church. As Finland +was at this time a dependency of Sweden, the Reformation took +practically the same course as in Sweden itself. + +[Sidenote: Poland] + +A complete contrast to Sweden is furnished by Poland. If in the former +the government counted for almost everything, in the latter it counted +for next to nothing. The theater of Polish history is the vast plain +extending from the Carpathians to the Duena, and from the Baltic almost +to the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. This region, lacking natural +frontiers on several sides, was inhabited by a variety of races: Poles +in the west, Lithuanians in the east, Ruthenians in the south and many +Germans in the cities. The union of the Polish and Lithuanian states +was as yet a merely personal one in the monarch. Since the fourteenth +century the crown of Poland had been elective, but the grand-ducal +crown of Lithuania was {139} hereditary in the famous house of +Jagiello, and the advantages of union induced the Polish nobility +regularly to elect the heir to the eastern domain their king. Though +theoretically absolute, in practice the king had been limited by the +power of the nobles and gentry, and this limitation was given a +constitutional sanction in the law _Nihil novi_, [Sidenote: 1505] +forbidding the monarch to pass laws without the consent of the deputies +of the magnates and lesser nobles. + +The foreign policy of Sigismund I [Sidenote: Sigismund I, 1506-1548] +was determined by the proximity of powerful and generally hostile +neighbors. It would not be profitable in this place to follow at +length the story of his frequent wars with Muscovy and with the Tartar +hordes of the Crimea, and of his diplomatic struggles with the Turks, +the Empire, Hungary, and Sweden. On the whole he succeeded not only in +holding his own, but in augmenting his power. He it was who finally +settled the vexatious question of the relationship of his crown to the +Teutonic Order, which, since 1466, had held Prussia as a fief, though a +constantly rebellious and troublesome one. The election of Albert of +Brandenburg as Grand Master of the Order threatened more serious +trouble, [Sidenote: 1511] but a satisfactory solution of the problem +was found when Albert embraced the Lutheran faith and secularized +Prussia as an hereditary duchy, at the same time swearing allegiance to +Sigismund as his suzerain. [Sidenote: 1525] Many years later +Sigismund's son conquered and annexed another domain of the Teutonic +order further north, namely Livonia. [Sidenote: 1561] War with Sweden +resulted from this but was settled by the cession of Esthonia to the +Scandinavian power. + +Internally, the vigorous Jagiello strengthened both the military and +financial resources of his people. To meet the constant inroads of the +Tartars he established the Cossacks, a rough cavalry formed of the +hunters, {140} fishers, and graziers of the Ukraine, quite analogous to +the cowboys of the American Wild West. From being a military body they +developed into a state and nation that occupied a special position in +Poland and then in Russia. Sigismund's fiscal policy, by recovering +control of the mint and putting the treasury into the hands of capable +bankers, effectively provided for the economic life of the government. + +[Sidenote: Reformation] + +Poland has generally been as open to the inroads of foreign ideas as to +the attacks of enemies; a peculiar susceptibility to alien culture, due +partly to the linguistic attainments of many educated Poles and partly +to an independent, almost anarchical disposition, has made this nation +receive from other lands more freely than it gives. Every wave of new +ideas innundates the low-lying plain of the Vistula. So the +Reformation spread with amazing rapidity, first among the cities and +then among the peasants of that land. In the fifteenth century the +influence of Huss and the humanists had in different ways formed +channels facilitating the inrush of Lutheranism. The unpopularity of a +wealthy and indolent church predisposed the body politic to the new +infection. Danzig, that "Venice of the North," had a Lutheran preacher +in 1518; while the Edict of Thorn, intended to suppress the heretics, +indicates that as early as 1520 they had attracted the attention of the +central government. But this persecuting measure, followed thick and +fast by others, only proved how little the tide could be stemmed by +paper barriers. The cities of Cracow, Posen, and Lublin, especially +susceptible on account of their German population, were thoroughly +infected before 1522. Next, the contagion attacked the country +districts and towns of Prussia, which had been pretty thoroughly +converted prior to its secularization. + +The first political effect of the Reformation was to {141} stimulate +the unrest of the lower classes. Riots and rebellions, analogous to +those of the Peasants' War in Germany, followed hard upon the preaching +of the "gospel." Sigismund could restore order here and there, as he +did at Danzig in 1526 by a military occupation, by fining the town and +beheading her six leading innovators, but he could not suppress the +growing movement. For after the accession of the lower classes came +that of the nobles and gentry who bore the real sovereignty in the +state. Seeing in the Reformation a weapon for humiliating and +plundering the church, as well as a key to a higher spiritual life, +from one motive or the other, they flocked to its standard, and, under +leadership of their greatest reformer, John Laski, organized a powerful +church. + +The reign of Sigismund II [Sidenote: Sigismund II, 1548-1572] saw the +social upheaval by which the nobility finally placed the power firmly +in their own hands, and also the height of the Reformation. By a law +known as the "Execution" the assembly of nobles finally got control of +the executive as well as of the legislative branch of the government. +At the same time they, with the cordial assistance of the king, bound +the country together in a closer bond known as the Union of Lublin. +[Sidenote: 1569] Though Lithuania and Prussia struggled against +incorporation with Poland, both were forced to submit to a measure that +added power to the state and opened to the Polish nobility great +opportunity for political and economic exploitation of these lands. +Not only the king, but the magnates and the cities were put under the +heel of the ruling caste. This was an evolution opposite to that of +most European states, in which crown and bourgeoisie subdued the once +proud position of the baronage. But even here in Poland one sees the +rising influence of commerce and the money-power, in that the Polish +nobility was largely composed of small {142} gentry eager and able to +exploit the new opportunities offered by capitalism. In other +countries the old privilege of the sword gave way to the new privilege +of gold; in Poland the sword itself turned golden, at least in part; +the blade kept its keen, steel edge, but the hilt by which it was +wielded glittered yellow. + +[Sidenote: Protestantism] + +Unchecked though they were by laws, the Protestants soon developed a +weakness that finally proved fatal to their cause, lack of organization +and division into many mutually hostile sects. [Sidenote: 1537] The +Anabaptists of course arrived, preached, gained adherents, and were +suppressed. [Sidenote: 1548] Next came a large influx of Bohemian +Brethren, expelled from their own country and migrating to a land of +freedom, where they soon made common cause with the Lutherans. +[Sidenote: 1558] Calvinists propagated the seeds of their faith with +much success. Finally the Unitarians, led by Lelio Sozini, found a +home in Poland and made many proselytes, at last becoming so powerful +that they founded the new city of Racau, whence issued the famous +Racovian Catechism. At one time they seemed about to obtain the +mastery of the state, but the firm union of the Trinitarian Protestants +at Sandomir [Sidenote: 1570] checked them until all of them were swept +away together by the resurging tide of Catholicism. Several versions +of the Bible, Lutheran, Socinian, and Catholic, were issued. + +So powerful were the Evangelicals that at the Diet of 1555 they held +services in the face of the Catholic king, and passed a law abolishing +the jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical courts. This measure, of +course, allowed freedom of all new sects, both those then in control of +the Diet and the as yet unfledged Antitrinitarians. Nevertheless a +strong wish was expressed for a national, Protestant church, and had +Sigismund had the advantages, as he had the matrimonial difficulties, +of Henry VIII, he might have {143} established such a body. But he +never quite dared to take the step, dreading the hostility of Catholic +neighbors. Singularly enough the championship of the Catholic cause +was undertaken by Greek-Catholic Muscovy, [Sidenote: 1562] whose Czar, +Ivan, represented his war against Poland as a crusade against the new +iconoclasts. Unable to act with power, Sigismund cultivated such means +of combating Protestantism as were ready to his hand. His most +trenchant weapon was the Order of Jesuits, who were invited to come in +and establish schools. Moreover, the excellence of their colleges in +foreign lands induced many of the nobility to send their sons to be +educated under them, and thus were prepared the seeds of the +Counter-Reformation. + +The death of Sigismund without an heir left Poland for a time +masterless. During the interregnum the Diet passed the Compact of +Warsaw by which absolute religious liberty was granted to all +sects--"Dissidentes de Religione"--without exception. [Sidenote: +January 28, 1573] But, liberal though the law was, it was vitiated in +practice by the right retained by every master of punishing his serfs +for religious as well as for secular causes. Thus it was that the +lower classes were marched from Protestant pillar to Catholic post and +back without again daring to rebel or to express any choice in the +matter. + +The election of Henry of Valois, [Sidenote: Henry, May 11, 1573] a +younger son of Catharine de' Medici, was made conditional on the +acceptance of a number of articles, including the maintenance of +religious liberty. The prince acceded, with some reservations, and was +crowned on February 21, 1574. Four months later he heard of the death +of his brother, Charles IX, making him king of France. Without daring +to ask leave of absence, he absconded from Poland on June 18, thereby +abandoning a throne which was promptly declared vacant. + +The new election presented great difficulties, and {144} almost led to +civil war. While the Senate declared for the Hapsburg Maximilian II, +the Diet chose Stephen Bathory, prince of Transylvania. [Sidenote: +Stephen Bathory, 1576-86] Only the unexpected death of Maximilian +prevented an armed collision between the two. Bathory, now in +possession, forced his recognition by all parties and led the land of +his adoption into a period of highly successful diplomacy and of +victorious war against Muscovy. His religious policy was one of +pacification, conciliation, and of supporting inconspicuously the +Jesuit foundations at Wilna, Posen, Cracow, and Eiga. But the full +fruits of their propaganda, resulting in the complete reconversion of +Poland to Catholicism were not reaped until the reign of his successor, +Sigismund III, a Vasa, of Sweden. [Sidenote: Sigismund III, 1586-1632] + +[Sidenote: Bohemia] + +Bohemia, a Slav kingdom long united historically and dynastically with +the Empire, as the home of Huss, welcomed the Reformation warmly, the +Brethren turning first to Luther and then to Calvin. After various +efforts to suppress and banish them had failed of large success, the +Compact of 1567 granted toleration to the three principal churches. As +in Poland, the Jesuits won back the whole land in the next generation, +so that in 1910 there were in Bohemia 6,500,000 Catholics and only +175,000 Protestants. + +[Sidenote: Hungary, 1526] + +Hungary was so badly broken by the Turks at the battle of Mohacs that +she was able to play but little part in the development of Western +civilization. Like her more powerful rival, she was also distracted by +internal dissention. After the death of her King Lewis at Mohacs there +were two candidates for the throne, Ferdinand the Emperor's brother and +John Zapolya, [Sidenote: Zapolya, 1526-40] "woiwod" or prince of +Transylvania. Protestantism had a considerable hold on the nobles, +who, after the shattering of the national power, divided a portion of +the goods of the church between them. {145} The Unitarian movement was +also strong for a time, and the division this caused proved almost +fatal to the Reformation, for the greater part of the kingdom was won +back to Catholicism under the Jesuits' leadership. [Sidenote: +1576-1612] In 1910 there were about 8,600,000 Catholics in Hungary and +about 3,200,000 Protestants. + +[Sidenote: Transylvania] + +Transylvania, though a dependency of the Turks, was allowed to keep the +Christian religion. The Saxon colonists in this state welcomed the +Reformation, formally recognizing the Augsburg Confession in a synod of +1572. Here also the Unitarians attained their greatest strength, being +recruited partly from those expelled from Poland. They drew their +inspiration not merely from Sozini, but from a variety of sources, for +the doctrine appeared simultaneously among certain Anabaptist and +Spiritualist sects. Toleration was granted them on the same terms as +other Christians. The name "Unitarian" first appears in a decree of +the Transylvania Diet of the year 1600. An appreciable body of this +persuasion still remains in the country, together with a number of +Lutherans, Calvinists, and Romanists, but the large majority of the +people belong to two Greek Catholic churches. + + + + +{146} + +CHAPTER III + +SWITZERLAND + +SECTION 1. ZWINGLI + +[Sidenote: The Swiss Confederation] + +Amid the snow-clad Alps and azure lakes of Switzerland there grew up a +race of Germans which, though still nominally a part of the Empire, +had, at the period now considered, long gone on its own distinct path +of development. Politically, the Confederacy arose in a popular revolt +against the House of Austria. The federal union of the three forest +cantons of Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden, first entered into in 1291 and +made permanent in 1315, was strengthened by the admission of Lucerne +(1332), Zug (1352), Glarus (1351) and of the Imperial Cities of Zurich +(1351) and Berne (1353). By the admission of Freiburg and Solothurn +(1481), Basle (1501), Schaffhausen (1501) and Appenzell (1513) the +Confederacy reached the number of thirteen cantons at which it remained +for many years. By this time it was recognized as a practically +independent state, courted by the great powers of Europe. Allied to +this German Confederacy were two Romance-speaking states of a similar +nature, the Confederacies of the Valais and of the Grisons. + +The Swiss were then the one free people of Europe. Republican +government by popular magistrates prevailed in all the cantons. +Liberty was not quite democratic, for the cantons ruled several subject +provinces, and in the cities a somewhat aristocratic electorate held +power; nevertheless there was no state in Europe approaching the Swiss +in self-government. Though they were generally accounted the best +soldiers of the {147} day, their military valor did not redound to +their own advantage, for the hardy peasantry yielded to the +solicitations of the great powers around them to enter into foreign, +mercenary service. The influential men, especially the priests, took +pensions from the pope or from France or from other princes, in return +for their labors in recruiting. The system was a bad one for both +sides. Swiss politics were corrupted and the land drained of its +strongest men; whereas the princes who hired the mercenaries often +found to their cost that such soldiers were not only the most +formidable to their enemies but also the most troublesome to +themselves, always on the point of mutiny for more pay and plunder. +The Swiss were beginning to see the evils of the system, and prohibited +the taking of pensions in 1503, though this law remained largely a dead +letter. [Sidenote: September 13-14, 1515] The reputation of the +mountaineers suffered a blow in their defeat by the French at +Marignano, followed by a treaty with France, intended by that power to +make Switzerland a permanent dependency in return for a large annual +subsidy payable to each of the thirteen cantons and to the Grisons and +Valais as well. The country suffered from faction. The rural or +"Forest" cantons were jealous of the cities, and the latter, especially +Berne, the strongest, pursued selfish policies of individual +aggrandizement at the expense of their confederates. + +As everywhere else, the cities were the centers of culture and of +social movements. Basle was famous for its university and for the +great printing house of Froben. Here Albert Duerer had stayed for a +while during his wandering years. Here Sebastian Brant had studied and +had written his famous satire. Here the great Erasmus had come to +publish his New Testament. + +But the Reformation in Switzerland was only in [Sidenote: 1521-9] {148} +part a child of humanism. Nationalism played its role in the revolt +from Rome, memories of councils lingered at Constance and Basle, and +the desire for a purer religion made itself felt among the more +earnest. Switzerland had at least one great shrine, that of +Einsiedeln; to her Virgin many pilgrims came yearly in hopes of the +plenary indulgence, expressly promising forgiveness of both guilt and +penalty of sin. Berne was the theater of one of the most reverberating +scandals enacted by the contemporary church. [Sidenote: The Jetzer +scandal] A passionately contested theological issue of the day was +whether the Virgin had been immaculately conceived. This was denied by +the Dominicans and asserted by the Franciscans. Some of the Dominicans +of the friary at Berne thought that the best way to settle the affair +was to have a direct revelation. For their fraudulent purposes they +conspired with John Jetzer, a lay brother admitted in 1506, who died +after 1520. Whether as a tool in the hands of others, or as an +imposter, Jetzer produced a series of bogus apparitions, bringing the +Virgin on the stage and making her give details of her conception +sufficiently gross to show that it took place in the ordinary, and not +in the immaculate, manner. [Sidenote: 1509] When the fraud was at +last discovered by the authorities, four of the Dominicans involved +were burnt at the stake. + +But the vague forces of discontent might never have crystallized into a +definite movement save for the leadership of Ulrich Zwingli. +[Sidenote: Zwingli] He was born January 1, 1484, on the Toggenburg, +amidst the lofty mountains, breathing the atmosphere of freedom and +beauty from the first. As he wandered in the wild passes he noticed +how the marmots set a sentry to warn them of danger, and how the +squirrel crossed the stream on a chip. When he returned to the home of +his father, a local magistrate in easy circumstances, he heard {149} +stirring tales of Swiss freedom and Swiss valor that planted in his +soul a deep love of his native land. The religion he learned was good +Catholic; and the element of popular superstition in it was far less +weird and terrible than in Northern Germany. He remembered one little +tale told him by his grandmother, how the Lord God and Peter slept +together in the same bed, and were wakened each morning by the +housekeeper coming in and pulling the hair of the outside man. + +Education began early under the tuition of an uncle, the parish priest. +At ten Ulrich was sent to Basle to study. Here he progressed well, +becoming the head scholar, and here he developed a love of music and +considerable skill in it. Later he went to school at Berne, where he +attracted the attention of some friars who tried to guide him into +their cloister, an effort apparently frustrated by his father. In the +autumn of 1498 he matriculated at Vienna. For some unknown cause he +was suspended soon afterwards, but was readmitted in the spring of +1500. Two years later he went to Basle, where he completed his studies +by taking the master's degree. [Sidenote: 1506] While here he taught +school for a while. Theology apparently interested him little; his +passion was for the humanities, and his idol was Erasmus. Only in 1513 +did he begin to learn Greek. + +If, at twenty-two, before he had reached the canonical age, Zwingli +took orders, and became parish priest at Glarus, it was less because of +any deep religious interest than because he found in the clerical +calling the best opportunity to cultivate his taste for letters. He +was helped financially by a papal pension of fifty gulden per annum. +His first published work was a fable. [Sidenote: 1510] The lion, the +leopard, and the fox (the Emperor, France, and Venice) try to drive the +ox {150} (Switzerland) out of his pasture, but are frustrated by the +herdsman (the pope). The same tendencies--papal, patriotic, and +political--are shown in his second book, [Sidenote: 1512] an account of +the relations between the Swiss and French, and in _The Labyrinth_, +[Sidenote: 1516] an allegorical poem. The various nations appear again +as animals, but the hero, Theseus, is a patriot guided by the Ariadne +thread of reason, while he is vanquishing the monsters of sin, shame, +and vice. Zwingli's natural interest in politics was nourished by his +experiences as field chaplain of the Swiss forces at the battles of +Novara [Sidenote: 1513] and Marignano. [Sidenote: 1515] + +Was he already a Reformer? Not in the later sense of the word, but he +was a disciple of Erasmus. Capito wrote to Bullinger in 1536: "While +Luther was in the hermitage and had not yet emerged into the light, +Zwingli and I took counsel how to cast down the pope. For then our +judgment was maturing under the influence of Erasmus's society and by +reading good authors." Though Capito over-estimated the opposition of +the young Swiss to the papacy, he was right in other respects. +Zwingli's enthusiasm for the prince of humanists, perfectly evident in +his notes on St. Paul, stimulated him to visit the older scholar at +Basle in the spring of 1516. Their correspondence began at the same +time. Is it not notable that in _The Labyrinth_ the thread of Ariadne +is not religion, but reason? His religious ideal, as shown by his +notes on St. Paul, was at this time the Erasmian one of an ethical, +undogmatic faith. He interpreted the Apostle by the Sermon on the +Mount and by Plato. He was still a good Catholic, without a thought of +breaking away from the church. + +[Sidenote: October, 1516-December, 1518] + +From Glarus Zwingli was called to Einsiedeln, where he remained for two +years. Here he saw the superstitious absurdities mocked by Erasmus. +Here, too, {151} he first came into contact with indulgences, sold +throughout Switzerland by Bernard Samson, a Milanese Franciscan. +Zwingli did not attack them with the impassioned zeal of Luther, but +ridiculed them as "a comedy." His position did not alienate him from +the papal authorities, [Sidenote: September 1, 1516] for he applied +for, and received, the appointment of papal acolyte. How little +serious was his life at this time may be seen from the fact that he +openly confessed that he was living in unchastity and even joked about +it. + +Notwithstanding his peccadillos, as he evidently regarded them, high +hopes were conceived of his abilities and independence of character. +When a priest was wanted at Zurich, [Sidenote: January 1, 1519] Zwingli +applied for the position and, after strenuous canvassing, succeeded in +getting it. + +Soon after this came the turning-point in Zwingli's life, making of the +rather worldly young man an earnest apostle. Two causes contributed to +this. The first was the plague. Zwingli was taken sick in September +and remained in a critical condition for many months. As is so often +the case, suffering and the fear of death made the claims of the other +world so terribly real to him that, for the first time, he cried unto +God from the depths, and consecrated his life to service of his Saviour. + +[Sidenote: 1519] + +The second influence that decided and deepened Zwingli's life was that +of Luther. He first mentions him in 1519, and from that time forth, +often. All his works and all his acts thereafter show the impress of +the Wittenberg professor. Though Zwingli himself sturdily asserted +that he preached the gospel before he heard of Luther, and that he +learned his whole doctrine direct from the Bible, he deceived himself, +as many men do, in over-estimating his own originality. He was truly +able to say that he had formulated some {152} of his ideas, in +dependence on Erasmus, before he heard of the Saxon; and he still +retained his capacity for private judgment afterwards. He never +followed any man slavishly, and in some respects he was more radical +than Luther; nevertheless it is true that he was deeply indebted to the +great German. + +Significantly enough, the first real conflict broke out at Zurich early +in 1520. Zwingli preached against fasting and monasticism, and put +forward the thesis that the gospel alone should be the rule of faith +and practice. He succeeded in carrying through a practical reform of +the cathedral chapter, but was obliged to compromise on fasting. Soon +afterwards Zurich renounced obedience to the bishop. The Forest +Cantons, already jealous of the prosperity of the cities, endeavored to +intervene, but were warned by Zwingli not to appeal to war, as it was +an unchristian thing. Opposition only drove his reforming zeal to +further efforts. + +In the spring of 1522 Zwingli formed with Anna Reinhard Meyer a union +which he kept secret for two years, when he married her in church. In +the marriage itself, though it was by no means unhappy, there was +something lacking of fine feeling and of perfect love. + +[Sidenote: Reformation in Zurich] + +As the reform progressed, the need of clarification was felt. This was +brought about by the favorite method of that day, a disputation. The +Catholics tried in vain to prevent it, and it was actually held in +January, 1523, on 67 theses drawn up by Zwingli. Here, as so often, it +was found that the battle was half won when the innovators were heard. +They themselves attributed this to the excellence of their cause; but, +without disparaging that, it must be said that, as the psychology of +advertising has shown, any thesis presented with sufficient force to +catch the public ear, is {153} sure to win a certain number of +adherents. [Sidenote: October 27, 1523] The Town Council of Zurich +ordered the abolition of images and of the mass. The opposition of the +cathedral chapter considerably delayed the realization of this program. +In December the Council was obliged to concede further discussion. It +was not until Wednesday, April 12, 1525, that mass was said for the +last time in Zurich. Its place was immediately taken, the next day, +Maundy Thursday, by a simple communion service. At the same time the +last of the convents were suppressed, or put in a condition assuring +their eventual extinction. Other reforms included the abolition of +processions, of confirmation and of extreme unction. With homely +caution, a large number of simple souls had this administered to them +just before the time allotted for its last celebration. Organs were +taken out of the churches, and regular lectures on the Bible given. + +Alarmed by these innovations the five original cantons,--Unterwalden, +Uri, Schwyz, Lucerne and Zug,--formed a league in 1524 to suppress the +"Hussite, Lutheran, and Zwinglian heresies." For a time it looked like +war. Zwingli and his advisers drew up a remarkably thorough plan of +campaign, including a method of securing allies, many military details, +and an ample provision for prayer for victory. War, however, was +averted by the mediation of Berne as a friend of Zurich, and the +complete religious autonomy of each canton was guaranteed. + +The Swiss Reformation had to run the same course of separation from the +humanists and radicals, and of schism, as did the German movement. +Though Erasmus was a little closer to the Swiss than he had been to the +Saxon Reformers, he was alienated by the outrageous taunts of some of +them and by the equally unwarranted attempts of others to show that he +agreed {154} with them. "They falsely call themselves evangelical," he +opined, "for they seek only two things: a salary and a wife." + +Then came the break with Luther, of which the story has already been +told. The division was caused neither by jealousy, nor by the one +doctrine--that of the real presence--on which it was nominally fought. +There was in reality a wide difference between the two types of +thought. The Saxon was both mystic and a schoolman; to him religion +was all in all and dogma a large part of religion. Zwingli approached +the problem of salvation from a less personal, certainly from a less +agonized, and from a more legal, liberal, empiric standpoint. He felt +for liberty and for the value of common action in the state. He +interpreted the Bible by reason; Luther placed his reason under the +tuition of the Bible in its apparent meaning. + +[Sidenote: Anabaptists, 1522] + +Next came the turn of the Anabaptists--those Bolsheviki of the +sixteenth century. Their first leaders appeared at Zurich and were for +a while bosom friends of Zwingli. But a parting of the ways was +inevitable, for the humanist could have little sympathy with an +uncultured and ignorant group--such they were, in spite of the fact +that a few leaders were university graduates--and the statesman could +not admit in his categories a purpose that was sectarian as against the +state church, and democratic as against the existing aristocracy. + +[Sidenote: 1523] + +His first work against them shows how he was torn between his desire to +make the Bible his only guide and the necessity of compromising with +the prevailing polity. As he was unable to condemn his opponents on +any consistent grounds he was obliged to prefer against them two +charges that were false, though probably believed true by himself. As +they were {155} ascetics in some particulars he branded them as +monastic; for their social program he called them seditious. + +The suppression of the Peasants' Revolt had the effect in Switzerland, +as elsewhere, of causing the poor and oppressed to lose heart, and of +alienating them from the cause of the official Protestant churches. A +disputation with the Anabaptist leaders was held at Zurich; [Sidenote: +November 6-8, 1525] they were declared refuted, and the council passed +an order for all unbaptized children to be christened within a week. +The leaders were arrested and tried; Zwingli bearing testimony that +they advocated communism, which he considered wrong as the Bible's +injunction not to steal implied the right of private property. The +Anabaptists denied that they were communists, but the leaders were +bound over to keep the peace, some were fined and others banished. As +persecuting measures almost always increase in severity, it was not +long before the death penalty was denounced against the sectaries, and +actually applied. In a polemic against the new sect entitled _In +Catabaptistarum Strophas Elenchus_, [Sidenote: July 1527] Zwingli's +only argument is a criticism of some inconsistencies in the +Anabaptists' biblicism; his final appeal is to force. His strife with +them was harder than his battle with Rome. It seems that the reformer +fears no one so much as him who carries the reformer's own principles +to lengths that the originator disapproves. Zwingli saw in the +fearless fanatics men prepared to act in political and social matters +as he had done in ecclesiastical affairs; he dreaded anarchy or, at +least, subversion of the polity he preferred, and, like all the other +men of his age, he branded heresy as rebellion and punished it as crime. + +[Sidenote: Theocracy] + +By this time Zurich had become a theocracy of the same tyrannical type +as that later made famous by {156} Geneva. Zwingli took the position +of an Old Testament prophet, subordinating state to church. At first +he had agreed with the Anabaptists in separating (theoretically) church +and state. But he soon came to believe that, though true Christians +might need no government, it was necessary to control the wicked, and +for this purpose he favored an aristocratic polity. All matters of +morals were strictly regulated, severe laws being passed against +taverns and gambling. The inhabitants were forced to attend church. +After the suppression of the Catholics and the radicals, there +developed two parties just as later in Geneva, the Evangelical and the +Indifferent, the policy of the latter being one of more freedom, or +laxity, in discipline, and in general a preference of political to +religious ends. + +[Sidenote: Basle November, 1522] + +The Reformation had now established itself in other cities of German +Switzerland. Oecolampadius coming to Basle as the bearer of +Evangelical ideas, won such success that soon the bishop was deprived +of authority, [Sidenote: 1524] two disputations with the Catholics were +held, [Sidenote: 1525] and the monasteries abolished. [Sidenote: 1527] +Oecolampadius, after taking counsel with Zwingli on the best means of +suppressing Catholic worship, branded the mass as an act worse than +theft, harlotry, adultery, treason, and murder, called a meeting of the +town council, and requested them to decree the abolition of Catholic +worship. [Sidenote: October 27, 1527] Though they replied that every +man should be free to exercise what religion he liked, on Good Friday, +1528, the Protestants removed the images from Oecolampadius's church, +and grumbled because their enemies were yet tolerated. Liberty of +conscience was only assured by the fairly equal division of the +membership of the town council. On December 23, 1528, two hundred +citizens assembled and presented a petition, drawn up by Oecolampadius, +for the suppression of {157} the mass. On January 6, 1529, under +pressure from the ambassadors of Berne and Zurich, the town council of +Basle decreed that all pastors should preach only the Word of God, and +asked them to assemble for instruction on this point. The compromise +suited no one and on February 8 the long prepared revolution broke out. +Under pretence that the Catholics had disobeyed the last decree, a +Protestant mob surrounded the town hall, planted cannon, and forced the +council to expel the twelve Catholic members, meanwhile destroying +church pictures and statues. "It was indeed a spectacle so sad to the +superstitious," Oecolampadius wrote to Capito, "that they had to weep +blood. . . . We raged against the idols, and the mass died of sorrow." + +A somewhat similar development took place in Berne, St. Gall, +Schaffhausen, and Glarus. The favorite instrument for arousing popular +interest and support was the disputation. Such an one was held at +Baden in May and June, 1526. Zwingli declined to take part in this and +the Catholics claimed the victory. This, however, did them rather harm +than good, for the public felt that the cards had been stacked. A +similar debate at Berne in 1528 turned that city completely to the +Reformation. A synod of the Swiss Evangelical churches was formed in +1527. This made for uniformity. The publication of the Bible in a +translation by Leo Jud and others, with prefaces by Zwingli, proved a +help to the Evangelical cause. [Sidenote: 1530] This translation was +the only one to compete at all successfully with Luther's. + +The growing strength of the Protestant cantons encouraged them to carry +the reform by force in all places in which a majority was in favor of +it. Zwingli's far-reaching plans included an alliance with Hesse and +with Francis I to whom he dedicated his {158} two most important +theological works, _True and False Religion_ and _An Exposition of the +Christian Faith_. [Sidenote: April, 1529] The Catholic cantons +replied by making a league with Austria. War seemed imminent and +Zwingli was so heartily in favor of it that he threatened resignation +if Zurich did not declare war. This was accordingly done on June 8. +Thirty thousand Protestant soldiers marched against the Catholic +cantons, which, without the expected aid from Austria, were able to put +only nine thousand men into the field. Seeing themselves hopelessly +outnumbered, the Catholics prudently negotiated a peace without risking +a battle. [Sidenote: First Peace of Cappel] The terms of this first +Peace of Cappel forced the Catholics to renounce the alliance with +Austria, and to allow the majority of citizens in each canton to decide +the religion they would follow. Toleration for Protestants was +provided for in Catholic cantons, though toleration of the old religion +was denied in the Evangelical cantons. + +This peace marked the height of Zwingli's power. He continued to +negotiate on equal terms with Luther, and he sent missionaries into +Geneva to win it to his cause and to the Confederacy. The Catholic +cantons, stung to the quick, again sought aid from Austria and raised +another and better army. [Sidenote: Defeat of Zwingli] Zwingli heard +of this and advocated a swift blow to prevent it--the "offensive +defence." Berne refused to join Zurich in this aggression, but agreed +to bring pressure to bear on the Catholics [Sidenote: May 1531] by +proclaiming a blockade of their frontiers. An army was prepared by the +Forest Cantons, but Berne, whose entirely selfish policy was more +disastrous to the Evangelical cause than was the hostility of the +league, still refused to engage in war. Zurich was therefore obliged +to meet it alone. An army of only two thousand Zurichers marched out, +accompanied by Zwingli as field chaplain. Eight thousand Catholic +troops attacked, utterly defeated them, and {159} killed many on the +field of battle. [Sidenote: October 11, 1531] Zwingli, who, though a +non-combatant, was armed, was wounded and left on the field. Later he +was recognized by enemies, killed, and his body burned as that of a +heretic. + +The defeat was a disaster to Protestant Switzerland not so much on +account of the terms of peace, which were moderate, as because of the +loss of prestige and above all of the great leader. His spirit +however, continued to inspire his followers, and lived in the Reformed +Church. Indeed it has been said, though with exaggeration, that Calvin +only gave his name to the church founded by Zwingli, just as Americus +gave his name to the continent discovered by Columbus. In many +respects Zwingli was the most liberal of the Reformers. In his last +work he expressed the belief that in heaven would be saved not only +Christians and the worthies of the Old Testament but also "Hercules, +Theseus, Socrates, Aristides, Antigonus, Numa, Camillus, the Catos and +Scipios. . . . In a word no good man has ever existed, nor shall there +exist a holy mind, a faithful soul, from the very foundation of the +world to its consummation, whom you will not see there with God." +Nevertheless, Zwingli was a persecutor and was bound by many of the +dogmatic prepossessions of his time. But his religion had in it less +of miracle and more of reason than that of any other founder of a +church in the sixteenth century. He was a statesman, and more willing +to trust the people than were his contemporaries, but yet he was ready +to sacrifice his country to his creed. + +For a short time after the death of so many of its leading citizens in +the battle of Cappel, Zurich was reduced to impotence and despair. Nor +was she much comforted or assisted by her neighbors. Oecolampadius +died but a few weeks after his friend; while {160} Luther and Erasmus +sang paeans of triumph over the prostration of their rivals. Even +Calvin considered it a judgment of God. Gradually by her own strength +Zurich won her way back to peace and a certain influence. [Sidenote: +Bullinger, 1504-75] Zwingli's follower, Henry Bullinger, the son of a +priest, was a remarkable man. He not only built up his own city but +his active correspondence with Protestants of all countries did a great +deal to spread the cause of the Evangelical religion. In conjunction +with Myconius, he drew up the first Swiss confession, [Sidenote: 1536] +accepted by Zurich, Berne, Basle, Schaffhausen, St. Gall, Muelhausen and +Biel; [Sidenote: 1549] and later he made the agreement with Calvin +known as the Consensus Tigurinus. In this the Zwinglian and +Calvinistic doctrines of the eucharist were harmonized as far as +possible. But while the former decreased the latter increased, and +Geneva took the place of Zurich as the metropolis of the Reformed faith. + + +SECTION 2. CALVIN + +On January 15, 1527, Thomas von Hofen wrote Zwingli from Geneva that he +would do all he could to exalt the gospel in that city but that he knew +it would be vain, for there were seven hundred priests working against +him. This letter gives an insight into the methods by which new +territory was evangelized, the quarters whence came the new influences, +and the forces with which they had to contend. + +Among the early missionaries of "the gospel" in French-speaking lands, +one of the most energetic was William Farel. [Sidenote: Farel, +1489-1565] He had studied at Paris under Lefevre d'Etaples, and was +converted to Lutheranism as early as 1521. He went first to Basle, +where he learned to know Erasmus. Far from showing respect to the +older and more famous man, he scornfully told him to his face that +Froben's wife knew more theology than {161} did he. Erasmus's +resentment showed itself in the nickname Phallicus that he fastened on +his antagonist. From Basle Farel went to Montbeliard and Aigle, +preaching fearlessly but so fiercely that his friend Oecolampadius +warned him to remember rather to teach than to curse. [Sidenote: 1528] +After attending the disputation at Berne he evangelized western +Switzerland. His methods may be learned from his work at Valangin on +August 15, 1530. He attended a mass, but in the midst of it went up to +the priest, tore the host forcibly from his hands, and said to the +people: "This is not the God whom you worship: he is above in heaven, +even in the majesty of the Father." In 1532 he went to Geneva. +Notwithstanding the fact that here, as often elsewhere, he narrowly +escaped lynching, he made a great impression. His red hair and hot +temper evidently had their uses. + +[Sidenote: Calvin, 1509-64] + +_The_ Reformer of French Switzerland was not destined to be Farel, +however, but John Calvin. Born at Noyon, Picardy, his mother died +early and his father, who did not care for children, sent him to the +house of an aristocratic friend to be reared. In this environment he +acquired the distinguished manners and the hauteur for which he was +noted. When John was six years old his father, Gerard, had him +appointed to a benefice just as nowadays he might have got him a +scholarship. At the age of twelve Gerard's influence procured for his +son another of these ecclesiastical livings and two years later this +was exchanged for a more lucrative one to enable the boy to go to +Paris. Here for some years, at the College of Montaigu, Calvin studied +scholastic philosophy and theology under Noel Beda, a medieval +logic-chopper and schoolman by temperament. At the university Calvin +won from his fellows the sobriquet of "the accusative case," on account +of his censorious {162} and fault-finding disposition. At his father's +wish John changed from theology to law. For a time he studied at the +universities of Orleans and Bourges. At Orleans he came under the +influence of two Protestants, Olivetan and the German Melchior Volmar. +On the death of his father, in 1531, he began to devote himself to the +humanities. His first work, a commentary on Seneca's _De Clementia_, +witnesses his wide reading, his excellent Latin style, and his ethical +interests. + +It was apparently through the humanists Erasmus and Lefevre that he was +led to the study of the Bible and of Luther's writings. Probably in +the fall of 1533 he experienced a "conversion" such as stands at the +head of many a religious career. A sudden beam of light, he says, came +to him at this time from God, putting him to the proof and showing him +in how deep an abyss of error and of filth he had been living. He +thereupon abandoned his former life with tears. + +In the spring of 1534 Calvin gave up the sinecure benefices he had +held, and towards the end of the year left France because of the +growing persecution, for he had already rendered himself suspect. +After various wanderings he reached Basle, where he published the first +edition of his _Institutes of the Christian Religion_. [Sidenote: +Institutes of the Christian Religion, 1536] It was dedicated, like two +of Zwingli's works, to Francis I, with a strong plea for the new faith. +It was, nevertheless, condemned and burnt publicly in France in 1542. +Originally written in Latin it was translated by the author into French +in 1541, and reissued from time to time in continually larger editions, +the final one, of 1559, being five times as bulky as the first +impression. The thought, too, though not fundamentally changed, was +rearranged and developed. Only in the redaction of 1541 was {163} +predestination made perfectly clear. The first edition, like Luther's +catechism, took up in order the Decalogue, the Creed, the Lord's +Prayer, and the Sacraments. To this was added a section on Christian +liberty, the power of the church, and civil government. In the last +edition the arrangement followed entirely the order of articles in the +Apostles' Creed, all the other matter being digested in its relation to +faith. + +[Sidenote: A system of theology] + +In the _Institutes_ Calvin succeeded in summing up the whole of +Protestant Christian doctrine and practice. It is a work of enormous +labor and thought. Its rigid logic, comprehensiveness, and clarity +have secured it the same place in the Protestant Churches that the +_Summa_ of Aquinas has in the Roman theology. It is like the _Summa_, +in other ways, primarily in that it is an attempt to derive an +absolute, unchangeable standard of dogma from premises considered +infallible. Those who have found great freshness in Calvin, a new life +and a new realism, can do so only in comparison with the older +schoolmen. Calvin simply went over their ground, introducing into +their philosophy all the connotations that three centuries of progress +had made necessary. This is not denying that his work was well written +and that it filled a need urgently felt at the time. Calvin cultivated +style, both French and Latin, with great care, for he saw its immense +utility for propaganda. He studied especially brevity, and thought +that he carried it to an extreme, though the French edition of the +_Institutes_ fills more than eight hundred large octavo pages. +However, all things are relative, and compared to many other +theologians Calvin is really concise and readable. + +There is not one original thought in any of Calvin's works. I do not +mean "original" in any narrow sense, for to the searcher for sources it +seems that {164} there is literally nothing new under the sun. But +there is nothing in Calvin for which ample authority cannot be found in +his predecessors. Recognizing the Bible as his only standard, he +interpreted it according to the new Protestant doctors. First and +foremost he was dependent on Luther, and to an extent that cannot be +exaggerated. Especially from the _Catechisms_, _The Bondage of the +Will_, and _The Babylonian Captivity of the Church_, Calvin drew all +his principal doctrines even to details. He also borrowed something +from Bucer, Erasmus and Schwenckfeld, as well as from three writers who +were in a certain sense his models. Melanchthon's _Commonplaces of +Theology_, Zwingli's _True and False Religion_, and Farel's _Brief +Instruction in Christian Faith_ had all done tentatively what he now +did finally. + +[Sidenote: Theocentric character] + +The center of Calvin's philosophy was God as the Almighty Will. His +will was the source of all things, of all deeds, of all standards of +right and wrong and of all happiness. The sole purpose of the +universe, and the sole intent of its Creator, was the glorification of +the Deity. Man's chief end was "to glorify God and enjoy him forever." +God accomplished this self-exaltation in all things, but chiefly +through men, his noblest work, and he did it in various ways, by the +salvation of some and the damnation of others. And his act was purely +arbitrary; he foreknew and predestined the fate of every man from the +beginning; he damned and saved irrespective of foreseen merit. "God's +eternal decree" Calvin himself called "frightful." [1] The outward +sign of election to grace he thought was moral behavior, and in this +respect he demanded the uttermost from himself and from his followers. +The elect, he thought, were certain of salvation. The highest virtue +was faith, a matter more {165} of the heart than of the reason. The +divinity of Christ, he said, was apprehended by Christian experience, +not by speculation. Reason was fallacious; left to itself the human +spirit "could do nothing but lose itself in infinite error, embroil +itself in difficulties and grope in opaque darkness." But God has +given us his Word, infallible and inerrant, something that "has flowed +from his very mouth." "We can only seek God in his Word," he said, +"nor think of him otherwise than according to his Word." + +Inevitably, Calvin sought to use the Bible as a rigid, moral law to be +fulfilled to the letter. His ethics were an elaborate casuistry, a +method of finding the proper rule to govern the particular act. He +preached a new legalism; [Sidenote: Legalism] he took Scripture as the +Pharisees took the Law, and Luther's sayings as they took the Prophets, +and he turned them all into stiff, fixed laws. Thus he crushed the +glorious autonomy of his predecessor's ethical principles. It was +Kant, who denied all Luther's specific beliefs, but who developed his +idea of the individual conscience, that was the true heir of his +spirit, not Calvin who crushed the spirit in elaborating every jot and +tittle of the letter. In precisely the same manner Calvin killed +Luther's doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. To Calvin the +church was a sacramental, aristocratic organization, with an +authoritative ministry. The German rebelled against the idea of the +church as such; the Frenchman simply asked what was the true church. +So he brought back some of the sacramental miracle of baptism and the +eucharist. In the latter he remained as medieval as Luther, never +getting beyond the question of the mode of the presence of the body and +blood of Christ in the bread and wine. His endeavor to rationalize the +doctrine of Augsburg, especially with reference to the Zwinglians, had +disastrous results. Only two {166} positions were possible, that the +body and blood were present, or that they were not. By endeavoring to +find some middle ground Calvin upheld a contradiction in terms: the +elements were signs and yet were realities; the body was really there +when the bread was eaten by a believer, but really not there when the +same bread was eaten by an infidel. The presence was actual, and yet +participation could only occur by faith. While rejecting some of +Luther's explanations, Calvin was undoubtedly nearer his position than +that of Zwingli, which he characterized as "profane." + +As few instructed and thinking persons now accept the conclusions of +the _Institutes_, it is natural to underestimate the power that they +exercised in their own day. This book was the most effective weapon of +Protestantism. This was partly because of the style, but, still more +because of the faultless logic. [Sidenote: His logic] The success of +an argument usually depends far less on the truth of the premises than +on the validity of the reasoning. And the premises selected by Calvin +not only seemed natural to a large body of educated European opinion of +his time, but were such that their truth or falsity was very difficult +to demonstrate convincingly. Calvin's system has been overthrown not +by direct attack, but by the flank, in science as in war the most +effective way. To take but one example out of many that might be +given: what has modern criticism made of Calvin's doctrine of the +inerrancy of Scripture? But this science was as yet all but unknown: +biblical exegesis there was in plenty, but it was only to a minute +extent literary and historical; it was almost exclusively philological +and dogmatic. + +Calvin's doctrine of the arbitrary dealing out of salvation and +damnation irrespective of merit has often excited a moral rather than +an intellectual revulsion. To his true followers, indeed, like +Jonathan {167} Edwards, it seems "a delightful doctrine, exceeding +bright, pleasant and sweet." [Sidenote: Eternal damnation] But many +men agree with Gibbon that it makes God a cruel and capricious tyrant +and with William James that it is sovereignly irrational and mean. +Even at that time those who said that a man's will had no more to do +with his destiny than the stick in a man's hand could choose where to +strike or than a saddled beast could choose its rider, aroused an +intense opposition. Erasmus argued that damnation given for inevitable +crimes would make God unjust, and Thomas More blamed Luther for calling +God the cause of evil and for saying "God doth damn so huge a number of +people to intolerable torments only for his own pleasure and for his +own deeds wrought in them only by himself." An English heretic, Cole +of Faversham, said that the doctrine of predestination was meeter for +devils than for Christians. "The God of Calvin," exclaimed Jerome +Bolsec, "is a hypocrite, a liar, perfidious, unjust, the abetter and +patron of crimes, and worse than the devil himself." + +But there was another side to the doctrine of election. There was a +certain moral grandeur in the complete abandon to God and in the +earnestness that was ready to sacrifice all to his will. And if we +judge the tree by its fruits, at its best it brought forth a strong and +good race. The noblest examples are not the theologians, Calvin and +Knox, not only drunk with God but drugged with him, much less +politicians like Henry of Navarre and William of Orange, but the rank +and file of the Huguenots of France, the Puritans of England, "the +choice and sifted seed wherewith God sowed the wilderness" of America. +These men bore themselves with I know not what of lofty seriousness, +and with a matchless disdain of all mortal peril and all earthly +grandeur. Believing themselves chosen vessels and elect instruments of +grace, they could neither {168} be seduced by carnal pleasure nor awed +by human might. Taught that they were kings by the election of God and +priests by the imposition of his hands, they despised the puny and +vicious monarchs of this earth. They remained, in fact, what they +always felt themselves to be, an elite, "the chosen few." + +Having finished his great work, Calvin set out on his wanderings again. +For a time he was at the court of the sympathetic Renee de France, +Duchess of Ferrara. When persecution broke out here, he again fled +northward, and came, by chance, to Geneva. [Sidenote: Geneva] Here +Farel was waging an unequal fight with the old church. Needing +Calvin's help he went to him and begged his assistance, calling on God +to curse him should he not stay. "Struck with terror," as Calvin +himself confessed, he consented to do so. + +Beautifully situated on the blue waters of Lake Leman in full view of +Mont Blanc, Geneva was at this time a town of 16,000 inhabitants, a +center of trade, pleasure, and piety. The citizens had certain +liberties, but were under the rule of a bishop. As this personage was +usually elected from the house of the Duke of Savoy, Geneva had become +little better than a dependency of that state. The first years of the +sixteenth century had been turbulent. The bishop, John, had at one +time been forced to abdicate his authority, but later had tried to +resume it. The Archbishop of Vienne, Geneva's metropolitan, had then +excommunicated the city and invited Duke Charles III of Savoy to punish +it. The citizens rose under Bonivard, renounced the authority of the +pope, expelled the bishop and broke up the religious houses. To guard +against the vengeance of the duke, a league was made with Berne and +Freiburg. + +On October 2, 1532, William Farel arrived from Berne. At Geneva as +elsewhere tumult followed his {169} preaching, but it met with such +success that by January, 1534, he held a disputation which decided the +city to become evangelical. The council examined the shrines +[Sidenote: 1535] and found machinery for the production of bogus +miracles; provisionally abolished the mass; [Sidenote: May 21, 1536] +and soon after formally renounced the papal religion. + +At this point Calvin arrived, and began preaching and organizing at +once. He soon aroused opposition from the citizens, galled at his +strictness and perhaps jealous of a foreigner. [Sidenote: Calvin +expelled, February 1538] The elections to the council went against +him, and the opposition came to a head shortly afterwards. The town +council decided to adopt the method of celebrating the eucharist used +at Rome. For some petty reason Calvin and Farel refused to obey, and +when a riot broke out at the Lord's table, the council expelled them +from the city. + +Calvin went to Strassburg, where he learned to know Bucer and +republished his _Institutes_. Here he married Idelette de Bure, the +widow of an Anabaptist, [Sidenote: August, 1540] who was never in +strong health and died, probably of consumption, on March 29, 1549. +Calvin's married life lacked tenderness and joy. The story that he +selected his wife because he thought that by reason of her want of +beauty she would not distract his thoughts from God, is not well +founded, but it does illustrate his attitude towards her. The one or +more children born of the union died in infancy. + +Calvin attended the Colloquy at Ratisbon, [Sidenote: 1541] in the +result of which he was deeply disappointed. In the meantime he had not +lost all interest in Geneva. When Cardinal Sadoleto wrote, in the most +polished Latin, an appeal to the city to return to the Roman communion, +Calvin answered it. [Sidenote: September 1, 1539] The party opposed +to him discredited itself by giving up the city's rights to Berne, and, +was therefore overthrown. The perplexities presenting themselves to +the council were {170} beyond their powers to solve, and they felt +obliged to recall Calvin, [Sidenote: Calvin returns, 1541] who returned +to remain for the rest of his life. + +[Sidenote: Theocracy] + +His position was so strong that he was able to make of Geneva a city +after his own heart. The form of government he caused to prevail was a +strict theocracy. The clergy of the city met in a body known as the +Congregation, a "venerable company" that discussed and prepared +legislation for the consideration of the Consistory. In this larger +body, besides the clergy, the laity were represented by twelve elders +chosen by the council, not by the people at large. The state and +church were thus completely identified in a highly aristocratic polity. + +"The office of the Consistory is to keep watch on the life of every +one." Thus briefly was expressed the delegation of as complete powers +over the private lives of citizens as ever have been granted to a +committee. The object of the Ecclesiastical Ordinances was to create a +society of saints. The Bible was adopted as the norm; all its +provisions being enforced except such Jewish ceremonies as were +considered abrogated by the New Testament. The city was divided into +quarters, and some of the elders visited every house at least once a +year and passed in review the whole life, actions, speech, and opinions +of the inmates. The houses of the citizens were made of glass; and the +vigilant eye of the Consistory, served by a multitude of spies, was on +them all the time. In a way this espionage but took the place of the +Catholic confessional. A joke, a gesture was enough to bring a man +under suspicion. The Elders sat as a regular court, hearing complaints +and examining witnesses. It is true that they could inflict only +spiritual punishments, such as public censure, penance, +excommunication, or forcing the culprit to demand pardon in church on +his knees. But when {171} the Consistory thought necessary, it could +invoke the aid of the civil courts and the judgment was seldom +doubtful. Among the capital crimes were adultery, blasphemy, +witchcraft, and heresy. Punishments for all offences were +astonishingly and increasingly heavy. During the years 1542-6 there +were, in this little town of 16,000 people, no less than fifty-eight +executions and seventy-six banishments. + +In judging the Genevan theocracy it is important to remember that +everywhere, in the sixteenth century, punishments were heavier than +they are now, and the regulation of private life minuter.[2] +Nevertheless, though parallels to almost everything done at Geneva can +be found elsewhere, it is true that Calvin intensified the medieval +spirit in this respect and pushed it to the farthest limit that human +nature would bear. + +First of all, he compelled the citizens to fulfil their religious +duties. He began the process by which later the Puritans identified +the Jewish Sabbath and the Lord's Day. Luther had thought the +injunction to rest on the Seventh Day a bit of Jewish ceremonial +abrogated by the new dispensation and that, after attending church, the +Christian might devote the day to what work or pleasure he thought +proper. Calvin, however, forbade all work and commanded attendance on +sermons, of which an abundance were offered to the devout. In addition +to Sunday services there were, as in the Catholic church, morning +prayers every work day and a second service three days a week. All +ceremonies with a vestige of popery about them were forbidden. +[Sidenote: 1555] The keeping of Christmas was prohibited under pain of +fine and imprisonment. + +"As I see that we cannot forbid men all diversions," sighed Calvin, "I +confine myself to those that are really bad." This class was +sufficiently large. The {172} theater was denounced from the pulpit, +especially when the new Italian habit of giving women's parts to +actresses instead of to boys was introduced. According to Calvin's +colleague Cop, "the women who mount the platform to play comedies are +full of unbridled effrontery, without honor, having no purpose but to +expose their bodies, clothes, and ornaments to excite the impure +desires of the spectators. . . . The whole thing," he added, "is very +contrary to the modesty of women who ought to be shamefaced and shy." +Accordingly, attendance on plays was forbidden. + +[Sidenote: Supervision of conduct] + +Among other prohibited amusements was dancing, especially obnoxious as +at that time dances were accompanied by kisses and embraces. Playing +cards, cursing and swearing were also dealt with, as indeed they were +elsewhere. Among the odd matters that came before the Consistory were: +attempted suicide, possessing the _Golden Legend_ (a collection of +saints' lives called by Beza "abominable trash"), paying for masses, +betrothing a daughter to a Catholic, fasting on Good Friday, singing +obscene songs, and drunkenness. A woman was chastized for taking too +much wine even though it did not intoxicate. Some husbands were mildly +reprimanded, not for beating their wives which was tolerated by +contemporary opinion, but for rubbing salt and vinegar into the wales. +Luxury in clothing was suppressed; all matters of color and quality +regulated by law, and even the way in which women did their hair. In +1546 the inns were put under the direct control of the government and +strictly limited to the functions of entertaining--or rather of +boarding and lodging--strangers and citizens in temporary need of them. +Among the numerous rules enforced within them the following may be +selected as typical: + +[Sidenote: Rules for inns] + +If any one blasphemes the name of God or says, "By {173} the body, +'sblood, zounds" or anything like, or who gives himself to the devil or +uses similar execrable imprecations, he shall be punished. . . . + +If any one insults any one else the host shall be obliged to deliver +him up to justice. + +If there are any persons who make it their business to frequent the +said inns, and there to consume their goods and substance, the host +shall not receive them. + +Item the host shall be obliged to report to the government any insolent +or dissolute acts committed by the guests. + +Item the host shall not allow any person of whatever quality he be, to +drink or eat anything in his house without first having asked a +blessing and afterwards said grace. + +Item the host shall be obliged to keep in a public place a French +Bible, in which any one who wishes may read, and he shall not prevent +free and honest conversation on the Word of God, to edification, but +shall favor it as much as he can. + +Item the host shall not allow any dissoluteness like dancing, dice or +cards, nor shall he receive any one suspected of being a debauche or +ruffian. + +Item he shall only allow people to play honest games without swearing +or blasphemy, and without wasting more time than that allowed for a +meal. + +Item he shall not allow indecent songs or words, and if any one wishes +to sing Psalms or spiritual songs he shall make them do it in a decent +and not in a dissolute way. + +Item nobody shall be allowed to sit up after nine o'clock at night +except spies. + + +Of course, such matters as marriage were regulated strictly. When a +man of seventy married a girl of twenty-five Calvin said it was the +pastor's duty to reprehend them. The Reformer often selected the women +he thought suitable for his acquaintances who wanted wives. He also +drew up a list of baptismal names which he thought objectionable, +including the names of "idols,"--_i.e._ saints venerated near +Geneva--the names of kings and offices to whom God alone {174} +appoints, such as Angel or Baptist, names belonging to God such as +Jesus and Emanuel, silly names such as Toussaint and Noel, double names +and ill-sounding names. Calvin also pronounced on the best sort of +stoves and got servants for his friends. In fact, there was never such +a busy-body in a position of high authority before nor since. No +wonder that the citizens frequently chafed under the yoke. + +If we ask how much was actually accomplished by this minute regulation +accompanied by extreme severity in the enforcement of morals, various +answers are given. When the Italian reformer Bernardino Occhino +visited Geneva in 1542, he testified that cursing and swearing, +unchastity and sacrilege were unknown; that there were neither lawsuits +nor simony nor murder nor party spirit, but that universal benevolence +prevailed. Again in 1556 John Knox said that Geneva was "the most +perfect school of Christ that ever was on earth since the days of the +apostles. In other places," he continued, "I confess Christ to be +truly preached, but manners and religion so sincerely reformed I have +not yet seen in any place besides." But if we turn from these personal +impressions to an examination of the acts of the Consistory, we get a +very different impression. [Sidenote: Morals of Geneva] The records +of Geneva show more cases of vice after the Reformation than before. +The continually increasing severity of the penalties enacted against +vice and frivolity seem to prove that the government was helpless to +suppress them. Among those convicted of adultery were two of Calvin's +own female relatives, his brother's wife and his step-daughter Judith. +What success there was in making Geneva a city of saints was due to the +fact that it gradually became a very select population. The worst of +the incorrigibles were soon either executed or banished, and their +places taken by a large influx of {175} men of austere mind, drawn +thither as a refuge from persecution elsewhere, or by the desire to sit +at the feet of the great Reformer. Between the years 1549 and 1555 no +less than 1297 strangers were admitted to citizenship. Practically all +of these were immigrants coming to the little town for conscience's +sake. + +[Persecution] + +Orthodoxy was enforced as rigidly as morality. The ecclesiastical +constitution adopted in 1542 brought in the Puritan type of divine +service. Preaching took the most important place in church, +supplemented by Bible reading and catechetical instruction. Laws were +passed enforcing conformity under pain of losing goods and life. Those +who did not expressly renounce the mass were punished. A little girl +of thirteen was condemned to be publicly beaten with rods for saying +that she wanted to be a Catholic. Calvin identified his own wishes and +dignity with the commands and honor of God. One day he forbade a +citizen, Philibert Berthelier, to come to the Lord's table. Berthelier +protested and was supported by the council. "If God lets Satan crush +my ministry under such tyranny," shrieked Calvin, "it is all over with +me." The slightest assertion of liberty on the part of another was +stamped out as a crime. Sebastian Castellio, a sincere Christian and +Protestant, but more liberal than Calvin, fell under suspicion because +he called the Song of Songs obscene, and because he made a new French +version of the Bible to replace the one of Olivetan officially +approved. He was banished in 1544. Two years later Peter Ameaux made +some very trifling personal remarks about Calvin, for which he was +forced to fall on his knees in public and ask pardon. + +But opposition only increased. The party opposing Calvin he called the +Libertines--a word then meaning something like "free-thinker" and +gradually getting {176} the bad moral connotation it has now, just as +the word "miscreant" had formerly done. [Sidenote: January, 1547] One +of these men, James Cruet, posted on the pulpit of St. Peter's church +at Geneva a warning to Calvin, in no very civil terms, to leave the +city. He was at once arrested and a house to house search made for his +accomplices. This method failing to reveal anything except that Gruet +had written on one of Calvin's tracts the words "all rubbish," his +judges put him to the rack twice a day, morning and evening, for a +whole month. The frightful torture failed to make Gruet incriminate +anyone else, and he was accordingly tried for heresy. He was charged +with "disparaging authors like Moses, who by the Spirit of God wrote +the divine law, saying that Moses had no more power than any other +man. . . . He also said that all laws, human and divine, were made at +the pleasure of man." He was therefore sentenced to death for +blasphemy and beheaded on July 26, 1547, "calling on God as his Lord." +After his death one of his books was found and condemned. To justify +this course Calvin alleged that Gruet said that Jesus Christ was a +good-for-nothing, a liar, and a false seducer, and that he (Gruet) +denied the existence of God and immortality. Evangelical freedom had +now arrived at the point whore its champions first took a man's life +and then his character, merely for writing a lampoon! + +Naturally such tyranny produced a reaction. The enraged Libertines +nicknamed Calvin Cain, and saved from his hands the next personal +enemy, Ami Perrin, whom he caused to be tried for treason. [Sidenote: +October 16, 1551] A still more bitter dose for the theocrat was that +administered by Jerome Bolsec, who had the audacity to preach against +the doctrine of predestination. Calvin and Farel refuted him on the +spot and had him arrested. Berne, Basle and Zurich intervened and, +when solicited for {177} an expression on the doctrine in dispute, +spoke indecisively. The triumph of his enemies at this rebuke was hard +for Calvin to bear and prepared for the commission of the most +regrettable act of his career. + +[Sidenote: Servetus, 1531] + +The Spanish physician Michael Servetus published, in Germany, a work on +the _Errors concerning the Trinity_. His theory was not that of a +modern rationalist, but of one whose starting point was the authority +of the Bible, and his unitarianism was consequently of a decidedly +theological brand, recalling similar doctrines in the early church. +Leaving Germany he went to Vienne, [Sidenote: 1553] in France, and got +a good practice under an assumed name. He later published a work +called, perhaps in imitation of Calvin's _Institutio, The Restitution +of Christianity_, setting forth his ideas about the Trinity, which he +compared to the three-headed monster Cerberus, but admitting the +divinity of Christ. He also denied the doctrine of original sin and +asserted that baptism should be for adults only. He was poorly advised +in sending this book to the Reformer, with whom he had some +correspondence. With Calvin's knowledge and probably at his +instigation, though he later issued an equivocating denial, William +Trie, of Geneva, denounced Servetus to the Catholic inquisition at +Vienne and forwarded the material sent by the heretic to Calvin. On +June 17, 1553, the Catholic inquisitor, expressly stating that he acted +on this material, condemned Servetus to be burnt by slow fire, but he +escaped and went to Geneva. + +Here he was recognized and arrested. Calvin at once appeared as his +prosecutor for heresy. The charges against him were chiefly concerned +with his denial of the Trinity and of infant baptism, and with his +attack on the person and teaching of Calvin. As an example of the +point to which Bibliolatry could suppress candor it may be mentioned +that one of the {178} charges against him was that he had asserted +Palestine to be a poor land. This was held to contradict the +Scriptural statement that it was a land flowing with milk and honey. +The minutes of the trial are painful reading. It was conducted on both +sides with unbecoming violence. Among other expressions used by +Calvin, the public prosecutor, were these: that he regarded Servetus's +defence as no better than the braying of an ass, and that the prisoner +was like a villainous cur wiping his muzzle. Servetus answered in the +same tone, his spirit unbroken by abuse and by his confinement in a +horrible dungeon, where he suffered from hunger, cold, vermin, and +disease. He was found guilty of heresy and sentenced to be burnt with +slow fire. Calvin said that he tried to alter the manner of execution, +but there is not a shred of evidence, in the minutes of the trial or +elsewhere, that he did so. Possibly, if he made the request, it was +purely formal, as were similar petitions for mercy made by the Roman +inquisitors. At any rate, while Calvin's alleged effort for mercy +proved fruitless, he visited his victim in prison to read him a +self-righteous and insulting lecture. Farel, also, reviled him on the +way to the stake, at which he perished on October 26, 1553, [Sidenote: +Death of Servetus] crying, "God preserve my soul! O Jesus, Son of the +eternal God, have mercy on me!" Farel called on the bystanders to +witness that these words showed the dying man to be still in the power +of Satan. + +This act of persecution, one of the most painful in the history of +Christianity, was received with an outburst of applause from almost all +quarters. Melanchthon, who had not been on speaking terms with Calvin +for some years, was reconciled to him by what he called "a signal act +of piety." Other leading Protestants congratulated Calvin, who +continued persecution systematically. Another victim of his was +Matthew {179} Gribaldi, whom he delivered into the hands of the +government of Berne, with a refutation of his errors. [Sidenote: +1564.] Had he not died of the plague in prison he would probably have +suffered the same fate as Servetus. + +[Sidenote: Complete theocracy, 1555] + +Strengthened by his victory over heresy, Calvin now had the chance to +annihilate his opponents. On May 15, 1555, he accused a number of them +of treason, and provided proof by ample use of the rack. With the +party of Libertines completely broken, Calvin ruled from this time +forth with a rod of iron. The new Geneva was so cowed and subservient +that the town council dared not install a new sort of heating apparatus +without asking the permission of the theocrat. But a deep rancor +smouldered under the surface. "Our incomparable theologian Calvin," +wrote Ambrose Blaurer to Bullinger, "labors under such hatred of some +whom he obscures by his light that he is considered the worst of +heretics by them." Among other things he was accused of levying +tribute from his followers by a species of blackmail, threatening +publicly to denounce them unless they gave money to the cause. + +[Sidenote: International Calvinism] + +At the same time his international power and reputation rose. Geneva +became the capital of Protestantism, from which mandates issued to all +the countries of Western Europe. Englishmen and Frenchmen, Dutchmen +and Italians, thronged to "this most perfect school of Christ since the +apostles" to learn the laws of a new type of Christianity. For +Calvin's Reformation was more thorough and logical than was Luther's. +The German had regarded all as permitted that was not forbidden, and +allowed the old usages to stand in so far as they were not repugnant to +the ordinances of the Bible. But Calvin believed that all was +forbidden save what was expressly allowed, and hence abolished as +superstitious accretions all the elements of the medieval cult that +could find no warrant in the {180} Bible. Images, vestments, organs, +bells, candles, ritual, were swept away in the ungarnished +meeting-house to make way for a simple service of Bible-reading, +prayer, hymn and sermon. The government of the church was left by +Calvin in close connection with the state, but he apparently turned +around the Lutheran conception, making the civil authority subordinate +to the spiritual and not the church to the state. + +Whereas Lutheranism appealed to Germans and Scandinavians, Calvinism +became the international form of Protestantism. Even in Germany Calvin +made conquests at the expense of Luther, but outside of Germany, in +France, in the Netherlands, in Britain, he moulded the type of reformed +thought in his own image. It is difficult to give statistics, for it +is impossible to say how far each particular church, like the Anglican +for example, was indebted to Calvin, how far to Luther, and how far to +other leaders, and also because there was a strong reaction against +pure Calvinism even in the sixteenth century. But it is safe to say +that the clear, cold logic of the _Institutes_, the good French and +Latin of countless other treatises and letters, and the political +thought which amalgamated easily with rising tides of democracy and +industrialism, made Calvin the leader of Protestantism outside of the +Teutonic countries of the north. His gift for organization and the +pains he took to train ministers and apostles contributed to this +success. + +[Sidenote: Death of Calvin, May 27, 1564] + +On May 27, 1564 Calvin died, worn out with labor and ill health at the +age of fifty-five. With a cold heart and a hot temper, he had a clear +brain, an iron will, and a real moral earnestness derived from the +conviction that he was a chosen vessel of Christ. Constantly tortured +by a variety of painful diseases, he drove himself, by the demoniac +strength of his will, to perform labor that would have taxed the +strongest. {181} The way he ruled his poor, suffering body is symbolic +of the way he treated the sick world. To him the maladies of his own +body, or of the body politic, were evils to be overcome, at any cost of +pain and sweat and blood, by a direct effort of the will. As he never +yielded to fever and weakness in himself, so he dealt with the vice and +frivolity he detested, crushing it out by a ruthless application of +power, hunting it with spies, stretching it on the rack and breaking it +on the wheel. But a gentler, more understanding method would have +accomplished more, even for his own purpose. + +[Sidenote: Beza, 1519-1605] + +His successor at Geneva, Theodore Beza, was a man after his own heart +but, as he was far weaker, the town council gradually freed itself from +spiritual tyranny. Towards the end of the century the pastors had been +humbled and the questions of the day were far less the dogmatic +niceties they loved than ethical ones such as the right to take usury, +the proper penalty for adultery, the right to make war, and the best +form of government. + + + +[1] "Decretum Dei aeternum horribile." + +[2] See below. Chapter X, section 3. + + + + +{182} + +CHAPTER IV + +FRANCE + +SECTION 1. RENAISSANCE AND REFORMATION + +[Sidenote: France] + +Though, at the opening of the sixteenth century, the French may have +attained to no greater degree of national self-consciousness than had +the Germans, they had gone much farther in the construction of a +national state. The significance of this evolution, one of the +strongest tendencies of modern history, is that it squares the outward +political condition of the people with their inward desires. When once +a nation has come to feel itself such, it cannot be happy until its +polity is united in a homogeneous state, though the reverse is also +true,--that national feeling is sometimes the result as well as the +cause of political union. With the growth of a common language and of +common ideals, and with the improvement of the methods of +communication, the desire of the people for unity became stronger and +stronger, until it finally overcame the centrifugal forces of feudalism +and of particularism. These were so strong in Germany that only a very +imperfect federation could be formed by way of national government, but +in France, though they were still far from moribund, external pressure +and the growth of the royal power had forged the various provinces into +a nation such as it exists today. The most independent of the old +provinces, Brittany, was now united to the crown by the marriage of its +duchess Anne to Louis XII. [Sidenote: Louis XII, 1498-1515] + +{183} + + Anne ==_Louis XII_ Charles, Count==Louise + Duchess of | _1498-1515_ of Angouleme | of Savoy + Brittany | | + | | + | | + | | + +---------+-------------+ | + |2 1| | + Renee==Hercules II, Claude==(1)_Francis I_ Margaret==(1)Charles, + Duke of | _1515-47_ Duke of + Ferrara | (2)==Eleanor, Alencon + | sister of ==(2)Henry II, + | Emperor | King of + | Charles V | Navarre + | | + _Henry II_==Catharine de' | + _1547-59_ | Medici d. 1589 Joan ==Anthony + | d'Albret| of + | | Bourbon + | | Duke of + | | Vendome + +--------+------+------+----+-+----------------+ | + | | | | | | | + _Francis II_, | _Henry III_ | Elizabeth (1)Margaret==_Henry IV_, + _1559-60_ | _1574-89_ | ==(3)Philip II (2)Mary de' 1589-1610 + ==Mary, Queen | | King of Spain Medici + of Scots | | + | | + _Charles IX_ Francis, Duke + _1560-74_ of Alencon and + Anjou, d. 1584 + + + [Transcriber's note: "d." has been used here as a substitute + for the "dagger" symbol (Unicode U+2020) that signifies the + person's year of death.] + +Geographically, France was nearly the same four hundred years ago as it +is today, save that the eastern {184} frontier was somewhat farther +west. The line then ran west of the three Bishoprics, Verdun, Metz and +Toul, west of Franche Comte, just east of Lyons and again west of Savoy +and Nice. + +Politically, France was then one of a group of semi-popular, +semi-autocratic monarchies. The rights of the people were asserted by +the States General which met from time to time, usually at much longer +intervals than the German Diets or the English Parliaments, and by the +Parlements of the various provinces. These latter were rather high +courts of justice than legislative assemblies, but their right to +register new laws gave them a considerable amount of authority. The +Parlement of Paris was the most conspicuous and perhaps the most +powerful. + +[Sidenote: Concordat, 1516] + +The power of the monarch, resting primarily on the support of the +bourgeois class, was greatly augmented by the Concordat of 1516, which +made the monarch almost the supreme head of the Gallican church. For +two centuries the crown had been struggling to attain this position. +It was because so large a degree of autonomy was granted to the +national church that the French felt satisfied not to go to the extreme +of secession from the Roman communion. It was because the king had +already achieved a large control over his own clergy that he felt it +unnecessary or inadvisable to go to the lengths of the Lutheran princes +and of Henry VIII. In that one important respect the Concordat of +Bologna took the place of the Reformation. + +[Sidenote: Francis I, 1515-47] + +Francis I was popular and at first not unattractive. Robust, fond of +display, ambitious, intelligent enough to dabble in letters and art, he +piqued himself on being chivalrous and brave. But he wasted his life +and ruined his health in the pursuit of pleasure. His face, as it has +come down to us in contemporary paintings, is disagreeable. He was, as +with unusual candor a {185} contemporary observer put it, a devil even +to the extent of considerably looking it. + +While to art and letters Francis gave a certain amount of attention, he +usually from mere indolence allowed the affairs of state to be guided +by others. Until the death of his mother, Louise of Savoy, [Sidenote: +1531] he was ruled by her. Thereafter the Constable Anne de +Montmorency was his chief minister. The policy followed was the +inherited one which was, to a certain point, necessary in the given +conditions. In domestic affairs, the king or his advisors endeavored +to increase the power of the crown at the expense of the nobles. The +last of the great vassals strong enough to assert a quasi-independence +of the king was Charles of Bourbon. [Sidenote: 1523-4] He was +arrested and tried by the Parlement of Paris, which consistently +supported the crown. Fleeing from France he entered the service of +Charles V, [Sidenote: 1526] and his restoration was made an article of +the treaty of Madrid. His death in the sack of Rome closed the +incident in favor of the king. [Sidenote: May, 1527] + +The foreign policy of France was a constant struggle, now by diplomacy, +now by arms, with Charles V. The principal remaining powers of Europe, +England, Turkey and the pope, threw their weight now on one side now on +the other of the two chief antagonists. Italy was the field of most of +the battles. Francis began his reign by invading that country and +defeating the Swiss at Marignano, thus conquering Milan. [Sidenote: +September 14-15, 1515] The campaigns in Italy and Southern France +culminated in the disastrous defeat of the French at Pavia. [Sidenote: +February 24, 1525] Francis fought in person and was taken prisoner. +"Of all things nothing is left me but honor and life," he wrote his +mother. + +Francis hoped that he would be freed on the payment of ransom according +to the best models of chivalry. He found, however, when he was removed +to {186} Madrid in May, that his captor intended to exact the last +farthing of diplomatic concession. Discontent in France and the ennui +and illness of the king finally forced him to sign a most +disadvantageous treaty, [Sidenote: January 14, 1526] renouncing the +lands of Burgundy, Naples and Milan, and ceding lands to Henry VIII. +The king swore to the document, pledged his knightly honor, and as +additional securities married Eleanor the sister of Charles and left +two of his sons as hostages. + +Even when he signed it, however, he had no intention of executing the +provisions of the treaty which, he secretly protested, had been wrung +from him by force. The deputies of Burgundy refused to recognize the +right of France to alienate them. Henry VIII at once made an alliance +against the "tyranny and pride" of the emperor. Charles was so +chagrined that he challenged Francis to a duel. This opera bouffe +performance ended by each monarch giving the other "the lie in the +throat." + +Though France succeeded in making with new allies, the pope and Venice, +the League of Cognac, [Sidenote: May, 1526] and though Germany was at +that time embarrassed by the Turkish invasion, the ensuing war turned +out favorably to the emperor. The ascendancy of Charles was so marked +that peace again had to be made in his favor in 1529. The treaty of +Cambrai, as it was called, was the treaty of Madrid over again except +that Burgundy was kept by France. She gave up, however, Lille, Douai +and other territory in the north and renounced her suzerainty over +Milan and Naples. Francis agreed to pay a ransom of two million crowns +for his sons. Though he was put to desperate straits to raise the +money, levying a 40 per cent. income tax on the clergy and a 10 per +cent. income tax on the nobles, he finally paid the money and got back +his children in 1530. + +By this time France was so exhausted, both in {187} money and men, that +a policy of peace was the only one possible for some years. +Montmorency, the principal minister of the king, continued by an active +diplomacy to stir up trouble for Charles. While suppressing Lutherans +at home he encouraged the Schmalkaldic princes abroad, going to the +length of inviting Melanchthon to France in 1535. With the English +minister Cromwell he came to an agreement, notwithstanding the +Protestant tendencies of his policy. An alliance was also made with +the Sultan Suleiman, secretly in 1534, and openly proclaimed in 1536. +In order to prepare for the military strife destined to be renewed at +the earliest practical moment, an ordinance of 1534 reorganized and +strengthened the army. + +Far more important for the life of France than her incessant and +inconclusive squabbling with Spain was the transformation passing over +her spirit. It is sometimes said that if the French kings brought +nothing else back from their campaigns in Italy they brought back the +Renaissance. [Sidenote: Reformation] There is a modicum of truth in +this, for there are some traces of Italian influence before the reign +of Francis I. But the French spirit hardly needed this outside +stimulus. It was awakening of itself. Scholars like William Bude and +the Estiennes, thinkers like Dolet and Rabelais, poets like Marot, were +the natural product of French soil. Everywhere, north of the Alps no +less than south, there was a spontaneous efflorescence of intellectual +activity. + +The Reformation is often contrasted or compared with the Renaissance. +In certain respects, where a common factor can be found, this may +profitably be done. But it is important to note how different in kind +were the two movements. One might as well compare Darwinism and +Socialism in our own time. The one was a new way of looking at things, +a fresh {188} intellectual start, without definite program or +organization. The other was primarily a thesis: a set of tenets the +object of which was concrete action. The Reformation began in France +as a school of thought, but it soon grew to a political party and a new +church, and finally it evolved into a state within the state. + +[Sidenote: Christian Renaissance] + +Though it is not safe to date the French Reformation before the +influence of Luther was felt, it is possible to see an indigenous +reform that naturally prepared the way for it. Its harbinger was +Lefevre d'Etaples. This "little Luther" wished to purify the church, +to set aside the "good works" thereof in favor of faith, and to make +the Bible known to the people. He began to translate it in 1521, +publishing the Gospels in June 1523 and the Epistles and Acts and +Apocalypse in October and November. The work was not as good as that +of Luther or Tyndale. It was based chiefly on the Vulgate, though not +without reference to the Greek text. Lefevre prided himself on being +literal, remarking, with a side glance at Erasmus's _Paraphrases_, that +it was dangerous to try to be more elegant than Scripture. He also +prided himself on writing for the simple, and was immensely pleased +with the favorable reception the people gave his work. To reach the +hearts of the poor and humble he instituted a reform of preaching, +instructing his friends to purge their homilies of the more grossly +superstitious elements and of the scholastic theology. Instead of this +they were to preach Christ simply with the aim of touching the heart, +not of dazzling the mind. + +Like-minded men gathering around Lefevre formed a new school of +thought. It was a movement of revival within the church; its leaders, +wishing to keep all the old forms and beliefs, endeavored to infuse +into them a new spirit. To some extent they were in conscious reaction +against the intellectualism of Erasmus {189} and the Renaissance. On +the other hand they were far from wishing to follow Luther, when he +appeared, in his schism. + +Among the most famous of these mystical reformers were William +Briconnet, Bishop of Meaux, and his disciple, Margaret d'Angouleme, +sister of Francis I. Though a highly talented woman Margaret was weak +and suggestible. She adored her dissolute brother and was always, on +account of her marriages, first with Charles, duke of Alencon, +[Sidenote: 1509] and then with Henry d'Albret, king of Navarre, +[Sidenote: 1527] put in the position of a suppliant for his support. +She carried on an assiduous correspondence with Briconnet as her +spiritual director, being attracted first by him and then by Luther, +chiefly, as it seems, through the wish to sample the novelty of their +doctrines. She wrote _The Mirror of the Sinful Soul_ in the best style +of penitent piety. [Sidenote: 1531] Its central idea is the love of +God and of the "debonnaire" Jesus. She knew Latin and Italian, studied +Greek and Hebrew, and read the Bible regularly, exhorting her friends +to do the same. She coquetted with the Lutherans, some of whom she +protected in France and with others of whom in Germany she +corresponded. She was strongly suspected of being a Lutheran, though a +secret one. Capito dedicated to her a commentary on Hosea; Calvin had +strong hopes of winning her to an open profession, but was +disappointed. Her house, said he, which might have become the family +of Jesus Christ, harbored instead servants of the devil. Throughout +life she kept the accustomed Catholic rites, and wrote with much +respect to Pope Paul III. But fundamentally her religious idealism was +outside of any confession. + +This mystically pious woman wrote, in later life, the _Heptameron_, a +book of stories published posthumously. Modelled on the _Decameron_, +it consists {190} almost entirely of licentious stories, told without +reprobation and with gusto. If the mouth speaketh from the fullness of +the heart she was as much a sensualist in thought as her brother was in +deed. The apparent contradictions in her are only to be explained on +the theory that she was one of those impressionable natures that, +chameleon-like, always take on the hue of their environment. + +But though the work of Lefevre and of Briconnet, who himself gave his +clergy an example of simple, biblical preaching, won many followers not +only in Meaux but in other cities, it would never have produced a +religious revolt like that in Germany. The Reformation was an +importation into France; "The key of heresy," as John Bouchet said in +1531, "was made of the fine iron of Germany." At first almost all the +intellectuals hailed Luther as an ally. Lefevre sent him a greeting in +1519, and in the same year Bude spoke well of him. His books were at +this time approved even by some doctors of the Sorbonne. But it took a +decade of confusion and negation to clarify the situation sufficiently +for the French to realize the exact import of the Lutheran movement, +which completely transformed the previously existing policy of Lefevre. +The chief sufferer by the growth of Lutheranism was not at first the +Catholic church but the party of Catholic reform. The schism rent the +French evangelicals before it seriously affected the church. Some of +them followed the new light and others were forced back into a +reactionary attitude. + +[Sidenote: Luther's books.] + +The first emissaries of Luther in France were his books. Froben +exported a volume containing nearly all he had published up to October, +1518, immediately and in large quantities to Paris. In 1520 a student +there wrote that no books were more quickly bought. At first only the +Latin ones were intelligible to the {191} French, but there is reason +to believe that very early translations into the vernacular were made, +though none of this period have survived. It was said that the books, +which kept pouring in from Frankfort and Strassburg and Basle, excited +the populace against the theologians, for the people judged them by the +newly published French New Testament. A bishop complained that the +common people were seduced by the vivacity of the heretic's style. +[Sidenote: 1523] + +It did not take the Sorbonne long to define its position as one of +hostility. The university, which had been lately defending the +Gallican liberties and had issued an appeal from pope to future +council, was one of the judges selected by the disputants of the +Leipzig debate. Complete records of the speeches, taken by notaries, +were accordingly forwarded to Paris by Duke George of Saxony, with a +request for an opinion. After brief debate the condemnation of Luther +by the university was printed. [Sidenote: April 15, 1521] + +Neither was the government long in taking a position. That it should +be hostile was a foregone conclusion. Francis hated Lutheranism +because he believed that it tended more to the overthrow of kingdoms +and monarchies than to the edification of souls. He told Aleander, the +papal nuncio, that he thought Luther a rascal and his doctrine +pernicious. [Sidenote: March, 1521] + +[Sidenote: April 1523] + +The king was energetically seconded by the Parlement of Paris. A royal +edict provided that no book should be printed without the imprimatur of +the university. The king next ordered the extirpation of the errors of +Martin Luther of Saxony, and, having begun by burning books, continued, +as Erasmus observed was usually the case, by burning people. The first +to suffer was John Valliere. At the same time Briconnet was summoned +to Paris, [Sidenote: 1523] sharply reprimanded for leniency to heretics +and fined two hundred livres, in {192} consequence of which he issued +two decrees against the heresy, charging it with attempting to subvert +the hierarchy and to abolish sacerdotal celibacy. [Sidenote: 1524] +When Lefevre's doctrines were condemned, he submitted; those of his +disciples who failed to do so were proscribed. But the efforts of the +government became more strenuous after 1524. Francis was at this time +courting the assistance of the pope against the emperor, and moreover +he was horrified by the outbreak of the Peasants' War in Germany. +Convinced of the danger of allowing the new sect to propagate itself +any further he commanded the archbishops and bishops of his realm to +"proceed against those who hold, publish and follow the heresies, +errors and doctrines of Martin Luther." [Sidenote: 1525] Lefevre and +some of his friends fled to Strassburg. Arrests and executions against +those who were sometimes called "heretics of Meaux," and sometimes +Lutherans, followed. + +The theologians did not leave the whole burden of the battle to the +government. A swarm of anti-Lutheran tracts issued from the press. +Not only the heresiarch, but Erasmus and Lefevre were attacked. Their +translations of the Bible were condemned as blasphemies against Jerome +and against the Holy Ghost and as subverting the foundations of the +Christian religion. Luther's sacramental dogmas and his repudiation of +monastic vows were refuted. + +Nevertheless the reform movement continued. At this stage it was +urban, the chief centers being Paris, Meaux, and Lyons. Many merchants +and artisans were found among the adherents of the new faith. While +none of a higher rank openly professed it, theology became, under the +lead of Margaret, a fashionable subject. Conventicles were formed to +read the Bible in secret not only among the middle classes but also at +court. Short tracts continued to be the best {193} methods of +propaganda, and of these many were translations. Louis de Berquin of +Artois, [Sidenote: Berquin, 1490-1529] a layman, proved the most +formidable champion of the new opinions. Though he did little but +translate other men's work he did that with genius. His version of +Erasmus's _Manual of a Christian Knight_ was exquisitely done, and his +version of Luther's _Tesseradecas_ did not fall short of it. Tried and +condemned in 1523, he was saved by the king at the behest of Margaret. +[Sidenote: 1526] The access of rigor during the king's captivity gave +place to a momentary tolerance. Berquin, who had been arrested, was +liberated, and Lefevre recalled from exile. But the respite was brief. +Two years later, Berquin was again arrested, tried, condemned, and +executed speedily to prevent reprieve on April 17, 1529. But the +triumph of the conservatives was more apparent than real. Lutheranism +continued to gain silently but surely. + +While the Reformation was growing in strength and numbers, it was also +becoming more definite and coherent. Prior to 1530 it was almost +impossible to tell where Lutheranism began and where it ended. There +was a large, but vague and chaotic public opinion of protest against +the existing order. But after 1530 it is possible to distinguish +several parties, three of which at first reckoned among the supporters +of the Reformation, now more or less definitely separated themselves +from it. The first of these was the party of Meaux, the leaders of +which submitted to the government and went their own isolated way. +Then there was a party of Erasmian reform, mainly intellectual but +profoundly Christian. Its leader, William Bude, felt, as did Erasmus, +that it was possible to unite the classical culture of the Renaissance +with a purified Catholicism. Attached to the church, and equally +repelled by some of the dogmas and by the apparent {194} social effects +of the Reformation, Bude, who had spoken well of Luther in 1519, +repudiated him in 1521. + +[Sidenote: Humanists] + +Finally there was the party of the "Libertines" or free-thinkers, the +representatives of the Renaissance pure and simple. Revolutionaries in +their own way, consciously rebels against the older culture of the +Middle Ages, though prepared to canvass the new religion and to toy +with it, even to use it as an ally against common enemies, the interest +of these men was fundamentally too different from that of the Reformers +to enable them to stand long on the same platform. There was Clement +Marot, [Sidenote: Marot] a charming but rather aimless poet, a protege +of Margaret and the ornament of a frivolous court. Though his poetic +translation of the Psalms became a Protestant book, his poetry is often +sensual as well as sensuous. Though for a time absenting himself from +court he re-entered it in 1536 at the same time "abjuring his errors." + +[Sidenote: Rabelais] + +Of the same group was Francis Rabelais, whose _Pantagruel_ appeared in +1532. Though he wrote Erasmus saying that he owed all that he was to +him, he in fact appropriated only the irony and mocking spirit of the +humanist without his deep underlying piety. He became a universal +skeptic, and a mocker of all things. The "esprit gaulois," beyond all +others alive to the absurdities and inconsistency of things, found in +him its incarnation. He ridiculed both the "pope-maniacs" and the +"pope-phobes," the indulgence-sellers and the inquisitors, the +decretals "written by an angel" and the Great Schism, priests and kings +and doubting philosophers and the Scripture. Paul III called him "the +vagabond of the age." Calvin at first reckoned him among those who +"had relished the gospel," but when he furiously retorted that he +considered Calvin "a demoniacal imposter," the theologian of Geneva +loosed against him a furious invective in his {195} _Treatise on +Offences_. Rabelais was now called "a Lucian who by his diabolic +fatuity had profaned the gospel, that holy and sacred pledge of life +eternal." William Farel had in mind Rabelais's recent acceptance from +the court of the livings of Meudon and St. Christophe de Jambet, when +he wrote Calvin on May 25, 1553: "I fear that avarice, that root of +evil, has extinguished all faith and piety in the poets of Margaret. +Judas, having sold Christ and taken the biretta, instead of Christ has +that hard master Satan." [1] + +[Sidenote: Catholic reform] + +The stimulus given by the various attacks on the church, both +Protestant and infidel, showed itself promptly in the abundant spirit +of reform that sprang up in the Catholic fold. The clergy and bishop +braced themselves to meet the enemy; they tried in some instances to +suppress scandals and amend their lives; they brushed up their theology +and paid more attention to the Bible and to education. + +But the "Lutheran contagion" continued to spread and grow mightily. In +1525 it was found only at Paris, Meaux, Lyons, Grenoble, Bourges, Tours +and Alencon. Fifteen years later, though it was still confined largely +to the cities and towns, there were centers of it in every part of +France except in Brittany. The persecution at Paris only drove the +heretics into hiding or banished them to carry their opinions broadcast +over the land. The movement swept from the north and east. The +propaganda was not the work of one class but of all save that of the +great nobles. It was not yet a social or class affair, but a purely +intellectual and religious one. It is impossible to {196} estimate the +numbers of the new sect. In 1534 Aleander said there were thirty +thousand Lutherans in Paris alone. On the contrary Rene du Bellay said +that there were fewer in 1533 than there were ten years, previous. +[Sidenote: Protestant progress] True it is that the Protestants were +as yet weak, and were united rather in protest against the established +order than as a definite and cohesive party. Thus, the most popular +and successful slogans of the innovators were denunciation of the +priests as anti-Christs and apostates, and reprobation of images and of +the mass as idolatry. Other catchwords of the reformers were, "the +Bible" and "justification by faith." The movement was without a head +and without organization. Until Calvin furnished these the principal +inspiration came from Luther, but Zwingli and the other German and +Swiss reformers were influential. More and more, Lefevre and his +school sank into the background. + +For a time it seemed that the need of leadership was to be supplied by +William Farel. His learning, his eloquence, and his zeal, together +with the perfect safety of action that he found in Switzerland, were +the necessary qualifications. The need for a Bible was at first met by +the version of Lefevre, printed in 1532. But the Catholic spirit of +this work, based on the Vulgate, was distasteful to the evangelicals. +Farel asked Olivetan, an excellent philologist, to make a new version, +which was completed by February 1535. Calvin wrote the preface for it. +It was dedicated to "the poor little church of God." In doctrine it +was thoroughly evangelical, replacing the old "eveques" and "pretres" +by "surveillants" and "anciens," and omitting some of the Apocrypha. + +Encouraged by their own growth the Protestants became bolder in their +attacks on the Catholics. The situation verged more and more towards +violence; {197} neither side, not even the weaker, thought of tolerance +for both. On the night of October 17-18 some placards, written by +Anthony de Marcourt, were posted up in Paris, Orleans, Rouen, Tours and +Blois and on the doors of the king's chamber at Amboise. They +excoriated the sacrifice of the mass as a horrible and intolerable +abuse invented by infernal theology and directly counter to the true +Supper of our Lord. The government was alarmed and took strong steps. +Processions were instituted to appease God for the sacrilege. Within a +month two hundred persons were arrested, twenty of whom were sent to +the scaffold and the rest banished after confiscation of their goods. + +But the government could not afford to continue an uninterruptedly +rigorous policy. The Protestants found their opportunity in the +exigencies of the foreign situation. In 1535 Francis was forced by the +increasing menace of the Hapsburgs to make alliance not only with the +infidel but with the Schmalkaldic League. He would have had no +scruples in supporting abroad the heresy he suppressed at home, but he +found the German princes would accept his friendship on no terms save +those of tolerance to French Protestants. Accordingly on July 16, +1535, Francis was obliged to publish an edict ordering persecution to +cease and liberating those who were in prison for conscience's sake. + +But the respite did not last long. New rigors were undertaken in April +1538. Marot retracted his errors, and Rabelais, while not +fundamentally changing his doctrine, greatly softened, in the second +edition of his _Pantagruel_, [Sidenote: 1542] the abusive ridicule he +had poured on the Sorbonne. But by this time a new era was +inaugurated. The deaths of Erasmus and Lefevre in 1536 gave the _coup +de grace_ to the party of the Christian {198} Renaissance, and the +publication of Calvin's _Institutes_ in the same year finally gave the +French Protestants a much needed leader and standard. + + +[1] _Harvard Theological Review_, 1919, p. 209. Margaret had died +several years before, but Rabelais was called her poet because he had +claimed her protection and to her wrote a poem in 1545. _Oeuvres de +Rabelais_, ed. A. Lefranc, 1912, i, pp. xxiii, cxxxix. _Cf_. also +Calvin's letter to the Queen of Navarre, April 28, 1545. _Opera_, xii, +pp. 65 f. + + +SECTION 2. THE CALVINIST PARTY. 1536-1559 + +[Sidenote: Truce of Nice, 1538] + +The truce of Nice providing for a cessation of hostilities between +France and the Hapsburgs for ten years, was greeted with much joy in +France. Bonfires celebrated it in Paris, and in every way the people +made known their longing for peace. Little the king cared for the +wishes of his loyal subjects when his own dignity, real or imagined, +was at stake. The war with Charles, that cursed Europe like an +intermittent fever, broke out again in 1542. Again France was the +aggressor and again she was worsted. The emperor invaded Champagne in +person, arriving, in 1544, at a point within fifty miles of Paris. As +there was no army able to oppose him it looked as if he would march as +a conqueror to the capital of his enemy. But he sacrificed the +advantage he had over France to a desire far nearer his heart, that of +crushing his rebellious Protestant subjects. Already planning war with +the League of Schmalkalden he wished only to secure his own safety from +attack by his great rival. [Sidenote: Treaty of Crepy, 1544] The +treaty made at Crepy was moderate in its terms and left things largely +as they were. + +[Sidenote: Henry II, 1547-59] + +On March 31, 1547, Francis I died and was succeeded by his son, Henry +II, a man of large, strong frame, passionately fond of all forms of +exercise, especially of hunting and jousting. He had neither his +father's versatility nor his fickleness nor his artistic interests. +His policy was influenced by the aim of reversing his father's wishes +and of disgracing his father's favorites. + +[Sidenote: 1533] + +While his elder brother was still alive, Henry had married Catharine +de' Medici, a daughter of Lorenzo {199} II de' Medici of Florence. The +girl of fourteen in a foreign country was uncomfortable, especially as +it was felt, after her husband became Dauphin, that her rank was not +equal to his. The failure to have any children during the first ten +years of marriage made her position not only unpleasant but precarious, +but the birth of her first son made her unassailable. In rapid +succession she bore ten children, seven of whom survived childhood. +Though she had little influence on affairs of state during her +husband's reign, she acquired self-confidence and at last began to talk +and act as queen. + +[Sidenote: Diana of Poitiers] + +At the age of seventeen Henry fell in love with a woman of thirty-six, +Diana de Poitiers, to whom his devotion never wavered until his death, +when she was sixty. Notwithstanding her absolute ascendancy over her +lover she meddled little with affairs of state. + +[Sidenote: Admiral Coligny, 1519-72] + +The direction of French policy at this time fell largely into the hands +of two powerful families. The first was that of Coligny. Of three +brothers the ablest was Gaspard, Admiral of France, a firm friend of +Henry's as well as a statesman and warrior. Still more powerful was +the family of Guise, the children of Claude, Duke of Guise, who died in +1527. [Sidenote: Francis of Guise] The eldest son, Francis, Duke of +Guise, was a great soldier. His brother, Charles, Cardinal of +Lorraine, won a high place in the councils of state, and his sister +Mary, by her marriage with James V of Scotland, brought added prestige +to the family. The great power wielded by this house owed much to the +position of their estates, part of which were fiefs of the French king +and part subject to the Empire. As suited their convenience they could +act either as Frenchmen or as foreign nobles. + +[Sidenote: Expansion] + +Under Henry France enjoyed a period of expansion such as she had not +had for many years. The {200} perpetual failures of Francis were at +last turned into substantial successes. This was due in large part to +the civil war in Germany and to the weakness of England's rulers, +Edward VI and Mary. It was due in part to the irrepressible energy of +the French bourgeois and gentlemen, in part to the genius of Francis of +Guise. The co-operation of France and Turkey, rather an identity of +interests than a formal alliance, a policy equally blamed by +contemporaries and praised by historians, continued. But the successes +achieved were due most of all to the definite abandonment of the hope +of Italian conquests and to the turning of French arms to regions more +suitable for incorporation under her government. + +War having been declared on Charles, the French seized the Three +Bishoprics, at that time imperial fiefs, Metz, Verdun, and Toul. A +large German army under Alva besieged Metz, but failed to overcome the +brilliant defence of Francis of Guise. Worn by the attrition of +repulsed assaults and of disease the imperial army melted away. When +the siege was finally raised Guise distinguished himself as much by the +humanity with which he cared for wounded and sick enemies as he had by +his military prowess. + +Six years later Guise added fresh laurels to his fame and new +possessions to France by the conquest of Calais and Guines, the last +English possessions in French territory. The loss of Calais, which had +been held by England since the Hundred Years War, was an especially +bitter blow to the islanders. These victories were partly +counterbalanced by the defeats of French armies at St. Quentin on the +Somme [Sidenote: 1557] and by Egmont at Gravelines. [Sidenote: 1558] +When peace was signed at Cateau-Cambresis, [Sidenote: Peace of +Cateau-Cambresis, 1559] France renounced all her conquests in the +south, but kept the Three Bishoprics and Calais, all of which became +her permanent possessions. + +[Sidenote: Calvinism] + +{201} While France was thus expanding her borders, the internal +revolution matured rapidly. The last years of Francis and the reign of +Henry II saw a prodigious growth of Protestantism. What had begun as a +sect now became, by an evolution similar to that experienced in +Germany, a powerful political party. It is the general fate of new +causes to meet at first with opposition due to habit and the +instinctive reaction of almost all minds against "the pain of a new +idea." But if the cause is one suited to the spirit and needs of the +age, it gains more and more supporters, slowly if left to itself, +rapidly if given good organization and adequate means of presenting its +claims. The thorough canvassing of an idea is absolutely essential to +win it a following. Now, prior to 1536, the Protestants had got a +considerable amount of publicity as well through their own writings as +through the attacks of their enemies. But not until Calvin settled at +Geneva and began to write extensively in French, was the cause +presented in a form capable of appealing to the average Frenchman. +Calvin gave not only the best apology for his cause, but also furnished +it with a definite organization, and a coherent program. He supplied +the dogma, the liturgy, and the moral ideas of the new religion, and he +also created ecclesiastical, political, and social institutions in +harmony with it. A born leader, he followed up his work with personal +appeals. His vast correspondence with French Protestants shows not +only much zeal but infinite pains and considerable tact in driving home +the lessons of his printed treatises. + +Though the appeal of Calvin's dogmatic system was greater to an age +interested in such things and trained to regard them as highly +important, than we are likely to suppose at present, this was not +Calvinism's only or even its main attraction to intelligent people. +Like {202} every new and genuine reform Calvinism had the advantage of +arousing the enthusiasm of a small but active band of liberals. The +religious zeal as well as the moral earnestness of the age was +naturally drawn to the Protestant side. As the sect was persecuted, no +one joined it save from conscientious motives. Against the laziness or +the corruption of the prelates, too proud or too indifferent to give a +reason for their faith, the innovators opposed a tireless energy in +season and out of season; against the scandals of the court and the +immorality of the clergy they raised the banner of a new and stern +morality; to the fires of martyrdom they replied with the fires of +burning faith. + +The missionaries of the Calvinists were very largely drawn from +converted members of the clergy, both secular and regular, and from +those who had made a profession of teaching. For the purposes of +propaganda these were precisely the classes most fitted by training and +habit to arouse and instruct the people. Tracts were multiplied, and +they enjoyed, notwithstanding the censures of the Sorbonne, a brisk +circulation. The theater was also made a means of propaganda, and an +effective one. + +Picardy continued to be the stronghold of the Protestants throughout +this period, though they were also strong at Meaux and throughout the +north-east, at Orleans, in Normandy, and in Dauphine. Great progress +was also made in the south, which later became the most Protestant of +all the sections of France. + +[Sidenote: Catholic measures] + +Catholics continued to rely on force. There was a counter-propaganda, +emanating from the University of Paris, but it was feeble. The +Jesuits, in the reign of Henry II, had one college at Paris and two in +Auvergne; otherwise there was hardly any intellectual effort made to +overcome the reformers. Indeed, the Catholics hardly had the munitions +for such a combat. {203} Apart from the great independents, holding +themselves aloof from all religious controversy, the more intelligent +and enterprising portion of the educated class had gone over to the +enemy. + +But the government did its best to supply the want of argument by the +exercise of authority. New and severe edicts against "the heresies and +false doctrines of Luther and his adherents and accomplices" were +issued. The Sorbonne prohibited the reading and sale of sixty-five +books by name, including the works of Luther, Melanchthon, Calvin, +Dolet, and Marot, and all translations of the Bible issued by the +publishing house of Estienne. + +The south of France had in earlier centuries been prolific in sects +claiming a Protestantism older than that of Augsburg. Like the +Bohemian Brethren they eagerly welcomed the Calvinists as allies and +were rapidly enrolled in the new church. Startled by the stirring of +the spirit of reform, the Parlement of Aix, acting in imitation of +Simon de Monfort, [Sidenote: 1540] ordered two towns, Merindol and +Cabrieres, destroyed for their heresy. The sentence was too drastic +for the French government to sanction immediately; it was therefore +postponed by command of the king, but it was finally executed, at least +in part. [Sidenote: 1545] A ghastly massacre took place in which +eight hundred or more of the Waldenses perished. A cry of horror was +raised in Germany, in Switzerland, and even in France, from which the +king himself recoiled in terror. + +Only a few days after his accession Henry issued an edict against +blasphemy, and this was followed by a number of laws against heresy. A +new court of justice was created to deal with heretics. [Sidenote: +October 8, 1547] From its habit of sending its victims to the stake it +soon became known as the Chambre Ardente. Its powers were so extensive +that the clergy protested against them as {204} infringements of their +rights. In its first two years it pronounced five hundred +sentences,--and what sentences! Even in that cruel age its punishments +were frightful. Burning alive was the commonest. If the heretic +recanted on the scaffold he was strangled before the fire was lit; if +he refused to recant his tongue was cut out. [Sidenote: June, 1551] +Those who were merely suspected were cast into dungeons from which many +never came out alive. Torture was habitually used to extract +confession. For those who recanted before sentence milder, but still +severe, punishments were meted out: imprisonment and various sorts of +penance. By the edict of Chateaubriand a code of forty-six articles +against heresy was drawn up, and the magistrate empowered to put +suspected persons under surveillance. + +In the face of this fiery persecution the conduct of the Calvinists was +wonderfully fine. They showed great adroitness in evading the law by +all means save recantation and great astuteness in using what poor +legal means of defence were at their disposal. On the other hand they +suffered punishment with splendid constancy and courage, very few +failing in the hour of trial, and most meeting death in a state of +exaltation. Large numbers found refuge in other lands. During the +reign of Henry II fourteen hundred fled to Geneva, not to mention the +many who settled in the Netherlands, England, and Germany. + +[Sidenote: Protestant growth] + +Far from lying passive, the Calvinists took the offensive not only by +writing and preaching but by attacking the images of the saints. Many +of these were broken or defaced. One student in the university of +Paris smashed the images of the Virgin and St. Sebastian and a stained +glass window representing the crucifixion, and posted up placards +attacking the cult of the saints. For this he was pilloried three +times and then shut into a small hole walled in on all sides {205} save +for an aperture through which food was passed him until he died. + +Undaunted by persecution the innovators continued to grow mightily in +numbers and strength. The church at Paris, though necessarily meeting +in secret, was well organized. The people of the city assembled +together in several conventicles in private houses. By 1559 there were +forty fully organized churches (_eglises dressees_) throughout France, +and no less than 2150 conventicles or mission churches (_eglises +plantees_). Estimates of numbers are precarious, but good reason has +been advanced to show that early in the reign of Henry the Protestants +amounted to one-sixth of the population. Like all enthusiastic +minorities they wielded a power out of proportion to their numbers. +Increasing continually, as they did, it is probable, but for the +hostility of the government, they would have been a match for the +Catholics. At any rate they were eager to try their strength. A new +and important fact was that they no longer consisted entirely of the +middle classes. High officers of government and great nobles began to +join their ranks. In 1546 the Bishop of Nimes protected them openly, +being himself suspected, probably with justice, of Calvinism. In 1548 +a lieutenant-general was among those prosecuted for heresy. Anthony of +Bourbon, a descendant of Louis IX, a son of the famous Charles, +Constable of France, and husband of Joan d 'Albret, queen of Navarre, +who was a daughter of Margaret d'Angouleme, became a Protestant. +[Sidenote: 1555] About the same time the great Admiral Coligny was +converted, though it was some years before he openly professed his +faith. His brother, d'Andelot, also adhered to the Calvinists but was +later persuaded by the king and by his wife to go back to the Catholic +fold. + +So strong had the Protestants become that the {206} French government +was compelled against its will to tolerate them in fact if not in +principle, and to recognize them as a party in the state with a +quasi-constitutional position. The synod held at Paris in May, 1559, +was evidence that the first stage in the evolution of French +Protestantism was complete. This assembly drew up a creed called the +_Confessio Gallicana_, setting forth in forty articles the purest +doctrine of Geneva. Besides affirming belief in the common articles of +Christianity, this confession asserted the dogmas of predestination, +justification by faith only, and the distinctive Calvinistic doctrine +of the eucharist. The worship of saints was condemned and the +necessity of a church defined. For this church an organization and +discipline modelled on that of Geneva was provided. The country was +divided into districts, the churches within which were to send to a +central consistory representatives both clerical and lay, the latter to +be at least equal in number to the former. Over the church of the +whole nation there was to be a national synod or "Colloque" to which +each consistory was to send one clergyman and one or two lay elders. + +Alarmed by the growth of the Protestants, Henry II was just preparing, +after the treaty of Cateau-Cambresis, to grapple with them more +earnestly than ever, when he died of a wound accidentally received in a +tournament. [Sidenote: July 10, 1559] His death, hailed by Calvin as +a merciful dispensation of Providence, conveniently marks the ending of +one epoch and the beginning of another. For the previous forty years +France had been absorbed in the struggle with the vast empire of the +Hapsburgs. For the next forty years she was completely occupied with +the wars of religion. Externally, she played a weak role because of +civil strife and of a contemptible government. Indeed, all her +interests, both foreign and domestic, were from this {207} time +forgotten in the intensity of the passions aroused by fanaticism. The +date of Henry's demise also marks a change in the evolution of the +French government. Hitherto, for some centuries, the trend had been +away from feudalism to absolute monarchy. The ideal, "une foi, une +loi, un roi" had been nearly attained. But this was now checked in two +ways. The great nobles found in Calvinism an opportunity to assert +their privileges against the king. The middle classes in the cities, +especially in those regions where sectionalism was still strong, found +the same opportunity but turned it to the advantage of republicanism. +A fierce spirit of resistance not only to the prelates but to the +monarch, was born. There was even a considerable amount of democratic +sentiment. The poor clergy, who had become converted to Calvinism, +were especially free in denouncing the inequalities of the old regime +which made of the higher clergy great lords and left the humbler +ministers to starve. The fact is that the message of Calvinism was +essentially democratic in that the excellence of all Christians and +their perfect equality before God was preached. [Sidenote: Equality +preached] Interest in religion and the ability to discuss it was not +confined to a privileged hierarchy, but was shared by the humblest. In +a ribald play written in 1564 it is said:[1] + + If faut que Jeanne [a servant] entre les pots + Parle de reformation; + La nouvelle religion + A tant fait que les chambrieres, + Les serviteurs et les tripieres + En disputent publiquement. + +But while the gay courtier and worldling sneered at the religion of +market women and scullerymaids, he had little cause to scoff when he +met the Protestants {208} in debate at the town hall of his city, or on +the field of battle. + +Finally, the year 1559 very well marks a stage in the development of +French Protestantism. Until about 1536 it had been a mere unorganized +opinion, rather a philosophy than a coherent body. From the date of +the publication of the _Institutes_ to that of the Synod of 1559 the +new church had become organized, self-conscious, and definitely +political in aims. But after 1559 it became more than a party; it +became an _imperium in imperio_. There was no longer one government +and one allegiance in France but two, and the two were at war. + +[Sidenote: The Huguenots] + +It was just at this time that the name of Huguenot applied to the +Protestants, hitherto called "Lutherans," "heretics of Meaux" and, more +rarely, "Calvinists." The origin of the word, first used at Tours in +1560, is uncertain. It may possibly come from "le roi Huguet" or +"Hugon," a night spectre; the allusion then would be to the ghostly +manner in which the heretics crept by night to their conventicles. +Huguenot is also found as a family name at Belfort as early as 1425. +It may possibly come from the term "Hausgenossen" as used in Alsace of +those metal-workers who were not taken into the gild but worked at +home, hence a name of contempt like the modern "scab." It may also +come from the name of the Swiss Confederation, "Eidgenossen," and +perhaps this derivation is the most likely, though it cannot be +considered beyond doubt. Whatever the origin of the name the picture +of the Huguenot is familiar to us. Of all the fine types of French +manhood, that of the Huguenot is one of the finest. Gallic gaiety is +tempered with earnestness; intrepidity is strengthened with a new moral +fibre like that of steel. Except in the case of a few great lords, who +joined the party without serious conviction, the high standard of the +Huguenot morals was recognized even by their enemies. In an age of +profligacy the "men of the religion," as they called themselves, walked +the paths of rectitude and sobriety. + + +[1] Remy Belleau: _La Reconnue_, act 4, scene 2. + + +{209} + + Charles, Duke of Bourbon, + Constable of France, d. 1527 + | + | + +-------------------------+-----+------------------+ + | | | + Anthony, Duke of Vendome Charles, Cardinal Louis, Prince + ==Joan d'Albret, Queen of of Bourbon of Conde + | Navarre, d. 1562 + | + | + _Henry IV_ + _1589-1610_ + ==(1)Margaret of France + ==(2)Mary de' Medici + + ______________________________________________________________________ + + + Claude, Duke of Guise, d. 1527 + | + | + +------------------------+--+------------+ + | | | + | | | + Francis, Duke of Guise Charles, Cardinal Mary==James V + d. 1563 of Lorraine | of Scotland + | | + | Mary, Queen + | of Scots + | + +-----------------------+--------------------+ + | | | + Henry, Duke of Guise Charles, Duke of Louis, Cardinal of + d. 1588 Mayenne Guise, d. 1588 + + + [Transcriber's note: "d." has been used here as a substitute + for the "dagger" symbol (Unicode U+2020) that signifies the + person's year of death.] + + +{210} + +SECTION 3. THE WARS OF RELIGION. 1559-1598 + +[Sidenote: Francis II, 1559-60] + +Henry II was followed by three of his sons in succession, each of them, +in different degrees and ways, a weakling. The first of them was +Francis II, a delicate lad of fifteen, who suffered from adenoids. +Child as he was he had already been married for more than a year to +Mary Stuart, a daughter of James V of Scotland and a niece of Francis +of Guise and the Cardinal of Lorraine. As she was the one passion of +the morose and feeble king, who, being legally of age was able to +choose his own ministers, the government of the realm fell into the +strong hands of "the false brood of Lorraine." Fearing and hating +these men above all others the Huguenots turned to the Bourbons for +protection, but the king of Navarre was too weak a character to afford +them much help. Finding in the press their best weapon the Protestants +produced a flood of pamphlets attacking the Cardinal of Lorraine as +"the tiger of France." + +A more definite plan to rid the country of the hated tyranny was that +known as the Conspiracy of Amboise. Godfrey de Barry, Sieur de la +Renaudie, pledged several hundred Protestants to go in a body to +present a petition to the king at Blois. How much further their +intentions went is not known, and perhaps was not definitely formulated +by themselves. The Venetian ambassador spoke in a contemporary +dispatch of a plot to kill the cardinal and also the king if he would +not assent to their counsels, and said that the conspirators relied, to +justify this course, on the {211} declaration of Calvin that it was +lawful to slay those who hindered the preaching of the gospel. Hearing +of the conspiracy, Guise and his brother were ready. They transferred +the court from Blois to Amboise, by which move they upset the plans of +the petitioners and also put the king into a more defensible castle. +Soldiers, assembled for the occasion, met the Huguenots as they +advanced in a body towards Amboise, [Sidenote: The tumult of Amboise, +March 1560] shot down La Renaudie and some others on the spot and +arrested the remaining twelve hundred, to be kept for subsequent trial +and execution. The suspicion that fastened on the prince of Conde, a +brother of the king of Navarre, was given some color by his frank +avowal of sympathy with the conspirators. Though the Guises pressed +their advantage to the utmost in forbidding all future assemblies of +heretics, the tumult of Amboise was vaguely felt, in the sultry +atmosphere of pent-up passions, to be the avant-courier of a terrific +storm. + +The early death of the sickly king left the throne to his brother +Charles IX, a boy of nine. [Sidenote: Charles IX, 1560-74] As he was +a minor, the regency fell to his mother, Catharine de' Medici, who for +almost thirty years was the real ruler of France. [Sidenote: Policy of +Catharine de' Medici] Notwithstanding what Brantome calls "ung +embonpoint tres-riche," she was active of body and mind. Her large +correspondence partly reveals the secrets of her power: much tact and +infinite pains to keep in touch with as many people and as many details +of business as possible. Her want of beauty was supplied by gracious +manners and an elegant taste in art. As a connoisseur and an +indefatigable collector she gratified her love of the magnificent not +only by beautiful palaces and gorgeous clothes, but in having a store +of pictures, statues, tapestries, furniture, porcelain, silver, books, +and manuscripts. + +A "politique" to her fingertips, Catharine had neither sympathy nor +patience with the fanatics who {212} would put their religion above +peace and prosperity. Surrounded by men as fierce as lions, she showed +no little of the skill and intrepidity of the tamer in keeping them, +for a time, from each others' throats. Soon after Charles ascended the +throne, she was almost hustled into domestic and foreign war by the +offer of Philip II of Spain to help her Catholic subjects against the +Huguenots without her leave. She knew if that were done that, as she +scrawled in her own peculiar French, "le Roy mon fils nave jeames +lantyere aubeysance," [1] and she was determined "que personne ne pent +nous brouller en lamitie en la quele je desire que set deus Royaumes +demeurent pendant mauye." [2] Through her goggle eyes she saw clearly +where lay the path that she must follow. "I am resolved," she wrote, +"to seek by all possible means to preserve the authority of the king my +son in all things, and at the same time to keep the people in peace, +unity and concord, without giving them occasion to stir or to change +anything." Fundamentally, this was the same policy as that of Henry +IV. That she failed where he succeeded is not due entirely to the +difference in ability. In 1560 neither party was prepared to yield or +to tolerate the other without a trial of strength, whereas a generation +later many members of both parties were sick of war. + +[Sidenote: December 13, 1560] + +Just as Francis was dying, the States General met at Orleans. This +body was divided into three houses, or estates, that of the clergy, +that of the nobles, and that of the commons. The latter was so +democratically chosen that even the peasants voted. Whether they had +voted in 1484 is not known, but it is certain that they did so in 1560, +and that it was in the interests of the crown to let them vote is shown +by the increase in {213} the number of royal officers among the +deputies of the third estate. The peasants still regarded the king as +their natural protector against the oppression of the nobles. + +The Estates were opened by Catharine's minister, Michael de L'Hopital. +Fully sympathizing with her policy of conciliation, he addressed the +Estates as follows: [Sidenote: February 24, 1561] "Let us abandon those +diabolic words, names of parties, factions and seditions:--Lutherans, +Huguenots, Papists; let us not change the name of Christians." +Accordingly, an edict was passed granting an amnesty to the Huguenots, +nominally for the purpose of allowing them to return to the Catholic +church, but practically interpreted without reference to this proviso. + +But the government found it easier to pass edicts than to restrain the +zealots of both parties. The Protestants continued to smash images; +the Catholics to mob the Protestants. Paris became, in the words of +Beza, "the city most bloody and murderous among all in the world." +Under the combined effects of legal toleration and mob persecution the +Huguenots grew mightily in numbers and power. Their natural leader, +the King of Navarre, indeed failed them, for he changed his faith +several times, his real cult, as Calvin remarked, being that of Venus. +His wife, Joan d'Albret, however, became an ardent Calvinist. + +At this point the government proposed a means of conciliation that had +been tried by Charles V in Germany and had there failed. The leading +theologians of both confessions were summoned to a colloquy at Poissy. +[Sidenote: Colloquy of Poissy, August, 1561] Most of the German +divines invited were prevented by politics from coming, but the noted +Italian Protestant Peter Martyr Vermigli and Theodore Beza of Geneva +were present. The debate turned on the usual points at issue, and was +of course indecisive, {214} though the Huguenots did not hesitate to +proclaim their own victory. + +[Sidenote: January, 1562] + +A fresh edict of toleration had hardly been issued when civil war was +precipitated by a horrible crime. Some armed retainers of the Duke of +Guise, coming upon a Huguenot congregation at Vassy in Champagne, +[Sidenote: Massacre of Vassy, March 1, 1562] attacked them and murdered +three hundred. A wild cry of fury rose from all the Calvinists; +throughout the whole land there were riots. At Toulouse, for example, +fighting in the streets lasted four days and four hundred persons +perished. It was one of the worst years in the history of France. A +veritable reign of terror prevailed everywhere, and while the crops +were destroyed famine stalked throughout the land. Bands of robbers +and ravishers, under the names of Christian parties but savages at +heart, put the whole people to ransom and to sack. Indeed, the Wars of +Religion were like hell; the tongue can describe them better than the +imagination can conceive them. The whole sweet and pleasant land of +France, from the Burgundian to the Spanish frontier, was widowed and +desolated, her pride humbled by her own sons and her Golden Lilies +trampled in the bloody mire. Foreign levy was called in to supply +strength to fratricidal arms. The Protestants, headed by Conde and +Coligny, raised an army and started negotiations with England. The +Catholics, however, had the best of the fighting. They captured Rouen, +defended by English troops, and, under Guise, defeated the Huguenots +under Coligny at Dreux. [Sidenote: December 19, 1562] + +[Sidenote: February 18, 1563] + +Two months later, Francis of Guise was assassinated by a Protestant +near Orleans. Coligny was accused of inciting the crime, which he +denied, though he confessed that he was glad of it. [Sidenote: Edict +of Amboise March 19, 1563] The immediate beneficiary of the death of +the duke was not the Huguenot, {215} however, so much as Catharine de' +Medici. Continuing to put into practise her policy of tolerance she +issued an edict granting liberty of conscience to all and liberty of +worship under certain restrictions. Great nobles were allowed to hold +meetings for divine service according to the reformed manner in their +own houses, and one village in each bailiwick was allowed to have a +Protestant chapel. + +How consistently secular was Catharine's policy became apparent at this +time when she refused to publish the decrees of the Council of Trent, +fearing that they might infringe on the liberties of the Gallican +church. In this she had the full support of most French Catholics. +She continued to work for religious peace. One of her methods was +characteristic of her and of the time. She selected "a flying +squadron" of twenty-four beautiful maids of honor of high rank and low +principles to help her seduce the refractory nobles on both sides. In +many cases she was successful. Conde, in love with one--or possibly +with several--of these sirens, forgot everything else, his wife, his +party, his religion. His death in 1569 threw the leadership of the +Huguenots into the steadier and stronger grasp of Coligny. + +But such means of dealing with a profoundly dangerous crisis were of +course but the most wretched palliatives. The Catholic bigots would +permit no dallying with the heretics. In 1567 they were strong enough +to secure the disgrace of L'Hopital and in the following year to extort +a royal edict unconditionally forbidding the exercise of the reformed +cult. The Huguenots again rebelled and in 1569 suffered two severe +defeats [Sidenote: Huguenots defeated] at Jarnac and at Moncontour. +The Catholics were jubilant, fully believing, as Sully says, that at +last the Protestants would have to submit. But nothing is more +remarkable than the apparently slight effect of military success or +failure on the {216} strength and numbers of the two faiths. "We had +beaten our enemies over and over again," cried the Catholic soldier +Montluc in a rage, "we were winning by force of arms but they triumphed +by means of their diabolical writings." + +The Huguenots, however, did not rely entirely on the pen. Their +stronghold was no longer in the north but was now in the south and +west. The reason for this may be partly found in the preparation of +the soil for their seed by the medieval heresies, but still more in the +strong particularistic spirit of that region. The ancient provinces of +Poitou and Guienne, Gascony and Languedoc, were almost as conscious of +their southern and Provencal culture as they were of their French +citizenship. The strength of the centralizing tendencies lay north of +the Loire; in the south local privileges were more esteemed and more +insisted upon. While Protestantism was persecuted by the government at +Paris it was often protected by cities of the south. [Sidenote: La +Rochelle] The most noteworthy of these was La Rochelle on the Atlantic +coast near Bordeaux. Though coming late to the support of the +Reformation, its conversion was thorough and lasting. To protect the +new religion it successfully asserted its municipal freedom almost to +the point of independence. Like the Dutch Beggars of the Sea its armed +privateers preyed upon the commerce of Catholic powers, a mode of +warfare from which the city derived immense booty. + +The Huguenots tried but failed to get foreign allies. Neither England +nor Germany sent them any help. [Sidenote: Battle of Mons, July 17, +1572] Their policy of supporting the revolt of the Low Countries +against Spain turned out disastrously for themselves when the French +under Coligny were defeated at Mons by the troops of Philip. + +The Catholics now believed the time ripe for a decisive blow. Under +the stimulus of the Jesuits they {217} had for a short time been +conducting an offensive and effective propaganda. Leagues were formed +to combat the organizations of the Huguenots, armed "Brotherhoods of +the Holy Spirit" as they were called. The chief obstacle in their path +seemed to be a small group of powerful nobles headed by Coligny. +Catharine and the Guises resolved to cut away this obstacle with the +assassin's knife. Charles, who was personally on good terms with +Coligny, hesitated, but he was too weak a youth to hold out long. +There seems to be good reason to believe that all the queen dowager and +her advisers contemplated was the murder of a few leaders and that they +did not foresee one of the most extensive massacres in history. + +Her first attempt to have Coligny assassinated [Sidenote: August 22, +1572] aroused the anger of the Huguenot leaders and made them more +dangerous than before. A better laid and more comprehensive plan was +therefore carried out on the eve of St. Bartholomew's day. [Sidenote: +Massacre of St. Bartholomew, August 24, to October 3] Early in the +evening of August 23, Henry of Guise, a son of Duke Francis, and +Coligny's bitterest personal enemy, went with armed men to the house of +the admiral and murdered him. From thence they proceeded to the houses +of other prominent Huguenots to slay them in the same manner. News of +the man-hunt spread through the city with instant rapidity, the mob +rose and massacred all the Huguenots they could find as well as a +number of foreigners, principally Germans and Flemings. De Thou says +that two thousand were slain in Paris before noon of August 24. A +general pillage followed. + +The king hesitated to assume responsibility for so serious a tumult. +His letters of August 24 to various governors of provinces and to +ambassadors spoke only of a fray between Guise and Coligny, and stated +that he wished to preserve order. But with these very {218} letters he +sent messengers to all quarters with verbal orders to kill all the +leading Protestants. On August 27 he again wrote of it as "a great and +lamentable sedition" originating in the desire of Guise to revenge his +father on Coligny. The king said that the fury of the populace was +such that he was unable to bring the remedy he wished, and he again +issued directions for the preservation of order. But at the same time +he declared that the Guises had acted at his command to punish those +who had conspired against him and against the old religion. In fact, +he gave out a rapid series of contradictory accounts and orders, and in +the meantime, from August 25 to October 3 terrible series of massacres +took place in almost all the provinces. [Sidenote: Other massacres] +Two hundred Huguenots perished at Meaux, from 500 to 1000 at Orleans, a +much larger number at Lyons. It is difficult to estimate the total +number of victims. Sully, who narrowly escaped, says that 70,000 were +slain. Hotman, another contemporary, says 50,000. Knowing how much +figures are apt to be exaggerated even by judicious men, we must assume +that this number is too large. On the other hand the lowest estimate +given by modern Catholic investigators, 5000, is certainly too small. +Probably between 10,000 and 20,000 is correct. Those who fell were the +flower of the party. + +Whatever may have been the precise degree of guilt of the French +rulers, which in any case was very grave, they took no pains to conceal +their exultation over an event that had at last, as they believed, +ground their enemies to powder. In jubilant tone Catharine wrote to +her son-in-law, Philip of Spain, that God had given her son the king of +France the means "of wiping out those of his subjects who were +rebellious to God and to himself." Philip sent his hearty +congratulations and heard a Te Deum sung. The pope struck a medal +{219} with a picture of an avenging angel and the legend, "Ugonotorum +strages," and ordered an annual Te Deum which was, in fact, celebrated +for a long time. But on the other hand a cry of horror arose from +Germany and England. Elizabeth received the French ambassador dressed +in mourning and declared to him that "the deed had been too bloody." + +Though the triumph of the Catholics was loudly shouted, it was not as +complete as they hoped. The Huguenots seemed cowed for a moment, but +nothing is more remarkable than the constancy of the people. +Recantations were extremely few. The Reformed pastors, nourished on +the Old Testament, saw in the affliction that had befallen them nothing +but the means of proving the faithful. Preparations for resistance +were made at once in the principal cities of the south. [Sidenote: +Siege of La Rochelle] La Rochelle, besieged by the royal troops, +evinced a heroism worthy of the cause. While the men repulsed the +furious assaults of the enemy the women built up the walls that +crumbled under the powerful fire of the artillery. A faction of +citizens who demanded surrender was sternly suppressed and the city +held out until relief came from an unhoped quarter. The king's +brother, Henry Duke of Anjou, was elected to the throne of Poland on +condition that he would allow liberty of conscience to Polish +Protestants. In order to appear consistent the French government +therefore stopped for the moment the persecution of the Huguenots. The +siege of La Rochelle was abandoned and a treaty made allowing liberty +of worship in that city, in Nimes and Montauban and in the houses of +some of the great nobles. + +In less than two years after the appalling massacre the Protestants +were again strong and active. A chant of victory sounded from their +dauntless ranks. More than ever before they became republican in +principle. {220} Their pamphleteers, among them Hotman, fiercely +attacked the government of Catharine, and asserted their rights. + +Charles was a consumptive. The hemorrhages characteristic of his +disease reminded him of the torrents of blood that he had caused to +flow from his country. Broken in body and haunted by superstitious +terrors the wretched man died on May 30, 1574. [Sidenote: Henry III, +1547-89] He was succeeded by his brother, Henry III, recently elected +king of Poland, a man of good parts, interested in culture and in +study, a natural orator, not destitute of intelligence. His mother's +pet and spoiled child, brought up among the girls of the "flying +squadron," he was in a continual state of nervous and sensual +titillation that made him avid of excitement and yet unable to endure +it. A thunderstorm drove him to hide in the cellar and to tears. He +was at times overcome by fear of death and hell, and at times had +crises of religious fervour. But his life was a perpetual debauch, +ever seeking new forms of pleasure in strange ways. He would walk the +streets at night accompanied by gay young rufflers in search of +adventures. He had a passion for some handsome young men, commonly +called "the darlings," whom he kept about him dressed as women. + +His reign meant a new lease of power to his mother, who worshipped him +and to whom he willingly left the arduous business of government. By +this time she was bitterly hated by the Huguenots, who paid their +compliments to her in a pamphlet entitled _A wonderful Discourse on the +Life, Deeds and Debauchery of Catharine de' Medici_, perhaps written in +part by the scholar Henry Estienne. She was accused not only of crimes +of which she was really guilty, like the massacre of St. Bartholomew, +but of having murdered {221} the dauphin Francis, her husband's elder +brother, and others who had died natural deaths, and of having +systematically depraved her children in order to keep the reins of +authority in her own hands. + +Frightened by the odium in which his mother was held, Henry III thought +it wise to disavow all part or lot in St. Bartholomew and to concede to +the Huguenots liberty of worship everywhere save in Paris and in +whatever place the court might be for the moment. + +So difficult was the position of the king that by this attempt to +conciliate his enemies he only alienated his friends. The bigoted +Catholics, finding the crown impotent, began to take energetic measures +to help themselves. In 1576 they formed a League to secure the benefit +of association. [Sidenote: The League] Henry Duke of Guise drew up +the declaration that formed the constituent act of the League. It +proposed "to establish the law of God in its entirety, to reinstate and +maintain divine service according to the form and manner of the holy, +Catholic and apostolic church," and also "to restore to the provinces +and estates of this kingdom the rights, privileges, franchises, and +ancient liberties such as they were in the time of King Clovis, the +first Christian king." This last clause is highly significant as +showing how the Catholics had now adopted the tactics of the Huguenots +in appealing from the central government to the provincial privileges. +It is exactly the same issue as that of Federalism versus States' +Rights in American history; the party in power emphasizes the national +authority, while the smaller divisions furnish a refuge for the +minority. + +The constituency of the League rapidly became large. The declaration +of Guise was circulated throughout the country something like a monster +petition, and those who wished bound themselves to support it. The +{222} power of this association of Catholics among nobles and people +soon made it so formidable that Henry III reversed his former policy, +recognized the League and declared himself its head. + +[Sidenote: Estates General of Blois] + +The elections for the States General held at Blois in 1576 proved +highly favorable to the League. The chief reason for their +overwhelming success was the abstention of the Protestants from voting. +In continental Europe it has always been and is now common for +minorities to refuse to vote, the idea being that this refusal is in +itself a protest more effective than a definite minority vote would be. +To an American this seems strange, for it has been proved time and +again that a strong minority can do a great deal to shape legislation. +But the Huguenots reasoned differently, and so seated but one +Protestant in the whole assembly, a deputy to the second, or noble, +estate. The privileged orders pronounced immediately for the +enforcement of religious unity, but in the Third Estate there was a +warm debate. John Bodin, the famous publicist, though a Catholic, +pleaded hard for tolerance. As finally passed, the law demanded a +return to the old religion, but added the proviso that the means taken +should be "gentle and pacific and without war." So impossible was this +in practice that the government was again obliged to issue a decree +granting liberty of conscience and restricted liberty of worship. +[Sidenote: 1577] + +Under the oppression of the ruinous civil wars the people began to grow +more and more restless. The king was extremely unpopular. Perhaps the +people might have winked even at such outrages against decency as were +perpetrated by the king had not their critical faculties been sharpened +by the growing misery of their condition. The wars had bankrupted both +them and the government, and the desperate expedients of the latter to +raise money only increased the poverty {223} of the masses. Every +estate, every province, was urged to contribute as much as possible, +and most of them replied, in humble and loyal tone, but firmly, begging +for relief from the ruinous exactions. The sale of offices, of +justice, of collectorships of taxes, of the administration, of the +army, of the public domain, was only less onerous than the sale of +monopolies and inspectorships of markets and ports. The only +prosperous class seemed to be the government agents and contractors. +In fact, for the first time in the history of France the people were +becoming thoroughly disaffected and some of them semi-republican in +feeling. + +[Sidenote: 1584] + +The king had no sons and when his only remaining brother died a new +element of discord and perplexity was introduced in that the heir to +the throne, Henry of Navarre, was a Protestant. Violent attacks on him +were published in the pamphlet press. The League was revived in +stronger form than before. Its head, Guise, selected as candidate for +the throne the uncle of Henry of Navarre, Charles, Cardinal of Bourbon, +a stupid and violent man of sixty-four. The king hastened to make +terms with the League and commanded all Protestants to leave the +country in six months. At this point the pope intervened to strengthen +his cause by issuing the "Bull of Deprivation" [Sidenote: 1585] +declaring Henry of Navarre incapable, as a heretic, of succeeding to +the throne. Navarre at once denounced the bull as contrary to French +law and invalid, and he was supported both by the Parlement of Paris +and by some able pamphleteers. Hotman published his attack on the +"vain and blind fulmination" of the pontiff. + +[Sidenote: Battle of Coutras, October 20, 1587] + +An appeal to arms was inevitable. At the battle of Coutras, the +Huguenots, led by Henry of Navarre, won their first victory. While +this increased {224} Navarre's power and his popularity with his +followers, the majority of the people rallied to the League. In the +"war of the three Henrys" as it was called, the king had more to fear +from Henry of Guise than from the Huguenot. Cooped up at the Tuileries +the monarch was under so irksome a restraint that he was finally +obliged to regain freedom by flight, on May 12, 1588. The elections +for the States General gave an enormous majority to the League. In an +evil hour for himself the king resorted again to that much used weapon, +assassination. By his order Guise was murdered. "Now I am king," he +wrote with a sigh of relief. But he was mistaken. The League, more +hostile than ever, swearing to avenge the death of its captain, was now +frankly revolutionary. + +It continued to exercise its authority under the leadership of a +Committee of Sixteen. These gentlemen purged the still royalist +Parlement of Paris. By the hostility of the League the king was forced +to an alliance with Henry of Navarre. This is interesting as showing +how completely the position of the two leading parties had become +reversed. The throne, once the strongest ally of the church, was now +supported chiefly by the Huguenots who had formerly been in rebellion. +Indeed by this time "the wars of religion" had become to a very large +extent dynastic and social. + +On August 1, 1589, the king was assassinated by a Dominican fanatic. +His death was preceded shortly by that of Catharine de' Medici. + +[Sidenote: Henry IV, 1589-1610] + +Henry IV was a man of thirty-five, of middle stature, but very hardy +and brave. He was one of the most intelligent of the French kings, +vigorous of brain as of body. Few could resist his delicate +compliments and the promises he knew how to lavish. The glamour of his +personality has survived even until now. In a song still popular he is +called "the gallant king who knew {225} how to fight, to make love and +to drink." He is also remembered for his wish that every peasant might +have a fowl in his pot. His supreme desire was to see France, bleeding +and impoverished by civil war, again united, strong and happy. He +consistently subordinated religion to political ends. To him almost +alone is due the final adoption of tolerance, not indeed as a natural +right, but as a political expedient. + +The difficulties with which he had to contend were enormous. The +Catholics, headed by the Duke of Mayenne, a brother of Guise, agreed to +recognize him for six months in order that he might have the +opportunity of becoming reconciled to the church. But Mayenne, who +wished to be elected king by the States General, soon commenced +hostilities. The skirmish at Arques between the forces of Henry and +Mayenne, resulting favorably to the former, was followed by the battle +of Ivry. [Sidenote: Battle of Ivry, March 14, 1590] Henry, with two +thousand horse and eight thousand foot, against eight thousand horse +and twelve thousand foot of the League, addressed his soldiers in a +stirring oration: "God is with us. Behold his enemies and ours; behold +your king. Charge! If your standards fail you, rally to my white +plume; you will find it on the road to victory and honor." At first +the fortune of war went against the Huguenots, but the personal courage +of the king, who, with "a terrible white plume" in his helmet led his +cavalry to the attack, wrested victory from the foe. + +[Sidenote: Siege of Paris] + +From Ivry Henry marched to Paris, the headquarters of the League. With +thirteen thousand soldiers he besieged this town of 220,000 +inhabitants, garrisoned by fifty thousand troops. With their usual +self-sacrificing devotion, the people of Paris held out against the +horrors of famine. The clergy aroused the fanaticism of the populace, +promising heaven to those who died; women protested that they would eat +{226} their children before they would surrender. With provisions for +one month, Paris held out for four. Dogs, cats, rats, and grass were +eaten; the bones of animals and even of dead people were ground up and +used for flour; the skins of animals were devoured. Thirteen thousand +persons died of hunger and twenty thousand of the fever brought on by +lack of food. But even this miracle of fanaticism could not have saved +the capital eventually, but for the timely invasion of France from the +north by the Duke of Parma, who joined Mayenne on the Marne. Henry +raised the siege to meet the new menace, but the campaign of 1591 was +fruitless for both sides. + +[Sidenote: Anarchy] + +France seemed to be in a state of anarchy under the operation of many +and various forces. Pope Gregory XIV tried to influence the Catholics +to unite against Henry, but he was met by protests from the Parlements +in the name of the Gallican Liberties. The "Politiques" were ready to +support any strong _de facto_ government, but could not find it. The +cities hated the nobles, and the republicans resented the "courteous +warfare" which either side was said to wage on the other, sparing each +other's nobles and slaughtering the commons. + +[Sidenote: 1593] + +At this point the States General were convoked at Paris by the League. +So many provinces refused to send deputies that there were only 128 +members out of a normal 505. A serial publication by several authors, +called the _Satyre Menippee_, poured ridicule on the pretentious of the +national assembly. Various solutions of the deadlock were proposed. +Philip II of Spain offered to support Mayenne as Lieutenant General of +France if the League would make his daughter, as the heiress through +her mother, Elizabeth of Valois, queen. This being refused, Philip +next proposed that the young Duke of Guise should marry his daughter +{227} and become king. But this proposal also won little support. The +enemies of Henry IV were conscious of his legitimate rights and jealous +of foreign interference; the only thing that stood in the way of their +recognizing him was his heresy. + +[Sidenote: Henry's conversion] + +Henry, finding that there seemed no other issue to an intolerable +situation, at last resolved, though with much reluctance, to change his +religion. On July 25, 1593, he abjured the Protestant faith, kneeling +to the Archbishop of Bourges, and was received into the bosom of the +Roman church. That his conversion was due entirely to the belief that +"Paris was worth a mass" is, of course, plain. Indeed, he frankly +avowed that he still scrupled at some articles, such as purgatory, the +worship of the saints, and the power of the pope. And it must be +remembered that his motives were not purely selfish. The alternative +seemed to be indefinite civil war with all its horrors, and Henry +deliberately but regretfully sacrificed his confessional convictions on +the altar of his country. + +The step was not immediately successful. The Huguenots were naturally +enraged. The Catholics doubted the king's sincerity. At Paris the +preachers of the League ridiculed the conversion from the pulpit. "My +dog," sneered one of them, "were you not at mass last Sunday? Come +here and let us offer you the crown." But the "politiques" rallied to +the throne and the League rapidly melted away. The _Satyre Menippee_, +supporting the interests of Henry, did much to turn public opinion in +his favor. + +A further impression was made by his coronation at Chartres in 1594. +When the surrender of Paris followed, the king entered his capital to +receive the homage of the Sorbonne and the Parlement of Paris. The +superstitious were convinced of Henry's sincerity when he touched some +scrofulous persons and they {228} were said to be healed. Curing the +"king's evil" was one of the oldest attributes of royalty, and it could +not be imagined that it would descend to an impostor. + +Henry showed the wisest statesmanship in consolidating his power. He +bought up those who still held out against him at their own price, +remarking that whatever it cost it would be cheaper than fighting them. +He showed a wise clemency in dealing with his enemies, banishing only +about 130 persons. Next came absolution by Pope Clement VIII, who, +after driving as hard a bargain as he could, finally granted it on +September 17, 1595. + +But even yet all danger was not past. Enraged at seeing France escape +from his clutches, Philip of Spain declared war, and he could still +count on the support of Mayenne and the last remnant of the League. +The daring action of Henry at Fontaine-Francaise on June 5, 1595, where +with three hundred horse he routed twelve hundred Spaniards, so +discouraged his enemies that Mayenne hastened to submit, and peace was +signed with Spain in 1598. The finances of the realm, naturally in a +chaotic state, were brought to order and solvency by a Huguenot noble, +the Duke of Sully, Henry's ablest minister. + +The legal status of the Protestants was still to be settled. It was +not changed by Henry's abjuration, and the king was determined at all +costs to avoid another civil war. [Sidenote: Edict of Nantes, April +13, 1598] He therefore published the Edict of Nantes, declared to be +perpetual and irrevocable. By it liberty of conscience was granted to +all "without being questioned, vexed or molested," and without being +"forced to do anything contrary to their religion." Liberty of worship +was conceded in all places in which it had been practised for the last +two years; _i.e._ in two places in every bailiwick except large towns, +where services were to be held outside the walls, and {229} in the +houses of the great nobles. Protestant worship was forbidden at Paris +and for five leagues (twelve and one-half miles) outside the walls. +Protestants had all other legal rights of Catholics and were eligible +to all offices. To secure them in these rights a separate court of +justice was instituted, a division of the Parlement of Paris to be +called the Edict Chamber and to consist of ten Catholic and six +Protestant judges. But a still stronger guarantee was given in their +recognition as a separately organized state within the state. The king +agreed to leave two hundred towns in their hands, some of which, like +Montpellier, Montauban, and La Rochelle, were fortresses in which they +kept garrisons and paid the governors. As they could raise 25,000 +soldiers at a time when the national army in time of peace was only +10,000, their position seemed absolutely impregnable. So favorable was +the Edict to the Huguenots that it was bitterly opposed by the Catholic +clergy and by the Parlement of Paris. Only the personal insistence of +the king finally carried it. + +[Sidenote: Reasons for failure of French Protestantism] + +Protestantism was stronger in the sixteenth century in France than it +ever was thereafter. During the eighty-seven years while the Edict of +Nantes was in force it lost much ground, and when that Edict was +revoked by a doting king and persecution began afresh, the Huguenots +were in no condition to resist. [Sidenote: 1685] From a total +constituency at its maximum of perhaps a fifth or a sixth of the whole +population, the Protestants have now sunk to less than two per cent. +(650,000 out of 39,000,000). The history of the rise and decline of +the Huguenot movement is a melancholy record of persecution and of +heroism. How great the number of martyrs was can never be known +accurately. Apart from St. Bartholomew there were several lesser +massacres, the wear and tear of a generation of war, and {230} the +unremitting pressure of the law that claimed hundreds of victims a year. + +[Sidenote: Hostility of government] + +Three principal causes can be assigned for the failure of the +Reformation to do more than fight a drawn battle in France. The first +and least important of these was the steady hostility of the +government. This hostility was assured by the mutually advantageous +alliance between the throne and the church sealed in the Concordat of +Bologna of 1516. But that the opposition of the government, heavily as +it weighed, was not and could not be the decisive force in defeating +Protestantism is proved, in my judgment, by the fact that even when the +Huguenots had a king of their own persuasion they were unable to obtain +the mastery. Had their faith won the support not only of a +considerable minority, but of the actual majority of the people, they +could surely at this time have secured the government and made France a +Protestant state. + +[Sidenote: Protestantism came too late] + +The second cause of the final failure of the Reformation was the +tardiness with which it came to France. It did not begin to make its +really popular appeal until some years after 1536, when Calvin's +writings attained a gradual publicity. This was twenty years later +than the Reformation came forcibly home to the Germans, and in those +twenty years it had made its greatest conquests north of the Rhine. Of +causes as well as of men it is true that there is a tide in their +affairs which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune, but which, once +missed, ebbs to defeat. Every generation has a different interest; to +every era the ideals of that immediately preceding become stale and +old-fashioned. The writings of every age are a polemic against those +of their fathers; every dogma has its day, and after every wave of +enthusiam [Transcriber's note: enthusiasm?] a reaction sets in. Thus +it was that the Reformation {231} missed, though it narrowly missed, +the propitious moment for conquering France. Enough had been said of +it during the reign of Francis to make the people tired of it, but not +enough to make them embrace it. By the time that Calvin had become +well known, the Catholics had awakened and had seized many of the +weapons of their opponents, a fresh statement of belief, a new +enthusiasm, a reformed ethical standard. The Council of Trent, the +Jesuits, the other new orders, were only symptoms of a still more +widely prevalent Catholic revival that came, in France, just in the +nick of time to deprive the Protestants of many of their claims to +popular favor. + +[Sidenote: Beaten by the Renaissance] + +But probably the heaviest weight in the scale against the Reformation +was the Renaissance--far stronger in France than in Germany. The one +marched from the north, while the other was wafted up from Italy. They +met, not as hostile armies but rather--to use a humble, commercial +illustration--as two competing merchants. The goods they offered were +not the same, not even similar, but the appeal of each was of such a +nature that few minds could be the whole-hearted devotees of both. The +new learning and the beauties of Italian art and literature sapped away +the interest of just those intelligent classes whose support was needed +to make the triumph of the Reformation complete. Terrible as were the +losses of the Huguenots by fire and sword, considerable as were the +defections from their ranks of those who found in the reformed Catholic +church a spiritual refuge, still greater was the loss of the Protestant +cause in failing to secure the adherence of such minds as Dolet and +Rabelais, Ronsard and Montaigne, and of the thousands influenced by +them. And a study of just these men will show how the Italian +influence worked and how it grew stronger in its rivalry with the +religious interest. {232} Whereas Marot had found something to +interest him in the new doctrines, Ronsard bitterly hated them. +Passionately devoted, as he and the rest of the Pleiade were, to the +sensuous beauties of Italian poetry, he had neither understanding of +nor patience with dogmatic subtleties. In the Huguenots he saw nothing +but mad fanatics and dangerous fomentors of rebellion. In his +_Discourses on the Evils of the Times_, he laid all the woes of France +at the door of the innovators. And powerfully his greater lyrics +seduced the mind of the public from the contemplation of divinity to +the enjoyment of earthly beauty. + +The same intensification of the contrast between the two spirits is +seen in comparing Montaigne with Rabelais. It is true that Rabelais +ridiculed all positive religion, but nevertheless it fascinated him. +His theological learning is remarkable. But Montaigne ignored religion +as far as possible. [Sidenote: Montaigne's aloofness] Nourished from +his earliest youth on the great classical writers, he had no interest +apart from "the kingdom of man." He preferred to remain in the old +faith because that course caused him the least trouble. He had no +sympathy with the Protestants, but he did not hate them, as did +Ronsard. During the wars of religion, he maintained friendly relations +with the leaders of both parties. And he could not believe that creed +was the real cause of the civil strife. "Take from the Catholic army," +said he, "all those actuated by pure zeal for the church or for the +king and country, and you will not have enough men left to form one +company." It is strange that beneath the evil passions and +self-seeking of the champions of each party he could not see the fierce +flame of popular heroism and fanaticism; but that he, and thousands of +men like him, could not do so, and could not enter, even by +imagination, into the causes {233} which, but a half century earlier, +had set the world on fire, largely explains how the religious issue had +lost its savour and why Protestantism failed in France. + + +[1] "The king my son will never have entire obedience." + +[2] "That no one may embroil us in the friendship in which I desire +that these two kingdoms shall remain during my lifetime." + + + + +{234} + +CHAPTER V + +THE NETHERLANDS + +SECTION 1. THE LUTHERAN REFORM + +[Sidenote: The Netherlands] + +The Netherlands have always been a favorite topic for the speculation of +those philosophers who derive a large part of national character from +geographical conditions. A land that needed reclaiming from the sea by +hard labor, a country situated at those two great outlets of European +commerce, the mouths of the Rhine and the Scheldt, a borderland between +German and Latin culture, naturally moulded a brave, stubborn, practical +and intelligent people, destined to play in history a part seemingly +beyond their scope and resources. + +The people of the Netherlands became, to all intents, a state before they +became a nation. The Burgundian dukes of the fourteenth and fifteenth +century added to their fiefs counties, dukedoms and bishoprics, around +the nucleus of their first domain, until they had forged a compact and +powerful realm. [Sidenote: Philip the Good, 1419-67] Philip the Good, +Duke of Burgundy and lord, under various titles, of much of the +Netherlands, deserved the title of _Conditor Belgii_ by his successful +wars on France and by his statesmanlike policy of centralization. To +foster unity he created the States General--borrowing the name and +function thereof from France--in which all of the seventeen provinces[1] +of the Netherlands were represented on great occasions. Continually +increasing {235} in power with reference to the various localities, it +remained subordinate to the prince, who had the sole right of initiating +legislation. At first it met now in one city, then in another, but after +1530 always convened at Brussels, and always used the French language +officially. + +[Sidenote: Charles the Bold, 1467-77] + +Charles the Bold completed and yet endangered the work of Philip, for he +was worsted in mortal strife with Louis XI of France and, dying in +battle, left his dominions to his daughter, Mary. [Sidenote: Maximilian, +1477-93] Her husband, the Emperor Maximilian, and her son, Philip the +Handsome, [Sidenote: Philip the Handsome, 1493-1506] added to her realms +those vast dominions that made her grandson, Charles, the greatest +potentate in Europe. Born in Ghent, reared in the Netherlands, and +speaking only the French of the Walloons, Charles was always regarded by +his subjects as one of themselves. He almost completed the unification +of the Burgundian state by the conquest of Tournay from France (1521), +and the annexation of the independent provinces of Friesland (1523), +Overyssel and Utrecht (1528), Groningen (1536) and Guelders (1543). +Liege still remained a separate entity under its prince-bishops. But +even under Charles, notwithstanding a general feeling of loyalty to the +house of Hapsburg, each province was more conscious of its own +individuality than were the people as a whole of common patriotism. Some +of the provinces lay within the Empire, others were vassals of France, a +few were independent. Dutch was regarded as a dialect of German. The +most illustrious Netherlander of the time, Erasmus, in discussing his +race, does not even contemplate the possibility of there being a nation +composed of Dutch and Flemish men. The only alternative that presents +itself to him is whether he is French or German and, having been born at +Rotterdam, he decides in favor of the latter. + +{236} + +[Sidenote: Classes] + +The Burgundian princes found their chief support in the nobility, in a +numerous class of officials, and in the municipal aristocracies. The +nobles, transformed from a feudal caste to a court clique, even though +they retained, as satellites of the monarch, much wealth and power, had +relatively lost ground to the rising pretensions of the cities and of the +commercial class. The clergy, too, were losing their old independence in +subservience to a government which regulated their tithes and forbade +their indulgence-trade. In 1515 Charles secured from Leo X and again in +1530 from Clement VII the right of nomination to vacant benefices. He +was able to make of the bishops his tools and to curtail the freedom, +jurisdiction, and financial privileges of the clergy considerably because +the spiritual estate had lost favor with the people and received no +support from them. + +As the two privileged classes surrendered their powers to the monarch, +the third estate was coming into its own. Not until the war of +independence, however, was it able to withstand the combination of +bureaucracy and plutocracy that made common cause with the central +government against the local rights of the cities and the customary +privileges of the gilds. Almost everywhere the prince was able, with the +tacit support of the wealthier burghers, to substitute for the officers +elected by the gilds his own commissioners. [Sidenote: Revolt of Ghent] +But this usurpation, together with a variety of economic ills for which +the commoners were inclined, quite wrongly, to blame the government, +caused general discontent and in one case open rebellion. The gilds of +Ghent, a proud and ancient city, suffering from the encroachments of +capitalism and from the decline of the Flemish cloth industry, had long +asserted among their rights that of each gild to refuse to pay one of the +taxes, any one it chose, levied by the government. [Sidenote: 1539] The +attempt {237} of the government to suppress this privilege caused a +rising which took the characteristically modern form of a general strike. +The regent of the Netherlands, Mary, yielded at first to the demands of +the gilds, as she had no means of coercion convenient. Charles was in +Spain at the time, but hurried northward, being granted free passage +through France by the king who felt he had an interest in aiding his +fellow monarch to put down rebellious subjects. Early in 1540 Charles +entered Ghent at the head of a sufficient army. He soon meted out a +sanguinary punishment to the "brawlers" as the strikers were called, +humbled the city government, deprived it of all local privileges, +suppressed all independent corporations, asserted the royal prerogative +of nominating aldermen, and erected a fortress to overawe the burghers. +Thus the only overt attempt to resist the authority of Charles V, apart +from one or two insignificant Anabaptist riots, was crushed. + +In matters of foreign policy the people of the Netherlands naturally +wished to be guided in reference to their own interests and not to the +larger interests of the emperor's other domains. Wielding immense +wealth--during the middle decades of the sixteenth century Antwerp was +both the first port and the first money-market of Europe--and cherishing +the sentiment that Charles was a native of their land, they for some time +sweetly flattered themselves that their interests were the center around +which gravitated the desires and needs of the Empire and of Spain. +Indeed, the balance of these two great states, and the regency of +Margaret of Austria, [Sidenote: Margaret of Austria, Regent, 1522-31] a +Hapsburg determined to give the Netherlands their due, for a time allowed +them at least the semblance of getting their wishes. But when Charles's +sister, Mary of Hungary, succeeded Margaret as regent, she was too +entirely {238} dependent on her brother, and he too determined to consult +larger than Burgundian interests, to allow the Netherlands more than the +smallest weight in larger plans. The most that she could do was to +unify, centralize and add to the provinces, and to get what commercial +advantages treaties could secure. Thus, she redeemed Luxemburg from the +Margrave of Baden to whom Maximilian had pawned it. Thus, also, she +negotiated fresh commercial treaties with England and unified the +coinage. But with all these achievements, distinctly advantageous to the +people she governed, her efforts to increase the power of the crown and +the necessity she was under of subordinating her policy to that of +Germany and Spain, made her extremely unpopular. + +The relationship of the Netherlands to the Empire was a delicate and +important question. Though the Empire was the feudal suzerain of most of +the Burgundian provinces, Charles felt far more keenly for his rights as +an hereditary, local prince than for the aggrandizement of his Empire, +and therefore tried, especially after he had left Austria to his brother +Ferdinand, [Sidenote: September 7, 1522] to loosen rather than to +strengthen the bond. Even as early as 1512, when the Imperial Diet +demanded that the "common penny" be levied in the Netherlands, Charles's +council aided and abetted his Burgundian subjects in refusing to pay it. +In 1530 the Netherlands, in spite of urgent complaints from the Diet, +completely freed itself from imperial jurisdiction in the administration +of justice. Matters became still more complicated when Utrecht, +Friesland, Groningen and Guelders, formerly belonging to the Westphalian +district of the Empire, were annexed by Charles as Burgundian prince. +Probably he would not have been able to vindicate these acts of power, +had not his victory at Muehlberg [Sidenote: 1547] freed him from the {239} +restraints of the imperial constitution. A convention was made at the +next Diet of Augsburg, [Sidenote: Convention of June 26, 1548] providing +that henceforth the Netherlands should form a separate district, the +"Burgundian circle," of the Empire, and that their prince, as such, +should be represented in the Diet and in the Imperial Supreme Court. +Taxes were so apportioned that in time of peace the Netherlands should +contribute to the imperial treasury as much as did two electors, and in +time of war as much as three. This treaty nominally added to the Empire +two new counties, Flanders and Artois, and it gave the whole Netherlands +the benefit of imperial protection. But, though ratified by the States +General promptly, the convention remained almost a dead letter, and left +the Netherlands virtually autonomous. As long as they were unmolested +the Netherlands forgot their union entirely, and when, under the pressure +of Spanish rule, they later remembered and tried to profit by it, they +found that the Empire had no wish to revive it. + + +[Sidenote: Reformation] + +The general causes of the religious revolution were the same in the Low +Countries as in other lands. The ground was prepared by the mystics of +the earlier ages, by the corruption of and hatred for the clergy, and buy +the Renaissance. The central situation of the country made it especially +open to all currents of European thought. Printing was early introduced +from Germany and expanded so rapidly in these years [Sidenote: 1525-55] +that no less than fifty new publishing houses were erected. As Antwerp +was the most cosmopolitan of cities, so Erasmus was the most nearly the +citizen of the world in that era. The great humanist, who did so much to +prepare for the Reformation, spent in his native land just those early +years of its first appearance when he most favored Luther. + +{240} A group to take up with the Wittenberg professor's doctrines were +the Augustinians, many of whom had been in close relations with the Saxon +friaries. One of them, James Probst, had been prior of Wittenberg where +he learned to know Luther well [Sidenote: 1515] and when he became prior +of the convent at Antwerp he started a rousing propaganda in favor of the +reform. [Sidenote: 1518] Another Augustinian, Henry of Zuetphen, made +his friary at Dordrecht the center of a Lutheran movement. Hoen at the +Hague, Hinne Rode at Utrecht, Gerard Lister at Zwolle, Melchior Miritzsch +at Ghent, were soon in correspondence with Luther and became missionaries +of his faith. His books, which circulated among the learned in Latin, +were some of them translated into Dutch as early as 1520. + +The German commercial colony at Antwerp was another channel for the +infiltration of the Lutheran gospel. [Sidenote: 1520-1] The many +travelers, among them Albert Duerer, brought with them tidings of the +revolt and sowed its seeds in the soil of Flanders and Holland. +Singularly enough, the colony of Portuguese Jews, the Marranos as they +were called, became, if not converts, at least active agents in the +dissemination of Lutheran works. + +[Sidenote: Catholic answers] + +A vigorous counter-propaganda was at once started by the partisans of the +pope. This was directed against both Erasmus and Luther and consisted +largely, according to the reports of the former, in the most violent +invective. Nicholas of Egmont, "a man with a white pall but a black +heart" stormed in the pulpit against the new heretics. Another man +interspersed a sermon on charity with objurgations against those whom he +called "geese, asses, stocks, and Antichrists." [Sidenote: 1533] One +Dominican said he wished he could fasten his teeth in Luther's throat, +for he would not fear to go to the Lord's supper with that blood on his +{241} mouth. It was at Antwerp, a little later, that were first coined, +or at least first printed, the so celebrated epigrams that Erasmus was +Luther's father, that Erasmus had laid the eggs and Luther had hatched +the chickens, and that Luther, Zwingli, Oecolampadius and Erasmus were +the four soldiers who had crucified Christ. + +The principal literary opposition to the new doctrines came from the +University of Louvain. Luther's works were condemned by Cologne, and +this sentence was ratified by Louvain. [Sidenote: August 30, 1519] A +number of the leading professors wrote against him, [Sidenote: November +7] among them the ex-professor Adrian of Utrecht, recently created Bishop +of Tortosa and cardinal, and soon to be pope. + +The conservatives, however, could do little but scold until the arrival +of Charles V in June 1520, and of the papal nuncio Aleander in September. +The latter saw Charles immediately at Antwerp and found him already +determined to resist heresy. Acting under the edict procured at that +time, though not published until the following March 22, Aleander busied +himself by going around and burning Lutheran works in various cities and +preaching against the heresy. [Sidenote: October, 1520] He found far +more opposition than one would think probable, and the burning of the +books, as Erasmus said, removed them from the bookstores only, not from +the hearts of the people. The nuncio even discovered, he said, at this +early date, heretics who denied the real presence in the eucharist: +evidently independent spirits like Hoen who anticipated the doctrine +later taken up by Carlstadt and Zwingli. + +The validity of the Edict of Worms was affirmed for the Burgundian +provinces. The edict was read publicly at Antwerp [Sidenote: July 13, +1521] while four hundred of Luther's books were burnt, three hundred +confiscated from the shops and one hundred brought by the people. {242} +Whereas spiritual officers were at first employed, civil magistrates now +began to act against the innovators. In the beginning, attention was +paid to municipal privileges, but these soon came to be disregarded, and +resistance on any pretext was treated as rebellion and treason. The +first persons to be arrested were the Prior of Antwerp, Probst, +[Sidenote: 1522] who recanted, but later escaped and relapsed, and two +other intimate friends of Erasmus. + +[Sidenote: The Inquisition] + +Charles wished to introduce the Spanish inquisition, but his councillors +were all against it. Under a different name, however, it was exactly +imitated when Francis van der Hulst was appointed chief inquisitor by the +state, [Sidenote: April 23, 1522] and was confirmed by a bull of Adrian +VI. [Sidenote: June 1, 1523] The original inquisitorial powers of the +bishops remained, and a supreme tribunal of three judges was appointed in +1524. + +[Sidenote: Martyrs, July 1, 1523] + +The first martyrs, Henry Voes and John Esch of Brussels, said Erasmus, +made many Lutherans by their death. Luther wrote a hymn on the subject +and published an open letter to the Christians of the Netherlands. +[Sidenote: 1524] Censorship of the press was established in Holland in +vain, for everything goes to show that Lutheranism rapidly increased. +Popular interest in the subject seemed to be great. Every allusion to +ecclesiastical corruption in speeches or in plays was applauded. +Thirty-eight laborers were arrested at Antwerp for assembling to read and +discuss the gospel. [Sidenote: 1525] Iconoclastic outbreaks occurred in +which crucifixes were desecrated. In the same year an Italian in Antwerp +wrote that though few people were openly Lutheran many were secretly so, +and that he had been assured by leading citizens that if the revolting +peasants of Germany approached Antwerp, twenty thousand armed men would +rise in the city to assist them. [Sidenote: July 31] When a Lutheran +was drowned in the Scheldt, {243} the act precipitated a riot. In 1527 +the English ambassador wrote Wolsey from the Netherlands that two persons +out of three "kept Luther's opinions," and that while the English New +Testament was being printed in that city, repeated attempts on his part +to induce the magistrates to interfere came to nothing. Protestant works +also continued to pour from the presses. The Bible was soon translated +into Dutch, and in the course of eight years four editions of the whole +Bible and twenty-five editions of the New Testament were called for, +though the complete Scriptures had never been printed in Dutch before. + +[Sidenote: October 14, 1529] + +Alarmed by the spread of heresy, attributed to too great mildness, the +government now issued an edict that inaugurated a reign of terror. Death +was decreed not only for all heretics but for all who, not being +theologians, discussed articles of faith, or who caricatured God, Mary, +or the saints, and for all who failed to denounce heretics known to them. +While the government momentarily flattered itself that heresy had been +stamped out, at most it had been driven under ground. One of the effects +of the persecution was to isolate the Netherlands from the Empire +culturally and to some small extent commercially. + +But heresy proved to be a veritable hydra. From one head sprang many +daughters, the Anabaptists, [Sidenote: Anabaptists] harder to deal with +than their mother. For while Lutheranism stood essentially for passive +obedience, and flourished nowhere save as a state church, Anabaptism was +frankly revolutionary and often socialistic. Melchior Hoffmann, the most +striking of their early leaders, a fervent and uneducated fanatic, driven +from place to place, wandered from Sweden and Denmark to Italy and Spain +[Sidenote: 1530-1533] preaching chiliastic and communistic ideas. Only +for three years was he much in the Netherlands, but it was there that he +won his greatest {244} successes. Appealing, as the Anabaptists always +did, to the lower classes, he converted thousands and tens of thousands +of the very poor--beggars, laborers and sailors--who passionately +embraced the teaching that promised the end of kings and governments and +the advent of the "rule of the righteous." Mary of Hungary was not far +wrong when she wrote that they planned to plunder all churches, nobles, +and wealthy merchants, in short, all who had property, and from the spoil +to distribute to every individual according to his need. [Sidenote: +October 7, 1531] A new and severer edict would have meant a general +massacre, had it been strictly enforced, but another element entered into +the situation. The city bourgeoisies that had previously resisted the +government, now supported it in this one particular, persecution of the +Anabaptists. When at Amsterdam [Sidenote: 1534] the sectaries rose and +very nearly mastered the city, death by fire was decreed for the men, by +water for the women. From Antwerp they were banished by a general edict +especially aimed at them supplemented by massacres in the northern +provinces. [Sidenote: June 24, 1535] After the crisis at Muenster, +though the Anabaptists continued to be a bugbear to the ruling classes, +their propaganda lost its dangerously revolutionary character. Menno +Simons of Friesland, after his conversion in 1536, became the leader of +the movement and succeeded in gathering the smitten people into a large +and harmless body. The Anabaptists furnished, however, more martyrs than +did any other sect. + +Lutheranism also continued to spread. The edict of 1540 confesses as +much while providing new and sterner penalties against those who even +interceded for heretics. The fact is that the inquisition as directed +against Lutherans was thoroughly unpopular and was resisted in various +provinces on the technical ground of local privileges. The Protestants +managed {245} to keep unnoticed amidst a general intention to connive at +them, and though they did not usually flinch from martyrdom they did not +court it. The inquisitors were obliged to arrest their victims at the +dead of night, raiding their houses and hauling them from bed, in order +to avoid popular tumult. [Sidenote: 1543] When Enzinas printed his +Spanish Bible at Antwerp the printer told him that in that city the +Scriptures had been published in almost every European language, +doubtless an exaggeration but a significant one. Arrested and imprisoned +at Brussels for this cause, Enzinas received while under duress visits +from four hundred citizens of that city who were Protestants. To control +the book trade an oath was exacted of every bookseller [Sidenote: 1546] +not to deal in heretical works and the first "Index of prohibited books," +drawn up by the University of Louvain, was issued. A censorship of plays +was also attempted. This was followed by an edict of 1550 requiring of +every person entering the Netherlands a certificate of Catholic belief. +As Brabant and Antwerp repudiated a law that would have ruined their +trade, it remained, in fact, a dead letter. + +Charles's policy of repression had been on the whole a failure, due +partly to the cosmopolitan culture of the Netherlands and their +commercial position making them open to the importation of ideas as of +merchandise from all Europe. It was due in part to the local jealousies +and privileges of the separate provinces, and in part to the strength of +certain nobles and cities. The persecution, indeed, had a decidedly +class character, for the emperor well knew Protestant nobles whom he did +not molest, while the poor seldom failed to suffer. And yet Charles had +accomplished something. Even the Protestants were loyal, strange to say, +to him personally. The number of martyrs in his reign has been estimated +at barely one thousand, {246} but it must be remembered that for every +one put to death there were a number punished in other ways. And the +body of the people was still Catholic, even in the North. It is +noteworthy that the most popular writer of this period, as well as the +first to use the Dutch tongue with precision and grace, was Anna Bijns, a +lay nun, violently anti-Lutheran in sentiment. [Sidenote: Anna Bijns, +1494-1575] + + +[1] Brabant, Limburg, Luxemburg, Guelders, Flanders, Artois, Hainaut, +Holland, Zeeland, Malines, Namur, Lille, Tournay, Friesland, Utrecht, +Overyssel and Groningen. + + +SECTION 2. THE CALVINIST REVOLT + +When Charles V, weary of the heaviest scepter ever wielded by any +European monarch from Charlemagne to Napoleon, sought rest for his soul +in a monk's cell, he left his great possessions divided between his +brother Ferdinand and his son Philip. To the former went Austria and +the Empire, to the latter the Burgundian provinces and Spain with its +vast dependencies in the New World. + +[Sidenote: Spain and the Netherlands] + +The result of this was to make the Netherlands practically a satellite +of Spain. Hitherto, partly because their interests had largely +coincided with those of the Empire, partly because by balancing Germany +against Spain they could manage to get their own rights, they had found +prosperity and had acquired a good deal of national power. Indeed, +with their wealth, their central position, and growing strength as +province after province was annexed, and their consciousness that their +ruler was a native of Flanders, their pride had been rather gratified +than hurt by the knowledge that he possessed far larger dominions. +[Sidenote: Abdication of Charles] But when Charles, weeping copiously +and demanding his subjects' pardon, descended from the throne supported +by the young Prince of Orange, [Sidenote: October 25, 1555] and when +his son Philip II had replied to his father in Spanish, even those +present had an uneasy feeling that the situation had changed for the +worse, and that the Netherlands were being handed over from a +Burgundian to a Spanish ruler. From {247} this time forth the +interests and sentiments of the two countries became more and more +sharply divergent, and, as the smaller was sacrificed to the larger, a +conflict became inevitable. The revolt that followed within ten years +after Philip had permanently abandoned the Netherlands to make his home +in Spain [Sidenote: 1559] was first and foremost a nationalist revolt. +Contrasted with the particularistic uprising of 1477 it evinced the +enormous growth, in the intervening century, of a national +self-consciousness in the Seventeen Provinces. + +[Sidenote: Religious issue] + +But though the catastrophe was apparently inevitable from political +grounds, it was greatly complicated and intensified by the religious +issue. Philip was determined, as he himself said, either to bring the +Netherlands back to the fold of Rome or "so to waste their land that +neither the natives could live there nor should any thereafter desire +the place for habitation." And yet the means he took were even for his +purpose the worst possible, a continual vacillation between timid +indulgence and savage cruelty. Though he insisted that his ministers +should take no smallest step without his sanction, he could never make +up his mind what to do, waited too long to make a decision and then, +with fatal fatuity, made the wrong one. + +[Sidenote: Calvinism] + +At the same time the people were coming under the spell of a new and to +the government more dangerous form of Protestantism. Whereas the +Lutherans had stood for passive obedience and the Anabaptists for +revolutionary communism, the Calvinists appealed to the independent +middle classes and gave them not only the enthusiasm to endure +martyrdom but also--what the others had lacked--the will and the power +to resist tyranny by force. Calvin's polity, as worked out in Geneva, +was a subordination of the state to the church. His reforms were +thorough and consciously social and political. Calvinism in all lands +aroused {248} republican passions and excited rebellion against the +powers that be. This feature was the more prominent in the Netherlands +[Sidenote: 1545] in that its first missionaries were French exiles who +irrigated the receptive soil of the Low Countries with doctrines +subversive of church and state alike. The intercourse with England, +partly through the emigration from that land under Mary's reign, partly +through the coming and going of Flemings and Walloons, also opened +doors to Protestant doctrine. + +At first the missionaries came secretly, preaching to a few specially +invited to some private house or inn. People attended these meetings +disguised and after dark. First mentioned in the edict of 1550, nine +years later the Calvinists drew up a _Confessio Belgica_, as a sign and +an aid to union. Calvin's French writings could be read in the +southern provinces in the original. Though as early as 1560 some +nobles had been converted, the new religion undoubtedly made its +strongest appeal, as a contemporary put it, "to those who had grown +rich by trade and were therefore ready for revolution." It was among +the merchants of the great cities that it took strongest root and from +the middle class spread to the laborers; influenced not only by the +example of their masters, but sometimes also by the policy of +Protestant employers to give work only to co-religionists. In a short +time it had won a very considerable success, though perhaps not the +actual majority of the population. Many of the poor, hitherto +Anabaptists, thronged to it in hopes of social betterment. Many +adventurers with no motive but to stir the waters in which they might +fish joined the new party. But on the whole, as its appeal was +primarily moral and religious, its constituency was the more +substantial, progressive, and intelligent part of the community. + +The greatest weakness of the Protestants was their {249} division. +Lutheran, Calvinist, and Anabaptist continued to compete for the +leadership and hated each other cordially. The Calvinists themselves +were divided into two parties, the "Rekkelijken" or "Compromisers" and +the "Preciesen" or "Stalwarts." Moreover there were various other +shades of opinion, not amounting quite to new churches. The pure +Erasmians, under Cassander, advocated tolerance. More pronounced was +the movement of Dirck Volckertszoon Coornheert [Sidenote: Coornheert, +1522-90] a merchant of Amsterdam who, in addition to advising his +followers to dissimulate their views rather than to court martyrdom, +rejected the Calvinist dogma of predestination and tried to lay the +emphasis in religion on the spirit of Jesus rather than on either dogma +or ritual. + +Though the undertow was slowly but surely carrying the Low Countries +adrift from Spain, for the moment their new monarch, then at the age of +twenty-eight, seemed to have the winds and waves of politics all in his +favor. He was at peace with France; he had nothing to fear from +Germany; his marriage with Mary of England made that country, always +the best trader with the Netherlands, an ally. His first steps were to +relieve Mary of Hungary of her regency and to give it to Emanuel +Philibert, to issue a new edict against heresy and to give permission +to the Jesuits to enter the Low Countries. [Sidenote: 1556] + +The chief difficulties were financial. The increase in the yield of +the taxes in the reign of Charles had been from 1,500,000 guilders[1] +to 7,000,000 guilders. In addition to this, immense loans had +exhausted the credit of the government. The royal domain was +mortgaged. As the floating debt of the Provinces rose rapidly the +{250} government was in need of a grant to keep up the army. The only +way to meet the situation was to call the States General. [Sidenote: +March, 1556] When they met, they complained that they were taxed more +heavily than Spain and demanded the removal of the Spanish troops, a +force already so unpopular that William of Orange refused to take +command of it. In presenting their several grievances one province +only, Holland, mentioned the religious question to demand that the +powers of the inquisitors be curtailed. To obtain funds Philip was +obliged to promise, against his will, to withdraw the soldiers. This +was only done, under pressure, on January 10, 1561. + +[Sidenote: 1559] + +Philip had left the Netherlands professing his intention of returning, +but hoping and resolving in his heart never to do so. His departure +made easier the unavoidable breach, but the struggle had already begun. +Wishing to leave a regent of royal blood Philip appointed Margaret of +Parma, a natural daughter of Charles V. Born in 1522, she had been +married at the age of fourteen to Alexander de' Medici, a nephew of +Clement VII; becoming a widow in the following year she was in 1538 +married to Ottavio Farnese, a nephew of Paul III, at that time only +fourteen years old. Given as her dower the cities of Parma and +Piacenza, she had become thoroughly Italian in feeling. + +[Sidenote: Anthony Perrenot Cardinal Granvelle, 1517-86] + +To guide her Philip left, besides the Council of State, a special +"consulta" or "kitchen cabinet" of three members, the chief of whom was +Granvelle. The real fatherland of this native of the Free County of +Burgundy was the court. As a passionate servant of the crown and a +clever and knowing diplomat, he was in constant correspondence with +Philip, recommending measures over the head of Margaret. His acts made +her intensely unpopular and her attempts to coax and cozen public +opinion only aroused suspicion. + +{251} + +[Sidenote: Egmont, 1522-68] + +Three members in the Council of State, Granvelle and two others, were +partisans of the crown; three other members may be said to represent +the people. One of them was Lamoral Count of Egmont, the most +brilliant and popular of the high nobility. Though a favorite of +Charles V on account of his proved ability as a soldier, his frankness +and generosity, he was neither a sober nor a weighty statesman. The +popular proverb, "Egmont for action and Orange for counsel," well +characterized the difference between the two leading members of the +Council of State. William, prince of Orange, lacking the brilliant +qualities of Egmont, far surpassed him in acumen and in strength of +character. From his father, William Count of Nassau-Dillenburg, +[Sidenote: William the Silent, 1533-84] he inherited important estates +in Germany near the Netherlands, and by the death of a cousin he +became, at the age of eleven, Prince of Orange--a small, independent +territory in southern France--and Lord of Breda and Gertruidenberg in +Holland. With an income of 150,000 guilders per annum he was by far +the richest man in the Netherlands, Egmont coming next with an income +of 62,000. William was well educated. Though he spoke seven languages +and was an eloquent orator, he was called "the Silent" because of the +rare discretion that never revealed a secret nor spoke an imprudent +word. In religion he was indifferent, being first a Catholic, then a +Lutheran, then a Calvinist, and always a man of the world. His broad +tolerance found its best, or only, support in the Erasmian tendencies +of Coornheert. His second wife, Anne of Saxony, having proved +unfaithful to him, he married, while she was yet alive, Charlotte of +Bourbon. This act, like the bigamy of Philip of Hesse, was approved by +Protestant divines. Behind them Egmont and Orange had the hearty +support of the patriotic and well educated native nobility. {252} The +rising generation of the aristocracy saw only the bad side of the reign +of Charles; they had not shared in his earlier victories but had +witnessed his failure to conquer either France or Protestantism. + +[Sidenote: New bishoprics] + +In order to deal more effectively with the religious situation +Granvelle wished to bring the ecclesiastical territorial divisions into +harmony with the political. Hitherto the Netherlands had been partly +under the Archbishop of Cologne, partly under the Archbishop of Rheims. +But as these were both foreigners Granvelle applied for and secured a +bull creating fourteen new bishoprics and three archbishoprics, +[Sidenote: March 12, 1559] Cambrai, Utrecht, and Malines, of which the +last held the primacy. His object was doubtless in large part to +facilitate the extirpation of heresy, but it was also significant as +one more instance of the nationalization of the church, a tendency so +strong that neither Catholic nor Protestant countries escaped from it. +In this case all the appointments were to be made by the king with +consent of the pope. The people resented the autocratic features of a +plan they might otherwise have approved; a cry was raised throughout +the provinces that their freedom was infringed upon, and that the plan +furnished a new instrument to the hated inquisition. + +[Sidenote: February, 1561] + +Granvelle, more than ever detested when he received the cardinal's hat, +was dubbed "the red devil," "the archrascal," "the red dragon," "the +Spanish swine," "the pope's dung." In July Egmont and Orange sent +their resignations from the Council of State to Philip, saying that +they could no longer share the responsibility for Granvelle's policy, +especially as everything was done behind their backs. Philip, however, +was slow to take alarm. For the moment his attention was taken up with +the growth of the Huguenot party in France and his efforts centered on +helping the French Catholics against them. But the Netherlands were +{253} importunate. In voicing the wishes of the people the province of +Brabant, with the capital, Brussels, the metropolitan see, Malines, and +the university, Louvain, took as decided a lead as the Parlement of +Paris did in France. The estates of Brabant demanded that Orange be +made their governor. The nobles began to remember that they were +legally a part of the Empire. The marriage of Orange, on August 26, +1561, with the Lutheran Anne of Saxony, was but one sign of the +_rapprochment_. Though the prince continued to profess Catholicism, he +entertained many Lutherans and emphasized as far as possible his +position as vassal of the Empire. Philip, indeed, believed that the +whole trouble came from the wounded vanity of a few nobles. + +But Granvelle saw deeper. [Sidenote: 1561] When the Estates of +Brabant stopped the payment of the principal tax or "Bede," [2] and +when the people of Brussels took as a party uniform a costume derived +from the carnival, a black cloak covered with red fool's heads, the +cardinal, whose red hat was caricatured thereby, stated that nothing +less than a republic was aimed at. This was true, though in the +anticipation of the nobles, at least, the republic should have a +decidedly aristocratic character. But Granvelle had no policy to +propose but repression. In order to prevent condemned heretics from +preaching and singing on the scaffold a gag was put into their mouths. +How futile a measure! The Calvinists no longer disguised, but armed--a +new and significant fact--thronged to their conventicles. Emigration +continued on a large scale. By 1556 it was estimated that thirty +thousand Protestants from the Low Countries were settled in or near +London. Elizabeth encouraged them to come, assigning them {254} +Norwich as a place of refuge. [Sidenote: 1563] She also began to tax +imports from the Netherlands, a blow to which Philip replied by +forbidding all English imports. + +[Sidenote: Revolt] + +Hitherto the resistance to the government had been mostly passive and +constitutional. But from 1565 may be dated the beginning of the revolt +that did not cease until it had freed the northern provinces forever +from Spanish tyranny. The rise of the Dutch Republic is one of the +most inspiring pages in history. Superficially it has many points of +resemblance with the American War of Independence. In both there was +the absentee king, the national hero, the local jealousies of the +several provinces, the economic grievances, the rising national feeling +and even the religious issue, though this had become very small in +America. But the difference was in the ferocity of the tyranny and the +intensity of the struggle. The two pictures are like the same +landscape as it might be painted by Millet and by Turner: the one is +decent and familiar, the other lurid and ghastly. With true +Anglo-Saxon moderation the American war was fought like a game or an +election, with humanity and attention to rules; but in Holland and +Belgium was enacted the most terrible frightfulness in the world; over +the whole land, mingled with the reek of candles carried in procession +and of incense burnt to celebrate a massacre, brooded the sultry miasma +of human blood and tears. On the one side flashed the savage sword of +Alva and the pitiless flame of the inquisitor Tapper; on the other were +arrayed, behind their dykes and walls, men resolved to win that freedom +which alone can give scope and nobility to life. + +[Sidenote: The Intellectuals] + +And in the melee those suffered most who would fain have been +bystanders, the humanists. Persecuted by both sides, the +intellectuals, who had once deserted the Reform now turned again to it +as the lesser of the two {255} evils. They would have been glad to +make terms with any church that would have left them in liberty, but +they found the whips of Calvin lighter than the scorpions of Philip. +Even those who, like Van Helmont, wished to defend the church and to +reconcile the Tridentine decrees with philosophy, found that their +labors brought them under suspicion and that what the church demanded +was not harmony of thought but abnegation of it. + +The first act of the revolt may be said to be a secret compact, known +as the Compromise, [Sidenote: The Compromise, 1565] originally entered +into by twenty nobles at Brussels and soon joined by three hundred +other nobles elsewhere. The document signed by them denounced the +Edicts as surpassing the greatest recorded barbarity of tyrants and as +threatening the complete ruin of the country. To resist them the +signers promised each other mutual support. In this as in subsequent +developments the Calvinist minority took the lead, but was supported by +strong Catholic forces. Among the latter was the Prince of Orange, not +yet a Protestant. His conversion really made little difference in his +program; both before and after it he wanted tolerance or reconciliation +on Cassander's plan of compromise. He would have greatly liked to have +seen the Peace of Augsburg, now the public law of the Empire, extended +to the Low Countries, but this was made difficult even to advocate +because the Peace of Augsburg provided liberty only for the Lutheran +confession, whereas the majority of Protestants in the Netherlands were +now Calvinists. For the same reason little help could be expected from +the German princes, for the mutual animosity that was the curse of the +Protestant churches prevented their making common cause against the +same enemy. + +As the Huguenots--for so they began to be called in Brabant as well as +in France--were as yet too few {256} to rebel, the only course open was +to appeal to the government once more. A petition to make the Edicts +milder was presented to Margaret in 1566. One of her advisers bade her +not to be afraid of "those beggars." Originating in the scorn of +enemies, like so many party names, the epithet "Beggars" (Gueux) +presently became the designation and a proud one, of the nobles who had +signed the Compromise and later of all the rebels. + +Encouraged by the regent's apparent lack of power to coerce them, the +Calvinist preachers became daily bolder. Once again their religion +showed its remarkable powers of organization. Lacking nothing in +funds, derived from a constituency of wealthy merchants, the preachers +of the Reformation were soon able to forge a machinery of propaganda +and party action that stood them in good stead against the greater +numbers of their enemies. Especially in critical times, discipline, +unity, and enthusiasm make headway against the deadly hatred of enemies +and the deadlier apathy and timidity of the mass of mankind. It is +true that the methods of the preachers often aroused opposition. + +[Sidenote: Iconoclasm] + +The zeal of the Calvinists, inflamed by oppression and encouraged by +the weakness of the government, burst into an iconoclastic riot, +[Sidenote: August 11, 1566] first among the unemployed at Armentieres, +but spreading rapidly to Antwerp, Brussels, Ghent, and then to the +northern provinces, Holland and Zeeland. The English agent at Brussels +wrote: "Coming into Oure Lady Church, yt looked like hell wher were +above 1000 torches brannyng and syche a noise as yf heven and erth had +gone together with fallyng of images and fallyng down of costly works." +Books and manuscripts as well as pictures were destroyed. The cry +"Long live the Beggars" resounded from one end of the land to the {257} +other. But withal there was no pillage and no robbery. The gold in +the churches was left untouched. Margaret feared a _jacquerie_ but, +lacking troops, had to look on with folded hands at least for the +moment. By chance there arrived just at this time an answer from +Philip to the earlier petition of the Beggars. The king promised to +abolish the Spanish inquisition and to soften the edicts. Freedom of +conscience was tacitly granted, but the government made an exception, +as soon as it dared, of those who had committed sacrilege in the recent +riots. These men were outlawed. + +[Sidenote: Civil war] + +No longer fearing a religious war the Calvinists started it themselves. +Louis of Nassau, a brother of Prince William, hired German mercenaries +and invaded Flanders, where he won some slight successes. In Amsterdam +the great Beggar Brederode entered into negotiations with Huguenots and +English friends. The first battle between the Beggars and the +government troops, [Sidenote: March 13, 1567] near Antwerp, ended in a +rout for the former. + +Philip now ordered ten thousand Spanish veterans, led by Alva, to march +from Italy to the Netherlands. Making their way through the Free +County of Burgundy and Lorraine they entered Brussels on August 9, +1567. [Sidenote: Alva 1508-83] Ferdinand Alvarez de Toledo, Duke of +Alva, had won experience and reputation as a soldier in the German +wars. Though self-controlled and courtly in manner, his passionate +patriotism and bigotry made him a fit instrument to execute Philip's +orders to make the Netherlands Spanish and Catholic. He began with no +uncertain hand, building forts at Antwerp and quartering his troops at +Brussels where their foreign manners and Roman piety gave offence to +the citizens. On September 9 he arrested the counts of Egmont and +Horn, next to Orange the chief leaders of the patriotic party. Setting +up a tribunal, called the Council of {258} Troubles, to deal with cases +of rebellion and heresy, he inaugurated a reign of terror. He himself +spent seven hours a day in this court trying cases and signing +death-warrants. Not only heretics were punished but also agitators and +those who had advocated tolerance. Sincere Catholics, indeed, noted +that the crime of heresy was generally the mere pretext for dealing +with patriots and all those obnoxious to the government. [Sidenote: +Executions] For the first time we have definite statistics of the +numbers executed. For instance, on January 4, 1568, 48 persons were +sentenced to death, on February 20, 37; on February 21, 71; on March +20, 55; and so on for day after day, week in and week out. On March 3 +at the same hour throughout the whole land 1500 men were executed. The +total number put to death during the six years of Alva's administration +has been variously estimated at from 6,000 to 18,000. The lower number +is probably nearer the truth, though not high enough. Emigration on a +hitherto unknown scale within the next thirty or forty years carried +400,000 persons from the Netherlands. Thousands of others fled to the +woods and became freebooters. The people as a whole were prostrated +with terror. The prosperity of the land was ruined by the wholesale +confiscations of goods. Alva boasted that by such means he had added +to the revenues of his territories 500,000 ducats per annum. + +William of Orange retired to his estates at Dillenburg not to yield to +the tyrant but to find a _point d'appui_ from which to fight. Wishing +to avoid anything that might cause division among the people he kept +the religious issue in the background and complained only of foreign +tyranny. He tried to enlist the sympathies of the Emperor Maximilian +II and to collect money and men. William's friend Villiers invaded the +Burgundian State near Maastricht and Louis of Nassau marched with +troops into Friesland. {259} [Sidenote: April, 1568] By this time +Alva had increased his army by 10,000 German cavalry and both the rebel +leaders were severely defeated. + +This triumph was followed by an act of power and defiance on Alva's +part sometimes compared to the execution of Louis XVI by the French +Republicans. Hitherto the sufferers from his reign of blood had not in +any case been men of the highest rank. The first execution of nobles +took place at Brussels on June 1, that of the captured Villiers +followed on June 2, and that of Egmont and Horn on June 5. + +Orange himself now took the field with 25,000 troops, a motley +aggregate of French, Flemish, and Walloon Huguenots and of German +mercenaries. But he had no genius for war to oppose to the veterans of +Alva. Continually harassed by the Spaniards he was kept in fear for +his communications, dared not risk a general engagement and was +humiliated by seeing his retreat, in November, turned into a rout. + +[Sidenote: July 16, 1570] + +Finding that severity did not pacify the provinces, Alva issued a +proclamation that on the face of it was a general amnesty with pardon +for all who submitted. But he excepted by name several hundred +emigrants, all the Protestant clergy, all who had helped them, all +iconoclasts, all who had signed petitions for religious liberty, and +all who had rebelled. As these exceptions included the greater portion +of those who stood in need of pardon the measure proved illusory as a +means of reconciliation. Coupled with it were other measures, +including the prohibition to subjects to attend foreign universities, +intended to put a check on free trade in ideas. + +[Sidenote: Taxation] + +Alva's difficulties and the miseries of the unhappy land entrusted to +his tender mercies were increased by want of money. Notwithstanding +the privilege of {260} granting their own taxes the States General were +summoned [Sidenote: March 21, 1569] and forced to accept new imposts of +one per cent. on all property real and personal, ten per cent. on the +sale of all movable goods and five per cent. on the sale of real +estate. These were Spanish taxes, exorbitant in any case but +absolutely ruinous to a commercial people. A terrible financial panic +followed. Houses at Antwerp that had rented for 300 gulden could now +be had for 50 gulden. Imports fell off to such an extent that at this +port they yielded but 14,000 gulden per annum instead of 80,000 as +formerly. The harbor was filled with empty boats; the market drugged +with goods of all sorts that no one would buy. + +[Sidenote: Beggars of the Sea] + +The cause of the patriots looked hopeless. Orange, discredited by +defeat, had retired to Germany. At one time, to avoid the clamors of +his troops for pay, he was obliged to flee by night from Strassburg. +But in this dark hour help came from the sea. Louis of Nassau, not +primarily a statesman like his brother but a passionate crusader for +Protestantism, had been at La Rochelle and had there seen the excellent +work done by privateers. In emulation of his French brethren he +granted letters of marque to the sailors of Holland and Zeeland. +Recruits thronged to the ships, Huguenots, men from Liege, and the +laborers of the Walloon provinces thrown out of work by the commercial +crisis. These men promptly won striking successes in preying on +Spanish commerce. Their many and rich prizes were taken to England or +to Emden and sold. Often they landed on the coasts and attacked small +Catholic forces, or murdered priests. On the night of March 31-April +1, 1572, these Beggars of the Sea seized the small town of Brielle on a +large island at the mouth of the Meuse not far from the Hague. This +success was immediately followed by the insurrection of Rotterdam and +Flushing. The war was conducted with combined {261} heroism and +frightfulness. Receiving no quarter the Beggars gave none, and to +avenge themselves on the unspeakable wrongs committed by Alva they +themselves at times massacred the innocent. But their success spread +like wildfire. The coast towns "fell away like beads from a rosary +when one is gone." Fortifications in all of them were strengthened +and, where necessary, dykes were opened. Reinforcements also came from +England. + +[Sidenote: Revolution] + +By this time the revolt had become a veritable revolution. It found +its battle hymn in the Wilhelmuslied and its Washington in William of +Orange. As all the towns of Holland save Amsterdam were in his hands, +in June the provincial Estates met--albeit illegally, for there was no +one authorized to convene them--assumed sovereign power and made +William their Stat-holder. They voted large taxes and forced loans +from rich citizens, and raised money from the sale of prizes taken at +sea. All defect in prescriptive and legal power was made up by the +popularity of the prince, deeply loved by all classes, not only on +account of his affability to all, even the humblest, but still more +because of confidence in his ability. Never did his versatility, +patience and skill in management shine more brightly. Among the troops +raised by the patriots he kept strict discipline, thus making by +contrast more lurid the savage pillage by the Spaniards. He kept far +from fanatics and swashbucklers of whom there were plenty attracted to +the revolt. His master idea was to keep the Netherlands together and +to free them from the foreigner. Complete independence of Spain was +not at first planned, but it soon became inevitable. + +For a moment there was a prospect of help from Coligny's policy of +prosecuting a war with Spain, but these hopes were destroyed by the +defeat of the French Huguenots near Mons [Sidenote: July 17, 1572] and +by the massacre of Saint {262} Bartholomew. [Sidenote: August 24, +1572] Freed from menace in this quarter and encouraged by his +brilliant victory, Alva turned north with an army now increased to +40,000 veterans. First he took Malines and delivered it to his +soldiers for "the most dreadful and inhuman sack of the day" as a +contemporary wrote. The army then marched to Guelders and stormed +Zutphen under express orders from their general "not to leave one man +alive or one building unburnt." "With the help of God," as Alva +piously reported, the same punishment was meted out to Naarden. Then +he marched to the still royalist Amsterdam from which base he proceeded +to invest Haarlem. The siege was a long and hard one for the +Spaniards, harassed by the winter weather and by epidemics. Alva wrote +Philip that it was "the bloodiest war known for long years" and begged +for reinforcements. [Sidenote: July 12, 1573] At last famine overcame +the brave defenders of the city and it capitulated. Finding that his +cruelty had only nerved the people to the most desperate resistance, +and wishing to give an example of clemency to a city that would +surrender rather than await storming, Alva contented himself with +putting to death to the last man 2300 French, English, and Walloon +soldiers of the garrison, and five or six citizens. He also demanded a +ransom of 100,000 dollars[3] in lieu of plunder. Not content with this +meager largess the Spanish troops mutinied, and only the promise of +further cities to sack quieted them. The fortunes of the patriots were +a little raised by the defeat of the Spanish fleet in the Zuiderzee by +the Beggars on October 12, 1573. + +[Sidenote: Requesens] + +For some time Philip had begun to suspect that Alva's methods were not +the proper ones to win back the affectionate loyalty of his people. +Though he hesitated long he finally removed him late in 1573 and {263} +appointed in his stead Don Louis Requesens. Had Philip come himself he +might have been able to do something, for the majority professed +personal loyalty to him, and in that age, as Shakespeare reminds us, +divinity still hedged a king. But not having the decision to act in +person Philip picked out a favorite, known from his constant attendance +on his master as "the king's hour-glass," in whom he saw the slavishly +obedient tool that he thought he wanted. The only difference between +the new governor and the old was that Requesens lacked Alva's ability; +he had all the other's narrowly Spanish views, his bigotry and +absolutism. + +Once arrived in the provinces committed to his charge, he had no choice +but to continue the war. But on January 27, 1574, Orange conquered +Middelburg and from that date the Spanish flag ceased to float over any +portion of the soil of Holland or Zeeland. In open battle at Mook, +however, [Sidenote: April 14, 1574] the Spanish veterans again achieved +success, defeating the patriots under Louis of Nassau, who lost his +life. The beginning of the year saw the investment of Leyden in great +force. The heroism of the defence has become proverbial. When, in +September, the dykes were cut to admit the sea, so that the vessels of +the Beggars were able to sail to the relief of the city, the siege was +raised. It was the first important military victory for the patriots +and marks the turning-point of the revolt. Henceforth the Netherlands +could not be wholly subdued. + +Requesens summoned the States General and offered a pardon to all who +would submit. But the people saw in this only a sign of weakness. A +flood of pamphlets calling to arms replied to the advances of the +government. Among the pamphleteers the ablest was Philip van Marnix, +[Sidenote: Marnix, 1538-98] a Calvinist who turned his powers of satire +against Spain and the Catholic {264} church. William of Orange, now a +Protestant, living at Delft, inspired the whole movement. Requesens, +believing that if he were out of the way the revolt would collapse, +like Alva offered public rewards for his assassination. That there was +really no common ground was proved at a conference between the two +foes, broken off without result. In the campaign of 1575 the Spanish +army again achieved great things, taking Oudewater, Schoonhoven and +other places. But the rebels would not give up. + +[Sidenote: March 5, 1576] + +The situation was changed by the death of Requesens. Before his +successor could be appointed events moved rapidly. After taking +Zierikzee on June 29, the Spanish army turned to Aalst, quartered the +soldiers on the inhabitants, and forced the loyal city to pay the full +costs of their maintenance. If even the Catholics were alienated by +this, the Protestants went so far as to preach that any Spaniard might +be murdered without sin. In the concerted action against Spain the +Estates of Brabant now took the leading part; meeting at Brussels they +intimidated the Council of State and raised an army of 3000 men. By +this time Holland and Zeeland were to all intents and purposes an +independent state. The Calvinists, strong among the native population, +were recruited by a vast influx of immigrants from other Provinces +until theirs became the dominant religion. Holland and Zeeland pursued +a separate military and financial policy. Alone among the provinces +they were prosperous, for they had command of the rich sea-borne +commerce. + +The growth of republican theory kept pace with the progress of the +revolt. Orange was surrounded by men holding the free principles of +Duplessis-Mornay and corresponding with him. Dutchmen now openly +voiced their belief that princes were made for the sake of their +subjects and not subjects for the sake {265} of princes. Even though +they denied the equal rights of the common people they asserted the +sovereignty of the representative assembly. The Council of State, +having assumed the authority of the viceroy during the interim, was +deluged with letters petitioning them to shake off the Spanish yoke +entirely. But, as the Council still remained loyal to Philip, on +September 4 its members were arrested, a _coup d'etat_ planned in the +interests of Orange and doubtless with his knowledge. It was, of +course, tantamount to treason. The Estates General now seized +sovereign powers. Still protesting their loyalty to the monarch's +person and to the Catholic religion, they demanded virtual independence +and the withdrawal of the Spanish troops. To enforce their demands +they collected an army and took possession of several forts. But the +Spanish veterans never once thought of giving way. Gathering at +Antwerp where they were besieged by the soldiers of the States General, +[Sidenote: November 4, 1576] they attacked and then scattered the bands +sent against them and proceeded to sack Antwerp like a captured town. +In one dreadful day 7000 of the patriots, in part soldiers, in part +noncombatants, perished. The wealth of the city was looted. The army +of occupation boasted as of a victory of this deed of blood, known to +the Netherlanders as "the Spanish fury." + +Naturally, such a blow only welded the provinces more firmly together +and steeled their temper to an even harder resistance. Its immediate +result was a treaty, known as the Pacification of Ghent, between the +provinces represented in the States General on the one hand and Holland +and Zeeland on the other, for the purposes of union and of driving out +the foreigner. The religious question was left undecided, save that +the northern provinces agreed to do nothing for the present against the +Roman church. But, as {266} heretofore, the Calvinists, now inscribing +"Pro fide et patria" on their banners, were the more active and +patriotic party. + +[Sidenote: Don John, 1547-78] + +On May 1, 1577, the new Governor-General, Don John of Austria, entered +Brussels. A natural son of Charles V, at the age of twenty-four he had +made himself famous by the naval victory of Lepanto, and his name still +more celebrated in popular legend on account of his innumerable amours. +That he had some charm of manner must be assumed; that he had ability +in certain directions cannot be denied; but his aristocratic hauteur, +his contempt for a nation of merchants and his disgust at dealing with +them, made him the worst possible person for the position of Governor. +Philip's detailed instructions left nothing to the imagination: the +gist of them was to assure the Catholic religion and obedience of his +subjects "as far as possible," to speak French, and not to take his +mistresses from the most influential families, nor to alienate them in +any other way. After force had been tried and failed the effect of +gentleness was to be essayed. Don John was to be a dove of peace and +an angel of love. + +But even if a far abler man had been sent to heal the troubles in the +Netherlands, the breach was now past mending. In the States General, +as in the nation at large, there were still two parties, one for Orange +and one for Philip, but both were determined to get rid of the devilish +incubus of the Spanish army. The division of the two parties was to +some extent sectional, but still more that class division that seems +inevitable between conservatives and liberals. The king still had for +him the clergy, the majority of the nobles and higher bourgeoisie; with +William were ranged the Calvinists, the middle and lower classes and +most of the "intellectuals", lawyers, men of learning and those +publicists known as the "monarchomachs." Many of {267} these were +still Catholics who wished to distinguish sharply between the religious +and the national issue. At the very moment of Don John's arrival the +Estates passed a resolution to uphold the Catholic faith. + +[Sidenote: February, 1577] + +Even before he had entered his capital Don John issued the "Perpetual +Edict" agreeing to withdraw the Spanish troops in return for a grant of +600,000 guilders for their pay. He promised to respect the privileges +of the provinces and to free political prisoners, including the son of +Orange. In April the troops really withdrew. The small effect of +these measures of conciliation became apparent when the Estates General +voted by a majority of one only to recognize Don John as their +Statholder. [Sidenote: May 12] So little influence did he have that +he felt more like a prisoner than a governor; he soon fled from his +capital to the fortress of Namur whence he wrote urging his king to +send back the troops at once and let him "bathe in the blood of the +traitors." + +William was as much pleased as John was enraged at the failure of the +policy of reconciliation. While the majority of the states still hoped +for peace William was determined on independence at all costs. In +August he sent a demand to the representatives to do their duty by the +people, for he did not doubt that they had the right to depose the +tyrant. Never did his prospects look brighter. Help was offered by +Elizabeth and the tide of republican feeling began to rise higher. In +proportion as the laborers were drawn to the party of revolt did the +doctrine of the monarchomachs become liberal. No longer satisfied with +the democracy of corporations and castes of the Middle Ages, the people +began to dream of the individualistic democracy of modern times. + +The executive power, virtually abandoned by Don John, now became +centered in a Committee of {268} Eighteen, nominally on fortifications, +but in reality, like the French Committee of Public Safety, supreme in +all matters. This body was first appointed by the citizens of +Brussels, but the States General were helpless against it. It was +supported by the armed force of the patriots and by the personal +prestige of Orange. His power was growing, for, with the capitulation +of the Spanish garrison at Utrecht he had been appointed Statholder of +that province. When he entered Brussels on September 23, he was +received with the wild acclamations of the populace. Opposition to him +seemed impossible. And yet, even at this high-water mark of his power, +his difficulties were considerable. Each province was jealous of its +rights and, as in the American Revolution, each province wished to +contribute as little as possible to the common fund. Moreover the +religious question was still extremely delicate. Orange's permission +to the Catholics to celebrate their rites on his estates alienated as +many Protestant fanatics as it conciliated those of the old religion. + +[Sidenote: Archduke Matthew] + +The Netherlands were not yet strong enough to do without powerful +foreign support, nor was public opinion yet ripe for the declaration of +an independent republic. Feeling that a statholder of some sort was +necessary, the States General petitioned Philip to remove Don John and +to appoint a legitimate prince of the blood. This petition was perhaps +intentionally impossible of fulfilment in a way agreeable to Philip, +for he had no legitimate brother or son. But a prince of the House of +Hapsburg offered himself in the person of the Archduke Matthew, a son +of the Emperor Maximilian, recently deceased. [Sidenote: October 12, +1576] Though he had neither ability of his own nor support from his +brother, the Emperor Rudolph II, and though but nineteen years old, he +offered his services to the Netherlands and immediately went thither. +With high statecraft William {269} drew Matthew into his policy, for he +saw that the dangers to be feared were anarchy and disunion. In some +cities, notably Ghent, where another Committee of Eighteen was +appointed on the Brussels model, the lowest classes assumed a +dictatorship analagous to that of the Bolsheviki in Russia. At the +same time the Patriots' demand that Orange should be made Governor of +Brabant was distasteful to the large loyalist element in the +population. William at once saw the use that might be made of Matthew +as a figure-head to rally those who still reverenced the house of +Hapsburg and who saw in monarchy the only guarantee of order at home +and consideration abroad. Promptly arresting the Duke of Aerschot, a +powerful noble who tried to use Matthew's name to create a separate +faction, Orange induced the States General first to decree Don John an +enemy of the country [Sidenote: December 7, 1577] and then to offer the +governorship of the Netherlands to the archduke, at the same time +begging him, on account of his youth, to leave the administration in +the hands of William. After Matthew's entry into Brussels [Sidenote: +January 18, 1578] the States General swore allegiance to this puppet in +the hands of their greatest statesman. + +Almost immediately the war broke out again. Both sides had been busy +raising troops. At Gembloux Don John with 20,000 men defeated about +the same number of Patriot troops. [Sidenote: January 31] But this +failed to clarify a situation that tended to become ever more +complicated. Help from England and France came in tiny dribblets just +sufficient to keep Philip's energies occupied in the cruel civil war. +But the vacancy, so to speak, on the ducal throne of the Burgundian +state, seemed to invite the candidacy of neighboring princes and a +chance of seriously interesting France came when the ambition of +Francis, Duke of Anjou, was stirred to become ruler of the Low +Countries. William attempted also to make {270} use of him. In return +for the promise to raise 12,000 troops, Anjou received from the States +General the title of "Defender of the Freedom of the Netherlands +against the tyranny of the Spaniards and their allies." The result was +that the Catholic population was divided in its support between Matthew +and Anjou, and that Orange retained the balance of influence. + +[Sidenote: Protestant schism] + +The insuperable difficulty in the way of success for the policy of this +great man was still the religious one. Calvinism had been largely +drawn off to Holland and Zeeland, and Catholicism remained the religion +of the great majority of the population in the other provinces. At +first sight the latter appeared far from being an intractable force. +In contrast with the fiery zeal of the Calvinists on the one hand and +of the Spaniards on the other, the faith of the Catholic Flemings and +Walloons seemed lukewarm, an old custom rather than a living +conviction. Most were shocked by the fanaticism of the Spaniards, who +thus proved the worst enemies of their faith, and yet, within the +Netherlands, they were very unwilling to see the old religion perish. +When the lower classes at Ghent assumed the leadership they rather +forced than converted that city to the Calvinist confession. Their +acts were taken as a breach of the Pacification of Ghent and threatened +the whole policy of Orange by creating fresh discord. To obviate this, +William proposed to the States General a religious peace on the basis +of the _status quo_ with refusal to allow further proselyting. +[Sidenote: July, 1578] But this measure, acceptable to the Catholics, +was deeply resented by the Calvinists. It was said that one who +changed his religion as often as his coat must prefer human to divine +things and that he who would tolerate Romanists must himself be an +atheist. + +[Sidenote: Division of the Netherlands] + +It was therefore, a primarily religious issue, and no difference of +race, language or material interest, {271} that divided the Netherlands +into two halves. For a time the common hatred of all the people for +the foreigner welded them into a united whole; but no sooner was the +pressure of the Spanish yoke even slightly relaxed than the mutual +antipathy of Calvinist and Catholic showed itself. If we look closely +into the causes why the North should become predominantly Protestant +while the South gradually reverted to an entirely Catholic faith, we +must see that the reasons were in part racial, in part geographical and +in part social. Geographically and linguistically the Northern +provinces looked for their culture to Germany, and the Southern +provinces to France. Moreover the easy defensibility of Holland and +Zeeland, behind their moats, made them the natural refuge of a hunted +sect and, this tendency once having asserted itself, the polarization +of the Netherlands naturally followed, Protestants being drawn and +driven to their friends in the North and Catholics similarly finding it +necessary or advisable to settle in the South. Moreover in the +Southern provinces the two privileged classes, clergy and nobility, +were relatively stronger than in the almost entirely bourgeois and +commercial North. And the influence of both was thrown into the scale +of the Roman church, the first promptly and as a matter of course, the +second eventually as a reaction from the strongly democratic tendency +of Calvinism. In some of the Southern cities there ensued at this time +a desperate struggle between the Protestant democracy and the Catholic +aristocracy. The few Protestants of gentle birth in the Walloon +provinces felt ill at ease in company with their Dutch co-religionists +and were called by them "Malcontents" because they looked askance at +the political principles of the North. + +[Sidenote: January 1579] + +The separatist tendencies on both sides crystallized as some of the +Southern provinces signed a league at {272} Arras on January 5 for the +protection of the Catholic religion. On the 29th this was answered by +the Union of Utrecht, signed by the representatives of Holland, +Zeeland, Utrecht, Friesland, Guelders, Zutphen, and the city of Ghent, +binding the said provinces to resist all foreign tyranny. Complete +freedom of worship was granted, a matter of importance as the Catholic +minority was, and has always remained, large. By this act a new state +was born. Orange still continued to labor for union with the Southern +provinces, but he failed. A bitter religious war broke out in the +cities of the South. At Ghent the churches were plundered anew. +[Sidenote: 1581] At Brussels and Antwerp the Protestant proletariat +won a temporary ascendancy and Catholic worship was forbidden in both +cities. A general emigration from them ensued. Under the stress of +the religious war which was also a class war, the last vestiges of +union perished. The States General ceased to have power to raise taxes +or enforce decrees, and presently it was no more regarded. + +Even William of Orange now abandoned his show of respect for the +monarch and became wholly the champion of liberty and of the people. +[Sidenote: 1580] The States General recognized Anjou as their prince, +but at the same time drew up a very republican constitution. The +representatives of the people were given not only the legislative but +also the executive powers, including the direction of foreign affairs. +The States of the Northern Provinces formally deposed Philip, +[Sidenote: Deposition of Philip, 1581] who could do nothing in reply. +A proclamation had already been issued offering 25,000 dollars and a +patent of nobility to anyone who would assassinate Orange who was +branded as "a traitor and rascal" and as "the enemy of the human race." + +[Sidenote: October 1, 1578] + +Don John, having died unlamented, was succeeded by Alexander Farnese, a +son of the ex-regent Margaret {273} of Parma. [Sidenote: Farnese, +1545-92] Though an Italian in temperament he united a rare diplomatic +pliability with energy as a soldier. Moreover, whereas his +predecessors had despised the people they were sent to govern and had +hated the task of dealing with them, he set his heart on making a +success. By this time the eyes of all Europe were fixed on the +struggle in the Low Countries and it seemed a worthy achievement to +accomplish what so many famous soldiers and statesmen had failed in. +It is doubtless due to the genius of Farnese that the Spanish yoke was +again fixed on the neck of the southern of the two confederacies into +which the Burgundian state had spontaneously separated. Welcomed by a +large number of the signers of the Treaty of Arras, [Sidenote: 1579] he +promptly raised an army of 31,000 men, mostly Germans, attacked and +took Maastricht. A sickening pillage followed in which no less than +1700 women were slaughtered. Seeing his mistake, on capturing the next +town, Tournai, he restrained his army and allowed even the garrison to +march out with the honors of war. Not one citizen was executed, though +an indemnity of 200,000 guilders was demanded. His clemency helped his +cause more than his success in arms. + +[Sidenote: Conquest of the South] + +Slowly but surely his campaign of conquest progressed. It was a war of +sieges only, without battles. Bruges was taken after a long +investment, and was mildly treated. [Sidenote: 1584] Ghent +surrendered and was also let off with an indemnity but without bloody +punishment. After a hard siege Antwerp capitulated. [Sidenote: 1585] +Practically the whole of the Southern confederacy had been reduced to +obedience to the king of Spain. The Protestant religion was forbidden +by law but in each case when a city was conquered the Protestants were +given from two to four years either to become reconciled or to emigrate. + +{274} But the land that was reconquered was not the land that had +revolted. A ghastly ruin accompanied by a numbing blight on thought +and energy settled on the once happy lands of Flanders and Brabant. +The civil wars had so wasted the country that wolves prowled even at +the gates of great cities. The _coup de grace_ was given to the +commerce of Antwerp by the barring of the Scheldt by Holland. Trade +with the East and West Indies was forbidden by Spain until 1640. + +[Sidenote: Freedom of the North] + +But the North, after a desperate struggle and much suffering, +vindicated its freedom. Anjou tried first to make himself their +tyrant; [Sidenote: January 17, 1583] his soldiers at Antwerp attacked +the citizens but were beaten off after frightful street fighting. The +"French fury" as it was called, taught the Dutch once again to distrust +foreign governors, though the death of Anjou relieved them of fear. + +[Sidenote: June, 1584] + +But a sterner foe was at hand. Having reduced what is now called +Belgium, Farnese attacked the Reformation and the republicans in their +last strongholds in Holland, Zeeland, and Utrecht. The long war, of a +high technical interest because of the peculiar military problems to be +solved, was finally decided in favor of the Dutch. The result was due +in part to the heroic courage of the people, in part to the highly +defensible nature of their country, saved time and again by that great +ally, the sea. + +[Sidenote: July 10, 1584] + +A cruel blow was the assassination of Orange whose last words were "God +have pity on this poor people." His life had been devoted to them in +no spirit of ambition or vulgar pride; his energy, his patience, his +breadth had served the people well. And at his death they showed +themselves worthy of him and of the cause. Around his body the Estates +of Holland convened and resolved to bear themselves manfully {275} +without abatement of zeal. Right nobly did they acquit themselves. + +[Sidenote: 1586, Leicester] + +The bad ending of a final attempt to get foreign help taught the Dutch +Republic once and for all to rely only on itself. Robert Dudley, Earl +of Leicester, Elizabeth's favorite, was inaugurated as Governor +General. His assumption of independent power enraged his royal +mistress, whereas the Dutch were alienated by the suspicion that he +sacrificed their interests to those of England, and by his military +failures. In less than two years he was forced to return home. +[Sidenote: 1587] + +[Sidenote: Oldenbarneveldt, 1547-1619] + +Under the statesmanlike guidance of John van Oldenbarneveldt, since +1586 Pensionary of Holland, a Republic was set up founded on the +supremacy of the Estates. Under his exact, prudent, and resolute +leadership internal freedom and external power were alike developed. +Though the war continued long after 1588 the defeat of the Armada in +that year crippled Spain beyond hope of recovery and made the new +nation practically safe. + +[Sidenote: The Dutch Republic] + +The North had suffered much in the war. The frequent inundation of the +land destroyed crops. Amsterdam long held out against the rest of +Holland in loyalty to the king, but she suffered so much by the +blockade of the Beggars of the Sea and by the emigration of her +merchants to nearby cities, that at last she gave in and cast her lot +with her people. From that time she assumed the commercial hegemony +once exercised by Antwerp. Recovering rapidly from the devastations of +war, the Dutch Republic became, in the seventeenth century, the first +sea-power and first money-power in the world. She gave a king to +England and put a bridle in the mouth of France. She established +colonies in America and in the East Indies. With her celebrated new +university of Leyden, with {276} publicists like Grotius, theologians +like Jansen, painters like Van Dyke and Rembrandt, philosophers like +Spinoza, she took the lead in many of the fields of thought. Her +material and spiritual power, her tolerance and freedom, became the +envy of the world. + + + +[1] The guilder, also called the "Dutch pound," at this time was worth +40 cents intrinsically. Money had many times the purchasing power that +it has in 1920. + +[2] The word, meaning "prayer," indicated, like the English +"benevolence" and the French "don gratuit," that the tax had once been +voluntarily granted. + +[3] The dollar, or Thaler, is worth 75 cents, intrinsically. + + + + +{277} + +CHAPTER VI + +ENGLAND + +SECTION 1. HENRY VIII AND THE NATIONAL CHURCH. 1509-47 + +[Sidenote: Henry VIII, 1509-47] + +"The heavens laugh, the earth exults; all is full of milk and honey and +nectar." With these words the accession of Henry VIII was announced to +Erasmus by his pupil and the king's tutor, Lord Mountjoy. This lover +of learning thought the new monarch would be not only Octavus but +Octavius, fostering letters and cherishing the learned. There was a +general feeling that a new era was beginning and a new day dawning +after the long darkness of the Middle Age with its nightmares of Black +Deaths and Peasants' Revolts and, worst of all, the civil war that had +humbled England's power and racked her almost to pieces within. + +It was commonly believed that the young prince was a paragon: handsome, +athletic, learned, generous, wise, and merciful. That he was fond of +sports, strong and in early life physically attractive, is well +attested. The principal evidences of his learning are the fulsome +testimony of Erasmus and his work against Luther. But it has been +lately shown that Erasmus was capable of passing off, as the work of a +powerful patron, compositions which he knew to be written by Latin +secretaries; and the royal author of the _Defence of the Seven +Sacraments_, which evinces but mediocre talent, received much +unacknowledged assistance. + +If judged by his foreign relations Henry's statesmanship was +unsuccessful. His insincerity and perfidy often overreached +themselves, and he was often {278} deceived. Moreover, he was +inconstant, pursuing no worthy end whatever. England was by her +insular location and by the nearly equal division of power on the +Continent between France and the emperor, in a wonderfully safe and +advantageous place. But, so far was Henry from using this gift of +fortune, that he seems to have acted only on caprice. + +[Sidenote: Domestic policy] + +In domestic policy Henry achieved his greatest successes, in fact, very +remarkable ones indeed. Doubtless here also he was favored by fortune, +in that his own ends happened in the main to coincide with the deeper +current of his people's purpose, for he was supported by just that +wealthy and enterprising bourgeois class that was to call itself the +people and to make public opinion for the next three centuries. In +time this class would become sufficiently conscious of its own power to +make Parliament supreme and to demand a reckoning even from the crown, +but at first it needed the prestige of the royal name to conquer the +two privileged classes, the clergy and the nobility. The merchants and +the moneyed men only too willingly became the faithful followers of a +chief who lavishly tossed to them the wealth of the church and the +political privileges of the barons. And Henry had just one strong +quality that enabled him to take full advantage of this position; he +seemed to lead rather than to drive, and he never wantonly challenged +Parliament. The atrocity of his acts was only equaled by their +scrupulous legality. + +On Henry's morals there should be less disagreement than on his mental +gifts. Holbein's faithful portraits do not belie him. The +broad-shouldered, heavy-jowled man, standing so firmly on his widely +parted feet, has a certain strength of will, or rather of boundless +egotism. Francis and Charles showed themselves persecuting, and were +capable of having a {279} defaulting minister or a rebel put to death; +but neither Charles nor Francis, nor any other king in modern times, +has to answer for the lives of so many nobles and ministers, cardinals +and queens, whose heads, as Thomas More put it, he kicked around like +footballs. + +[Sidenote: Empson and Dudley executed, April 25, 1509] + +The reign began, as it ended, with political murder. The miserly Henry +VII had made use of two tools, Empson and Dudley, who, by minute +inquisition into technical offences and by nice adjustment of fines to +the wealth of the offender, had made the law unpopular and the king +rich. Four days after his succession, Henry VIII issued a proclamation +asking all those who had sustained injury or loss of goods by these +commissioners, to make supplication to the king. The floodgates of +pent-up wrath were opened, and the two unhappy ministers swept away by +an act of attainder. + +[Sidenote: War with France and Scotland] + +The pacific policy of the first years of the reign did not last long. +The young king felt the need of martial glory, of emulating the fifth +Henry, of making himself talked about and enrolling his name on the +list of conquerors who, in return for plaguing mankind, have been +deified by them. It is useless to look for any statesmanlike purpose +in the war provoked with France and Scotland, but in the purpose for +which he set out Henry was brilliantly successful: the French were so +quickly routed near Guinegate [Sidenote: August 13, 1513] that the +action has been known in history as the Battle of the Spurs. While the +king was still absent in France and his queen regent in England, his +lieutenants inflicted a decisive defeat on the Scots [Sidenote: +September] and slew their king, James IV, at Flodden. England won +nothing save military glory by these campaigns, for the invasion of +France was at once abandoned and that of Scotland not even undertaken. + +[Sidenote: Wolsey, c. 1475-1530] + +The gratification of the national vanity redounded the profit not only +of Henry but of his minister, {280} Thomas Wolsey. A poor man, like +the other tools of the Tudor despot, he rose rapidly in church and +state partly by solid gifts of statesmanship, partly by baser arts. By +May, 1515, Erasmus described him as all-powerful with the king and as +bearing the main burden of public affairs on his shoulders, and fifteen +years later Luther spoke of him as "the demigod of England, or rather +of Europe." His position at home he owed to his ability to curry favor +with the king by shouldering the odium of unpopular acts. [Sidenote: +May, 1521] When the Duke of Buckingham was executed for the crime of +standing next in succession to the throne, Wolsey was blamed; many +people thought, as it was put in a pun attributed to Charles V, that +"it was a pity so noble a _buck_ should have been slain by such a +hound." Wolsey lost the support of the nobles by the pride that +delighted to humble them, and of the commons by the avarice that +accumulated a corrupt fortune. But, though the rich hated him for his +law in regard to enclosures, and the poor for not having that law +enforced, he recked little of aught, knowing himself secure under the +royal shield. + +To make his sovereign abroad as great as at home, he took advantage of +the nice balance of power existing on the Continent. "Nothing pleases +him more than to be called the arbiter of Christendom," wrote +Giustiniani, and such, in fact, he very nearly was. His diplomatic +gifts were displayed with immense show during the summer of 1520, when +Henry met both Francis and Charles V, and promised each secretly to +support him against his rival. The camp where the royalties of France +and England met, near Guines, amid scenes of pageantry and chivalry so +resplendent as to give it the name of The Field of Cloth of Gold, saw +an alliance cemented by oath, only to be followed by a solemn +engagement between Henry and Charles, {281} repugnant in every +particular to that with France. When war actually broke out between +the two, England preferred to throw her weight against France, thereby +almost helping Charles to the throne of universal empire and raising up +for herself an enemy to menace her safety in many a crisis to come. In +the end, then, Wolsey's perfidious policy failed; and his personal +ambition for the papacy was also frustrated. + +But while "the congress of kings," as Erasmus called it, was disporting +itself at Guines and Calais, the tide of a new movement was swiftly and +steadily rising, no more obeying them than had the ocean obeyed Canute. +More in England than in most countries the Reformation was an imported +product. Its "dawn came up like thunder" from across the North Sea. + +Luther's Theses on Indulgences were sent by Erasmus to his English +friends Thomas More and John Colet little more than four months after +their promulgation. [Sidenote: March 5, 1518] By February, 1519, +Froben had exported to England a number of volumes of Luther's works. +One of them fell into the hands of Henry VIII or his sister Mary, +quondam Queen of France, as is shown by the royal arms stamped on it. +Many others were sold by a bookseller at Oxford throughout 1520, in +which year a government official in London wrote to his son in the +country, [Sidenote: March 3, 1520] "there be heretics here which take +Luther's opinions." The universities were both infected at the same +time. At Cambridge, especially, a number of young men, many of them +later prominent reformers, met at the White Horse Tavern regularly to +discuss the new ideas. The tavern was nicknamed "Germany" [Sidenote: +1521] and the young enthusiasts "Germans" in consequence. But +surprisingly numerous as are the evidences of the spread of Lutheranism +in these early years, naturally it as yet had few prominent adherents. +When Erasmus wrote Luther that he had well-wishers {282} [Sidenote: +May, 1519] in England, and those of the greatest, he was exaggerating +or misinformed. At most he may have been thinking of John Colet, whose +death in September, 1519, came before he could take any part in the +religious controversy. + +At an early date the government took its stand against the heresy. +Luther's books were examined by a committee of the University of +Cambridge, [Sidenote: 1520] condemned and burnt by them, and soon +afterwards by the government. At St. Paul's in London, [Sidenote: May +12, 1521] in the presence of many high dignitaries and a crowd of +thirty thousand spectators Luther's books were burnt and his doctrine +"reprobated" in addresses by John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, and +Cardinal Wolsey. A little later it was forbidden to read, import or +keep such works, and measures were taken to enforce this law. +Commissions searched for the said pamphlets; stationers and merchants +were put under bond not to trade in them; and the German merchants of +the Steelyard were examined. When it was discovered [Sidenote: 1526] +that these foreigners had stopped "the mass of the body of Christ," +commonly celebrated by them in All Hallows' Church the Great, at +London, they were haled before Wolsey's legatine court, forced to +acknowledge its jurisdiction, and dealt with. + +With one accord the leading Englishmen declared against Luther. +Cuthbert Tunstall, a mathematician and diplomatist, and later Bishop of +London, wrote Wolsey from Worms of the devotion of the Germans to their +leader, and sent to him _The Babylonian Captivity_ with the comment, +"there is much strange opinion in it near to the opinions of Boheme; I +pray God keep that book out of England." [Sidenote: January 21, 1521] +Wolsey himself, biassed perhaps by his ambition for the tiara, labored +to suppress the heresy. Most important of all, Sir Thomas More was +promptly and decisively alienated. {283} It was More, according to +Henry VIII, who "by subtle, sinister slights unnaturally procured and +provoked him" to write against the heretic. His _Defence of the Seven +Sacraments_, in reply to the _Babylonian Captivity_, though an +extremely poor work, was greeted, on its appearance, as a masterpiece. +[Sidenote: July, 1521] The handsome copy bound in gold, sent to Leo X, +was read to the pope and declared by him the best antidote to heresy +yet produced. In recognition of so valuable an arm, or of so valiant a +champion, the pope granted an indulgence of ten years and ten periods +of forty days to the readers of the book, and to its author the long +coveted title Defender of the Faith. Luther answered the king with +ridicule and the controversy was continued by Henry's henchmen More, +Fisher, and others. Stung to the quick, Henry, who had already urged +the emperor to crush the heretic, now wrote with the same purpose to +the elector and dukes of Saxony and to other German princes. + +[Sidenote: Growth of Lutheranism] + +But while the chief priests and rulers were not slow to reject the new +"gospel," the common people heard it gladly. The rapid diffusion of +Lutheranism is proved by many a side light and by the very +proclamations issued from time to time to "resist the damnable +heresies" or to suppress tainted books. John Heywood's _The Four P's: +a merry Interlude of a Palmer, a Pardoner, a Potycary and a Pedlar_, +written about 1528 though not published until some years later, is full +of Lutheran doctrine, and so is another book very popular at the time, +Simon Fish's _Supplication of Beggars_. John Skelton's _Colyn Clout_, +[Sidenote: c. 1522] a scathing indictment of the clergy, mentions that + + Some have smacke + Of Luther's sacke, + And a brennyng sparke + Of Luther's warke. + + +{284} [Sidenote: William Tyndale's Bible] + +But the acceptance of the Reformation, as apart from mere grumbling at +the church, could not come until a Protestant literature was built up. +In England as elsewhere the most powerful Protestant tract was the +vernacular Bible. Owing to the disfavor in which Wyclif's doctrines +were held, no English versions had been printed until the Protestant +divine William Tyndale highly resolved to make the holy book more +familiar to the ploughboy than to the bishop. + +Educated at both Oxford and Cambridge, Tyndale imbibed the doctrines +first of Erasmus, then of Luther, and finally of Zwingli. Applying for +help in his project to the bishop of London and finding none, +[Sidenote: 1524] he sailed for Germany where he completed a translation +of the New Testament, and started printing it at Cologne. Driven hence +by the intervention of Cochlaeus and the magistrates, he went to Worms +and got another printer to finish the job. [Sidenote: 1526] Of the +six thousand copies in the first edition many were smuggled to England, +where Cuthbert Tunstall, Bishop of London, tried to buy them all up, +"thinking," as the chronicler Hall phrased it, "that he had God by the +toe when he indeed had the devil by the fist." The money went to +Tyndale and was used to issue further editions, of which no less than +seven appeared in the next ten years. + +The government's attitude was that + + Having respect to the malignity of this present time, + with the inclination of the people to erroneous opinions, + the translation of the New Testament should rather be the + occasion of continuance or increase of errors among the + said people than any benefit or commodity towards the + weal of their souls. + + +But the magistrates were unable to quench the fiery zeal of Tyndale who +continued to translate parts of the Old Testament and to print them and +other tracts at Antwerp and at Cologne, until his martyrdom at {285} +Vilvorde, near Brussels, on October 6, 1536. In 1913 a monument was +erected on the place of his death. + +Under the leadership of Tyndale on the one side and of More on the +other the air became dark with a host of controversial tracts. +[Sidenote: Controversial tracts] They are half filled with theological +metaphysic, half with the bitterest invective. Luther called Henry +VIII "a damnable and rotten worm, a snivelling, drivelling swine of a +sophist"; More retorted by complaining of the violent language of "this +apostate, this open incestuous lecher, this plain limb of the devil and +manifest messenger of hell." Absurd but natural tactic, with a sure +effect on the people, which relishes both morals and scandal! To prove +that faith justifies, the Protestants pointed to the debauchery of the +friars; to prove the mass a sacrifice their enemies mocked at "Friar +Martin and Gate Callate his nun lusking together in lechery." But with +all the invective there was much solid argument of the kind that +appealed to an age of theological politics. In England as elsewhere +the significance of the Reformation was that it was the first issue of +supreme importance to be argued by means of the press before the bar of +a public opinion sufficiently enlightened to appreciate its importance +and sufficiently strong to make a choice and to enforce its decision. + +The party of the Reformation in England at first consisted of two +classes, London tradesmen and certain members of what Bismarck long +afterward called "the learned proletariat." In 1532 the bishops were +able to say: + + In the crime of heresy, thanked be God, there hath no + notable person fallen in our time. Truth it is that + certain apostate friars and monks, lewd priests, bankrupt + merchants, vagabonds and lewd, idle fellows of corrupt + nature have embraced the abominable and erroneous + {286} + opinions lately sprung in Germany and by them have + been some seduced in simplicity and ignorance. + + +[Sidenote: Anti-clerical feeling] + +But though both anti-clerical feeling and sympathy with the new +doctrines waxed apace, it is probable that no change would have taken +place for many years had it not been for the king's divorce. The +importance of this episode, born of the most strangely mingled motives +of conscience, policy, and lust, is not that, as sometimes said, it +proved the English people ready to follow their government in religious +matters as sheep follow their shepherd. Its importance is simply that +it loosed England from its ancient moorings of papal supremacy, and +thus established one, though only one, of the cardinal principles of +the Protestant revolt. The Reformation consisted not only in a +religions change but in an assertion of nationalism, in a class revolt, +and in certain cultural revolutions. It was only the first that the +government had any idea of sanctioning, but by so doing it enabled the +people later to take matters into their own hands and add the social +and cultural elements. Thus the Reformation in England ran a course +quite different from that in Germany. In the former the cultural +revolution came first, followed fast by the rising of the lower and the +triumph of the middle classes. Last of all came the successful +realization of a national state. But in England nationalism came +first; then under Edward the economic revolution; and lastly, under the +Puritans, the transmutation of spiritual values. + +[Sidenote: Divorce of Catherine of Aragon] + +The occasion of the breach with Rome was the divorce of Henry from +Catharine of Aragon, who had previously married his brother Arthur when +they were both fifteen, and had lived with him as his wife for five +months until his death. As marriage with a brother's widow was +forbidden by Canon Law, a {287} dispensation from the pope had been +secured, to enable Catharine to marry Henry. The king's scruples about +the legality of the act were aroused by the death of all the queen's +children, save the Princess Mary, in which he saw the fulfilment of the +curse denounced in Leviticus xx, 21: "If a man shall take his brother's +wife . . . they shall be childless." Just at this time Henry fell in +love with Anne Boleyn, [Sidenote: Anne Boleyn] and this further +increased his dissatisfaction with his present estate. + +He therefore applied to the pope for annulment of marriage, but the +unhappy Clement VII, now in the emperor's fist, felt unable to give it +to him. He writhed and twisted, dallied with the proposals that Henry +should take a second wife, or that his illegitimate son the Duke of +Richmond should marry his half sister Mary; in short he was ready to +grant a dispensation for anything save for the one horrible crime of +divorce--as the annulment was then called. His difficulties in getting +at the rights of the question were not made easier by the readiness of +both parties to commit a little perjury or to forge a little bull to +further their cause. + +Seeing no help in sight from Rome Henry began to collect the opinions +of universities and "strange doctors." The English, French, and +Italian universities decided as the king wished that his marriage was +null; Wittenberg and Marburg rendered contrary opinions. Many +theologians, including Erasmus, Luther, and Melanchthon, expressed the +opinion that bigamy would be the best way to meet the situation. + +But more was needed to make the annulment legal than the verdict of +universities. Repulsed by Rome Henry was forced to make an alliance, +though it proved but a temporary one, with the Reforming and +anti-clerical parties in his realm. At Easter, 1529, Lutheran books +began to circulate at court, books {288} advocating the confiscation of +ecclesiastical property and the reduction of the church to a state of +primitive simplicity. To Chapuis, the imperial ambassador, Henry +pointedly praised Luther, whom he had lately called "a wolf of hell and +a limb of Satan," remarking that though he had mixed heresy in his +books that was not sufficient reason for reproving and rejecting the +many truths he had brought to light. To punish Wolsey for the failure +to secure what was wanted from Rome, [Sidenote: November 4, 1530] the +pampered minister was arrested for treason, but died of chagrin before +he could be executed. "Had I served my God," said he, "as diligently +as I have served my king, he would not have given me over in my grey +hairs." + +[Sidenote: Reformation Parliament, November 3, 1529] + +In the meantime there had already met that Parliament that was to pass, +in the seven years of its existence, the most momentous and +revolutionary laws as yet placed upon the statute-books. The elections +were free, or nearly so; the franchise varied from a fairly democratic +one in London to a highly oligarchical one in some boroughs. +Notwithstanding the popular feeling that Catharine was an injured woman +and that war with the Empire might ruin the valuable trade with +Flanders, the "government," as would now be said, that is, the king, +received hearty support by the majority of members. The only possible +explanation for this, apart from the king's acknowledged skill as a +parliamentary leader, is the strength of the anti-clerical feeling. +The rebellion of the laity against the clergy, and of the patriots +against the Italian yoke, needed but the example of Germany to burst +all the dykes and barriers of medieval custom. The significance of the +revolution was that it was a forcible reform of the church by the +state. The wish of the people was to end ecclesiastical abuses without +much regard to doctrine; the wish of the king was to make himself {289} +"emperor and pope" in his own dominions. While Henry studied Wyclif's +program, and the people read the English Testament, the lessons they +derived from these sources were at first moral and political, not +doctrinal or philosophic. + +[Sidenote: Submission of the clergy, December 1530] + +The first step in the reduction of the church was taken when the +attorney-general filed in the court of King's Bench an information +against the whole body of the clergy for violating the statutes of +Provisors and Praemunire by having recognized Wolsey's legatine +authority. Of course there was no justice in this; the king himself +had recognized Wolsey's authority and anyone who had denied it would +have been punished. But the suit was sufficient to accomplish the +government's purposes, which were, first to wring money from the clergy +and then to force them to declare the king "sole protector and supreme +head of the church and clergy of England." Reluctantly the Convocation +of Canterbury accepted this demand in the form that the king was, +"their singular protector, only and supreme lord and, as far as the law +of Christ allows, even Supreme Head." Henry further proposed that the +oaths of the clergy to the pope be abolished and himself made supreme +legislator. [Sidenote: May 15, 1532] Convocation accepted this demand +also in a document known as "the submission of the clergy." + +If such was the action of the spiritual estate, it was natural that the +temporal peers and the Commons in parliament should go much further. +[Sidenote: 1532] A petition of the Commons, really emanating from the +government and probably from Thomas Cromwell, complained bitterly of +the tyranny of the ordinaries in ecclesiastical jurisdiction, of +excessive fees and vexations and frivolous charges of heresy made +against unlearned laymen. [Sidenote: May 1532] Abuses of like nature +were dealt with in statutes limiting the fees exacted by priests and +regulating {290} pluralities and non-residence. Annates were abolished +with the proviso that the king might negotiate with the pope,--the +intention of the government being thus to bring pressure to bear on the +curia. No wonder the clergy were thoroughly frightened. Bishop +Fisher, their bravest champion, protested in the House of Lords: "For +God's sake, see what a realm the kingdom of Boheme was, and when the +church fell down, there fell the glory of the kingdom. Now with the +Commons is nothing but 'Down with the church,' and all this meseemeth +is for lack of faith only." + +[Sidenote: Marriage with Anne Boleyn] + +It had taken Henry several years to prepare the way for his chief +object, the divorce. His hand was at last forced by the knowledge that +Anne was pregnant; he married her on January 25, 1533, without waiting +for final sentence of annulment of marriage with Catharine. In so +doing he might seem, at first glance, to have followed the advice so +freely tendered him to discharge his conscience by committing bigamy; +but doubtless he regarded his first marriage as illegal all the time +and merely waited for the opportunity to get a court that would so +pronounce it. The vacancy of the archbishopric of Canterbury enabled +him to appoint to it Thomas Cranmer, [Sidenote: Cranmer] the obsequious +divine who had first suggested his present plan. Cranmer was a +Lutheran, so far committed to the new faith that he had married; he was +intelligent, learned, a wonderful master of language, and capable at +last of dying for his belief. But that he showed himself pliable to +his master's wishes beyond all bounds of decency is a fact made all the +more glaring by the firm and honorable conduct of More and Fisher. His +worst act was possibly on the occasion of his nomination to the +province of Canterbury; wishing to be confirmed by the pope he +concealed his real views and took an oath of obedience to the Holy See, +having previously signed {291} a protest that he considered the oath a +mere form and not a reality. + +The first use he made of his position was to pronounce sentence that +Henry and Catharine had never been legally married, though at the same +time asserting that this did not affect the legitimacy of Mary because +her parents had believed themselves married. Immediately afterwards it +was declared that Anne was a lawful wife, and she was crowned queen, +[Sidenote: 1533] amid the smothered execrations of the populace, on +June 1. On September 7, the Princess Elizabeth was born. Catharine's +cause was taken up at Rome; Clement's brief forbidding the king to +remarry was followed by final sentence in Catharine's favor. Her last +years were rendered miserable by humiliation and acts of petty spite. +When she died her late husband, with characteristic indecency, +[Sidenote: January 1536] celebrated the joyous event by giving a ball +at which he and Anne appeared dressed in yellow. + +[Sidenote: March 1534] + +The feeling of the people showed itself in this case finer and more +chivalrous than that prevalent at court. The treatment of Catharine +was so unpopular that Chapuis wrote that the king was much hated by his +subjects. [Sidenote: January, 1536] Resolved to make an example of +the murmurers, the government selected Elizabeth Barton, the "Holy Maid +of Kent." After her hysterical visions and a lucky prophecy had won +her an audience, she fell under the influence of monks and prophesied +that the king would not survive his marriage with Anne one month, and +proclaimed that he was no longer king in the eyes of God. [Sidenote: +April 1, 1534] She and her accomplices were arrested, attainted +without trial, and executed. She may pass as an English Catholic +martyr. + +[Sidenote: Act in Restraint of Appeals, February 1533] + +Continuing its course of making the king absolute master the Parliament +passed an Act in Restraint of Appeals, the first constitutional break +with Rome. {292} The theory of the government was set forth in the +preamble: + + Whereas by divers sundry old authentic histories and + chronicles, it is manifestly declared and expressed, that + this realm of England is an Empire, and so hath been + accepted in the world, governed by one supreme head and + king . . . unto whom a body politic compact of all sorts + and degrees of people, divided in terms, and by names of + spirituality and temporally, be bounden and ought to + bear, next to God, a natural and humble obedience. . . . + +therefore all jurisdiction of foreign powers was denied. + +[Sidenote: January 15, 1534] + +When, after a recess, Parliament met again there were forty vacancies +to be filled in the Lower House, and this time care was taken that the +new members should be well affected. Scarcely a third of the spiritual +lords assembled, though whether their absence was commanded, or their +presence not required, by the king, is uncertain. As, in earlier +Parliaments, the spiritual peers had outnumbered the temporal, this was +a matter of importance. Another sign of the secularization of the +government was the change in the character of the chancellors. Wolsey +was the last great ecclesiastical minister of the reign; More and +Cromwell who followed him were laymen. + +The severance with Rome was now completed by three laws. In the first +place the definite abolition of the annates meant that henceforth the +election of archbishops and bishops must be under licence by the king +and that they must swear allegiance to him before consecration. A +second act forbade the payment of Peter's pence and all other fees to +Rome, and vested in the Archbishop of Canterbury the right to grant +licences previously granted by the pope. A third act, for the +subjection of the clergy, put convocation under the royal power and +forbade all privileges inconsistent with this. The new pope, Paul III, +struck back, though {293} with hesitation, excommunicating the king, +[Sidenote: 1535-8] declaring all his children by Anne Boleyn +illegitimate, and absolving his subjects from their oath of allegiance. + +[Sidenote: 1534] + +Two acts entrenched the king in his despotic pretensions. The Act of +Succession, [Sidenote: Act of Succession] notable as the first +assertion by crown and Parliament of the right to legislate in this +constitutional matter, vested the inheritance of the crown in the issue +of Henry and Anne, and made it high treason to question the marriage. +The Act of Supremacy [Sidenote: Act of Supremacy] declared that the +king's majesty "justly and rightfully is and ought to be supreme head +of the church of England," pointedly omitting the qualification +insisted on by Convocation,--"as far as the law of Christ allows." +Exactly how far this supremacy went was at first puzzling. That it +extended not only to the governance of the temporalities of the church, +but to issuing injunctions on spiritual matters and defining articles +of belief was soon made apparent; on the other hand the monarch never +claimed in person the power to celebrate mass. + +That the abrogation of the papal authority was accepted so easily is +proof of the extent to which the national feeling of the English church +had already gone. An oath to recognize the supremacy of the king was +tendered to both convocations, to the universities, to the clergy and +to prominent laymen, and was with few exceptions readily taken. +Doubtless many swallowed the oath from mere cowardice; others took it +with mental reservations; and yet that the majority complied shows that +the substitution of a royal for a papal despotism was acceptable to the +conscience of the country at large. Many believed that they were not +departing from the Catholic faith; but that others welcomed the act as +a step towards the Reformation cannot be doubted. How strong was the +hold of Luther on the country will presently be shown, but here {294} +only one instance of the exuberance of the will for a purely national +religion need be quoted. "God hath showed himself the God of England, +or rather an English God," wrote Hugh Latimer, [Sidenote: 1537] a +leading Lutheran; not only the church but the Deity had become insular! + +[Sidenote: Fisher] + +But there were a few, and among them the greatest, who refused to +become accomplices in the break with Roman Christendom. John Fisher, +Bishop of Rochester, a friend of Erasmus and a man of admirable +steadfastness, had long been horrified by the tyranny of Henry. He had +stoutly upheld the rightfulness of Catharine's marriage, and now ho +refused to see in the monarch the fit ruler of the church. So strongly +did he feel on these subjects that he invited Charles to invade England +and depose the king. This was treason, though probably the government +that sent him to the tower was ignorant of the act. When Paul III +rewarded Fisher by creating him a cardinal [Sidenote: May 20, 1535] +Henry furiously declared he would send his head to Rome to get the hat. +[Sidenote: June 22] The old man of seventy-six was accordingly +beheaded. + +[Sidenote: Sir Thomas More executed, July 6] + +This execution was followed by that of Sir Thomas More, the greatest +ornament of his country. As More has been remembered almost entirely +by his noble _Utopia_ and his noble death, it is hard to estimate his +character soberly. That his genius was polished to the highest +perfection, that in a hard age he had an altogether lovely sympathy +with the poor, and in a servile age the courage of his convictions, +would seem enough to excuse any faults. But a deep vein of fanaticism +ran through his whole nature and tinctured all his acts, political, +ecclesiastical, and private. Not only was his language violent in the +extreme, but his acts were equally merciless when his passions were +aroused. Appointed chancellor after the fall of Wolsey, he did not +scruple to hit the man who was down, describing {295} him, in a +scathing speech in Parliament, as the scabby wether separated by the +careful shepherd from the sound sheep. In his hatred of the new +opinions he not only sent men to death and torture for holding them, +but reviled them while doing it. "Heretics as they be," he wrote, "the +clergy doth denounce them. And as they be well worthy, the temporality +doth burn them. And after the fire of Smithfield, hell doth receive +them, where the wretches burn for ever." + +As chancellor he saw with growing disapproval the course of the tyrant. +He opposed the marriage with Anne Boleyn. The day after the submission +of the clergy he resigned the great seal. He could not long avoid +further offence to his master, and his refusal to take the oath of +supremacy was the crime for which he was condemned. His behaviour +during his last days and on the scaffold was perfect. He spent his +time in severe self-discipline; he uttered eloquent words of +forgiveness of his enemies, messages of love to the daughter whom he +tenderly loved, and brave jests. + +[Sidenote: Anabaptist martyrs, 1536] + +But while More's passion was one that any man might envy, his courage +was shared by humbler martyrs. In the same year in which he was +beheaded thirteen Dutch Anabaptists were burnt, as he would have +approved, by the English government. Mute, inglorious Christs, they +were led like sheep to the slaughter and as lambs dumb before their +shearers. They had no eloquence, no high position, to make their words +ring from side to side of Europe and echo down the centuries; but their +meek endurance should not go unremembered. + +To take More's place as chief minister Henry appointed the most +obsequious tool he could find, Thomas Cromwell. [Sidenote: Thomas +Cromwell, 1485?-1540] To good purpose this man had studied +Machiavelli's _Prince_ as a practical manual of tyranny. His most +important service to the crown was the {296} next step in the reduction +of the medieval church, the dissolution of the monasteries. [Sidenote: +Dissolution of the monasteries] Like other acts tending towards the +Reformation this was, on the whole, popular, and had been rehearsed on +a small scale on several previous occasions in English history. The +pope and the king of France taught Edward II to dissolve the +preceptories, to the number of twenty-three, belonging to the Templars; +in 1410 the Commons petitioned for the confiscation of all church +property; in 1414 the alien priories in England fell under the +animadversion of the government; their property was handed over to the +crown and they escaped only by the payment of heavy fines, by +incorporation into English orders, and by partial confiscation of their +land. The idea prevailed that mortmain had failed of its object and +that therefore the church might rightfully be relieved of her +ill-gotten gains. These were grossly exaggerated, a pamphleteer +believing that the wealth of the church amounted to half the property +of the realm. In reality the total revenue of the spirituality +amounted to only L320,000; that of the monasteries to only L140,000. +There had been few endowments in the fifteenth century; only eight new +ones, in fact, in the whole period 1399-1509. Colleges, schools, and +hospitals now attracted the money that had previously gone to the monks. + +Moreover, the monastic life had fallen on evil days. The abbeys no +longer were centers of learning and of the manufacture of books. The +functions of hospitality and of charity that they still exercised were +not sufficient to redeem them in the eyes of the people for the "gross, +carnal, and vicious living" with which they were commonly and quite +rightly charged. Visitations undertaken not by hostile governments but +by bishops in the fifteenth century prove that much immorality obtained +within the cloister walls. By 1528 {297} they had become so +intolerable that a popular pamphleteer, Simon Fish, in his +_Supplication of Beggars_, proposed that the mendicant friars be +entirely suppressed. + +[Sidenote: January 21, 1535] + +A commission was now issued to Thomas Cromwell, empowering him to hold +a general visitation of all churches, monasteries, and collegiate +bodies. The evidence gathered of the shocking disorders obtaining in +the cloisters of both sexes is on the whole credible and well +substantiated. Nevertheless these disorders furnished rather the +pretext than the real reason for the dissolutions that followed. +Cromwell boasted that he would make his king the richest in +Christendom, and this was the shortest and most popular way to do it. + +[Sidenote: 1536] + +Accordingly an act was passed for the dissolution of all small +religious houses with an income of less than L200 a year. The rights +of the founders were safe-guarded, and pensions guaranteed to those +inmates who did not find shelter in one of the larger establishments. +By this act 376 houses were dissolved with an aggregate revenue of +L32,000, not counting plate and jewels confiscated. Two thousand monks +or nuns were affected in addition to about eight thousand retainers or +servants. The immediate effect was a large amount of misery, but the +result in the long run was good. Perhaps the principal political +importance of this and the subsequent spoliations of the church was to +make the Reformation profitable and therefore popular with an +enterprising class. For the lion's share of the prey did not go to the +lion, but to the jackals. From the king's favorites to whom he threw +the spoils was founded a new aristocracy, a class with a strong vested +interest in opposing the restoration of the papal church. To the +Protestant citizens of London was now added a Protestant landed gentry. + +{298} [Sidenote: Union with Wales, 1536] + +Before the "Reformation Parliament" had ceased to exist, one more act +of great importance was passed. Wales was a wild country, imperfectly +governed by irregular means. By the first Act of Union in British +history, Wales was now incorporated with England and the anomalies, or +distinctions, in its legal and administrative system, wiped out. By +severe measures, in the course of which 5000 men were sent to the +gallows, the western mountaineers were reduced to order during the +years 1534-40; and in 1543 their union with England was completed. The +measure was statesmanlike and successful; it was undoubtedly aided by +the loyalty of the Welsh to their own Tudor dynasty. + +[Sidenote: April 14, 1536] + +When Parliament dissolved after having accomplished, during its seven +years, the greatest permanent revolution in the history of England, it +had snapped the bands with Rome and determined articles of religious +belief; it had given the king more power in the church than the pope +ever had, and had exalted his prerogative in the state to a pitch never +reached before or afterwards; it had dissolved the smaller monasteries, +abridged the liberties of the subject, settled the succession to the +throne, created new treasons and heresies; it had handled grave social +problems, like enclosures and mendicancy; and had united Wales to +England. + +[Sidenote: Execution of Anne Boleyn] + +And now the woman for whose sake, one is tempted to say, the king had +done it all--though of course his share in the revolution does not +represent the real forces that accomplished it--the woman he had won +with "such a world of charge and hell of pain," was to be cast into the +outer darkness of the most hideous tragedy in history. Anne Boleyn was +not a good woman. And yet, when she was accused of adultery [Sidenote: +May 19, 1536] with four men and of incest with her own brother, {299} +though she was tried by a large panel of peers, condemned, and +beheaded, it is impossible to be sure of her guilt. + +[Sidenote: Jane Seymour] + +On the day following Anne's execution or, as some say, on May 30, Henry +married his third wife, Jane Seymour. On October 12, 1537, she bore +him a son, Edward. Forced by her husband to take part in the +christening, an exhausting ceremony too much for her strength, she +sickened and died soon afterwards. + +[Sidenote: Lutheran tracts] + +In the meantime the Lutheran movement was growing apace in England. In +the last two decades of Henry's reign seven of Luther's tracts and some +of his hymns were translated into English. Five of the tracts proved +popular enough to be reprinted. One of them was _The Liberty of a +Christian Man_, turned into English by John Tewkesbury whom, having +died for his faith, More called "a stinking martyr." The hymns and +some of the other tracts were Englished by Miles Coverdale. In +addition to this there was translated an account of Luther's death in +1546, the Augsburg Confession and four treatises of Melanchthon, and +one each of Zwingli, Oecolampadius and Bullinger,--this last reprinted. +Of course these versions are not a full measure of Lutheran influence, +but a mere barometer. The party now numbered powerful preachers like +Latimer and Ridley; Thomas Cranmer the Archbishop of Canterbury and +Thomas Cromwell, since May, 1534, the king's principal secretary. The +adherence of the last named to the Reforming party is perhaps the most +significant sign of the times. As his only object was to be on the +winning side, and as he had not a bit of real religious interest, it +makes it all the more impressive that, believing the cat was about to +jump in the direction of Lutheranism, he should have tried to put +himself in the line of its trajectory {300} by doing all he could to +foster the Reformers at home and the Protestant alliance abroad. + +[Sidenote: Coverdale, 1488?-1569] + +One of the decisive factors in the Reformation again proved to be the +English Bible, completed, after the end of Tyndale's labors by a man of +less scholarship but equally happy mastery of language, Miles +Coverdale. Of little original genius, he spent his life largely in the +labor of translating tracts and treatises by the German Reformers into +his native tongue. [Sidenote: The English Bible, 1535] His first +great work was the completion of the English Bible which was published +by Christopher Froschauer of Zurich in 1535, the title-page stating +that it had been translated "out of Douche and Latyn"--the "Douche" +being, of course, Luther's German version. For the New Testament and +for the Old Testament as far as the end of Chronicles, Tyndale's +version was used; the rest was by Coverdale. The work was dedicated to +the king, and, as Cromwell had already been considering the +advisability of authorizing the English Bible, this was not an +unwelcome thing. But as the government was as yet unprepared to +recognize work avowedly based on German Protestant versions, [Sidenote: +1537] they resorted to the device of re-issuing the Bible with the name +of Thomas Matthew as translator, though in fact it consisted entirely +of the work of Tyndale and Coverdale. [Sidenote: 1538-9] A light +revision of this work was re-issued as the Great Bible, [Sidenote: +October 11, 1538] and Injunctions were issued by Cromwell ordering a +Bible of the largest size to be set up in every church, and the people +to be encouraged to read it. They were also to be taught the Lord's +prayer and creed in English, spiritual sermons were to be preached, and +superstitions, such as going on pilgrimages, burning candles to saints, +and kissing and licking relics, were to be discouraged. + +At the same time Cromwell diligently sought a _rapprochement_ with the +German Protestants. The idea {301} was an obvious one that, having won +the enmity of Charles, England should support his dangerous intestine +enemies, the Schmalkaldic princes. In that day of theological politics +it was natural to try to find cement for the alliance in a common +confession. Embassy after embassy made pilgrimages to Wittenberg, +where the envoys had long discussions with the Reformers [Sidenote: +January, 1536] both about the divorce and about matters of faith. They +took back with them to England, together with a personal letter from +Luther to Cromwell, [Sidenote: April] a second opinion unfavorable to +the divorce and a confession drawn up in Seventeen Articles. In this, +though in the main it was, as it was called, "a repetition and exegesis +of the Augsburg Confession," considerable concessions were made to the +wishes of the English. Melanchthon was the draughtsman and Luther the +originator of the articles. + +This symbol now became the basis of the first definition of faith drawn +up by the government. Some such statement was urgently needed, for, +amid the bewildering acts of the Reformation Parliament, the people +hardly knew what the king expected them to believe. The king therefore +presented to Convocation a Book of Articles of Faith and Ceremonies, +[Sidenote: July 11 The Book of Articles] commonly called the Ten +Articles, drafted by Fox on the basis of the memorandum he had received +at Wittenberg, in close substantial and frequently in verbal agreement +with it. By this confession the Bible, the three creeds, and the acts +of the first four councils were designated as authoritative; the three +Lutheran sacraments of baptism, penance, and the altar were retained; +justification by faith and good works jointly was proclaimed; the use +of images was allowed and purgatory disallowed; the real presence in +the sacrament was strongly affirmed. The significance of the articles, +however, is not so much their Lutheran provenance, as in their +promulgation {302} by the crown. It was the last step in the +enslavement of religion. "This king," as Luther remarked, "wants to be +God. He founds articles of faith, which even the pope never did." + +[Sidenote: The Pilgrimage of Grace] + +It only remained to see what the people would say to the new order. +Within a few months after the dissolution of the Reformation Parliament +and the publication of the Ten Articles, the people in the north spread +upon the page of history an extremely emphatic protest. For this is +really what the Pilgrimage of Grace was--not a rebellion against king, +property, or any established institution, but a great demonstration +against the policy for which Cromwell became the scapegoat. In those +days of slow communication opinions travelled on the beaten roads of +commerce. As late as Mary's reign there is proof that Protestantism +was confined to the south, east, and midlands,--roughly speaking to a +circle with London as its center and a radius of one hundred miles. In +these earlier years, Protestant opinion was probably even more +confined; London was both royalist and anti-Roman Catholic; the ports +on the south-eastern coast, including Calais, at that time an English +station in France, and the university towns had strong Lutheran and +still stronger anti-clerical parties. + +But in the wilds of the north and west it was different. There, hardly +any bourgeois class of traders existed to adopt "the religion of +merchants" as Protestantism has been called. Perhaps more important +was the mere slowness of the diffusion of ideas. The good old ways +were good enough for men who never knew anything else. The people were +discontented with the high taxes, and the nobles, who in the north +retained feudal affections if not feudal power, were outraged by the +ascendency in the royal councils of low-born upstarts. Moreover, it +seems that the clergy {303} were stronger in the north even before the +inroads of the new doctrines. In the suppression of the lesser +monasteries Yorkshire, the largest county in England, had lost the most +foundations, 53 in all, and Lincolnshire the next most, 37. Irritation +at the suppression itself was greatly increased among the clergy by the +insolence and thoroughness of the visitation, in which not only +monasteries but parish priests had been examined. In resisting the +king in the name of the church the priests had before them the example +of the most popular English saint, Thomas Becket. They were the real +fomenters of the demonstration, and the gentlemen, not the people, its +leaders. + +Rioting began in Lincolnshire on October 1, 1536, and before the end of +the month 40,000 men had joined the movement. A petition to the king +was drawn up demanding that the church holidays be kept as before, that +the church be relieved of the payment of first-fruits and tithes, that +the suppressed houses be restored except those which the king "kept for +his pleasure only," that taxes be reduced and some unpopular officials +banished. + +Henry thundered an answer in his most high and mighty style: "How +presumptuous then are ye, the rude commons of one shire, and that one +of the most brute and beastly of the whole realm, and of least +experience to find fault with your prince in the electing of his +councillors and prelates!" He at once dispatched an army with orders +"to invade their countries, to burn, spoil and destroy their goods, +wives and children." [Sidenote: March 1537] Repression of the rising +in Lincolnshire was followed by the execution of forty-six leaders. + +But the movement had promptly spread to Yorkshire, where men gathered +as for a peaceable demonstration, [Sidenote: October 1536] and swore +not to enter "this pilgrimage of grace for the commonwealth, save only +for the {304} maintenance of God's faith and church militant, +preservation of the king's person, and purifying the nobility of all +villein's blood and evil counsellors, to the restitution of Christ's +church and the suppression of heretics' opinions." In Yorkshire it was +feared that the money extorted from the abbeys was going to London; and +that the new treason's acts would operate harshly. Cumberland and +Westmoreland soon joined the rising, their special grievance being the +economic one of the rise of rents, or rather of the heavy fines exacted +by landlords on the renewal of leases. An army of 35,000 was raised by +the insurgents but their leader, Robert Aske, did not wish to fight, +though he was opposed by only 8,000 royal troops. He preferred a +parley and demanded, in addition to a free pardon, the acceptance of +the northern demands, the summons of a free Parliament, the restoration +of the papal supremacy as touching the cure of souls, and the +suppression of the books of Tyndale, Huss, Luther, and Melanchthon. +The king invited Aske to a personal interview, and promised to accede +to the demand for a Parliament if the petitioners would disperse. An +act of violence on a part of a few of the northerners was held to +absolve the government, and Henry, having gathered his forces, +demanded, and secured, a "dreadful execution" of vengeance. + +Though the Pilgrimage of Grace had some effect in warning Henry not to +dabble in foreign heresies, the policy he had most at heart, that of +making himself absolute in state and church, went on apace. The +culmination of the growth of the royal power is commonly seen in the +Statute of Proclamations [Sidenote: Statute of Proclamations, 1539] +apparently giving the king's proclamations the same validity as law +save when they touched the lives, liberty, or property of subjects or +were repugnant to existing statutes. Probably, however, the intent of +Parliament was not {305} to confer new powers on the crown but to +regulate the enforcement of already existing prerogatives. As a matter +of fact no proclamations were issued during the last years of Henry's +reign that might not have been issued before. + +But the reform of the church by the government, in morals and usages, +not in doctrine, proceeded unchecked. The larger monasteries had been +falling into the king's hands by voluntary surrender ever since 1536; a +new visitation and a new Act for the dissolution [Sidenote: 1539] of +the greater monasteries completed the process. + +[Sidenote: War on relics] + +An iconoclastic war was now begun not, as in other countries, by the +mob, but by the government. Relics like the Blood of Hailes were +destroyed, and the Rood of Boxley, a crucifix mechanically contrived so +that the priests made it nod and smile or shake its head and frown +according to the liberality of its worshipper, was taken down and the +mechanism exposed in various places. At Walsingham in Norfolk was a +nodding image of the Virgin, a bottle of her milk, still liquid, and a +knuckle of St. Peter. The shrine, ranking though it did with Loretto +and Compostella in popular veneration, was now destroyed. With much +zest the government next attacked the shrine of St. Thomas Becket at +Canterbury, thus revenging the humiliation of another Henry at the +hands of the church. The martyr was now declared to be a rebel who had +fled from the realm. + +[Sidenote: 1536] + +The definition of doctrine, coupled with negotiations with the +Schmalkaldic princes, continued briskly. The project for an alliance +came to nothing, for John Frederic of Saxony wrote that God would not +allow them to have communication with Henry. Two embassies to England +engaged in assiduous, but fruitless, theological discussion. Henry +himself, with the aid of Cuthbert Tunstall, drew up a long statement +"against {306} the opinions of the Germans on the sacrament in both +kinds, private masses, and sacerdotal marriage." The reactionary +tendency of the English is seen in the _Institution of the Christian +Man_, [Sidenote: Definitions of Faith] published with royal authority, +and still more in the Act of the Six Articles. [Sidenote: 1537] In +the former the four sacraments previously discarded are again "found." +[Sidenote: 1539] In the latter, transubstantiation is affirmed, the +doctrine of communion in both kinds branded as heresy, the marriage of +priests declared void, vows of chastity are made perpetually binding, +private masses and auricular confessions are sanctioned. Denial of +transubstantiation was made punishable by the stake and forfeiture of +goods; those who spoke against the other articles were declared guilty +of felony on the second offence. This act, officially entitled "for +abolishing diversity in opinions" was really the first act of +uniformity. It was carried by the influence of the king and the laity +against the parties represented by Cromwell and Cranmer. It ended the +plans for a Schmalkaldic alliance. [Sidenote: July 10, 1539] Luther +thanked God that they were rid of that blasphemer who had tried to +enter their league but failed. + +By a desperate gamble Cromwell now tried to save what was left of his +pro-German policy. Duke William of Cleves-Juelich-Berg had adopted an +Erasmian compromise between Lutheranism and Romanism, in some respects +resembling the course pursued by Henry. In this direction Cromwell +accordingly next turned and induced his master to contract a marriage +with Anne, [Sidenote: January 6, 1540] the duke's sister. As Henry had +offered to the European audience three tragedies in his three former +marriages, he now, in true Greek style, presented in his fourth a farce +or "satyric drama." The monarch did not like his new wife in the +least, and found means of ridding himself of her more speedily than was +usual even with him. Having shared her bed for six months {307} he +divorced her on the ground that the marriage had not been consummated. +[Sidenote: July 28, 1540] The ex-queen continued to live as "the +king's good sister" with a pension and establishment of her own, but +Cromwell vicariously expiated her failure to please. He was attainted, +without trial, for treason, and speedily executed. + +[Sidenote: Bluebeard's wives] + +On the same day Henry married Catharine Howard, a beautiful girl +selected by the Catholics to play the same part for them that Anne +Boleyn had played for the Lutherans, and who did so more exactly than +her backers intended. Like her predecessor she was beheaded for +adultery on February 13, 1542. On July 12, 1543, Bluebeard concluded +his matrimonial adventures by taking Catharine Parr, a lady who, like +Sieyes after the Terror, must have congratulated herself on her rare +ability in surviving. + +[Sidenote: Catholic reaction] + +As a Catholic reaction marked the last eight years of Henry's reign, it +may perhaps be well to say a few words about the state of opinion in +England at that time. The belief that the whole people took their +religion with sheepish meekness from their king is too simple and too +dishonorable to the national character to be believed. That they +_appeared_ to do this is really a proof that parties were nearly +divided. Just as in modern times great issues are often decided in +general elections by narrow majorities, so in the sixteenth century +public opinion veered now this way, now that, in part guided by the +government, in part affecting it even when the channels by which it did +so are not obvious. We must not imagine that the people took no +interest in the course of affairs. On the contrary the burning issues +of the day were discussed in public house and marketplace with the same +vivacity with which politics are now debated in the New England country +store. "The Word of God was disputed, rhymed, sung and jangled in +every alehouse and {308} tavern," says a contemporary state paper. In +private, graver men argued with the high spirit reflected in More's +dialogues. + +Four parties may be plainly discerned. First and most numerous were +the strict Anglicans, orthodox and royalist, comprising the greater +part of the crown-loving, priest-hating and yet, in intellectual +matters, conservative common people. Secondly, there were the pope's +followers, still strong in numbers especially among the clergy and in +the north. Their leaders were among the most high-minded of the +nation, but were also the first to be smitten by the king's wrath +which, as his satellites were always repeating in Latin proverb, meant +death. Such men were More and Fisher and the London Carthusians +executed in 1535 for refusing the oath of supremacy. Third, there were +the Lutherans, an active and intelligent minority of city merchants and +artisans, led by men of conspicuous talents and generally of high +character, like Coverdale, Kidley, and Latimer. With these leaders +were a few opportunists like Cranmer and a few Machiavellians like +Cromwell. Lastly there was a very small contingent of extremists, +Zwinglians and Anabaptists, all classed together as blasphemers and as +social agitators. Their chief notes were the variety of their opinions +and the unanimity of their persecution by all other parties. Some of +them were men of intelligible social and religious tenets; others +furnished the "lunatic fringe" of the reform movement. The +proclamation banishing them from England [Sidenote: 1538] on pain of +death merely continued the previous practice of the government. + +The fall of the Cromwell ministry, if it may be so termed by modern +analogy, was followed by a government in which Henry acted as his own +prime minister. {309} He had made good his boast that if his shirt +knew his counsel he would strip it off.[1] Two of his great ministers +he had cast down for being too Catholic, one for being too Protestant. +Having procured laws enabling him to burn Romanists as traitors and +Lutherans as heretics, he established a regime of pure Anglicanism, the +only genuine Anglican Catholicism, however much it may have been +imitated in after centuries, that ever existed. + +[Sidenote: Anti-protestant measures] + +Measures were at once taken towards suppressing the Protestants and +their Bible. One of the first martyrs was Robert Barnes, a personal +friend of Luther. Much stir was created by the burning, some years +later, of a gentlewoman named Anne Askewe and of three men, at +Smithfield. The revulsion naturally caused by this cruelty prepared +the people for the Protestant rule of Edward. The Bible was also +attacked. The translation of 1539 was examined by Convocation in 1540 +and criticized for not agreeing more closely with the Latin. In 1543 +all marginal notes were obliterated and the lower classes forbidden to +read the Bible at all. + +Henry's reign ended as it began with war on France and Scotland, but +with little success. The government was put to dire straits to raise +money. A forced loan of 10 per cent. on property was exacted in 1542 +and repudiated by law the next year. An income tax rising from four +pence to two shillings in the pound on goods and from eight pence to +three shillings on revenue from land, was imposed. Crown lands were +sold or mortgaged. The last and most disastrous expedient was the +debasement of the coinage, the old equivalent of the modern issue of +irredeemable paper. As a consequence of this prices rose enormously. + + +[1] The metaphor came from Erasmus, _De lingua_, 1525, _Opera_, iv, +682, where the words are attributed to Caecilius Metellus. + + +{310} + +SECTION 2. THE REFORMATION UNDER EDWARD VI. 1547-1553 + +[Sidenote: Accession of Edward VI, January 28, 1547] + +The real test of the popularity of Henry's double revolution, +constitutional and religious, came when England was no longer guided by +his strong personality, but was ruled by a child and governed by a weak +and shifting regency. It is significant that, whereas the prerogative +of the crown was considerably relaxed, though substantially handed on +to Edward's stronger successors, the Reformation proceeded at +accelerated pace. + +[Sidenote: Somerset Regent] + +Henry himself, not so much to insure further change as to safeguard +that already made, appointed Reformers as his son's tutors and made the +majority of the Council of Regency Protestant. The young king's +maternal uncle, Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford, was chosen by the +council as Protector and created Duke of Somerset. [Sidenote: 1547] +Mildness was the characteristic of his rule. He ignored Henry's +treason and heresy acts even before they had been repealed. + +[Sidenote: Repeal of treason and heresy laws] + +The first general election was held with little government +interference. Parliament may be assumed to have expressed the will of +the nation when it repealed Henry's treason and heresy laws, the +ancient act _De Haeretico comburendo_, the Act of the Six Articles, and +the Statute of Proclamations. + +To ascertain exactly what, at a given time, is the "public opinion" of +a political group, is one of the most difficult tasks of the +historian.[1] Even nowadays it is certain that the will of the +majority is frequently not reflected either in the acts of the +legislature or in the newspaper press. It cannot even be said that the +wishes of the majority are always public opinion. In expressing the +voice of the people there is generally some section more vocal, more +powerful on account {311} of wealth or intelligence, and more deeply in +earnest than any other; and this minority, though sometimes a +relatively small one, imposes its will in the name of the people and +identifies its voice with the voice of God. + +[Sidenote: Protestant public opinion] + +Therefore, when we read the testimony of contemporaries that the +majority of England was still Catholic by the middle of the sixteenth +century, a further analysis of popular opinion must be made to account +for the apparently spontaneous rush of the Reformation. Some of these +estimates are doubtless exaggerations, as that of Paget who wrote in +1549 that eleven Englishmen out of twelve were Catholics. But +conceding, as we must, that a considerable majority was still +anti-Protestant, it must be remembered that this majority included most +of the indifferent and listless and almost all those who held their +opinions for no better reason than they had inherited them and refused +the trouble of thinking about them. Nearly the solid north and west, +the country districts and the unrepresented and mute proletariat of the +cities, counted as Catholic but hardly counted for anything else. The +commercial class of the towns and the intellectual class, which, though +relatively small, then as now made public opinion as measured by all +ordinary tests, was predominantly and enthusiastically Protestant. + +If we analyse the expressed wishes of England, we shall find a mixture +of real religious faith and of worldly, and sometimes discreditable, +motives. A new party always numbers among its constituency not only +those who love its principles but those who hate its opponents. With +the Protestants were a host of allies varying from those who detested +Rome to those who repudiated all religion. Moreover every successful +party has a number of hangers-on for the sake of political spoils, and +some who follow its fortunes {312} with no purpose save to fish in +troubled waters. + +But whatever their constituency or relative numbers, the Protestants +now carried all before them. In the free religious debate that +followed the death of Henry, the press teemed with satires and +pamphlets, mostly Protestant. From foreign parts flocked allies, while +the native stock of literary ammunition was reinforced by German and +Swiss books. In the reign of Edward there were three new translations +of Luther's books, five of Melanchthon's, two of Zwingli's, two of +Oecolampadius's, three of Bullinger's and four of Calvin's. Many +English religious leaders were in correspondence with Bullinger, many +with Calvin, and some with Melanchthon. Among the prominent European +Protestants called to England during this reign were Bucer and Fagius +of Germany, Peter Martyr and Bernardino Ochino of Italy, and the Pole +John Laski. + +The purification of the churches began promptly. [Sidenote: 1547] +Images, roods and stained glass windows were destroyed, while the +buildings were whitewashed on the inside, properly to express the +austerity of the new cult. Evidence shows that these acts, +countenanced by the government, were popular in the towns but not in +the country districts. + +[Sidenote: Book of Common Prayer, 1549] + +Next came the preparation of an English liturgy. The first Book of +Common Prayer was the work of Cranmer. Many things in it, including +some of the most beautiful portions, were translations from the Roman +Breviary; but the high and solemn music of its language must be +credited to the genius of its translator. Just as the English Bible +popularized the Reformation, so the English Prayer Book strengthened +and broadened the hold of the Anglican church. Doctrinally, it was a +compromise between Romanism, Lutheranism and Calvinism. Its use was +enforced by the Act of Uniformity, [Sidenote: 1549] {313} the first and +mildest of the statutes that bore that name. Though it might be +celebrated in Greek, Latin or Hebrew as well as in English, priests +using any other service were punished with loss of benefices and +imprisonment. + +At this time there must have been an unrecorded struggle in the Council +of Regency between the two religious parties, followed by the victory +of the innovators. [Sidenote: End of 1549] The pace of the +Reformation was at once increased; between 1550 and 1553 England gave +up most of what was left of distinctively medieval Catholicism. For +one thing, the marriage of priests was now legalized. [Sidenote: +Accelerated Reformation] That public opinion was hardly prepared for +this as yet is shown by the act itself in which celibacy of the clergy +is declared to be the better condition, and marriage only allowed to +prevent vice. The people still regarded priests' wives much as +concubines and the government spoke of clergymen as "sotted with their +wives and children." There is one other bit of evidence, of a most +singular character, showing that this and subsequent Acts of Uniformity +were not thoroughly enforced. The test of orthodoxy came to be taking +the communion occasionally according to the Anglican rite. This was at +first expected of everyone and then demanded by law; but the law was +evaded by permitting a conscientious objector to hire a substitute to +take communion for him. + +In 1552 the Prayer Book was revised in a Protestant sense. Bucer had +something to do with this revision, and so did John Knox. Little was +now left of the mass, nothing of private confession or anointing the +sick. Further steps were the reform of the Canon Law and the +publication of the Forty-two Articles of Religion. These were drawn up +by Cranmer on the basis of thirteen articles agreed upon by a +conference of three English Bishops, four English doctors, and two +German missionaries, Boyneburg and Myconius, in {314} May, 1538. +Cranmer hoped to make his statement irenic; and in fact it contained +some Roman and Calvinistic elements, but in the main it was Lutheran. +Justification by faith was asserted; only two sacraments were retained. +Transubstantiation was denounced as repugnant to Scripture and private +masses as "dangerous impostures." The real presence was maintained in +a Lutheran sense: the bread was said to be the Body of Christ, and the +wine the Blood of Christ, but only after a heavenly and spiritual +manner. It was said that by Christ's ordinance the sacrament is not +reserved, carried about, lifted up, or worshipped. + +A reform of the clergy was also undertaken, and was much needed. In +1551 Bishop Hooper found in his diocese of 311 clergymen, 171 could not +repeat the Ten Commandments, ten could not say the Lord's Prayer in +English, seven could not tell who was its author, and sixty-two were +absentees, chiefly because of pluralities. + +The notable characteristic of the Edwardian Reformation was its +mildness. There were no Catholic martyrs. It is true that heretics +coming under the category of blasphemers or deniers of Christianity +could still be put to death by common law, and two men were actually +executed for speculations about the divinity of Christ, but such cases +were wholly exceptional. + +[Sidenote: Social disorders] + +The social disorders of the time, coming to a head, seemed to threaten +England with a rising of the lower classes similar to the Peasants' War +of 1525 in Germany. The events in England prove that, however much +these ebullitions might be stimulated by the atmosphere of the +religious change, they wore not the direct result of the new gospel. +In the west of England and in Oxfordshire the lower classes rebelled +{315} under the leadership of Catholic priests; in the east the rising, +known as Kett's rebellion, took on an Anabaptist character. The real +causes of discontent were the same in both cases. The growing wealth +of the commercial classes had widened the gap between rich and poor. +The inclosures continued to be a grievance, by the ejection of small +tenants and the appropriation of common lands. But by far the greatest +cause of hardship to the poor was the debasement of the coinage. +Wheat, barley, oats and cattle rose in price to two or three times +their previous cost, while wages, kept down by law, rose only 11 per +cent. No wonder that the condition of the laborer had become +impossible. + +The demands of the eastern rising, centering at Norwich, bordered on +communism. The first was for the enfranchisement of all bondsmen for +the reason that Christ had made all men free. Inclosures of commons +and private property in game and fish were denounced and further +agrarian demands were voiced. The rebels committed no murder and +little sacrilege, but vented their passions by slaughtering vast +numbers of sheep. All the peasant risings were suppressed by the +government, and the economic forces continued to operate against the +wasteful agricultural system of the time and in favor of wool-growing +and manufacture. + +[Sidenote: Execution of Somerset, January 22, 1552] + +After five years under Protector Somerset there was a change of +government signalized, as usual under Henry VIII, by the execution of +the resigning minister. Somerset suffered from the unpopularity of the +new religious policy in some quarters and from that following the +peasants' rebellion in others. As usual, the government was blamed for +the economic evils of the time and for once, in having debased the +coinage, justly. Moreover the Protector had been {316} involved by +scheming rivals in the odium more than in the guilt of fratricide, for +this least bloody of all English ministers in that century, had +executed his brother, Thomas, Baron Seymour, a rash and ambitious man +rightly supposed to be plotting his own advancement by a royal marriage. + +Among the leaders of the Reformation belonging to the class of mere +adventurers, John Dudley, Earl of Warwick, was the ablest and the +worst. As the Protector held quasi-royal powers, he could only be +deposed by using the person of the young king. Warwick ingratiated +himself with Edward and brought the child of thirteen to the council. +Of course he could only speak what was taught him, but the name of +royalty had so dread a prestige that none dared disobey him. At his +command Warwick was created Duke of Northumberland, [Sidenote: +Northumberland and Suffolk] and his confederate, Henry Grey Marquis of +Dorset, was created Duke of Suffolk. A little later these men, again +using the person of the king, had Somerset tried and executed. + +The conspirators did not long enjoy their triumph. While Edward lived +and was a minor they were safe, but Edward was a consumptive visibly +declining. They had no hope of perpetuating their power save to alter +the succession, and this they tried to do. Another Earl of Warwick had +been a king-maker, why not the present one? Henry VIII's will +appointed to succeed him, in case of Edward's death without issue, (1) +Mary, (2) Elizabeth, (3) the heirs of his younger sister Mary who had +married Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk. Of this marriage there had +been born two daughters, the elder of whom, Frances, married Henry +Grey, recently created Duke of Suffolk. The issue of this marriage +were three daughters, and the eldest of them, Lady Jane Grey, was +picked by the two dukes as the heir to the throne, and was married to +{317} Northumberland's son, Guilford Dudley. The young king was now +appealed to, on the ground of his religious feeling, to alter the +succession so as to exclude not only his Catholic sister Mary but his +lukewarm sister Elizabeth in favor of the strongly Protestant Lady +Jane. Though his lawyers told him he could not alter the succession to +the crown, he intimidated them into drawing up a "devise" purporting to +do this. + + +[1] See A. L. Lowell: _Public Opinion and Popular Government_, 1914. + + +SECTION 3. THE CATHOLIC REACTION UNDER MARY. 1553-58 + +[Sidenote: Proclamation of Queen Jane, July 10, 1553] + +When Edward died on July 6, 1553, Northumberland had taken such +precautions as he could to ensure the success of his project. He had +gathered his own men at London and tried to secure help from France, +whose king would have been only too glad to involve England in civil +war. The death of the king was concealed for four days while +preparations were being made, and then Queen Jane was proclaimed. +Mary's challenge arrived the next day and she (Mary) at once began +raising an army. Had her person been secured the plot might have +succeeded, but she avoided the set snares. Charles V wished to support +her for religious reasons, but feared to excite patriotic feeling by +dispatching an army and therefore confined his intervention to +diplomatic representations to Northumberland. + +[Sidenote: Accession of Mary] + +There was no doubt as to the choice of the people. Even the strongest +Protestants hated civil turmoil more than they did Catholicism, and the +people as a whole felt instinctively that if the crown was put up as a +prize for unscrupulous politicians there would be no end of strife. +All therefore flocked to Mary, and almost without a struggle she +overcame the conspirators and entered her capital amid great rejoicing. +Northumberland, after a despicable and fruitless recantation, was +executed and so were his son and his son's wife, Queen Jane. Sympathy +was felt for her on {318} account of her youth, beauty and remarkable +talents, but none for her backers. + +The relief with which the settlement was regarded gave the new queen at +least the good will of the nation to start with. This she gradually +lost. Just as Elizabeth instinctively did the popular thing, so Mary +seemed almost by fatality to choose the worst course possible. Her +foreign policy, in the first place, was both un-English and +unsuccessful. [Sidenote: Marriage of Mary and Philip, July 25, 1554] +Almost at once Charles V proposed his son Philip as Mary's husband, +and, after about a year of negotiation, the marriage took place. The +tremendous unpopularity of this step was due not so much to hostility +to Spain, though Spain was beginning to be regarded as the national foe +rather than France, but to the fear of a foreign domination. England +had never before been ruled by a queen, if we except the disastrous +reign of Mathilda, and it was natural to suppose that Mary's husband +should have the prerogative as well as the title of king. In vain +Philip tried to disabuse the English of the idea that he was asserting +any independent claims; in some way the people felt that they were +being annexed to Spain, and they hated it. + +The religious aim of the marriage, to aid in the restoration of +Catholicism, was also disliked. Cardinal Pole frankly avowed this +purpose, declaring that + + as Christ, being heir of the world, was sent down by his + Father from the royal throne, to be at once Spouse and + Son of the Virgin Mary and to be made the Comforter + and Saviour of mankind; so, in like manner, the greatest + of all princes upon earth, the heir of his father's + kingdom, departed from his own broad and happy realms that + he, too, might come hither into this land of trouble, to be + the spouse and son of this virgin Mary . . . to aid in the + reconciliation of this people to Christ and the church. + + +For Mary herself the marriage was most unhappy. {319} She was a bride +of thirty-eight, already worn and aged by grief and care; her +bridegroom was only twenty-seven. She adored him, but he almost +loathed her and made her miserable by neglect and unfaithfulness. Her +passionate hopes for a child led her to believe and announce that she +was to have one, and her disappointment was correspondingly bitter. + +So unpopular was the marriage coupled with the queen's religious +policy, that it led to a rebellion under Sir Thomas Wyatt. Though +suppressed, it was a dangerous symptom, especially as Mary failed to +profit by the warning. Her attempts to implicate her sister Elizabeth +in the charge of treason failed. + +Had Mary's foreign policy only been strong it might have conciliated +the patriotic pride of the ever present jingo. But under her +leadership England seemed to decline almost to its nadir. The command +of the sea was lost and, as a consequence of this and of the military +genius of the Duke of Guise, Calais, held for over two centuries, was +conquered by the French. [Sidenote: 1558] With the subsequent loss of +Guines the last English outpost on the continent was reft from her. + +[Sidenote: Religious policy] + +Notwithstanding Mary's saying that "Calais" would be found in her heart +when she died, by far her deepest interest was the restoration of +Catholicism. To assist her in this task she had Cardinal Reginald +Pole, in whose veins flowed the royal blood of England and whom the +pope appointed as legate to the kingdom. Though Mary's own impulse was +to act strongly, she sensibly adopted the emperor's advice to go slowly +and, as far as possible, in legal forms. Within a month of her +succession she issued a proclamation stating her intention to remain +Catholic and her hope that her subjects would embrace the same +religion, but at the same time disclaiming the intention of forcing +them and forbidding strife and the use of {320} "those new-found +devilish terms of papist or heretic or such like." + +Elections to the first Parliament were free; it passed two noteworthy +Acts of Repeal, [Sidenote: Repeal of Reforming acts] the first +restoring the _status quo_ at the death of Henry VIII, the second +restoring the _status quo_ of 1529 on the eve of the Reformation +Parliament. This second act abolished eighteen statutes of Henry VIII +and one of Edward VI, but it refused to restore the church lands. The +fate of the confiscated ecclesiastical property was one of the greatest +obstacles, if not the greatest, in the path of reconciliation with +Rome. The pope at first insisted upon it, and Pole was deeply grieved +at being obliged to absolve sinners who kept the fruits of their sins. +But the English, as the Spanish ambassador Renard wrote, "would rather +get themselves massacred than let go" the abbey lands. The very +Statute of Repeal, therefore, that in other respects met Mary's +demands, carefully guarded the titles to the secularized lands, making +all suits relating to them triable only in crown courts. + +The second point on which Parliament, truly representing a large +section of public opinion, was obstinate, was in the refusal to +recognize the papal supremacy. The people as a whole cared not what +dogma they were supposed to believe, but they for the most part +cordially hated the pope. They therefore agreed to pass the acts of +repeal only on condition that nothing was said about the royal +supremacy. To Mary's insistence they returned a blank refusal to act +and she was compelled to wait "while Parliament debated articles that +might well puzzle a general council," as a contemporary wrote. + +Lords and Commons were quite willing to pass acts to strengthen the +crown and then to leave the responsibility {321} for further action to +it. Thus the divorce of Henry and Catharine of Aragon was repealed and +the Revival of treason laws were revived. [Sidenote: Revival of +treason laws] Going even beyond the limit of Henry VIII it was made +treason to "pray or desire" that God would shorten the queen's days. +Worse than that, Parliament revived the heresy laws. It is a strange +comment on the nature of legislatures that they have so often, as in +this case, protected property better than life, and made money more +sacred than conscience. However, it was not Parliament but the +executive that carried out to its full extent the policy of persecution +and religious reaction. + +The country soon showed its opposition. A temporary disarray that +might have been mistaken for disintegration had been produced in the +Protestant ranks by the recantation of Northumberland. The restoration +of the mass was accomplished in orderly manner in most places. The +English formulas had been patient of a Catholic interpretation, and +doubtless many persons regarded the change from one liturgy to the +other as a matter of slight importance. Moreover the majority made a +principle of conformity to the government, believing that an act of the +law relieved the conscience of the individual of responsibility. But +even so, there was a large minority of recusants. Of 8800 beneficed +clergy in England, 2000 were ejected for refusal to comply. A very +large number fled to the Continent, forming colonies at +Frankfort-on-the-Main and at Geneva and scattering in other places. +The opinion of the imperial ambassador Renard that English Protestants +depended entirely on support from abroad was tolerably true for this +reign, for their books continued to be printed abroad, and a few +further translations from foreign reformers were made. It is +noteworthy that these mostly treat of the {322} question, then so much +in debate, whether Protestants might innocently attend the mass. + +Other expressions of the temper of the people were the riots in London. +On the last day of the first Parliament a dog with a tonsured crown, a +rope around its neck and a writing signifying that priests and bishops +should be hung, was thrown through a window into the queen's presence +chamber. At another time a cat was found tonsured, surpliced, and with +a wafer in its mouth in derision of the mass. The perpetrators of +these outrages could not be found. + +[Sidenote: Passive resistance] + +A sterner, though passive, resistance to the government was gloriously +evinced when stake and rack began to do their work. Mary was totally +unprepared for the strength of Protestant feeling in the country. She +hoped a few executions would strike terror into the hearts of all and +render further persecution unnecessary. But from the execution of the +first martyr, John Rogers, it was plain that the people sympathized +with the victims rather than feared their fate. Not content with +warring on the living, Mary even broke the sleep of the dead.[1] The +bodies of Bucer and Fagius were dug up and burned. The body of Peter +Martyr's wife was also exhumed, though, as no evidence of heresy could +be procured, it was thrown on a dunghill to rot. + +[Sidenote: Martyrs, October 16, 1555] + +The most famous victims were Latimer, Ridley and Cranmer. The first +two were burnt alive together, Latimer at the stake comforting his +friend by assuring him, "This day we shall light such a candle, by +God's grace, in England, as I trust, shall never be put out." A +special procedure was reserved for Cranmer, as primate. Every effort +was made to get him to recant. He at first signed four submissions +recognizing the {323} power of the pope as and if restored by +Parliament. He then signed two real recantations, and finally drew up +a seventh document, repudiating his recantations, re-affirming his +faith in the Protestant doctrine of the sacraments and denouncing the +pope. By holding his right hand in the fire, when he was burned at the +stake, he testified his bitter repentance for its act in signing the +recantations. [Sidenote: March 21, 1556] + +The total number of martyrs in Mary's reign fell very little, if at +all, short of 300. The lists of them are precise and circumstantial. +The geographical distribution is interesting, furnishing, as it does, +the only statistical information available in the sixteenth century for +the spread of Protestantism. It graphically illustrates the fact, so +often noticed before, that the strongholds of the new opinions were the +commercial towns of the south and east. If a straight line be drawn +from the Wash to Portsmouth, passing about twenty miles west of London, +it will roughly divide the Protestant from the Catholic portions of +England. Out of 290 martyrdoms known, 247 took place east of this +line, that is, in the city of London and the counties of Essex, +Hertford, Kent, Sussex, Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridge. Thirteen are +recorded in the south center, at Winchester and Salisbury, eleven at +the western ports of the Severn, Bristol and Gloucester. There were +three in Wales, all on the coast at St. David's; one in the +south-western peninsula at Exeter, a few in the midlands, and not one +north of Lincolnshire and Cheshire. + +When it is said that the English changed their religion easily, this +record of heroic opposition must be remembered to the contrary. Mary's +reign became more and more hateful to her people until at last it is +possible that only the prospect of its speedy termination prevented a +rebellion. The popular epithet of {324} "bloody" rightly distinguishes +her place in the estimate of history. It is true that her persecution +sinks into insignificance compared with the holocausts of victims to +the inquisition in the Netherlands. But the English people naturally +judged by their own history, and in all of that such a reign of terror +was unexampled. The note of Mary's reign is sterility and its +achievement was to create, in reaction to the policy then pursued, a +ferocious and indelible hatred of Rome. + + +[1] The canon law forbade the burial of heretics in consecrated ground, +but it is said that Charles V refused to dig up Luther's body when he +took Wittenberg. + + +SECTION 4. THE ELIZABETHAN SETTLEMENT. 1558-88. + +[Sidenote: Elizabeth, 1558-1603] + +However numerous and thorny were the problems pressed for solution into +the hands of the maiden of twenty-five now called upon to rule England, +the greatest of all questions, that of religion, almost settled itself. +It is extremely hard to divest ourselves of the wisdom that comes after +the event and to put ourselves in the position of the men of that time +and estimate fairly the apparent feasibility of various alternatives. +But it is hard to believe that the considerations that seem so +overwhelming to us should not have forced themselves upon the attention +of the more thoughtful men of that generation. + +In the first place, while the daughter of Anne Boleyn was predestined +by heredity and breeding to oppose Rome, yet she was brought up in the +Anglican Catholicism of Henry VIII. At the age of eleven she had +translated Margaret of Navarre's _Mirror of the Sinful Soul_, a work +expressing the spirit of devotion joined with liberalism in creed and +outward conformity in cult. The rapid vicissitudes of faith in England +taught her tolerance, and her own acute intellect and practical sense +inclined her to indifference. She did not scruple to give all parties, +Catholic, Lutheran and Calvinist, the impression, when it suited her, +that she was almost in agreement with each of them. The accusation +{325} that she was "an atheist and a maintainer of atheism" [Sidenote: +1601] meant no more than that her interests were secular. She once +said that she would rather hear a thousand masses than be guilty of the +millions of crimes perpetrated by some of those who had suppressed the +mass. She liked candles, crucifixes and ritual just as she +inordinately loved personal display. And politically she learned very +early to fear the republicanism of Knox. + +[Sidenote: Most of people Catholic] + +The conservatism of Elizabeth's policy was determined also by the +consideration that, though the more intelligent and progressive classes +were Protestant, the mass of the people still clung to the Roman faith, +and, if they had no other power, had at least the _vis inertiae_. +Accurate figures cannot be obtained, but a number of indications are +significant. In 1559 Convocation asserted the adherence of the clergy +to the ancient faith. Maurice Clenoch estimated in 1561 that the +majority of the people would welcome foreign intervention in favor of +Mary Stuart and the old faith. Nicholas Sanders, a contemporary +Catholic apologist, said that the common people of that period were +divided into three classes: husbandmen, shepherds and mechanics. The +first two classes he considered entirely Catholic; the third class, he +said, were not tainted with schism as a whole, but only in some parts, +those, namely of sedentary occupation such as weavers, cobblers and +some lazy "aulici," _i.e._ servants and humble retainers of the great. +The remote parts of the kingdom, he added, were least tainted with +heresy and, as the towns were few and small, he estimated that less +than one per cent. of the population was Protestant. Though these +figures are a tremendous exaggeration of the proportion of Catholics, +some support may be found for them in the information sent to the Curia +in 1567 that 32 English nobles were Catholic, 20 {326} well affected to +the Catholics and 15 Protestants. Only slightly different is the +report sent in 1571 that at that time 33 English peers were Catholic, +15 doubtful and 16 heretical. As a matter of fact, in religious +questions we find that the House of Lords would have been Catholic but +for the bishops, a solid phalanx of government nominees. + +[Sidenote: But most powerful class Protestants] + +But if the masses were Catholic, the strategically situated classes +were Reformed. The first House of Commons of Elizabeth proved by its +acts to be strongly Protestant. The assumption generally made that it +was packed by the government has been recently exploded. Careful +testing shows that there was hardly any government interference. Of +the 390 members, 168 had sat in earlier Parliaments of Mary, and that +was just the normal proportion of old members. It must be remembered +that the parliamentary franchise approached the democratic only in the +towns, the strongholds of Protestantism, and that in the small boroughs +and in some of the counties the election was determined by just that +middle class most progressive and at this time most Protestant. + +Another test of the temper of the country is the number of clergy +refusing the oath of supremacy. Out of a total number of about nine +thousand only about two hundred lost their livings as recusants, and +most of these were Mary's appointees. + +The same impression of Protestantism is given by the literature of the +time. The fifty-six volumes of Elizabethan divinity published by the +Parker Society testify to the number of Reformation treaties, tracts, +hymns and letters of this period. During the first thirty years of +Elizabeth's reign there were fifteen new translations of Luther's +works, not counting a number of reprints, two new translations from +Melanchthon, thirteen from Bullinger and thirty-four from Calvin. +{327} Notwithstanding this apparently large foreign influence, the +English Reformation at this time resumed the national character +temporarily lost during Mary's reign. John Jewel's _Apologia Ecclesiae +Anglicanae_ [Sidenote: 1562] has been called by Creighton, "the first +methodical statement of the position of the church of England against +the church of Rome, and the groundwork of all subsequent controversy." + +Finally, most of the prominent men of the time, and most of the rising +young men, were Protestants. The English sea-captains, wolves of the +sea as they were, found it advisable to disguise themselves in the +sheep's clothing of zeal against the idolater. More creditable to the +cause was the adherence of men like Sir William Cecil, later Lord +Burghley, a man of cool judgment and decent conversation. Coverdale, +still active, was made a bishop. John Foxe published, all in the +interests of his faith, the most popular and celebrated history of the +time. Roger Ascham, Elizabeth's tutor, still looked to Lutheran +Germany as "a place where Christ's doctrine, the fear of God, +punishment of sin, and discipline of honesty were held in special +regard." Edmund Spenser's great allegory, as well as some of his minor +poems, were largely inspired by Anglican and Calvinistic purposes. + +[Sidenote: Conversion of the masses] + +It was during Elizabeth's reign that the Roman Catholics lost the +majority they claimed in 1558 and became the tiny minority they have +ever since remained. The time and to some extent the process through +which this came to pass can be traced with fair accuracy. In 1563 the +policy of the government, till then wavering, became more decided, +indicating that the current had begun to set in favor of Protestantism. +The failure of the Northern rising and of the papal bull in 1569-70, +indicated the weakness of the ancient faith. In 1572 a careful +estimate of the {328} religious state of England was made by a +contemporary, [Sidenote: Carleton's estimate] who thought that of the +three classes into which he divided the population, papist, Protestant +and atheist (by which he probably meant, indifferent) the first was +smaller than either of the other two. Ten years later (1580-85) the +Jesuit mission in England claimed 120,000 converts. But in reality +these adherents were not new converts, but the remnant of Romanism +remaining faithful. If we assume, as a distinguished historian has +done, that this number included nearly all the obstinately devoted, as +the population of England and Wales was then about 4,000,000, the +proportion of Catholics was only about 3 per cent. of the total, at +which percentage it remained constant during the next century. But +there were probably a considerable number of timid Roman Catholics not +daring to make themselves known to the Jesuit mission. But even +allowing liberally for these, it is safe to say that by 1585 the +members of that church had sunk to a very small minority. + +Those who see in the conversion of the English people the result merely +of government pressure must explain two inconvenient facts. The first +is that the Puritans, who were more strongly persecuted than the +papists, waxed mightily notwithstanding. The second is that, during +the period when the conversion of the masses took place, there were no +martyrdoms and there was little persecution. The change was, in fact, +but the inevitable completion and consequence of the conversion of the +leaders of the people earlier. With the masses, doubtless, the full +contrast between the old and the new faiths was not realized. +Attending the same churches if not the same church, using a liturgy +which some hoped would obtain papal sanction, and ignorant of the +changes made in translation from the Latin ritual, the uneducated did +not trouble themselves {329} about abstruse questions of dogma or even +about more obvious matters such as the supremacy of the pope and the +marriage of the clergy. Moreover, there were strong positive forces +attracting them to the Anglican communion. They soon learned to love +the English prayer-book, and the Bible became so necessary that the +Catholics were obliged to produce a version of their own. English +insularity and patriotism drew them powerfully to the bosom of their +own peculiar communion. + +[Sidenote: Elizabeth's policy] + +Though we can now see that the forces drawing England to the +Reformation were decisive, the policy of Elizabeth was at first +cautious. The old services went on until Parliament had spoken. As +with Henry VIII, so with this daughter of his, scrupulous legality of +form marked the most revolutionary acts. Elizabeth had been proclaimed +"Queen of England, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith &c," this +"&c" being chosen to stand in place of the old title "Supreme Head of +the Church," thus dodging the question of its assumption or omission. +Parliament, however, very soon passed supremacy and uniformity acts to +supply the needed sanction. The former repealed Philip and Mary's +Heresy Act and Repealing Statute, revived ten acts of Henry VIII and +one of Edward VI, but confirmed the repeal of six acts of Henry VIII. +Next, Parliament proceeded to seize the episcopal lands. Its spirit +was just as secular as that of Henry's Parliaments, only there was less +ecclesiastical property left to grab. + +The Book of Common Prayer was revised by introducing into the recension +of 1552 a few passages from the first edition of 1549, previously +rejected as too Catholic. Three of the Forty-two Articles of Religion +of Edward were dropped, [Sidenote: The Thirty-nine Articles 1563] thus +making the Thirty-nine Articles that have ever since been the +authoritative {330} statement of Anglican doctrine. Thus it is true to +some extent that the Elizabethan settlement was a compromise. It took +special heed of various parties, and tried to avoid offence to +Lutherans, Zwinglians, and even to Roman Catholics. But far more than +a compromise, it was a case of special development. As it is usually +compared with the English Dissenting sects, the church of England is +often said to be the most conservative of the reformed bodies. It is +often said that it is Protestant in doctrine and Catholic in ritual and +hierarchy. But compared with the Lutheran church it is found to be if +anything further from Rome. In fact the Anglicans of the sixteenth and +seventeenth centuries abhorred the Lutherans as "semi-papists." + +[Sidenote: The Church of England] + +And yet the Anglican church was like the Lutheran not only in its +conservatism as compared with Calvinism, but in its political aspects. +Both became the strong allies of the throne; both had not only a +markedly national but a markedly governmental quality. Just as the +Reformation succeeded in England by becoming national in opposition to +Spain, and remaining national in opposition to French culture, so the +Anglican church naturally became a perfect expression of the English +character. Moderate, decorous, detesting extremes of speculation and +enthusiasm, she cares less for logic than for practical convenience. + +Closely interwoven with the religious settlement were the questions of +the heir to the throne [Sidenote: Succession] and of foreign policy. +Elizabeth's life was the only breakwater that stood between the people +and a Catholic, if not a disputed, succession. The nearest heir was +Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, a granddaughter of Margaret Tudor, Henry +VIII's sister. As a Catholic and a Frenchwoman, half by race and +wholly by her first marriage to Francis II, she would have been most +{331} distasteful to the ruling party in England. Elizabeth was +therefore desired and finally urged by Parliament to marry. Her +refusal to do this has been attributed to some hidden cause, as her +love for Leicester or the knowledge that she was incapable of bearing a +child. But though neither of these hypotheses can be disproved, +neither is necessary to account for her policy. It is true that it +would have strengthened her position to have had a child to succeed +her; but it would have weakened her personal sway to have had a +husband. She wanted to rule as well as to reign. Her many suitors +were encouraged just sufficiently to flatter her vanity and to attain +her diplomatic ends. First, her brother-in-law Philip sought her hand, +and was promptly rejected as a Spanish Catholic. Then, there was +Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, apparently her favorite in spite of +his worthless character, but his rank was not high enough. Then, there +were princes of Sweden and Denmark, an Archduke of Austria and two sons +of Catharine de' Medici's. The suit of one of the latter began when +Elizabeth was thirty-nine years old and he was nineteen [Sidenote: +1566] and continued for ten years with apparent zest on both sides. +Parliament put all the pressure it could upon the queen to make her +flirtations end in matrimony, but it only made Elizabeth angry. Twice +she forbade discussion of the matter, and, though she afterwards +consented to hear the petition, she was careful not to call another +Parliament for five years. + +[Sidenote: Financial measures] + +Vexatious financial difficulties had been left to Elizabeth. Largely +owing to the debasement of the currency royal expenditure had risen +from L56,000 per annum at the end of Henry's reign to L345,000 in the +last year of Mary's reign. The government's credit was in a bad way, +and the commerce of the kingdom deranged. [Sidenote: 1560] By the +wise expedient of calling in the {332} debased coins issued since 1543, +the hardest problems were solved. + +[Sidenote: Underhand war] + +Towards France and Spain Elizabeth's policy was one well described by +herself as "underhand war." English volunteers, with government +connivance, but nominally on their own responsibility, fought in the +ranks of Huguenots and Netherlanders. Torrents of money poured from +English churches to support their fellow-Protestants in France and +Holland. English sailors seized Spanish galleons; if successful the +queen secretly shared the spoil; but if they were caught they might be +hanged as pirates by Philip or Alva. This condition, unthinkable now, +was allowed by the inchoate state of international law; the very idea +of neutrality was foreign to the time. States were always trying to +harm and overreach each other in secret ways. In Elizabethan England +the anti-papal and anti-Spanish ardor of the mariners made possible +this buccaneering without government support, had not the rich prizes +themselves been enough to attract the adventurous. Doubtless far more +energy went into privateering than into legitimate commerce. + +Peace was officially made with France, recognizing the surrender of +Calais at first for a limited period of years. Though peace was still +nominally kept with Spain for a long time, the shift of policy from one +of hostility to France to one of enmity to Spain was soon manifest. As +long, however, as the government relied chiefly on the commercial +interests of the capital and other large towns, and as long as Spain +controlled the Netherlands, open war was nearly impossible, for it +would have been extremely unpopular with the merchants of both London +and the Low Countries. In times of crisis, however, [Sidenote: 1569] +an embargo was laid on all trade with Philip's dominions. + +Elizabeth's position was made extremely delicate by {333} the fact that +the heiress to her throne was the Scotch Queen Mary Stuart, who, since +1568, had been a refugee in England and had been kept in a sort of +honorable captivity. On account of her religion she became the center +of the hopes and of the actual machinations of all English malcontents. +In these plots she participated as far as she dared. + +[Sidenote: The Catholic Powers] + +Elizabeth's crown would have been jeoparded had the Catholic powers, or +any one of them, acted promptly. That they did not do so is proof, +partly of their mutual jealousies, party of the excellence of Cecil's +statesmanship. Convinced though he was that civil peace could only be +secured by religious unity, for five years he played a hesitating game +in order to hold off the Catholics until his power should be strong +enough to crush them. By a system of espionage, by permitting only +nobles and sailors to leave the kingdom without special licence, by +welcoming Dutch Protestant refugees, he clandestinely fostered the +strength of his party. His scheme was so far successful that the pope +hesitated more than eleven years before issuing the bull of +deprivation. For this Elizabeth had also to thank the Catholic +Hapsburgs; in the first place Philip who then hoped to marry her, and +in the second place the Emperor Ferdinand who said that if Elizabeth +were excommunicated the German Catholics would suffer for it and that +there were many German Protestant princes who deserved the ban as much +as she did. + +Matters were clarified by the calling of the Council of Trent. Asked +to send an embassy to this council Elizabeth refused for three reasons: +(1) because she had not been consulted about calling the council; (2) +because she did not consider it free, pious and Christian; (3) because +the pope sought to stir up sedition in her realms. The council replied +to this snub by excommunicating her, but it is a significant sign of +the {334} times that neither they nor the pope as yet dared to use +spiritual weapons to depose her, as the pope endeavored to do a few +years later. + +[Sidenote: Anti-Catholic laws] + +Whether as a reply to this measure or not, Parliament passed more +stringent laws against Catholics. Cecil's policy, inherited from +Thomas Cromwell, to centralize and unify the state, met with threefold +opposition; first from the papists who disliked nationalizing the +church, second from the holders of medieval franchises who objected to +their absorption in a centripetal system, and third from the old nobles +who resented their replacement in the royal council by upstarts. All +these forces produced a serious crisis in the years 1569-70. The +north, as the stronghold of both feudalism and Catholicism, led the +reaction. The Duke of Norfolk, England's premier peer, plotted with +the northern earls to advance Mary's cause, and thought of marrying her +himself. Pope Pius V warmly praised their scheme which culminated in a +rebellion. [Sidenote: Rebellion, 1561] The nobles and commons alike +were filled with the spirit of crusaders, bearing banners with the +cross and the five wounds of Christ. At the same time they voiced the +grievance of the old-fashioned farmer against the new-fangled merchant. +Their banners inscribed "God speed the plough" bear witness to the +agrarian element common to so many revolts. Their demands were the +restoration of Catholicism, intervention in Scotland to put Mary back +on her throne, and her recognition as heiress of England, and the +expulsion of foreign refugees. Had they been able to secure Mary's +person or had the Scotch joined them, it is probable that they would +have seceded from the south of England. + +But the new Pilgrimage of Grace was destined to no more success than +the old one. Moray, Regent of Scotland, forcibly prevented assistance +going to the {335} rebels from North Britain. Elizabeth prepared an +overwhelming army, but it was not needed. The rebels, seeing the +hopelessness of their cause, dispersed and were pursued by an exemplary +punishment, no less than eight hundred being executed. Three years +later Norfolk trod the traitor's path to the scaffold. His death +sealed the ruin of the old nobility whose privileges were incompatible +with the new regime. In the same year a parliamentary agitation in +favor of the execution of Mary witnessed how dead were medieval titles +to respect. + +[Sidenote: Papal Bull, February 25, 1570] + +Too late to have much effect, Pius V issued the bull _Regnans in +excelsis_, declaring that whereas the Roman pontiff has power over all +nations and kingdoms to destroy and ruin or to plant and build up, and +whereas Elizabeth, the slave of vice, has usurped the place of supreme +head of the church, has sent her realm to perdition and has celebrated +the impious mysteries of Calvin, therefore she is cut off from the body +of Christ and deprived of her pretended right to rule England, while +all her subjects are absolved from their oaths of allegiance. The bull +also reasserted Elizabeth's illegitimacy, and echoed the complaint of +the northern earls that she had expelled the old nobility from her +council. The promulgation of the bull, without the requisite warning +and allowance of a year for repentance, was contrary to the canon law. + +The fulmination was sent to Alva to the Netherlands and a devotee was +found to carry it to England. Forthwith Elizabeth issued a masterly +proclamation vouchsafing that, + + her majesty would have all her loving subjects to + understand that, as long as they shall openly continue in + the observation of her laws, and shall not wilfully and + manifestly break them by open actions, her majesty's means + is not to have any of them molested by any inquisition or + {336} + examination of their consciences in causes of religion, but + to accept and entreat them as her good and obedient subjects. + +But to obviate the contamination of her people by political views +expressed in the bull, [Sidenote: Anti-papal laws] and to guard against +the danger of a further rising in the interests of Mary Stuart, the +Parliament of 1571 passed several necessary laws. One of these forbade +bringing the bull into England; another made it treasonable to declare +that Elizabeth was not or ought not to be queen or that she was a +heretic, usurper or schismatic. + +The first seventeen years of Elizabeth's reign had been blessedly free +from persecution. The increasing strain between England and the papacy +was marked by a number of executions of Romanists. A recent Catholic +estimate is that the total number of this faith who suffered under +Elizabeth was 189, of whom 128 were priests, 58 laymen and three women; +and to this should be added 32 Franciscans who died in prison of +starvation. The contrast of 221 victims in Elizabeth's forty-five +years as against 290 in Mary's five years, is less important than the +different purpose of the government. Under Mary the executions were +for heresy; under Elizabeth chiefly for treason. It is true that the +whole age acted upon Sir Philip Sidney's maxim that it was the highest +wisdom of statesmanship never to separate religion from politics. +Church and state were practically one and the same body, and opinions +repugnant to established religion naturally resulted in acts inimical +to the civil order. But the broad distinction is plain. Cecil put men +to death not because he detested their dogma but because he feared +their politics. + +Nothing proves more clearly the purposes of the English government than +its long duel with the Jesuit mission. [Sidenote: Jesuit mission] It +is unfair to say that the primary purpose {337} of the Curia was to get +all the privileges of loyalty for English Catholics while secretly +inciting them to rise and murder their sovereign. But the very fact +that the Jesuits were instructed not to meddle in politics and yet were +unable to keep clear of the law, proves how inextricably politics and +religion were intertwined. Immediately drawing the suspicion of +Burghley, they were put to the "bloody question" and illegally +tortured, even while the government felt called upon to explain that +they were not forced to the rack to answer "any question of their +supposed conscience" but only as to their political opinions. But one +of these opinions was whether the pope had the right to depose the +queen. + +[Sidenote: Character of Jesuits] + +The history of these years is one more example of how much more +accursed it is to persecute than to be persecuted. The Jesuits sent to +England were men of the noblest character, daring and enduring all with +fortitude, showing charity and loving-kindness even to their enemies. +But the character of their enemies correspondingly deteriorated. That +sense of fair play that is the finest English quality disappeared under +the stress of fanaticism. Not only Jesuits, but Catholic women and +children were attacked; one boy of thirteen was racked and executed as +a traitor. The persecution by public opinion supplied what the +activity of the government overlooked. In fact it was the government +that was the moderating factor. The act passed in 1585 banishing the +Jesuits was intended to obviate sterner measures. In dealing with the +mass of the population Burghley made persecution pay its way by +resorting to fines as the principal punishment. During the last twenty +years of the reign no less than L6,000 per annum was thus collected. + +The helpless rage of the popes against "the Jezebel of the north" waxed +until one of them, Gregory XIII, {338} sanctioned an attempt at her +assassination. [Sidenote: Conspiracies] In 1580 there appeared at the +court of Madrid one Humphrey Ely, later a secular priest. He informed +the papal nunciature that some English nobles, mentioned by name, had +determined to murder Elizabeth but wished the pope's own assurance +that, in case they lost their lives in the attempt, they should not +have fallen into sin by the deed. After giving his own opinion that +the bull of Pius V gave all men the right to take arms against the +queen in any fashion, the nuncio wrote to Rome. From the papal +secretary, speaking in the pope's name, he received the following reply: + + As that guilty woman of England rules two so noble + realms of Christendom, is the cause of so much harm to + the Catholic faith, and is guilty of the loss of so many + million souls, there is no doubt that any one who puts + her out of the world with the proper intention of serving + God thereby, not only commits no sin but even wins + merit, especially seeing that the sentence of the late + Pius V is standing against her. If, therefore, these + English nobles have really decided to do so fair a work, + your honor may assure them that they commit no sin. + Also we may trust in God that they will escape all danger. + As to your own irregularity [caused to the nuncio as a + priest by conspiracy to murder] the pope sends you his + holy blessing.[1] + + +A conspiracy equally unsuccessful but more famous, because discovered +at the time, was that of Anthony Babington. Burghley's excellent +secret service apprised the government not only of the principals but +also of aid and support given to them by Philip II and Mary Queen of +Scots. Parliament petitioned for the execution of Mary. Though there +was no doubt of her guilt, Elizabeth hesitated to give the dangerous +example of sending a crowned head to the block. {339} With habitual +indirection she did her best to get Mary's jailer, Sir Amyas Paulet, to +put her to death without a warrant. Failing in this, she finally +signed the warrant, [Sidenote: Mary beheaded, February 8, 1587] but +when her council acted upon it in secret haste lest she should change +her mind, she flew into a rage and, to prove her innocence, heavily +fined and imprisoned one of the privy council whom she selected as +scapegoat. + +[Sidenote: War with Spain] + +The war with Spain is sometimes regarded as the inevitable consequence +of the religious opposition of the chief Catholic and the chief +Protestant power. But probably the war would never have gone beyond +the stage of privateering and plots to assassinate in which it remained +inchoate for so long, had it not been for the Netherlands. The +corner-stone of English policy has been to keep friendly, or weak, the +power controlling the mouths of the Rhine and the Scheldt. The war of +liberation in the Netherlands had a twofold effect; in the first place +it damaged England's best customer, and secondly, Spanish +"frightfulness" shocked the English conscience. For a long time the +policy of the queen herself was as cynically selfish as it could +possibly be. She not only watched complacently the butcheries of Alva, +but she plotted and counterplotted, now offering aid to the Prince of +Orange, now betraying his cause in a way that may have been sport to +her but was death to the men she played with. Her aim, as far as she +had a consistent one, was to allow Spain and the Netherlands to exhaust +each other. + +Not only far nobler but, as it proved in the end, far wiser, was the +action of the Puritan party that poured money and recruits into the +cause of their oppressed fellow-Calvinists. But an equally great +service to them, or at any rate a greater amount of damage to Spain, +was done by the hardy buccaneers, Hawkins and Drake, who preyed upon +the Spanish treasure {340} galleons and pillaged the Spanish +settlements in the New World. These men and their fellows not only cut +the sinews of Spain's power but likewise built the fleet. + +[Sidenote: England's sea power] + +The eventual naval victory of England was preceded by a long course of +successful diplomacy. As the aggressor England forced the haughtiest +power in Europe to endure a protracted series of outrages. Not only +were rebels supported, not only were Spanish fleets taken forcibly into +English harbors and there stripped of moneys belonging to their +government, but refugees were protected and Spanish citizens put to +death by the English queen. Philip and Alva could not effectively +resent and hardly dared to protest against the treatment, because they +felt themselves powerless. As so often, the island kingdom was +protected by the ocean and by the proved superiority of her seamen. +After a score of petty fights all the way from the Bay of Biscay to the +Pacific Ocean, Spanish sailors had no desire for a trial of strength in +force. + +But in every respect save in sea power Spain felt herself immeasurably +superior to her foe. Her wealth, her dominions, recently augmented by +the annexation of Portugal, were enormous; her army had been tried in a +hundred battles. England's force was doubtless underestimated. An +Italian expert stated that an army of 10,000 to 12,000 foot and 2,000 +horse would be sufficient to conquer her. Even to the last it was +thought that an invader would be welcomed by a large part of the +population, for English refugees never wearied of picturing the hatred +of the people for their queen. + +But the decision was long postponed for two reasons. First, Spain was +fully employed in subduing the Netherlands. Secondly, the Catholic +powers hoped for the accession of Mary. But after the assassination of +Orange in 1584, and after the execution of the Queen {341} of Scots, +these reasons for delay no longer existed. Drake carried the naval war +[Sidenote: 1585] to the coasts of Spain and to her colonies. The +consequent bankruptcy of the Bank of Seville and the wounded national +pride brought home to Spaniards the humiliation of their position. All +that Philip could do was to pray for help and to forbid the importation +of English wares. [Sidenote: April 1587] In reply Drake fell upon the +harbor of Cadiz and destroyed twenty-four or more warships and vast +military stores. + +So at last the decision was taken to crush the one power that seemed to +maintain the Reformation, to uphold the Huguenots and the Dutch +patriots and to harry with impunity the champions of Catholicism. Pope +Sixtus V, not wishing to hazard anything, promised a subsidy of +1,000,000 crowns of gold, the first half payable on the landing of the +Spanish army, the second half two months later. Save this, Philip had +no promise of help from any Catholic power. + +The huge scale of his preparations was only equaled by their vast lack +of intelligence, insuring defeat from the first. The type of ship +adopted was the old galley, intended to ram and grapple the enemy but +totally unfitted for manoeuvring in the Atlantic gales. The 130 ships +carried 2500 guns, but the artillery, though numerous, was small, +intended rather to be used against the enemy crews than against the +ships themselves. The necessary geographical information for the +invasion of Britain in the year 1588 was procured from Caesar's _De +Bello Gallico_. The admiral in chief, the Duke of Medina Sidonia, had +never even commanded a ship before and most of the high officers were +equally innocent of professional knowledge, for sailors were despised +as inferior to soldiers. Three-fourths of the crews were soldiers, all +but useless in naval warfare of the new type. Blind zeal did little to +supply the lack {342} of foresight, though Philip spent hours on his +knees before the host in intercession for the success of his venture. +The very names of the ships, though quite in accordance with Spanish +practice, seem symbolic of the holy character of the crusade: _Santa +Maria de Gracia, Neustra Senora del Rosario, San Juan Baptista, La +Concepcion_. + +On the English side there was also plenty of fanatical fury, but it was +accompanied by practical sense. The grandfathers of Cromwell's +Ironsides had already learned, if they had not yet formulated, the +maxim, "Fear God and keep your powder dry." Some of the ships in the +English navy had religious names, but many were called by more secular +appellations: _The Bull, The Tiger, The Dreadnought, The Revenge_. To +meet the foe a very formidable and self-confident force of about +forty-five ships of the best sort had gathered from the well-tried +ranks of the buccaneers. It is true that patronage did some damage to +the English service, but it was little compared to that of Spain. Lord +Howard of Effingham was made admiral on account of his title, but the +vice-admiral was Sir Francis Drake, to whom the chief credit of the +action must fall. + +[Sidenote: July, 1588] + +The battle in the Channel was fought for nine days. There was no +general strategy or tactics; the English simply sought to isolate and +sink a ship wherever they could. Their heavier cannon were used +against the enemy, and fire-ships were sent among his vessels. When +six Spanish ships had foundered in the Channel, the fleet turned +northward to the coasts of Holland. During their flight an uncertain +number were destroyed by the English, and a few more fell a prey to the +Sea Beggars of Holland. The rest, much battered, turned north to sail +around Scotland. In the storms nineteen ships were wrecked on the +coasts of Scotland and Ireland; of thirty-five ships the Spaniards +themselves {343} could give no account. For two months Philip was in +suspense as to the fate of his great Armada, of which at last only a +riddled and battered remnant returned to home harbors. + +The importance of the victory over the Armada, like that of most +dramatic events, has been overestimated. To contemporaries, at least +to the victors and their friends it appeared as the direct judgment of +God: "Flavit Deus et dissipati sunt." The gorgeous rhetoric of Ranke +and Froude has painted it as one of the turning points in world +history. But in reality it rather marked than made an epoch. Had +Philip's ships won, it is still inconceivable that he could have +imposed his dominion on England any more than he could on the +Netherlands. England was ripening and Spain was rotting for half a +century before the collision made this fact plain to all. The Armada +did not end the war nor did it give the death blow to Spanish power, +much less to Catholicism. On the Continent of Europe things went on +almost unchanged. + +But in England the effect was considerable. The victory stimulated +national pride; it strengthened the Protestants, and the left wing of +that party. Though the Catholics had shown themselves loyal during the +crisis they were subjected, immediately thereafter, to the severest +persecution they had yet felt. This was due partly to nervous +excitement of the whole population, partly to the advance towards power +of the Puritans, always the war party. + +[Sidenote: Puritans] + +Even in the first years of the great queen there had been a number of +Calvinists who looked askance at the Anglican settlement as too much of +a compromise with Catholicism and Lutheranism. The Thirty-nine +Articles passed Convocation by a single vote [Sidenote: 1563] as +against a more Calvinistic confession. Low-churchmen (as they would +now be called) attacked the "Aaronic" {344} vestments of the Anglican +priests, and prelacy was detested as but one degree removed from papacy. + +The Puritans were not dissenters but were a party in the Anglican +communion thoroughly believing in a national church, but wishing to +make the breach with Rome as wide as possible. They found fault with +all that had been retained in the Prayer Book for which there was no +direct warrant in Scripture, and many of them began to use, in secret +conventicles, the Genevan instead of the English liturgy. Their +leader, Thomas Cartwright, [Sidenote: Cartwright, 1535-1603] a +professor of divinity at Cambridge until deprived of his chair by the +government, had brought back from the Netherlands ideals of a +presbyterian form of ecclesiastical polity. In his view many "Popish +Abuses" remained in the church of England, among them the keeping of +saints' days, kneeling at communion, "the childish and superstitious +toys" connected with the baptismal service, the words then used in the +marriage service by the man, "with my body I thee worship" by which the +husband "made an idol of his wife," the use of such titles as +archbishop, arch-deacon, lord bishop. + +It was because of their excessively scrupulous conscience in these +matters, that the name "Puritan" was given to the Calvinist by his +enemy, at first a mocking designation analogous to "Catharus" in the +Middle Ages. But the tide set strongly in the Puritan direction. Time +and again the Commons tried to initiate legislation to relieve the +consciences of the stricter party, but their efforts were blocked by +the crown. From this time forth the church of England made an alliance +with the throne that has never been broken. As Jewel had been +compelled, at the beginning of Elizabeth's reign, [Sidenote: 1562] to +defend the Anglican church against Rome, so Richard Hooker, in his +famous {345} _Ecclesiastical Polity_ [Sidenote: 1594] was now forced to +defend it from the extreme Protestants. In the very year in which this +finely tempered work was written, a Jesuit reported that the Puritans +were the strongest body in the kingdom and particularly that they had +the most officers and soldiers on their side. The coming Commonwealth +was already casting its shadow on the age of Shakespeare. + +As a moral and religious influence Puritanism was of the utmost +importance in moulding the English--and American--character and it was, +take it all in all, a noble thing. If it has been justly blamed for a +certain narrowness in its hostility, or indifference, to art and +refinement, it more than compensated for this by the moral earnestness +that it impressed on the people. To bring the genius of the Bible into +English life and literature, to impress each man with the idea of +living for duty, to reduce politics and the whole life of the state to +ethical standards, are undoubted services of Puritanism. Politically, +it favored the growth of self-reliance, self-control and a sense of +personal worth that made democracy possible and necessary. + +[Sidenote: Browne, 1550?-1633?] + +To the left of the Puritans were the Independents or Brownists as they +were called from their leader Robert Browne, the advocate of +_Reformation without Tarrying for Any_. He had been a refugee in the +Netherlands, where he may have come under Anabaptist influence. His +disciples differed from the followers of Cartwright in separating +themselves from the state church, in which they found many "filthy +traditions and inventions of men." Beginning to organize hi separate +congregations about 1567, they were said by Sir Walter Raleigh to have +as many as 20,000 adherents in 1593. Though heartily disliked by +re-actionaries and by the _beati possidentes_ in both church {346} and +state, they were, nevertheless, the party of the future. + + +[1] A. O. Meyer: _England und die katholische Kirche unter Elizabeth_, +p. 231. + + +SECTION 5. IRELAND + +If the union of England and Wales has been a marriage--after a +courtship of the primitive type; if the union with Scotland has been a +successful partnership--following a long period of cut-throat +competition; the position of Ireland has been that of a captive and a +slave. To her unwilling mind the English domination has always been a +foreign one, and this fact makes more difference with her than whether +her master has been cruel, as formerly, or kind, as of late. + +[Sidenote: English rule] + +The saddest period in all Erin's sad life was that of the sixteenth and +seventeenth centuries, when to the old antagonism of race was added a +new hatred of creed and a new commercial competition. The policy of +Henry was "to reduce that realm to the knowledge of God and obedience +of Us." The policy of Elizabeth was to pray that God might "call them +to the knowledge of his truth and to a civil polity," and to assist the +Almighty by the most fiendish means to accomplish these ends. The +government of the island was a crime, and yet for this crime some +considerations must be urged in extenuation. England then regarded the +Irish much as the Americans have seemed to regard the Indians, as +savages to be killed and driven off to make room for a higher +civilization. Had England been able to apply the method of +extermination she would doubtless have done so and there would then be +no Irish question today. But in 1540 it was recognized that "to +enterprise the whole extirpation and total destruction of all the +Irishmen in the land would be a marvellous gumptious charge and great +difficulty." + +Being unable to accomplish this or to put Ireland at {347} the bottom +of the sea, where Elizabeth's minister Walsingham often wished that it +were, the English had the alternatives of half governing or wholly +abandoning their neighbors. The latter course was felt to be too +dangerous, but had it been adopted, Ireland might have evolved an +adequate government and prosperity of her own. It is true that she was +more backward than England, but yet she had a considerable trade and +culture. [Sidenote: Irish misery] Certain points, like Dublin and +Waterford, had much commerce with the Continent. And yet, as to the +nation as a whole, the report of 1515 probably speaks true in saying: +"There is no common folk in all this world so little set by, so greatly +despised, so feeble, so poor, so greatly trodden under foot, as the +king's poor common folk of Ireland." There was no map of the whole of +Ireland; the roads were few and poor and the vaguest notions prevailed +as to the shape, size and population of the country. The most +civilized part was the English Pale around Dublin; the native Irish +lived "west of the Barrow and west of the law," and were governed by +more than sixty native chiefs. Intermarriage of colonists and natives +was forbidden by law. The only way the Tudor government knew of +asserting its suzerainty over these septs, correctly described as "the +king's Irish enemies," was to raid them at intervals, slaying, robbing +and raping as they went. It was after one of these raids in 1580 that +the poet Spencer wrote: + + The people were brought to such wretchedness that any + strong heart would have rued the same. Out of every + corner of the woods and glens they came, creeping forth + upon their hands, for their legs would not bear them. + They looked like anatomies of death; they spoke like + ghosts crying out of their graves. They did eat the dead + carrions, happy where they could find them; yea and one + {348} + another soon after, inasmuch as the very carcasses they + spared not to scrape out of their graves; and if they + found a plot of watercresses or shamrocks, there they + thronged as to a feast for a time. + + +The Irish chiefs were not to be tamed by either kindness or force. +Henry and Elizabeth scattered titles of "earl" and "lord" among the O's +and Macs of her western island, only to find that the coronet made not +the slightest difference in either their affections or their manners. +They still lived as marauding chiefs, surrounded by wild kerns and +gallowglasses fighting each other and preying on their own poor +subjects. "Let a thousand of my people die," remarked one of them, +Neil Garv, "I pass not a pin. . . . I will punish, exact, cut and hang +where and whenever I list." Had they been able to make common cause +they might perhaps have shaken the English grasp from their necks, for +it was commonly corrupt and feeble. Sir Henry Sidney was the strongest +and best governor sent to the island during the century, but he was +able to do little. Though the others could be bribed and though one of +them, the Earl of Essex, conspired with the chiefs to rebel, and though +at the very end of Elizabeth's reign a capable Spanish army landed in +Ireland to help the natives, nothing ever enabled them to turn out the +hated "Sassenach." + +[Sidenote: English colonization] + +England had already tried to solve the Irish problem by colonization. +Leinster had long been a center of English settlement, and in 1573 the +first English colony was sent to Ulster. But as it consisted chiefly +of bankrupts, fugitives from justice and others "of so corrupt a +disposition as England rather refuseth," it did not help matters much +but rather "irrecuperably damnified the state." The Irish Parliament +continued to represent only the English of the Pale and of a few towns +outside of it. Though the inhabitants of the {349} Pale remained +nominally Catholic, the Parliament was so servile that in 1541 it +destroyed the monasteries and repudiated the pope, [Sidenote: Religion] +shortly after which the king took the title of Head of the Irish +Church. Not one penny of the confiscated wealth went to endow an Irish +university until 1591, when Trinity College was founded in the +interests of Protestantism. Though almost every other country of +Europe had its own printing presses before 1500, Ireland had none until +1551, and then the press was used so exclusively for propaganda that it +made the very name of reading hateful to the natives. There were, +however, no religious massacres and no martyrs of either cause. The +persecuting laws were left until the following century. + +[Sidenote: Commercial exploitation] + +The rise of the traders to political power was more ominous than the +inception of a new religion. The country was drained of treasure by +the exaction of enormous ransoms for captured chiefs. The Irish +cloth-trade and sea-borne commerce were suppressed. The country was +flooded with inferior coin, thus putting its merchants at a vast +disadvantage. Finally, there was little left that the Irish were able +to import save liquors, and those "much corrupted." + +With every plea in mitigation of judgment that can be offered, it must +be recognized that England's government of Ireland proved a failure. +If she did not make the Irish savage she did her best to keep them so, +and then punished them for it. By exploiting Erin's resources she +impoverished herself. By trying to impose Protestantism she made +Ireland the very stronghold of papacy. By striving to destroy the +septs she created the nation. + + + + +{350} + +CHAPTER VII + +SCOTLAND + +One of the most important effects of modern means of easy communication +between all parts of the world has been to obliterate or minimize +distinctions in national character and in degrees of civilization. The +manner of life of England and Australia differ less now than the manner +of life of England and Scotland differed in the sixteenth century. The +great stream of culture then flowed much more strongly in the central +than in the outlying parts of Western Europe. The Latin nations, Italy +and France, lay nearest the heart of civilization. But slightly less +advanced in culture and in the amenities of life, and superior in some +respects, were the Netherlands, Switzerland, England and the southern +and central parts of Germany. In partial shadow round about lay a belt +of lands: Spain, Portugal, Northern Germany, Prussia, Poland, Hungary, +Scandinavia, Scotland, and Ireland. + +[Sidenote: Scotland] + +Scotland, indeed, had her own universities, but her best scholars were +often found at Paris, or in German or Italian academies. Scotch +humanists on the continent, the Scotch guard of the French king, and +Scotch monasteries, such as those at Erfurt and Wuerzburg, raised the +reputation of the country abroad rather than advanced its native +culture. Printing was not introduced until 1507. Brantome in the +sixteenth century, like Aeneas Silvius in the fifteenth, remarked the +uncouthness of the northern kingdom. + +Most backward of all was Scotland's political development. No king +arose strong enough to be at once {351} the tyrant and the saviour of +his country; under the weak rule of a series of minors, regents and +wanton women a feudal baronage with a lush growth of intestine war and +crime, flourished mightily to curse the poor people. When Sir David +Lyndsay asked, [Sidenote: 1528] Why are the Scots so poor? he gave the +correct answer: + + Wanting of justice, policy and peace, + Are cause of their unhappiness, alas! + +Something may also be attributed to the poverty of the soil and the +lack of important commerce or industries. + +[Sidenote: Relations with England] + +The policy of any small nation situated in dangerous proximity to a +larger one is almost necessarily determined by this fact. In order to +assert her independence Scotland was forced to make common cause with +England's enemies. Guerrilla warfare was endemic on the borders, +breaking out, in each generation, into some fiercer crisis. England, +on the other hand, was driven to seek her own safety in the annexation +of her small enemy, or, failing that, by keeping her as impotent as +possible. True to the maxims of the immoral political science that has +commonly passed for statesmanship, the Tudors consistently sought by +every form of deliberate perfidy to foster factions in North Britain, +to purchase traitors, to hire stabbers, to subsidize rebels, to breed +mischief, and to waste the country, at opportune intervals, with armies +and fleets. Simply to protect the independence that England denied and +attacked, Scotch rulers became fast allies of France, to be counted on, +in every war between the great powers, to stir up trouble in England's +rear. + +On neither side was the policy one of sheer hatred. North and south +the purpose increased throughout the century to unite the two countries +and thus put an end to the perennial and noxious war. If the early +Tudors {351} were mistaken in thinking they could assert a suzerainty +by force of arms, they also must be credited with laying the +foundations of the future dynastic union. Margaret Tudor, Henry VIII's +sister, was married to James IV of Scotland. Somerset hoped to effect +the union more directly by the marriage of Edward VI and Mary Queen of +Scots. That a party of enlightened statesmen in England should +constantly keep the union in mind, is less remarkable under the +circumstances than that there should have been built up a considerable +body of Scotchmen aiming at the same goal. Notwithstanding the +vitality of patriotism and the tenacity with which small nations +usually refuse to merge their own identity in a larger whole, very +strong motives called forth the existence of an English party. One +favorable condition was the feudal disorganization of society. Faction +was so common and so bitter that it was able to call in the national +enemy without utterly discrediting itself. A second element was +jealousy of France. For a time, with the French marriages of James V +with Mary of Lorraine, a sister of the Duke of Guise, and of Mary Queen +of Scots with Francis II, there seemed more danger that the little +kingdom should become an appanage of France than a satellite of her +southern neighbor. The licentiousness of French officers and French +soldiers on Scotch soil made their nation least loved when it was most +seen. [Sidenote: Influence of religion] But the great influence +overcoming national sentiment was religion. The Reformation that +brought not peace but a sword to so much of Europe in this case united +instead of divided the nations. + +It is sometimes said that national character reveals itself in the +national religion. This is true to some extent, but it is still more +important to say that a nation's history reveals itself in its forms of +faith. From religious statistics of the present day one could {353} +deduce with considerable accuracy much of the history of any people. + +The contrast between the churches of England and Scotland is the more +remarkable when it is considered that the North of England was the +stronghold of Catholicism, and that the Lowland Scot, next door to the +counties of the Northern Earls who rose against Elizabeth, flew to the +opposite extreme and embraced Protestantism in its most pronounced +form. To say that Calvinism, uncompromising and bare of adornment, +appealed particularly to the dour, dry, rationalistic Scot, is at best +but a half truth and at worst a begging of the question. The reasons +why England became Anglican and Scotland Presbyterian are found +immediately not in the diversity of national character but in the +circumstances of their respective polities and history. England cast +loose from Rome at a time when the conservative influence of Luther was +predominant; Scotland was swept into the current of revolution under +the fiercer star of Calvin. The English reformation was started by the +crown and supported by the new noblesse of commerce. The Scotch +revolution was markedly baronial in tone. It began with the humanists, +continued and flourished in the junior branches of great families, +among the burgesses of the towns and among the more vigorous of the +clergy, both regular and secular. The crown was consistently against +the new movement, but the Scottish monarch was too weak to impose his +will, or even to have a will of his own. Neither James V nor his +daughter could afford to break with Rome and with France. James V, +especially, was thrown into the arms of his clergy by the hostility of +his nobles. Moreover, after the death of many nobles at the battle of +Flodden, the clergy became, for a time, [Sidenote: 1513] the strongest +estate in the kingdom. + +{354} Like the other estates the clergy were still in the Middle Ages +when the Reformation [Sidenote: Reformation] came on them like a thief +in the night. In no country was the corruption greater. The bishops +and priests took concubines and ate and drank and were drunken and +buffeted their fellow men. They exacted their fees to the last +farthing, an especially odious one being the claim of the priest to the +best cow on the death of a parishioner. As a consequence the parsons +and monks were hated by the laity. + +Humanism shed a few bright beams on the hyperborean regions of Dundee +and Glasgow. Some Erasmians, like Hector Boece, prepared others for +the Reformation without joining it themselves; some, like George +Buchanan, threw genius and learning into the scales of the new faith. +The unlearned, too, were touched with reforming zeal. Lollardy sowed a +few seeds of heresy. About 1520 Wyclif's version of the New Testament +was turned into Scots by one John Nesbit, but it remained in manuscript. + +In the days before newspapers tidings were carried from place to place +by wandering merchants and itinerant scholars. Far more than today +propaganda was dependent on personal intercourse. One of the first +preachers of Lutheranism in Scotland was a Frenchman named La Tour, who +was martyred on his return to his own country. The noble Patrick +Hamilton made a pilgrimage to the newly founded University of Marburg, +and possibly to Wittenberg. Filled, as his Catholic countryman, Bishop +John Leslie put it, "with venom very poisonable and deadly . . . soaked +out of Luther and other archheretics," he returned to find the martyr's +crown in his native land. [Sidenote: February 29, 1528] "The reek of +Patrick Hamilton" infected all upon whom it blew. Other young men +visited Germany. Some, like Alexander Alesius and John MacAlpine, +found positions in {355} foreign universities. Others visited +Wittenberg for a short time to carry thence the new gospel. A Scotch +David[1] appears at Wittenberg in January 1528. Another Scot, +"honorably born and well seen in scholastic theology, exiled from his +land on account of the Word," made Luther's acquaintance in May, 1529. +Another of the Reformer's visitors was James Wedderburn whose brother, +John, [Sidenote: 1540-2] translated some of the German's hymns, and +published them as "Ane compendious Booke of Godly and spiritual Songs." + +While men like these were bringing tidings of the new faith back to +their countrymen, others were busy importing and distributing Lutheran +books. The Parliament prohibited [Sidenote: July 17, 1525] all works +of "the heretic Luther and his disciples," but it could not enforce +this law. The English agent at Antwerp reported to Wolsey that New +Testaments and other English works were bought by Scottish merchants +[Sidenote: February 20, 1527] and sent to Edinburgh and St. Andrews. +The popularity and influence of Tyndale's and Coverdale's Bible is +proved by the rapid anglicizing, from this date onward, of the Scots +dialect. The circulation of the Scriptures in English is further +proved by the repetition of the injunctions against using them. But +the first Bible printed in Scotland was that of Alexander Arbuthnot in +1579, based on the Geneva Bible in 1561. + +[Sidenote: March 14, 1531] + +Another indication of the growth of Lutheranism is the request of King +James V to Consistory for permission to tax his clergy one-third of +their revenues in order to raise an army against the swarm of his +Lutheran subjects. As these Protestants met in private houses, +Parliament passed a law, [Sidenote: 1540] "That none hold nor let be +holden in their houses nor other ways, congregations or conventicles to +commune or dispute of {356} the Holy Scripture, without they be +theologians approved by famous universities." + +As the new party grew the battle was joined. At least twelve martyrs +perished in the years 1539-40. [Sidenote: Pamphlets] The field was +taken on either side by an army of pamphlets, ballads and broadsides, +of which the best known, perhaps, is David Lyndsay's _Ane Satire of the +thrie Estatis_. In this the clergy are mercilessly attacked for greed +and wantonness. [Sidenote: 1540] The New Testament is highly praised +by some of the characters introduced into the poem, but a pardoner +complains that his credit has been entirely destroyed by it and wishes +the devil may take him who made that book. He further wishes that +"Martin Luther, that false loon, Black Bullinger and Melanchthon" had +been smothered in their chrisom-cloths and that St. Paul had never been +born. + + +[Sidenote: Mary Stuart, born Dec. 8, 1542] + +When James V died, he left the crown to his infant daughter of six days +old, that Mary whose beauty, crimes and tragic end fixed the attention +of her contemporaries and of posterity alike. For the first three +years of her reign the most powerful man in the kingdom was David +Beaton, Cardinal Archbishop of St. Andrews. His policy, of course, was +to maintain the Catholic religion, and this implied the defence of +Scotch independence against England. Henry VIII, with characteristic +lack of scruple, plotted to kidnap the infant queen and either to +kidnap or to assassinate the cardinal. Failing in both, he sent an +army north with orders to put man, woman and child to the sword +wherever resistance was made. Edinburgh castle remained untaken, but +Holyrood was burned and the country devastated as far as Sterling. + +[Sidenote: Cardinal Beaton] + +Defeated by England, Beaton was destined to {357} perish in conflict +with his other enemy, Protestantism. During this time of transition +from Lutheranism to Calvinism, the demands of the Scotch reformers +would have been more moderate than they later became. They would +doubtless have been content with a free Bible, free preaching and the +sequestration of the goods of the religious orders. Under George +Wishart, who translated the First Helvetic Confession, [Sidenote: 1536 +or 1537] the Kirk began to assume its Calvinistic garb and to take the +aspect of a party with a definite political program. The place of +newspapers, both as purveyors of information and as organs of public +opinion, was taken by the sermons of the ministers, most of them +political and all of them controversial. Of this party Beaton was the +scourge. He himself believed that in 1545 heresy was almost extinct, +and doubtless his belief was confirmed when he was able to put Wishart +to death. [Sidenote: March 1, 1546] In revenge for this a few +fanatics murdered him. [Sidenote: May 29] + +[Sidenote: John Knox] + +In the consummation of the religious revolution during the next quarter +of a century, one factor was the personality of John Knox. A born +partisan, a man of one idea who could see no evil on his own side and +no good on the other, as a good fighter and a good hater he has had few +equals. His supreme devotion to the cause he embraced made him +credulous of evil in his foes, and capable of using deceit and of +applauding political murder. Of his first preaching against Romanism +it was said, "Other have sned [snipped] the branches, but this man +strikes at the root," and well nigh the latest judgment passed upon +him, that of Lord Acton, is that he differed from all other Protestant +founders in his desire that the Catholics should be exterminated, +either by the state or by the self-help of all Christian men. His not +to speak the words of love and mercy from the gospel, but to curse and +{358} thunder against "those dumb dogs, the poisoned and pestilent +papists" in the style of the Old Testament prophet or psalmist. But +while the harshness of his character has repelled many, his fundamental +consistency and his courage have won admiration. As a great preacher, +"or he had done with his sermon he was so active and vigorous that he +was like to ding the pulpit in blads and fly out of it." His style was +direct, vigorous, plain, full of pungent wit and biting sarcasm. + +Even the year of his birth is in dispute. The traditional date is +1505; but it has been shown with much reason that the more likely date +is 1513 or 1514. That he had a university education and that he was +ordained priest is all that is known of him until about 1540. During +the last months of Wishart's life Knox was his constant attendant. His +own preaching continued the work of the martyr until June, 1547, when +St. Andrews was captured by the French fleet and Knox was made a galley +slave for nineteen months. Under the lash and, what grieved him even +more, constantly plied with suggestions that he should "commit +idolatry" in praying to the image of Mary, his heart grew bitter +against the French and their religion. + +Released, either through the influence of the English government, +[Sidenote: January 1549] or by an exchange of prisoners, Knox spent the +next five years in England. After filling positions as preacher at +Berwick and Newcastle, [Sidenote: 1551] he was appointed royal chaplain +and was offered the bishopric of Rochester, which he declined because +he foresaw the troubles under Mary. As the pioneer of Puritanism in +England he used his influence to make the Book of Common Prayer more +Protestant. Not long after Mary's accession Knox fled to the +Continent, spending a few years at Frankfort and Geneva. He was much +impressed by "that notable servant of {359} God, John Calvin" whose +system he adopted with political modifications of his own. + +In the meantime things were not going well in Scotland. The country +had suffered another severe defeat [Sidenote: September 10, 1547] at +the hands of the English in the battle of Pinkie. The government was +largely in the hands of the Queen Dowager, Mary of Lorraine, who +naturally favored France, and who married her daughter, the Queen of +Scots, to the Dauphin Francis, [Sidenote: April 24, 1558] both of them +being fifteen years old. By treaty she conveyed Scotland to the king +of France, acting on the good old theory that her people were a +chattel. Though the pact, with its treason to the people, was secret, +its purport was guessed by all. Whereas the accession of Francis II +momentarily bound Scotland closer to France, his death in the following +year again cut her loose, and allowed her to go her own way. + +All the while the Reformed party had been slowly growing in strength. +Somerset took care to send plenty of English Bibles across the Cheviot +Hill, rightly seeing in them the best emissaries of the English +interest. The Scotch were drawn towards England by the mildness of her +government as much as they were alienated from France by the ferocity +of hers. In Scotland the English party, when it had the chance, made +no Catholic martyrs, but the French party continued to put heretics to +death. The execution of the aged Walter Milne, [Sidenote: 1558] the +last of the victims of the Catholic persecution, excited especial +resentment. + +Knox now returned to his own country for a short visit. [Sidenote: +Knox, August, 1555] He there preached passionately against the mass and +addressed a letter to the Regent Mary of Lorraine, begging her to favor +the gospel. This she treated as a joke, and, after Knox had departed, +she sentenced him to death and burnt him in effigy. From Geneva he +continued to be the chief adviser of the {360} Protestant party whose +leaders drew up a "Common Band," usually known as the First Scottish +Covenant. [Sidenote: December 3, 1557] The signers, including a large +number of nobles and gentlemen headed by the earls of Argyle, Glencairn +and Morton, promised to apply their whole power, substance and lives to +maintain, set forward and establish "the most blessed Word of God and +his congregation." Under the protection of this bond, reformed +churches were set up openly. The Lords of the Congregation, as they +were called, demanded that penal statutes against heretics be abrogated +and "that it be lawful to us to use ourselves in matters of religion +and conscience as we must answer to God." This scheme of toleration +was too advanced for the time. + +[Sidenote: 1557] + +As the assistance of Knox was felt to be desirable, the Lords of the +Congregation urgently requested his return. [Sidenote: 1558] Before +doing so he published his "Appellation" [Sidenote: May 2, 1559] to the +nobles, estates and commonalty against the sentence of death recently +passed on him. When he did arrive in Edinburgh, his preaching was like +a match set to kindling wood. Wherever he went burst forth the flame +of iconoclasm. Images were broken and monasteries stormed not, as he +himself wrote, by gentlemen or by "earnest professors of Christ," but +by "the rascal multitude." In reckoning the forces of revolution, the +joy of the mob in looting must not be forgotten. [Sidenote: May 11] +From Perth Knox wrote: "The places of idolatry were made equal with the +ground; all monuments of idolatry that could be apprehended, consumed +with fire; and priests commanded, under pain of death, to desist from +their blasphemous mass." Similar outbursts occurred at St. Andrews, +and when Knox returned to Edinburgh, civil war seemed imminent. +Pamphlets of the time, like _The Beggars' Warning_, [Sidenote: 1559] +distinctly made the threat of social revolution. + +{361} But as a matter of fact the change came as the most bloodless in +Europe. The Reformers, popular with the middle and with part of the +upper classes, needed only to win English support to make themselves +perfectly secure. The difficulty in this course lay in Queen +Elizabeth's natural dislike of Knox on account of his _First Blast of +the Trumpet against the Monstrous Regiment of Women_. In this +war-whoop, aimed against the Marys of England and Scotland, Knox had +argued that "to promote a woman to bear rule, superiority, dominion or +empire above any realm is repugnant to nature, contrary to God, and, +finally, it is the subversion of good order and of all equity and +justice." The author felt not a little embarrassment when a Protestant +woman ascended the throne of England and he needed her help. But to +save his soul he "that never feared nor flattered any flesh" could not +admit that he was in the wrong, nor take back aught that he had said. +He seems to have acted on Barry Lyndon's maxim that "a gentleman fights +but never apologizes." When he wrote Elizabeth, [Sidenote: July 20, +1559] all he would say was that he was not her enemy and had never +offended her or her realm maliciously or of purpose. He seasoned this +attempt at reconciliation by adding a stinging rebuke to the proud +young queen for having "declined from God and bowed to idolatry," +during her sister's reign, for fear of her life. + +But the advantages of union outweighed such minor considerations as bad +manners, and early in 1560 a league was formed between England and the +Lords of the Congregation. Shortly after the death of Mary of Lorraine +[Sidenote: June 11, 1560] the Treaty of Edinburgh [Sidenote: Treaty of +Edinburgh, July 6] was signed between the queen of England and the +lords of Scotland. This provided: (1) that all English and French +troops be sent out of Scotland except 120 French; (2) that all warlike +preparations cease; (3) that the {362} Berwickshire citadel of the sea, +Eyemouth, be dismantled; (4) that Mary and Francis should disuse the +English title and arms; (5) that Philip of Spain should arbitrate +certain points, if necessary; (6) that Elizabeth had not acted +wrongfully in making a league with the Lords of the Congregation. Mary +and Francis refused to ratify this treaty. + +A supplementary agreement was proposed between Mary Stuart and her +rebellious Protestant subjects. She promised to summon Parliament at +once, to make neither war nor peace without the consent of the estates, +and to govern according to the advice of a council of twelve chosen +jointly by herself and the estates. She promised to give no high +offices to strangers or to clergymen; and she extended to all a general +amnesty. + +[Sidenote: Revolution] + +The summons of Parliament immediately after these negotiations proved +as disastrous to the old regime as the assembly of the French Estates +General in 1789. Though bloodless, the Scotch revolution was as +thorough, in its own small way, as that of Robespierre. Religion was +changed and a new distribution of political power secured, transferring +the ascendency of the crown and of the old privileged orders to a class +of "new men," low-born ministers of the kirk, small "lairds" and +burgesses. The very constitution of the new Parliament was +revolutionary. In the old legislative assemblies between ten and +twenty greater barons were summoned; in the Parliament of 1560 no less +than 106 small barons assembled, and it was to them, together with the +burgesses of the cities, that the adoption of the new religion was due. +A Confession of Faith, [Sidenote: Scottish Confession] on extreme +Calvinistic lines, had been drawn up by Knox and his fellows; this was +presented to Parliament and adopted with only eight dissenting voices, +those of five laymen and three bishops. The minority was overawed, not +only by the majority in {363} Parliament but by the public opinion of +the capital and of the whole Lowlands. + +[Sidenote: Laws of the estates] + +Just a week after the adoption of the Confession, the estates passed +three laws: (1) Abolishing the pope's authority and all jurisdiction by +Catholic prelates; (2) repealing all previous statutes in favor of the +Roman church; (3) forbidding the celebration of mass. The law calls it +"wicked idolatry" and provides that "no manner of person nor persons +say mass, nor yet hear mass, nor be present thereat under pain of +confiscation of all their goods movable and immovable and punishing +their bodies at the discretion of the magistrate." The penalty for the +third offence was made death, and all officers were commanded to "take +diligent suit and inquisition" to prevent the celebration of the +Catholic rite. In reality, persecution was extremely mild, simply +because there was hardly any resistance. Scarcely three Catholic +martyrs can be named, and there was no Pilgrimage of Grace. This is +all the more remarkable in that probably three-fourths of the people +were still Catholic. The Reformation, like most other revolutions, was +the work not of the majority, but of that part of the people that had +the energy and intelligence to see most clearly and act most strongly. +For the first time in Scotch history a great issue was submitted to a +public opinion sufficiently developed to realize its importance. The +great choice was made not by counting heads but by weighing character. + +The burgher class having seized the reins of government proceeded to +use them in the interests of their kirk. The prime duty of the state +was asserted to be the maintenance of the true religion. Ministers +were paid by the government. Almost any act of government might be +made the subject of interference by the church, for Knox's profession, +"with the policy, mind {364} us to meddle no further than it hath +religion mixed in it," was obviously an elastic and self-imposed +limitation. + +[Sidenote: Theocracy] + +The character of the kirk was that of a democratic, puritanical +theocracy. The real rulers of it, and through it of the state, were +the ministers and elders elected by the people. The democracy of the +kirk consisted in the rise of most of these men from the lower ranks of +the people; its theocracy in the claim of these men, once established +in Moses' seat, to interpret the commands of God. "I see," said Queen +Mary, after a conversation with Knox, "that my subjects shall obey you +rather than me." "Madam," replied Knox, "my study is that both princes +and people shall obey God"--but, of course, the voice of the pulpit was +the voice of God. As a contemporary put it: "Knox is king; what he +wills obeyit is." Finally the kirk was a tyranny, as a democracy may +well be. In life, in manners, in thought, the citizen was obliged, +under severe social penalty, to conform exactly to a very narrow +standard. + +[Sidenote: Queen Mary in Scotland, August 19, 1561] + +When Queen Mary, a widow eighteen years old, landed in Scotland, she +must have been aware of the thorny path she was to tread. It is +impossible not to pity her, the spoiled darling of the gayest court of +Europe, exposed to the bleak skies and bleaker winds of doctrines at +Edinburgh. Endowed with high spirit, courage, no little cleverness and +much charm, she might have mastered the situation had her character or +discretion equaled her intellect and beauty. But, thwarted, nagged and +bullied by men whose religion she hated, whose power she feared and +whose low birth she despised, she became more and more reckless in the +pursuit of pleasure until she was tangled in a network of vice and +crime, and delivered helpless into the hands of her enemies. + +{365} Her true policy, and the one which she began to follow, was +marked out for her by circumstances. Scotland was to her but the +stepping-stone to the throne of England. As Elizabeth's next heir she +might become queen either through the death of the reigning sovereign, +or as the head of a Catholic rebellion. At first she prudently decided +to wait for the natural course of events, selecting as her secretary of +state Maitland, "the Scottish Cecil," a staid politician bent on +keeping friends with England. But at last growing impatient, she +compromised herself in the Catholic plots and risings of the +disaffected southerners. + +So, while aspiring to three crowns, Mary showed herself incapable of +keeping even the one she had. Not religion but her own crimes and +follies caused her downfall, but it was over religion that the first +clash with her subjects came. She would have liked to restore +Catholicism, though this was not her first object, for she would have +been content to be left in the private enjoyment of her own worship. +Even on this the stalwarts of the kirk looked askance. Knox preached +as Mary landed that one mass was more terrible to him than ten thousand +armed invaders. Mary sent for him, hoping to win the hard man by a +display of feminine and queenly graciousness. [Sidenote: August +1561-December 1563] In all he had five interviews with her, +picturesquely described by himself. On his side there were long, stern +sermons on the duties of princes and the wickedness of idolatry, all +richly illustrated with examples drawn from the sacred page. On her +side there was "howling together with womanly weeping," "more howling +and tears above that the matter did require," "so many tears that her +chamber-boy could scarce get napkins enough to dry her eyes." With +absurdly unconscious offensiveness and egotism Knox began acquaintance +with his sovereign by remarking that he was as well {366} content to +live under her as Paul under Nero. Previously he had maintained that +the government was set up to control religion; now he informed Mary +that "right religion took neither original nor authority from worldly +princes but from the Eternal God alone." "'Think ye,' quoth she, 'that +subjects, having power, may resist their princes?' 'If princes exceed +their bounds, madam, they may be resisted and even deposed,'" replied +Knox. Mary's marriage was the most urgent immediate question of +policy. When Knox took the liberty of discussing it with her she burst +out: "What have you to do with my marriage? Or what are you within +this commonwealth?" "A subject born within the same," superbly +retorted the East Lothian peasant, "and though neither earl, lord nor +baron, God has made me a profitable member." + +[Sidenote: Marriage with Darnley, July 1565] + +Determined, quite excusably, to please herself rather than her advisers +in the choice of a husband, Mary selected her cousin Henry Stuart Lord +Darnley; a "long lad" not yet twenty. The marriage was celebrated in +July, 1565; the necessary papal dispensation therefor was actually +drawn up on September 25 but was thoughtfully provided with a false +date as of four months earlier. Almost from the first the marriage was +wretchedly unhappy. The petulant boy insisted on being treated as +king, whereas Mary allowed him only "his due." Darnley was jealous, +probably with good cause, of his wife's Italian secretary, David +Riccio, and murdered him in Mary's presence; [Sidenote: March 9, 1566] +"an action worthy of all praise," pontificated Knox. + +With this crime begins in earnest that sickening tale of court intrigue +and blackest villainy that has commonly passed as the then history of +Scotland. To revenge her beloved secretary Mary plotted with a new +paramour, the Earl of Bothwell, an able soldier, a {367} nominal +Protestant and an evil liver. On the night of February 9-10, 1567, the +house of Kirk o' Field near Edinburgh where Darnley was staying and +where his wife had but just left him, was blown up by gunpowder and +later his dead body was found near by. Public opinion at once laid the +crime at the right doors, and it did not need Mary's hasty marriage +with Bothwell [Sidenote: Marriage with Bothwell, May 15, 1567] to +confirm the suspicion of her complicity. + +The path of those opposed to the queen was made easier by the fact that +she now had an heir, James, [Sidenote: James VI, June 19, 1566] of +Scotland the sixth and afterwards of England the first. The temper of +the people of Edinburgh was indicated by the posting up of numerous +placards accusing Bothwell and Mary. One of these was a banner on +which was painted a little boy kneeling and crowned, and thereon the +legend: "Avenge the death of my father!" Deeds followed words; +[Sidenote: July 16] Parliament compelled the queen under threat of +death to abdicate in favor of her son and to appoint her half-brother, +the Earl of Moray, regent. At the coronation of the infant king Knox +preached. [Sidenote: July 29] A still more drastic step was taken +when Parliament declared Mary guilty of murder [Sidenote: December 15] +and formally deposed her from the throne. That Mary really was guilty +in the fullest degree there can be no reasonable doubt. An element of +mystery has been added to the situation by a dispute over the +genuineness of a series of letters and poems purporting to have been +written by Mary to Bothwell and known collectively as the Casket +Letters. They were discovered in a suspiciously opportune way by her +enemies. The originals not being extant, some historians have regarded +them in whole or in part as forgeries, but Robertson, Ranke, Froude, +Andrew Lang and Pollard accept them as genuine. This is my opinion, +but it seems to me that the fascination of {368} mystery has lent the +documents undue importance. Had they never been found Mary's guilt +would have been established by circumstantial evidence. + +Mary was confined for a short time in the castle of Lochleven, but +contrived to escape. As she approached Glasgow she risked a battle, +[Sidenote: May, 1568] but her troops were defeated and she fled to +England. Throwing herself on Elizabeth's mercy she found prison and +finally, after nineteen years, the scaffold. An inquiry was held +concerning her case, but no verdict was rendered because it did not +suit Elizabeth to degrade her sister sovereign more than was necessary. +Not for the murder of her husband, but for complicity in a plot against +Elizabeth, was Mary finally condemned to die. In spite of the fact +that she did everything possible to disgrace herself more deeply than +ever, such as pensioning the assassin of her brother Moray, her +sufferings made her the martyr of sentimentalists, and pieces of +embroidery or other possessions of the beautiful queen have been handed +down as the precious relics of a saint.[2] + +All the murderous intrigues just narrated contributed thoroughly to +disgrace the Catholic and royalist party. The revolution had left +society dissolved, full of bloodthirsty and false men. But though the +Protestants had their share of such villains, they also had the one +consistent and public-spirited element in the kingdom, namely Knox and +his immediate followers. Moray was a man rather above the average +respectability and he confirmed the triumph of Protestantism in the +Lowlands in the few short years preceding his assassination in January, +1570. But by this time the revolution had been so firmly accomplished +that nothing could shake it. The deposition of a queen, though {369} a +defiance of all the Catholic powers and of all the royalist sentiment +of Europe, had succeeded. The young king was brought up a Protestant, +and his mind was so thoroughly turned against his mother that he +acquiesced without a murmur in her execution. At last peace and +security smiled upon North Britain. [Sidenote: Preparation for union +with England] The coming event of the union with England cast its +beneficent shadow over the reign of Elizabeth's successor. + +[Sidenote: Absolution] + +The Reformation ran the same course as in England earlier; one is +almost tempted to hypostatize it and say that it took the bit between +its teeth and ran away with its riders. Actually, the man cast for the +role of Henry VIII was James VI; the slobbering pedant without drawing +the sword did what his abler ancestors could not do after a life-time +of battle. He made himself all but absolute, and this, demonstrably, +as head of the kirk. + +In 1584 Parliament passed a series of statutes known as the Black Acts, +putting the bodies and souls of the Scotch under the yoke of the king, +who was now pope as well. In 1587 the whole property of the +pre-Reformation church, with some trifling exceptions, was confiscated +and put at the king's disposition. As in England, so here, the lands +of abbeys and of prelates was thrown to new men of the pushing, +commercial type. Thus was founded a landed aristocracy with interests +distinct from the old barons and strong in supporting both king and +Reformation. + +[Sidenote: Reaction in the kirk, 1592] + +It is true that this condition was but temporary. Just as in England +later the Parliament and the Puritans called the crown to account, so +in Scotland the kirk continued to administer drastic advice to the +monarch and finally to put direct legal pressure upon him. The Black +Acts were abrogated by Parliament in 1592 and from that time forth +ensued a struggle between the {370} king and the presbyteries which, in +the opinion of the former, agreed as well together as God and the +devil. Still more after his accession to the English throne James came +to prefer the episcopal form of church government as more subservient, +and to act on the maxim, "no bishop, no king." + + + +[1] Could he have been David Borthwick or David Lyndsay? See Luther's +letters and _Dictionary of National Biography_. + +[2] Such a piece of embroidery has been kept in my mother's family from +that day to this. + + + + +{371} + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE COUNTER-REFORMATION + +SECTION 1. ITALY + +It is sometimes so easy to see, after the event, why things should have +taken just the course they did take, that it may seem remarkable that +political foresight is so rare. It is probable, however, that the +study of history not only illumines many things, and places them in +their true perspective, but also tends to simplify too much, +overemphasizing, to our minds, the elements that finally triumphed and +casting those that succumbed into the shadow. + +[Sidenote: Italy] + +However this may be, Italy of the sixteenth century appears to offer an +unusually clear case of a logical sequence of effects due to previously +ascertainable causes. That Italy should toy with the Reformation +without accepting it, that she should finally suppress it and along +with it much of her own spiritual life, seems to be entirely due to her +geographical, political and cultural condition at the time when she +felt the impact of the new ideas. + +In all these respects, indeed, there was something that might at first +blush have seemed favorable to the Lutheran revolt. Few lands were +more open to German and Swiss influences than was their transalpine +neighbor. Commercially, Italy and Germany were united by a thousand +bonds, and a constant influx of northern travellers, students, artists, +officials and soldiers, might be supposed to carry with them the +contagion of the new ideas. Again, the lack of political unity might +be supposed, as in Germany, so in Italy, {372} to facilitate sectional +reformation. Finally, the Renaissance, with its unparalleled freedom +of thought and its strong anti-clerical bias, would at least insure a +fair hearing for innovations in doctrine and ecclesiastical ideals. + +And yet, as even contemporaries saw, there were some things which +weighed far more heavily in the scale of Catholicism than did those +just mentioned in the scale of Protestantism. In the first place the +autonomy of the political divisions was more apparent than real. Too +weak and too disunited to offer resistance to any strong foreign power, +contended for by the three greatest, Italy became gradually more and +more a Spanish dependency. After Pavia [Sidenote: 1525] and the treaty +of Cateau-Cambresis [Sidenote: 1529] French influence was reduced to a +threat rather than a reality. Naples had long been an appendage of the +Spanish crown; Milan was now wrested from the French, and one after +another most of the smaller states passed into Spain's "sphere of +influence." The strongest of all the states, the papal dominions, +became in reality, if not nominally, a dependency of the emperor after +the sack of Rome. [Sidenote: 1527] Tuscany, Savoy and Venetia +maintained a semblance of independence, but Savoy was at that time +hardly Italian. Venice had passed the zenith of her power, and +Florence, even under her brilliant Duke Cosimo de' Medici [Sidenote: +Cosimo de' Medici, 1537-1574] was amenable to the pressure of the +Spanish soldier and the Spanish priest. + +Enormous odds were thrown against the Reformers because Italy was the +seat of the papacy. In spite of all hatred of Roman morals and in +spite of all distrust of Roman doctrine, this was a source of pride and +of advantage of the whole country. As long as tribute flowed from all +Western Europe, as long as kings and emperors kissed the pontiff's toe, +Rome was still in a sense the capital of Christendom. An example of +how {373} the papacy was both served and despised has been left us by +the Florentine statesman and historian [Sidenote: Guiccidardini, +1483-1540] Guiccidardini: "So much evil cannot be said of the Roman +curia," he wrote, "that more does not deserve to be said of it, for it +is an infamy, an example of all the shame and wickedness of the world." +He might have been supposed to be ready to support any enemy of such an +institution, but what does he say? + + No man dislikes more than do I the ambition, avarice + and effeminacy of the priests, not only because these + vices are hateful in themselves but because they are + especially unbecoming to men who have vowed a life + dependent upon God. . . . Nevertheless, my employment + with several popes has forced me to desire their greatness + for my own advantage. But for this consideration I + should have loved Luther like myself, not to free myself + from the silly laws of Christianity as commonly understood, + but to put this gang of criminals under restraint, + so that they might live either without vices or without power. + + +From this precious text we learn much of the inner history of +contemporary Italy. As far as the Italian mind was liberated in +religion it was atheistic, as far as it was reforming it went no +further than rejection of the hierarchy. The enemies to be dreaded by +Rome were, as the poet Luigi Alamanni wrote, [Sidenote: Alamanni, +1495-1556] not Luther and Germany, but her own sloth, drunkenness, +avarice, ambition, sensuality and gluttony. + +The great spiritual factor that defeated Protestantism in Italy was not +Catholicism but the Renaissance. [Sidenote: Renaissance vs. +Reformation] Deeply imbued with the tincture of classical learning, +naturally speculative and tolerant, the Italian mind had already +advanced, in its best representatives, far beyond the intellectual +stage of the Reformers. The hostility of the Renaissance to the +Reformation was a deep and subtle antithesis of the interests of this +world {374} and of the next. It is notable that whereas some +philosophical minds, like that of the brilliant Olympia Morata, who had +once been completely skeptical, later came under the influence of +Luther, there was not one artist of the first rank, not one of the +greatest poets, that seems to have been in the least attracted by him. +A few minor poets, like Folengo, [Sidenote: Folengo, 1491-1544] showed +traces of his influence, but Ariosto and Tasso were bitterly hostile. +[Sidenote: Ariosto, 1531] The former cared only for his fantastic +world of chivalry and faery, and when he did mention, in a satire +dedicated to Bembo, that Friar Martin had become a heretic as Nicoletto +had become an infidel, the reason in both cases is that they had +overstrained their intellects in the study of metaphysical theology, +"because when the mind soars up to see God it is no wonder that, it +falls down sometimes blind and confused." Heresy he elsewhere pictures +as a devastating monster. + +{375} But there was a third reason why the Reformation could not +succeed in Italy, and that was that it could not catch the ear of the +common people. If for the churchman it was a heresy, and for the +free-thinker a superstition, for the "general public" of ordinarily +educated persons it was an aristocratic fad. Those who did embrace its +doctrines and read its books, and they were not a few of the +second-rate humanists, cherished it as their fathers had cherished the +neo-Platonism of Pico della Mirandola, as an esoteric philosophy. So +little inclined were they to bring their faith to the people that they +preferred to translate the Bible into better Greek or classical Latin +rather than into the vulgar Tuscan. And just at the moment when it +seemed as if a popular movement of some sort might result from the +efforts of the Reformers, or in spite of them, came the Roman +Inquisition and nipped the budding plant. + +[Sidenote: Christian Renaissance] + +But between the levels of the greatest intellectual leaders and that of +the illiterate masses, there was a surprising number of groups of men +and women more or less tinctured with the doctrines of the north. And +yet, even here, one must add that their religion was seldom pure +Lutheranism or Calvinism; it was Christianized humanism. There was the +brilliant woman Vittoria Colonna, who read with rapture the doctrine of +justification by faith, but who remained a conforming Catholic all her +life. There was Ochino, the general of the Capuchins, whose defection +caused a panic at Rome but who remained, nevertheless, an independent +rather than an orthodox Protestant. Of like quality were Peter Martyr +Vermigli, an exile for his faith, and Jerome Bolsec, a native of France +but an inhabitant of Ferrara, whence he took to Geneva an eccentric +doctrine that caused much trouble to Calvin. Finally, it was perfectly +in accordance with the Italian genius that the most radical of +Protestant dissenters, the unitarians Lelio and Fausto Sozzini, should +have been born in Siena. + +Among the little nests of Lutherans or Christian mystics the most +important were at Venice, Ferrara and Naples. As early as 1519 +Luther's books found their way to Venice, and in 1525 one of the +leading canon lawyers in the city wrote an elaborate refutation of +them, together with a letter to the Reformer himself, informing him +that his act of burning the papal decretals was worse than that of +Judas in betraying, or of Pilate in crucifying, Christ. The first +sufferer for the new religion was Jerome Galateo. [Sidenote: 1530] +Nevertheless, the new church waxed strong, and many were executed for +their opinions. A correspondence of the brethren with Bucer and Luther +has been preserved. In one letter they deeply deplore the schisms on +the doctrine of the eucharist as hurtful to their cause. The {376} +famous artist Lorenzo Lotto [Sidenote: 1540] was employed to paint +pictures of Luther and his wife, probably copies of Cranach. The +appearance of the Socinians about 1550, and the mutual animosity of the +several sects, including the Anabaptist, was destructive. Probably +more fatal was the disaster of the Schmalkaldic war and the complete +triumph of the emperor. The Inquisition finished the work of crushing +out what remained of the new doctrines. + +[Sidenote: Naples] + +That Naples became a focus of Protestantism was due mainly to John de +Valdes, a deeply religious Spaniard. From his circle went out a +treatise on justification entitled _The Benefit of Christ's Death_, by +Benedict of Mantua, of which no less than 40,000 copies were sold, for +it was the one reforming work to enjoy popularity rivalling that of +Luther and Erasmus. Influenced by Valdes, also, Bartholomew Forzio +translated Luther's _Address to the German Nobility_ into Italian. + +[Sidenote: Ferrara] + +At the court of Ferrara the duchess, Renee de France, gathered a little +circle of Protestants. Calvin himself spent some time here, and his +influence, together with the high protection of his patroness, made the +place a fulcrum against Rome. Isabella d'Este, originally of Ferrara +and later Marchioness of Mantua, one of the brilliant women of the +Renaissance, for a while toyed with the fashionable theology. Cardinal +Bembo saw at her castle at Mantua paintings of Erasmus and Luther. +[Sidenote: 1537] One of the courtly poets of Northern Italy, Francis +Berni, bears witness to the good repute of the Protestants. In his +_Rifacimento_ of Boiardo's _Orlando Inamorato_, he wrote: "Some rascal +hypocrites snarl between their teeth, 'Freethinker! Lutheran!' but +Lutheran means, you know, good Christian." + +[Sidenote: Roman prelates affected by Luther] + +The most significant sign of the times, and the most ominous for the +papacy, was that among those affected by the leaven of Lutheranism were +many of the leading {377} luminaries in the bosom of the church. That +the Florentine chronicler Bartholomew Cerratani expressed his hope that +Luther's distinguished morals, piety and learning should reform the +curia was bad enough; that the papal nuncio Vergerio, after being sent +on a mission to Wittenberg, should go over to the enemy, was worse; +that cardinals like Contarini and Pole should preach justification by +faith and concede much that the Protestants asked, was worst of all. +"No one now passes at Rome," wrote Peter Anthony Bandini about 1540, +"as a cultivated man or a good courtier who does not harbor some +heretical opinions." Paul Sarpi, the eminent historian of Trent, +reports that Luther's arguments were held to be unanswerable at Rome, +but that he was resisted in order that authority might be uphold. For +this statement he appeals to a diary of Francis Chieregato, an eminent +ecclesiastic who died on December 6, 1539. As the diary has not been +found, Lord Acton rejects the assertion, believing that Sarpi's word +cannot be taken unsupported. But a curious confirmation of Sarpi's +assertion, [Sidenote: Sarpi's assertion] and one that renders it +acceptable, is found in Luther's table talk. Speaking on February 22, +1538, he says that he has heard from Rome that it was there believed to +be impossible to refute him until St. Paul had been deposed. Ho +regarded this as a signal testimony to the truth of his doctrines; to +us it is valuable only as an evidence of Roman opinion. It is not too +much to say that at about that time the most distinguished Italian +prelates were steering for Wittenberg and threatened to take Rome with +them. How they failed is the history of the Counter-reformation. + + +SECTION 2. THE PAPACY. 1522-1590 + +Nothing can better indicate the consternation caused at Rome by the +appearance of the Lutheran revolt than {378} the fact that for the +first time in 144 years and for the last time in history the cardinals +elected as supreme pontiff a man who was not an Italian, Adrian of +Utrecht. [Sidenote: Adrian VI, 1522-September 1523] After teaching +theology at Louvain he had been appointed tutor to Prince Charles and, +on the accession of his pupil to the Spanish throne was created Bishop +of Tortosa, and shortly thereafter cardinal and Inquisitor General of +Spain. While in this country he distinguished himself equally by the +justness of his administration and by his bitter hatred of Luther, +against whom he wrote several letters both to his imperial master and +to his old colleagues at Louvain. + +[Sidenote: December 1521] + +The death of Leo X was followed by an unusually long conclave, on +account of the even balance of parties. At last, despairing of +agreement, and feeling also that extraordinary measures were needed to +meet the exigencies of the situation, the cardinals, in January, +offered the tiara to Adrian, who, alone among modern popes, kept his +baptismal name while in office. The failure of Adrian VI to accomplish +much was due largely to the shortness of his pontificate of only twenty +months, and still more to the invincible corruption he found at Rome. +His really high sense of duty awakened no response save fear and hatred +among the courtiers of the Medicis. When he tried to restore the +ruined finances of the church he was accused of niggardliness; when he +made war on abuses he was called a barbarian; when he frankly +confessed, in his appeal to the German Diets, that perchance the whole +evil infecting the church came from the rottenness of the Curia, he was +assailed as putting arms into the arsenal of the enemy. His greatest +crime in the eyes of his court was that he was a foreigner, an austere, +phlegmatic man, who could understand neither their tongue nor their +ways. + +{379} Exhausted by the fruitless struggle, Adrian sank into his grave, +a good pope unwept and unhonored as few bad popes have ever been. On +his tomb the cardinals wrote: "Here lies Adrian VI whose supreme +misfortune in life was that he was called upon to rule." A like +judgment was expressed more wittily by the people, who erected a +monument to Adrian's physician and labeled it, "Liberatori Patriae." + +[Sidenote: Clement VII, 1523-34] + +The swing of the pendulum so often noticed in politics was particularly +marked in the elections to the papacy of the sixteenth century. In +almost every instance the new pope was an opponent, and in some sort a +contrast, to his predecessor. In no case was this more true than in +the election of 1523. Deciding that if Adrian's methods were necessary +to save the church the medicine was worse than the disease, the +cardinals lost no time in raising another Medici to the throne. Like +all of his race, Clement VII was a patron of art and literature, and +tolerant of abuses. Personally moral and temperate, he cared little +save for an easy life and the advancement of the Three Balls. He began +that policy, which nearly proved fatal to the church, of treating the +Protestants with alternate indulgence and severity. But for himself +the more immediate trouble came not from the enemy of the church but +from its protector. Though Adrian was an old officer of Charles V, it +was really in the reign of Clement that the process began by which +first Italy, then the papacy, then the whole church was put under the +Spanish yoke. + +[Sidenote: Spanish influence, 1525-6] + +After Pavia and the treaty of Madrid had eliminated French influence, +Charles naturally felt his power and naturally intended to have it +respected even by the pope. Irritated by Clement's perpetual deceit +and intrigue with France, Charles addressed to him, in 1526, a document +which Ranke calls the most {380} formidable ever used by any Catholic +prince to a pope during the century, containing passages "of which no +follower of Luther need be ashamed." + +[Sidenote: Sack of Rome, May and September 1527] + +Rather to threaten the pope than to make war on him, Charles gathered a +formidable army of German and Spanish soldiers in the north under the +command of his general Frundsberg. All the soldiers were restless and +mutinous for want of pay, and in addition to this a powerful motive +worked among the German landsknechts. Many of them were Lutheran and +looked to the conquest of Rome as the triumph of their cause. As they +loudly demanded to be lead against Antichrist, Frundsberg found that +his authority was powerless to stop them. [Sidenote: March 16, 1527] +When he died of rage and mortification the French traitor Charles, +Constable of Bourbon, was appointed by the emperor in his place, and, +finding there was nothing else to do, led the army against Rome and +promised the soldiers as much booty as they could take. Twice, in May +and September, the city was put to the horrors of a sack, with all the +atrocities of murder, theft and rapine almost inseparable from war. In +addition to plundering, the Lutherans took particular pleasure in +desecrating the objects of veneration to the Catholics. Many an image +and shrine was destroyed, while Luther was acclaimed pope by his +boisterous champions. But far away on the Elbe he heard of the sack +and expressed his sorrow for it. + +The importance of the sack of Rome, like that of other dramatic events, +is apt to be exaggerated. It has been called the end of the +Renaissance and the beginning of the Catholic reaction. It was neither +the one nor the other, but only one incident in the long, stubborn +process of the Hispanization of Italy and the church. For centuries no +emperor had had so much power in Italy as had Charles. With Naples and +{381} Milan were now linked Siena and Genoa under his rule; the states +of the church were virtually at his disposal, and even Florence, under +its hereditary duke, Alexander de' Medici, was for a while under the +control of the pope and through him, of Charles. + +Nor did the fall of the holy city put the fear of God into the hearts +of the prelates for more than a moment. The Medici, Clement, who never +sold his soul but only pawned it from time to time, without entirely +abandoning the idea of reform, indefinitely postponed it. +Procrastinating, timid, false, he was not the man to deal with serious +abuses. He toyed with the idea of a council but when, on the mere +rumor that a council was to be called the prices of all salable offices +dropped in a panic, he hesitated. Moreover he feared the council would +be used by the emperor to subordinate him even in spiritual matters. +Perhaps he meant well, but abuses were too lucrative to be lightly +affronted. As to Lutheranism, Clement was completely misinformed and +almost completely indifferent. While he and the emperor were at odds +it grew mightily. Here as elsewhere he was irresolute; his +pontificate, as a contemporary wrote, was "one of scruples, +considerations and discords, of buts and ifs and thens and moreovers, +and plenty of words without effect." + +[Sidenote: Paul III, 1534-49] + +The pontificate of Paul III marks the turning point in the Catholic +reaction. Under him the council of Trent was at last opened; the new +orders, especially the Jesuits, were formed, and such instrumentalities +as the Inquisition and Index of prohibited books put on a new footing. +Paul III, a Farnese from the States of the Church, owed his election +partly to his strength of character, partly to the weakness of his +health, for the cardinals liked frequent vacancies in the Holy See. +Cautious and choleric, prolix and stubborn, he had a real desire for +reform and an earnest wish to avoid {382} quarrels with either of the +great powers that menaced him, the emperor and France. The reforming +spirit of the pope showed itself in the appointment of several men of +the highest character to the cardinalate, among them Gaspar Contarini +and Fisher, Bishop of Rochester. In other cases, however, the +exigencies of politics induced the nomination of bad men, such as Del +Monte and David Beaton. At the same time a commission was named to +recommend practical reforms. The draft for a bull they presented for +this purpose was rejected by the Consistory, but some of their +recommendations, such as the prohibition of the Roman clergy to visit +taverns, theaters and gambling dens, were adopted. + +[Sidenote: May, 1535 _Consilium delectorum cardinalium et aliorum +praelatorum_] + +A second commission of nine ecclesiastics of high character, including +John Peter Caraffa, Contarini, Pole and Giberti, was created to make a +comprehensive report on reform. The important memorial they drew up +fully exposed the prevalent abuses. The root of all they found in the +exaggeration of the papal power of collation and the laxity with which +it was used. Not only were morally unworthy men often made bishops and +prelates, but dispensations for renunciation of benefices, for +absenteeism and for other hurtful practices were freely sold. The +commission demanded drastic reform of these abuses as well as of the +monastic orders, and called for the abolition of the venal exercise of +spiritual authority by legates and nuncios. But the reform memorial, +excellent and searching as it was, led to nothing. At most it was of +some use as a basis of reforms made by the Council of Trent later. But +for the moment it only rendered the position of the church more +difficult. The reform of the Dataria, for example, the office which +sold graces, privileges, indults, dispensations and benefices, was +{383} considered impossible because half of the papal revenue, or +110,000 ducats annually, came from it. Nor could the fees of the +Penitentiary be abolished for fear of bankruptcy, though in 1540 they +were partially reduced. [Sidenote: 1538] The most obvious results of +the Consilium was to put another weapon into the hands of the +Lutherans. Published by an unauthorized person, it was at once seized +upon by the Reformers as proof of the hopeless depravity of the Curia. +So dangerous did it prove to simple-minded Catholics that it was +presently put on the Index! + +Paul's diplomacy tried to play off the Empire against France and to +divert the attention of both to a crusade against the Turk. Hoping to +advance the cause of the church by means of the war declared by Charles +V on the Schmalkaldic League, the pope, in return for a subsidy, +exacted a declaration in the treaty, that the reason of the war was +religious and the occasion for it the refusal of the Protestants to +recognize the Council of Trent's authority. But when Charles was +victor he used his advantage only to strengthen his own prerogative, +not effectively to suppress heresy. Paul now dreaded the emperor more +than he did the Protestants and his position was not made easier by the +threat of Charles to come to terms with the Lutherans did Paul succeed +in rousing France against him. In fact, with all his squirming, Paul +III only sank deeper into the Spanish vassalage, while the championship +of the church passed from his control into that of new agencies that he +had created. + +[Sidenote: Julius III, 1550-55] + +It was perhaps an effort to free the Holy See from the Spanish yoke +that led the cardinals to raise to the purple, as Julius III, Cardinal +John Mary Ciocchi del Monte who as one of the presidents of the +oecumenical council had distinguished himself by his opposition to +{384} the emperor. Nevertheless his pontificate marked a relaxation of +the church's effort, for policy or strength to pursue reform he had +none. + +[Sidenote: Marcellus II, April 9-May 1, 1555] + +Marcellus II, who was pope for twenty-two days, would hardly be +remembered save for the noble Mass of Pope Marcellus dedicated to him +by Palestrina. + +With the elevation of Cardinal Caraffa to the tiara Peter's keys +[Sidenote: Paul IV, 1555-9] were once more restored to strong hands and +a reforming heart. The founder of the Theatines was a hot-blooded +Neapolitan still, in spite of his seventy-nine years, hale and hearty. +Among the reforms he accomplished were some regulations relating to the +residence of bishops and some rules for the bridling of Jews, usurers, +prostitutes, players and mountebanks. But he was unable to reform +himself. He advanced his young kinsmen shamelessly to political +office. His jealousy of the Jesuits, in whom he saw a rival to his own +order, not only caused him to neglect to use them but made him put them +in a very critical position. Nor did he dare to summon again the +council that had been prorogued, for fear that some stronger power +should use it against himself. He chafed under the Spanish yoke, +coming nearer to a conflict with Charles V and his son Philip II than +any pope had ventured to do. He even thought of threatening Philip +with the Inquisition, but was restrained by prudence. In his purpose +of freeing Italy from foreign domination he accomplished nothing +whatever. + +[Sidenote: Pius IV, 1560-5] + +Pius IV was a contrast to the predecessor whom he hated. John Angelo +Medici, of Milan, not connected with the Florentine family, was a +cheerful, well-wishing, beneficent man, genial and fond of life, a son +of the Renaissance, a patron of art and letters. The choice of a name +often expresses the ideals and tendencies of a pope; that of Pius was +chosen perhaps in imitation {385} of Pius II, Aeneas Sylvius +Piccolomini, the most famous humanist to sit on the fisherman's throne. +And yet the spirit of the times no longer allowed the gross +licentiousness of the earlier age, and the cause of reform progressed +not a little under the diplomatic guidance of the Milanese. In the +first place, doubtless from personal motives, he made a fearful example +of the kinsmen of his predecessor, four of whom he executed chiefly for +the reason that they had been advanced by papal influence. This +salutary example practically put an end to nepotism; at least the +unfortunate nephews of Paul IV were the last to aspire to independent +principalities solely on the strength of kinship to a pope. + +[Sidenote: Reforms] + +The demand for the continuation and completion of the general council, +which had become loud, was acceded to by Pius who thought, like the +American boss, that at times it was necessary to "pander to the public +conscience." The happy issue of the council, from his point of view, +in its complete submissiveness to the papal prerogative, led Pius to +emphasize the spiritual rather than the political claims of the +hierarchy. In this the church made a great gain, for, as the history +of the time shows plainly, in the game of politics the papacy could no +longer hold its own against the national states surrounding it. Pius +leaned heavily on Philip, for by this time Spain had become the +acknowledged champion of the church, but he was able to do so without +loss of prestige because of the gradual separation of the temporal from +the spiritual power. + +Among his measures the most noteworthy was one regulating the powers of +the college of cardinals, while their exclusive right to elect the +pontiff was maintained against the pretensions of the council. The +best Catholic spirit of the time was represented in {386} Cardinal +Charles Borromeo, Archbishop of Milan, an excellent prelate who sought +to win back members of Christ to the fold by his good example, while he +did not disdain to use the harsher methods of persecution when +necessary. Among the amiable weaknesses of Pius was the belief, +inherited from a bygone age, that the Protestants might still be +reunited to the church by a few concessions, such as those of the +marriage of the clergy and the use of the cup by the laity. + +[Sidenote: Pius V, 1566-72] + +With Pius V a sterner spirit entered into the councils of the church. +The election of the Dominican and Chief Inquisitor Michael Ghislieri +was a triumph for the policy of Borromeo. His pitiless hatred of the +heretics hounded Catharine de' Medici against the Huguenots, and Philip +II against the Dutch. Contrary to the dictates of prudence and the +wishes of the greatest Catholic princes, he issued the bull deposing +Elizabeth. But he was severe to himself, an ascetic nicknamed for his +monkish narrowness "Friar Wooden-shoe" by the Roman populace. He +ruthlessly reformed the Italian clergy, meting out terrible punishments +to all sinners. Under his leadership Catholicism took the offensive in +earnest and accomplished much. His zeal won him the name of saint, for +he was the last of the Roman pontiffs to be canonized. + +But the reign of sainthood coupled with absolutism is apt to grow +irksome, and it was with relief that the Romans hailed the election of +Hugo Buoncompagno as Gregory XIII. [Sidenote: Gregory XIII, 1572-85] +He did little but follow out, somewhat weakly, the paths indicated by +his predecessors. So heavily did he lean on Spain that he was called +the chaplain of Philip, but, as the obligations were mutual, and the +Catholic king came also to depend more and more upon the spiritual arms +wielded by the papacy, it might just as well have been said that Philip +was the executioner employed by Gregory. The {387} mediocrity of his +rule did not prevent notable achievement by the Jesuits in the cause of +the church. His reform of the calendar will be described more fully +elsewhere. + +Gregory XIII offers an opportunity to measure the moral standard of the +papacy after half a century of reform. His policy was guided largely +by his ruling passion, love of a natural son, born before he had taken +priest's orders, whom he made Gonfaloniere of the church and would have +advanced to still further preferment had not his advisers objected. +Gregory was the pope who thanked God "for the grace vouchsafed unto +Christendom" in the massacre of St. Bartholomew. He was also the pope +who praised and encouraged the plan for the assassination of +Elizabeth.[1] + +[Sidenote: Sixtus V, 1585-90] + +In the person of Sixtus V the spirit of Pius V returned to power. +Felix Peretti was a Franciscan and an Inquisitor, an earnest man and a +hard one. Like his predecessors pursuing the goal of absolutism, he +had an advantage over them in the blessing disguised as the disaster of +the Spanish Armada. From this time forward the papacy was forced to +champion its cause with the spiritual weapons at its command, and the +gain to it as a moral and religious power was enormous. In some ways +it assumed the primacy of Catholic Europe, previously usurped by Spain, +and attained an influence that it had not had since the Great Schism of +the fourteenth century. + +The reforms of Sixtus are important rather for their comprehensive than +for their drastic quality. The whole machinery of the Curia was made +over, the routine of business being delegated to a number of standing +committees known as Congregations, such as the Congregation of +Ceremonies to watch over matters of precedence at the papal court, and +the Congregation {388} of the Consistory to prepare the work of the +Consistory. The number of cardinals was fixed at seventy. New +editions of the breviary and of the Index were carefully prepared. At +the same time the moral reforms of Trent were laxly carried out, for +while decrees enforcing them were promulgated by Sixtus with one hand, +with the other he sold dispensations and privileges. + + +[1] _Ante_, p. 338. + + +SECTION 3. THE COUNCIL OF TRENT + +While the popes were enjoying their _jus incorrigibilitatis_--as Luther +wittily expressed it--the church was going to rack and ruin. Had the +safety of Peter's boat been left to its captains, it would apparently +have foundered in the waves of schism and heresy. No such dangerous +enemy has ever attacked the church as that then issuing from her own +bosom. Neither the medieval heretics nor the modern philosophers have +won from her in so short a time such masses of adherents. Where +Voltaire slew his thousands Luther slew his ten thousands, for Voltaire +appealed only to the intellect, Luther appealed to the conscience. + +[Sidenote: Decline of Protestantism] + +The extraordinary thing about the Protestant conquests was their sudden +end. Within less than fifty years the Scandinavian North, most of +Germany including Austria, parts of Hungary, Poland, most of +Switzerland, and Great Britain had declared for the "gospel." France +was divided and apparently going the same road; even in Italy there +were serious symptoms of disaffection. That within a single generation +the tide should be not only stopped but rolled back is one of the most +dramatic changes of fortune in history. The only country which +Protestantism gained after 1560 was the Dutch Republic. Large parts of +Germany and Poland were won back to the church, and Catholicism made +safe in all the Latin countries. + +{389} [Sidenote: Spanish revival] + +The spirit that accomplished this work was the spirit of Spain. More +extraordinary than the rapid growth of her empire was the conquest of +Europe by her ideals. The character of the Counter-reformation was +determined by her genius. It was not, as it started to be in Italy, a +more or less inwardly Christianized Renaissance. It was a distinct and +powerful religious revival, and one that showed itself, as many others +have done, by a mighty reaction. Medievalism was restored, largely by +medieval methods, the general council, the emphasis on tradition and +dogma, coercion of mind and body, and the ministrations of a monastic +order, new only in its discipline and effectiveness, a reduplication of +the old mendicant orders in spirit and ideal. + +[Sidenote: Preparation for calling a council] + +The Oecumenical Council was so double-edged a weapon that it is not +remarkable that the popes hesitated to grasp it in their war with the +heretic. They had uncomfortable memories of Constance and Basle, of +the election and deposition of popes and of decrees limiting their +prerogatives. And, moreover, the council was the first authority +invoked by the heretic himself. Adrian might have been willing to risk +such a synod, but before he had time to call one, his place was taken +by the vacillating and pusillanimous Clement. Perpetually toying with +the idea he yet allowed the pressure of his courtiers and the +difficulties of the political situation--for France was opposed to the +council as an imperial scheme--indefinitely to postpone the summons. + +The more serious-minded Paul III found another lion in his path. He +for the first time really labored to summon the general synod, but he +found that the Protestants had now changed their position and would no +longer consent to recognize its authority under any conditions to which +he could possibly assent. Though {390} his nuncio Vergerio received in +Germany and even in Wittenberg a cordial welcome, it was soon +discovered that the ideas of the proper constitution of the council +entertained by the two parties were irreconciliable. Fundamentally +each wanted a council in which its own predominance should be assured. +The Schmalkaldic princes, on the advice of their theologians, asked for +a free German synod in which they should have a majority vote, and in +this they were supported by Francis I and Henry VIII. Naturally no +pope could consent to any such measures; under these discouraging +circumstances, the opening of the council was continually postponed, +and in place of it the emperor held a series of religious colloquies +that only served to make the differences of the two parties more +prominent. + +[Sidenote: Summons of Council, November 19, 1544] + +After several years of negotiation the path was made smooth and the +bull _Laetare Hierusalem_ summoned a general synod to meet at Trent on +March 15, 1545, and assigned it three tasks: (1) The pacification of +religious disputes by doctrinal decisions; (2) the reform of +ecclesiastical abuses; (3) the discussion of a crusade against the +infidel. Delay still interfered with the opening of the assembly, +which did not take place until December 15, 1545. + +[Sidenote: First period, 1545-7] + +The council was held at three separate periods with long intervals. +The first period was 1545-7, the second 1551-2, the third 1562-3. The +city of Trent was chosen in order to yield to the demand for a German +town while at the same time selecting that one nearest to Italy, for +the pope was determined to keep the action of the synod under control. +Two measures were adopted to insure this end, the initiative and +presidency of the papal legates and packing the membership. The +faculties to be granted the legates were already decided upon in 1544; +these lieutenants were to be, according to Father Paul Sarpi, angels of +peace to preside, make {391} all necessary regulations, and publish +them "according to custom." The phrase that the council should decide +on measures, "legatis proponentibus" was simply the constitutional +expression of the principal familiar in many governments, that the +legislative should act only on the initiative of the executive, thus +giving an immense advantage to the latter. The second means of +subordinating the council was the decision to vote by heads and not by +nations and to allow no proxies. This gave a constant majority to the +Italian prelates sent by the pope. So successful were these measures +that the French ambassador bitterly jested of the Holy Ghost coming to +Trent in the mailbags from Rome. + +[Sidenote: Membership] + +At the first session there were only thirty-four members entitled to +vote: four cardinals, four archbishops, twenty-one bishops and five +generals of orders. There were also present other personages, +including an ambassador from King Ferdinand, four Spanish secular +priests and a number of friars. The first question debated was the +precedence of dogma or reform. Regarding the council chiefly as an +instrument for condemning the heretics, the pope was in favor of taking +up dogma first. The emperor, on the other hand, wishing rather to +conciliate the Protestants and if possible to lure them back to the old +church, was in favor of starting with reform. The struggle, which was +carried on not so much on the floor of the synod as behind the members' +backs in the intrigues of courts, was decided by a compromise to the +effect that both dogma and reform should be taken up simultaneously. +But all enactments dealing with ecclesiastical irregularities were to +bear the proviso "under reservation of the papal authority." + +[Sidenote: Dogmatic decrees] + +The dogmatic decrees at Trent were almost wholly oriented by the +polemic against Protestantism. {392} Practically nothing was defined +save what had already been taken up in the Augsburg Confession or in +the writings of Calvin, of Zwingli and of the Anabaptists. Inevitably, +a spirit so purely defensive could not be animated by a primarily +philosophical interest. The guiding star was not a system but a +policy, and this policy was nothing more nor less than that of +re-establishing tradition. The practice of the church was the standard +applied; many an unhistorical assertion was made to justify it and many +a practice of comparatively recent growth was sanctioned by the +postulate that "it had descended from apostolic use." "By show of +antiquity they introduce novelty," was Bacon's correct judgment. + +[Sidenote: Bible and tradition] + +Quite naturally the first of the important dogmatic decrees was on the +basis of authority. The Protestants had acknowledged the Bible only; +over against them the Tridentine fathers declared for the Bible _and_ +the tradition of the church. The canon of Scripture was different from +that recognized by the Protestants in that it included the Apocrypha. + +[Sidenote: Justification] + +After passing various reform decrees on preaching, catechetical +instruction, privileges of mendicants and indulgences, the council took +up the thorny question of justification. Discussion was postponed for +some months out of consideration for the emperor, who feared it might +irritate the Protestants, and only gave his consent to it in the hope +that some ambiguous form acceptable to that party, might be found. How +deeply the solifidian doctrine had penetrated into the very bosom of +the church was revealed by the storminess of the debate. The passions +of the right reverend fathers were so excited by the consideration of a +fundamental article of their faith that in the course of disputation +they accused one another of conduct unbecoming to Christians, taunted +one another with {393} plebeian origin and tore hair from one another's +beards. The decree as finally passed established the position that +faith and works together justify, and condemned the semi-Lutheran +doctrines of "duplicate justice" and imputed righteousness hitherto +held by such eminent theologians as Contarini and Cajetan. + +Having accomplished this important work the council appeared to the +pope ready for dissolution. The protests of the emperor kept it +together for a few months longer, but an outbreak of the spotted fever +and the fear of a raid during the Schmalkaldic war, served as +sufficient excuses to translate the council to Bologna. [Sidenote: +March 1547] Though nothing was accomplished in this city the assembly +was not formally prorogued until September 13, 1549. + +[Sidenote: Second period, 1551-2] + +Under pressure from the emperor Pope Julius III convoked the synod for +a second time at Trent on May 1, 1551. The personnel was different. +The Jesuits Lainez and Salmeron were present working in the interests +of the papacy. No French clergy took part as Henry II was hostile. +The Protestants were required to send a delegation, which was received +on January 24, 1552. They presented a confession, but declined to +recognize the authority of a body in which they were not represented. +Several dogmatic decrees were passed on the sacraments, reasserting +transubstantiation and all the doctrines and usages of the church. A +few reform decrees were also passed, but before a great deal could be +accomplished the revolt of Maurice of Saxony put both emperor and +council in a precarious position and the latter was consequently +prorogued for a second time on April 28, 1552. + +[Sidenote: Third period, 1562-3] + +When, after ten long years, the council again convened at the command +of Pius IV, in January, 1562, it is extraordinary to see how little the +problems confronting it had changed. Not only was the struggle {394} +for power between pope and council and between pope and emperor still +going on, but hopes were still entertained in some quarters of +reconciling the schismatics. Pius invited all princes, whether +Catholic or heretical, to send delegates, but was rebuffed by some of +them. The argument was then taken up by the Emperor Ferdinand who sent +in an imposing demand for reforms, including the authorization of the +marriage of priests, communion in both kinds, the use of the vulgar +tongue in divine service, and drastic rules for the improvement of the +convents and of the papal courts. + +[Sidenote: Jesuits present] + +The contention over this bone among the fathers, now far more numerous +than in the earlier days, waxed so hot that for ten whole months no +session could be held. Mobs of the partisans of the various factions +fought in the streets and bitter taunts of "French diseases" and +"Spanish eruptions" were exchanged between them. For a time the +situation seemed inextricable and one cardinal prophesied the impending +downfall of the papacy. But in the nick of time to prevent such a +catastrophe the pope was able to send into the field the newly +recruited praetorian guards of the Society of Jesuits. Under the +command of Cardinal Morone these indefatigable zealots turned the flank +of the opposing forces partly by intrigue at the imperial court, partly +by skilful manipulation of debate. The emperor's mind was changed; +reforms demanded by him were dropped. + +The questions actually taken up and settled were dogmatic ones, chiefly +concerning the sacrifice of the mass and the perpetuation of the +Catholic customs of communion in one kind, the celebration of masses in +honor of saints, the celebration of masses in which the priest only +communicates, the mixing of water with the wine, the prohibition of the +use of the vulgar tongue, and the sanction of masses for the dead. +Other {395} decrees amended the marriage laws, and enjoined the +preparation of an Index of prohibited books, of a catechism and of +standard editions of missal and breviary. + +[Sidenote: Subjection to papacy] + +How completely the council in its last estate was subdued to the will +of the pope is shown by its request that the decrees should all be +confirmed by him. This was done by Pius IV in the bull Benedictus +Deus. [Sidenote: January 26, 1564] Pius also caused to be prepared a +symbol known as the Tridentine Profession of Faith which was made +binding on all priests. Save that it was slightly enlarged in 1877 by +the pronouncement on Papal Infallibility, it stands to the present day. + +[Sidenote: Reception of decrees] + +The complete triumph of the papal claims was offset by the cool +reception which the decrees received in Catholic Europe. Only the +Italian states, Poland, Portugal and Savoy unreservedly recognized the +authority of all of them. Philip II, bigot as he was, preferred to +make his own rules for his clergy and recognized the laws of Trent with +the proviso "saving the royal rights." France sanctioned only the +dogmatic, not the practical decrees. The emperor never officially +recognized the work of the council at all. Nor were the governments +the only recalcitrants. According to Sarpi the body of German +Catholics paid no attention to the prescribed reforms and the council +was openly mocked in France as claiming an authority superior to that +of the apostles. + +To Father Paul Sarpi, indeed, the most intelligent observer of the next +generation, the council seemed to have been a failure if not a fraud. +Its history he calls an Iliad of woes. The professed objects of the +council, healing the schism and asserting the episcopal power he thinks +frustrated, for the schism was made irreconciliable and the church +reduced to servitude. + +But the judgment of posterity has reversed that of {396} the great +historian, [Sidenote: Constructive work] at least as far as the value +of the work done at Trent to the cause of Catholicism is concerned. If +the church shut out the Protestants and recognized her limited domain, +she at least took appropriate measures to establish her rule over what +was left. Her power was now collected; her dogma was unified and made +consistent as opposed to the mutually diverse Protestant creeds. In +several points, indeed, where the opinion of the members was divided, +the words of the decrees were ambiguous, but as against the Protestants +they were distinct and so comprehensive as rather to supersede than to +supplement earlier standards. + +Nor should the moral impulse of the council be underestimated, +ridiculed though it was by its opponents as if expressed in the maxim, +"si non caste, tamen caute." Sweeping decrees for urgent reforms were +passed, and above all a machinery set up to carry on the good work. In +providing for a catechism, for authoritative editions of the Vulgate, +breviary and other standard works, in regulating moot points, in +striking at lax discipline, the council did a lasting service to +Catholicism and perhaps to the world. Not the least of the practical +reforms was the provision for the opening of seminaries to train the +diocesan clergy. The first measure looking to this was passed in 1546; +Cardinal Pole at once began to act upon it, and a decree of the third +session [Sidenote: 1563] ordered that each diocese should have such a +school for the education of priests. The Roman seminary, opened two +years later, [Sidenote: 1565] was a model for subsequent foundations. + + +SECTION 4. THE COMPANY OF JESUS + +If the Counter-reformation was in part a pure reaction to medievalism it +was in part also a religious revival. If this was stimulated by the +Protestant {397} example, it was also the outcome of the rising tide of +Catholic pietism in the fifteenth century. Still more was it the answer +to a demand on the part of the church for an instrument with which to +combat the dangers of heresy and to conquer spiritually the new worlds of +heathenism. + +Great crises in the church have frequently produced new revivals of +monasticism. From Benedict to Bernard, from Bernard to Francis and +Dominic, from the friars to the Jesuits, there is an evolution in the +adaptation of the monastic life to the needs of Latin Christianity. +Several new orders, [Sidenote: New monastic orders] all with more or less +in common, started in the first half of the sixteenth century. Under Leo +X there assembled at Rome a number of men united by the wish to renew +their spiritual lives by religious exercises. From this Oratory of +Divine Love, as it was called, under the inspiration of Gaetano di Tiene +and John Peter Caraffa, arose the order of Theatines, [Sidenote: 1524] a +body of devoted priests, dressing not in a special garb but in ordinary +priest's robes, who soon attained a prominent position in the Catholic +reformation. Their especial task was to educate the clergy. + +The order of the Capuchins [Sidenote: c. 1526] was an offshoot of the +Franciscans. It restored the relaxed discipline of the early friars and +its members went about teaching the poor. Notwithstanding the blow to it +when its third vicar Bernardino Ochino became a Calvinist, it flourished +and turned its energies especially against the heretics. + +Of the other orders founded at this time, the Barnabites (1530), the +Somascians (1532), the Brothers of Mercy (1540), the Ursulines (1537), +only the common characteristics can be pointed out. It is notable that +they were all animated by a social ideal; not only the salvation of the +individual soul but also the {398} amelioration of humanity was now their +purpose. Some of the orders devoted themselves to the education of +children, some to home missions or foreign missions, some to nursing the +sick, some to the rescue of fallen women. The evolution of monasticism +had already pointed the way to these tasks; its apogee was reached with +the organization of the Company of Jesus. + +[Sidenote: Typical Jesuit] + +The Jesuit has become one of those typical figures, like the Puritan and +the buccaneer. Though less exploited in fiction than he was in the days +of Dumas, Eugene Sue and Zola, the mention of his name calls to the +imagination the picture of a tall, spare man, handsome, courteous, +obliging, but subtle, deceitful, dangerous, capable of nursing the +blackest thoughts and of sanctioning the worst actions for the +advancement of his cause. The _Lettres Provinciales_ of Pascal first +stamped on public opinion the idea that the Jesuit was necessarily +immoral and venomous; the implacable hatred of Michelet and Symonds has +brought them as criminals before the bar of history. On the other hand +they have had their apologists and friends even outside their own order. +Let us neither praise nor blame, but seek to understand them. + +[Sidenote: Loyola, c. 1493-1556] + +In that memorable hour when Luther said his ever-lasting nay at Worms one +of his auditors was--or might have been for she was undoubtedly present +in the city--Germaine de Foix, the wife of the Margrave John of +Brandenburg. The beautiful and frivolous young woman had been by a +former marriage the second wife of Ferdinand the Catholic and at his +court she had been known and worshipped by a young page of good family, +Inigo de Loyola. Like the romantic Spaniard that he was he had taken, as +he told later, for his lady "no duchess nor countess but one far higher" +and to her he paid court in the genuine spirit of old chivalry. Not that +this prevented him from addressing {399} less disinterested attentions to +other ladies, for, if something of a Don Quixote he was also something of +a Don Juan. Indeed, at the carnival of 1515, his "enormous misdemeanors" +had caused him to be tried before a court of justice and little did his +plea of benefit of clergy avail him, for the judge failed to find a +tonsure on his head "even as large as a seal on a papal bull," and he was +probably punished severely. + +Loyola was a Basque, and a soldier to his fingertips. When the French +army invaded Spain he was given command of the fortress of Pampeluna. +Defending it bravely against desperate odds he was wounded [Sidenote: May +23, 1521] in the leg with a cannon ball and forced to yield. The leg was +badly set and the bone knit crooked. With indomitable courage he had it +broken and reset, stretched on racks and the protruding bone sawed off, +but all the torture, in the age before anaesthetics, was in vain. The +young man of about twenty-eight--the exact year of his birth is +unknown--found himself a cripple for life. + +To while away the long hours of convalescence he asked for the romances +of chivalry but was unable to get them and read in their place legends of +the saints and a life of Christ by Ludolph of Saxony. His imagination +took fire at the new possibilities of heroism and of fame. "What if you +should be a saint like Dominic or Francis?" he asked himself, "ay, what +if you should even surpass them in sanctity?" His choice was fixed. He +took Madonna for his lady and determined to become a soldier of Christ. + +As soon as he was able to move he made a pilgrimage to Seville and +Manresa and there dedicated his arms in a church in imitation of the +knights he had read about in _Amadis of Gaul_. Then, with a general +confession and much fasting and mortification of the flesh, began a +period of doubt and spiritual anguish {400} that has sometimes been +compared with that of Luther. Both were men of strong will and +intellect, both suffered from the sense of sin. But Luther's development +was somewhat quieter and more normal--if, indeed, in the psychology of +conversion so carefully studied by James, the quieter is the more normal. +At any rate where Luther had one vision on an exceptional occasion, +Loyola had hundreds and had them daily. Ignatius saw the Trinity as a +clavichord with three strings, the miracle of transubstantiation as light +in bread, Satan as a glistening serpent covered with bright, mysterious +eyes, Jesus as "a big round form shining as gold," and the Trinity again +as "a ball of fire." + +But with all the visions he kept his will fixed on his purpose. +[Sidenote: 1523] At first this took the form of a vow to preach to the +infidels and he made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, only to be turned back by +the highest Christian authority in that region, the politically-minded +Franciscan vicar. + +[Sidenote: 1524] + +On returning to Spain he went to Barcelona and started to learn Latin +with boys, for his education as a gentleman had included nothing but +reading and writing his own tongue. Thence he went to the university of +Alcala where he won disciples but was imprisoned for six weeks by the +Inquisition and forbidden to hold meetings with them. Practically the +same experience was repeated at Salamanca where he was detained by the +Holy Office for twenty-two days and again prohibited from holding +religious meetings. Thus he was chased out of Spain by the church he +sought to serve. Turning his steps to Paris he entered the College of +Montaigu, and, if he here was free from the Inquisition he was publicly +whipped by the college authorities as a dangerous fanatic. Nevertheless, +here he gathered his first permanent disciples, Peter Le Fevre of Savoy, +Francis Xavier of Pampeluna and two Castilians, {401} James Laynez and +Alfonso Salmeron. The little man, hardly over five feet two inches high, +deformed and scarred, at the age of thirty-five, won men to him by his +smile, as of a conqueror in pain, by his enthusiasm, his mission and his +book. + +[Sidenote: _The Spiritual Exercises_] + +If one reckons the greatness of a piece of literature not by the beauty +of the style or the profundity of the thought but by the influence it has +exercised over men, the _Spiritual Exercises_ of Ignatius will rank high. +Its chief sources were the meditation and observation of its author. If +he took some things from Garcia de Cisneros, some from _The Imitation of +Christ_, some from the rules of Montaigu, where he studied, far more he +took from the course of discipline to which he had subjected himself at +Manresa. The psychological soundness of Loyola's method is found in his +discovery that the best way to win a man to an ideal is to kindle his +imagination. His own thought was imaginative to the verge of abnormality +and the means which he took to awaken and artificially to stimulate this +faculty in his followers were drastic in the extreme. + +The purpose of the _Exercises_ is stated in the axiom that "Man was +created to praise, reverence and serve God our Lord and thereby to save +his soul." To fit a man for this work the spiritual exercises were +divided into four periods called weeks, though each period might be +shortened or lengthened at the discretion of the director. The first +week was devoted to the consideration of sin; the second to that of +Christ's life as far as Palm Sunday; the third to his passion; and the +fourth to his resurrection and ascension. Knowing the tremendous power +of the stimulant to be administered Ignatius inserted wise counsels of +moderation in the application of it. But, subject only to the condition +that the novice was not to be plied beyond what he could bear, he was +directed in the first week of {402} solitary meditation to try to see the +length, breadth and depth of hell, to hear the lamentations and +blasphemies of the damned, to smell the smoke and brimstone, to taste the +bitterness of tears and of the worm of conscience and to feel the +burnings of the unquenchable fire. In like manner in the other weeks he +was to try to picture to himself in as vivid a manner as possible all the +events brought before his mind, whether terrible or glorious. The end of +all this discipline was to be the complete subjection of the man to the +church. The Jesuit was directed ever "to praise all the precepts of the +church, holding the mind ready to find reasons for her defence and nowise +in her offence." There must be an unconditional surrender to her not +only of the will but of the intelligence. "To make sure of being right +in all things," says Loyola, "we ought always to hold by the principle +that the white I see I should believe to be black if the hierarchical +church were so to rule it." + +Inspired by this ideal the small body of students, agreeing to be called +henceforth the Company of Jesus--a military term, the _socii_ being the +companions or followers of a chief in arms--took vows to live in poverty +and chastity [Sidenote: August 15, 1540] and to make a pilgrimage to +Jerusalem. With this object they set out to Venice and then turned +towards Rome for papal approbation of their enterprise. Their first +reception was chilling, but they gradually won a few new recruits and +Ignatius drafted the constitution [Sidenote: September 27, 1540] for a +new order which was handed to the pope by Contarini and approved in the +bull _Regimini militantis ecclesiae_, which quotes from the formula of +the Jesuits: + + Whoever wishes to fight for God under the standard + of the cross and to serve the Lord alone and his vicar on + earth the Roman pontiff shall, after a solemn vow of + perpetual chastity, consider that he is part of a society + instituted chiefly for these ends, for the profit of souls in + {403} + life and Christian doctrine, for the propagation of the + faith through public preaching, the ministry of God's + word, spiritual exercises and works of charity, and + especially for the education of children and ignorant persons + in Christianity, for the hearing of confession and for the + giving of spiritual consolation. + +Moreover it is stated that the members of the new order should be bound +by a vow of special obedience to the pope and should hold themselves +ready at his behest to propagate the faith among Turks, infidels, +heretics or schismatics, or to minister to believers. + +[Sidenote: April 1547] + +Ignatius was chosen first general of the order. The pope then cancelled +the previous limitation of the number of Jesuits to 60 [Sidenote: 1544] +and later issued a large charter of privileges for them. [Sidenote: +1549] They were exempted from taxes and episcopal jurisdiction; no +member was to be allowed to accept any dignity without the general's +consent, nor could any member be assigned to the spiritual direction of +women. Among many other grants was one to the effect that the faithful +might confess to them and receive communion without permission of their +parish priests. A confirmation of all privileges and a grant of others +was made in a bull of July 21, 1550. + +[Sidenote: Organization of the Society of Jesus, 1550] + +The express end of the order being the world-domination of the church, +its constitution provided a marvellously apt organization for this +purpose. Everything was to be subordinate to efficiency. Detachment +from the world went only so far as necessary for the completer conquest +of the world. Asceticism, fasting, self-discipline were to be moderate +so as not to interfere with health. No special dress was prescribed, for +it might be a hindrance rather than a help. The purpose being to win +over the classes rather than the masses, the Jesuits were particular to +select as members only robust men of agreeable appearance, calm minds and +{404} eloquence. That an aspirant to the order should also be rich and +of good family was not requisite but was considered desirable. Men of +bad reputation, intractible, choleric, or men who had ever been tainted +with heresy, were excluded. No women were recruited. + +After selection, the neophyte was put on a probation of two years. He +was then assigned to the class of scholars for further discipline. He +was later placed either as a temporal coadjutor, a sort of lay brother +charged with inferior duties, or as a spiritual coadjutor, who took the +three irrevocable vows. Finally, there was a class, to which admission +was gained after long experience, the Professed of Four Vows, the fourth +being one of special obedience to the pope. A small number of secret +Jesuits who might be considered as another class, were charged with +dangerous missions and with spying. + +[Sidenote: General] + +Over the order was placed a General who was practically, though not +theoretically, absolute. On paper he was limited by the possibility of +being deposed and by the election, independently of his influence, of an +"admonitor" and some assistants. In practice the only limitations of his +power were the physical ones inherent in the difficulties of +administering provinces thousands of miles away. From every province, +however, he received confidential reports from a multitude of spies. + +The spirit of the order was that of absolute, unquestioning, blind +obedience. The member must obey his superior "like a corpse which can be +turned this way or that, or a rod that follows every impulse, or a ball +of wax that might be moulded in any form." The ideal was an old one; the +famous _perinde ac cadaver_ itself dates back to Francis of Assisi, but +nowhere had the ideal been so completely realized as by the companions of +Ignatius. In fact, in this as in other respects, the {405} Jesuits were +but a natural culmination of the evolution of monasticism. More and more +had the orders tended to become highly disciplined, unified bodies, apt +to be used for the service of the church and of the pope. + +[Sidenote: Growth] + +The growth of the society was extraordinarily rapid. By 1544 they had +nine establishments, two each in Italy, Spain and Portugal and one each +in France, Germany and the Netherlands. When Loyola [Sidenote: July 31, +1556] died Jesuits could be found in Japan and Brazil, in Abyssinia and +on the Congo; in Europe they were in almost every country and included +doctors at the largest universities and papal nuncios to Poland and +Ireland. There were in all twelve provinces, about 65 residences and +1500 members. + +Their work was as broad as their field, but it was dedicated especially +to three several tasks: education, war against the heretic, and foreign +missions. Neither of the first two was particularly contemplated by the +founders of the order in their earliest period. At that time they were +rather like the friars, popular preachers, catechists, confessors and +charitable workers. But the exigencies of the time called them to supply +other needs. The education of the young was the natural result of their +desire to dominate the intellectual class. Their seminaries, at first +adapted only to their own uses, soon became famous. + +[Sidenote: Combating heresy] + +In the task of combating heresy they were also the most successful of the +papal cohorts. Though not the primary purpose of the order, it soon came +to be regarded as their special field. The bull canonizing Loyola +[Sidenote: 1623] speaks of him as an instrument raised up by divine +providence especially to combat that "foulest of monsters" Martin Luther. +Beginning in Italy the Jesuits revived the nearly extinct popular piety. +Going among the poor as missionaries they found many who knew no prayers, +many who had not confessed for {406} thirty or forty years, and a host of +priests as blind as their flocks. + +In most other Catholic countries they had to fight for the right to +exist. In France the Parlement of Paris was against them, and even after +the king had granted them permission to settle in the country in 1553, +the Parlement accused them of jeoparding the faith, destroying the peace +of the church, supplanting the old orders and tearing down more than they +built up. Nevertheless they won their way to a place of great power, +until, sitting at the counsels of the monarch, they were able to crush +their Catholic opponents, the Jansenists, as completely as their +Protestant enemies were crushed by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. + +In the Netherlands the Jesuits were welcomed as allies of the Spanish +power. The people were impressed by their zeal, piety, and +disinterestedness, and in the Southern provinces they were able to bear +away a victory after a fierce fight with Calvinism. + +In England, where they showed the most devotion, they met with the least +success. The blood of their martyrs did not sow the ground with Catholic +seed, and they were expelled by statute under Elizabeth. + +[Sidenote: Jesuit victories] + +The most striking victories of the Jesuits were won in Central Europe. +When the first of their company, Peter Faber, entered Germany in 1540, he +found nearly the whole country Lutheran. The Wittelsbachs of Bavaria +were almost the only reigning family that never compromised with the +Reformers and in them the Jesuits found their starting point and their +most constant ally. Called to the universities of Ingolstadt and Vienna +their success was great and from these foci they radiated in all +directions, to Poland, to Hungary, to the Rhine. One of their most +eminent missionaries was Peter Canisius, whose catechism, published in +1555 in three forms, short, long and middle, and in two {407} languages, +German and Latin, became the chief spiritual text-book of the Catholics. +The idea and selection of material was borrowed from Luther and he was +imitated also in the omission of all overt polemic material. This last +feature was, of course, one of the strongest. + +[Sidenote: Missions to heathens] + +But the conquests of the Company of Jesus were as notable in lands beyond +Europe as they were in the heart of civilization. They were not, indeed, +pioneers in the field of foreign missions. The Catholic church showed +itself from an early period solicitous for the salvation of the natives +of America and of the Far East. The bull of Alexander VI stated that his +motive in dividing the newly discovered lands between Spain and Portugal +was chiefly to assist in the propagation of the faith. That the +Protestants at first developed no activity in the conversion of the +heathen was partly because their energies were fully employed in securing +their own position, and still more, perhaps, because, in the sixteenth +century, Spain and Portugal had a practical monopoly of the transoceanic +trade and thus the only opportunities of coming into contact with the +natives. + +Very early Dominican and Franciscan friars went to America. Though some +of them exemplified Christian virtues that might well have impressed the +natives, the greater number relied on the puissant support of the Toledo +sword. Though the natives, as heathen born in invincible ignorance, were +exempt from the jurisdiction of the inquisitor, they were driven by +terror if not by fire, into embracing the religion of their conquerors. +If some steadfast chiefs told the missionaries that they would rather go +to hell after death than live for ever with the cruel Christians, the +tribes as a whole, seeing their dreaded idols overthrown and their +temples uprooted, embraced the religion of the stronger God, as they +quailed before his {408} votaries. Little could they understand of the +mysteries of the faith, and in some places long continued to worship +Christ and Mary with the ritual and attributes of older deities. But +nominally a million of them were converted by 1532, and when the Jesuits +arrived a still more successful effort was made to win over the red man. +The important mission in Brazil, served by brave and devoted brothers of +Ignatius, achieved remarkable results, whereas in Paraguay the Jesuits +founded a state completely under their own tutelage. + +In the Far East the path of the missionary was broken by the trader. At +Goa the first ambassadors of Christ were friars, and here they erected a +cathedral, a convent, and schools for training native priests. But the +greatest of the missionaries to this region was Francis Xavier, +[Sidenote: Xavier, 1506-52] the companion of Loyola. Not forgetting the +vow which he, together with all the first members of the society, had +taken, [Sidenote: April 1541] he sailed from Lisbon, clothed with +extraordinary powers. The pope made him his vicar for all the lands +bathed by the Indian Ocean, [Sidenote: May, 1542] and the king of +Portugal gave him official sanction and support. Arriving at Goa he put +himself in touch with the earlier missionaries and began an earnest fight +against the immorality of the port, both Christian and native. His motto +"Amplius" led him soon to virgin fields, among the natives of the coast +and of Ceylon. In 1545 he went to Cochin-China, thence to the Moluccas +and to Japan, preaching in every place and baptizing by the thousand and +ten thousand. + +Though Xavier was a man of brilliant endowments and though he was +passionately devoted to the cause, to neither of his good qualities did +he owe the successes, whether solid or specious, with which he has been +credited. In the first place, judged by the standards of modern +missions, the superficiality of his work was {409} almost inconceivable. +He never mastered one of the languages of the countries which he visited. +He learned by rote a few sentences, generally the creed and some phrases +on the horrors of hell, and repeated them to the crowds attracted to him +by the sound of a bell. He addressed himself to masses rather than to +individuals and he regarded the culmination of his work as being merely +the administration of baptism and not the conversion of heart or +understanding. Thus, he spent hours in baptizing, with all possible +speed, sick and dying children, believing that he was thus rescuing their +souls from limbo. Probably many of his adult converts never understood +the meaning of the application of water and oil, salt and spittle, that +make up the ritual of Catholic baptism. + +[Sidenote: Use of force] + +In the second place, what permanent success he achieved was due largely +to the invocation of the aid of the civil power. One of the most +illuminating of Xavier's letters is that written to King John of Portugal +on January 20, 1548, in which he not only makes the reasonable request +that native Christians be protected from persecution by their countrymen, +but adds that every governor should take such measures to convert them as +would insure success to his preaching, for without such support, he says, +the cause of the gospel in the Indies would be desperate, few would come +to baptism and those who did come would not profit much in religion. +Therefore he urges that every governor, under whose rule many natives +were not converted, should be mulcted of all his goods and imprisoned on +his return to Portugal. What the measures applied by the Portugese +officers must have been, under such pressure, can easily be inferred from +a slight knowledge of their savage rule. + +It has been said that every organism carries in {410} itself the seeds of +its own decay. The premature corruption [Sidenote: Decay of Jesuits] of +the order was noticed by its more earnest members quite early in its +career. The future general Francis Borgia wrote: [Sidenote: 1560] "The +time will come when the Company will be completely absorbed in human +sciences without any application to virtue; ambition, pride and arrogance +will rule." The General Aquaviva said explicitly, [Sidenote: 1587] "Love +of the things of this world and the spirit of the courtier are dangerous +diseases in our Company. Almost in spite of us the evil creeps in little +by little under the fair pretext of gaining princes, prelates, and the +great ones of the world." + +A principal cause of the ultimate odium in which the Jesuits were held as +well as of their temporary successes, was their desire for speedy +results. [Sidenote: Efficiency] Every one has noticed the immense +versatility of the Jesuits and their superficiality. They produced +excellent scholars of a certain rank, men who could decipher Latin +inscriptions, observe the planets, publish libraries of historical +sources, of casuistry and apologetic, or write catechisms or epigrams. +They turned with equal facility to preaching to naked savages and to the +production of art for the most cultivated peoples in the world. And yet +they have rarely, if ever, produced a great scholar, a great scientist, a +great thinker, or even a great ascetic. They were not founded for such +purposes; they were founded to fight for the church and they did that +with extraordinary success. + +[Sidenote: Failure] + +But their very efficiency became, as pursued for its own sake it must +always become, soulless. In terms suggested by the Great War, the +Jesuits were the incarnation of religious militarism. To set up an ideal +of aggrandizement, to fill a body of men with a fanatical enthusiasm for +that ideal and then to provide an organization and discipline +marvellously adapted to conquest, that is what the Prussian schoolmaster +who {411} proverbially won Sadowa, and the Jesuits who beat back the +Reformation, have known how to do better than anyone else. Their methods +took account of everything except the conscience of mankind. + +Moreover, there can be no doubt that in their eager pursuit of tangible +results they lowered the ethical standards of the church. Wishing to +open her doors as widely as possible to all men, and finding that they +could not make all men saints, they brought down the requirements for +admission to the average human level. One cannot take the denunciations +of Jesuitical "casuistry" and "probabilism" at their face value, but one +can find in Jesuit works on ethics, and in some of their early works, +very dangerous compromises with the world. [Sidenote: Jesuitical +compromises] One reads in their books how the bankrupt, without sinning +mortally, may defraud his creditors of his mortaged goods; how the +servant may be excused for pilfering from his master; how a rich man may +pardonably deceive the tax-collector; how the adulteress may rightfully +deny her sin to her husband, even on oath.[1] Doubtless these are +extreme instances, but that they should have been possible at all is a +melancholy warning to all who would, even for pious ends, substitute +inferior imitations for genuine morality. + + +[1] Substantiation of these statements in excerpts from Jesuit works of +moral theology, printed in C. Mirbt: _Quellen zur Geschichte des +Papst-tums_[3], 1911, pp. 447 ff. + + +SECTION 5. THE INQUISITION AND INDEX + +Not only by propaganda appealing to the mind and heart did the Catholic +church roll back the tides of Reformation and Renaissance, but by +coercion also. In this the church was not alone; the Protestants also +persecuted and they also censored the press with the object of +preventing their adherents from reading the arguments of their +opponents. But the Catholic {412} church was not only more consistent +in the application of her intolerant theories but she almost always +assumed the direction of the coercive measures directly instead of +applying them through the agency of the state. Divided as they were, +dependent on the support of the civil government and hampered, at least +to some slight extent, by their more liberal tendencies, the +Protestants never had instrumentalities half as efficient or one-tenth +as terrible as the Inquisition and the Index. + +The Inquisition was a child of the Middle Ages. For centuries before +Luther the Holy Office had cauterized the heretical growths on the body +of Mother Church. The old form was utilized but was given a new lease +of life by the work it was called upon to perform against the +Protestants. Outside of the Netherlands the two forms of the +Inquisition which played the largest part in the battles of the +sixteenth century were the Spanish and the Roman. + +[Sidenote: Spanish Inquisition] + +The Inquisition was licensed in Spain by a bull of Sixtus IV of 1478, +and actually established by Ferdinand and Isabella in Castile in 1480, +and soon afterwards in their other dominions. It has sometimes been +said that the Spanish Inquisition was really a political rather than an +ecclesiastical instrument, but the latest historian of the subject, +whose deep study makes his verdict final, has disposed of this theory. +Though occasionally called upon to interfere in political matters, this +was exceptional. Far more often it asserted an authority and an +independence that embarrassed not a little the royal government. On +the other hand it soon grew so great and powerful that it was able to +ignore the commands of the popes. On account of its irresponsible +power it was unpopular and was only tolerated because it was so +efficient in crushing out the heresy that the people hated. + +{413} [Sidenote: Procedure] + +The annals of its procedure and achievements are one long record of +diabolical cruelty, of protracted confinement in dungeons, of endless +delay and browbeating to break the spirit, of ingenious tortures and of +racked and crushed limbs and of burning flesh. In mitigation of +judgment, it must be remembered that the methods of the civil courts +were also cruel at that time, and the punishments severe. + +As the guilt of the suspected person was always presumed, every effort +was made to secure confession, for in matters of belief there is no +other equally satisfactory proof. Without being told the nature of his +crime or who was the informant against him, the person on trial was +simply urged to confess. An advocate was given him only to take +advantage of his professional relations with his client by betraying +him. The enormous, almost incredible procrastination by which the +accused would be kept in prison awaiting trial sometimes for five or +ten or even twenty years, usually sufficed to break his spirit or to +unbalance his mind. Torture was first threatened and then applied. +All rules intended to limit its amount proved illusory, and it was +applied practically to any extent deemed necessary, and to all classes; +nobles and clergy were no less obnoxious to it than were commons. Nor +was there any privileged age, except that of the tenderest childhood. +Men and women of ninety and boys and girls of twelve or fourteen were +racked, as were young mothers and women with child. Insanity, however, +if recognized as genuine, was considered a bar to torture. + +Acquittal was almost, though not quite, unknown. Sometimes sentence +was suspended and the accused discharged without formal exoneration. +Very rarely acquittal by compurgation, that is by oath of the accused +supported by the oaths of a number of persons that they believed he was +telling the truth, was allowed. {414} Practically the only plea open +to the suspect was that the informers against him were actuated by +malice. As he was not told who his accusers were this was difficult +for him to use. + +[Sidenote: Penalties] + +The penalties were various, including scourging, the galleys and +perpetual imprisonment. Capital punishment by fire was pronounced not +only on those who were impenitent but on those who, after having been +once discharged, had relapsed. In Spain, heretics who recanted before +execution were first strangled; the obstinately impenitent were burned +alive. Persons convicted of heresy who could not be reached were burnt +in effigy. + +Acting on the maxim _ecclesia non sitit sanguinem_ the Inquisitors did +not put their victims to death by their own officers but handed them +over to the civil authorities for execution. With revolting hypocrisy +they even adjured the hangmen to be merciful, well knowing that the +latter had no option but to carry out the sentence of the church. +Magistrates who endeavored to exercise any discretion in favor of the +condemned were promptly threatened with excommunication. + +If anything could be wanting to complete the horror it was supplied by +the festive spirit of the executions. The _Auto da Fe_, [Sidenote: +_Auto da Fe_] or act of faith, was a favorite spectacle of the +Spaniards; no holiday was quite complete without its holocaust of human +victims. The staging was elaborate, and the ceremony as impressive as +possible. Secular and spiritual authorities were ordered to be present +and vast crowds were edified by the horrible example of the untimely +end of the unbeliever. Sundays and feast days were chosen for these +spectacles and on gala occasions, such as royal weddings and +christenings, a special effort was made to celebrate one of these holy +butcheries. + +The number of victims has been variously estimated. {415} An actual +count up to the year 1540, that is, before Protestantism became a +serious factor, shows that 20,226 were burned in person and 10,913 in +effigy, and these figures are incomplete. It must be remembered that +for every one who paid the extreme penalty there were a large number of +others punished in other ways, or imprisoned and tortured while on +trial. When Adrian of Utrecht, afterwards the pope, was Inquisitor +General 1516-22, 1,620 persons were burned alive, 560 in effigy and +21,845 were sentenced to penance or other lighter punishments. +Roughly, for one person sentenced to death ten suffered milder +penalties. + +[Sidenote: Crimes punished] + +Heresy was not the only crime punished by the Inquisition; it also took +charge of blasphemy, bigamy and some forms of vice. In its early years +it was chiefly directed against the Jews who, having been forced to the +baptismal font, had relapsed. Later the Moriscos or christened Moors +supplied the largest number of victims. As with the Jews, race hatred +was so deep an ingredient of the treatment meted out to them that the +nominal cause was sometimes forgotten, and baptism often failed to save +"the new Christian" who preserved any, even the most innocent, of the +national customs. Many a man and woman was tortured for not eating +pork or for bathing in the Moorish fashion. + +As Protestantism never obtained any hold in Spain, the Inquisition had +comparatively little trouble on that account. During the sixteenth +century a total number of 1995 persons were punished as Protestants of +whom 1640 were foreigners and only 355 were Spaniards. Even these +figures exaggerate the hold that the Reformation had in Spain, for any +error remotely resembling the tenets of Wittenberg immediately classed +its maintainer as Lutheran. The first case known was found in Majorca +in 1523, but it was not until 1559 {416} that any considerable number +suffered for this faith. In that year 24 Lutherans were burnt at +Rodrigo and Seville, 32 in 1562, and 19 Calvinists in 1569. + +The dread of the Spanish Inquisition was such that only in those +dependencies early and completely subdued could it be introduced. +Established in Sicily in 1487 its temporal jurisdiction was suspended +during the years 1535-46, when it was revived by the fear of +Protestantism. Even during its dark quarter, however, it was able to +punish heretics. In an _auto_ celebrated at Palermo, [Sidenote: May +30, 1541] of the twenty-two culprits three were Lutherans and nineteen +Jews. The capitulation of Naples in 1503 expressly excluded the +Spanish Inquisition, nor could it be established in Milan. The +Portuguese Inquisition was set up in 1536. + +[Sidenote: New World] + +The New World was capable of offering less resistance. Nevertheless, +for many years the inquisitorial powers were vested in the bishops sent +over to Mexico and Peru, and when the Inquisition was established in +both countries in 1570 it probably meant no increase of severity. The +natives were exempt from its jurisdiction and it found little +combustible material save in captured Protestant Europeans. A Fleming +was burned at Lima in 1548, and at the first _auto_ held at Mexico in +1574 thirty-six Lutherans were punished, all English captives, two by +burning and the rest by scourging or the galleys. + +[Sidenote: Roman Inquisition] + +The same need of repelling Protestantism that had helped to give a new +lease of life to the Spanish Inquisition called into being her sister +the Roman Inquisition. By the bull _Licet ab initio_, [Sidenote: July +21, 1542] Paul IV reconstituted the Holy Office at Rome, directing and +empowering it to smite all who persisted in condemned opinions lest +others should be seduced by their example, not only in the papal states +but in all the nations of Christendom. It was authorized to pronounce +{417} sentence on culprits and to invoke the aid of the secular arm to +punish them with prison, confiscation of goods and death. Its +authority was directed particularly against persons of high estate, +even against heretical princes whose subjects were loosed from their +obligation of obedience and whose neighbors were invited to take away +their heritage. + +[Sidenote: Procedure] + +The procedure of the Holy Office at Rome was characterized by the +Augustinian Cardinal Seripando as at first lenient, but later, he +continues, "when the superhuman rigor of Caraffa [one of the first +Inquisitors General] held sway, the Inquisition acquired such a +reputation that from no other judgment-seat on earth were more horrible +and fearful sentences to be expected." Besides the attention it paid +to Protestants it instituted very severe processes against Judaizing +Christians and took cognizance also of seduction, of pimping, of +sodomy, and of infringment of the ecclesiastical rules for fasting. + +[Sidenote: Italy] + +The Roman Inquisition was introduced into Milan by Michael Ghislieri, +afterwards pope, and flourished mightily under the protecting care of +Borromeo, cardinal archbishop of the city. It was established by +Charles V, notwithstanding opposition, in Naples. [Sidenote: 1547] +Venice also fought against its introduction but nevertheless finally +permitted it. [Sidenote: 1544] During the sixteenth century in that +city there were no less than 803 processes for Lutheranism, 5 for +Calvinism, 35 against Anabaptists, 43 for Judaism and 199 for sorcery. +In countries outside of Italy the Roman Inquisition did not take root. +Bishop Magrath endeavored in 1567 to give Ireland the benefit of the +institution, but naturally the English Government allowed no such thing. + + +[Sidenote: Censorship of the press] + +A method of suppressing given opinions and propagating others probably +far more effective than the {418} mauling of men's bodies is the +guidance of their minds through direction of their reading and +instruction. Naturally, before the invention of printing, and in an +illiterate society, the censorship of books would have slight +importance. Plato was perhaps the first to propose that the reading of +immoral and impious books be forbidden, but I am not aware that his +suggestion was acted upon either in the states of Greece or in pagan +Rome. Examples of the rejection of certain books by the early church +are not wanting. Paul induced the Ephesian sorcerers to burn their +books; certain fathers of the church advised against the reading of +heathen authors; [Sidenote: c. 496] Pope Gelasius made a decree on the +books received and those not received by the church, and Manichaean +books were publicly burnt. + +[Sidenote: Fourth century] + +The invention of printing brought to the attention of the church the +danger of allowing her children to choose their own reading matter. +[Sidenote: Printing] The first to animadvert upon it was Berthold, +Archbishop of Mayence, the city of Gutenberg. On the 22d of March, +1485, he promulgated a decree to the effect that, whereas the divine +art of printing had been abused for the sake of lucre and whereas by +this means even Christ's books, missals and other works on religion, +were thumbed by the vulgar, and whereas the German idiom was too poor +to express such mysteries, and common persons too ignorant to +understand them, therefore every work translated into German must be +approved by the doctors of the university of Mayence before being +published. + +[Sidenote: June 1, 1501] + +The example of the prelate was soon followed by popes and councils. +Alexander VI forbade as a detestable evil the printing of books +injurious to the Catholic faith, and made all archbishops official +censors for their dioceses. This was enforced by a decree of the Fifth +Lateran Council setting forth that {419} although printing has brought +much advantage to the church [Sidenote: May 4, 1515] it has also +disseminated errors and pernicious dogmas contrary to the Christian +religion. The decree forbids the printing of any book in any city or +diocese of Christendom without license from the local bishop or other +ecclesiastical authority. + +This sweeping edict was supplemented by others directed against certain +books or authors, but for a whole generation the church left the +censorship chiefly to the discretion of the several national +governments. This was the policy followed also by the Protestants, +both at this time and later. [Sidenote: Protestant censorship] +Neither Luther, nor any other reformer for a long time attempted to +draw up regular indices of prohibited books. Examples of something +approaching this may be found in the later history of Protestantism, +but they are so unimportant as to be negligible. + +[Sidenote: National censorship, 1502] + +The national governments, however, laid great stress on licensing. The +first law in Spain was followed by an ever increasing strictness under +the inquisitor who drew up several indices of prohibited books, +completely independent of the official Roman lists. The German Diets +and the French kings were careful to give their subjects the benefit of +their selection of reading matter. In England, too, lists of +prohibited books were drawn up under all the Tudors. Mary restricted +the right to print to licensed members of the Stationers' Company; +Elizabeth put the matter in the hands of Star Chamber. [Sidenote: +1559] A special license was required by the Injunctions, and a later +law was aimed at "seditious, schismatic or libellous books and other +fantastic writings." [Sidenote: 1588] + +[Sidenote: Catalogues of dangerous books] + +The idea of a complete catalogue of heretical and dangerous writings +under ecclesiastical censure took its rise in the Netherlands. After +the works of various authors had been severally prohibited in distinct +{420} proclamations, the University of Louvain, at the emperor's +command, drew up a fairly extensive list in 1546 and again, somewhat +enlarged, in 1550. It mentions a number of Bibles in Greek, Latin and +the vernaculars, the works of Luther, Carlstadt, Osiander, Ochino, +Bullinger, Calvin, Oecolampadius, Jonas, Calvin, Melanchthon, Zwingli, +Huss and John Pupper of Goch, a Dutch author of the fifteenth century +revived by the Protestants. It is remarkable that the works of Erasmus +are not included in this list. Furthermore it is stated that certain +approved works, even when edited or translated by heretics, might be +allowed to students. Among the various scientific works condemned are +an _Anatomy_ printed at Marburg by Eucharius Harzhorn, H. C. Agrippa's +_De vanitate scientiarum_, and Sebastian Muenster's _Cosmographia +universalis_, a geography printed in 1544. The Koran is prohibited, +and also a work called "Het paradijs van Venus," this latter presumably +as indecent. Finally, all books printed since 1525 without name of +author, printer, time, and place, are prohibited. + +[Sidenote: Roman Index] + +Partly in imitation of this work of Louvain, partly in consequence of +the foundation of the Inquisition, the Roman Index of Prohibited Books +was promulgated. Though the bull founding the Roman Inquisition said +nothing about books, their censure was included in practice. Under the +influence of the Holy Office at Lucca a list of forbidden works was +drawn up by the Senate at Lucca, [Sidenote: 1545] including chiefly the +tracts of Italian heretics and satires on the church. The fourth +session Council of Trent [Sidenote: April 8, 1546] prohibited the +printing of all anonymous books whatever and of all others on religion +until licensed. A further indication of increasing severity may be +found in a bull issued by Julius III [Sidenote: 1550] who complained +that authors licensed to read heretical {421} books for the purpose of +refuting them were more likely to be seduced by them, and who therefore +revoked all licenses given up to that time. + +[Sidenote: September, 1557] + +When the Roman Inquisition issued a long list of volumes to be burnt +publicly, including works of Erasmus, Machiavelli and Poggio, this +might be considered the first Roman Index of Prohibited Books; but the +first document to bear that name was issued by Paul IV. [Sidenote: +1559] It divided writings into three classes: (1) Authors who had +erred _ex professo_ and whose whole works were forbidden; (2) Authors +who had erred occasionally and some of whose books only were mentioned; +(3) Anonymous books. In addition to these classes 61 printers were +named, all works published by whom were banned. The Index strove to be +as complete as possible. Its chief though not its only source was the +catalogue of Louvain. Many editions and versions of the Bible were +listed and the printing of any translation without permission of the +Inquisition was prohibited. Particular attention was paid to Erasmus, +who was not only put in the first class by name but was signalized as +having "all his commentaries, notes, annotations, dialogues, epistles, +refutations, translations, books and writings" forbidden. + +[Sidenote: Tridentine censorship, February 26, 1562] + +The Council of Trent again took up the matter, passing a decree to the +effect that inasmuch as heresy had not been cured by the censorship +this should be made much stricter, and appointing a commission in +order, as, regardless of the parable,[1] it was phrased, to separate +the tares from the wheat. The persons appointed for this delicate work +comprised four archbishops, nine bishops, two generals of orders and +some "minor theologians." After much sweat they brought forth a report +on most of the doubtful authors though {422} the most difficult of all, +Erasmus, they relinquished to the theological faculties of Louvain and +Paris for expurgation. + +[Sidenote: 1564] + +The results of their labors were published by Paul IV under the name of +the Tridentine Index. It was more sweeping, and at the same time more +discriminating than the former Index. Erasmus was changed to the +second class, only a portion of his works being now condemned. Among +the non-ecclesiastical authors banned were Machiavelli, Guicciardini +and Boccaccio. It is noteworthy that the _Decameron_ was expurgated +not chiefly for its indecency but for its satire of ecclesiastics. +Thus, a tale of the seduction of an abbess is rendered acceptable by +changing the abbess into a countess; the story of how a priest led a +woman astray by impersonating the angel Gabriel is merely changed by +making the priest a layman masquerading as a fairy king. + +The principles upon which the prohibition of books rested were set +forth in ten rules. The most interesting are the following: (1) Books +printed before 1515 condemned by popes or council; (2) Versions of the +Bible; (3) books of heretics; (4) obscene books; (5) works on +witchcraft and necromancy. + +In order to keep the Index up to date continual revision was necessary. +To insure this Pius V appointed a special Congregation of the Index, +which has lasted until the present day. From his time to ours more +than forty Indices have been issued. Those of the sixteenth century +were concerned mainly with Protestant books, those of later centuries +chiefly deal, for the purposes of internal discipline, with books +written by Catholics. One of the functions of the Congregation was to +expurgate books, taking out the offensive passages. A separate _Index +expurgatorius_, pointing out the passages to be deleted or corrected +was {423} published, and this name has sometimes incorrectly been +applied to the Index of prohibited books. + +[Sidenote: Effect of the censorship] + +The effect of the censorship of the press has been variously estimated. +The Index was early dubbed _sica destricta in omnes scriptores_ and +Sarpi called it "the finest secret ever discovered for applying +religion to the purpose of making men idiotic." Milton thundered +against the censorship in England as "the greatest discouragement and +affront that can be offered to learning and learned men." The evil of +the system of Rome was, in his opinion, double, for, as he wrote in his +immortal _Areopagitica_, "The Council of Trent and the Spanish +Inquisition engendering together brought forth and perfected those +catalogues and expurging indexes that rake through the entrails of many +an old good author with a violation worse than any that could be +offered to his tomb." When we remember that the greatest works of +literature, such as the _Divine Comedy_, were tampered with, and that, +in the Spanish Expurgatorial Index of 1640 the list of passages to be +deleted or to be altered in Erasmus's works takes 59 double-columned, +closely printed folio pages, we can easily see the point of Milton's +indignant protest. But, to his mind, it was still worse to subject a +book to the examination of unfit men before it could secure its +_imprimatur_. Not without reason has liberty of the press been made +one of the cornerstones of the temple of freedom. + +Various writers have labored to demonstrate the blighting effect that +the censorship was supposed to have on literature. But it is +surprising how few examples they can bring. Lea, who ought to know the +Spanish field exhaustively, can only point to a few professors of +theology who were persecuted and silenced for expressing unconventional +views on biblical criticism. He conjectures that others must have +{424} remained mute through fear. But, as the golden age of Spanish +literature came after the law made the printing of unlicensed books +punishable by death, [Sidenote: 1558] it is hard to see wherein +literature can have suffered. The Roman Inquisition did not prevent +the appearance of Galileo's work, though it made him recant afterwards. +The strict English law that playwrights should not "meddle with matters +of divinity or state" made Shakespeare careful not to express his +religious and political views, but it is hard to see in what way it +hampered his genius. + +And yet the influence of the various press laws was incalculably great +and was just what it was intended to be. It affected science less than +one would think, and literature hardly at all, but it moulded the +opinions of the masses like putty in their rulers' hands. That the +rank and file of Spaniards and Italians remained Catholic, and the vast +majority of Britons Protestant, was due more to the bondage of the +press than to any other one cause. Originality was discouraged, the +people to some degree unfitted for the free debate that is at the +bottom of self-government, the hope of tolerance blighted, and the path +opened that led to religious wars. + + +[1] Matthew xiii, 28-30. + + + + +{425} + +CHAPTER IX + +THE IBERIAN PENINSULA AND THE EXPANSION OF EUROPE + +SECTION 1. SPAIN + +[Sidenote: Reformation, Renaissance and Exploration] + +If, through the prism of history, we analyse the white light of +sixteenth-century civilization into its component parts, three colors +particularly emerge: the azure "light of the Gospel" as the Reformers +fondly called it in Germany, the golden beam of the Renaissance in +Italy, and the blood-red flame of exploration and conquest irradiating +the Iberian peninsula. Which of the three contributed most to modern +culture it is hard to decide. Each of the movements started +separately, gradually spreading until it came into contact, and thus +into competition and final blending with the other movements. It was +the middle lands, France, England and the Netherlands that, feeling the +impulses from all sides, evolved the sanest and strongest synthesis. +While Germany almost committed suicide with the sword of the spirit, +while Italy sank into a voluptuous torpor of decadent art, while Spain +reeled under the load of unearned Western wealth, France, England +and Holland, taking a little from each of their neighbors, and not +too much from any, became strong, well-balanced, brilliant states. +But if eventually Germany, Italy and Spain all suffered from +over-specialization, for the moment the stimulus of new ideas and new +possibilities gave to each a sort of leadership in its own sphere. +While Germany and Italy were busy winning the realms of the spirit and +of the mind, Spain very nearly conquered the empire of the land and of +the sea. + +{426} [Sidenote: Ferdinand, 1479-1516 and Isabella, 1474-1504] + +The foundation of her national greatness, like that of the greatness of +so many other powers, was laid in the union of the various states into +which she was at one time divided. The marriage of Ferdinand of Aragon +and Isabella of Castile was followed by a series of measures that put +Spain into the leading position in Europe, expelled the alien racial +and religious elements of her population, and secured to her a vast +colonial empire. The conquest of Granada from the Moors, the +acquisition of Cerdagne and Roussillon from the French, and the +annexation of Naples, doubled the dominions of the Lions and Castles, +and started the proud land on the road to empire. It is true that +eventually Spain exhausted herself by trying to do more than even her +young powers could accomplish, but for a while she retained the +hegemony of Christendom. The same year that saw the discovery of +America [Sidenote: 1492] and the occupation of the Alhambra, was also +marked by the expulsion or forced conversion of the Jews, of whom +165,000 left the kingdom, 50,000 were baptized, and 20,000 perished in +race riots. The statesmanship of Ferdinand showed itself in a more +favorable light in the measures taken to reduce the nobles, feudal +anarchs as they were, to fear of the law. To take their place in the +government of the country he developed a new bureaucracy, which also, +to some extent, usurped the powers of the Cortes of Aragon and of the +Cortes of Castile. [Sidenote: Francis Ximenez de Cisneros, 1436-1517] +In the meantime a notable reform of the church, in morals and in +learning if not in doctrine, was carried through by the great Cardinal +Ximenez. + +[Sidenote: Charles V, 1516-1556] + +When Charles, the grandson of the Catholic Kings, succeeded Ferdinand +he was already, through his father, the Archduke Philip, the lord of +Burgundy and of the Netherlands, and the heir of Austria. His election +as emperor made him, at the age of nineteen, the {427} greatest prince +of Christendom. To his gigantic task he brought all the redeeming +qualities of dullness, for his mediocrity and moderation served his +peoples and his dynasty better than brilliant gifts and boundless +ambition would have done. "Never," he is reported to have said in +1556, "did I aspire to universal monarchy, although it seemed well +within my power to attain it." Though the long war with France turned +ever, until the very last, in his favor, he never pressed his advantage +to the point of crushing his enemy to earth. But in Germany and Italy, +no less than in Spain and the Netherlands, he finally attained +something more than hegemony and something less than absolute power. + +[Sidenote: Revolt of the Communes] + +Though Spain benefited by his world power and became the capital state +of his far flung empire, "Charles of Ghent," as he was called, did not +at first find Spaniards docile subjects. Within a very few years of +his accession a great revolt, or rather two great synchronous revolts, +one in Castile and one in Aragon, flared up. The grievances in Castile +were partly economic, the _servicio_ (a tax) and the removal of money +from the realm, and partly national as against a strange king and his +foreign officers. Not only the regent, Adrian of Utrecht, but many +important officials were northerners, and when Charles left Spain to be +crowned emperor, [Sidenote: 1520] the national pride could no longer +bear the humiliation of playing a subordinate part. The revolt of the +Castilian Communes began with the gentry and spread from them to the +lower classes. Even the grandees joined forces with the rebels, though +more from fear than from sympathy. The various revolting communes +formed a central council, the Santa Junta, and put forth a program +re-asserting the rights of the Cortes to redress grievances. Meeting +for a time with no resistance, the rebellion disintegrated {428} +through the operation of its own centrifugal forces, disunion and lack +of leadership. So at length when the government, supplied with a small +force of German mercenaries, struck on the field of Villalar, the +rebels suffered a severe defeat. [Sidenote: April, 1521] A few cities +held out longer, Toledo last of all; but one by one they yielded, +partly to force, partly to the wise policy of concession and redress +followed by the government. + +In our own time Barcelona and the east coast of Spain has been the +hotbed of revolutionary democracy and radical socialism. Even so, the +rising in Aragon known as the Hermandad (Brotherhood) [Sidenote: The +Hermandad] contemporary with that in Castile, not only began earlier +and lasted longer, but was of a far more radical stamp. Here were no +nobles airing their slights at the hands of a foreign king, but here +the trade-gilds rose in the name of equality against monarch and nobles +alike. Two special causes fanned the fury of the populace to a white +heat. The first was the decline of the Mediterranean trade due to the +rise of the Atlantic commerce; the other was the racial element. +Valencia was largely inhabited by Moors, the most industrious, sober +and thrifty, and consequently the most profitable of Spanish laborers. +The race hatred so deeply rooted in human nature added to the ferocity +of the class conflict. Both sides were ruined by the war which, +beginning in 1519, dragged along for several years until the +proletariat was completely crushed. + +[The Cortes] + +The armed triumph of the government hardly damaged popular liberties as +embodied in the constitution of the Cortes of Castile. When Charles +became king this body was not, like other parliaments, ordinarily a +representative assembly of the three estates, but consisted merely of +deputies of eighteen Castilian cities. Only on special occasions, such +as a coronation, were nobles and clergy summoned to participate. Its +great {429} power was that of granting taxes, though somehow it never +succeeded, as did the English House of Commons, in making the redress +of grievances conditional upon a subsidy. But yet the power amounted +to something and it was one that neither Charles nor Philip commonly +ventured to violate. Under both of them meetings of the Cortes were +frequent. + +Though never directly attacked, the powers of the Cortes declined +through the growth of vast interests outside their competence. The +direction of foreign policy, so absorbing under Charles, and the charge +of the enormous and growing commercial interests, was confided not to +the representatives of the people, but to the Royal Council of Castile, +an appointative body of nine lawyers, three nobles, and one bishop. +Though not absolutely, yet relatively, the functions of the Cortes +diminished until they amounted to no more than those of a provincial +council. + +What reconciled the people to the concentration of new powers in the +hands of an irresponsible council was the apparently dazzling success +of Spanish policy throughout the greater part of the sixteenth century. +No banner was served like that of the Lions and Castles; no troops in +the world could stand against her famous regiments; no generals were +equal to Cortez and Alva; no statesmen abler than Parma, no admirals, +until the Armada, more daring than Magellan[1] and Don John, no +champions of the church against heretic and infidel like Loyola and +Xavier. + +[Sidenote: The Spanish Empire] + +That such an empire as the world had not seen since Rome should within +a single life-time rise to its zenith and, within a much shorter time, +decline to the verge of ruin, is one of the melodramas of history. +Perhaps, in reality, Spain was never quite so great as she looked, nor +was her fall quite so complete as it seemed. But {430} the phenomena, +such as they are, sufficiently call for explanation. + +First of all one is struck by the fortuitous, one might almost say, +unnatural, character of the Hapsburg empire. While the union of +Castile and Aragon, bringing together neighboring peoples and filling a +political need, was the source of real strength, the subsequent +accretions of Italian and Burgundian territories rather detracted from +than added to the effective power of the Spanish state. Philip would +have been far stronger had his father separated from his crown not only +Austria and the Holy Roman Empire of Germany, but the Netherlands as +well. The revolt of the Dutch Republic was in itself almost enough to +ruin Spain. Nor can it be said that the Italian states, won by the +sword of Ferdinand or of Charles, were valuable accessions to Spanish +power. + +[Sidenote: Colonies] + +Quite different in its nature was the colonial empire, but in this it +resembled the other windfalls to the house of Hapsburg in that it was +an almost accidental, unsought-for acquisition. The Genoese sailor who +went to the various courts of Europe begging for a few ships in which +to break the watery path to Asia, had in his beggar's wallet all the +kingdoms of a new world and the glory of them. For a few years Spain +drank until she was drunken of conquest and the gold of America. That +the draught acted momentarily as a stimulant, clearing her brain and +nerving her arm to deeds of valor, but that she suffered in the end +from the riotous debauch, cannot be doubted. She soon learned that all +that glittered was not wealth, and that industries surfeited with metal +and starved of raw materials must perish. The unearned coin proved to +be fairy gold in her coffers, turning to brown leaves and dust when she +wanted to use it. It became a drug in her markets; it could not +lawfully be exported, and no {431} amount of it would purchase much +honest labor from an indolent population fed on fantasies of wealth. +The modern King Midas, on whose dominions the sun never set, was cursed +with a singular and to him inexplicable need of everything that money +was supposed to buy. His armies mutinied, his ships rotted, and never +could his increasing income catch up with the far more rapidly +increasing expenses of his budget. + +The poverty of the people was in large part the fault of the government +which pursued a fiscal policy ideally calculated to strike at the very +sources of wealth. While, under the oppression of an ignorant +paternalism, unhappy Spain suffered from inanition, she was tended by a +physician who tried to cure her malady by phlebotomy. There have been +worse men than Philip II, [Sidenote: Philip II, 1556-98] but there have +been hardly any who have caused more blood to flow from the veins of +their own people. His life is proof that a well-meaning bigot can do +more harm than the most abandoned debauchee. "I would rather lose all +my kingdoms," he averred, "than allow freedom of religion." And again, +to a man condemned by the Inquisition for heresy, "If my own son were +as perverse as you, I myself would carry the faggot to burn him." +Consistently, laboriously, undeterred by any suffering or any horror, +he pursued his aim. He was not afraid of hard work, scribbling reams +of minute directions daily to his officers. His stubborn calm was +imperturbable; he took his pleasures--women, _autos-da-fe_ and +victories--sadly, and he suffered such chagrins as the death of four +wives, having a monstrosity for a son, and the loss of the Armada and +of the Netherlands, without turning a hair. + +Spain's foreign policy came to be more and more polarized by the rise +of English sea-power. Even under Charles, when France had been the +chief enemy, {432} [Sidenote: Spain vs. England] the Hapsburgs saw the +desirability of winning England as a strategic point for their +universal empire. This policy was pursued by alternating alliance with +hostility. For six years of his boyhood Charles had been betrothed to +Mary Tudor, Henry VIII's sister, to whom he sent a ring inscribed, +"Mary hath chosen the better part which shall not be taken away from +her." His own precious person, however, was taken from her to be +bestowed on Isabella of Portugal, by whom he begot Philip. When this +son succeeded him, notwithstanding the little unpleasantness of Henry +VIII's divorce, he advised him to turn again to an English marriage, +and Philip soon became the husband of Queen Mary. After her death +without issue, he vainly wooed her sister, until he was gradually +forced by her Protestant buccaneers into an undesired war. + +Notwithstanding all that he could do to lose fortune's favors, she +continued for many years to smile on her darling Hapsburg. After a +naval disaster inflicted by the Turks on the Spaniard off the coast of +Tripoli, the defeated power recovered and revenged herself in the great +naval victory of Lepanto, in October 1571. The lustre added to the +Lions and Castles by this important success was far outshone by the +acquisition of Portugal and all her colonies, in 1581. Though not the +nearest heir, Philip was the strongest, and by bribery and menaces won +the homage of the Portuguese nobles after the death of the aged king +Henry on January 31, 1580. For sixty years Spain held the lesser +country and, what was more important to her, the colonies in the East +Indies and in Africa. So vast an empire had not yet been heard of, or +imagined possible, in the history of the world. No wonder that its +shimmer dazzled the eyes not only of contemporaries, but of posterity. +According to Macaulay, {433} Philip's power was equal to that of +Napoleon, and its ruin is the most instructive lesson in history of how +not to govern. + +How hollow was this semblance of might was demonstrated by the first +stalwart peoples that dared to test it, first by the Dutch and then by +England. The story of the Armada has already been told. Its +preparation marked the height of Philip's effort and the height of his +incompetence. Its annihilation was a cruel blow to his pride. But in +Spain, barring a temporary financial panic, things went much the same +after 1588 as before it. The full bloom of Spanish culture, gorgeous +with Velasquez and fragrant with Cervantes and Calderon, followed hard +upon the defeat of the Armada. + +[Sidenote: War with the Moors] + +The fact is that Spain suffered much more from internal disorders than +from foreign levy. The chief occasion of her troubles was the presence +among her people of a large body of Moors, hated both for their race +and for their religion. With the capitulation of Granada, the +enjoyment of Mohammedanism was guaranteed to the Moors, but this +tolerance only lasted for six years, when a decree went out that all +must be baptized or must emigrate from Andalusia. In Aragon, however, +always independent of Castile, they continued to enjoy religious +freedom. Charles at his coronation took a solemn oath to respect the +faith of Islam in these lands, but soon afterwards, frightened by the +rise of heresy in Germany, he applied to Clement to absolve him from +his oath. This sanction of bad faith, at first creditably withheld, +[Sidenote: 1524] was finally granted and was promptly followed by a +general order for expulsion or conversion. Throughout the whole of +Spain the poor Moriscos now began to be systematically pillaged and +persecuted by whoever chose to do it. All manner of taxes, tithes, +servitudes and fines {434} were demanded of them. The last straw that +broke the endurance of a people tried by every manner of tyranny and +extortion, was an edict ordering all Moors to learn Castilian within +three years, after which the use of Arabic was to be forbidden, +prohibiting all Moorish customs and costumes, and strictly enjoining +attendance at church. + +As the Moors had been previously disarmed and as they had no military +discipline, rebellion seemed a counsel of despair, but it ensued. The +populace rose in helpless fury, and for three years defied the might of +the Spanish empire. But the result could not be doubtful. A naked +peasantry could not withstand the disciplined battalions that had +proved their valor on every field from Mexico to the Levant and from +Saxony to Algiers. It was not a war but a massacre and pillage. The +whole of Andalusia, the most flourishing province in Spain, beautiful +with its snowy mountains, fertile with its tilled valleys, and sweet +with the peaceful toil of human habitation, was swept by a universal +storm of carnage and of flame. The young men either perished in +fighting against fearful odds, or were slaughtered after yielding as +prisoners. Those who sought to fly to Africa found the avenues of +escape blocked by the pitiless Toledo blades. The aged were hunted +down like wild beasts; the women and young children were sold into +slavery, to toil under the lash or to share the hated bed of the +conqueror. The massacre cost Spain 60,000 lives and three million +ducats, not to speak of the harm that it did to her spirit. + + +[1] A Portuguese in Spanish service. + + +SECTION 2. EXPLORATION + +[Sidenote: Division of the New World between Spain and Portugal] + +When Columbus returned with glowing accounts of the "India" he had +found, the value of his work was at once appreciated. Forthwith began +that struggle for colonial power which has absorbed so much of the +{435} energies of the European nations. In view of the Portuguese +discoveries in Africa, it was felt necessary to mark out the "spheres +of influence" of the two powers at once, and, with an instinctive +appeal to the one authority claiming to be international, the Spanish +government immediately applied to Pope Alexander VI for confirmation in +the new-found territories. Acting on the suggestion of Columbus that +the line of Spanish influence be drawn one hundred leagues west of any +of the Cape Verde Islands or of the Azores, the pope, with magnificent +self-assurance, issued a bull, _Inter caetera divinae_, [Sidenote: May +4, 1493] of his own mere liberality and in virtue of the authority of +Peter, conferring on Castile forever "all dominions, camps, posts, and +villages, with all the rights and jurisdictions pertaining to them," +west of the parallel, and leaving to Portugal all that fell to the east +of it. Portugal promptly protested that the line was too far east, and +by the treaty of Tordesillas; [Sidenote: 1494] it was moved to 370 +leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands, thus falling between the 48th +and 49th parallel of longitude. The intention was doubtless to confer +on Spain all land immediately west of the Atlantic, but, as a matter of +fact, South America thrusts so far to the eastward, that a portion of +her territory, later claimed as Brazil, fell to the lot of Portugal. + +[Sidenote: Spanish adventurers] + +Spain lost no time in exploiting her new dominions, during the next +century hundreds of ships carried tens thousands of adventurers to seek +their fortune in the west. For it was not as colonists that most of +them went, but in a spirit compounded of that of the crusader, the +knight-errant, and the pirate. If there is anything in the paradox +that artists have created natural beauty, it is a truer one to say that +the Spanish romances created the Spanish colonial empire. The men who +sailed on the great adventure had feasted {436} on tales of paladins +and hippogrifs, of enchanted palaces and fountains of youth, and +miraculously fair women to be rescued and then claimed by knights. +They read in books of travel purporting to tell the sober truth of +satyrs and of purple unicorns and of men who spread their feet over +their heads for umbrellas and of others whose heads grew between their +shoulders. No wonder that when they went to a strange country they +found the River of Life in the Orinoco, colonies of Amazons in the +jungle, and El Dorado, the land of gold, in the riches of Mexico and +Peru! It is a testimony to the imaginative mood of Europe, as well as +to the power of the pen, that the whole continent came to be called, +not after its discoverer, but after the man who wrote the best +romances--mostly fictions--about his travels in it. + +[Sidenote: Exploitation of natives] + +In the Greater Antilles, where Spain made her first colonies, her rule +showed at its worst. The soft native race, the Caribs, almost +completely disappeared within half a century. The best modern +authority estimates that whereas the native population of Espanola +(Haiti) was between 200,000 and 300,000 in 1493, by 1548 hardly 5000 +Indians were left. In part the extinction of the natives was due to +new diseases and to the vices of civilization, but far more to the +heartless exploitation of them by the conquerors. Bartholomew de las +Casas, the first priest to come to this unfortunate island, tells +stories of Spanish cruelty that would be incredible were they not so +well supported. With his own eyes he saw 3000 inoffensive Indians +slaughtered at a single time; of another batch of 300 he observed that +within a few months more than half perished at hard labor. Again, he +saw 6000 Indian children condemned to work in the mines, of whom few or +none long survived. In vain a bull of Paul III declared the Indians +capable of becoming {437} Christians and forbade their enslavement. In +vain the Spanish government tried to mitigate at least some of the +hardships of the natives' lot, [Sidenote: 1537] ordering that they +should be well fed and paid. The temptation to exploit them was too +strong; and when they perished the Spaniards supplied their place by +importing negroes from Africa, a people of tougher fibre. + +Spanish exploration, followed by sparse settlement, soon opened up the +greater part of the Americas south of the latitude of the present city +of San Francisco. Of many expeditions into the trackless wilderness, +only a few were financially repaying; the majority were a drain on the +resources of the mother country. In every place where the Spaniard set +foot the native quailed and, after at most one desperate struggle, went +down, never again to loose the conqueror's grip from his throat or to +move the conqueror's knee from his chest. Even the bravest were as +helpless as children before warriors armed with thunder and riding upon +unknown monsters. + +But in no place, save in the islands, did the native races wholly +disappear as they did in the English settlements. The Spaniards came +not like the Puritans, as artisans and tillers of the soil intent on +founding new homes, but as military conquerors, requiring a race of +helots to toil for them. For a period anarchy reigned; the captains +not only plundered the Indians but fought one another fiercely for more +room--more room in the endless wilderness! Eventually, however, +conditions became more stable; Spain imposed her effective control, her +language, religion and institutions on a vast region, doing for South +America what Rome had once done for her. + +The lover of adventure will find rich reward in tracing the discovery +of the Mississippi by De Soto, of Florida by Ponce de Leon, and of the +whole course of {438} the Amazon by Orellana who sailed down it from +Peru, or in reading of Balboa, "when with eagle eyes he stared at the +Pacific." A resolute man could hardly set out exploring without +stumbling upon some mighty river, some vast continent, or some +unmeasured ocean. But among all these fairly-tales [Transcriber's +note: fairy-tales?] there are some that are so marvellous that they +would be thought too extravagant by the most daring writers of romance. +That one captain with four hundred men, and another with two hundred, +should each march against an extensive and populous empire, cut down +their armies at odds of a hundred to one, put their kings to the sword +and their temples to the torch, and after it all reap a harvest of gold +and precious stones such as for quantity had never been heard of +before--all this meets us not in the tales of Ariosto or of Dumas, but +in the pages of authentic history. + +[Conquest of Mexico] + +In the tableland of Mexico dwelt the Aztecs, the most civilized and +warlike of North American aborigines. Their polity was that of a +Spartan military despotism, their religion the most grewsome known to +man. Before their temples were piled pyramids of human skulls; the +deities were placated by human sacrifice, and at times, according to +the deicidal and theophagous rites common to many primitive +superstitions, themselves sacrificed in effigy or in the person of a +beautiful captive and their flesh eaten in sacramental cannibalism. +Though the civilization of the Aztecs, derived from the earlier and +perhaps more advanced Mayans, was scarcely so high as that of the +ancient Egyptians, they had cultivated the arts sufficiently to work +the mines of gold and silver and to hammer the precious metals into +elaborate and massive ornaments. + +When rumors of their wealth reached Cuba it seemed at last as if the +dream of El Dorado had come true. Hernando Cortez, a cultured, +resolute, brave and {439} politic leader, gathered a force of four +hundred white men, with a small outfit of artillery and cavalry, and, +on Good Friday, 1519, landed at the place now called Vera Cruz and +marched on the capital. The race of warriors who delighted in nothing +but slaughter, was stupefied, partly by an old prophecy of the coming +of a god to subdue the land, partly by the strange and terrible arms of +the invaders. Moreover their neighbors and subjects were ready to rise +against them and become allies of the Spaniards. In a few months of +crowded battle and massacre they lay broken and helpless at the feet of +the audacious conqueror, who promptly sent to Spain a glowing account +of his new empire and a tribute of gold and silver. Albert Duerer in +August, 1520, saw at Brussels the "things brought the king from the new +golden land," and describes them in his diary as including "a whole +golden sun, a fathom in breadth, and a whole silver moon of the same +size, and two rooms full of the same sort of armour, and also all kinds +of weapons, accoutrements and bows, wonderful shields . . . altogether +valued at a hundred thousand guidon. And all my life," he adds, "I +have never seen anything that so rejoiced my heart as did these things." + +[Conquest of Peru] + +If an artist, familiar with kings and courts and the greatest marts of +Europe could write thus, what wonder that the imagination of the world +took fire? The golden sun and the silver moon were, to all men who saw +them, like Helen's breasts, the sun and moon of heart's desire, to lure +them over the western waves. Twelve years after Cortez, came Pizarro +who, with a still smaller force conquered an even wealthier and more +civilized empire. The Incas, unlike the Mexicans, were a mild race, +living in a sort of theocratic socialism, in which the emperor, as god, +exercised absolute power over his subjects and in return cared {440} +for at least their common wants. The Spaniards outdid themselves in +acts of treachery and blood. In vain the emperor, Atahualpa, after +voluntarily placing himself in the hands of Pizarro, filled the room +used as his prison nine feet high with gold as ransom; when he could +give no more he was tried on the preposterous charges of treason to +Charles V and of heresy, and suffered death at the stake. Pizarro +coolly pocketed the till then undreamed of sum of 4,500,000 ducats,[1] +worth in our standards more than one hundred million dollars. + +[Sidenote: Circumnavigation of the globe, 1519-22] + +But the crowning act of the age of discovery was the circumnavigation +of the globe. The leader of the great enterprise that put the seal of +man's dominion on the earth, was Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese in +Spanish service. With a fleet of five vessels, only one of which put a +ring around the world, and with a crew of about 275 men of whom only 18 +returned successful, he sailed from Europe. [Sidenote: September 20, +1519] Coasting down the east of South America, [October 21, 1519] +exploring the inlets and rivers, he entered the straits that bear his +name and covered their 360 miles in thirty-eight days. After following +the coast up some distance north, he struck across the Pacific, the +breadth of which he much underestimated. For ninety-eight days he was +driven by the east trade-wind without once sighting land save two +desert islands, while his crew endured extremities of hunger, thirst +and scurvy. At last he came to the islands he called, after the +thievish propensities of their inhabitants, the Ladrones, making his +first landing at Guam. Spending but three days here to refit and +provision, he sailed again on March 9, [Sidenote: 1521] and a week +later discovered the islands known, since 1542, as the Philippines. +{441} In an expedition against a savage chief the great leader met his +death on April 27, 1521. As other sailors and as he, too, had +previously been as far to the east as he now found himself, he had +practically completed the circumnavigation of the globe. The most +splendid triumph of the age of discovery coincided almost to a day with +the time that Luther was achieving the most glorious deed of the +Reformation at Worms. + +[Sidenote: September 1522] + +Magellan's ship, the Vittoria, proceeded under Sebastian del Cano, and +finally, with thirty-one men, of whom only eighteen had started out in +her, came back to Portugal. The men who had burst asunder one of the +bonds of the older world, were, nevertheless, deeply troubled by a +strange, medieval scruple. Having mysteriously lost a day by following +the sun in his westward course, they did penance for having celebrated +the fasts and feasts of the church on the wrong dates. + +[Sidenote: Portuguese Exploration] + +While Spain was extending her dominions westward, little Portugal was +building up an even greater empire in both hemispheres. In the +fifteenth century, this hardy people, confined to their coast and +without possibility of expanding inwards, had seen that their future +lay upon the water. To the possessor of sea power the ocean makes of +every land bordering on it a frontier, vulnerable to them and +impervious to the enemy. The first ventures of the Portuguese were +naturally in the lands near by, the North African coast and the islands +known as the Madeiras and the Azores. Feeling their way southward +along the African coast they reached the Cape of Good Hope but did not +at once go much further. [Sidenote: 1486 or 1488] This path to India +was not broken until eleven years later, when Vasco da Gama, after a +voyage of great daring [Sidenote: 1497-8]--he was ninety-three days at +sea on a course of 4500 miles from the Cape Verde Islands to South +Africa--reached Calicut on May 20, 1498. This city, now sunken in the +sea, was {442} then the most flourishing port on the Malabar Coast, +exploited entirely by Mohammedan traders. Spices had long been the +staple of Venetian trade with the Orient, and when he returned with +rich cargo of them the immediate effect upon Europe was greater than +that of the voyage of Columbus. Trade seeks to follow the line of +least resistance, and the establishment of a water way between Europe +and the East was like connecting two electrically charged bodies in a +Leyden jar by a copper wire. The current was no longer forced through +a poor medium, but ran easily through the better conductor. With more +rapidity than one would think possible in that age, the commercial +consequences of the discovery were appreciated. The trade of the +Levant died away, and the center of gravity was transferred from the +Mediterranean to the Atlantic. While Venice decayed Lisbon rose with +mushroom speed to the position of the great emporium of European +ocean-borne trade, until she in her turn was supplanted by Antwerp. + +Da Gama was soon imitated by others. [Sidenote: 1500] Cabral made +commercial settlements at Calicut and the neighboring town of Cochin, +and came home with unheard-of riches in spice, pearls and gems. +[Sidenote: 1503] Da Gama returned and bombarded Calicut, and Francis +d'Almeida was made Governor of India [Sidenote: 1505] and tried to +consolidate the Portuguese power there on the correct principle that +who was lord of the sea was lord of the peninsula. The rough methods +of the Portuguese and their competition with the Arab traders made war +inevitable between the two rivals. To the other causes of enmity that +of religion was added, for, like the Spaniards, the Portuguese tried to +combine the characters of merchants and missionaries, of pirates and +crusaders. When the first of Da Gama's sailors to land at Calicut was +asked what he sought, his laconic answer, "Christians {443} and +spices," had in it as much of truth as of epigrammatic neatness. + +[Sidenote: Portuguese cruelty to Indians] + +Had the Portuguese but treated the Hindoos humanely they would have +found in them allies against the Mohammedan traders, but all of them, +not excepting their greatest statesman, Alphonso d'Albuquerque, pursued +a policy of frightfulness. When Da Gama met an Arab ship, after +sacking it, he blew it up with gunpowder and left it to sink in flames +while the women on board held up their babies with piteous cries to +touch the heart of this knight of Christ and of mammon. Without the +least compunction Albuquerque tells in his commentaries how he burned +the Indian villages, put part of their inhabitants to death and ordered +the noses and ears of the survivors cut off. + +[Sidenote: Trade] + +Nevertheless, the Portuguese got what they wanted, the wealthy trade of +the East. Albuquerque, failing to storm Calicut, seized Goa farther +north and made it the chief emporium. But they soon felt the need of +stations farther east, for, as long as the Arabs held Malacca, where +spices were cheaper, the intruders did not have the monopoly they +desired. Accordingly Albuquerque seized this city on the Malay +Straits, [Sidenote: 1511] which, though now it has sunk into +insignificance, was then the Singapore or Hong-Kong of the Far East. +Sumatra, Java and the northern coast of Australia were explored, the +Moluccas were bought from Spain for 350,000 ducats, and even Japan and +China were reached by the daring traders. In the meantime posts were +established along the whole western and eastern coasts of Africa and in +Madagascar. But wherever they went the Portuguese sought commercial +advantage not permanent settlement. Aptly compared by a Chinese +observer to fishes who died if taken from the sea, they founded an +empire of vast length out of incredible thinness. + +{444} [Sidenote: Brazil] + +The one exception to this rule, and an important one, was Brazil. The +least showy of the colonies and the one that brought in the least quick +profit eventually became a second and a greater Portugal, outstripping +the mother country in population and dividing South America almost +equally with the Spanish. In many ways the settlement of this colony +resembled that of North America by the English more than it did the +violent and superficial conquests of Spain. Settlers came to it less +as adventurers than as home-seekers and some of them fled from +religious persecution. The great source of wealth, the sugar-cane, was +introduced from Madeira in 1548 and in the following year the mother +country sent a royal governor and some troops. + +[Sidenote: Decadence of Portugal] + +But even more than Spain Portugal overtaxed her strength in her grasp +for sudden riches. The cup that her mariners took from the gorgeous +Eastern enchantress had a subtle, transforming drug mingled with its +spices, whereby they were metamorphosed, if not into animals, at least +into orientals, or Africans. While Lisbon grew by leaps and bounds the +country-side was denuded, and the landowners, to fill the places of the +peasants who had become sailors, imported quantities of negro slaves. +Thus not only the Portuguese abroad, but those at home, undeterred by +racial antipathy, adulterated their blood with that of the dark +peoples. Add to this that the trade, immensely lucrative as it seemed, +was an enormous drain on the population of the little state; and the +causes of Portugal's decline, almost as sudden as its rise, are in +large part explained. So rapid was it, indeed, that it was noticed not +only by foreign travellers but by the natives. Camoens, though he +dedicated his life to composing an epic in honor of Vasco da Gama, +lamented his country's decay in these terms: + + {445} + O pride of empire! O vain covetise + Of that vain glory that we men call fame . . . + What punishment and what just penalties + Thou dost inflict on those thou dost inflame . . . + Thou dost depopulate our ancient state + Till dissipation brings debility. + + +Nor were artificial causes wanting to make the colonies expensive and +the home treasury insolvent. The governors as royal favorites regarded +their appointments as easy roads to quick wealth, and they plundered +not only the inhabitants but their royal master. The inefficient and +extravagant management of trade, which was a government monopoly, +furnished a lamentable example of the effects of public ownership. And +when possible the church interfered to add the burden of bigotry to +that of corruption. An amusing example of this occurred when a +supposed tooth of Buddha was brought to Goa, to redeem which the Rajah +of Pegu offered a sum equal to half a million dollars. While the +government was inclined to sell, the archbishop forbade the acceptance +of such tainted money and ordered the relic destroyed. + +[Sidenote: 1521-80] + +Within Portugal itself other factors aided the decline. From the +accession of John III to the amalgamation with Spain sixty years later, +the Cortes was rarely summoned. The expulsion of many Jews in 1497, +the massacre and subsequent exile of the New Christians or Marranos, +[Sidenote: 1506-7] most of whom went to Holland, commenced an era of +destructive bigotry completed by the Inquisition. [Sidenote: The +Inquisition established, 1536] Strict censorship of the press and the +education of the people by the Jesuits each added their bit to the +forces of spiritual decadence. + +For the fury of religious zeal ill supplied the exhausted powers of a +state fainting with loss of blood and from the intoxication of +corruption. Gradually her grasp relaxed on North Africa until only +three {446} small posts in Morocco were left her, those of Ceuta, +Arzila and Tangier. A last frantic effort to recover them and to +punish the infidel, undertaken by the young King Sebastian, ended in +disaster and in his death in 1578. After a short reign of two years by +his uncle Henry, who as a cardinal had no legitimate heirs, Portugal +feebly yielded to her strongest suitor, Philip II, [Sidenote: +1580-1640] and for sixty years remained a captive of Spain. + +[Sidenote: Other nations explore] + +Other nations eagerly crowded in to seize the trident that was falling +from the hands of the Iberian peoples. There were James Cartier of +France, and Sebastian Cabot and Sir Martin Frobisher and Sir Francis +Drake of England, and others. They explored the coast of North America +and sought a Northwest Passage to Asia. Drake, after a voyage of two +years and a half, [Sidenote: 1577-80] duplicated the feat of Magellan, +though he took quite a different course, following the American western +coast up to the Golden Gate. He, too, returned "very richly fraught +with gold, silver, silk and precious stones," the best incentive to +further endeavor. But no colonies of permanence and consequence were +as yet planted by the northern nations. Until the seventeenth century +their voyages were either actuated by commercial motives or were purely +adventurous. The age did not lack daring explorers by land as well as +by sea. Lewis di Varthema rivalled his countryman Marco Polo by an +extensive journey in the first decade of the century. Like Burckhardt +and Burton in the nineteenth century he visited Mecca and Medina as a +Mohammedan pilgrim, and also journeyed to Cairo, Beirut, Aleppo and +Damascus and then to the distant lands of India and the Malay peninsula. + +[Sidenote: Russia] + +It may seem strange to speak of Russia in connection with the age of +discovery, and yet it was precisely in the light of a new and strange +land that our English ancestors regarded it. Cabot's voyage to the +{447} White Sea in the middle of the century was every whit as new an +adventure as was the voyage to India. Richard Chancellor and others +followed him and established a regular trade with Muscovy, [Sidenote: +1553] and through it and the Caspian with Asia. The rest of Europe, +west of Poland and the Turks, hardly heard of Russia or felt its impact +more than they now do of the Tartars of the Steppes. + +But it was just at this time that Russia was taking the first strides +on the road to become a great power. How broadly operative were some +of the influences at work in Europe lies patent in the singular +parallel that her development offers to that of her more civilized +contemporaries. Just as despotism, consolidation, and conquest were +the order of the day elsewhere, so they were in the eastern plains of +Europe. Basil III [Sidenote: Basil III, 1505-33] struck down the +rights of cities, nobles and princes to bring the whole country under +his own autocracy. Ivan the Terrible, [Sidenote: Ivan IV, 1533-84] +called Czar of all the Russias, added to this policy one of extensive +territorial aggrandizement. Having humbled the Tartars he acquired +much land to the south and east, and then turned his attention to the +west, where, however, Poland barred his way to the Baltic. Just as in +its subsequent history, so then, one of the great needs of Russia was +for a good port. Another of her needs was for better technical +processes. Anticipating Peter the Great, Ivan endeavored to get German +workmen to initiate good methods, but he failed to accomplish much, +partly because Charles V forbade his subjects to go to add strength to +a rival state. + +[Sidenote: Europe vs. Asia] + +While Europe found most of the other continents as soft as butter to +her trenchant blade, she met her match in Asia. The theory of +Herodotus that the course of history is marked by alternate movements +east and west has been strikingly confirmed by {449} subsequent events. +In a secular grapple the two continents have heaved back and forth, +neither being able to conquer the other completely. If the empires of +Macedon and Rome carried the line of victory far to the orient, they +were avenged by the successive inroads of the Huns, the Saracens, the +Mongols and the Turks. If for the last four centuries the line has +again been pushed steadily back, until Europe dominates Asia, it is far +from certain that this condition will be permanent. + +In spiritual matters Europe owes a balance of indebtedness to Asia, and +by far the greater part of it to the Semites. The Phoenician alphabet +and Arabian numerals are capital borrowed and yielding how enormous a +usufruct! Above all, Asiatic religions--albeit the greatest of them +was the child of Hellas as well as of Judaea--have conquered the whole +world save a few savage tribes. Ever since the cry of "There is no God +but Allah and Mahomet is his prophet" had aroused the Arabian nomads +from their age-long slumber, it was as a religious warfare that the +contest of the continents revealed itself. After the scimitar had +swept the Greek Empire out of Asia Minor and had cut Spain from +Christendom, the crusades and the rise of the Spanish kingdoms had +gradually beaten it back. But while the Saracen was being slowly but +surely driven from the western peninsula, the banner of the Crescent in +the east was seized by a race with a genius for war inversely +proportional to its other gifts. [Sidenote: The Turks] The Turks, who +have never added to the arts of peace anything more important than the +fabrication of luxurious carpets and the invention of a sensuous bath, +were able to found cannon and to drill battalions that drove the armies +of nobler races before them. From the sack of Constantinople in 1453 +to the siege of Vienna in 1529 and even to some extent long after that, +the {449} majestic and terrible advance of the janizaries threatened +the whole fabric of Europe. + +[Sidenote: Selim I, 1512-20] + +Under Sultan Selim I the Turkish arms were turned to the east and +south. Persia, Kurdistan, Syria and Egypt were crushed, while the +title of Caliph, and with it the spiritual leadership of the Mahommetan +world, was wrested from the last of the Abassid dynasty. But it was +under his successor, Suleiman the Magnificent, [Sidenote: Suleiman +1520-6] that the banner of the prophet, "fanned by conquest's crimson +wing," was borne to the heart of Europe. Belgrade and Rhodes were +captured, Hungary completely overrun, and Vienna besieged. The naval +exploits of Khair-ed-din, called Barbarossa, carried the terror of the +Turkish arms into the whole Mediterranean, subdued Algiers and defeated +the Christian fleets under Andrew Doria. + +On the death of Suleiman the Crescent Moon had attained the zenith of +its glory. The vast empire was not badly administered; some +authorities hold that justice was better served under the Sultan than +under any contemporary Christian king. A hierarchy of officials, +administrative, ecclesiastical, secretarial and military, held office +directly under the Sultan, being wisely granted by him sufficient +liberty to allow initiative, and yet kept under control direct enough +to prevent the secession of distant provinces. + +The international position of the infidel power was an anomalous one. +Almost every pope tried to revive the crusading spirit against the +arch-enemy of Christ, and the greatest epic poet of the sixteenth +century chose for his subject the Delivery of Jerusalem in a holy war. +On the other hand the Most Christian King found no difficulty in making +alliances with the Sublime Porte, and the same course was advocated, +though not adopted, by some of the Protestant states of Germany. +Finally, that champion of the church, Philip {450} II, for the first +time in the history of his country, [Sidenote: 1580] made a peace with +the infidel Sultan recognizing his right to exist in the society of +nations. + +The sixteenth century, which in so much else marked a transition from +medieval to modern times, in this also saw the turning-point of events, +inasmuch as the tide drawn by the Half Moon to its flood about 1529, +from that time onwards has steadily, if very slowly, ebbed. + + +[1] Allowing $2.40 to a ducat this would be $10,800,000 intrinsically +at a time when money had ten times the purchasing power that it has +today. + + + + +{451} + +CHAPTER X + +SOCIAL CONDITIONS + +SECTION 1. POPULATION + +[Sidenote: Unity of civilized world] + +Political history is that of the state; economic and intellectual +history that of a different group. In modern times this group includes +all civilized nations. Even in political history there are many +striking parallels, but in social development and in culture the recent +evolution of civilized peoples has been nearly identical. This +fundamental unity of the nations has grown stronger with the centuries +on account of improving methods of transport and communication. +Formally it might seem that in the Middle Ages the white nations were +more closely bound together than they are now. They had one church, a +nearly identical jurisprudence, one great literature and one language +for the educated classes; they even inherited from Rome the ideal of a +single world-state. But if the growth of national pride, the division +of the church and the rise of modern languages and literatures have +been centrifugal forces, they have been outweighed by the advent of new +influences tending to bind all peoples together. The place of a single +church is taken by a common point of view, the scientific; the place of +Latin as a medium of learning has been taken by English, French, and +German, each one more widely known to those to whom it is not native +now than ever was Latin in the earlier centuries. The fruits of +discovery are common to all nations, who now live under similar +conditions, reading the same books and (under different names) the same +newspapers, doing the same {452} business and enjoying the same +luxuries in the same manner. Even in matters of government we are +visibly approaching the perhaps distant but apparently certain goal of +a single world-state. + +[Sidenote: Changes in population] + +In estimating the economic and cultural conditions of the sixteenth +century it is therefore desirable to treat Western Europe as a whole. +One of the marked differences between all countries then and now is in +population. No simple law has been discovered as to the causes of the +fluctuations in the numbers of the people within a given territory. +This varies with the wealth of the territory, but not in direct ratio +to it; for it can be shown that the wealth of Europe in the last four +hundred years has increased vastly more than its population. Nor can +it be discovered to vary directly in proportion to the combined amount +and distribution of wealth, for in sixteenth-century England while the +number of the people was increasing wealth was being concentrated in +fewer hands almost as fast as it was being created. It is obvious that +sanitation and transportation have a good deal to do with the +population of certain areas. The largest cities of our own times could +not have existed in the Middle Ages, for they could not have been +provisioned, nor have been kept endurably healthy without elaborate +aqueducts and drains. + +Other more obscure factors enter in to complicate the problems of +population. Some nations, like Spain in the sixteenth and Ireland in +the nineteenth century, have lost immensely through emigration. The +cause of this was doubtless not that the nation in question was growing +absolutely poorer, but that the increase of wealth or in accessibility +to richer lands made it relatively poorer. It is obvious again that +great visitations like pestilence or war diminish population directly, +though the effect of such factors is usually {453} temporary. How much +voluntary sterility operates is problematical. Aegidius Albertinus, +writing in 1602, attributed the growth in population of Protestant +countries since the Reformation to the abolition of sacerdotal +celibacy, and this has also been mentioned as a cause by a recent +writer. Probably the last named forces have a very slight influence; +the primary one being, as Malthus stated, the increase of means of +subsistence. + +As censuses were almost unknown to sixteenth-century Europe outside of +a few Italian cities, the student is forced to rely for his data on +various other calculations, in some cases tolerably reliable, in others +deplorably deficient. The best of these are the enumerations of +hearths made for purposes of taxation in several countries. Other +counts were sometimes made for fiscal or military, and occasionally for +religious, purposes. Estimates by contemporary observers supplement +our knowledge, which may be taken as at least approximately correct. + +[Sidenote: England and Wales] + +The religious census of 1603 gave the number of communicants in England +and Wales as 2,275,000, to which must be added 8475 recusants. Adding +50 per cent. for non-communicants, we arrive at the figure of +3,425,000, which is doubtless too low. Another calculation based on a +record of births and deaths yields the figure 4,812,000 for the year +1600. The average, 4,100,000, is probably nearly correct, of which +about a tenth in Wales. England had grown considerably during the +century, this increase being especially remarkable in the large towns. +Whereas, in 1534, 150,000 quarters of wheat were consumed in London +annually, the figure for 1605 is 500,000. The population in the same +time had probably increased from 60,000 to 225,000. No figures worth +anything can be given for Ireland, and for Scotland it is only safe to +say {454} that in 1500 the population was about 500,000 and in 1600 +about 700,000. + +[Sidenote: The Netherlands] + +Enumerations of hearths and of communicants give good bases for +reckoning the population of the Netherlands. Holland, the largest of +the Northern provinces, had about 200,000 people in 1514; Brabant the +greatest of the Southern, in 1526 had 500,000. The population of the +largest town, Antwerp, in 1526 was 88,000, in 1550 about 110,000. At +the same time it is remarkable that in 1521 Ghent impressed Duerer as +the greatest city he had seen in the Low Countries. For the whole +territory of the Netherlands, including Holland and Belgium, and a +little more on the borders, the population was in 1560 about 3,000,000. +This is the same figure as that given for 1567 by Lewis Guicciardini. +Later in the century the country suffered by war and emigration. + +[Sidenote: Germany] + +The lack of a unified government, and the great diversity of +conditions, makes the population of Germany more difficult to estimate. +Brandenburg, having in 1535 an area of 10,000 square miles, and a +population between 300,000 and 400,000, has been aptly compared for +size and numbers to the present state of Vermont. Bavaria had in 1554 +a population of 434,000; in 1596 of 468,000. Wuerzburg had in 1538 only +12,000; Hamburg in 1521 12,000 and in 1594 19,000. Danzig had in 1550 +about 21,000. The largest city in central Germany, if not in the whole +country--as a chronicler stated in 1572--was Erfurt, with a population +of 32,000 in 1505. It was the center of the rising Saxon industries, +mining and dying, and of commerce. Luebeck, Cologne, Nuremberg and +Augsburg equalled or perhaps surpassed it in size, and certainly in +wealth. The total population of German Switzerland was over 200,000. +The whole German-speaking population of Central Europe amounted to +perhaps twenty millions {455} in 1600, though it had been reckoned by +the imperial government in 1500 as twelve millions. + +[Sidenote: France] + +The number of Frenchmen did not greatly increase in France in the 16th +century. Though the borders of the state were extended, she suffered +terribly by religious wars, and somewhat by emigration. Not only did +many Huguenots flee from her to Switzerland, the Netherlands and +England, but economic reasons led to large movements from the south and +perhaps from the north. To fill up the gap caused by emigration from +Spain a considerable number of French peasants moved to that land; and +it is also possible that the same class of people sought new homes in +Burgundy and Savoy to escape the pressure of taxes and dues. Various +estimates concur in giving France a population of 15,000,000 to +16,000,000. The Paris of Henry II was by far the largest city in the +world, numbering perhaps 300,000; but when Henry IV besieged it it had +been reduced by war to 220,000. After that it waxed mightily again. + +[Sidenote: Italy] + +Italy, leader in many ways, was the first to take accurate statistics +of population, births and deaths. These begin by the middle of the +fifteenth century, but are rare until the middle of the sixteenth, when +they become frequent. Notwithstanding war and pestilence the numbers +of inhabitants seemed to grow steadily, the apparent result in the +statistics being perhaps in part due to the increasing rigor of the +census. Herewith follow specimens of the extant figures: The city of +Brescia had 65,000 in 1505, and 43,000 in 1548. During the same +period, however, the people in her whole territory of 2200 square miles +had increased from 303,000 to 342,000. The city of Verona had 27,000 +in 1473 and 52,000 in 1548; her land of 1200 square miles had in the +first named year 99,000, in the last 159,000. The kingdom of Sicily +grew from 600,000 in 1501 to {456} 800,000 in 1548, and 1,180,000 in +1615. The kingdom of Naples, without the capital, had about 1,270,000 +people in 1501; 2,110,000 in 1545; the total including the capital +amounted in 1600 to 3,000,000. The republic of Venice increased from +1,650,000 in 1550 to 1,850,000 in 1620. Florence with her territory +had 586,000 in 1551 and 649,000 in 1622. In the year 1600 Milan with +Lombardy had 1,350,000 inhabitants; Savoy in Italy 800,000; continental +Genoa 500,000; Parma, Piacenza and Modena together 500,000; Sardinia +300,000; Corsica 150,000; Malta 41,000; Lucca 110,000. The population +of Rome fluctuated violently. In 1521 it is supposed to have been +about 55,000, but was reduced by the sack to 32,000. After this it +rapidly recovered, reaching 45,000 under Paul IV (1558), and 100,000 +under Sixtus V (1590). The total population of the States of the +Church when the first census was taken in 1656 was 1,880,000. + +[Sidenote: Spain] + +The final impression one gets after reading the extremely divergent +estimates of the population of Spain is that it increased during the +first half of the century and decreased during the latter half. The +highest figure for the increase of population during the reign of +Charles V is the untrustworthy one of Habler, who believes the number +of inhabitants to have doubled. This belief is founded on the +conviction that the wealth of the kingdom doubled in that time. But +though population tends to increase with wealth, it certainly does not +increase in the same proportion as wealth, so that, considering this +fact and also that the increase in wealth as shown by the doubling of +income from royal domains was in part merely apparent, due to the +falling value of money, we may dismiss Habler's figure as too high. +And yet there is good evidence for the belief that there was a +considerable increment. The cities especially gained with the new +stimulus to {457} commerce and industry. In 1525 Toledo employed +10,000 workers in silk, who had increased fivefold by 1550. +Unfortunately for accuracy these figures are merely contemporary +guesses, but they certainly indicate a large growth in the population +of Toledo, and similar figures are given for Seville, Burgos and other +manufacturing and trading centers. From such estimates, however, +combined with the censuses of hearths, peculiarly unsatisfactory in +Spain as they excluded the privileged classes and were, as their +violent fluctuations show, carelessly made, we may arrive at the +conclusion that in 1557 the population of Spain was barely 9,000,000. + +More difficult, if possible, is it to measure the amount of the decline +in the latter half of the century. [Sidenote: Decline] It was widely +noticed and commented on by contemporaries, who attributed it in part +to the increase in sheep-farming (as in England) and in part to +emigration to America. There were doubtless other more important and +more obscure causes, namely the increasing rivalry in both commerce and +industry of the north of Europe and the consequent decay of Spain's +means of livelihood. The emigration amounted on the average to perhaps +4000 per annum throughout the century. The total Spanish population of +America was reckoned by Velasco in 1574 at 30,500 households, or +152,500 souls. This would, however, imply a much larger emigration, +probably double the last number, to account for the many Spaniards lost +by the perils of the sea or in the depths of the wilderness. It is +known, for example, that whereas the Spanish population of Venezuela +was reckoned at 200 households at least 2000 Spaniards had gone to +settle there. An emigration of 300,000 before 1574, or say 400,000 for +the whole century, would have left a considerable gap at home. Add to +this the industrial decline by which {458} Altamira reckons that the +cities of the center and north, which suffered most, lost from one-half +to one-third of their total population, and it is evident that a very +considerable shrinkage took place. The census of 1594 reported a +population of 8,200,000. + +[Sidenote: Portugal] + +The same tendency to depopulation was noticed to a much greater degree +by contemporary observers of Portugal. Unfortunately, no even +approximately accurate figures can be given. Two million is almost +certainly too large for 1600. + +[Sidenote: General table] + +The following statistical table will enable the reader to form some +estimate of the movements of population. Admitting that the margin of +error is fairly large in some of the earlier estimates, it is believed +that they are sufficiently near the truth to be of real service. + + _Country 1500 1600_ + England and Wales . . . . . . . . 3,000,000 4,100,000 + + Scotland . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500,000 700,000 + + The Netherlands (Holland and + Belgium) (1550) . . . . . . . . 3,000,000 + + Germany (including Austria, German + Switzerland, Franche Comte and + Savoy north of the Alps, but + excluding Hungary, the Netherlands, + East and West Prussia) . . . . . 12,000,000 20,000,000 + + France (1550) . . . . . . . . . . 16,000,000 + + Italy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10,000,000 13,000,000 + + Spain (1557 and 1594) . . . . . . 9,000,000[1] 8,200,000 + + Poland with East and West Prussia 3,000,000 + + Denmark . . . . . . . . . . . . . 600,000 + + Sweden, Norway and Finland . . . . 1,400,000 + + +[1] For a higher estimate--ten to twelve millions in 1500--see note in +bibliography. + + + +SECTION 2. WEALTH AND PRICES + +[Sidenote: Gigantic increase in wealth since 16th century] + +If the number of Europe's inhabitants has increased fourfold since +Luther's time, the amount of her wealth has increased in a vastly +greater ratio. The difference {459} between the twentieth and the +sixteenth centuries is greater than anyone would at first blush believe +possible. Moreover it is a difference that is, during times of peace, +continually increasing. During the century from the close of the +Napoleonic to the opening of the Great War, the wealth of the white +races probably doubled every twenty-five years. The new factors that +made this possible were the exploited resources of America, and the +steam-engine. Prior to 1815 the increase of the world's wealth was +much slower, but if it doubled once a century,--as would seem not +improbable--we should have to allow that the world of 1914 was one +hundred and twenty-eight times as rich as it was in 1514. + +[Sidenote: Change from poverty to affluence emphasized] + +Of course such a statement cannot pretend to anything like exactitude; +the mathematical figure is a mere figure of speech; it is intended only +to emphasize the fact that one of the most momentous changes during the +last four centuries has been that from poverty to affluence. That the +statement, surprising as it may seem, is no exaggeration, may be borne +out by a few comparisons. + +[Sidenote: War a test of a nation's financial strength] + +One of the tests of a nation's financial strength is that of war. +Francis I in time of war mustered at most an army of 100,000, and he +reached this figure, or perhaps slightly exceeded it, only once during +his reign, in the years 1536-7. This is only half the number of +soldiers, proportionately to the population, that France maintained in +time of peace at the opening of the twentieth century. And for more +than four years, at a time when war was infinitely more expensive than +it was when Pavia was fought, France kept in the field about an even +five millions of men, more than an eighth of her population instead of +about one one-hundred-and-fiftieth. Similar figures could be given for +Germany and England. It is true that the power of {460} modern states +is multiplied by their greater facilities for borrowing, but with all +allowances the contrast suggests an enormous difference of wealth. + +[Sidenote: Labor power of the world] + +Take, as a standard of comparison, the labor power of the world. In +1918 the United States alone produced 685,000,000 tons of coal. Each +ton burned gives almost as much power as is expended by two laborers +working for a whole year. Thus the United States from its coal only +had command of the equivalent of the labor of 1,370,000,000 men, or +more than thrice the adult male labor power of the whole world; more +than fifty times the whole labor power of sixteenth-century Europe. +This does not take account of the fact that labor is far more +productive now than then, even without steam. The comparison is +instructive because the population of the United States in 1910 was +about equal to that of the whole of Europe in 1600. + +The same impression would be given by a comparison of the production of +any other standard product. More gold was produced in the year 1915 +than the whole stock of gold in the world in 1550, perhaps in 1600. +More wheat is produced annually in Minnesota than the granaries of the +cities of the world would hold four centuries ago. + +[Sidenote: Poverty of the Middle Ages] + +In fact, there was hardly wealth at all in the Middle Ages, only +degrees of poverty, and the sixteenth century first began to see the +accumulation of fortunes worthy of the name. In 1909 there were 1100 +persons in France with an income of more than $40,000 per annum; among +them were 150 with an income of more than $200,000. In England in 1916 +seventy-nine persons paid income taxes on estates of more than +$125,000,000. On the other hand the richest man in France, Jacques +Coeur, whose fortune was proverbial like that of Rockefeller today, had +in 1503 a capital of only {461} $5,400,000. The total wealth of the +house of Fugger about 1550 has been estimated at $32,000,000, though +the capital of their bank was never anything like that. The contrast +was greatest among the very richest class, but it was sufficiently +striking in the middle classes. Such a condition as comfort hardly +existed. + +The same impression will be given to the student of public finance. As +more will be said in another paragraph on the revenues of the principal +states, only one example need be given here for the sake of contrast. +The total revenue of Francis I was $256,000 per annum, that of Henry II +even less, $228,000. The revenue of France in 1905 was $750,000,000. +Henry VIII often had more difficulty in raising a loan of L50,000 than +the English government had recently in borrowing six billions. + +[Sidenote: Value of money] + +It is impossible to say which is the harder task, to compare the total +wealth of the world at two given periods, or to compare the value of +money at different times. Even the mechanical difficulties in the +comparison of prices are enormous. When we read that wheat at +Wittenberg sold at one gulden the scheffel, it is necessary to +determine in the first place how much a gulden and how much a scheffel +represented in terms of dollars and bushels. When we discover that +there were half a dozen different guldens, and half a dozen separate +measures known as scheffels, varying from province to province and from +time to time, and varying widely, it is evident that great caution is +necessary in ascertaining exactly which gulden and exactly which +scheffel is meant. + +When coin and measure have been reduced to known quantities, there +remains the problem of fixing the quality. Cloth is quoted in the +sixteenth century as of standard sizes and grades, but neither of these +important factors is accurately known to any modern {462} economist. +One would think that in quoting prices of animals an invariable +standard would be secured. Quite the contrary. So much has the breed +of cattle improved that a fat ox now weighs two or three times what a +good ox weighed four centuries ago. Horses are larger, stronger and +faster; hens lay many more eggs, cows give much more milk now than +formerly. Shoes, clothes, lumber, candles, are not of the same quality +in different centuries, and of course there is an ever increasing list +of new articles in which no comparison can be made. + +[Sidenote: Fluctuation in coinage] + +Nevertheless, some allowance can be made for all factors involved, as +far as they are mechanical; some comparisons can be given that bear a +sufficiently close relation to exactitude to form the basis from which +certain valid deductions can be drawn. Now first as to the intrinsic +value, in amounts of gold and silver in the several coins. The vast +fluctuation in the value of the English shilling, due to the successive +debasements and final restitution of the coinage, is thus expressed: + + _Year Troy grains Year Troy grains_ + 1461 . . . . . . 133 1551 . . . . . . 20 + 1527 . . . . . . 118 1552 . . . . . . 88 + 1543 . . . . . . 100 1560 . . . . . . 89 + 1545 . . . . . . 60 1601 . . . . . . 86 + 1546 . . . . . . 40 1919 . . . . . . 87.27 + + +A similar depreciation, more gradual but never rectified, is seen in +the value of French money. The standard of reckoning was the livre +tournois, which varied intrinsically in value of the silver put into it +as follows: + + Years Intrinsic value of silver + 1500 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 cents + 1512-40 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 cents + 1541-60 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 cents + 1561-72 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 cents + {463} + 1573-79 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 cents + 1580-1600 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 cents + + +[Sidenote: Value of Spanish coins] + +The standard Spanish gold coin after 1497 was the ducat, which had +3.485 grammes of gold (value in our money $2.40). This was divided +into 375 maravedis, which therefore had a value of about two-thirds of +a cent each. A Castilian marc of gold had 230 grammes or a value of +about $16. After 1537 a handsome silver coin, known as the peso fuerte +or "piece of eight" because each contained eight reals, was minted in +America. Its value was about $1.06 of our money, it being the +predecessor of our dollar. + +The great difficulty with the coinage of Germany and Italy is not so +much in its fluctuation as in the number of mints. The name gulden +[Sidenote: Gulden a general term] was given to almost any coin, +originally, as its etymology signifies, a gold piece, but later also to +a silver piece. Among gold guldens there was the Rhenish gulden +intrinsically worth $1.34; the Philip's gulden in the Netherlands of 96 +cents and the Carolus gulden coined after 1520 and worth $1.14. But +the coin commonly used in reckoning was the silver gulden, worth +intrinsically 56 cents. This was divided into 20 groschen. Other +coins quite ordinarily met with in the literature of the times are +pounds (7.5 cents), pfennigs (various values), stivers, crowns, nobles, +angels ($2), and Hungarians ducats ($1.75). Since 1518 the chief +silver coin was the thaler, at first considered the equal of a silver +gulden. The law of 1559, however, made them two different coins, +restoring the thaler to what had probably been its former value of 72 +cents, and leaving the imperial gulden in law, what it had commonly +become in fact, a lesser amount of silver. + +The coinage of Italy was dominated by the gold gulden or florin of +Florence and the ducat of Venice, {464} each worth not far from $2.25 +of our money. Both these coins, partly on account of their beauty, +partly because of the simple honesty with which they were kept at the +nominal standard, attained just fame throughout the Middle Ages and +thereafter, and became widely used in other lands. + +[Sidenote: Wheat] + +The standard of value determined, it is now possible to compare the +prices of some staple articles. First in importance comes wheat, which +fluctuated enormously within short periods at the same place and in +terms of the same amounts of silver. From Luther's letters we learn +that wheat sold at Wittenberg for one gulden a scheffel in 1539 and for +three groschen a scheffel in 1542, the latter price being considered +"so cheap as never before," the former reached in a time almost of +famine and calling for intervention on the part of the government. +However we interpret these figures (and I believe them to mean that +wheat sold at from twelve cents to eighty cents a bushel) they +certainly indicate a tremendous instability in prices, due to the poor +communications and backward methods of agriculture, making years of +plenty alternate with years of hunger. In the case of Wittenberg, the +lower level was nearer the normal, for in 1527 wheat was there sold at +twenty cents a bushel. In other parts of Germany it was dearer; at +Strassburg from 1526-50 it averaged 30 cents a bushel; from 1551-75 it +went up to an average of 58 cents, and from 1576-1600 the average again +rose to 80 cents a bushel. + +Prices also rose in England throughout the century even in terms of +silver. Of course part of the rise in the middle years was due to the +debasement of the coinage. Reduced to bushels and dollars, the +following table shows the tendency of prices: + + 1530 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 cents a bushel + 1537 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 cents + {465} + 1544 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 cents + 1546 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 cents + 1547 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 cents + 1548 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 cents + 1549 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 cents + 1550 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 cents + 1572 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 cents + 1595 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $1.14 + +Wheat in France averaged 23 cents a bushel prior to 1540, after which +it rose markedly in price, touching $1.50 in 1600, under exceptional +conditions. In order to compare with prices nowadays we must remember +that $1 a bushel was a remarkably good price before the late war, +during which it was fixed at $2.20 by the American government. Barley +in England rose from 6 cents a bushel in 1530 to 10 cents in 1547 and +33 cents in 1549. It was in 1913 70 cents a bushel. Oats rose from 5 +cents a bushel in England in 1530 to 18 cents in 1549; in 1913 38 cents. + +[Sidenote: Animals] + +Animals sold much lower in the sixteenth century than they do now, +though it must be remembered that they are worth more after several +centuries of careful breeding. Horses then sold at $2.50 in England +and at $4 to $11 in France; the average price in 1913 was $244 for +working animals. Cows were worth $2 in England in 1530; from $4 to +$6.40 in France; oxen apparently came considerably higher, averaging in +England $10 a head in 1547 and in France from $9 to $16 a yoke. At +present they are sold by weight, averaging in 1913 9 cents per lb., or +$90 for one weighing a thousand pounds. Beef then cost about 2/3 of a +cent a pound instead of 40 cents as in 1914. A sheep was sold in 1585 +at $1.60, a large swine at $5, and pigs at 26 cents apiece. Pork cost +2 cents a pound; hens sold in England at 12 cents a piece and geese and +ducks for the same; at Wittenberg geese fetched only 6 cents in 1527. +Eggs might have been bought at 2 cents a dozen. + +{466} [Sidenote: Groceries] + +Wholesale prices of groceries, taken mostly from an English table drawn +up about 1580, were as follows: Oil was $140 the ton, or 55 cents a +gallon; train-oil was just half that price; Newfoundland fish cost then +$2.50 the quintal dry, as against $7.81 in 1913. Gascon wines (claret) +varied according to quality, from 16 cents to 24 cents a quart. Salt +fetched $7.50 a ton, which is very close to the price that it was in +1913 ($1.02 per bbl. of 280 lbs.). Soap was $13 the hundredweight. +Pepper and sugar cost nearly the same, about $70 the hundredweight, or +far higher than they were in 1919, when each cost $11 the +hundredweight. Spices also cost more in the sixteenth century than +they do now, and rose throughout the century. By 1580 the wholesale +price per hundredweight was $224 for cloves, the same for nutmegs, $150 +for cinnamon, $300 for mace. Ginger was $90 the hundredweight, and +candles 6.6 cents the lb. as against 7.25 cents now. + +[Sidenote: Drygoods] + +Drygoods varied immensely in cost. Raw wool sold in England in 1510 +for 4 cents per lb., as against 26 cents just four hundred years later. +Fine cloth sold at $65 "the piece," the length and breadth of which it +is unfortunately impossible to determine accurately. Different grades +came in different sizes, averaging a yard in width, but from 18 yards +to 47 yards in length, the finer coming in longer rolls. Sorting +cloths were $45 the piece. Linen cost 20 cents a yard in 1580; Mary, +Queen of Scots, five years later paid $6.50 the yard for purple velvet +and 28 cents the yard for buckram to line the same. The coarse clothes +of the poor were cheaper, a workman's suit in France costing $1.80 in +1600, a child's whole wardrobe $3.40, and a soldier's uniform $4.20. +The prices of the poorest women's dresses ranged from $3 to $6 each. +In 1520 Albert Duerer paid in the Netherlands 17 cents for one pair of +shoes, 33 cents for another and 20 cents for a {467} pair of woman's +gloves. A pair of spectacles cost him 22 cents, a pair of gloves for +himself 38 cents. + +[Sidenote: Metals] + +Metals were dearer in the sixteenth century than they are now. Iron +cost $60 a ton in 1580 against $22 a ton in 1913. Lead fetched $42 the +ton and tin $15 the cwt. The ratio of gold to silver was about 1 to +11. The only fuel much used was wood, which was fairly cheap but of +course not nearly as efficient as our coal. + +[Sidenote: Interest] + +Interest, as the price of money, varied then as it does now in inverse +ratio to the security offered by the debtor, and on the whole within +much the same range that it does now. The best security was believed +to be that of the German Free Cities, governed as they were by the +commercial class that appreciated the virtue of prompt and honest +payment. Accordingly, we find that they had no trouble in borrowing at +5 per cent., their bonds taking the form of perpetual annuities, like +the English consols. So eagerly were these investments sought that +they were apportioned on petition as special favors to the creditors. +The cities of Paris and London also enjoyed high credit. The national +governments had to pay far higher, owing to their poverty and +dishonesty. Francis I borrowed at 10 per cent.; Charles V paid higher +in the market of Antwerp, the extreme instance being that of 50 per +cent. per annum. In 1550 he regularly paid 20 per cent., a ruinous +rate that foreshadowed his bankruptcy and was partly caused by its +forecast. Until the recent war we were accustomed to think of the +great nations borrowing at 2-4 per cent., but during the war the rate +immensely rose. Anglo-French bonds, backed by the joint and several +credit of the two nations, sold on the New York Stock Exchange in 1918 +at a price that would yield the investor more than 12 per cent., and +City of Paris bonds at a rate of more than 16 per cent. + +{468} Commercial paper, or loans advanced by banks to merchants on good +security, of course varied. The lowest was reached at Genoa where from +time to time merchants secured accommodation at 3 per cent. The +average in Germany was 6 per cent. and this was made the legal rate by +Brandenburg in 1565. But usurers, able to take advantage of the +necessities of poor debtors, habitually exacted more, as they do now, +and loans on small mortgages or on pawned articles often ran at 30 per +cent. On the whole, the rate of interest fell slightly during the +century. + +[Sidenote: Real estate] + +The price of real estate is more difficult to compare than almost +anything, owing to the individual circumstances of each purchase. Land +in France sold at rates ranging from $8 to $240 the acre. Luther +bought a little farm in the country for $340, and a piece of property +in Wittenberg for $500. After his death, in 1564, the house he lived +in, a large and handsome building formerly the Augustinian Cloister, +fetched $2072. The house can be seen today[1] and would certainly, one +would think, now bring fifteen times as much. + +[Sidenote: Books] + +Books were comparatively cheap. The Greek Testament sold for 48 cents, +a Latin Testament for half that amount, a Latin folio Bible published +in 1532 for $4, Luther's first New Testament at 84 cents. One might +get a copy of the Pandects for $1.60, of Vergil for 10 cents, a Greek +grammar for 8 cents, Demosthenes and Aeschines in one volume at 20 +cents, one of Luther's more important tracts for 30 cents and the +condemnation of him by the universities in a small pamphlet at 6 cents. +One of the things that has gone down most in price since that day is +postage. Duerer while in the Netherlands paid a messenger 17 cents to +deliver a {469} letter (or several letters?), presumably sent to his +home in Nuremberg. + +[Sidenote: Wages] + +In accordance with the general rule that wages follow the trend of +prices sluggishly, whether upwards or downwards, there is less change +to be observed in them throughout the sixteenth century than there is +in the prices of commodities. Subject to government regulation, the +remuneration of all kinds of labor remained nearly stationary while the +cost of living was rising. Startling is the difference in the rewards +of the various classes, that of the manual laborers being cruelly low, +that of professional men somewhat less in proportion to the cost of +living than it is today, and that of government officers being very +high. No one except court officials got a salary over $5000 a year, +and some of them got much more. In 1553 a French chamberlain was paid +$51,000 per annum. + +A French navvy received 8 cents a day in 1550, a carpenter as much as +26 cents. A male domestic was given $7 to $12 a year in addition to +his keep and a woman $5 to $6. As the number of working days in +Catholic countries was only about 250 a year, workmen made from $65 to +as low as $20. If anything, labor was worse paid in Germany than it +was in France. Agricultural labor in England was paid in two scales, +one for summer and one for winter. It varied from 3 cents to 7 cents a +day, the smaller sum being paid only to men who were also boarded. In +summer freemasons and master carpenters got from 8 cents to 11 cents +for a terribly long day, in winter 6 cents to 9 cents for a shorter +day. The following scale was fixed by law in England in 1563: A hired +farmer was to have $10 a year and $2 for livery; a common farm hand was +allowed $8.25 and $1.25 extra for livery; a "mean servant" $6 and $1.25 +respectively, a man child {470} $4 and $1; a chief woman cook $5 and +$1.60, a mean or simple woman $3 and $1; a woman child $2.50 and $1. +All were of course boarded and lodged. + +The pay of French soldiers under Francis I was for privates $28 a year +in time of war; this fell to $1 a year in time of peace; for captains +$33 a month in time of peace and $66 in time of war. Captains in the +English navy received $36 a month; common seamen $1.25 a month for +wages and the same allowance for food. + +[Sidenote: Pay of clergymen] + +The church fared little better than the army. In Scotland, a poor +country but one in which the clergy were respected, by the law of 1562, +a parson if a single man was given $26 a year, if a married man a +maximum of $78 a year; probably a parsonage was added. Doubtless many +Protestant ministers eked out their subsistence by fees, as the +Catholic priests certainly did. Duerer gave 44 cents to a friar who +confessed his wife. Every baptism, marriage and burial was taxed a +certain amount. In France one could hire a priest to say a mass at +from 60 cents to $7 in 1500, and at from 30 to 40 cents in 1600. At +this price it has remained since, a striking instance of religious +conservatism working to the detriment of the priest, for the same money +represents much less in real wages now than it did then. + +[Sidenote: Physicians] + +Fees for physicians ranged from 33 to 44 cents a visit in Germany about +1520. Treatment and medicine were far higher. At Antwerp Duerer paid +$2.20 for a small quantity of medicine for his wife. Fees were +sometimes given for a whole course of attendance. In England we hear +of such "cures" paid for at from $3.30 to $5. Very little, if any, +advice was given free to the poor. The physicians for the French king +received a salary of $200 a year and other favors. William Butts, +physician to Henry VIII, had $500 per {471} annum, in addition to a +knighthood; and his salary was increased to over $600 for attending the +Duke of Richmond. + +[Sidenote: Teachers] + +Teachers in the lower schools were regarded as lackeys and paid +accordingly. Nicholas Udal, head master of Eton, received $50 per +annum and various small allowances. University professors were treated +more liberally. Luther and Melanchthon at Wittenberg got a maximum of +$224 per annum, which was about the same as the stipend of leading +professors in other German universities and at Oxford and Cambridge. +The teacher also got a small honorarium from each student. When Paul +III restored the Sapienza at Rome he paid a minimum of $17 per annum to +some friars who taught theology and who were cared for by their order, +but he gave high salaries to the professors of rhetoric and medicine. +Ordinarily these received $476 a year, but one professor of the +classics reached the highwater-mark with nearly $800. + +[Sidenote: Royalties] + +The rewards of literary men were more consistently small in the +sixteenth century than they are now, owing to the absence of effective +copyright. An author usually received a small sum from the printer to +whom he first offered his manuscript, but his subsequent royalties, if +any, depended solely on the goodwill of the publisher. A Wittenberg +printer offered Luther $224 per annum for his manuscripts, but the +Reformer declined it, wishing to make his books as cheap as possible. +In 1512 Erasmus got $8.40 from Badius the Parisian printer for a new +edition of his _Adages_. In fact, the rewards of letters, such as they +were, were indirect, in the form of pensions, gifts and benefices from +the great. Erasmus got so many of these favors that he lived more than +comfortably. Luther died almost a rich man, so many _honoraria_ did he +collect from noble admirers. Rabelais was given a benefice, though +{472} he only lived two years afterwards to enjoy its fruits. Henry +VIII gave $500 to Thomas Murner for writing against Luther. But the +lot of the average writer was hard. Fulsome flattery was the most +lucrative production of the muse. + +[Sidenote: Artists] + +Artists fared better. Duerer sold one picture for $375 and another for +$200, not counting the "tip" which his wife asked and received on each +occasion from the patron. Probably his woodcuts brought him more from +the printers than any single painting, and when he died he left the +then respectable sum of $32,000. He had been offered a pension of $300 +per annum and a house at Antwerp by that city if he would settle there, +but he preferred to return to Nuremberg, where he was pensioned $600 a +year by the emperor. Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo both received +$129 a month for work done for a prince, and the latter was given a +pension of $5200 a year by Paul III. Raphael in 1520 left an estate of +$140,000. + +[Sidenote: Value of money] + +If a comparison of the value of money is made, the final impression +that one gets is that an ounce of gold was in 1563, let us say, +expected to do about ten times as much work as the same weight of +precious metal performed in 1913.[2] If a few articles were then +actually dearer, they were comparatively unimportant and were balanced +by other articles even more than ten times as cheap. But a dollar will +buy so many articles now which did not exist in former ages that a +plausible case can be made out for the paradox that money is now worth +more than it ever was before. If an ounce of gold would in Luther's +time exchange for a much larger quantity of simple necessaries than it +will purchase now, on the other hand a man with an income of $5000 a +year is far better off than a man with the {473} same income, or indeed +with any income, was then. + +[Sidenote: Trend of prices] + +Notwithstanding the great difficulties of making out any fair index +number representing the cost of living and applicable to long periods, +owing to the fact that articles vary from time to time, as when candles +are replaced by gas and gas by electricity, yet the general trend of +prices can be pretty plainly ascertained. Generally speaking, +prices--measured in weight of gold and not in coin--sank slowly from +1390 till 1520 under the influence of better technical methods of +production and possibly of the draining of gold and silver to the +Orient. From 1520 till 1560 prices rose quite slowly on account of the +increased production of gold and silver and its more rapid circulation +by means of better banking. From 1560 to 1600 prices rose with +enormous rapidity, partly because of the destruction of wealth and +increase in the cost of production following in the wake of the French +and Dutch wars of religion, and still more, perhaps, on account of the +torrent of American silver suddenly poured into the lap of Europe. +Taking the century as a whole, we find that wheat rose the most, as +much as 150 per cent. in England, 200 per cent. in France and 300 per +cent. in Germany. Other articles rose less, and in some cases remained +stationary, or sank in price. Money wages rose slowly, far less than +the cost of living. + +[Sidenote: Increase in volume of precious metals] + +Apart from special circumstances affecting the production of particular +classes of goods, the main cause of the general trend of prices upwards +was probably the increase in the volume of the precious metals. Just +how great this was, it is impossible to determine, and yet a +calculation can be made, yielding figures near enough the actual to be +of service. From the middle of the fifteenth century there had been a +considerable increase in the production of silver from German, Bohemian +and Hungarian mines. Although this {474} increase was much more than +is usually allowed for--equalling, in the opinion of one scholar, the +produce of American mines until nearly the middle of the sixteenth +century--it was only enough to meet the expanding demands of commerce. +Before America entered the market, there was also a considerable import +of gold from Asia and Africa. The tide of Mexican treasure began to +flood Spain about 1520, but did not reach the other countries in large +quantities until about 1560. When we consider the general impression +concerning the increase of the currency immediately following the +pillage of the Aztecs and Incas, the following statistics of the +English mint are instructive, if they are not enigmatical. During the +first fourteen years of Henry VIII (1509-23) the average amount of gold +minted in England was 24,666 troy pounds per annum, and of silver +31,225 troy pounds. But in the years 1537-40, before the great +debasement of the currency had taken place, the amount of gold coined +fell to 3,297 Troy pounds per annum, and that of silver rose only to +52,974 troy pounds. As each pound of gold was at that time worth as +much as eleven pounds of silver, this means that the actual amount of +new money put into circulation each year in the latter period was less +than a third of that minted in the earlier years. The figures also +indicate the growing cheapness of silver, stimulating its import, while +the import of gold was greatly restricted, according to Gresham's law +that cheap money drives out dear. + +[Sidenote: Estimates of gold and silver products] + +The spoil of Mexico and Peru has frequently been over-estimated, by +none more extravagantly than by the Conquistadores and their +contemporaries. But the estimates of modern scholars vary enormously. +Lexis believes that the total amount of gold produced by Europe and +America from 1501 to 1550 (the greater part, of course, by America) +amounted to $134,000,000. {475} F. de Laiglesio, on the other hand, +thinks that not more than $4,320,000 was mined in America before 1555. +The most careful estimate, that made by Professor Haring, arrives at +the following results, [Sidenote: Haring's estimate] the amounts being +given in pesos each worth very nearly the same as our dollar. Mexican +production: + + 1521-44 1345-60 + Gold . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,348,900 343,670 + Silver . . . . . . . . . . . 4,130,170 22,467,111 + +For Peru the proportions of gold and silver cannot be separated, but +the totals taken together from 1531-1560 amounted to probably +84,350,600 pesos. Other small sums came from other parts of the New +World, and the final total for production of gold _and_ silver in +America until 1560 is given at 139,720,000 pesos. This is a reduction +to 70 per cent. of the estimate of Lexis. Assuming that the same +correction must be made on all of the estimates given by Lexis we have +the following figures for the world's production of precious metals in +kilogrammes and in dollars:[3] + + Gold Silver + Average per annum Average per annum + in + pesos or + dollars + of 25 + + in kilos in dollars kilos grammes +1493-1520 . . . 4270 3,269,000 31,570 1,262,800 1521-44 +. . . 4893 3,425,000 52,010 2,080,400 1545-60 . . . +4718 3,302,600 184,730 7,389,200 1561-80 . . . 4718 +3,302,600 185,430 7,417,200 1581-1600 . . . 4641 +3,268,700 230,480 9,219,200 + +{476} Combining these figures we see that the production of gold was +pretty steady throughout the century, making a total output of about +$330,000,000. The production of silver, however, greatly increased +after 1544. From the beginning of the century to that year it amounted +to $75,285,600; from 1545 to 1600 inclusive it increased to +$450,955,200, making a total output for the century of $526,240,800. +Of course these figures only roughly approximate the truth; +nevertheless they give a correct idea of the general processes at work. +Even for the first half of the century the production of the precious +metals was far in excess of anything that had preceded, and this +output, large as it was, was nearly tripled in the last half of the +century. These figures, however, are extremely modest compared with +those of recent times, when more gold is mined in a year than was then +mined in a century. The total amount mined in 1915 was $470,000,000; +in 1917 $428,000,000; for the period 1850 to 1916 inclusive the total +amount mined was $13,678,000,000. + + +[1] See the photograph in my _Life and Letters of Luther_, p. 364. + +[2] No valid comparison can be made for the years after 1913, for in +most nations paper currencies have ousted gold. + +[3] These figures are based on those of Sommerlad in the +_Handwoerter-buch der Staatswissenschaften_, s.v. "Preis," taken from +Wiebe, who based on Lexis. Figures quite similar to those of Sommerlad +are given by C. F. Bastable in the _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, s.v. +"Money." I have incorporated Haring's corrections. + + +SECTION 3. INSTITUTIONS + +[Sidenote: The monarchies] + +For a variety of reasons the sixteenth century was as monarchical in +mind as the twentieth century is democratic. Immemorial prescription +then had a vigor since lost, and monarchy descended from classical and +biblical antiquity when kings were hedged with a genuine divinity. The +study of Roman law, with its absolutist maxims, aided in the formation +of royalist sentiment. The court as the center of fashion attracted a +brilliant society, while the small man satisfied his cravings for +gentility by devouring the court gossip that even then clogged the +presses. It is probable that one reason why the throne became so +popular was that it was, next to the church, the best advertised {477} +article in the world. But underlying these sentimental reasons for +loyalty there was a basis of solid utility, predisposing men to support +the scepter as the one power strong enough to overawe the nobles. One +tyrant was better than many; one lion could do less harm than a pack of +wolves and hyaenas. In the greater states men felt perfectly helpless +without a king to rule the anarchical chaos into which society would +have dissolved without him. When the Spanish Communes rebelled against +Charles V they triumphed in the field, but their attempt simply +collapsed in face of their utter inability to solve the problem of +government without a royal governor. They were as helpless as bees +without a queen. Indeed, so strong was their instinct to get a royal +head that they tried to preserve themselves by kidnapping Charles's +mother, poor, mad Joanna, to fill the political vacuum that they had +made. So in the civil wars in France; notwithstanding the more +promising materials for the formation of a republic in that country, +all parties were, in fact, headed by claimants to the throne. + +[Sidenote: Councils of State] + +Next to the king came the Council of State, composed of princes of the +blood, cardinals, nobles and some officers and secretaries of state, +not always of noble blood but frequently, especially in the cases of +the most powerful of them, scions of the middle class. What proportion +of the executive power was wielded by the Council depended on the +personal character of the monarch. Henry VIII was always master; +Elizabeth was more guided than guiding; the Councils of the Valois and +Hapsburgs profited by the preoccupation or the stupidity of their +masters to usurp the royal power for themselves. In public opinion the +Council occupied a great place, similar to that of an English Cabinet +today. The first Anglican prayerbook {478} contains petitions for the +Council, though it did not occur to the people to pray for Parliament +until the next century. + +The countries were governed no longer by the nobles as such but by +officials appointed by the crown. It is an indication of the growing +nationalization of policy that the sixteenth century saw the first +establishment of permanent diplomatic agents. The first ambassadors, +selected largely from a panel of bishops, magistrates, judges and +scholars, were expected to function not only as envoys but also as +spies. Under them was a host of secret agents expected to do underhand +work and to take the responsibility for it themselves so that, if found +out, they could be repudiated. + +[Sidenote: Parliaments] + +Very powerful was the national popular assembly: the Parliament, the +Diet, the States General, or the Cortes. Its functions, prescriptive +and undefined, were commonly understood to include the granting of +taxes. The assent of the body was also required, to a varying degree, +for the sanction of other laws. But the real power of the people's +representatives lay in the fact that they were the chief organ for the +expression of that public opinion which in all countries and at all +times it is unsafe for governments to disregard. Sitting in two or +more chambers to represent the several estates or sometimes--as in the +German Diet--subdivisions of these estates, the representatives were +composed of members of the privileged orders, the clergy and nobility, +and of the elected representatives of the city aristocracies. The +majority of the population, the poor, were unrepresented. That this +class had as great a stake in the commonwealth as any other, and that +they had a class consciousness capable of demanding reforms and of +taking energetic measures to secure them, is shown by a number of +rebellions of the proletariat, and yet it is not unfair to them, or +{479} disdainful, to say that on most matters they were too +uninstructed, too powerless and too mute to contribute much to that +body of sentiment called public opinion, one condition of which seems +to be that to exist it must find expression. + +[Sidenote: Influence of the Estates General] + +The Estates General, by whatever name they were called, supplemented in +France by provincial bodies called Parlements partaking of the nature +of high courts of justice, and in Germany by the local Diets (Landtag) +of the larger states, exercised a very real and in some cases a +decisive influence on public policy. The monarch of half the world +dared not openly defy the Cortes of Aragon or of Castile; the imperious +Tudors diligently labored to get parliamentary sanction for their +tyrannical acts, and, on the few occasions when they could not do so, +hastened to abandon as gracefully as possible their previous +intentions. In Germany the power of the Diet was not limited by the +emperor, but by the local governments, though even so it was +considerable. When a Diet, under skilful manipulation or by +unscrupulous trickery, was induced by the executive to pass an +unpopular measure, like the Edict of Worms, the law became a dead +letter. In some other instances, notably in its long campaign against +monopolies, even when it expressed the popular voice the Diet failed +because the emperor was supported by the wealthy capitalists. Only +recently it has been revealed how the Fuggers of Augsburg and their +allies endeavored to manipulate or to frustrate its work in the matter +of government regulation of industry and commerce. + +[Sidenote: Public finance] + +The finances of most countries were managed corruptly and unwisely. +The taxes were numerous and complicated and bore most heavily on the +poor. From ordinary taxes in most countries the privileged orders were +exempt, though they were forced to contribute {480} special sums levied +by themselves. The general property tax (taille) in France yielded +2,400,000 livres tournois in 1517 and 4,600,000 in 1543. The taxes +were farmed; that is, the right of collecting them was sold at auction, +with the natural result that they were put into the hands of +extortioners who made vast fortunes by oppressing the people. Revenues +of the royal domain, excises on salt and other articles, import and +export duties, and the sale of offices and monopolies, supplemented the +direct taxes. The system of taxation varied in each country. Thus in +Spain the 10 per cent. tax on the price of an article every time it was +sold and the royalty on precious metals--20 per cent. after +1504--proved important sources of revenue. Rome drove a lucrative +trade in spiritual wares. Everywhere, fines for transgressions of the +law figured more largely as a source of revenue than they do nowadays. + +[Sidenote: Wasteful expenditures] + +Expenditures were both more wasteful and more niggardly than they are +today. Though the service of the public debt was trifling compared +with modern standards, and though the administration of justice was not +expensive because of the fee system, the army and navy cost a good +deal, partly because they were composed largely of well paid +mercenaries. The personal extravagances of the court were among the +heaviest burdens borne by the people. The kings built palaces: they +wallowed in cloth of gold; they collected objects of art; they +squandered fortunes on mistresses and minions; they made constant +progresses with a retinue of thousands of servants and horses. The two +greatest states, France and Spain, both went into bankruptcy in 1557. + +[Sidenote: Public order] + +The great task of government, that of keeping public order, protecting +life and property and punishing the criminal, was approached by our +forbears with more gusto than success. The laws were terrible, but +they {481} were unequally executed. In England among capital crimes +were the following: murder, arson, escape from prison, hunting by night +with painted faces or visors, embezzling property worth more than 40 +shillings, carrying horses or mares into Scotland, conjuring, +practising witchcraft, removing landmarks, desertion from the army, +counterfeiting or mutilating coins, cattle-lifting, house-breaking, +picking of pockets. All these were punished by hanging, but crimes of +special heinousness, such as poisoning, were visited with burning or +boiling to death. The numerous laws against treason and heresy have +already been described. Lesser punishments included flogging, pillory, +branding, the stocks, clipping ears, piercing tongues, and imprisonment +in dungeons made purposely as horrible as possible, dark, noisome dens +without furniture or conveniences, often too small for a man to stand +upright or to lie at full length. + +[Sidenote: Number of executions] + +With such laws it is not surprising that 72,000 men were hanged under +Henry VIII, an average of nearly 2,000 a year. The number at present, +when the population of England and Wales has swollen to tenfold of what +it was then, is negligible. Only nine men were hanged in the United +Kingdom in the years 1901-3; about 5,000 are now on the average +annually convicted of felony. If anything, the punishments were +harsher on the Continent than in Britain. The only refuge of the +criminal was the greed of his judges. At Rome it was easy and regular +to pay a price for every crime, and at other places bribery was more or +less prevalent. + +[Sidenote: Cruel trial methods] + +The methods of trying criminals were as cruel as their punishments. On +the Continent the presumption was held to be against the accused, and +the rack and its ghastly retinue of instruments of pain were freely +used to procure confession. Calvin's hard saying that when men felt +the pain they spoke the truth merely {482} expressed the current +delusion, for legislators and judges, their hearts hardened in part by +the example of the church, concurred in his opinion. The exceptional +protest of Montaigne deserves to be quoted for its humanity: "All that +exceeds simple death is absolute cruelty, nor can our laws expect that +he whom the fear of decapitation or hanging will not restrain should be +awed by imagining the horrors of a slow fire, burning pincers or +breaking on the wheel." + +The spirit of the English law was against the use of torture, which, +however, made progress, especially in state trials, under the Tudors. +A man who refused to plead in an English court was subjected to the +_peine forte et dure_, which consisted in piling weights on his chest +until he either spoke or was crushed to death. To enforce the laws +there was a constabulary in the country, supplemented by the regular +army, and a police force in the cities. That of Paris consisted of 240 +archers, among them twenty-four mounted men. The inefficiency of some +of the English officers is amusingly caricatured in the persons of +Dogberry and Verges who, when they saw a thief, concluded that he was +no honest man and the less they had to meddle or make with him the more +for their honesty. + +[Sidenote: Blue laws] + +If, in all that has just been said, it is evident that the legislation +of that period and of our own had the same conception of the function +of government and only differed in method and efficiency, there was one +very large class of laws spread upon the statute-books of medieval +Europe that has almost vanished now. A paternal statesmanship sought +to regulate the private lives of a citizen in every respect: the +fashion of his clothes, the number of courses at his meals, how many +guests he might have at wedding, dinner or dance, how long he should be +permitted to haunt the tavern, and how much he should drink, how he +{483} should spend Sunday, how he should become engaged, how dance, how +part his hair and with how thick a stick he should be indulged in the +luxury of beating his wife. + +The "blue laws," as such regulations on their moral side came to be +called, were no Protestant innovation. The Lutherans hardly made any +change whatever in this respect, but Calvin did give a new and biting +intensity to the medieval spirit. His followers, the Puritans, in the +next century, almost succeeded in reducing the staple of a Christian +man's legitimate recreation to "seasonable meditation and prayer." But +the idea originated long before the evolution of "the non-conformist +conscience." + +The fundamental cause of all this legislation was sheer conservatism. +[Sidenote: Spirit of conservatism] Primitive men and savages have so +strong a feeling of the sanction of custom that they have, as Bagehot +expresses it, fairly screwed themselves down by their unreasoning +demands for conformity. A good deal of this spirit has survived +throughout history and far more of it, naturally, was found four +centuries ago than at present, when reason has proved a solvent for so +many social institutions. There are a good many laws of the period +under survey--such as that of Nuremberg against citizens parting their +hair--for which no discoverable basis can be found save the idea that +new-fangled fashions should not be allowed. + +Economic reasons also played their part in the regulation of the habits +of the people. Thus a law of Edward VI, after a preamble setting forth +that divers kinds of food are indifferent before God, nevertheless +commands all men to eat fish as heretofore on fast days, not as a +religious duty but to encourage fishermen, give them a livelihood and +thus train men for the navy. + +A third very strong motive in the mind of the {484} sixteenth-century +statesmen, was that of differentiating the classes of citizens. The +blue laws, if they may be so called in this case, were secretions of +the blue blood. To make the vulgar know their places it was essential +to make them dress according to their rank. The intention of An Act +for the Reformation of excess in Apparel, [Sidenote: Apparel according +to rank] passed by the English Parliament in 1532, was stated to be, + + the necessary repressing and avoiding and expelling of + the excess daily more used in the sumptuous and costly + apparel and array accustomably worn in this Realm, + whereof hath ensued and daily do chance such sundry + high and notorious detriments of the common weal, the + subversion of good and politic order in knowledge and + distinction of people according to their estates, + pre-eminences, dignities and degrees to the utter + impoverishment and undoing of many inexpert and light + persons inclined to pride, mother of all vices. + +The tenor of the act prescribes the garb appropriate to the royal +family, to nobles of different degree, to citizens according to their +income, to servants and husbandmen, to the clergy, doctors of divinity, +soldiers, lawyers and players. Such laws were common in all countries. +A Scotch act provides "that it be lauchful to na wemen to weir +[clothes] abone [above] their estait except howries." This law was not +only "apprevit" by King James VI, but endorsed with his own royal hand, +"This acte is verray gude." + +Excessive fare at feasts was provided against for similar reasons and +with almost equal frequency. By an English proclamation [Sidenote: +1517] the number of dishes served was to be regulated according to the +rank of the highest person present. Thus, if a cardinal was guest or +host, there might be nine courses, if a lord of Parliament six, for a +citizen with an income of five hundred pounds a year, three. Elsewhere +the number of guests at all {485} ordinary functions as well as the +number and price of gifts at weddings, christenings and like occasions, +was prescribed. + +[Sidenote: 1526] + +Games of chance were frequently forbidden. Francis I ordered a +lieutenant with twenty archers to visit taverns and gaming houses and +arrest all players of cards, dice and other unlawful games. This did +not prevent the establishment of a public lottery, [Sidenote: 1539] a +practice justified by alleging the examples of Italian cities in +raising revenue by this means. Henry III forbade all games of chance +"to minors and other debauched persons," [Sidenote: 1577] and this was +followed six years later by a crushing impost on cards and dice, +interesting as one of the first attempts to suppress the instruments of +vice through the taxing power. Merry England also had many laws +forbidding "tennis, bowles, dicing and cards," the object being to +encourage the practice of archery. + +Tippling was the subject of occasional animadversion by the various +governments, though there seemed to be little sentiment against it +until the opening of the following century. The regulation of the +number of taverns and of the amount of wine that might be kept in a +gentleman's cellar, as prescribed in an English law, [Sidenote: 1553] +mentions not the moral but the economic aspect of drinking. The +purchase of French wines was said to drain England of money. + +Though the theater also did not suffer much until the time of Cromwell, +plays were forbidden in the precincts of the city of London. The Book +of Discipline in Scotland forbade attendance at theaters. [Sidenote: +1574] Calvin thoroughly disapproved of them, and even Luther +considered them "fools' work" and at times dangerous. + +Commendable efforts to suppress the practice of duelling were led by +the Catholic church. Clement {486} VII forbade it in a bull, +[Sidenote: 1524] confirmed by a decree of Council of Trent. [Sidenote: +1563] An extraordinarily worded French proclamation of 1566 forbade +"all gentlemen and others to give each other the lie and, if they do +give each other the lie, to fight a duel about it." Other governments +took the matter up very sluggishly. Scotland forbade "the great +liberty that sundry persons take in provoking each other to singular +combats upon sudden and frivol occasions," without license from his +majesty. + +Two matters on which the Puritans felt very keenly, [Sidenote: 1551] +blasphemy and Sabbath-breaking, were but scantily looked after in the +century of the Reformation. Scotland forbade "grievous and abominable +oaths, swearing, execrations and blasphemation," and somewhat similar +laws can be found in other countries. Scotland was also a pioneer in +forbidding on the Sabbath all work, "gaming, playing, passing to +taverns and ale-houses and wilful remaining away from the parish kirk +in time of sermon." + +[Sidenote: Mail] + +Government has other functions than the enforcement of the civil and +criminal law. Almost contemporary with the opening of the century was +the establishment of post offices for the forwarding of letters. After +Maximilian had made a start in the Netherlands other countries were not +slow to follow his example. Though under special government +supervision at first these letter-carriers were private men. + +[Sidenote: Sanitation] + +In the Middle Ages there had been efforts to safeguard public +sanitation. The sixteenth century did not greatly improve on them. +Thus, Geneva passed a law that garbage and other refuse should not be +allowed to lie in the streets for more than three days in summer or +eight days in winter. In extreme cases quarantine was adopted as a +precaution against epidemics. + +{487} [Sidenote: War] + +It is the most heart-breaking or the most absurd fact in human history, +according as the elements involved are focused in a humane or in a +cynical light, that the chief energies of government as well as the +most zealous forces of peoples, have been dedicated since civilization +began to the practice of wholesale homicide. As we look back from the +experience of the Great War to the conflicts of other times, they seem +to our jaded imaginations almost as childish as they were vicious. In +the sixteenth century, far more than in the nineteenth, the nations +boiled and bubbled with spleen and jealousy, hurled Thrasonical threats +and hyperbolic boasts in each other's teeth, breathing out mutual +extermination with no compunctious visitings of nature to stay their +hungry swords--but when they came to blows they had not the power of +boys. The great nations were always fighting but never fought to a +finish. In the whole century no national capital west of Hungary, save +Rome and Edinburgh, was captured by an enemy. The real harm was not +done on the battlefield, where the carnage was incredibly small, but in +the raids and looting of town and country by the professional assassins +who filled the ranks of the hireling troops. Then, indeed, cities were +burned, wealth was plundered and destroyed, men were subjected to +nameless tortures and women to indescribable outrages, and children +were tossed on pikes. Nor did war seem then to shock the public +conscience, as it has at last succeeded in doing. The people saw +nothing but dazzling glory in the slaughter of foemen on the stricken +field, in the fanfare of the trumpets and the thunder of the captains +and the shouting. Soldiers, said Luther, founding his opinion on the +canon law, might be in a state of grace, for war was as necessary as +eating, drinking or any other business. Statesmen like Machiavelli and +Bacon were keen for the largest armies {488} possible, as the mainstay +of a nation's power. Only Erasmus was a clear-sighted pacifist, always +declaiming against war and once asserting that he agreed with Cicero in +thinking the most unjust peace preferable to the justest war. +Elsewhere he admitted that wars of self-defence were necessary. + +[Sidenote: Arms] + +Fire-arms had not fully established their ascendancy in the period of +Frundsberg, or even of Alva. As late as 1596 an English soldier +lamented that his countrymen neglected the bow for the gun. +Halberdiers with pikes were the core of the army. Artillery sometimes +inflicted very little damage, as at Flodden, sometimes considerable, as +at Marignano, where, with the French cavalry, it struck down the till +then almost invincible Swiss infantry. In battle arquebusiers and +musketeers were interspersed with cross-bowmen. Cannon of a large type +gave way to smaller field-guns; even the idea of the machine-gun +emerged in the fifteenth century. The name of them, "organs," was +taken from their appearance with numerous barrels from which as many as +fifty bullets could be discharged at a time. Cannon were transported +to the field on carts. Rifles were invented by a German in 1520, but +not much used. Pistols were first manufactured at Pistoia--whence the +name--about 1540. Bombs were first used in 1588. + +The arts of fortification and of siege were improved together, many +ingenious devices being called into being by the technically difficult +war of the Spaniards against the Dutch. Tactics were not so perfect as +they afterwards became and of strategy there was no consistent theory. +Machiavelli, who wrote on the subject, based his ideas on the practice +of Rome and therefore despised fire-arms and preferred infantry to +cavalry. Discipline was severe, and needed to be, notwithstanding +which there were sporadic and often very annoying {489} mutinies. +Punishments were terrible, as in civil life. Blasphemy, cards, dicing, +duelling and women were forbidden in most regular armies, but in time +of war the soldiers were allowed an incredible license in pillaging and +in foraging. Rings and other decorations were given as rewards of +valor. Uniforms began first to be introduced in England by Henry VIII. + +[Sidenote: Personnel of the armies] + +The personnel of the armies was extremely bad. Not counting the small +number of criminals who were allowed to expiate their misdeeds by +military service, the rank and file consisted of mercenaries who only +too rapidly became criminals under the tutelage of Mars. There were a +few conscripts, but no universal training such as Machiavelli +recommended. The officers were nobles or gentlemen who served for the +prestige and glory of the profession of arms, as well as for the good +pay. + +[Sidenote: Size of armies compared] + +But the most striking difference between armies then and now is not in +their armament nor in their quality but in the size. Great battles +were fought and whole campaigns decided with twenty or thirty thousand +troops. The French standing army was fixed by the ordinance of 1534 at +seven legions of six thousand men each, besides which were the +mercenaries, the whole amounting to a maximum, under Francis I, of +about 100,000 men. The English official figures about 1588 gave the +army 90,000 foot soldiers and 9000 horse, but these figures were +grossly exaggerated. In fact only 22,000 men were serviceable at the +crisis of England's war with Spain. Other armies were proportionately +small. The janizaries, whose intervention often decided battles, +numbered in 1520 only 12,000. They were perhaps the best troops in +Europe, as the Turkish artillery was the most powerful known. What all +these figures show, in short, is that the phenomenon of nations with +every man physically fit in {490} the army, engaging in a death grapple +until one goes down in complete exhaustion, is a modern development. + +[Sidenote: Sea power] + +The influence of sea power upon history has become proverbial, if, +indeed, it has not been overestimated since Admiral Mahan first wrote. +It may be pointed out that this influence is far from a constant +factor. Sea power had a considerable importance in the wars of Greece +and of Rome, but in the Middle Ages it became negligible. Only with +the opening of the seven seas to navigation was the command of the +waves found to secure the avenues to wealth and colonial expansion. In +Portugal, Spain, and England, "the blue water school" of mariners +speedily created navies whose strife was apparently more decisive for +the future of history than were the battles of armies on land. + +When the trade routes of the Atlantic superseded those of the +Mediterranean in importance, naturally methods of navigation changed, +and this involved a revolution in naval warfare greater than that +caused by steam or by the submarine. From the time that Helen's beauty +launched a thousand ships until the battle of Lepanto, the oar had been +the chief instrument of locomotion, though supplemented, even from +Homeric times, by the sail. Naval battles were like those on land; the +enemy keels approached and the soldiers on each strove to board and +master the other's crew. The only distinctly naval tactic was that of +"ramming," as it was called in a once vivid metaphor. + +But the wild winds and boisterous waves of the Atlantic broke the oar +in the galley-slave's hand and the muscles in his back. Once again man +harnessed the hostile forces of nature; the free breezes were broken to +the yoke and new types of sailing ships were driven at racing speed +across the broad back of the sea. Swift, yare vessels were built, at +first smaller than the {491} old galleons but infinitely more +manageable. And the new boats, armed with thunder as they were clad +with wings, no longer sought to sink or capture enemies at close +quarters, but hurled destruction from afar. Heavy guns took the place +of small weapons and of armed prow. + +It was England's genius for the sea that enabled her to master the new +conditions first and most completely and that placed the trident in her +hands so firmly that no enemy has ever been able to wrest it from her. +Henry VIII paid great attention to the navy. He had fifty-three +vessels with an aggregate of 11,268 tons, an average of 200 tons each, +carrying 1750 soldiers, 1250 sailors and 2085 guns. Under Elizabeth +the number of vessels had sunk to 42, but the tonnage had risen to +17,055, and the crews numbered 5534 seamen, 804 gunners and 2008 +soldiers. The largest ships of the Tudor navy were of 1000 tons; the +flagship of the Spanish Armada was 1150 tons, carrying 46 guns and 422 +men. How tiny are these figures! A single cruiser of today has a +larger tonnage than the whole of Elizabeth's fleet; a large submarine +is greater than the monsters of Philip. + + +SECTION 4. PRIVATE LIFE AND MANNERS + +Of all the forces making for equality among men probably the education +of the masses by means of cheap books and papers has been the +strongest. But this force has been slow to ripen; at the close of the +Middle Ages the common man was still helpless. The old privileged +orders were indeed weakened and despoiled of part of their +prerogatives, but it was chiefly by the rise of a new aristocracy, that +of wealth. + +[Sidenote: Nobility] + +The decay of feudalism and of ecclesiastical privilege took the form of +a changed and not of an abolished position for peer and priest. They +were not cashiered, {492} but they were retained on cheaper terms. The +feudal baron had been a petty king; his descendant had the option of +becoming either a highwayman or a courtier. As the former alternative +became less and less rewarding, the greater part of the old nobles +abandoned their pretensions to independence and found a congenial +sphere as satellities of a monarch, "le roi soleil," as a typical king +was aptly called, whose beams they reflected and around whom they +circled. + +As titles of nobility began now to be quite commonly given to men of +wealth and also to politicians, the old blood was renewed at the +expense of the ancient pride. Not, indeed, that the latter showed any +signs of diminishing. The arrogance of the noble was past all +toleration. Men of rank treated the common citizens like dirt beneath +their feet, and even regarded artists and other geniuses as menials. +Alphonso, duke of Ferrara, wrote to Raphael in terms that no king would +now use to a photographer, calling him a liar and chiding him for +disrespect to his superior. The same duke required Ariosto to +prostitute his genius by writing an apology for a fratricide committed +by his grace. The duke of Mayenne poniarded one of his most devoted +followers for having aspired to the hand of the duke's widowed +daughter-in-law. So difficult was it to conceive of a "gentleman" +without gentle blood that Castiglione, the arbiter of manners, lays +down as the first prerequisite to a perfect courtier that he shall be +of high birth. And of course those who had not this advantage +pretended to it. An Italian in London noticed in 1557 that all +gentlemen without other title insisted on being called "mister." + +[Sidenote: Professions] + +One sign of the break-up of the old medieval castes was the new +classification of men by calling, or profession. It is true that two +of the professions, the {493} higher offices in army and church, became +apanages of the nobility, and the other liberal vocations were almost +as completely monopolized by the children of the moneyed middle class; +nevertheless it is significant that there were new roads by which men +might rise. No class has profited more by the evolution of ideas than +has the intelligentsia. From a subordinate, semi-menial position, +lawyers, physicians, educators and journalists, not to mention artists +and writers, have become the leading, almost the ruling, body of our +western democracies. + +[Sidenote: Clergy] + +Half way between a medieval estate and a modern calling stood the +clergy. In Catholic countries they remained very numerous; there were +136 episcopal or archiepiscopal sees in France; there were 40,000 +parish priests, with an equal number of secular clergy in subordinate +positions, 24,000 canons, 34,000 friars, 2500 Jesuits (in 1600), 12,000 +monks and 80,000 nuns. Though there were doubtless many worthy men +among them, it cannot honestly be said that the average were fitted +either morally or intellectually for their positions. Grossly ignorant +of the meaning of the Latin in which they recited their masses and of +the main articles of their faith, many priests made up for these +defects by proficiency in a variety of superstitious charms. The +public was accustomed to see nuns dancing at bridals and priests +haunting taverns and worse resorts. Some attempts, serious and +partially successful, at reform, have been already described. Profane +and amatory plays were forbidden in nunneries, bullfights were banished +from the Vatican and the dangers of the confessional were diminished by +the invention of the closed box in which the priest should sit and hear +his penitent through a small aperture instead of having her kneeling at +his knees. So depraved was public opinion on the subject of the +confession that a {494} prolonged controversy took place in Spain as to +whether minor acts of impurity perpetrated by the priest while +confessing women were permissible or not. + +[Sidenote: Conditions of the Protestant clergy] + +Neither was the average Protestant clergyman a shining and a burning +light. So little was the calling regarded that it was hard to fill it. +At one time a third of the parishes of England were said to lack +incumbents. The stipends were wretched; the social position obscure. +The wives of the new clergy had an especially hard lot, being regarded +by the people as little better than concubines, and by Parliament +called "necessary evils." The English government had to issue +injunctions in 1559 stating that because of the offence that has come +from the type of women commonly selected as helpmates by parsons, no +manner of priest or deacon should presume to marry without consent of +the bishop, of the girl's parents, "or of her master or mistress where +she serveth." Many clergymen, nevertheless, afterwards married +domestics. + +Very little was done to secure a properly trained ministry. Less than +half of the 2000 clergymen ordained at Wittenberg from 1537-60 were +university men; the majority were drapers, tailors and cobblers, +"common idiots and laymen" as they were called--though the word "idiot" +did not have quite the same disparaging sense that it has now. Nor +were the reverend gentlemen of unusually high character. As nothing +was demanded of them but purity of doctrine, purity of life sank into +the background. It is really amazing to see how an acquaintance of +Luther's succeeded in getting one church after he had been dismissed +from another on well-founded charges of seduction, and how he was +thereafter convicted of rape. This was perhaps an extreme case, but +that the majority of clergymen were morally unworthy is the {495} +melancholy conviction borne in by contemporary records. + +[Sidenote: Character of sermons] + +Sermons were long, doctrinal and political. Cranmer advised Latimer +not to preach more than an hour and a half lest the king grow weary. +How the popular preacher--in this case a Catholic--appealed to his +audience, is worth quoting from a sermon delivered at Landau in 1550. + + The Lutherans [began the reverend gentleman] are + opposed to the worship of Mary and the saints. Now, my + friends, be good enough to listen to me. The soul of a + man who had died got to the door of heaven and Peter + shut it in his face. Luckily, the Mother of God was + taking a stroll outside with her sweet Son. The deceased + addresses her and reminds her of the Paters and Aves he + has recited in her glory and the candles he has burnt + before her images. Thereupon Mary says to Jesus: "It's + the honest truth, my Son." The Lord, however, objected + and addressed the suppliant: "Hast thou never heard + that I am the way and the door to life everlasting?" he + asks. "If thou art the door, I am the window," retorted + Mary, taking the "soul" by the hair and flinging it + through the open casement. And now I ask you whether + it is not the same whether you enter Paradise by the door + or by the window? + + +There was a naive familiarity with sacred things in our ancestors that +cannot be imitated. Who would now name a ship "Jesus," as Hawkins's +buccaneering slaver was named? What serious clergyman would now +compare three of his friends to the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, +as did Luther? The Reformer also wrote a satire on the calling of a +council, in the form of a letter from the Holy Ghost signed by Gabriel +as notary and witnessed by Michael the Provost of Paradise and Raphael, +God's Court Physician. At another time he made a lampoon on the +collection of {496} relics made by his enemy the Archbishop of Mayence, +stating that they contained such things as "a fair piece of Moses' left +horn, a whole pound of the wind that blew for Elijah in the cave on +Mount Horeb and two feathers and an egg of the Holy Ghost" as a dove. +All this, of course, not in ribald profanity, but in works intended for +edification. . . . + + +[Sidenote: The city] + +Though beautiful, the city of our ancestors was far from admirable in +other ways. Filth was hidden under its comely garments, so that it +resembled a Cossack prince--all ermine and vermin. Its narrow streets, +huddled between strong walls, were over-run with pigs and chickens and +filled with refuse. They were often ill-paved, flooded with mud and +slush in winter. Moreover they were dark and dangerous at night, +infested with princes and young nobles on a spree and with other +criminals. + +[Sidenote: The house] + +Like the exterior, the interior of the house of a substantial citizen +was more pretty than clean or sweet smelling. The high wainscoting and +the furniture, in various styles, but frequently resembling what is now +known as "mission," was lovely, as were the ornaments--tapestries, +clocks, pictures and flowers. But the place of carpets was supplied by +rushes renewed from time to time without disturbing the underlying mass +of rubbish beneath. Windows were fewer than they are now, and fires +still fewer. Sometimes there was an open hearth, sometimes a huge tile +stove. Most houses had only one or two rooms heated, sometimes, as in +the case of the Augustinian friary at Wittenberg, only the bathroom, +but usually also the living room. + +[Sidenote: Dress] + +The dress of the people was far more various and picturesque than +nowadays. Both sexes dressed in gaudy colors and delighted in strange +fashions, so that, {497} is Roger Ascham said, "he thought himself most +brave that was most monstrous in misorder." For women the fashion of +decollete was just coming in, as so many fashions do, from the +demi-monde. To Catharine de' Medici is attributed the invention of the +corset, an atrocity to be excused only by her own urgent need of one. + +[Sidenote: Food] + +The day began at five in summer and at seven in winter. A heavy +breakfast was followed by a heavier dinner at ten, and supper at five, +and there were between times two or three other tiffins or "drinkings." +The staple food was meat and cereal; very few of our vegetables were +known, though some were just beginning to be cultivated. [Sidenote: +1585-6] The most valuable article of food introduced from the new +world was the potato. Another importation that did not become +thoroughly acclimatized in Europe was the turkey. Even now they are +rare, but there are several interesting allusions to them in the +literature of that time, one of the year 1533 in Luther's table talk. +Poultry of other sorts was common, as were eggs, game and fish. The +cooking relied for its highest effects on sugar and spices. The +ordinary fruits--apples, cherries and oranges--furnished a wholesome +and pleasing variety to the table. Knives and spoons were used in +eating, but forks were unknown, at least in northern Europe. + +[Sidenote: Drink] + +All the victuals were washed down with copious potations. A +water-drinker, like Sir Thomas More, was the rarest of exceptions. The +poor drank chiefly beer and ale; the mildest sort, known as "small +beer," was recommended to the man suffering from too strong drink of +the night before. Wine was more prized, and there were a number of +varieties. There being no champagne, Burgundy was held in high esteem, +as were some of the strong, sweet, Spanish and Portuguese {498} wines. +The most harmless drinks were claret and Rhine wine. There were some +"mixed drinks," such as sack or hippocras, in which beer or wine was +sophisticated with eggs, spices and sugar. The quantities habitually +drunk were large. Roger Ascham records that Charles V drank the best +he ever saw, never less than a quart at a draft. The breakfast table +of an English nobleman was set out with a quart of wine and a quart of +beer, liquor then taking the place of tea, coffee, chocolate and all +the "soft" beverages that now furnish stimulation and sociability. + +[Sidenote: Tobacco, 1573] + +"In these times," wrote Harrison, "the taking-in of the smoke of an +Indian herb called 'Tobaco' by an instrument formed like a little ladle +. . . is greatly taken up and used in England against rewmes [colds] +and some other diseases." Like other drugs, tobacco soon came to be +used as a narcotic for its own sake, and was presently celebrated as +"divine tobacco" and "our holy herb nicotian" by the poets. What, +indeed, are smoking, drinking, and other wooings of pure sensation at +the sacrifice of power and reason, but a sort of pragmatized poetry? +Some ages, and those the most poetical, like that of Pericles and that +of Rabelais, have deified intoxication and sensuality; others, markedly +our own, have preferred the accumulation of wealth and knowledge to +sensual indulgence. It is a psychological contrast of importance. + +Could we be suddenly transported on Mr. Wells's time machine four +hundred years back we should be less struck by what our ancestors had +than by what they lacked. Quills took the place of fountain pens, +pencils, typewriters and dictaphones. Not only was postage dearer but +there were no telephones or telegrams to supplement it. The world's +news of yesterday, which we imbibe with our morning cup, then sifted +down slowly through various media of {499} communication, mostly oral. +It was two months after the battle before Philip of Spain knew the fate +of his own Armada. The houses had no steam heat, no elevators; the +busy housewife was aided by no vacuum cleaner, sewing machine and gas +ranges; the business man could not ride to his office, nor the farmer +to his market, in automobiles. There were neither railways nor +steamships to make travel rapid and luxurious. + +[Sidenote: Travel] + +Nevertheless, journeys for purposes of piety, pleasure and business +were common. Pilgrimages to Jerusalem, Rome, Compostella, Loretto, +Walsingham and many other shrines were frequent in Catholic countries. +Students were perpetually wandering from one university to another: +merchants were on the road, and gentlemen felt the attractions of +sight-seeing. The cheap and common mode of locomotion was on foot. +Boats on the rivers and horses on land furnished the alternatives. The +roads were so poor that the horses were sometimes "almost shipwrecked." +The trip from Worms to Rome commonly took twelve days, but could be +made in seven. Xavier's voyage from Lisbon to Goa took thirteen +months. Inns were good in France and England; less pleasant elsewhere. +Erasmus particularly abominated the German inns, where a large living +and dining room would be heated to a high temperature by a stove around +which travelers would dry their steaming garments. The smells caused +by those operations, together with the fleas and mice with which the +poorer inns were infested, made the stay anything but luxurious. Any +complaint was met by the retort, "If you don't like it, go somewhere +else," a usually impracticable alternative. When the traveller was +escorted to his bedroom, he found it very cold in winter, though the +featherbeds kept him warm enough. He would see his chamber filled with +other beds occupied by his travelling companions of both {500} sexes, +and he himself was often forced to share his bed with a stranger. The +custom of the time was to take one bath a week. For this there were +public bath-houses, [Sidenote: Baths] frequented by both sexes. A +common form of entertainment was the "bath-party." + +[Sidenote: Sports] + +With the same insatiable gusto that they displayed in other matters the +contemporaries of Luther and Shakespeare went in for amusements. Never +has the theater been more popular. Many sports, like bear-baiting and +bull-baiting, were cruel. Hunting was also much relished, though +humane men like Luther and More protested against the "silly and woeful +beastes' slaughter and murder." Tennis was so popular that there were +250 courts in Paris alone. The game was different from the modern in +that the courts were 121 feet long, instead of 78 feet, and the wooden +balls and "bats"--as racquets are still called in England--were much +harder. Cards and dice were passionately played, a game called +"triumph" or "trump" being the ancestor of our whist. Chess was played +nearly as now. + +Young people loved dances and some older people shook their heads over +them, then as now. Melanchthon danced, at the age of forty-four, and +Luther approved of such parties, properly chaperoned, as a means of +bringing young people together. On the other hand dances were +regulated in many states and prohibited in others, like Zurich and +Geneva. Some of the dances were quite stately, like the minuet, others +were boisterous romps, in which the girls were kissed, embraced and +whirled around giddily by their partners. The Scotch ambassador's +comment that Queen Elizabeth "danced very high" gives an impression of +agility that would hardly now be considered in the best taste. + +[Sidenote: Manners] + +The veneer of courtesy was thin. True, humanists, {501} publicists and +authors composed for each other eulogies that would have been +hyperboles if addressed to the morning stars singing at the dawn of +creation, but once a quarrel had been started among the touchy race of +writers and a spouting geyser of inconceivable scurrility burst forth. +No imagery was too nasty, no epithet too strong, no charge too base to +bring against an opponent. The heroic examples of Greek and Roman +invective paled before the inexhaustible resources of learned +billingsgate stored in the minds of the humanists and theologians. To +accuse an enemy of atheism and heresy was a matter of course; to add +charges of unnatural vice or, if he were dead, stories of suicide and +of the devils hovering greedily over his deathbed, was extremely +common. Even crowned heads exchanged similar amenities. + +Withal, there was growing up a strong appreciation of the merits of +courtesy. Was not Bayard, the captain in the army of Francis I a +"knight without fear and without reproach"? Did not Sir Philip Sidney +do one of the perfect deeds of gentleness when, dying on the battle +field and tortured with thirst, he passed his cup of water to a common +soldier with the simple words, "Thy need is greater than mine"? One of +the most justly famous and most popular books of the sixteenth century +was Baldessare Castiglione's _Book of the Courtier_, called by Dr. +Johnson the best treatise on good breeding ever written. Published in +Italian in 1528, it was translated into Spanish in 1534, into French in +1537, into English and Latin in 1561, and finally into German in 1566. +There have been of it more than 140 editions. It sets forth an ideal +of a Prince Charming, a man of noble birth, expert in games and in war, +brave, modest, unaffected, witty, an elegant speaker, a good dancer, +familiar with literature and accomplished in music, as well as a man of +honor {502} and courtesy. It is significant that this ideal appealed +to the time, though it must be confessed it was rarely reached. +Ariosto, to whom the first book was dedicated by the author, depicts, +as his ideals, knights in whom the sense of honor has completely +replaced all Christian virtues. They were always fighting each other +about their loves, much like the bulls, lions, rams and dogs to whom +the poet continually compares them. Even the women were hardly safe in +their company. + +Sometimes a brief anecdote will stamp a character as no long +description will do. The following are typical of the manners of our +forbears: + +One winter morning a stately matron was ascending the steps of the +church of St. Gudule at Brussels. They were covered with ice; she +slipped and took a precipitate and involuntary seat. In the anguish of +the moment, a single word, of mere obscenity, escaped her lips. When +the laughing bystanders, among whom was Erasmus, helped her to her +feet, she beat a hasty retreat, crimson with shame. Nowadays ladies do +not have such a vocabulary at their tongue's end. + +The Spanish ambassador Enriquez de Toledo was at Rome calling on +Imperia de Cugnatis, a lady who, though of the demi-monde, lived like a +princess, cultivated letters and art, and had many poets as well as +many nobles among her friends. Her floors were carpeted with velvet +rugs, her walls hung with golden cloth, and her tables loaded with +costly bric-a-brac. The Spanish courtier suddenly turned and spat +copiously in the face of his lackey and then explained to the slightly +startled company that he chose this objective rather than soil the +splendor he saw around him. The disgusting act passed for a delicate +and successful flattery. + +[Sidenote: 1538] + +Among the students at Wittenberg was a certain Simon Lemchen, or +Lemnius, a lewd fellow of the baser {503} sort who published two +volumes of scurrilous epigrams bringing unfounded and nasty charges +against Luther, Melanchthon and the other Reformers and their wives. +When he fled the city before he could be arrested, Luther revenged +himself partly by a Catilinarian sermon, partly by composing, for +circulation among his friends, some verses about Lemnius in which the +scurrility and obscenity of the offending youth were well over-trumped. +One would be surprised at similar measures taken by a professor of +divinity today. + +[Sidenote: Morals] + +In measuring the morals of a given epoch statistics are not applicable; +or, at any rate, it is probably true that the general impression one +gets of the moral tone of any period is more trustworthy than would be +got from carefully compiled figures. And that one does get such an +impression, and a very strong one, is undeniable. Everyone has in his +mind a more or less distinct idea of the ethical standards of ancient +Athens, of Rome, of the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Puritan +Commonwealth, the Restoration, the Victorian Age. + +The sixteenth century was a time when morals were perhaps not much +worse than they are now, but when vice and crime were more flaunted and +talked about. Puritanism and prudery have nowadays done their best to +conceal the corruption and indecency beneath the surface. But our +ancestors had no such delicacy. The naive frankness of the age, both +when it gloried in the flesh and when it reproved sin, gives a +full-blooded complexion to that time that is lacking now. The large +average consumption of alcohol--a certain irritant to moral +maladies--and the unequal administration of justice, with laws at once +savage and corruptly dispensed, must have had bad consequences. + +The Reformation had no permanent discernible {504} effect on moral +standards. Accompanied as it often was with a temporary zeal for +righteousness, it was too often followed by a breaking up of +conventional standards and an emphasis on dogma at the expense of +character, that operated badly. Latimer thought that the English +Reformation had been followed by a wave of wickedness. Luther said +that when the devil of the papacy had been driven out, seven other +devils entered to take its place, and that at Wittenberg a man was +considered quite a saint who could say that he had not broken the first +commandment, but only the other nine. Much of this complaint must be +set down to disappointment at not reaching perfection, and over against +it may be set many testimonies to the moral benefits assured by the +reform. + +[Sidenote: Violence] + +It was an age of violence. Murder was common everywhere. On the +slightest provocation a man of spirit was expected to whip out a rapier +or dagger and plunge it into his insulter. The murder of unfaithful +wives was an especial point of honor. Benvenuto Cellini boasts of +several assassinations and numerous assaults, and he himself got off +without a scratch from the law, Pope Paul III graciously protesting +that "men unique in their profession, like Benvenuto, were not subject +to the laws." The number of unique men must have been large in the +Holy City, for in 1497 a citizen testified that he had seen more than a +hundred bodies of persons foully done to death thrown into the Tiber, +and no one bothered about it. + +[Sidenote: Brigandage] + +Brigandage stalked unabashed through the whole of Europe. By 1585 the +number of bandits in the papal states alone had risen to 27,000. +Sixtus V took energetic means to repress them. One of his stratagems +is too characteristic to omit mentioning. He had a train of mules +loaded with poisoned food and then {505} drove them along a road he +knew to be infested by highwaymen, who, as he had calculated, actually +took them and ate of the food, of which many died. + +Other countries were perhaps less scourged by robbers, but none was +free. Erasmus's praise of Henry VIII, in 1519, for having cleared his +realm of free-booters, was premature. In the wilder parts, especially +on the Scotch border, they were still rife. In 1529 the Armstrongs of +Lidderdale, just over the border, could boast that they had burned 52 +churches, besides making heavy depredations on private property. When +James V took stern measures to suppress them, [Sidenote: 1532] and +instituted a College of Justice for that purpose, the good law was +unpopular. + +Bands of old soldiers and new recruits wandered through France, Spain +and the Netherlands. The worst robbers in Germany were the free +knights. From their picturesque castles they emerged to pillage +peaceful villages and trains of merchandise going from one walled city +to another. In doing so they inflicted wanton mutilations on the +unfortunate merchants whom they regarded as their natural prey. Even +the greatest of them, like Francis von Sickingen, were not ashamed to +"let their horses bite off travellers' purses" now and then. But it +was not only the nobles who became gentlemen of the road. A well-to-do +merchant of Berlin, named John Kohlhase, was robbed of a couple of +horses by a Saxon squire, and, failing to get redress in the corrupt +courts, threw down the gauntlet to the whole of Electoral Saxony in a +proclamation that he would rob, burn and take reprisals until he was +given compensation for his loss. For six years [Sidenote: 1534-40] he +maintained himself as a highwayman, but was finally taken and executed +in Brandenburg. + +[Sidenote: Fraud] + +Fraud of all descriptions was not less rampant than force. When +Machiavelli reduced to a reasoned {506} theory the practice of all +hypocrisy and guile, the courts of Europe were only too ready to listen +to his advice. In fact, they carried their mutual attempts at +deception to a point that was not only harmful to themselves, but +ridiculous, making it a principle to violate oaths and to debase the +currency of good faith in every possible way. There was also much +untruth in private life. Unfortunately, lying in the interests of +piety was justified by Luther, while the Jesuits made a soul-rotting +art of equivocation. + +[Sidenote: Unchastity] + +The standard of sexual purity was disturbed by a reaction against the +asceticism of the Middle Ages. Luther proclaimed that chastity was +impossible, while the humanists gloried in the flesh. Public opinion +was not scandalized by prostitution; learned men occasionally debated +whether fornication was a sin, and the Italians now began to call a +harlot a "courteous woman" [Sidenote: c. 1500] (courtesan) as they +called an assassin a "brave man" (bravo). Augustine had said that +harlots were remedies against worse things, and the church had not only +winked at brothels, but frequently licensed them herself. Bastardy was +no bar to hereditary right in Italy. + +The Reformers tried to make a clean sweep of the "social evil." Under +Luther's direction brothels were closed in the reformed cities. When +this was done at Strassburg the women drew up a petition, stating that +they had pursued their profession not from liking but only to earn +bread, and asked for honest work. Serious attempts were made to give +it to them, or to get them husbands. At Zurich and some other cities +the brothels were left open, but were put under the supervision of an +officer who was to see that no married men frequented them. The +reformers had a strange ally in the growing fear of venereal diseases. +Other countries followed Germany in their war on the prostitute. In +London the public houses of ill fame {507} were closed in 1546, in +Paris in 1560. An edict of July 23, 1566 commanded all prostitutes to +leave Rome, but when 25,000 persons, including the women and their +dependents, left the city, the loss of public revenue induced the pope +to allow them to return on August 17 of the same year. + +[Sidenote: Polygamy] + +One of the striking aberrations of the sixteenth century, as it seems +to us, was the persistent advocacy of polygamy as, if not desirable in +itself, at least preferable to divorce. Divorce or annulment of +marriage was not hard to obtain by people of influence, whether +Catholic or Protestant, but it was a more difficult matter than it is +in America now. In Scotland there was indeed a sort of trial marriage, +known as "handfasting," by which the parties might live together for a +year and a day and then continue as married or separate. But, +beginning with Luther, many of the Reformers thought polygamy less +wrong than divorce, on the biblical ground that whereas the former had +been practised in the Old Testament times and was not clearly forbidden +by the New Testament, divorce was prohibited save for adultery. Luther +advanced this thesis as early as 1520, when it was purely theoretical, +but he did not shrink from applying it on occasion. It is +extraordinary what a large body of reputable opinion was prepared to +tolerate polygamy, at least in exceptional cases. Popes, theologians, +humanists like Erasmus, and philosophers like Bruno, all thought a +plurality of wives a natural condition. + +[Sidenote: Marriage] + +But all the while the instincts of the masses were sounder in this +respect than the precepts of their guides. While polygamy remained a +freakish and exceptional practice, the passions of the age were +absorbed to a high degree by monogamous marriage. Matrimony having +been just restored to its proper dignity as the best estate for man, +its praises were {508} sounded highly. The church, indeed, remained +true to her preference for celibacy, but the Inquisition found much +business in suppressing the then common opinion that marriage was +better than virginity. To the Reformers marriage was not only the +necessary condition of happiness to mankind, but the typically holy +estate in which God's service could best be done. From all sides +paeans arose celebrating matrimony as the true remedy for sin and also +as the happiest estate. The delights of wedded love are celebrated +equally in Luther's table talk and letters and in the poems of the +Italian humanist Pontano. "I have always been of the opinion," writes +Ariosto, "that without a wife at his side no man can attain perfect +goodness or live without sin." "In marriage there is one mind in two +bodies," says Henry Cornelius Agrippa, "one harmony, the same sorrows, +the same joys, an identical will, common riches, poverty and honors, +the same bed and the same table. . . . Only a husband and wife can +love each other infinitely and serve each other as long as both do +live, for no love is either so vehement or so holy as theirs." + +The passion for marriage in itself is witnessed by the practice of +widows and widowers of remarrying as soon and as often as possible. +[Sidenote: Remarriage common] Luther's friend, Justus Jonas, married +thrice, each time with a remark to the effect that it was better to +marry than to burn. The English Bishop Richard Cox excused his second +marriage, at an advanced age, by an absurd letter lamenting that he had +not the gift of chastity. Willibrandis Rosenblatt married in +succession Louis Keller, Oecolampadius, Capito and Bucer, the +ecclesiastical eminence of her last three husbands giving her, one +would think, an almost official position. Sir Thomas More married a +second wife just one month after his first wife's death. + +{509} [Sidenote: Treatment of wives] + +Sad to relate, the wives so necessary to men's happiness were +frequently ill treated after they were won. In the sixteenth century +women were still treated as minors; if married they could make no will; +their husbands could beat them with impunity, for cruelty was no cause +for divorce. Sir Thomas More's home-life is lauded by Erasmus as a +very paragon, because "he got more compliance from his wife by jokes +and blandishments than most husbands by imperious harshness." One of +these jokes, a customary one, was that his wife was neither pretty nor +young; one of the "blandishments," I suppose, was an epigram by Sir +Thomas to the effect that though a wife was a heavy burden she might be +useful if she would die and leave her husband money. In Utopia, he +assures us, husbands chastise their wives. + +[Sidenote: Position of woman] + +In the position of women various currents crossed each other. The old +horror of the temptress, inherited from the early church, the lofty +scorn exhibited by the Greek philosophers, mingled with strands of +chivalry and a still newer appreciation of the real dignity of woman +and of her equal powers. Ariosto treated women like spoiled children; +the humanists delighted to rake up the old jibes at them in musty +authors; the divines were hardest of all in their judgment. "Nature +doth paint them forth," says John Knox of women, "to be weak, frail, +impatient, feeble and foolish, and experience hath declared them to be +unconstant, variable, cruel and void of the spirit of council and +regimen." "If women bear children until they become sick and +eventually die," preaches Luther, "that does no harm. Let them bear +children till they die of it; that is what they are for." In 1595 the +question was debated at Wittenberg as to whether women were human +beings. The general tone was one of disparagement. An anthology might +be made of the {510} proverbs recommending (a la Nietzsche) the whip as +the best treatment for the sex. + +But withal there was a certain chivalry that revolted against all this +brutality. Castiglione champions courtesy and kindness to women on the +highest and most beautiful ground, the spiritual value of woman's love. +Ariosto sings: + + No doubt they are accurst and past all grace + That dare to strike a damsel in the face, + Or of her head to minish but a hair. + +Certain works like T. Elyot's _Defence of Good Women_ and like +Cornelius Agrippa's _Nobility and Excellence of the Female Sex_, +witness a genuine appreciation of woman's worth. Some critics have +seen in the last named work a paradox, like the _Praise of Folly_, such +as was dear to the humanists. To me it seems absolutely sincere, even +when it goes so far as to proclaim that woman is as superior to man as +man is to beast and to celebrate her as the last and supreme work of +the creation. + +[Sidenote: Children] + +The family was far larger, on the average, in the sixteenth century +than it is now. One can hardly think of any man in this generation +with as many as a dozen children; it is possible to mention several of +that time with over twenty. Anthony Koberger, the famous Nuremberg +printer had twenty-five children, eight by his first and seventeen by +his second wife. Albert Duerer was the third of eighteen children of +the same couple, of whom apparently only three reached maturity. John +Colet, born in 1467, was the eldest of twenty-two brothers and sisters +of whom by 1499 he was the only survivor. Of course these families +were exceptional, but not glaringly so. A brood of six to twelve was a +very common occurrence. + +Children were brought up harshly in many families, {511} strictly in +almost all. They were not expected to sit in the presence of their +parents, unless asked, or to speak unless spoken to. They must needs +bow and crave a blessing twice a day. Lady Jane Grey complained that +if she did not do everything as perfectly as God made the world, she +was bitterly taunted and presently so nipped and pinched by her noble +parents that she thought herself in hell. The rod was much resorted +to. And yet there was a good deal of natural affection. Few fathers +have even been better to their babies than was Luther, and he humanely +advised others to rely as much on reward as on punishment--on the apple +as on the switch--and above all not to chastise the little ones so +harshly as to make them fear or hate their parents. + +The _patria potestas_ was supposed to extend, as it did in Rome, during +the adult as during the callow years. Especially did public opinion +insist on children marrying according to the wishes of their parents. +Among the nobility child-marriage was common, a mere form, of course, +not at once followed by cohabitation. A betrothal was a very solemn +thing, amounting to a definite contract. Perfect liberty was allowed +the engaged couple, by law in Sweden and by custom in many other +countries. All the more necessary, in the opinion of the time, to +prevent youths and maidens betrothing themselves without their parents' +consent. + +[Sidenote: Health] + +Probably the standard of health is now higher than it was then, and the +average longevity greater. It is true that few epidemics have ever +been more fatal than the recent influenza; and on the other hand one +can point to plenty of examples of sixteenth-century men who reached a +crude and green old age. Statistics were then few and unreliable. In +1905 the death-rate in London was 15.6 per thousand; in the years +1861-1880 it averaged 23 per thousand. It has been {512} calculated +that this is just what the death-rate was in London in a healthy year +under Elizabeth, but it must be remembered that a year without some +sort of epidemic was almost exceptional. + +[Sidenote: Epidemics] + +Bubonic plague was pandemic at that time, and horribly fatal. Many of +the figures given--as that 200,000 people perished in Moscow in 1570, +50,000 at Lyons in 1572, and 50,000 at Venice during the years 1575-7, +must be gross exaggerations, but they give a vivid idea of the popular +idea of the prevalent mortality. Another scourge was the sweating +sickness, first noticed as epidemic in 1485 and returning in 1507, +1517, 1528 and 1551. Tuberculosis was probably as wide-spread in the +sixteenth as it is in the twentieth century, but it figured less +prominently on account of worse diseases and because it was seldom +recognized until the last stages. Smallpox was common, unchecked as it +was by vaccination, and with it were confounded a variety of zymotic +diseases, such as measles, which only began to be recognized as +different in the course of the sixteenth century. One disease almost +characteristic of former ages, so much more prevalent was it in them, +due to the more unwholesome food and drink, was the stone. + +Venereal diseases became so prominent in the sixteenth century that it +has often been thought that the syphilis was imported from America. +This, however, has been denied by authorities who believe that it came +down from classical antiquity, but that it was not differentiated from +other scourges. The Latin name variola, like the English pox, was +applied indiscriminately to syphilis, small-pox, chicken-pox, etc. +Gonorrhea was also common. The spread of these diseases was assisted +by many causes besides the prevalent moral looseness; by lack of +cleanliness in public baths, for example. + +{513} Useless to go through the whole roster of the plagues. Suffice +it to say that whatever now torments poor mortals, from tooth-ache to +cold in the head, and from rheumatism to lunacy, was known to our +ancestors in aggravated forms. Deleterious was the use of alcohol, the +evils of which were so little understood that it was actually +prescribed for many disorders of which it is a certain irritant. Add +to this the lack of sanitary measures, not only of disinfection but of +common cleanliness, and the etiology of the phenomena is satisfactorily +accounted for. + +[Sidenote: Medicine] + +If even now medicine as a science and an art seems backward compared +with surgery, it has nevertheless made considerable advances since it +began to be empirical. In the Middle Ages it was almost purely +dogmatic; men did not ask their eyes and minds what was the nature of +the human body and the effect of this or that drug on it, they asked +Aristotle, or Hippocrates, or Galen or Avicenna. The chief rivalries, +and they were bitter, were between the Greek and the Arabian schools. +[Sidenote: c. 1550] Galenism finally triumphed just before the +beginnings of experiment and research were made. The greatest name in +the first half of the century was that of Theophrastus Paracelsus, +[Sidenote: Paracelsus, 1493-1541] as arrant a quack as ever lived, but +one who did something to break up the strangle-hold of tradition. He +worked out his system _a priori_ from a fantastic postulate of the +parallelism between man and the universe, the microcosm and the +macrocosm. He held that the Bible gave valuable prescriptions, as in +the treatment of wounds by oil and wine. + +[Sidenote: Surgery] + +Under the leadership of Ambroise Pare [Sidenote: Pare, 1510-90] surgery +improved rather more than medicine. Without anaesthetics, indeed, +operations were difficult, but a good deal was accomplished. Pare +first made amputation on a large scale possible by inventing a ligature +for {514} large arteries that effectively controlled hemorrhage. This +barber's apprentice, who despised the schools and wrote in the +vernacular, made other important improvements in the surgeon's +technique. It is noteworthy that each discovery was treated as a trade +secret to be exploited for the benefit of a few practitioners and not +given freely to the good of mankind. + +In obstetrics Pare also made discoveries that need not be detailed +here. Until his time it was almost universal for women to be attended +in childbirth only by midwives of their own sex. Indeed, so strong was +the prejudice on this point that women were known to die of abdominal +tumors rather than allow male physicians to examine them. The +admission of men to the profession of midwife marked a considerable +improvement in method. + +[Sidenote: Lunacy] + +The treatment of lunacy was inept. The poor patients were whipped or +otherwise tormented for alluding to the subject of their monomania. +Our ancestors found fun in watching the antics of crazed minds, and +made up parties to go to Bedlams and tease the insane. Indeed, some of +the scenes in Shakespeare's plays, in which madness is depicted, and +which seem tragic to us, probably had a comic value for the groundlings +before whom the plays were first produced. + +[Sidenote: Hospitals] + +As early as 1510 Luther saw one of the hospitals at Florence. He tells +how beautiful they were, how clean and well served by honorable matrons +tending the poor freely all day without making known their names and at +night returning home. Such institutions were the glory of Italy, for +they were sadly to seek in other lands. When they were finally +established elsewhere, they were too often left to the care of ignorant +and evil menials. The stories one may read of the Hotel-Dieu, at +Paris, are fairly hair-raising. + + + + +{515} + +CHAPTER XI + +THE CAPITALISTIC REVOLUTION + +SECTION 1. THE RISE OF THE POWER OF MONEY + +[Sidenote: Reformation and economic revolution] + +Parallel with the Reformation was taking place an economic revolution +even deeper and more enduring in its consequences. Both Reformation +and Revolution were manifestations of the individualistic spirit of the +age; the substitution, in the latter case, of private enterprise and +competition for common effort as a method of producing wealth and of +distributing it. Both were prepared for long before they actually +upset the existing order; both have taken several centuries to unfold +their full consequences, and in each the truly decisive steps were +taken in the sixteenth century. + +It is doubtless incorrect to see either in the Reformation or in the +economic revolution a direct and simple cause of the other. They +interacted and to a certain extent joined forces; but to a greater +degree each sought to use the other, and each has at times been +credited, or blamed, with the results of the other's operations. +Contemporaries noticed the effects, mostly the bad effects, of the rise +of capitalism, and often mistakenly attributed them to the Reformation; +and the new kings of commerce were only too ready to hide behind the +mask of Protestantism while despoiling the church. Like other +historical forces, while easily separable in thought, the two movements +were usually inextricably interwoven in action. + +[Sidenote: Rise of capitalism] + +Capitalism supplanted gild-production because of its fitness as a +social instrument for the production and {516} storing of wealth. In +competition with capital the medieval communism succumbed in one line +of business after another--in banking, in trade, in mining, in industry +and finally in agriculture--because it was unable to produce the +results that capital produced. By the vast reward that the newer +system gave to individual enterprise, to technical improvement and to +investment, capitalism proved the aptest tool for the creation and +preservation of wealth ever devised. It is true that the manifold +multiplication of riches in the last four centuries is due primarily to +inventions for the exploitation of natural resources, but the +capitalistic method is ideally fitted for the utilization of these new +discoveries and for laying up of their increment for ultimate social +use. And this is an inestimable service to any society. Only a fairly +rich people can afford the luxuries of beauty, knowledge, and power, +that enhance the value of life and allow it to climb to ever greater +heights. To balance this service, it must be taken into account that +capitalism has lamentably failed justly to distribute rewards. Its +tendency is to intercept the greater part of the wealth it creates for +the benefit of a single class, and thereby to rob the rest of the +community of their due dividend. + +[Sidenote: Primary cause of the capitalistic revolution] + +So delicate is the adjustment of society that an apparently trivial new +factor will often upset the whole equilibrium and produce the most +incalculable results. Thus, the primary cause of the capitalistic +revolution appears to have been a purely mechanical one, the increase +in the production of the precious metals. Wealth could not be stored +at all in the Middle Ages save in the form of specie; nor without it +could large commerce be developed, nor large industry financed, nor was +investment possible. Moreover the rise of prices consequent on the +increase of the precious metals gave a powerful stimulus to manufacture +and a {517} fillip to the merchant and to the entrepreneur such as they +have rarely received before or since. It was, in short, the +development of the power of money that gave rise to the money power. + +In the earlier Middle Ages there prevailed a "natural economy," or +system in which payments were made chiefly in the form of services and +by barter; this gave place very gradually to our modern "money economy" +in which gold and silver are both the normal standards of value and the +sole instruments of exchange. Already in the twelfth century money was +being used in the towns of Western Europe; not until the late +fourteenth or fifteenth did it become a dominant factor in rural life. +This change was not the great revolution itself, but was the +indispensable prerequisite of it, and in large part its direct cause. + +[Sidenote: Money-making kings] + +Gold and silver could now be hoarded in the form of money, and so the +first step was taken in the formation of large fortunes, known to the +ancient world, but almost absent in the Middle Ages. The first great +fortunes were made by kings, by nobles with large landed estates, and +by officers in government service. Henry VII left a large fortune to +his son. Some of the popes and some of the princes of Germany and +Italy hoarded money even when they were paying interest on a debt,--a +testimony to the increasing estimate of the value of hard cash. The +chief nobles were scarcely behind the kings in accumulating treasure. +Their vast revenues from land were much more like government imposts +than like rents. Thus Montmorency in France gave his daughter a dowry +amounting to $420,000. The duke of Gandia in Spain owned estates +peopled by 60,000 Moriscos and yielding a princely revenue. Vast +ransoms were exacted in war, and fines, confiscation and pillage filled +the coffers of the lords. After the atrocious war against the +Moriscos, the duke of {518} Lerma sold their houses on his estates for +500,000 ducats. + +[Sidenote: Officials] + +In the monarchies of Europe the only avenue to wealth at first open to +private men was the government service. Offices, benefices, naval and +military commands, were bought with the expectation, often justified, +of making money out of them. The farmed revenues yielded immense +profit to the collectors. No small fortunes were reaped by Empson and +Dudley, the tools of Henry VII, but they were far surpassed by the +hoards of Wolsey and of Cromwell. Such was the great fortune made in +France by Semblancay, the son of a plain merchant of Tours, who turned +the offices of treasurer and superintendent of finances to such good +account that he bought himself large estates and baronies. Fortunes on +a proportionately smaller scale were made by the servants of the German +princes, as by John Schenitz, a minion of the Archbishop Elector Albert +of Mayence. So insecure was the tenure of riches accumulated in royal +or princely service that most of the men who did so, including all +those mentioned in this paragraph, ended on the scaffold, save, indeed, +Wolsey, who would have done so had he not died while awaiting trial. + +It is to be noted that, though land was the principal form of wealth in +the Middle Ages, no great fortunes were made from it at the beginning +of the capitalistic era, save by the titled holders of enormous +domains. The small landlords suffered at the expense of the burghers +in Germany, and not until these burghers turned to the country and +bought up landed estates did agriculture become thoroughly profitable. + +[Sidenote: Banking] + +The intimate connection of government and capitalism is demonstrated by +the fact that, next to officials, government concessionaires and +bankers were the first to make great fortunes. At this time banking +was {519} closely dependent on public loans and was therefore the first +great business to be established on the capitalistic basis. The first +"trust" was the money trust. Though banking had been well started in +the Middle Ages, it was still in an imperfect state of development. +Jews and goldsmiths made a considerable number of commercial loans but +these loans were always regarded by the borrower as temporary +expedients; the habitual conduct of business on borrowed capital was +unknown. But, just as the new output of the German mines was +increasing the supply of precious metals, the greater costliness of +war, due to the substitution of mercenaries and fire-arms for feudal +levies equipped with bows and pikes, made the governments of Europe +need money more than ever before. They made great loans at home and +abroad, and it was the interest on these that expanded the banking +business until it became an international power. Well before the +sixteenth century men had made a fine art of receiving deposits, +loaning capital and performing other financial operations, but it was +not until the late fifteenth century that the bankers reaped the full +reward of their skill and of the new opportunities. The three balls in +the arms of the Medici testify to the heights to which a profession, +once humble, might raise its experts. In Italy the science of +accounting, [Sidenote: Science of accounting] or of double-entry +bookkeeping, originated; it was slowly adopted in other lands. The +first English work on the subject is that by John Gouge in 1543, +entitled: "A Profitable Treatyce called the Instrument or Boke to learn +to know the good order of the keeping of the famouse reconnynge, called +in Latin, Dare et Habere, and, in Englyshe, Debitor and Creditor." It +was in Italy that modern technique of clearing bills was developed; the +simple system by which balances are settled not by full payment of each +debt in money, but by comparing {520} the paper certificates of +indebtedness. This immense saving, as developed by the Genoese, was +soon extended from their own city to the whole of Northern Italy, so +that the bankers would meet several times a year in the first +international clearing-house. From Genoa the same system was then +applied to distant cities, with great profit, even more in security +than in saving of capital. If bills payable at Antwerp were bought at +Genoa, they were paid at Antwerp by selling bills on Lisbon, perhaps, +and these in turn by selling exchange on Genoa. These processes seem +simple and are now universal, but how vastly they facilitated the +development of banking and business when first discovered can hardly be +over-estimated. + +From the improvement of exchange the Genoese soon proceeded to +arbitrage, a transaction more profitable and more socially useful at +that time when poor communications made the differences in prices +between bills of exchange, bullion, coins, stocks and bonds in distant +markets more considerable than they are now. The Genoese bankers also +invented the first substitutes for money in the form of circulating +notes. In all this, and in other ways, they made enormous profits that +soon induced others to copy them. + +[Sidenote: Great firms] + +Though the Italians invented modern banking they were eventually +surpassed by the Germans, if not in technique at least in the size of +the firms established. The largest Florentine bank in 1529 was that of +Thomas Guadegni with a capital of 520,000 florins ($1,170,000). The +capital of the house of Fugger at Augsburg, distinct from the personal +fortunes of its members, was in 1546, 4,700,000 gold gulden +($11,500,000). The average annual profits of the Fuggers during the +years 1511-27 were 54.5 per cent.; from 1534-6, 2.2 per cent.; from +1540-46, 19 per cent.; from 1547-53, 5.6 per cent. Another Augsburg +firm, the Welsers, averaged 9 per {521} cent. for the fifteen years +1502-17. Dividends were not declared annually, but a general casting +up of accounts was made every few years and a new balance struck, each +partner withdrawing as much as he wished, or leaving it to be credited +to his account as new capital. + +[Sidenote: Risks of banking] + +Though the Fuggers and other firms soon went into large business of all +sorts, they remained primarily bankers. As such they enjoyed boundless +credit with the public from whom they received deposits at regular +interest. The proportion of these deposits to the capital continually +rose. This general tendency, together with the habit of changing the +amount of capital every few years, is evident from the following table +of the liabilities of the Fuggers in gold gulden at several different +periods: + + Year Capital Deposits + 1527 . . . . . . . 2,000,000 290,000 + 1536 . . . . . . . 1,500,000 900,000 + 1546 . . . . . . . 4,700,000 1,300,000 + 1563 . . . . . . . 2,000,000 3,100,000 + 1577 . . . . . . . 1,300,000 4,000,000 + +A smaller Augsburg firm, the Haugs, had in 1560, a capital of 140,000 +florins and deposits of 648,000. As all these deposits were subject to +be withdrawn at sight, and as the firms usually kept a very small +reserve of specie, it would seem that banking was subject to great +risks. The unsoundness of the method was counterbalanced by the fact +that most of the deposits were made by members of the banker's family, +or by friends, who harbored a strong sentiment against embarrassing the +bank by withdrawing at inconvenient seasons. Doubtless the almost +uniformly profitable career of most firms for many years concealed many +dangers. + +The crash came finally as the result of the bankruptcy {522} of the +Spanish and French governments. [Sidenote: Bankruptcy of France and +Spain, 1557] Spain's repudiation of her debt was partial, taking the +form of consolidation and conversion; France, however, simply stopped +all payments of interest and amortization. Many banks throughout +Europe failed, and drew down with them their creditors. The years +1557-64 saw the first of these characteristically modern phenomena, +international financial crises. There were hard times everywhere. +Other states followed the example of the French and Spanish +governments, England constituting the fortunate exception. Recovery +followed at length, however, and speculation boomed; but a second +Spanish state bankruptcy [Sidenote: 1575] brought on another crisis, +and there was a third, following the defeat of the Armada. The failure +of many of the great private companies was followed by the institution +of state banks. The first to be erected was the Banco di Rialto in +Venice. [Sidenote: 1587] + +The banks were the agencies for the spread of the capitalistic system +to other fields. The great firms either bought up, or obtained as +concessions from some government, the natural resources requisite for +the production of wealth. One of the very first things seized by them +were the mines. [Sidenote: Mining] Indeed, the profitable +exploitation of the German mines especially dates from their +acquisition by the Fuggers and other bankers late in the fifteenth +century. Partly by the development of new methods of refining ore, but +chiefly by driving large numbers of laborers to their maximum effort, +the new mine-owners increased the production of metal almost at a +bound, and thereby poured untold wealth into their own coffers. The +total value of metals produced in Germany in 1525 amounted to +$4,800,000 per annum, and employed over 100,000 men. Until 1545 the +German production of silver was greater than the American, and copper +was almost as valuable {523} a product. Notwithstanding its increased +production, its value doubled between 1527 and 1557. The shares in +these great companies were, like the "Fugger letters," or certificates +of interest-bearing deposits in banks, assignable and were actively +traded in on various bourses. Each share was a certificate of +partnership which then carried with it unlimited liability for the +debts of the company. One of the favorite speculative issues was found +in the shares of the Mansfeld Copper Co., established in 1524 with a +capital of 70,000 gulden, which was increased to 120,000 gulden in 1528. + +[Sidenote: Commerce] + +Whereas, in banking and in mining, capital had almost created the +opportunities for its employment, in commerce it partly supplanted the +older system and partly entered into new paths. In the Middle Ages +domestic, and to some extent international, commerce was carried on by +fairs adapted to bring producer and consumer together and hence reduce +the functions of middleman to the narrowest limits. Such was the +annual fair at Stourbridge; such the famous bookmart at +Frankfort-on-the-Main, and such were the fairs in Lyons, Antwerp, and +many other cities. Only in the larger towns was a market perpetually +open. Foreign commerce was also carried on by companies formed on the +analogy of the medieval gilds. + +New conditions called for fresh means of meeting them. The great +change in sea-borne trade effected by the discovery of the new routes +to India and America, was not so much in the quantity of goods carried +as in the paths by which they traveled. The commerce of the two inland +seas, the Mediterranean and the Baltic, relatively declined, while that +of the Atlantic seaboard grew by leaps and bounds. New and large +companies came into existence, formed on the joint-stock principle. +Over them the various governments exercised a large control, giving +them a semi-political character. + +{524} [Sidenote: Portugal] + +As Portugal was the first to tap the wealth of the gorgeous East, into +her lap fell the stream of gold from that quarter. The secret of her +windfall was the small bulk and enormous value of her cargoes. From +Malabar she fetched pepper and ginger, from Ceylon cinnamon and pearls, +from Bengal opium, the only known conqueror of pain, and with it +frankincense and indigo. Borneo supplied camphor, Amboyna nutmegs and +mace, and two small islands, Temote and Tidor, offered cloves. These +products sold for forty times as much in London or in Antwerp as they +cost in the Orient. No wonder that wealth came in a gale of perfume to +Lisbon. The cost of the ship and of the voyage, averaging two years +from departure to return, was $20,000, and any ship might bring back a +cargo worth $750,000. But the risks were great. Of the 104 ships that +sailed from 1497-1506 only 72 returned. In the following century of +about 800 Portuguese vessels engaged in the India trade nearly +one-eighth were lost. Even the risk of loss in sailing from Lisbon to +the ports of northern Europe was appreciable. The king of Portugal +insured ships on a voyage from Lisbon to Antwerp for a premium of six +per cent. + +[Sidenote: Spain] + +Spain found the path towards the setting sun as golden as Portugal had +found the reflection of his rising beams. At her height she had a +thousand merchant galleons. The chief imports were the precious +metals, but they were not the only ones. Cochineal, selling at $370 a +hundredweight in London, surpassed in value any spice from Celebes. +Dye-wood, ebony, some drugs, nuts and a few other articles richly +repaid importation. There was also a very considerable export trade. +Cadiz and Seville sent to the Indies annually 2,240,000 gallons of +wine, with quantities of oil, clothes and other necessities. Many +ships, not {525} only Spanish but Portuguese and English, were weighted +with human flesh from Africa as heavily as Christian with his black +load of sin, and in the case of Portugal, at least, the load almost +sent its bearer to the City of Destruction. + +But Spanish keels made other wakes than westward. To Flanders oil and +wool were sent to be exchanged for manufactured wares, tapestries and +books. Italy asked hides and dyes in return for her brocades, pearls +and linen. The undoubtedly great extent of Spanish commerce even in +places where it had no monopoly, is all the more remarkable in that it +was at the first burdened by what in the end choked it, government +regulation. Cadiz had the best harbor, but Seville was favored by the +king; even ships allowed to unload at Cadiz could do so only on +condition that their cargoes be transported directly to Seville. A +particularly crushing tax was the alcabala, or 10 per cent. impost on +all sales. Other import duties, royalties on metals, excise on food, +monopolies, and petty regulations finally handicapped Spain's merchants +so effectually that they fell behind those of other countries in the +race for supremacy. + +[Sidenote: France] + +As the mariners of the Iberian peninsula drooped under the shackles of +unwise laws, hardy sailors sprang into their places. Neither of the +other Latin nations, however, was able to do so. The once proud +supremacy of Venice and of Genoa was gone; the former sank as Lisbon +rose and the latter, who held her own at least as a money market until +1540, was about that time surpassed, though she was never wholly +superseded, by Antwerp. Italy exported wheat, flax, woad and other +products, but chiefly by land routes or in foreign keels. Nor was +France able to take any great part in maritime trade. Content with the +freight brought her by other nations, she sent out few {526} +expeditions, and those few, like that of James Cartier, had no present +result either in commerce or in colonies. Her greatest mart was Lyons, +the fairs there being carefully fostered by the kings and being +naturally favored by the growth of manufacture, while the maritime +harbors either declined or at least gained nothing. For a few years La +Rochelle battened on religious piracy, but that was all. + +[Sidenote: Germany] + +In no country is the struggle for existence between the medieval and +the modern commercial methods plainer than in Germany. The trade of +the Hanse towns failed to grow, partly for the reason that their +merchants had not command of the fluid wealth that raised to +pre-eminence the southern cities. There were, indeed, other causes for +the decline of the Hanseatic Baltic trade. The discovery of new +routes, especially the opening of Archangel on the White Sea, +short-circuited the current that had previously flowed through the +Kattegat and the Skager Rak. Moreover, the development of both +wheat-growing and of commerce in the Netherlands and in England proved +disastrous to the Hanse. The shores of the Baltic had at one time been +the granary of Europe, but they suffered somewhat by the greater yield +of the more intensive agriculture introduced at that time elsewhere. +Even then their export continued to be considerable, though diverted +from the northern to the southern ports of Europe. In 1563, for +example, 6630 loads of grain were exported from Koenigsberg, and in 1573 +7730 loads. + +The Hanse towns lost their English trade in competition with the new +companies there formed. A bitter diplomatic struggle was carried on by +Henry VIII. The privileges to the Germans of the Steelyard confirmed +and extended by him were abridged by his son, partly restored by Mary +and again taken {527} away by Elizabeth. The emperor, in agreement +with the cities' senates, started retaliatory measures against English +merchants, endeavoring to assure the Hanse towns that they should at +least "continue the ancient concord of their dear native country and +the good Dutches that now presently inhabit it." He therefore ordered +English merchants banished, against which Elizabeth protested. + +While the North of Germany was suffering from its failure to adapt +itself to new conditions, a power was rising in the South capable of +levying tribute not only from the whole Empire but from the habitable +earth. Among the merchant princes who, in Augsburg, in Nuremberg, in +Strassburg, placed on their own brows the golden crown of riches, the +Fuggers were both typical and supreme. James Fugger "the Rich," +[Sidenote: James Fugger, 1459-1525] springing from a family already +opulent, was one of those geniuses of finance that turn everything +touched into gold. He carried on a large banking business, he loaned +money to emperors and princes, he bought up mines and fitted out +fleets, he re-organized great industries, he speculated in politics and +religion. For the princes of the empire he farmed taxes; for the pope +he sold indulgences at a 33 1/3 per cent. commission, and collected +annates and other dues. In Hungary, in Spain, in Italy, in the New +World, his agents were delving for money and skilfully diverting it +into his coffers. He was also a pillar of the church and a +philanthropist, founding a library at Augsburg and building model +tenements for poor workers. He became the incarnation of a new Great +Power, that of international finance. A contemporary chronicler says: +"emperors, kings, princes and governors have sent ambassage unto him; +the pope hath greeted him as his beloved son and hath embraced him; +cardinals have risen before him. . . . He hath become the glory {528} +of the whole German land." His sons, Raymond, Anthony and Jerome, were +raised by Charles V to the rank and privileges of counts, bannerets and +barons. + +Throughout the century corporations became less and less family +partnerships and more and more impersonal or "soulless." They were +semi-public, semi-private affairs, resting on special charters and +actively promoted, not only in Germany but in England and other +countries, by the emperor, king, or territorial prince. On the other +hand the capital was largely subscribed by private business men and the +direction of the companies' affairs was left in their hands. Liability +was unlimited. + +[Sidenote: Monopolies] + +In their methods many of the sixteenth century corporations were +surprisingly "modern." Monopolies, corners, trusts and agreements to +keep up prices flourished, notwithstanding constant legislation against +them, as that against secret schedules of prices passed by the Diet of +Nuremberg. [Sidenote: 1522-33] Particularly noteworthy were the +number of agreements to create a monopoly price in metals. [Sidenote: +1524] Thus a ring of German mine-owners was formed artificially to +raise the price of silver, a measure defended publicly on the ground +that it enriched Germany at the expense of the foreigner. Another +example was the formation of a tinning company under the patronage of +Duke George of Saxony. [Sidenote: 1518] It proposed agreements with +its Bohemian rivals to fix the price of tin, [Sidenote: 1549] but these +usually failed even after a monopoly of Bohemian tin had been granted +by Ferdinand to Conrad Mayr of Augsburg. + +[Sidenote: Corners] + +The immense difficulty of cornering any of the larger articles of +commerce was not so well appreciated in the earlier time as it is now. +Nothing is more instructive than the history of the mercury "trusts" of +those years. [Sidenote: 1523] When the competing companies owning +mines at Idria in Carniola amalgamated for the purpose of {529} +enhancing the price of quicksilver, the attempt broke down by reason of +the Spanish mines. Accordingly, one Ambrose Hoechstetter of Augsburg +[Sidenote: 1528] conceived the ambitious project of cornering the whole +supply of the world. As has happened so often since, the higher price +brought forth a much larger quantity of the article than had been +reckoned with, the so-called "invisible supply"; the corner broke down +and Hoechstetter failed with enormous liabilities of 800,000 gulden, and +died in prison. The crash shook the financial world, but was +nevertheless followed by still better planned and better financed +efforts of the Fuggers to put the whole quicksilver product of the +world into an international trust. These final attempts were more or +less successful. Another ambitious scheme, which failed, was that of +Conrad Rott of Augsburg [Sidenote: 1570 ff.] to get a monopoly of +pepper. He agreed to buy six hundred tons of pepper from the king of +Portugal one year and one thousand tons the next, at the rate of 680 +ducats the ton, but even this failed to give him the desired monopoly. + +[Sidenote: Regulation of monopolies] + +Just as in our own memory the trusts have aroused popular hatred and +have brought down on their heads many attempts, usually unsuccessful, +of governments to deal with them, so at the beginning of the +capitalistic era, intense unpopularity was the lot of the new +commercial methods and their exponents. Monopolies were fiercely +denounced in the contemporary German tracts and every Diet made some +effort to deal with them. First of all the merchants had to meet not +only the envy and prejudices of the old order, but the positive +teachings of the church. The prohibition of usury, and the doctrine +that every article had a just or natural price, barred the road of the +early entrepreneur. Aquinas believed that no one should be allowed to +make more money than he needed and that profits on {530} commerce +should be scaled down to such a point that they would give only a +reasonable return. This idea was shared by Catholic and Protestant +alike in the first years of the Reformation; it can be found in Geiler +of Kaiserberg and in Luther. In the Reformer's influential tract, _To +the German Nobility_, [Sidenote: 1520] usury and "Fuggerei" are +denounced as the greatest misfortunes of Germany. Ulrich von Hutten +said that of the four classes of robbers, free-booting knights, +lawyers, priests and merchants, the merchants were the worst. + +The imperial Diets reflected popular opinion faithfully enough to try +their best to bridle the great companies. The Diet of Treves-Cologne +[Sidenote: 1512] asked that monopolies and artificial enhancement of +the prices of spice, copper and woolen cloth be prohibited. To effect +this acts were passed intended to insure competition. [Sidenote: 1523] +This law against monopolies, however, was not vigorously enforced until +the Imperial Treasurer cited before his tribunal many merchants of +Augsburg accused of violating it. The panic-stricken offenders +feverishly hastened to make interest with the princes and city +magistrates. But their main support was the emperor, who intervened +energetically in their favor. From this time the bankers and great +merchants labored hard at each Diet to place the control of monopolies +in the hands of the monarch. In return for his constant support he was +made a large sharer in the profits of the great houses. + +In the struggle with the Diets, at last the capitalists were thoroughly +successful. The Imperial Council of Regency passed an epoch-making +ordinance, [Sidenote: 1525] kept secret for fear of the people, +expressly allowing merchants to sell at the highest prices they could +get and recognizing certain monopolies said to be in the national +interest as against other countries, and justified for the wages they +provided for labor. About this {531} time, for some reason, the +agitation gradually died down. It is probable that the religious +controversy took the public's mind off economic questions and the +Peasant's War, like all unsuccessful but dangerous risings of the poor, +was followed by a strong reaction in favor of the conservative rich. +Moreover, it is evident that the currents of the time were too strong +to be resisted by the feeble methods proposed by the reformers. When +we remember that the chief practical measure recommended by Luther was +the total prohibition of trading in spices and other foreign wares that +took money out of the country, it is easy to see that the regulation of +a complex industry was beyond the scope of his ability. And little, if +any, enlightenment came from other quarters. + +[Sidenote: The Netherlands] + +While the towns of southern Germany were becoming the world's banking +and industrial centers, the cities of the Netherlands became its chief +staple ports. For generations Antwerp had had two fairs a year, but in +1484 it started a perpetual market, open to all merchants, even to +foreigners, the whole year round, and in addition to this it increased +its fairs to four. Later a new Merchants' Exchange or Bourse was built +[Sidenote: 1531] in which almost all the transactions now seen on our +stock or produce exchanges took place. There was wild speculation, +partly on borrowed money, especially in pepper, the price of which +furnished a sort of barometer of bourse feeling. Bets on prices and on +events were made, and from this practice various forms of insurance +took their rise. + +[Sidenote: Antwerp] + +The discovery of the new world brought an era of prosperity to Antwerp +that doubtless put her at the head of all commercial cities until the +Spanish sword cut her down. In 1560 there were commonly 2500 ships +anchored in her harbor, as against 500 at Amsterdam, her chief rival +and eventual heir. Of these not {532} uncommonly as many as 500 sailed +in one day, and, it is said, 12,000 carriages came in daily, 2000 with +passengers and 10,000 with wares. Even if these statements are +considerable exaggerations, a reliable account of the exports in the +single year 1560 shows the real greatness of the town. The total +imports in that year amounted to 31,870,000 gulden ($17,848,000), +divided as follows: Italian silks, satins and ornaments 6,000,000 +gulden; German dimities 1,200,000; German wines 3,000,000; Northern +wheat 3,360,000; French wine 2,000,000; French dyes 600,000; French +salt 360,000; Spanish wool 1,250,000; Spanish wine 1,600,000; +Portuguese spices 2,000,000; English wool 500,000; English cloth +10,000,000. The last named article indicates the decay of Flemish +weaving due to English competition. For a time there had been war to +the knife with English merchants, following the great commercial treaty +popularly called the _Malus Intercursus_. [Sidenote: 1506] According +to the theory then held that one nation's loss was another's gain, +[Sidenote: Commercial policy] this treaty was considered a masterpiece +of policy in England and the foundation of her commercial greatness. +It and its predecessor, the _Magnus Intercursus_, [Sidenote: 1496] +marked the new policy, characteristic of modern times, that made +commercial advantages a chief object of diplomacy and of legislation. +Protective tariffs were enacted, the export of gold and silver +prohibited, and sumptuary laws passed to encourage domestic industries. +The policy as to export varied throughout the century and according to +the article. The value of ships was highly appreciated. Sir Walter +Raleigh opined that command of the sea meant command of the world's +riches and ultimately of the world itself. Sir Humphrey Gilbert drew +up a report advocating the acquisition of colonies as means of +providing markets for home products. So little were the rights of the +natives {533} considered that Sir Humphrey stated that the savages +would be amply rewarded for all that could be taken from them by the +inestimable gift of Christianity. + +[Sidenote: Buccaneering] + +As little regard was shown for the property of Catholics as for that of +heathens. Merry England drew her dividends from slave-trading and from +buccaneering as well as from honest exchange of goods. There is +something fascinating about the career of a man like Sir John Hawking +whose character was as infamous as his daring was serviceable. He +early learned that "negroes were very good merchandise in Hispaniola +and that they might easily be had upon the coast of Guinea," and so, +financed by the British aristocracy and blessed by Protestant patriots, +he chartered the _Jesus of Luebeck_ and went burning, stealing and +body-snatching in West African villages, crowded his hold full of +blacks and sold those of them who survived at $800 a head in the +Indies. Quite fittingly he received as a crest "a demi-Moor, proper, +in chains." He then went preying on the Spanish galleons, and at one +time swindled Philip out of $200,000 by pretending to be a traitor and +a renegade; thus he rose from slaver to pirate and from pirate to +admiral. + +[Sidenote: English commerce] + +So pious, patriotic and profitable a business as buccaneering absorbed +a greater portion of England's energies than did ordinary maritime +commerce. A list of all ships engaged in foreign trade in 1572 shows +that they amounted to an aggregate of only 51,000 tons burden, less +than that of a single steamer of the largest size today. The largest +ship that could reach London was of 240 tons, but some twice as large +anchored at other harbors. Throughout the century trade multiplied, +that of London, which profited the most, ten-fold. If the customs' +dues furnish an accurate barometer for the volume of trade, while +London was increasing the other ports were falling behind not only +{534} relatively but positively. In the years 1506-9 London yielded to +the treasury $60,000 and other ports $75,000; in 1581-2 London paid +$175,000 and other ports only $25,000. + +As she grew in size and wealth London, like Antwerp, felt the need of +permanent fairs. From the continental city Sir Thomas Gresham, the +English financial agent in the Netherlands, brought architect and +materials [Sidenote: 1568] and erected the Royal Exchange on the north +side of Cornhill in London, where the same institution stands today. +Built by Gresham at his own expense, it was lined by a hundred small +shops rented by him. As the new was rung in, the old passed away. The +ancient restrictions on the fluidity of capital were almost broken down +[Sidenote: 1542 and 1571] by the end of Elizabeth's reign. The +statutes of bankruptcy, giving new and strong securities to creditors, +marked the advent to power of the commercial class. Capitalism took +form in the chartering of large companies. The first of these, "the +mistery and company of the Merchant Adventurers for the discovery of +regions, dominions, islands and places unknown," [Sidenote: 1553] +commonly called the Russia Company, was a joint-stock corporation with +240 members, each with a share valued at $125. It traded principally +with Russia, but, before the century was out, was followed by the +Levant Company, the East India Company, and others, for the +exploitation of other regions. + +To northern Spain England sent coarse cloth, cottons, sheepskins, +wheat, butter and cheese, and brought back wine, oranges, lemons and +timber. To France went wax, tallow, butter, cheese, wheat, rye, +"Manchester cloth," beans and biscuit in exchange for pitch, rosin, +feathers, prunes and "great ynnions that be xii or xiiii ynches +aboute," iron and wine. To the Russian Baltic ports, Riga, Reval and +Narva went coarse cloth, "corrupt" (_i.e._, adulterated) wine, +cony-skins, {535} salt and brandy, and from the same came flax, hemp, +pitch, tar, tallow, wax and furs. Salmon from Ireland and other fish +from Scotland and Denmark were paid for by "corrupt" wines. To the +Italian ports of Leghorn, Barcelona, Civita Vecchia and Venice, and to +the Balearic Isles went lead, fine cloth, hides, Newfoundland fish and +lime, and from them came oil, silk and fine porcelain. To Barbary went +fine cloth, ordnance and artillery, armor and timber for oars, though, +as a memorandum of 1580 says, "if the Spaniards catch you trading with +them, you shall die for it." Probably what they objected to most was +the sale of arms to the infidel. From Barbary came sugar, saltpetre, +dates, molasses and carpets. Andalusia demanded fine cloth and cambric +in return for wines called "seckes," sweet oil, raisins, salt, +cochineal, indigo, sumac, silk and soap. Portugal took butter, cheese, +fine cloth "light green or sad blue," lead, tin and hides in exchange +for salt, oil, soap, cinnamon, cloves, nutmegs, pepper and all other +Indian wares. + +While the English drove practically no trade with the East Indies, to +the West Indies they sent directly oil, looking-glasses, knives, +shears, scissors, linen, and wine which, to be salable, must be +"singular good." From thence came gold, pearls "very orient and big +withall," sugar and molasses. To Syria went colored cloth of the +finest quality, and for it currants and sweet oil were taken. The +establishment of an English factor in Turkey [Sidenote: 1582] with the +express purpose of furthering trade with that country is an interesting +landmark in commercial history. + +Even as late as the reign of Elizabeth England imported almost all +"artificiality," as high-grade manufactures of a certain sort were +called. A famous Elizabethan play turns on the scarcity of needles, +[Sidenote: _Gammer Gurton's Needle_, c. 1559] the whole household being +turned upside down to look for {536} the one lost by Gammer Gurton. +These articles, as well as knives, nails, pins, buttons, dolls, +tennis-balls, tape, thread, glass, and laces, were imported from the +Netherlands and Germany. From the same quarter came "small wares for +grocers,"--by which may be meant cabbages, turnips and lettuce,--and +also hops, copper and brass ware. + + +[Sidenote: Manufacture] + +Having swept all before it in the domains of banking, mining and trade, +capitalism, flushed with victory, sought for new worlds to conquer and +found them in manufacture. Here also a great struggle was necessary. +Hitherto the opposition to the new companies had been mainly on the +part of the consumer; now the hostility of the laborer was aroused. +The grapple of the two classes, in which the wage-earner went down, +partly before the arquebus of the mercenary, partly under the lash and +branding-iron of pitiless laws, will be described in the next section. +Here it is not the strife of the classes, but of the two economic +systems, that is considered. Capitalism won economically before it +imposed its yoke on the vanquished by the harsh means of soldier and +police. It won, in the final analysis, not because of the inherent +power of concentrated wealth, though it used and abused this +recklessly, but because, in the struggle for existence, it proved +itself the form of life better fitted to survive in the conditions of +modern society. It called forth technical improvements, it stimulated +individual effort, it put an immense premium on thrift and investment, +it cheapened production by the application of initially expensive but +ultimately repaying, apparatus, it effected enormous economies in +wholesale production and distribution. Before the new methods of +business the old gilds stood as helpless, as unready, as bowmen in the +face of cannon. + +{537} [Sidenote: Gilds] + +Each medieval "craft" or "mistery" [1] was in the hands of a gild, all +the members of which were theoretically equal. Each passed through the +ranks of apprentice and other lower grades until he normally became a +master-workman and as such entitled to a full and equal share in the +management. The gild managed its property almost like that of an +endowment in the hands of trustees; it supervised the whole life of +each member, took care of him when sick, buried him when dead and +pensioned his widow. In these respects it was like some mutual benefit +societies of our day. Almost inevitably in that age, it was under the +protection of a patron saint and discharged various religious duties. +It acted as a corporate whole in the government of the city and marched +and acted as one on festive occasions. + +As typical of the organization of industry at the turning-point may be +given the list of gilds at Antwerp drawn up by Albert Duerer: [Sidenote: +1520] There were goldsmiths, painters, stone-cutters, embroiderers, +sculptors, joiners, carpenters, sailors, fishermen, butchers, +cloth-weavers, bakers, cobblers, "and all sorts of artisans and many +laborers and merchants of provisions." The list is fully as +significant for what it omits as for what it includes. Be it noted +that there was no gild of printers, for that art had grown up since the +crafts had begun to decline, and, though in some places found as a +gild, was usually a combination of a learned profession and a +capitalistic venture. Again, in this great banking and trading port, +there is no mention of gilds of wholesale merchants (for the "merchants +of provisions" were certainly not this) nor of bankers. These were two +fully capitalized businesses. Finally, observe that there were many +skilled and unskilled laborers {538} not included in a special gild. +Here we have the beginning of the proletariat. A century earlier there +would have been no special class of laborers, a century later no gilds +worth mentioning. + +The gilds were handicapped by their own petty regulations. +Notwithstanding the fact that their high standards of craftsmanship +produced an excellent grade of goods, they were over-regulated and +hide-bound, averse to new methods. There was as great a contrast +between their meticulous traditions and the freer paths of the new +capitalism as there was between scholasticism and science. They could +neither raise nor administer the funds needed for foreign commerce and +for export industries. Presently new technical methods were adopted by +the capitalists, a finer way of smelting ores, and a new way of making +brass, invented by Peter von Hoffberg, that saved 50 per cent. of the +fuel previously used. In the textile industries came first the +spinning-wheel, then the stocking-frame. So in other manufactures, new +machinery required novel organization. Significant was the growth of +new towns. The old cities were often so gild-ridden that they decayed, +while places like Manchester sprang up suddenly at the call of +employment. The constant effort of the gild had been to suppress +competition and to organize a completely stationary society. In a +dynamic world that which refuses to change, perishes. So the gilds, +while charging all their woes to the government, really choked +themselves to death in their own bands. + +[Sidenote: Capitalistic production] + +There is perhaps some analogy between the progress of capitalism in the +sixteenth century and the process by which the trusts have come to +dominate production in our own memory. The larger industries, and +especially those connected with export trade, were seized and +reorganized first; for a long time, indeed throughout {539} the +century, the gilds kept their hold on small, local industries. For a +long time both systems went on side by side; the encroachment was +steady, but gradual. The exact method of the change was two-fold. In +the first place the constitution of the gild became more oligarchical. +The older members tended to restrict the administration more and more; +they increased the number of apprentices by lengthening the years of +apprenticeship and reduced the poorer members to the rank of journeymen +who were expected to work, not as before for a limited term of years, +but for life, as wage-earners. When the journeymen rebelled, they were +put down. The English Clothworkers' Court Book, for example, enacted +the rule in 1538 that journeymen who would not work on conditions +imposed by the masters should be imprisoned for the first offence and +whipped and branded for the second. Nevertheless, to some extent, the +master's calling was kept open to the more enterprising and intelligent +laborers. It is this opportunity to rise that has always broken up the +solidarity of the working class more than anything else. + +[Sidenote: Great commercial companies] + +But a second transforming influence worked faster from without than did +the internal decay of the gild. This was the extension of the +commercial system to manufacture. The gilds soon found themselves at +the mercy of the great new companies that wanted wares in large +quantities for export. Thus the commercial company came either to +absorb or to dominate the industries that supplied it. An example of +this is supplied by the Paris mercers, who, from being mainly dealers +in foreign goods, gradually became employers of the crafts. Similarly +the London haberdashers absorbed the crafts of the hatters and cappers. +The middle man, who commanded the market, soon found the strategic +value of his position for controlling {540} the supply of articles. +Commercial capital rapidly became industrial. One by one the great +gilds fell under the control of commercial companies. One of the last +instances was the formation of the Stationers' Company by which the +printers were reduced to the rank of an industry subordinate to that of +booksellers. + +[Sidenote: Legislation on gilds] + +Finally came the legislative attack on the gilds, that broke what +little power they had left. There is now a tendency to minimise the +result of legislation in this field, but the impression that one gets +by perusing the statutes not only of England but of Continental +countries is that, while perhaps the governments would not have +admitted any hostility to the gilds as such, they were strongly opposed +to many features of them, and were determined to change them in +accordance with the interests of the now dominant class. The policy of +the moneyed men was not to destroy the crafts, but to exploit them; +indeed they often found their old franchises extremely useful in +arrogating to themselves the powers that had once belonged to the gild +as a whole. The town governments were elected by the wealthy burghers; +Parliaments soon came to side with them, and the monarch had already +been bribed into an ally. + +To give specific examples of the new trend is easy. When the great +tapestry manufacture of Brussels was reorganized [Sidenote: 1544] on a +basis very favorable to the capitalists, the law sanctioning this step +spoke contemptuously of the mutual benefit and religious functions of +the gild as "petty details." [Sidenote: 1515] Brandenburg now +regulated the terms on which entrance to a gild should be allowed +instead of leaving the matter as of old to the members themselves. +[Sidenote: 1540] The Polish nobility, jealous of the cities' monopoly +of trade, demanded the total abolition of the gilds. [Sidenote: 1503 +ff.] A series of measures in England weakened the power of the gilds; +under Edward VI [Sidenote: 1547] their endowments for religious +purposes were {541} attacked, and this hurt them far more than would +appear on the surface. The important Act Touching Weavers [Sidenote: +1555] both witnessed the unhappy condition of the misteries and, +without seeming to do so, still further put them in the power of their +masters. The workmen, it seems, had complained "that the rich and +wealthy clothiers oppress them" by building up factories, or workshops +in which many looms were installed, instead of keeping to the old +commission or sweat-shop system, by which piece work was given out and +done by each man at home. The gild-workmen preferred this method, +because their great rival was the newly developed proletariat, masses +of men who could only be accommodated in large buildings. The act, +under the guise of redressing the grievance, in reality confirmed the +powers of the capitalists, for, while forbidding the use of factories +outside of cities, it allowed them within towns and in the four +northern counties, thus fortifying the monopolists in those places +where they were strong, and hitting their rivals elsewhere. Further +legislation, like the Elizabethan Statute of Apprentices, [Sidenote: +1563] strengthened the hands of the masters at the expense of the +journeymen. Such examples are only typical; similar laws were enacted +throughout Europe. By act after act the employers were favored at the +expense of the laborers. + + +[Sidenote: Agriculture] + +There remained agriculture, at that time by far the largest and most +important of all the means by which man wrings his sustenance from +nature. Even now the greater part of the population in most civilized +countries--and still more in semi-civilized--is rural, but four hundred +years ago the proportion was much larger. England was a predominantly +agricultural country until the eighteenth century,--England, the most +commercial and industrial of nations! Though {542} the last field to +be attacked by capital, agriculture was as thoroughly renovated in the +sixteenth century by this irrigating force as the other manners of +livelihood had been transformed before it. + +Medieval agriculture was carried on by peasants holding small amounts +of land which would correspond to the small shops and slender capital +of the handicraftsman. Each local unit, whether free village or a +manor, was made up of different kinds of land,--arable, commons for +pasturing sheep and cattle, forests for gathering firewood and for +herding swine and meadows for growing hay. The arable land was divided +into three so-called "fields," or sections, each field partitioned into +smaller portions called in England "shots," and these in turn were +subdivided into acre strips. Each peasant possessed a certain number +of these tiny lots, generally about thirty, ten in each field. +Normally, one field would be left fallow each year in turn, one field +would be sown with winter wheat or rye (the bread crop), and one field +with barley for beer and oats for feeding the horses and cattle. Into +this system it was impossible to introduce individualism. Each man had +to plow and sow when the village decided it should be done. And the +commons and woodlands were free for all, with certain regulations.[2] + +[Sidenote: Medieval farming methods] + +The art of farming was not quite primitive, but it had changed less +since the dawn of history than it has changed since 1600. Instead of +great steam-plows and all sorts of machinery for harrowing and +harvesting, small plows were pulled by oxen, and hoes and rakes were +plied by hand. Lime, marl and manure were used for fertilizing, but +scantily. The cattle were {543} small and thin, and after a hard +winter were sometimes so weak that they had to be dragged out to +pasture. Sheep were more profitable, and in the summer season good +returns were secured from chickens, geese, swine and bees. Diseases of +cattle were rife and deadly. The principles of breeding were hardly +understood. Fitzherbert, who wrote on husbandry in the early sixteenth +century, along with some sensible advice makes remarks, on the +influence of the moon on horse-breeding, worthy of Hesiod. Indeed, the +matter was left almost to itself until a statute of Henry VIII provided +that no stallions above two years old and under fifteen hands high be +allowed to run loose on the commons, and no mares of less than thirteen +hands, lest the breed of horses deteriorate. It was to meet the same +situation that the habit of castrating horses arose and became common +about 1580. + +[Sidenote: Capitalistic change] + +The capitalistic attack on communistic agriculture took two principal +forms. In some countries, like Germany, it was the consequence of the +change from natural economy to money economy. The new commercial men +bought up the estates of the nobles and subjected them to a more +intense cultivation, at the same time using all the resources of law +and government to make them as lucrative as possible. + +[Sidenote: Inclosures] + +But in two countries, England and Spain, and to some small extent in +others, a profitable opportunity for investment was found in +sheep-farming on a large scale. In England this manifested itself in +"inclosures," by which was primarily meant the fencing in for private +use of the commons, but secondarily came to be applied to the +conversion of arable land into pasture[3] and the substitution of large +holdings for small. The cause of the movement was the demand for wool +in cloth-weaving, largely for export trade. + +{544} [Sidenote: Complaint against inclosures] + +Contemporaries noticed with much alarm the operations of this economic +change. A cry went up that sheep were eating men, that England was +being turned into one great pasture to satisfy the greed of the rich, +while the land needed for grain was abandoned and tenants forcibly +ejected. The outcry became loudest about the years 1516-8, when a +commission was appointed to investigate the "evil" of inclosures. It +was found that in the past thirty years the amount of land in the eight +counties most affected was 22,500 acres. This was not all for grazing; +in Yorkshire it was largely for sport, in the Midlands for plowing, in +the south for pasture. + +The acreage would seem extremely small to account for the complaint it +excited. Doubtless it was only the chief and most typical of the +hardships caused to a certain class by the introduction of new methods. +One is reminded of the bitter hostility to the introduction of +machinery in the nineteenth century, when the vast gain in wealth to +the community as a whole, being indirect, seemed cruelly purchased at +the cost of the sufferings of those laborers who could not adapt +themselves to the novel methods. Evolution is always hard on a certain +class and the sufferers quite naturally vociferate their woes without +regard to the real causes of the change or to the larger interests of +society. + +Certain it is that inclosures went on uninterrupted throughout the +century, in spite of legislative attempts to stop them. Indeed, they +could hardly help continuing, when they were so immensely profitable. +Land that was inclosed for pasture brought five pounds for every three +pounds it had paid under the plow. Sheep multiplied accordingly. The +law of 1534 spoke of some men owning as many as 24,000 sheep, and +unwittingly gave, in the form of a complaint, the cause thereof, {545} +namely that the price of wool had recently doubled. The law limited +the number of sheep allowed to one man to 2000. The people arose and +slaughtered sheep wholesale in one of those unwise and blind, but not +unnatural, outbursts of sabotage by which the proletariat now and then +seeks to destroy the wealth that accentuates their poverty. Then as +always, the only causes for unwelcome alterations of their manner of +life seen by them was the greed and heartlessness of a ring of men, or +of the government. The deeper economic forces escaped detection, or at +least, attention. + +During the period 1450-1610 it is probable that about 2 3/4 per cent. +of the total area of England had been inclosed. The counties most +affected were the Midlands, in some of which the amount of land +affected was 8 per cent. to 9 per cent. of the total area. But though +the aggregate seems small, it was a much larger proportion, in the then +thinly settled state of the realm, of the total arable land,--of this +it was probably one-fifth. Under Elizabeth perhaps one-third of the +improved land was used for grazing and two-thirds was under the plow. + +[Sidenote: Spain: the Mesta] + +In Spain the same tendency to grow wool for commercial purposes +manifested itself in a slightly different form. There, not by the +inclosure of commons, but by the establishment of a monopoly by the +Castilian "sheep-trust," the Mesta, did a large corporation come to +prevail over the scattered and peasant agricultural interests. The +Mesta, which existed from 1273 to 1836, reached the pinnacle of its +power in the first two-thirds of the sixteenth century. [Sidenote: +1568] When it took over from the government the appointment of the +officer supposed to supervise it in the public interest, the Alcalde +Entregador, it may be said to have won a decisive victory for +capitalism. At that time it owned {546} as many as seven million +sheep, and exported wool to the weight of 55,000 tons and to the value +of $560,000, per annum. + +[Sidenote: Wheat growing] + +Having mastered the sources of wealth offered by wool-growing, the +capitalists next turned to arable land and by their transformation of +it took the last step in the commercializing of life. Even now, in +England, land is not regarded as quite the same kind of investment as a +factory or railroad; there is still the vestige of a tradition that the +tenant has customary privileges against the right of the owner of the +land to exploit it for all it is worth. But this is indeed a faint +ghost of the medieval idea that the custom was sacred and the profit of +the landlord entirely secondary. The longest step away from the +medieval to the modern system was taken in the sixteenth century, and +its outward and visible sign was the substitution of the leasehold for +the ancient copyhold. The latter partook of the nature of a vested +right or interest; the former was but a contract for a limited, often +for a short, term, at the end of which the tenant could be ejected, the +rent raised, or, as was most usual, an enormous fine (i.e., fee) +exacted for renewal of the lease. + +The revolution was facilitated by, if it did not in part consist of, +the acquisition of the land by the new commercial class, resulting in +increased productivity. New and better methods of tillage were +introduced. The scattered thirty acres of the peasant were +consolidated into three ten-acre fields, henceforth to be used as the +owner thought best. One year a field would be under a cereal crop; the +next year converted into pasture. This improved method, known as +"convertible husbandry" practiced in England and to a lesser extent on +the Continent, was a big step in the direction of scientific +agriculture. Regular rotation of crops {547} was hardly a common +practice before the eighteenth century, but there was something like it +in places where hemp and flax would be alternated with cereals. +Capitalists in the Netherlands built dykes, drained marshes and dug +expensive canals. Elsewhere also swamps were drained and irrigation +begun. But perhaps no single improvement in technique accounted for +the greater yield of the land so much as the careful and watchful +self-interest of the private owner, as against the previous +semi-communistic carelessness. Several popular proverbs then gained +currency in the sense that there is no fertilizer of the glebe like +that put on by the master himself. Harrison's statement, in +Elizabeth's reign, that an inclosed acre yielded as much as an acre and +a half of common, is borne out by the English statistics of the grain +trade. From 1500 to 1534, while the process of inclosure was at its +height, the export of corn more than doubled; it then diminished until +it almost ceased in 1563, after which it rapidly increased until 1600. +During the whole century the population was growing, and it is +therefore reasonable to suppose that the yield of the soil was +considerably greater in 1600 than it was in 1500. + +[Sidenote: Export of grain after 1559] + +It must, however, be admitted that the increase in exports was in part +caused by and in part symptomatic of a change in the policy of the +government. When commerce became king he looked out for his own +interests first, and identified these interests with the dividends of +small groups of his chief ministers. Trade was regulated, by tariff +and bounty, no longer in the interests of the consumer but in those of +the manufacturer and merchant. The corn-laws of nineteenth-century +England have their counterpart in the Elizabethan policy of encouraging +the export of grain that was needed at home. As soon as the land and +the Parliament both fell into the hands of the new {548} capitalistic +landlords, they used the one to enhance to profits of the other. Nor +was England alone in this. France favored the towns, that is the +industrial centers, by forcing the rural population to sell at very low +rates, and by encouraging export of grain. Perhaps this same policy +was most glaring of all in Sixtine Rome, where the Papal States were +taxed, as the provinces of the Empire had been before, to keep bread +cheap in the city. + + + +[1] From the Latin _ministerium_, French _metier_, not connected with +"mystery." + +[2] For the substance of this paragraph, as well as for numerous +suggestions on the rest of the chapter, I am indebted to Professor N. +S. B. Gras, of Minneapolis. + +[3] Although some of the inclosed land was tilled; see below. + + + +SECTION 2. THE RISE OF THE MONEY POWER + +[Sidenote: Money crowned king] + +In modern times, Money has been king. Perhaps at a certain period in +the ancient world wealth had as much power as it has now, but in the +Middle Ages it was not so. Money was then ignored by the tenant or +serf who paid his dues in feudal service or in kind; it was despised by +the noble as the vulgar possession of Jews or of men without gentle +breeding, and it was hated by the church as filthy lucre, the root of +all evil and, together with sex, as one of the chief instruments of +Satan. The "religious" man would vow poverty as well as celibacy. + +But money now became too powerful to be neglected or despised, and too +desirable to be hated. In the age of transition the medieval and +modern conceptions of riches are found side by side. When Holbein came +to London the Hanse merchants there employed him to design a pageant +for the coronation of Anne Boleyn. In their hall he painted two +allegorical pictures, The Triumph of Poverty and The Triumph of Wealth. +The choice of subjects was representative of the time of transition. + +[Sidenote: Revolution] + +The economic innovation sketched in the last few pages was followed by +a social readjustment sufficiently violent and sufficiently rapid to +merit the name of revolution. The wave struck different countries at +{549} different times, but when it did come in each, it came with a +rush, chiefly in the twenties in Germany and Spain, in the thirties and +forties in England, a little later, with the civil wars, in France. It +submerged all classes but the bourgeoisie; or, rather, it subjugated +them all and forced them to follow, as in a Roman triumph, the +conquering car of Wealth. + +[Sidenote: Bourgeoisie uses monarchy] + +The one other power in the state that was visibly aggrandized at the +expense of other classes, besides the plutocracy, was that of the +prince. This is sometimes spoken of as the result of a new political +theory, an iniquitous, albeit unconscious, conspiracy of Luther and +Machiavelli, to exalt the divine right of kings. But in truth their +theories were but an expression of the accomplished, or easily +foreseen, fact; and this fact was due in largest measure to the need of +the commercial class for stable and for strong government. Riches, +which at the dawn of the twentieth century seemed, momentarily, to have +assumed a cosmopolitan character, were then bound up closely with the +power of the state. To keep order, to bridle the lawless, to secure +concessions and markets, a mercantile society needed a strong +executive, and this they could find only in the person of the prince. +Luther says that kings are only God's gaolers and hangmen, high-born +and splendid because the meanest of God's servants must be thus +accoutred. It would be a little truer to say that they were the +gaolers and hangmen hired by the bourgeoisie to over-awe the masses and +that their quaint trappings and titles were kept as an ornament to the +gay world of snobbery. + +[Sidenote: And other agencies] + +Together with the monarchy, the new masters of men developed other +instruments, parliamentary government in some countries, a bureaucracy +in others, and a mercenary army in nearly all. At that time was either +invented or much quoted the saying that {550} gold was one of the +nerves of war. The expensive firearms that blew up the feudal castle +were equally deadly when turned against the rioting peasants. + +[Sidenote: To break the nobility] + +Just as the burgher was ready to shoulder his way into the front rank, +he was greatly aided by the frantic civil strife that broke out in both +the older privileged orders. Never was better use made of the maxim, +"divide and conquer," than when the Reformation divided the church, and +the civil wars, dynastic in England, feudal in Germany and nominally +religious in France, broke the sword of the noble. When the earls and +knights had finished cutting each others' throats there were hardly +enough of them left to make a strong stand. Occasionally they tried to +do so, as in the revolt of Sickingen in Germany, of the Northern Earls +in England, and in the early stages of the rising of the Communeros in +Spain. In every case they were defeated, and the work of the sword was +completed by the axe and the dagger. Whether they trod the +blood-soaked path to the Tower, or whether they succumbed to the hired +assassins of Catharine, the old nobles were disposed of and the power +of their caste was broken. But their places were soon taken by new +men. Some bought baronies and titles outright, others ripened more +gradually to these honors in the warmth of the royal smile and on the +sunny slopes of manors wrested from the monks. But the end finally +attained was that the coronet became a mere bauble in the hands of the +rich, the final badge of social deference to success in money-making. + +[Sidenote: Plunder the church] + +Still more violent was the spoliation of the church. The confiscations +carried out in the name of religion redounded to the benefit of the +newly rich. It is true that all the property taken did not fall into +their hands; some was kept by the prince, more was used to found or +endow hospices, schools and asylums for the poor. {551} But the most +and the best of the land was soon thrown to the eager grasp of traders +and merchants. In England probably one-sixth of all the cultivated +soil in the kingdom was thus transferred, in the course of a few years, +into the hands of new men. Thus were created many of the "county +families" of England, and thus the new interest soon came to dominate +Parliament. Under Henry VII the House of Lords, at one important +session, mustered thirty spiritual and only eighteen temporal peers. +In the reign of his son the temporal peers came to outnumber the +spiritual, from whom the abbots had been subtracted. The Commons +became, what they remained until the nineteenth century, a plutocracy +representing either landed or commercial wealth. + +Somewhat similar secularizations of ecclesiastical property took place +throughout Germany, the cities generally leading. The process was +slow, but certain, in Electoral Saxony, Hesse and the other Protestant +territories, and about the same time in Sweden and in Denmark. But +something the same methods were recommended even in Roman Catholic +lands and in Russia of the Eastern Church, so contagious were the +examples of the Reformers. [Sidenote: 1536] Venice forbade gifts or +legacies to church or cloisters. [Sidenote: 1557] France, where +confiscation was proposed, [Sidenote: 1516] partially attained the same +ends by subjecting the clergy to the power of the crown. + +[Sidenote: Bourgeoisie] + +Among the groups into which society naturally falls is that of the +intellectual class, the body of professional men, scientists, writers +and teachers. [Sidenote: Bribes the intelligentsia] This group, just +as it came into a new prominence in the sixteenth century, at the same +time became in part an annex and a servant to the money power. The +high expense of education as compared with the Middle Ages, the +enormous fees then charged for graduating in professional schools, the +custom of buying {552} livings in the church and practices in law and +medicine, the need of patronage in letters and art, made it nearly +impossible for the sons of the poor to enter into the palace of +learning. Moreover the patronage of the wealthy, their assertion of a +monopoly of good form and social prestige, seduced the professional +class that now ate from the merchant's hand, aped his manners, and +served his interests. For four hundred years law, divinity, +journalism, art, and education, have cut their coats, at least to some +extent, in the fashion of the court of wealth. + +[Sidenote: And subjugates the proletariat] + +Last of all, there remained the only power that proved itself nearly a +match for money, that of labor. Far outnumbering the capitalists, in +every other way the workers were their inferiors,--in education, in +organization, in leadership and in material resources. One thing that +made their struggle so hard was that those men of exceptional ability +who might have been their leaders almost always made fortunes of their +own and then turned their strength against their former comrades. +Labor also suffered terribly from quacks and ranters with counsels of +folly or of madness. + +The social wars of the sixteenth century partook of the characteristics +of both medieval and modern times. The Peasants' Revolt in Germany was +both communistic and religious; the risings of Communeros and the +Hermandad in Spain were partly communistic; the several rebellions in +England were partly religious. But a new element marked them all, the +demand on the part of the workers for better wages and living +conditions. The proletariat of town and mining district joined the +German peasants in 1524; the revolt was in many respects like a +gigantic general strike. + +[Sidenote: Emancipation of the serfs] + +Great as are the ultimate advantages of freedom, the emancipation of +the serfs cannot be reckoned as {553} an immediate economic gain to +them. They were freed not because of the growth of any moral +sentiment, much less as the consequence of any social cataclysm, but +because free labor was found more profitable than unfree. It is +notable that serfs were emancipated first in those countries like +Scotland where there had been no peasants' revolt; the inference is +that they were held in bondage in other countries longer than it was +profitable to do so for political reasons. The last serf was reclaimed +in Scotland in 1365, but the serfs had not been entirely freed in +England even in the reign of Elizabeth. In France the process went on +rapidly in the 15th century, often against the wishes of the serfs +themselves. One hundred thousand peasants emigrated from Northern +France to Burgundy at that time to exchange their free for a servile +state. However, they did not enjoy their bondage for long. Serfs in +the Burgundian state, especially in the Netherlands, lost their last +chains in the sixteenth century, most rapidly between the years 1515 +and 1531. In Germany serfdom remained far beyond the end of the +sixteenth century, doubtless in part because of the fears excited by +the civil war of 1525. + +[Sidenote: Regulation of labor] + +In place of the old serfdom under one master came a new and detailed +regulation of labor by the government. This regulation was entirely +from the point of view, and consequently all but entirely in the +interests, of the propertied classes. The form was the old form of +medieval paternalism, but the spirit was the new spirit of capitalistic +gain. The endeavor of the government to be fair to the laborer as well +as to the employer is very faint, but it is just perceptible in some +laws. + +Most of the taxes and burdens of the state were loaded on the backs of +the poor. Hours of labor were fixed at from 12 to 15 according to the +season. {554} Regulation of wages was not sporadic, but was a regular +part of the work of certain magistrates, in England of the justices of +the peace. Parliament enforced with incredible severity the duty of +the poor and able-bodied man to work. Sturdy idlers were arrested and +drafted into the new proletariat needed by capital. When whipping, +branding, and short terms of imprisonment, did not suffice to compel +men to work, a law was passed to brand able-bodied vagrants on the +chest with a "V," [Sidenote: 1547] and to assign them to some honest +neighbor "to have and to hold as a slave for the space of two years +then next following." The master should "only give him bread and water +and small drink and such refuse of meat as he should think meet to +cause the said slave to work." If the slave still idled, or if he ran +away and was caught again he was to be marked on the face with an "S" +and to be adjudged a slave for life. If finally refractory he was to +be sentenced as a felon. This terrible measure, intended partly to +reduce lawless vagrancy, partly to supply cheap labor to employers, +failed of its purpose and was repealed in two years. Its re-enactment +was vainly urged by Cecil upon Parliament in 1559. As a substitute for +it in this year the law was passed forbidding masters to receive any +workman without a testimonial from his last employer; laborers were not +allowed to stop work or change employers without good cause, and +conversely employers were forbidden to dismiss servants "unduly." + +[Sidenote: The proletariat] + +In Germany the features of the modern struggle between owners and +workers are plainest. In mining, especially, there developed a real +proletariat, a class of laborers seeking employment wherever it was +best paid and combining and striking for higher wages. To combat them +were formed pools of employers to keep down wages and to blacklist +agitators. Typical of these was the agreement made by Duke George of +{555} Saxony and other large mine-owners not to raise wages, [Sidenote: +1520] not to allow miners to go from place to place seeking work, and +not to hire any troublesome agitator once dismissed by any operator. + +It is extraordinary how rapidly many features of the modern proletariat +developed. Take, for example, the housing problem. As this became +acute some employers built model tenements for their workers. Others +started stores at which they could buy food and clothing, and even paid +them in part in goods instead of in money. Labor tended to become +fluid, moving from one town to another and from one industry to another +according to demand. Such a thing had been not unknown in the previous +centuries; it was strongly opposed by law in the sixteenth. The new +risks run by workers were brought out when, for the first time in +history, a great mining accident took place in 1515, a flood by which +eighty-eight miners were drowned. Women began to be employed in +factories and were cruelly exploited. Most sickening of all, children +were forced, as they still are in some places, to wear out their little +lives in grinding toil. The lace-making industry in Belgium, for +example, fell entirely into the hands of children. Far from protesting +against this outrage, the law actually sanctioned it by the provision +that no girl over twelve be allowed to make lace, lest the supply of +maidservants be diminished. + +[Sidenote: Strikes] + +Strikes there were and rebellions of all sorts, every one of them +beaten back by the forces of the government and of the capitalists +combined. The kings of commerce were then, more than now, a timorous +and violent race, for then they were conscious of being usurpers. When +they saw a Muenzer or a Kett--the mad Hamlets of the people--mop and mow +and stage their deeds before the world, they became frantic with terror +and could do nought but take subtle counsel to {556} kill these heirs, +or pretenders, to their realms. The great rebellions are all that +history now pays much attention to, but in reality the warfare on the +poor was ceaseless, a chronic disease of the body politic. Louis XI +spared nothing, disfranchisement, expulsion, wholesale execution, to +beat down the lean and hungry conspirators against the public order, +whose raucous cries of misery he detested. With somewhat gentler, +because stronger, hand, his successors followed in his footsteps. But +when needed the troops were there to support the rich. The great +strike of printers at Lyons is one example of several in France. In +the German mines there were occasional strikes, sternly suppressed by +the princes acting in agreement. + +[Sidenote: Degradation of the poor] + +There can be no doubt that the economic developments of the sixteenth +century worked tremendous hardship to the poor. It was noted +everywhere that whereas wine and meat were common articles in 1500, +they had become luxuries by 1600. Some scholars have even argued from +this a diminution of the wealth of Europe during the century. This, +however, was not the case. The aggregate of capital, if we may judge +from many other indications, notably increased throughout the century. +But it became more and more concentrated in a few hands. + +The chief natural cause of the depression of the working class was the +rise in prices. Wages have always shown themselves more sluggish in +movement than commodities. While money wages, therefore, remained +nearly stationary, real wages shrank throughout the century. In 1600 a +French laborer was obliged to spend 55 per cent. of his wages merely on +food. A whole day's labor would only buy him two and one half pounds +of salt. Rents were low, because the houses were incredibly bad. At +that time a year's rent for a laborer's tenement cost from ten to +twenty {557} days labor; it now costs about thirty days' labor. The +new commerce robbed the peasant of some of his markets by substituting +foreign articles like indigo and cochineal for domestic farm products. +The commercialization of agriculture worked manifold hardship to the +peasant. Many were turned off their farms to make way for herds of +sheep, and others were hired on new and harder terms to pay in money +for the land they had once held on customary and not too oppressive +terms of service and dues. + +Under all the splendors of the Renaissance, with its fields of cloth of +gold and its battles like knightly jousts, with its constant stream of +adulation from artists and authors, with the ostentation of the new +wealth and the greedily tasted pleasures of living and enjoying, an +attentive ear can hear the low, uninterrupted murmurs of the wretched, +destined to burst forth, on the day of despair or of vengeance, into +ferocious clamors. [Sidenote: No pity for the poor] Nor was there +then much pity for the poor. The charity and worship for "apostolic +poverty" of the Middle Ages had ceased, nor had that social kindness, +so characteristic of our own time that it is affected even by those who +do not feel it, arisen. The rich and noble, absorbed in debauchery or +art, regarded the peasant as a different race--"the ox without horns" +they called him--to be cudgeled while he was tame and hunted like a +wolf when he ran wild. Artists and men of letters ignored the very +existence of the unlettered, with the superb Horatian, "I hate the +vulgar crowd and I keep them off," or, if they were aroused for a +moment by the noise of civil war merely remarked, with Erasmus, that +any tyranny was better than that of the mob. Churchmen like Matthew +Lang and Warham and the popes oppressed the poor whom Jesus loved. +"Rustica gens optima flens" smartly observed a canon of Zurich, while +Luther blurted out, {558} "accursed, thievish, murderous peasants" and +"the gentle" Melanchthon almost sighed, "the ass will have blows and +the people _will_ be ruled by force." + +There were, indeed, a few honorable exceptions to the prevalent +callousness. "I praise thee, thou noble peasant," wrote an obscure +German, "before all creatures and lords upon earth; the emperor must be +thy equal." The little read epigrams of Euricius Cordus, a German +humanist who was, by exception, also humane, denounce the blood-sucking +of the peasants by their lords. Greatest of all, Sir Thomas More felt, +not so much pity for the lot of the poor, as indignation at their +wrongs. _The Utopia_ will always remain one of the world's noblest +books because it was almost the first to feel and to face the social +problem. + +[Sidenote: Pauperism] + +This became urgent with the large increase of pauperism and vagrancy +throughout the sixteenth century, the most distressing of the effects +of the economic revolution. When life became too hard for the evicted +tenant of a sheep-raising landlord, or for the declasse journeyman of +the town gild, he had little choice save to take to the road. Gangs of +sturdy vagrants, led by and partly composed of old soldiers, wandered +through Europe. But a little earlier than the sixteenth century that +race of mendicants the Gipsies, made their debut. The word "rogue" was +coined in England about 1550 to name the new class. _The Book of +Vagabonds_, [Sidenote: 1510] written by Matthew Huetlin of Pfortzheim, +describes twenty-eight varieties of beggars, exposes their tricks, and +gives a vocabulary of their jargon. Some of these beggars are said to +be dangerous, threatening the wayfarer or householder who will not pay +them; others feign various diseases, or make artificial wounds and +disfigurations to excite pity, or take a religious garb, or drag chains +to show that they had escaped from galleys, or have other plausible +tales of woe and {559} of adventure. All contemporaries testify to the +alarming numbers of these men and women; how many they really were it +is hard to say. It has been estimated that in 1500 20 per cent. of the +population of Hamburg and 15 per cent. of the population of Augsburg +were paupers. Under Elizabeth probably from a quarter to a third of +the population of London were paupers, and the country districts were +just as bad. Certain parts of Wales were believed to have a third of +their population in vagabondage. + +In the face of this appalling situation the medieval method of charity +completely broke down. In fact, with its many begging friars, with its +injunction of alms-giving as a good work most pleasing to God, and with +its respect for voluntary poverty, the church rather aggravated than +palliated the evil of mendicancy. The state had to step in to relieve +the church. + +[Sidenote: State poor-relief, 1506] + +This was early done in the Netherlands. A severe edict was issued and +repeatedly re-enacted against tramps ordering them to be whipped, have +their heads shaved, and to be further punished with stocks. An +enterprising group of humanists and lawyers demanded that the +government should take over the duty of poor-relief from the church. +Accordingly at Lille a "common chest" was started, the first civil +charitable bureau in the Netherlands. [Sidenote: 1512] At Bruges a +cloister was secularized and turned into a school for eight hundred +poor children in uniform. A secular bureau of charity was started at +Antwerp. [Sidenote: 1521] + +Under these circumstances the humanist Lewis Vives wrote his famous +tract on the relief of the poor, [Sidenote: January, 1526] in the form +of a letter to the town council of Bruges. In this well thought out +treatise he advocated the law that no one should eat who did not work, +and urged that all able-bodied vagrants should be hired out to +artisans--a suggestion how welcome to the capitalists eager to {560} +draft men into their workshops! Cases of people unable to work should +also be taken up, and they should be cared for by application of +religious endowments by the government. Vives' claim to recognition +lies even more in his spirit than in his definite program. For almost +the first time in history he plainly said that poverty was a disgrace +as well as a danger to the state and should be, not palliated, but +extirpated. + +While Vives was still preparing his treatise the city of Ypres +[Sidenote: 1525] (tragic name!) had already sought his advice and acted +upon it, as well as upon the example of earlier reforms in German +cities, in promulgating an ordinance. The city government combined all +religious and philanthropic endowments into one fund and appointed a +committee to administer it, and to collect further gifts. These +citizens were to visit the poor in their dwellings, to apply what +relief was necessary, to meet twice a week to concert remedial measures +and to have charge of enforcing the laws against begging and idleness. +All children of the poor were sent to school or taught a trade. + +Though there were sporadic examples of municipal poor-relief in Germany +prior to the Reformation, it was the religious movement that there +first gave the cause its decisive impulse. In his _Address to the +German Nobility_ Luther had recommended that each city should take care +of its own poor and suppress "the rascally trade of begging." During +his absence at the Wartburg his more radical colleagues had taken steps +to put these ideas into practice at Wittenberg. A common fund was +started by the application of ecclesiastical endowments, from which +orphans were to be housed, students at school and university to be +helped, poor girls dowered and needy workmen loaned money at four per +cent. A severe law against begging was passed. Augsburg and Nuremberg +followed the {561} example of Wittenberg almost at once [Sidenote: +1522] and other German cities, to the number of forty-eight, one by one +joined the procession. + +For fairly obvious reasons the state regulation of pauperism, though it +did not originate in the Reformation, was much more rapidly and +thoroughly developed in Protestant lands. In these the power of the +state and the economic revolution attained their maximum development, +whereas the Roman church was inclined, or obligated, to stand by the +medieval position. "Alms-giving is papistry," said a Scotch tract. +Thus Christian Cellarius, a professor at Louvain, published _A Plea for +the Right of the Poor to Beg_. [Sidenote: 1530] The Spanish monk, +Lawrence da Villavicenzio in his _Sacred Economy of caring for the +Poor_, [Sidenote: 1564] condemned the whole plan of state regulation +and subvention as heretical. The Council of Trent, also, put itself on +the medieval side, and demanded the restoration to the church of the +direction of charity. + +[Sidenote: 1531] + +But even in Catholic lands the new system made headway. As the +University of Paris approved the ordinance of Ypres, in France, and in +Catholic Germany, a plan comprising elements of the old order, but +informed by the modern spirit, grew up. + +In England the problem of pauperism became more acute than elsewhere. +The drastic measures taken to force men to work failed to supply all +needs. After municipal relief of various sorts had been tried, and +after the government had in vain tried to stimulate private munificence +to co-operate with the church [Sidenote: 1572] to meet the growing +need, the first compulsory Poor Rates were laid. Three or four years +later came an act for setting the poor to labor in workhouses. These +measures failed of the success that met the continental method. Even +compared to Scotland, England developed a disproportionate amount of +pauperism. Some {562} authorities have asserted that by giving the +poor a legal right to aid she encouraged the demand for it. [Sidenote: +1572] Probably, however, she simply furnished the extreme example of +the commercialism that made money but did not make men. + + + + +{563} + +CHAPTER XII + +MAIN CURRENTS OF THOUGHT + +Were we reading the biography of a wayward genius, we should find the +significance of the book neither in the account of his quarrels and of +his sins nor in the calculation of his financial difficulties and +successes, but in the estimate of his contributions to the beauty and +wisdom of the world. Something the same is true about the history of a +race or of a period; the political and economic events are but the +outward framework; the intellectual achievement is both the most +attractive and the most repaying object of our study. In this respect +the sixteenth century was one of the most brilliant; it produced works +of science that outstripped all its predecessors; it poured forth +masterpieces of art and literature that are all but matchless. + + +SECTION 1. BIBLICAL AND CLASSICAL SCHOLARSHIP + +[Sidenote: Position of Bible in 16th century] + +It is naturally impossible to give a full account of all the products +of sixteenth century genius. In so vast a panorama only the mountain +peaks can be pointed out. One of these peaks is assuredly the Bible. +Never before nor since has that book been so popular; never has its +study absorbed so large a part of the energies of men. It is true that +the elucidation of the text was not proportional to the amount of labor +spent on it. For the most part it was approached not in a scientific +but in a dogmatic spirit. Men did not read it historically and +critically but to find their own dogmas in it. Nevertheless, the +foundations were laid for both the textual and the higher criticism. + +{564} [Sidenote: The Greek Text] + +The Greek text of the New Testament was first published by Erasmus in +March, 1516. Revised, but not always improved, editions were brought +out by him in 1519, 1522 and 1527. For the first edition he had before +him ten manuscripts, all of them minuscules, the oldest of which, +though he believed it might have come from the apostolic age, is +assigned by modern criticism to the twelfth century. In the course of +printing, some bad errors were introduced, and the last six verses of +the Apocalypse, wanting in all the manuscripts, were supplied by an +extremely faulty translation from the Latin. The results were such as +might have been anticipated. Though the text has been vastly purified +by modern critics, the edition of Erasmus was of great service and was +thoroughly honest. He noted that the last verses of Mark were doubtful +and that the passage on the adulteress (John vii, 53 to viii, 11) was +lacking in the best authorities, and he omitted the text on the three +heavenly witnesses (I John v, 7) as wanting in all his manuscripts. + +For this omission he was violently attacked. To support his position +he asked his friend Bombasius to consult the Codex Vaticanus, and dared +to assert that were a single manuscript found with the verse in Greek, +he would include it in subsequent editions. Though there were at the +time no codices with the verse in question--which was a Latin forgery +of the fourth century, possibly due to Priscillian--one was promptly +manufactured. Though Erasmus suspected the truth, that the verse had +been interpolated from the Latin text, he added it in his third edition +"that no occasion for calumny be given." This one sample must serve to +show how Erasmus's work was received. For every deviation from the +Vulgate, whether in the Greek text or in the new Latin translation with +which he accompanied it, he was ferociously assailed. His {565} own +anecdote of the old priest who, having the misprint "mumpsimus" for +"sumpsimus" in his missal, refused to correct the error when it was +pointed out, is perfectly typical of the position of his critics. New +truth must ever struggle hard against old prejudice. + +While Erasmus was working, a much more ambitious scheme for publishing +the Scriptures was maturing under the direction of Cardinal Ximenez at +Alcala or, as the town was called in Latin, Complutum. The +Complutensian Polyglot, as it was thence named, was published in six +volumes, four devoted to the Old Testament, one to the New Testament, +and one to a Hebrew lexicon and grammar. The New Testament volume has +the earliest date, 1514, but was withheld from the public for several +years after this. The manuscripts from which the Greek texts were +taken are unknown, but they were better than those used by Erasmus. +The later editors of the Greek text in the sixteenth century, Robert +Estienne (Stephanus) and Theodore Beza, did little to castigate it, +although one of the codices used by Beza, and now known by his name, is +of great value. + +[Sidenote: Hebrew text] + +The Hebrew Massoretic text of the Old Testament was printed by Gerson +Ben Mosheh at Brescia in 1494, and far more elaborately in the first +four volumes of the Complutensian Polyglot. With the Hebrew text the +Spanish editors offered the Septuagint Greek, the Syriac, and the +Vulgate, the Hebrew, Syriac and Greek having Latin translations. The +manuscripts for the Hebrew were procured from Rome. A critical +revision was undertaken by Sebastian Muenster and published with a new +Latin version at Basle 1534-5. Later recensions do not call for +special notice here. An incomplete text of the Syriac New Testament +was published at Antwerp in 1569. + +[Sidenote: Latin versions] + +The numerous new Latin translations made during {566} this period +testify to the general discontent with the Vulgate. Not only humanists +like Valla, Lefevre and Erasmus, but perfectly orthodox theologians +like Pope Nicholas V, Cajetan and Sadoletus, saw that the common +version could be much improved. In the new Latin translation by +Erasmus many of the errors of the Vulgate were corrected. Thus, in +Matthew iii, 2, he offers "resipiscite" or "ad mentem redite" instead +of "poenitentiam agite." This, as well as his substitution of "sermo" +for "verbum" in John i, 1, was fiercely assailed. Indeed, when it was +seen what use was made by the Protestants of the new Greek texts and of +the new Latin versions, of which there were many, a strong reaction +followed in favor of the traditional text. Even by the editors of the +Complutensian Polyglot the Vulgate was regarded with such favor that, +being printed between the Hebrew and Greek, it was compared by them to +Christ crucified between the two thieves. [Sidenote: 1530] The +Sorbonne condemned as "Lutheran" the assertion that the Bible could not +be properly understood or expounded without knowledge of the original +languages. [Sidenote: April 8, 1546] In the decree of Trent the +Vulgate was declared to be the authentic form of the Scriptures. The +preface to the English Catholic version printed at Rheims [Sidenote: +1582] defends the thesis, now generally held by Catholics, that the +Latin text is superior in accuracy to the Greek, having been corrected +by Jerome, preserved by the church and sanctioned by the Council of +Trent. [Sidenote: 1592] In order to have this text in its utmost +purity an official edition was issued. + +[Sidenote: Biblical scholarship] + +Modern critics, having far surpassed the results achieved by their +predecessors, are inclined to underestimate their debts to these +pioneers in the field. The manuals, encyclopaedias, commentaries, +concordances, special lexicons, all that make an introduction to +biblical criticism so easy nowadays, were lacking then, or {567} were +supplied only by the labor of a life-time. The professors at +Wittenberg, after prolonged inquiry, were unable to find a map of +Palestine. The first Hebrew concordance was printed, with many errors, +at Venice in 1523; the first Greek concordance not until 1546, at +Basle. To find a parallel passage or illustrative material or ancient +comment on a given text, the critic then had to search through dusty +tomes and manuscripts, instead of finding them accumulated for him in +ready reference books. That all this has been done is the work of ten +generations of scholars, among whom the pioneers of the Renaissance +should not lack their due meed of honor. The early critics were +hampered by a vicious inherited method. The schoolmen, with purely +dogmatic interest, had developed a hopeless and fantastic exegesis, by +which every text of Scripture was given a fourfold sense, the +historical, allegorical, tropological (or figurative) and anagogical +(or didactic). + +[Sidenote: Erasmus] + +Erasmus, under the tuition of Valla, felt his way to a more fruitful +method. It is true that his main object was a moral one, the overthrow +of superstition and the establishment of the gentle "philosophy of +Christ." He used the allegorical method only, or chiefly, to explain +away as fables stories that would seem silly or obscene as history. In +the New Testament he sought the man Jesus and not the deified Christ. +He preferred the New Testament, with its "simple, plain and gentle +truth, without savor of superstition or cruelty" to the Old Testament. +He discriminated nicely even among the books of the New Testament, +considering the chief ones the gospels, Acts, the Pauline epistles +(except Hebrews), I Peter and I John. He hinted that many did not +consider the Apocalypse canonical; he found Ephesians Pauline in +thought but not in style; he believed Hebrews to have {568} been +written by Clement of Rome; and he called James lacking in apostolic +dignity. + +[Sidenote: Luther] + +By far the best biblical criticism of the century was the mature work +of Martin Luther. It is a remarkable fact that a man whose doctrine of +the binding authority of Scripture was so high, and who refused his +disciples permission to interpret the text with the least shade of +independence, should himself have shown a freedom in the treatment of +the inspired writers unequaled in any Christian for the next three +centuries. It is sometimes said that Luther's judgments were mere +matters of taste; that he took what he liked and rejected what he +disliked, and this is true to a certain extent. "What treats well of +Christ, that is Scripture, even if Judas and Pilate had written it," he +averred, and again, "If our adversaries urge the Bible against Christ, +we must urge Christ against the Bible." His wish to exclude the +epistle of James from the canon, on the ground that its doctrine of +justification contradicted that of Paul, was thus determined, and +excited wide protest not only from learned Catholics like Sir Thomas +More, but also from many Protestants, beginning with Bullinger. + +But Luther's trenchant judgments of the books of the Bible were usually +far more than would be implied by a merely dogmatic interest. Together +with the best scholarship of the age he had a strong intuitive feeling +for style that guided him aright in many cases. In denying the Mosaic +authorship of a part of the Pentateuch, in asserting that Job and Jonah +were fables, in finding that the books of Kings were more credible than +Chronicles and that the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, Proverbs and +Ecclesiastes had received their final form from later editors, he but +advanced theses now universally accepted. His doubts about Esther, +Hebrews, and the Apocalypse have been amply {569} confirmed. Some +modern scholars agree with his most daring opinion, that the epistle of +James was written by "some Jew who had heard of the Christians but not +joined them." After Luther the voluminous works of the commentators +are a dreary desert of arid dogmatism and fantastic pedantry. +Carlstadt was perhaps the second best of the higher critics of the +time; Zwingli was conservative; Calvin's exegesis slumbers in fifty +volumes in deserved neglect. + +[Sidenote: German version] + +Among the great vernacular Protestant versions of the Bible that of +Luther stands first in every sense of the word. Long he had meditated +on it before his enforced retirement at the Wartburg gave him the +leisure to begin it. The work of revision, in which Luther had much +help from Melanchthon and other Wittenberg professors, was a life-long +labor. Only recently have the minutes of the meetings of these +scholars come to light, and they testify to the endless trouble taken +by the Reformer to make his work clear and accurate. He wrote no +dialect, but a common, standard German which he believed to have been +introduced by the Saxon chancery. But he also modelled his style not +only on the few good German authors then extant, but on the speech of +the market-place. From the mouths of the people he took the sweet, +common words that he gave back to them again, "so that they may note +that we are speaking German to them." Spirit and fire he put into the +German Bible; dramatic turns of phrase, lofty eloquence, poetry. + +All too much Luther read his own ideas into the Bible. To make Moses +"so German that no one would know that he was a Jew" insured a noble +style, but involved an occasional violent wrench to the thought. Thus +the Psalms are made to speak of Christ quite plainly, and of German +May-festivals; and the passover is metamorphosed into Easter. Is there +not even {570} an allusion to the golden rose given by the pope in the +translation of Micah iv, 8?--"Und du Thurm Eder, eine Feste der Tochter +Zion, es wird deine goldene Rose kommen." Luther declared his +intention of "simply throwing away" any text repugnant to the rest of +Scripture, as he conceived it. As a matter of fact the greatest change +that he actually made was the introduction of the word "alone" after +"faith" in the passage (Romans iii, 28) "A man is justified by faith +without works of the law." Luther never used the word "church" +(Kirche), in the Bible, but replaced it by "congregation" (Gemeinde). +Following Erasmus he turned [Greek] _metanoieite_ (Matthew iii, 2, 8) +into "bessert euch" ("improve yourselves") instead of "tut Busse" ("do +penance") as in the older German versions. Also, following the +Erasmian text, he omitted the "comma Johanneum" (I John v, 7); this was +first insinuated into the German Bible in 1575. + +[Sidenote: English Bible] + +None of the other vernacular versions, not even the French translation +of Lefevre and Olivetan can compare with the German save one, the +English. How William Tyndale began and how Coverdale completed the +work in 1535, has been told on another page. Many revisions followed: +the Great Bible of 1539, the Geneva Bible of 1560 and the Bishops' +Bible of 1568. Then came the Catholic, or Douai version of 1582, the +only one completely differing from the others, with its foundation on +the Vulgate and its numerous barbarisms: "parasceue" for "preparation," +"feast of Azymes" for "feast of unleavened bread," "imposing of hands," +"what to me and thee, woman" (John ii, 4), "penance," "chalice," +"host," "against the spirituals of wickedness in the celestials" +(Ephesians vi, 12), "supersubstantial bread" in the Lord's prayer, "he +exinanited himself" (Philippians ii, 7). + +We are accustomed to speak of the Authorized Version {571} of 1610 as +if it were a new product of the literary genius of Shakespeare's age. +In fact, it was a mere revision, and a rather light one, of previous +work. Its rare perfection of form is due to the labors of many men +manipulating and polishing the same material. Like the Homeric poems, +like the Greek gospels themselves probably, the greatest English +classic is the product of the genius of a race and not of one man. + +Even from the very beginning it was such to some extent. Tyndale could +hardly have known Wyclif's version, which was never printed and was +rare in manuscript, but his use of certain words, such as "mote," +"beam," and "strait gate," also found in the earlier version, prove +that he was already working in a literary tradition, one generation +handing down to another certain Scriptural phrases first heard in the +mouths of the Lollards. + +Both Tyndale and Coverdale borrowed largely from the German +interpreters, as was acknowledged on the title-page and in the prologue +to the Bible of 1535. Thus Tyndale copied not only most of the +marginal notes of Luther's Bible, but also such Teutonisms as, "this is +once bone of my bone," "they offered unto field-devils" (Luther, +"Felt-teuffem"), "Blessed is the room-maker, Gad" (Luther, +"Raum-macher"). The English translators also followed the German in +using "elder" frequently for "priest," "congregation" for "church," and +"love" for "charity." By counting every instance of this and similar +renderings, Sir Thomas More claimed to have found one thousand errors +in the New Testament alone. + +[Sidenote: Popularity of Bible] + +The astounding popularity of the Bible, chiefly but not only in +Protestant countries, is witnessed by a myriad voices. Probably in all +Christian countries in every age it has been the most read book, but in +the sixteenth century it added to an unequaled reputation {572} for +infallibility the zest of a new discovery. Edward VI demanding the +Bible at his coronation, Elizabeth passionately kissing it at hers, +were but types of the time. That joyous princess of the Renaissance, +Isabella d'Este, ordered a new translation of the Psalms for her own +perusal. Margaret of Navarre, in the Introduction to her frivolous +_Heptameron_, expresses the pious hope that all present have read the +Scripture. Hundreds of editions of the German and English translations +were called for. The people, wrote an Englishman in 1539, "have now in +every church and place, almost every man, the Bible and New Testament +in their mother tongue, instead of the old fabulous and fantastical +books of the Table Round . . . and such other whose impure filth and +vain fabulosity the light of God hath abolished there utterly." In +Protestant lands it became almost a matter of good form to own the +Bible, and reading it has been called, not ineptly, "the _opus +operatum_ of the Evangelicals." Even the Catholics bore witness to the +demand, which they tried to check. While they admonished the laity +that it was unnecessary and dangerous to taste of this tree of +knowledge, while they even curtailed the reading of the Scripture by +the clergy, they were forced to supply vernacular versions of their own. + +[Sidenote: Bibliolatry] + +Along with unbounded popularity the Bible then enjoyed a much higher +reputation for infallibility than it bears today. The one point on +which all Protestant churches were agreed was the supremacy and +sufficiency of Scripture. The Word, said Calvin, flowed from the very +mouth of God himself; it was the sole foundation of faith and the one +fountain of all wisdom. "What Christ says must be true whether I or +any other man can understand it," preached Luther. "Scripture is fully +to be believed," wrote an English theologian, "as a thing necessary to +salvation, though {573} the thing contained in Scripture pertain not +merely to the faith, as that Aaron had a beard." The Swiss and the +Anabaptists added their voices to this chorus of bibliolatry. + +[Sidenote: _Abeunt studia in mores_] + +Since studies pass into character, it is natural to find a marked +effect from this turning loose of a new source of spiritual authority. +That thousands were made privately better, wiser and happier from the +reading of the gospels and the Hebrew poetry, that standards of +morality were raised and ethical tastes purified thereby, is certain. +But the same cause had several effects that were either morally +indifferent or positively bad. The one chiefly noticed by +contemporaries was the pullulation of new sects. Each man, as Luther +complained, interpreted the Holy Book according to his own brain and +crazy reason. The old saying that the Bible was the book of heretics, +came true. It was in vain for the Reformers to insist that none but +the ministers (_i.e._ themselves) had the right to interpret Scripture. +It was in vain for the governments to forbid, as the Scotch statute +expressed it, "any to dispute or hold opinions on the Bible"; +[Sidenote: 1550] discordant clamor of would-be expounders arose, some +learned, others ignorant, others fantastic, and all pig-headed and +intolerant. + +There can be no doubt that the Bible, in proportion to the amount of +inerrancy attributed to it, became a stumbling-block in the path of +progress, scientific, social and even moral. It was quoted against +Copernicus as it was against Darwin. Rational biblical criticism was +regarded by Luther, except when he was the critic, as a cause of +vehement suspicion of atheism. Some texts buttressed the horrible and +cruel superstition of witchcraft. The examples of the wars of Israel +and the text, "compel them to enter in," seemed to support the duty of +intolerance. Social reformers, like {574} Vives, in their struggle to +abolish poverty, were confronted with the maxim, mistaken as an eternal +verity, that the poor are always with us. Finally the great moral +lapse of many of the Protestants, the permission of polygamy, was +supported by biblical texts. + +[Sidenote: The classics] + +Next to the Bible the sixteenth century revered the classics. Most of +the great Latin authors had been printed prior to 1500, the most +important exception being the _Annals_ of Tacitus, of which the _editio +princeps_ was in 1515. Between the years 1478 and 1500, the following +Greek works had been published, and in this order: Aesop, Homer, +Isocrates, Theocritus, the Anthology, four plays of Euripides, +Aristotle, Theognis, and nine plays of Aristophanes. Follow the dates +of the _editiones principes_ of the other principal Greek writers: + + 1502: Thucydides, Sophocles, Herodotus. + 1503: Euripides (eighteen plays), Xenophon's _Hellenica_. + 1504: Demosthenes. + 1509: Plutarch's _Moralia_. + 1513: Pindar, Plato. + 1516: Aristophanes, New Testament, Xenophon, Pausanias, Strabo. + 1517: Plutarch's _Lives_. + 1518: Septuagint, Aeschylus, four plays. + 1525: Galen, Xenophon's complete works. + 1528: Epictetus. + 1530: Polybius. + 1532: Aristophanes, eleven plays. + 1533: Euclid, Ptolemy. + 1544: Josephus. + 1552: Aeschylus, seven plays. + 1558: Marcus Aurelius. + 1559: Diodorus. + 1565: Bion and Moschus. + 1572: Plutarch's complete works. + + +Naturally the first editions were not usually the best. {575} +[Sidenote: Scholarship] The labor of successive generations has made +the text what it is. Good work, particularly, though not exclusively, +in editing the fathers of the church, was done by Erasmus. But a +really new school of historical criticism was created by Joseph Justus +Scaliger, [Sidenote: J. J. Scaliger, 1540-1609] the greatest of +scholars. His editions of the Latin poets first laid down and applied +sound rules of textual emendation, besides elucidating the authors with +a wealth of learned comment. + +The editing of the texts was but a small portion of the labor that went +to the cultivation of the classics. The foundations of our modern +lexicons were laid in the great _Thesaurus linguae Latinae_ of Robert +Estienne (first edition 1532, 2d improved 1536, 3d in three volumes +1543) and the _Thesauris linguae Graecae_ by Henry Estienne the +younger, published in five volumes in 1572. This latter is still used, +the best edition being that in nine volumes 1829-63. + +So much of ancient learning has become a matter of course to the modern +student that he does not always realize the amount of ground covered in +the last four centuries. Erasmus once wrote to Cardinal Grimani: +[Sidenote: November 13, 1517] "The Roman Capitol, to which the ancient +poets vainly promised eternity, has so completely disappeared that its +very location cannot be pointed out." If one of the greatest scholars +then was ignorant of a site now visited by every tourist in the Eternal +City, how much must there not have been to learn in other respects? +Devotedly and successfully the contemporaries and successors of Erasmus +labored to supply the knowledge then wanting. Latin, Greek and Hebrew +grammars were written, treatises on Roman coinage, on epigraphy, on +ancient religion, on chronology, on comparative philology, on Roman +law, laid deep and strong the foundations of the consummate scholarship +of modern times. + +{576} [Sidenote: Idolatry of ancients] + +The classics were not only studied in the sixteenth century, they were +loved, they were even worshipped. "Every elegant study, every science +worthy of the attention of an educated man, in a word, whatever there +is of polite learning," wrote the French savant Muret, [Sidenote: 1573] +"is contained nowhere save in the literature of the Greeks." Joachim +du Bellay wrote a cycle of sonnets on the antiquities of Rome, in the +spirit: + + Rome fut tout le monde, et tout le monde est Rome. + +"The Latin allureth me by its gracious dignity," wrote Montaigne, "and +the writings of the Greeks not only fill and satisfy me, but transfix +me with admiration. . . . What glory can compare with that of Homer?" +Machiavelli tells how he dressed each evening in his best attire to be +worthy to converse with the spirits of the ancients, and how, while +reading them, he forgot all the woes of life and the terror of death. +Almost all learned works, and a great many not learned, were written in +Latin. For those who could not read the classics for themselves +translations were supplied. Perhaps the best of these were the _Lives +of Famous Men_ by Plutarch, first rendered into French by Amyot and +thence into English by Sir Thomas North. + +[Sidenote: Value of classics in 16th century] + +Strong, buoyant, self-confident as was the spirit of the age, it bore +plainly upon it the impress of its zealous schooling in the lore of the +ancients. In supplying the imperious need of cultured men for good +literature the Romans and Greeks had, in the year 1500, but few +rivals--save in Italy, hardly any. To an age that had much to learn +they had much to teach; to men as greedy for the things of the mind as +they were for luxury and wealth the classics offered a new world as +rich in spoils of wisdom and beauty as were the East Indies and {577} +Peru in spices and gold. The supreme value of the Greek and Latin +books is that which they have in common with all literature; they +furnished, for the mass of reading men, the best and most copious +supply of food for the intellectual and spiritual life. "Books," says +Erasmus, "are both cheering and wholesome. In prosperity they steady +one, in affliction console, do not vary with fortune and follow one +through all dangers even to the grave. . . . What wealth or what +scepters would I exchange for my tranquil reading?" "From my earliest +childhood," Montaigne confides, "poetry has had the power to pierce me +through and transport me." + +In the best sense of the word, books are popular philosophy. All +cannot study the deepest problems of life or of science for themselves, +but all can absorb the quintessence of thought in the pleasant and +stimulating form in which it is served up in the best literature. +Books accustom men to take pleasure in ideas and to cultivate a high +and noble inward life. This, their supreme value for the moulding of +character, was appreciated in the sixteenth century. "We must drink +the spirit of the classics," observes Montaigne, "rather than learn +their precepts," and again, "the use to which I put my studies is a +practical one--the formation of character for the exigencies of life." + +[Sidenote: Ancient masters of literary style] + +This is the service by which the ancients have put the moderns in their +debt. Another gift of distinct, though lesser value, was that of +literary style. So close is the correspondence between expression and +thought that it is no small advantage to any man or to any age to sit +at the feet of those supreme masters of the art of saying things well, +the Greeks. The danger here was from literal imitation. Erasmus, with +habitual wit, ridiculed the Ciceronian who spent years in constructing +sentences that might have been written {578} by his master, who speaks +of Jehovah as Jupiter and of Christ as Cecrops or Iphigenia, and who +transmutes the world around him into a Roman empire with tribunes and +augurs, consuls and allies. It is significant that the English word +"pedant" was coined in the sixteenth century. + +What the classics had to teach directly was not only of less value than +their indirect influence, but was often positively harmful. Those who, +intoxicated with the pagan spirit, sought to regulate their lives by +the moral standards of the poets, fell into the same error, though into +the opposite vices, as those who deified the letter of the Bible. Like +the Bible the classics were, and are, to some extent obstacles to the +march of science, and this not only because they take men's interest +from the study of nature, but because most ancient philosophers from +the time of Socrates spoke contemptuously of natural experiment and +discovery as things of little or no value to the soul. + +If for the finer spirits of the age a classical education furnished a +noble instrument of culture, for all too many it was prized simply as a +badge of superiority. Among a people that stands in awe of +learning--and this is more true of Europe than of America and was more +true of the sixteenth than it is of the twentieth century--a classical +education offers a man exceptional facilities for delicately impressing +inferiors with their crudity. + +[Sidenote: Vernaculars] + +The period that marked high water in the estimation of the classics, +also saw the turn of the tide. In all countries the vernacular crowded +the classics ever backward from the field. The conscious cultivation +of the modern tongues was marked by the publication of new dictionaries +and by various works such as John Bale's history of English literature, +written itself, to be sure, in Latin. The finest work of the kind was +{579} Joachim du Bellay's _Defence et Illustration de la langue +francaise_ published in 1549 as part of a concerted effort to raise +French as a vehicle of poetry and prose to a level with the classics. +This was done partly by borrowing from Latin. One of the +characteristic words of the sixteenth century, "patrie," was thus +formally introduced. + + +SECTION 2. HISTORY + +For the examination of the interests and temper of a given era, hardly +any better gauge can be found than the history it produced. In the +period under consideration there were two great schools, or currents, +of historiography, the humanistic, sprung from the Renaissance, and +church history, the child of the Reformation. + +[Sidenote: Humanistic school of historiography] + +The devotees of the first illustrate most aptly what has just been said +about the influence of the classics. Their supreme interest was style, +generally Latin. To clothe a chronicle in the toga of Livy's periods, +to deck it out with the rhetoric of Sallust and to stitch on a few +antitheses and epigrams in the manner of Tacitus, seemed to them the +height of art. Their choice of matter was as characteristic as their +manner, in that their interest was exclusively political and +aristocratic. Save the doings of courts and camps, the political +intrigues of governments and the results of battles, together with the +virtues and vices of the rulers, they saw little in history. What the +people thought, felt and suffered, was beyond their purview. Nor did +most of them have much interest in art, science or literature, or even +in religion. When George Buchanan, a man in the thick of the Scottish +Reformation, who drafted the _Book of Articles_, came to write the +history of his own time, he was so obsessed with the desire to imitate +the ancient Romans that he hardly mentioned the {580} religious +controversy at all. One sarcasm on the priests who thought the _New_ +Testament was written by Luther, and demanded their good Old Testament +back again, two brief allusions to Knox, and a few other passing +references are all of the Reformation that comes into a bulky volume +dealing with the reigns of James V and Mary Stuart. His interest in +political liberty, his conception of the struggle as one between +tyranny and freedom, might appear modern were it not so plainly rooted +in antique soil. + +The prevailing vice of the humanists--to see in the story of a people +nothing but a political lesson--is carried to its extreme by +Machiavelli. [Sidenote: Machiavelli] Writing with all the charm that +conquers time, this theorist altered facts to suit his thesis to the +point of composing historical romances. His _Life of Castruccio_ is as +fictitious and as didactic as Xenophon's _Cyropaedia_; his _Commentary +on Livy_ is as much a treatise on politics as is _The Prince_; the +_History of Florence_ is but slightly hampered by the events. + +[Sidenote: Guicciardini] + +If Guicciardini's interest in politics is not less exclusive than that +of his compatriot, he is vastly superior as a historian to the older +man in that, whereas Machiavelli deduced history _a priori_ from +theory, Guicciardini had a real desire to follow the inductive method +of deriving his theory from an accurate mastery of the facts. With +superb analytical reasoning he presents his data, marshals them and +draws from them the conclusions they will bear. The limitation that +vitiates many of his deductions is his taking into account only low and +selfish motives. Before idealists he stands helpless; he leaves the +reader uncertain whether Savonarola was a prophet or an extremely +astute politician. + +[Sidenote: Jovius] + +The advance that Paul Jovius marks over the Florentines lies in the +appeal that he made to the {581} interests of the general public. +History had hitherto been written for the greater glory of a patron or +at most of a city; Jovius saw that the most generous patron of genius +must henceforth be the average reader. It is true that he despised the +public for whom he wrote, stuffing them with silly anecdotes. Both as +the first great interviewer and reporter for the history of his own +times, and in paying homage to Mrs. Grundy by assuming an air of virtue +not natural to him, he anticipated the modern journalist. + +[Sidenote: Polydore Vergil] + +So much more modern in point of view than his contemporaries was +Polydore Vergil--whose _English History_ appeared in 1534--that the +generalizations about humanist historiography are only partially true +of him. Though his description of land and people is perhaps modelled +on Herodotus, it shows a genuine interest in the life of the common +man, even of the poor. He noted the geography, climate and fauna of +the island; his eyes saw London Bridge with its rows of shops on either +side, and they admired the parks full of game, the apple orchards, the +fat hens and pheasants, the ploughs drawn by mixed teams of horses and +oxen; he even observed the silver salt-cellars, spoons and cups used by +the poor, and their meals of meat. His description of the people as +brave, hospitable and very religious is as true now as it was then. +With an antiquary's interest in old manuscripts Vergil combined a +philosopher's skepticism of old legends. This Italian, though his +patron was Henry VIII, balanced English and French authorities and told +the truth even in such delicate matters as the treatment of Joan of +Arc. Political history was for him still the most important, although +to one branch of it, constitutional history, he was totally blind. So +were almost all Englishmen then, even Shakespeare, whose _King John_ +contains no allusion to Magna Charta. In his work _On the Inventors +{582} of Things_ Vergil showed the depth of his insight into the +importance in history of culture and ideas. While his treatment of +such subjects as the origin of myths, man, marriage, religion, +language, poetry, drama, music, sciences and laws is unequal to his +purpose, the intention itself bears witness to a new and fruitful +spirit. + +[Sidenote: French Memoirs] + +Neither France nor England nor Germany produced historians equal to +those of Italian or of Scottish birth. France was the home of the +memoir, personal, chatty, spicy and unphilosophic. Those of Blaise de +Montluc are purely military, those of Brantome are mostly scandalous. +Martin du Bellay tried to impart a higher tone to his reminiscences, +while with Hotman a school of pamphleteers arose to yoke history with +political theory. John Bodin attempted without much success the +difficult task of writing a philosophy of history. His chief +contribution was the theory of geography and climate as determinant +influences. + +[Sidenote: English chronicles] + +It is hard to see any value, save occasionally as sources, in the +popular English chronicles of Edward Hall, Raphael Hollinshed and John +Stow. Full of court gossip and of pageantry, strongly royalist, +conservative and patriotic, they reflect the interests of the +middle-class cockney as faithfully as does a certain type of newspaper +and magazine today. + +[Sidenote: Biographies] + +The biography and autobiography were cultivated with considerable +success. Jovius and Brantome both wrote series of lives of eminent men +and women. Though the essays of Erasmus in this direction are both few +and brief, they are notable as among the most exquisite pen-portraits +in literature. More ambitious and more notable were the _Lives of the +Best Painters, Sculptors and Architects_ by George Vasari, in which the +whole interest was personal and practical, with no attempt to write a +history or a philosophy of art. Even criticism was confined almost +entirely to {583} variations of praise. In the realm of autobiography +Benvenuto Cellini attained to the _non plus ultra_ of self-revelation. +If he discloses the springs of a rare artistic genius, with equal +naivete he lays bare a ruffianly character and a colossal egotism. + +[Sidenote: Church history] + +One immense field of human thought and action had been all but totally +ignored by the humanist historians--that of religion. To cultivate +this field a new genre, church history, sprang into being, though the +felt want was not then for a rational explanation of important and +neglected phenomena, but for material which each side in the religious +controversy might forge into weapons to use against the other. The +natural result of so practical a purpose was that history was studied +through colored spectacles, and was interpreted with strong tendency. +In the most honest hands, such as those of Sleidan, the scale was +unconsciously weighted on one side; by more passionate or less +honorable advocates it was deliberately lightened with suppression of +the truth on one side and loaded with suggestion of the false on the +other. + +If the mutual animosity of Catholic and Protestant narrowed history, +their common detestation of all other religions than Christianity, as +well as of all heresies and skepticisms, probably impoverished it still +more. Orthodox Christianity, with its necessary preparation, ancient +Judaism, was set apart as divinely revealed over against all other +faiths and beliefs, which at best were "the beastly devices of the +heathen" and at worst the direct inspiration of the devils. Few were +the men who, like Erasmus, could compare Christ with Socrates, Plato +and Seneca; fewer still those who could say with Franck, "Heretic is a +title of honor, for truth is always called heresy." The names of +Marcion and Pelagius, Epicurus and Mahomet, excited a passion of hatred +hardly comprehensible to us. The {584} refutation of the Koran issued +under Luther's auspices would have been ludicrous had it not been +pitiful. + +In large part this vicious interpretation of history was bequeathed to +the Reformers by the Middle Ages. As Augustine set the City of God +over against the city of destruction, so the Protestant historians +regarded the human drama as a puppet show in which God and the devil +pulled the strings. Institutions of which they disapproved, such as +the papacy and monasticism, were thought to be adequately explained by +the suggestion of their Satanic origin. A thin, wan line of witnesses +passed the truth down, like buckets of water at a fire, from its source +in the Apostolic age to the time of the writer. + +Even with such handicaps to weigh it down, the study of church history +did much good. A vast body of new sources were uncovered and +ransacked. The appeal to an objective standard slowly but surely +forced its lesson on the litigants before the bar of truth. Writing +under the eye of vigilant critics one cannot forever suppress or +distort inconvenient facts. The critical dagger, at first sharpened +only to stab an enemy, became a scalpel to cut away many a foreign +growth. With larger knowledge came, though slowly, fairer judgment and +deeper human interest. In these respects there was vast difference +between the individual writers. To condemn them all to the Malebolge +deserved only by the worst is undiscriminating. + +[Sidenote: _Magdeburg Centuries_, 1559-74] + +Among the most industrious and the most biassed must certainly be +numbered Matthew Flacius Illyricus and his collaborators in producing +the _Magdeburg Centuries_, a vast history of the church to the year +1300, which aimed at making Protestant polemic independent of Catholic +sources. Save for the accumulation of much material it deserves no +praise. Its critical principles are worse than none, for its only +criterion of {585} sources is as they are pro- or anti-papal. The +latter are taken and the former left. Miracles are not doubted as +such, but are divided into two classes, those tending to prove an +accepted doctrine which are true, and those which support some papal +institution which are branded as "first-class lies." The +correspondence between Christ and King Abgarus is used as not having +been proved a forgery, and the absurd legend of the female Pope Joan is +never doubted. The psychology of the authors is as bad as their +criticism. All opposition to the pope, especially that of the German +Emperors, is represented as caused by religion. + +[Sidenote: _Annales_ of Baronius, 1583-1607] + +However poor was the work of the authors of the Magdeburg Centuries, +they were at least honest in arraying their sources. This is more than +can be said of Caesar Baronius, whose _Annales Ecclesiastici_ was the +official Catholic counterblast to the Protestant work. Whereas his +criticism is no whit better than theirs, he adopted the cunning policy, +unfortunately widely obtaining since his day, of simply ignoring or +suppressing unpleasant facts, rather than of refuting the inferences +drawn from them. His talent for switching the attention to a +side-issue, and for tangling instead of clearing problems, made the +Protestants justly regard him as "a great deceiver" though even the +most learned of them, J. J. Scaliger, who attempted to refute him, +found the work difficult. + +Naturally the battle of the historians waxed hottest over the +Reformation itself. A certain class of Protestant works, of which +Crespin's _Book of Martyrs_, [Sidenote: 1554] Beza's _Ecclesiastical +History_ [Sidenote: 1589] and John Foxe's _Acts and Monuments_ (first +English edition, 1563), are examples, catered to the passions of the +multitude by laying the stress of their presentation on the heroism and +sufferings of the witnesses to the faith and the cruelty of the +persecutors. For many men the {586} detailed description of isolated +facts has a certain "thickness" of reality--if I may borrow William +James's phrase--that is found by more complex minds only in the +deduction of general causes. Passionate, partisan and sometimes +ribald, Foxe [Sidenote: Foxe] won the reward that waits on demagogues. +When it came to him as an afterthought to turn his book of martyrs into +a general history, he plagiarized the _Magdeburg Centuries_. The +reliability of his original narrative has been impugned with some +success, though it has not been fully or impartially investigated. +Much of it being drawn from personal recollection or from unpublished +records, its solo value consists for us in its accuracy. I have +compared a small section of the work with the manuscript source used by +Foxe and have made the rather surprising discovery that though there +are wide variations, none of them can be referred to partisan bias or +to any other conceivable motive. In this instance, which is too small +to generalize, it is possible that Foxe either had supplementary +information, or that he wrote from a careless memory. In any case his +work must be used with caution. + +[Sidenote: Knox] + +Much superior to the work of Foxe was John Knox's _History of the +Reformation of Religion within the Realm of Scotland_ (written +1559-71). In style it is rapid, with a rare gift for seizing the +essential and a no less rare humor and command of sarcasm. Its +intention to be "a faithful rehearsal of such personages as God has +made instruments of his glory," though thus equivocally stated, is +carried out in an honorable sense. It is true that the writer never +harbored a doubt that John Knox himself was the chiefest instrument of +God's glory, nor that "the Roman Kirk is the synagogue of Satan and the +head thereof, called the pope, that man of sin of whom the apostle +speaketh." If, in such an avowed apology, one does not get +impartiality, {587} neither is one misled by expecting it. Knox's +honor consists only in this that, as a party pamphleteer, he did not +falsify or suppress essential facts as he understood them himself. + +[Sidenote: Bullinger] + +In glaring contrast to Knox's obtrusive bias, is the fair appearance of +impartiality presented in Henry Bullinger's _History of the +Reformation_ 1519-32. Here, too, we meet with excellent composition, +but with a studied moderation of phrase. It is probable that the +author's professions of fairness are sincere, though at times the +temptation to omit recording unedifying facts, such as the +sacramentarian schism, is too strong for him. + +[Sidenote: Sleidan] + +Before passing judgment on anything it is necessary to know it at its +best. Probably John Sleidan's _Religious and political History of the +reign of Charles V_ [Sidenote: 1555] was the best work on the German +Reformation written before the eighteenth century. Bossuet was more +eloquent and acute, Seckendorf more learned, Gilbert Burnet had better +perspective, but, none of these writers was better informed than +Sleidan, or as objective. For the first and only time he really +combined the two genres then obtaining, the humanistic and the +ecclesiastical. He is not blind to some of the cultural achievements +of the Reformation. One of the things for which he praises Luther most +is for ornamenting and enriching the German language. Sleidan's faults +are those of his age. He dared not break the old stiff division of the +subject by years. He put in a number of insignificant facts, such as +the flood of the Tiber and the explosion of ammunition dumps, nor was +he above a superstitious belief in the effects of eclipses and in +monsters. He cited documents broadly and on the whole fairly, but not +with painstaking accuracy. He offered nothing on the causes leading up +to the Reformation, nor on the course of the development of {588} +Protestantism, nor on the characters of its leaders nor on the life and +thought of the people. But he wrote fluently, acceptably to his +public, and temperately. + +On the whole, save for Baronius, the Catholics had less to offer of +notable histories than had the Protestants. A _succes de scandale_ was +won by Nicholas Sanders' [Sidenote: Sanders 1585] _Origin and Progress +of the English Schism_. Among the nasty bits of gossip with which "Dr. +Slanders," as he was called, delighted to regale his audience, some are +absurd, such as that Anne Boleyn was Henry VIII's daughter. As the +books from which he says he took these anecdotes are not extant, it is +impossible to gauge how far he merely copied from others and how far he +gave rein to his imagination. + +[Sidenote: Loyola] + +The one brilliant bit of Catholic church history that was written in +the sixteenth century is the autobiography of Ignatius Loyola, dictated +by him to Lewis Gonzalez [Sidenote: 1553-6] and taken down partly in +Spanish and partly in Italian. The great merit of this narrative is +its insight into the author's own character gained by long years of +careful self-observation. Its whole emphasis is psychological, on the +inner struggle and not on the outward manifestations of saintliness, +such as visions. It was taken over in large part verbatim in +Ribadeneira's biography of Loyola. Compared to it, all other attempts +at ecclesiastical biography in the sixteenth century, notably the lives +of Luther by the Catholic Cochlaeus and by the Protestant Mathesius, +lag far in the dusty rear. + + +SECTION 3. POLITICAL THEORY + +[Sidenote: Premises] + +The great era of the state naturally shone in political thought. +Though there was some scientific investigation of social and economic +laws, thought was chiefly conditioned by the new problems to be faced. +From the long medieval dream of a universal empire {589} and a +universal church, men awoke to find themselves in the presence of new +entities, created, to be sure, by their own spirits, but all +unwittingly. One of these was the national state, whose essence was +power and the law of whose life was expansion to the point of meeting +equal or superior force. No other factor in history, not even +religion, has produced so many wars as has the clash of national +egotisms sanctified by the name of patriotism. Within the state the +shift of sovereignty from the privileged orders to the bourgeoisie +necessitated the formulation of a new theory. It was the triumph, with +the rich, of the monarchy and of the parliaments, that pointed the road +of some publicists to a doctrine of the divine right of kings, and +others to a distinctly republican conclusions. There were even a few +egalitarians who claimed for all classes a democratic regime. And, +thirdly, the Reformation gave a new turn to the old problem of the +relationship of church and state. It was on premises gathered from +these three phenomena that the publicists of that age built a dazzling +structure of political thought. + +[Sidenote: Machiavelli, 1469-1527] + +It was chiefly the first of these problems that absorbed the attention +of Nicholas Machiavelli, the most brilliant, the most studied and the +most abused of political theorists. As between monarchy and a republic +he preferred, on the whole, the former, as likely to be the stronger, +but he clearly saw that where economic equality prevailed political +equality was natural and inevitable. The masses, he thought, desired +only security of person and property, and would adhere to either form +of government that offered them the best chance of these. For republic +and monarchy alike Machiavelli was ready to offer maxims of statecraft, +those for the former embodied in his _Discourses on Livy_, those for +the latter in his _Prince_. In erecting a new science of statecraft, +by which a people might {590} arrive at supreme dominion, Machiavelli's +great merit is that he looked afresh at the facts and discarded the +old, worn formulas of the schoolmen; his great defect is that he set +before his mind as a premise an abstract "political man" as far +divorced from living, breathing, complex reality as the "economic man" +of Ricardo. Men, he thought, are always the same, governed by +calculable motives of self-interest. In general, he thought, men are +ungrateful, fickle, false, cowardly and covetous, to be ruled partly by +an appeal to their greed, but chiefly by fear. + +[Sidenote: Politics divorced from morality] + +Realist as he professed to be, Machiavelli divorced politics from +morality. Whereas for Aristotle[1] and Aquinas alike the science of +politics is a branch of ethics, for Machiavelli it is an abstract +science as totally dissociated from morality as is mathematics or +surgery. The prince, according to Machiavelli, should appear to be +merciful, faithful, humane, religious and upright, but should be able +to act otherwise without the least scruple when it is to his advantage +to do so. His heroes are Ferdinand of Aragon, "a prince who always +preaches good faith but never practises it," and Caesar Borgia, "who +did everything that can be done by a prudent and virtuous man; so that +no better precepts can be offered to a new prince than those suggested +by the example of his actions." What the Florentine publicist +especially admired in Caesar's statecraft were some examples of +consummate perfidy and violence which he had the opportunity of +observing at first hand. Machiavelli made a sharp distinction between +private and public virtue. The former he professed to regard as +binding on the individual, as it was necessary to the public good. It +is noteworthy that this advocate of all hypocrisy and guile {591} and +violence on the part of the government was in his own life gentle, +affectionate and true to trust. [Sidenote: Public vs. private life] +Religion Machiavelli regarded as a valuable instrument of tyranny, but +he did not hold the view, attributed by Gibbon to Roman publicists, +that all religions, though to the philosopher equally false, were to +the statesman equally useful. Christianity he detested, not so much as +an exploded superstition, as because he saw in it theoretically the +negation of those patriotic, military virtues of ancient Rome, and +because practically the papacy had prevented the union of Italy. +Naturally Machiavelli cherished the army as the prime interest of the +state. In advocating a national militia with universal training of +citizens he anticipated the conscript armies of the nineteenth century. + +This writer, speaking the latent though unavowed ideals of an evil +generation of public men, was rewarded by being openly vilified and +secretly studied. He became the manual of statesmen and the bugbear of +moralists. While Catharine de' Medici, Thomas Cromwell and Francis +Bacon chewed, swallowed and digested his pages, the dramatist had only +to put in a sneer or an abusive sarcasm at the expense of the +Florentine--and there were very many such allusions to him on the +Elizabethan stage--to be sure of a round of applause from the audience. +While Machiavelli found few open defenders, efforts to refute him were +numerous. When Reginald Pole said that his works were written by the +evil one a chorus of Jesuits sang amen and the church put his writings +on the Index. The Huguenots were not less vociferous in opposition. +Among them Innocent Gentillet attacked not only his morals but his +talent, saying that his maxims were drawn from an observation of small +states only, and that his judgment of the policy suitable to large +nations was of the poorest. + +{592} It is fair to try _The Prince_ by the author's own standards. He +did not purpose, in Bacon's phrase, to describe what men ought to be +but what they actually are; he put aside ethical ideas not as false but +as irrelevant. But this rejection was fatal even to his own purpose, +"for what he put aside . . . were nothing less than the living forces +by which societies subsist and governments are strong." [2] Calvin +succeeded where the Florentine failed, as Lord Morley points out, +because he put the moral ideal first. + +[Sidenote: Erasmus] + +The most striking contrast to Machiavelli was not forthcoming from the +camp of the Reformers, but from that of the northern humanists, Erasmus +and More. The _Institution of a Christian Prince_, by the Dutch +scholar, is at the antipodes of the Italian thesis. Virtue is +inculcated as the chief requisite of a prince, who can be considered +good only in proportion as he fosters the wealth and the education of +his people. He should levy no taxes, if possible, but should live +parsimoniously off his own estate. He should never make war, save when +absolutely necessary, even against the Infidel, and should negotiate +only such treaties as have for their principal object the prevention of +armed conflict. + +Still more noteworthy than his moral postulates, is Erasmus's +preference for the republican form of government. In the _Christian +Prince_, dedicated as it was to the emperor, he spoke as if kings might +and perhaps ought to be elected, but in his _Adages_ he interpreted the +spirit of the ancients in a way most disparaging to monarchy. +Considering how carefully this work was studied by promising youths at +the impressionable age, it is not too much to regard it as one of the +main sources of the marked republican current of thought throughout the +century. Under the heading, "Fools {593} and kings are born such," he +wrote: "In all history, ancient and recent, you will scarcely find in +the course of several centuries one or two princes, who, by their +signal folly, did not bring ruin on humanity." In another place, after +a similar remark, he continues: + + I know not whether much of this is not to be imputed + to ourselves. We trust the rudder of a vessel, where a + few sailors and some goods alone are in jeopardy, to + none but skilful pilots; but the state, wherein is + comprised the safety of so many thousands, we leave to the + guidance of any chance hands. A charioteer must learn, + reflect upon and practice his art; a prince needs only to + be born. Yet government is the most difficult, as it is the + most honorable, of sciences. Shall we choose the master + of a ship and not choose him who is to have the care of + so many cities and so many souls? . . . Do we not see + that noble cities are erected by the people and destroyed + by princes? that a state grows rich by the industry of + its citizens and is plundered by the rapacity of its + princes? that good laws are enacted by elected magistrates + and violated by kings? that the people love peace and + the princes foment war? + +There is far too much to the same purpose to quote, which in all makes +a polemic against monarchy not exceeded by the fiercest republicans of +the next two generations. It is true that Erasmus wrote all this in +1515, and half took it back after the Peasants' War. "Princes must be +endured," he then thought, "lest tyranny give place to anarchy, a still +greater evil." + +[Sidenote: Reformation] + +As one of the principal causes of the Reformation was the strengthening +of national self-consciousness, so conversely one of the most marked +results of the movement was the exaltation of the state. The +Reformation began to realize, though at first haltingly, the separation +of church and state, and it endowed the latter with much wealth, with +many privileges and with high prerogatives and duties up to that time +{594} belonging to the former. It is true that all the innovators +would have recoiled from bald Erastianism, which is not found in the +theses of Thomas Erastus, [Sidenote: Erastus, 1524-83] but in the +free-thinker Thomas Hobbes. [Sidenote: Hobbes, 1588-1679] Whereas the +Reformers merely said that the state should be charged with the duty of +enforcing orthodoxy and punishing sinners, Hobbes drew the logical +inference that the state was the final authority for determining +religious truth. That Hobbes's conclusion was only the _reductio ad +absurdum_ of the Reformation doctrine was hidden from the Reformers +themselves by their very strong belief in an absolute and ascertainable +religious truth. + +The tendency of both Luther and Calvin to exalt the state took two +divergent forms according to their understanding of what the state was. +Lutheranism became the ally of absolute monarchy, whereas Calvinism had +in it a republican element. It is no accident that Germany developed a +form of government in which a paternal but bureaucratic care of the +people supplied the place of popular liberty, whereas America, on the +whole the most Calvinistic of the great states, carried to its logical +conclusion the idea of the rule of the majority. The English +Reformation was at first Lutheran in this respect, but after 1580 it +began to take the strong Calvinistic tendency that led to the +Commonwealth. + +[Sidenote: Luther] + +While Luther cared enormously for social reform, and did valiant +service in its cause, he harbored a distrust of the people that grates +harshly on modern ears. Especially after the excesses of the Peasants' +War and the extravagance of Muenzer, he came to believe that "Herr +Omnes" was capable of little good and much evil. "The princes of this +world are gods," he once said, "the common people are Satan, through +whom God sometimes does what at other times he does {595} directly +through Satan, _i.e._, makes rebellion as a punishment for the people's +sins." And again: "I would rather suffer a prince doing wrong than a +people doing right." Passive obedience to the divinely ordained +"powers that be" was therefore the sole duty of the subject. "It is in +no wise proper for anyone who would be a Christian to set himself up +against his government, whether it act justly or unjustly," he wrote in +1530. + +That Luther turned to the prince as the representative of the divine +majesty in the state is due not only to Scriptural authority but to the +fact that there was no material for any other form of government to be +found in Germany. He was no sycophant, nor had he any illusions as to +the character of hereditary monarchs. In his _Treatise on Civil +Authority_, [Sidenote: 1523] dedicated to his own sovereign, Duke John +of Saxony, he wrote: "Since the foundation of the world a wise prince +has been a rare bird and a just one much rarer. They are generally the +biggest fools and worst knaves on earth, wherefore one must always +expect the worst of them and not much good, especially in divine +matters." They distinctly have not the right, he adds, to decide +spiritual things, but only to enforce the decisions of the Christian +community. + +Feeling the necessity for some bridle in the mouth of the emperor and +finding no warrant for the people to curb him, Luther groped for the +notion of some legal limitation on the monarch's power. The word +"constitution" so familiar to us, was lacking then, but that the idea +was present is certain. The German Empire had a constitution, largely +unwritten but partly statutory. The limitations on the imperial power +were then recognized by an Italian observer, Quirini. [Sidenote: 1507] +When they were brought to Luther's attention he admitted the right of +the German states to resist by force {597} imperial acts of injustice +contrary to positive laws. Moreover, he always maintained that no +subject should obey an order directly contravening the law of God. In +these limitations on the government's power, slight as they were, were +contained the germs of the later Calvinistic constitutionalism. + +[Sidenote: Reformed Church] + +While many of the Reformers--Melanchthon, Bucer, Tyndale--were +completely in accord with Luther's earlier doctrine of passive +obedience, the Swiss, French and Scotch developed a consistent body of +constitutional theory destined to guide the peoples into ordered +liberty. Doubtless an influence of prime importance in the Reformed as +distinct from the Lutheran church, was the form of ecclesiastical +government. Congregationalism and Presbyterianism are practical +object-lessons in democracy. Many writers have justly pointed out in +the case of America the influence of the vestry in the evolution of the +town meeting. In other countries the same cause operated in the same +way, giving the British and French Protestants ample practice in +representative government. [Sidenote: Zwingli] Zwingli asserted that +the subject should refuse to act contrary to his faith. From the +Middle Ages he took the doctrine of the identity of spiritual and civil +authority, but he also postulated the sovereignty of the people, as was +natural in a free-born Switzer. In fact, his sympathies were +republican through and through. + +[Sidenote: Calvin] + +The clear political thinking of Calvin and his followers was in large +part the result of the exigencies of their situation. Confronted with +established power they were forced to defend themselves with pen as +well as with sword. In France, especially, the ember of their thought +was blown into fierce blaze by the winds of persecution. Not only the +Huguenots took fire, but all their neighbors, until the kingdom of +{597} France seemed on the point of anticipating the great Revolution +by two centuries. + +With the tocsins ringing in his ears, jangling discordantly with the +servile doctrines of Paul and Luther, Calvin set to work to forge a +theory that should combine liberty with order. Carrying a step further +than had his masters the separation of civil and ecclesiastical +authority, he yet regarded civil government as the most sacred and +honorable of all merely human institutions. The form he preferred was +an aristocracy, but where monarchy prevailed, Calvin was not prepared +to recommend its overthrow, save in extreme cases. Grasping at +Luther's idea of constitutional, or contractual, limitations on the +royal power, he asserted that the king should be resisted, when he +violated his rights, not by private men but by elected magistrates to +whom the guardianship of the people's rights should be particularly +entrusted. The high respect in which Calvin was held, and the +clearness and comprehensiveness of his thought made him ultimately the +most influential of the Protestant publicists. By his doctrine the +Dutch, English, and American nations were educated to popular +sovereignty. + +[Sidenote: French republicans] + +The seeds of liberty sown by Calvin might well have remained long +hidden in the ground, had not the soil of France been irrigated with +blood and scorched by the tyranny of the last Valois. Theories of +popular rights, which sprang up with the luxuriance of the jungle after +the day of St. Bartholomew, were already sprouting some years before +it. The Estates General that met at Paris in March, 1561, demanded +that the regency be put in the hands of Henry of Navarre and that the +members of the house of Lorraine and the Chancellor L'Hopital be +removed from all offices as not having been appointed by the Estates. +In August {598} of the same year, thirty-nine representatives of the +three Estates of thirteen provinces met, contemporaneously with the +religious Colloquy of Poissy, at Pontoise, and there voiced with great +boldness the claims of constitutional government. They demanded the +right of the Estates to govern during the minority of the king; they +claimed that the Estates should be summoned at least biennially; they +forbade taxation, alienation of the royal domain or declaration of war +without their consent. The further resolution that the persecution of +the Huguenots should cease, betrayed the quarter from which the popular +party drew its strength. + +But if the voices of the brave deputies hardly carried beyond the +senate-chamber, a host of pamphlets, following hard upon the great +massacre, trumpeted the sounds of freedom to the four winds. Theodore +Beza [Sidenote: Beza] published anonymously his _Rights of +Magistrates_, developing Calvin's theory that the representatives of +the people should be empowered to put a bridle on the king. The pact +between the people and king is said to be abrogated if the king +violates it. + +[Sidenote: Hotman, 1573] + +At the same time another French Protestant, Francis Hotman, published +his _Franco-Gallia_, to show that France had an ancient and inviolable +constitution. This unwritten law regulates the succession to the +throne; by it the deputies hold their privileges in the Estates +General; by it the laws, binding even on the king, are made. The right +of the people can be shown, in Hotman's opinion, to extend even to +deposing the monarch and electing his successor. + +[Sidenote: Vindiciae contra Tyrannos, 1577] + +A higher and more general view was taken in the _Rights against +Tyrants_ published under the pseudonym of Stephen Junius Brutus the +Celt, and written by Philip du Plessis-Mornay. This brief but +comprehensive survey, addressed to both Catholics and Protestants, +{599} and aimed at Machiavelli as the chief supporter of tyranny, +advanced four theses: 1. Subjects are bound to obey God rather than the +king. This is regarded as self-evident. 2. If the king devastates the +church and violates God's law, he may be resisted at least passively as +far as private men are concerned, but actively by magistrates and +cities. The author, who quotes from the Bible and ancient history, +evidently has contemporary France in mind. 3. The people may resist a +tyrant who is oppressing or ruining the state. Originally, in the +author's view, the people either elected the king, or confirmed him, +and if they have not exercised this right for a long time it is a legal +maxim that no prescription can run against the public claims. Laws +derive their sanction from the people, and should be made by them; +taxes may only be levied by their representatives, and the king who +exacts imposts of his own will is in no wise different from an enemy. +The kings are not even the owners of public property, but only its +administrators, are bound by the contract with the governed, and may be +rightly punished for violating it. 4. The fourth thesis advanced by +Mornay is that foreign aid may justly be called in against a tyrant. + +[Sidenote: La Boetie, 1530-63] + +Not relying exclusively on their own talents the Huguenots were able to +press into the ranks of their army of pamphleteers some notable +Catholics. In 1574 they published as a fragment, and in 1577 entire, +_The Discourse on Voluntary Servitude_, commonly called the _Contr'un_, +by Stephen de la Boetie. This gentleman, dying at the age of +thirty-three, had left all his manuscripts to his bosom friend +Montaigne. The latter says that La Boetie composed the work as a prize +declamation at the age of sixteen or eighteen. [Sidenote: 1546-8] But +along with many passages in the pamphlet, which might have been +suggested by Erasmus, are several {600} allusions that seem to point to +the character of Henry III--in 1574 king of Poland and in 1577 king of +France--and to events just prior to the time of publication. According +to an attractive hypothesis, not fully proved, these passages were +added by Montaigne himself before he gave the work to one of his +several Huguenot friends or kinsmen. La Boetie, at any rate, appealed +to the passions aroused by St. Bartholomew in bidding the people no +longer to submit to one man, "the most wretched and effeminate of the +nation," who has only two hands, two eyes, and who will fall if +unsupported. And yet, he goes on rhetorically, "you sow the fruits of +the earth that he may waste them; you furnish your houses for him to +pillage them; you rear your daughters to glut his lust and your sons to +perish in his wars; . . . you exhaust your bodies in labor that he may +wallow in vile pleasures." + +As Montaigne and La Boetie were Catholics, it is pertinent here to +remark that tyranny produced much the same effect on its victims, +whatever their religion. The Sorbonne, [Sidenote: The Sorbonne] +consulted by the League, unanimously decided that the people of France +were freed from their oath of allegiance to Henry III and could with a +good conscience take arms against him. One of the doctors, Boucher, +wrote to prove that the church and the people had the right to depose +an assassin, a perjurer, an impious or heretical prince, or one guilty +of sacrilege or witchcraft. A tyrant, he concluded, was a wild beast, +whom it was lawful for the state as a whole or even for private +individuals, to kill. + +So firmly established did the doctrine of the contract between prince +and people become that towards the end of the century one finds it +taken for granted. The _Memoires_ of the Huguenot soldier, poet and +historian Agrippa d'Aubigne are full of republican sentiments, as, for +example, "There is a binding obligation {601} between the king and his +subjects," and "The power of the prince proceeds from the people." + +But it must not be imagined that such doctrines passed without +challenge. The most important writer on political science after +Machiavelli, John Bodin, [Sidenote: Bodin, 1530-96] was on the whole a +conservative. In his writings acute and sometimes profound remarks +jostle quaint and abject superstitions. He hounded the government and +the mob on witches with the vile zeal of the authors of the _Witches' +Hammer_; and he examined all existing religions with the coolness of a +philosopher. He urged on the attention of the world that history was +determined in general by natural causes, such as climate, but that +revolutions were caused partly by the inscrutable will of God and +partly by the more ascertainable influence of planets. + +His most famous work, _The Republic_, [Sidenote: 1576] is a criticism +of Machiavelli and an attempt to bring politics back into the domain of +morality. He defines a state as a company of men united for the +purpose of living well and happily; he thinks it arose from natural +right and social contract. For the first time Bodin differentiates the +state from the government, defining sovereignty (_majestas_) as the +attribute of the former. He classifies governments in the usual three +categories, and refuses to believe in mixed governments. Though +England puzzles him, he regards her as an absolute monarchy. This is +the form that he decidedly prefers, for he calls the people a +many-headed monster and says that the majority of men are incompetent +and bad. Preaching passive obedience to the king, he finds no check on +him, either by tyrannicide or by constitutional magistrates, save only +in the judgment of God. + +It is singular that after Bodin had removed all effective checks on the +tyrant in this world, he should lay it down as a principle that no king +should levy {602} taxes without his subjects' consent. Another +contradiction is that whereas he frees the subject from the duty of +obedience in case the monarch commands aught against God's law, he +treats religion almost as a matter of policy, advising that, whatever +it be, the statesman should not disturb it. Apart from the streak of +superstition in his mind, his inconsistencies are due to the attempt to +reconcile opposites--Machiavelli and Calvin. For with all his +denunciation of the former's atheism and immorality, he, with his +chauvinism, his defence of absolutism, his practical opportunism, is +not so far removed from the Florentine as he would have us believe. + +[Sidenote: Dutch republicans] + +The revolution that failed in France succeeded in the Netherlands, and +some contribution to political theory can be found in the constitution +drawn up by the States General in 1580, when they recognized Anjou as +their prince, and in the document deposing Philip in 1581. Both assume +fully the sovereignty of the people and the omnicompetence of their +elected representatives. As Oldenbarnevelt commented, "The cities and +nobles together represent the whole state and the whole people." The +deposition of Philip is justified by an appeal to the law of nature, +and to the example of other tortured states, and by a recital of +Philip's breaches of the laws and customs of the land. + +[Sidenote: Knox] + +Scotland, in the course of her revolution, produced almost as brilliant +an array of pamphleteers as had France. John Knox maintained that, "If +men, in the fear of God, oppose themselves to the fury and blind rage +of princes, in doing so they do not resist God, but the devil, who +abuses the sword and authority of God," and again, he asked, "What harm +should the commonwealth receive if the corrupt affections of ignorant +rulers were moderated and bridled by the {603} wisdom and discretion of +godly subjects?" But the duty, he thought, to curb princes in free +kingdoms and realms, does not belong to every private man, but +"appertains to the nobility, sworn and born counsellors of the same." +Carrying such doctrines to the logical result, Knox hinted to Mary that +Daniel might have resisted Nebuchadnezzar and Paul might have resisted +Nero with the sword, had God given them the power. + +Another Scotch Protestant, John Craig, in support of the prosecution of +Mary, said that it had been determined and concluded at the University +of Bologna [Sidenote: 1554] that "all rulers, be they supreme or +inferior, may be and ought to be reformed or deposed by them by whom +they were chosen, confirmed and admitted to their office, as often as +they break that promise made by oath to their subjects." Knox and +Craig both argued for the execution of Mary on the ground that "it was +a public speech among all peoples and among all estates, that the queen +had no more liberty to commit murder nor adultery than any other +private person." Knollys also told Mary that a monarch ought to be +deposed for madness or murder. + +To the zeal for religion animating Knox, George Buchanan [Sidenote: +Buchanan] joined a more rational spirit of liberty and a stronger +consciousness of positive right. His great work _On the Constitution +of Scotland_ derived all power from the people, asserted the +responsibility of kings to their subjects and pleaded for the popular +election of the chief magistrate. In extreme cases execution of the +monarch was defended, though by what precise machinery he was to be +arraigned was left uncertain; probably constitutional resistance was +thought of, as far as practicable, and tyrannicide was considered as a +last resort. "If you ask anyone," says our author, "what he thinks of +the punishment of {604} Caligula, Nero or Domitian, I think no one will +be so devoted to the royal name as not to confess that they rightly +paid the penalty of their crimes." + +[Sidenote: English monarchists] + +In England the two tendencies, the one to favor the divine right of +kings, the other for constitutional restraint, existed side by side. +The latter opinion was attributed by courtly divines to the influence +of Calvin. Matthew Hutton blamed the Reformer because "he thought not +so well of a kingdom as of a popular state." "God save us," wrote +Archbishop Parker, "from such a visitation as Knox has attempted in +Scotland, the people to be orderers of things." This distinguished +prelate preached that disobedience to the queen was a greater crime +than sacrilege or adultery, for obedience is the root of all virtues +and the cause of all felicity, and "rebellion is not a single fault, +like theft or murder, but the cesspool and swamp of all possible sins +against God and man." Bonner was charged by the government of Mary to +preach that all rebels incurred damnation. Much later Richard Hooker +warned his countrymen that Puritanism endangered the prerogatives of +crown and nobility. + +[Sidenote: and republicans] + +But there were not wanting champions of the people. Reginald Pole +asserted the responsibility of the sovereign, though in moderate +language. Bishop John Ponet wrote _A Treatise on Politic Power_ to +show that men had the right to depose a bad king and to assassinate a +tyrant. The haughty Elizabeth herself often had to listen to drastic +advice. When she visited Cambridge she was entertained by a debate on +tyrannicide, in which one bold clerk asserted that God might incite a +regicide; and by a discussion of the respective advantages of elective +and hereditary monarchy, one speaker offering to maintain the former +with his life and, if need be, with his death. When Elizabeth, after +hearing a refractory Parliament, complained to the {605} Spanish +ambassador that "she could not tell what those devils were after" his +excellency replied, "They want liberty, madam, and if princes do not +look to themselves" they will soon find that they are drifting to +revolution and anarchy. Significant, indeed, was the silent work of +Parliament in building up the constitutional doctrine of its own +omnicompetence and of its own supremacy. + +[Sidenote: Tyrannicide] + +One striking aberration in the political theory of that time was the +prominence in it of the appeal to tyrannicide. Schooled by the +ancients who sang the praises of Harmodius and Aristogiton, by the +biblical example of Ehud and Eglon, and by various medieval publicists, +and taught the value of murder by the princes and popes who set prices +on each other's heads, an extraordinary number of sixteenth century +divines approved of the dagger as the best remedy for tyranny. +Melanchthon wished that God would raise up an able man to slay Henry +VIII; John Ponet and Cajetan and the French theologian Boucher admitted +the possible virtue of assassination. But the most elaborate statement +of the same doctrine was put by the Spanish Jesuit Mariana, in a book +_On the King and his Education_ published in 1599, with an official +_imprimatur_, a dedication to the reigning monarch and an assertion +that it was approved by learned and grave men of the Society of Jesus. +It taught that the prince holds sway solely by the consent of the +people and by ancient law, and that, though his vices are to be borne +up to a certain point, yet when he ruins the state he is a public +enemy, to slay whom is not only permissible but glorious for any man +brave enough to despise his own safety for the public good. + +If one may gather the official theory of the Catholic church from the +contradictory statements of her doctors, she advocated despotism +tempered by {606} assassination. No Lutheran ever preached the duty of +passive obedience more strongly than did the Catechism of the Council +of Trent. + +[Sidenote: Radicals] + +A word must be said about the more radical thought of the time. All +the writers just analysed saw things from the standpoint of the +governing and propertied classes. But the voice of the poor came to be +heard now and then, not only from their own mouths but from that of the +few authors who had enough imagination to sympathize with them. The +idea that men might sometime live without any government at all is +found in such widely different writers as Richard Hooker and Francis +Rabelais. But socialism was then, as ever, more commonly advocated +than anarchy. The Anabaptists, particularly, believed in a community +of goods, and even tried to practice it when they got the chance. +Though they failed in this, the contributions to democracy latent in +their egalitarian spirit must not be forgotten. They brought down on +themselves the severest animadversions from defenders of the existing +order, by whatever confession they were bound. [Sidenote: 1535] Vives +wrote a special tract to refute the arguments of the Anabaptists on +communism. Luther said that the example of the early Christians did +not authorize communism for, though the first disciples pooled their +own goods, they did not try to seize the property of Pilate and Herod. +Even the French Calvinists, in their books dedicated to liberty, +referred to the Anabaptists as seditious rebels worthy of the severest +repression. + +[Sidenote: _Utopia_, 1516] + +A nobler work than any produced by the Anabaptists, and one that may +have influenced them not a little, was the _Utopia_ of Sir Thomas More. +He drew partly on Plato, on Tacitus's _Germania_, on Augustine and on +Pico della Mirandola, and for the outward framework of his book on the +_Four Voyages of Americus Vespuccius_. {607} But he relied mostly on +his own observation of what was rotten in the English state where he +was a judge and a ruler of men. He imagined an ideal country, Utopia, +a place of perfect equality economically as well as politically. It +was by government an elective monarchy with inferior magistrates and +representative assembly also elected. The people changed houses every +ten years by lot; they considered luxury and wealth a reproach. "In +other places they speak still of the common wealth but every man +procureth his private wealth. Here where nothing is private the common +affairs be earnestly looked upon." "What justice is this, that a rich +goldsmith or usurer should have a pleasant and wealthy living either by +idleness or by unnecessary occupation, when in the meantime poor +laborers, carters, ironsmiths, carpenters and plowmen by so great and +continual toil . . . do yet get so hard and so poor a living and live +so wretched a life that the condition of the laboring beasts may seem +much better and wealthier?" "When I consider and weigh in my mind all +these commonwealths which nowadays anywhere do flourish, [Sidenote: The +commonwealth] so God help me, I can perceive nothing but a certain +conspiracy of rich men procuring their own commodities under the name +and title of the commonwealth." More was convinced that a short day's +labor shared by everyone would produce quite sufficient wealth to keep +all in comfort. He protests explicitly against those who pretend that +there are two sorts of justice, one for governments and one for private +men. He repudiates the doctrine that bad faith is necessary to the +prosperity of a state; the Utopians form no alliances and carry out +faithfully the few and necessary treaties that they ratify. Moreover +they dishonor war above all things. + +In the realm of pure economic and social theory {608} something, though +not much, was done. Machiavelli believed that the growth of population +in the north and its migration southwards was a constant law, an idea +derived from Paulus Diaconus and handed on to Milton. He even derived +"Germany" from "germinare." A more acute remark, anticipating Malthus, +was made by the Spanish Jesuit John Botero [Sidenote: Botero, 1589] +who, in his _Reason of State_, pointed out that population was +absolutely dependent on means of subsistence. He concluded _a priori_ +that the population of the world had remained stationary for three +thousand years. + +[Sidenote: Mercantile economics] + +Statesmen then labored under the vicious error, drawn from the analogy +of a private man and a state, that national wealth consisted in the +precious metals. The stringent and universal laws against the export +of specie and intended to encourage its import, proved a considerable +burden on trade, though as a matter of fact they only retarded and did +not stop the flow of coin. The striking rise in prices during the +century attracted some attention. Various causes were assigned for it, +among others the growth of population and the increase of luxury. +Hardly anyone saw that the increase in the precious metals was the +fundamental cause, but several writers, among them Bodin, John Hales +and Copernicus, saw that a debased currency was responsible for the +acute dearness of certain local markets. + +[Sidenote: Usury] + +The lawfulness of the taking of usury greatly exercised the minds of +men of that day. The church on traditional grounds had forbidden it, +and her doctors stood fast by her precept, though an occasional +individual, like John Eck, could be found to argue for it. Luther was +in principle against allowing a man "to sit behind his stove and let +his money work for him," but he weakened enough to allow moderate +interest in given circumstances. Zwingli would allow interest to {609} +be taken only as a form of profit-sharing. Calvin said: "If we forbid +usury wholly we bind consciences by a bond straiter than that of God +himself. But if we allow it the least in the world, under cover of our +permission someone will immediately make a general and unbridled +licence." The laws against the taking of interest were gradually +relaxed throughout the century, but even at its close Bacon could only +regard usury as a concession made on account of the hardness of men's +hearts. + + + +[1] In Greek the words "politics" and "ethics" both have a wider +meaning than they have in English. + +[2] Lord Morley. + + + +SECTION 4. SCIENCE + +[Sidenote: Inductive method] + +The glory of sixteenth-century science is that for the first time, on a +large scale, since the ancient Greeks, did men try to look at nature +through their own eyes instead of through those of Aristotle and the +_Physiologus_. Bacon and Vives have each been credited with the +discovery of the inductive method, but, like so many philosophers, they +merely generalized a practice already common at their time. Save for +one discovery of the first magnitude, and two or three others of some +little importance, the work of the sixteenth century was that of +observing, describing and classifying facts. This was no small service +in itself, though it does not strike the imagination as do the great +new theories. + +[Sidenote: Mathematics] + +In mathematics the preparatory work for the statement and solution of +new problems consisted in the perfection of symbolism. As reasoning in +general is dependent on words, as music is dependent on the mechanical +invention of instruments, so mathematics cannot progress far save with +a simple and adequate symbolism. The introduction of the Arabic as +against the Roman numerals, and particularly the introduction of the +zero in reckoning, for the first time, in the later Middle Ages, +allowed men to perform conveniently the four fundamental processes. +The use of the signs + {610} and - for plus and minus (formerly written +p. and m.), and of the sign = for equality and of V [square root +symbol] for root, were additional conveniences. To this might be added +the popularization of decimals by Simon Stevin in 1586, which he called +"the art of calculating by whole numbers without fractions." How +clumsy are all things at their birth is illustrated by his method of +writing decimals by putting them as powers of one-tenth, with circles +around the exponents; _e.g._, the number that we should write 237.578, +he wrote 237(to the power 0) 5(to the power 1) 7(to the power 2) 8 (to +the power 3). He first declared for decimal systems of coinage, +weights and measures. + +[Sidenote: Algebra 1494] + +Algebraic notation also improved vastly in the period. In a treatise +of Lucas Paciolus we find cumbrous signs instead of letters, thus no. +(numero) for the known quantity, co. (cosa) for the unknown quantity, +ce. (censo) for the square, and cu. (cubo) for the cube of the unknown +quantity. As he still used p. and m. for plus and minus, he wrote +3co.p.4ce.m.5cu.p.2ce.ce.m.6no. for the number we should write 3x + +4x(power 2) - 5x(power 3) + 2x(power 4) - 6a. The use of letters in +the modern style is due to the mathematicians of the sixteenth century. +The solution of cubic and of biquadratic equations, at first only in +certain particular forms, but later in all forms, was mastered by +Tartaglia and Cardan. The latter even discussed negative roots, +whether rational or irrational. + +[Sidenote: Geometry] + +Geometry at that time, as for long afterwards, was dependent wholly on +Euclid, of whose work a Latin translation was first published at +Venice. [Sidenote: 1505] Copernicus with his pupil George Joachim, +called Rheticus, and Francis Vieta, made some progress in trigonometry. +Copernicus gave the first simple demonstration of the fundamental +formula of spherical trigonometry; Rheticus made tables of sines, +tangents and secants {611} of arcs. Vieta discovered the formula for +deriving the sine of a multiple angle. + +[Sidenote: Cardan, 1501-76] + +As one turns the pages of the numerous works of Jerome Cardan one is +astonished to find the number of subjects on which he wrote, including, +in mathematics, choice and chance, arithmetic, algebra, the calendar, +negative quantities, and the theory of numbers. In the last named +branch it was another Italian, Maurolycus, who recognized the general +character of mathematics as "symbolic logic." He is indeed credited +with understanding the most general principle on which depends all +mathematical deduction.[1] Some of the most remarkable anticipations +of modern science were made by Cardan. He believed that inorganic +matter was animated, and that all nature was a progressive evolution. +Thus his statement that all animals were originally worms implies the +indefinite variability of species, just as his remark that inferior +metals were unsuccessful attempts of nature to produce gold, might seem +to foreshadow the idea of the transmutation of metals under the +influence of radioactivity. It must be remembered that such guesses +had no claim to be scientific demonstrations. + +The encyclopaedic character of knowledge was then, perhaps, one of its +most striking characteristics. Bacon was not the first man of his +century to take all knowledge for his province. In learning and +breadth of view few men have ever exceeded Conrad Gesner, [Sidenote: +Gesner] called by Cuvier "the German Pliny." His _History of Animals_ +(published in many volumes 1551-87) was the basis of zooelogy until the +time of Darwin. [Sidenote: Zooelogy] He {612} drew largely on previous +writers, Aristotle and Albertus Magnus, but he also took pains to see +for himself as much as possible. The excellent illustrations for his +book, partly drawn from previous works but mostly new, added greatly to +its value. His classification, though superior to any that had +preceded it, was in some respects astonishing, as when he put the +hippopotamus among aquatic animals with fish, and the bat among birds. +Occasionally he describes a purely mythical animal like "the +monkey-fox." It is difficult to see what criterion of truth would have +been adequate for the scholar at that time. A monkey-fox is no more +improbable than a rhinoceros, and Gesner found it necessary to assure +his readers that the rhinoceros really existed in nature and was not a +creation of fancy. + +[Sidenote: Leonardo] + +As the master of modern anatomy and of several other branches of +science, stands Leonardo da Vinci. It is difficult to appraise his +work accurately because it is not yet fully known, and still more +because of its extraordinary form. Ho left thousands of pages of notes +on everything and hardly one complete treatise on anything. He began a +hundred studies and finished none of them. He had a queer twist to his +mind that made him, with all his power, seek byways. The monstrous, +the uncouth, fascinated him; he saw a Medusa in a spider and the +universe in a drop of water. He wrote his notes in mirror-writing, +from right to left; he illustrated them with a thousand fragments of +exquisite drawing, all unfinished and tantalizing alike to the artist +and to the scientist. His mind roamed to flying machines and +submarines, but he never made one; the reason given by him in the +latter case being his fear that it would be put to piratical use. He +had something in him of Faust; in some respects he reminds us of +William James, who also started as a {613} painter and ended as an +omniverous student of outre things and as a psychologist. + +[Sidenote: Anatomy] + +If, therefore, the anatomical drawings made by Leonardo from about +twenty bodies that he dissected, are marvellous specimens of art, he +left it to others to make a really systematic study of the human body. +His contemporary, Berengar of Carpi, professor at Bologna, first did +this with marked success, classifying the various tissues as fat, +membrane, flesh, nerve, fibre and so forth. So far from true is it +that it was difficult to get corpses to work upon that he had at least +a hundred. Indeed, according to Fallopius, another famous scientist, +the Duke of Tuscany would occasionally send live criminals to be +vivisected, thus making their punishment redound to the benefit of +science. The Inquisitors made the path of science hard by burning +books on anatomy as materialistic and indecent. + +[Sidenote: Servetus] + +Two or three investigators anticipated Harvey's discovery of the +circulation of the blood. Unfortunately, as the matter is of interest, +Servetus's treatment of the subject, found in his work on _The +Trinity_, is too long to quote, but it is plain that, along with +various fallacious ideas, he had really discovered the truth that the +blood all passes through heart and lungs whence it is returned to the +other organs. + +[Sidenote: Physics] + +While hardly anything was done in chemistry, a large number of +phenomena in the field of physics were observed now for the first time. +Leonardo da Vinci measured the rapidity of falling bodies, by dropping +them from towers and having the time of their passage at various stages +noted. He thus found, correctly, that their velocity increased. It is +also said that he observed that bodies always fell a little to the +eastward of the plumb line, and thence concluded that the earth +revolved on its axis. He made careful experiments with billiard balls, +discovering that the {614} momentum of the impact always was preserved +entire in the motion of the balls struck. He measured forces by the +weight and speed of the bodies and arrived at an approximation of the +ideas of mechanical "work" and energy of position. He thought of +energy as a spiritual force transferred from one body to another by +touch. This remarkable man further invented a hygrometer, explained +sound as a wave-motion in the air, and said that the appearance known +to us as "the old moon in the new moon's lap" was due to the reflection +of earth-light. + +Nicholas Tartaglia first showed that the course of a projectile was a +parabola, and that the maximum range of a gun would be at an angle of +45 degrees. + +Some good work was done in optics. John Baptist della Porta described, +though he did not invent, the camera obscura. Burning glasses were +explained. Leonard Digges even anticipated the telescope by the use of +double lenses. + +Further progress in mechanics was made by Cardan who explained the +lever and pulley, and by Simon Stevin who first demonstrated the +resolution of forces. He also noticed the difference between stable +and unstable equilibrium, and showed that the downward pressure of a +liquid is independent of the shape of the vessel it is in and is +dependent only on the height. He and other scholars asserted the +causation of the tides by the moon. + +[Sidenote: Magnetism] + +Magnetism was much studied. When compasses were first invented it was +thought that they always pointed to the North Star under the influence +of some stellar compulsion. But even in the fifteenth century it was +noticed independently by Columbus and by German experimenters that the +needle did not point true north. As the amount of its declination +varies at {615} different places on the earth and at different times, +this was one of the most puzzling facts to explain. One man believed +that the change depended on climate, another that it was an individual +property of each needle. About 1581 Robert Norman discovered the +inclination, or dip of the compass. These and other observations were +summed up by William Gilbert [Sidenote: Gilbert] in his work on _The +Magnet, Magnetic Bodies and the Earth as a great Magnet_. [Sidenote: +1600] A great deal of his space was taken in that valuable destructive +criticism that refutes prevalent errors. His greatest discovery was +that the earth itself is a large magnet. He thought of magnetism as "a +soul, or like a soul, which is in many things superior to the human +soul as long as this is bound by our bodily organs." It was therefore +an appetite that compelled the magnet to point north and south. +Similar explanations of physical and chemical properties are found in +the earliest and in some of the most recent philosophers. + +[Sidenote: Geography] + +As might be expected, the science of geography, nourished by the +discoveries of new lands, grew mightily. Even the size of the earth +could only be guessed at until it had been encircled. Columbus +believed that its circumference at the equator was 8000 miles. The +stories of its size that circulated after Magellan were exaggerated by +the people. Thus Sir David Lyndsay in his poem _The Dreme_ [Sidenote: +1528] quotes "the author of the sphere" as saying that the earth was +101,750 miles in circumference, each mile being 5000 feet. The author +referred to was the thirteenth century Johannes de Sacro Bosco (John +Holywood). Two editions of his work, _De Sphaera_, that I have seen, +one of Venice, 1499, and one of Paris, 1527, give the circumference of +the earth as 20,428 miles, but an edition published at Wittenberg in +1550 gives it as 5,400, probably an {616} attempt to reduce the +author's English miles to German ones. [Sidenote: 1551] Robert +Recorde calculated the earth's circumference at 21,300 miles.[2] + +Rough maps of the new lands were drawn by the companions of the +discoverers. Martin Waldseemuller [Sidenote: 1507] published a large +map of the world in twelve sheets and a small globe about 4 1/2 inches +in diameter, in which the new world is for the first time called +America. The next great advance was made by the Flemish cartographer +Gerard Mercator [Sidenote: Mercator, 1512-94] whose globes and +maps--some of them on the projection since called by his name--are +extraordinarily accurate for Europe and the coast of Africa, and fairly +correct for Asia, though he represented that continent as too narrow. +He included, however, in their approximately correct positions, India, +the Malay peninsula, Sumatra, Java and Japan. America is very poorly +drawn, for though the east coast of North America is fairly correct, +the continent is too broad and the rest of the coasts vague. He made +two startling anticipations of later discoveries, the first that he +separated Asia and America by only a narrow strait at the north, and +the second that he assumed the existence of a continent around the +south pole. This, however, he made far too large, thinking that the +Tierra del Fuego was part of it and drawing it so as to come near the +south coast of Africa and of Java. His maps of Europe were based on +recent and excellent surveys. + +[Sidenote: Astronomy] + +Astronomy, the oldest of the sciences, had made much progress in the +tabulation of material. The apparent orbits of the sun, moon, planets, +and stars had been correctly observed, so that eclipses might be +predicted, conjunction of planets calculated, and that {617} gradual +movement of the sun through the signs of the zodiac known as the +precession of the equinoxes, taken account of. To explain these +movements the ancients started on the theory that each heavenly body +moved in a perfect circle around the earth; the fixed stars were +assigned to one of a group of revolving spheres, the sun, moon and five +planets each to one, making eight in all. But it was soon observed +that the movements of the planets were too complicated to fall into +this system; the number of moving spheres was raised to 27 before +Aristotle and to 56 by him. To these concentric spheres later +astronomers added eccentric spheres, moving within others, called +epicycles, and to them epicycles of the second order; in fact +astronomers were compelled: + + To build, unbuild, contrive, + To save appearances, to gird the sphere + With centric and eccentric scribbled o'er + Cycle and epicycle, orb in orb. + +The complexity of this system, which moved the mirth of Voltaire and, +according to Milton, of the Almighty, was such as to make it doubted by +some thinkers even in antiquity. Several men thought the earth +revolved on its axis, but the hypothesis was rejected by Aristotle and +Ptolemy. Heracleides, in the fourth century B. C., said that Mercury +and Venus circled around the sun, and in the third century Aristarchus +of Samos actually anticipated, though it was a mere guess, the +heliocentric theory. + +Just before Copernicus various authors seemed to hint at the truth, but +in so mystical or brief a way that little can be made of their +statements. Thus, Nicholas of Cusa [Sidenote: Nicholas of Cusa, +1400-64] argued that "as the earth cannot be the center of the universe +it cannot lack all motion." Leonardo believed that the earth revolved +on its axis, and stated that it was a star and would look, to a man on +{618} the moon, as the moon does to us. In one place he wrote, "the +sun does not move,"--only that enigmatical sentence and nothing more. + +[Sidenote: Copernicus, 1473-1543] + +Nicholas Copernicus was a native of Thorn in Poland, himself of mixed +Polish and Teutonic blood. At the age of eighteen he went to the +university of Cracow, where he spent three years. In 1496 he was +enabled by an ecclesiastical appointment to go to Italy, where he spent +most of the next ten years in study. He worked at the universities of +Bologna, Padua and Ferrara, and lectured--though not as a member of the +university--at Rome. His studies were comprehensive, including civil +law, canon law, medicine, mathematics, and the classics. At Padua, on +May 31, 1503, he was made doctor of canon law. He also studied +astronomy in Italy, talked with the most famous professors of that +science and made observations of the heavens. + +Copernicus's uncle was bishop of Ermeland, a spiritual domain and fief +of the Teutonic Order, under the supreme suzerainty, at least after +1525, of the king of Poland. Here Copernicus spent the rest of his +life; the years 1506-1512 in the bishop's palace at Heilsberg, after +1512, except for two not long stays at Allenstein, as a canon at +Frauenburg. + +This little town, near but not quite on the Baltic coast, is ornamented +by a beautiful cathedral. On the wall surrounding the close is a small +tower which the astronomer made his observatory. Here, in the long +frosty nights of winter and in the few short hours of summer darkness, +he often lay on his back examining the stars. He had no telescope, and +his other instruments were such crude things as he put together +himself. The most important was what he calls the _Instrumentum +parallacticum_, a wooden isosceles triangle with legs eight feet long +divided into 1000 {619} divisions by ink marks, and a hypotenuse +divided into 1414 divisions. With this he determined the height of the +sun, moon and stars, and their deviation from the vernal point. To +this he added a square (quadrum) which told the height of the sun by +the shadow thrown by a peg in the middle of the square. A third +instrument, also to measure the height of a celestial body, was called +the Jacob's staff. His difficulties were increased by the lack of any +astronomical tables save those poor ones made by Greeks and Arabs. The +faults of these were so great that the fundamental star, _i.e._, the +one he took by which to measure the rest, Spica, was given a longitude +nearly 40 degrees out of the true one. + +[Sidenote: Copernican hypothesis] + +Nevertheless with these poor helps Copernicus arrived, and that very +early, at his momentous conclusion. His observations, depending as +they did on the weather, were not numerous. His time was spent largely +in reading the classic astronomers and in working out the mathematical +proofs of his hypothesis. He found hints in quotations from ancient +astronomers in Cicero and Plutarch that the earth moved, but he, for +the first time, placed the planets in their true position around the +sun, and the moon as a satellite of the earth. He retained the old +conception of the primum mobile or sphere of fixed stars though he +placed it at an infinitely greater distance than did the ancients, to +account for the absence of any observed alteration (parallax) in the +position of the stars during the year. He also retained the old +conception of circular orbits for the planets, though at one time he +considered the possibility of their being elliptical, as they are. +Unfortunately for his immediate followers the section on this subject +found in his own manuscript was cut out of his printed book. + +The precise moment at which Copernicus {620} formulated his theory in +his own mind cannot be told with certainty, but it was certainly before +1516. He kept back his books for a long time, but his light was not +placed under a bushel nevertheless. [Sidenote: 1520] The first rays +of it shown forth in a tract by Celio Calcagnini of which only the +title, "That the earth moves and the heaven is still," has survived. +Some years later Copernicus wrote a short summary of his book, for +private circulation only, entitled "A Short commentary on his +hypotheses concerning the celestial movements." A fuller account of +them was given by his friend and disciple, [Sidenote: _Narratio prima_, +1540] George Joachim, called Rheticus, who left Wittenberg, where he +was teaching, to sit at the master's feet, and who published what was +called _The First Account_. + +Finally, Copernicus was persuaded to give his own work to the public. +Foreseeing the opposition it was likely to call forth, he tried to +forestall criticism by a dedication to the Pope Paul III. Friends at +Nuremberg undertook to find a printer, and one of them, the Lutheran +pastor Andrew Osiander, with the best intentions, did the great wrong +of inserting an anonymous preface stating that the author did not +advance his hypotheses as necessarily true, but merely as a means of +facilitating astronomical calculations. At last the greatest work of +the century, _On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres_, [Sidenote: +De revolutionibus orbium caelestium, 1543] came from the press; a copy +was brought to the author on his death bed. + +The first of the six books examines the previous authorities, the +second proposes the new theory, the third discusses the precession of +the equinoxes, the fourth proves that the moon circles the earth, the +fifth and most important proves that the planets, including the earth, +move around the sun, and gives correctly the time of the orbits of all +the planets then known, from Mercury with eighty-eight days to Saturn +with thirty {621} years. The sixth book is on the determination of +latitude and longitude from the fixed stars. Copernicus's proofs and +reasons are absolutely convincing and valid as far as they go. It +remained for Galileo and Newton to give further explanations and some +modifications in detail of the new theory. + +[Sidenote: Reception of the Copernican theory] + +When one remembers the enormous hubbub raised by Darwin's _Origin of +Species_, the reception of Copernicus's no less revolutionary work +seems singularly mild. The idea was too far in advance of the age, too +great, too paradoxical, to be appreciated at once. Save for a few +astronomers like Rheticus and Reinhold, hardly anyone accepted it at +first. It would have been miraculous had they done so. + +Among the first to take alarm were the Wittenberg theologians, to whose +attention the new theory was forcibly brought by their colleague +Rheticus. Luther alludes to the subject twice or thrice in his table +talk, most clearly on June 4, 1539, when + + mention was made of a certain new astronomer, who tried + to prove that the earth moved and not the sky, sun and + moon, just as, when one was carried along in a boat or + wagon, it seemed to himself that he was still and that + the trees and landscape moved. "So it goes now," said + Luther, "whoever wishes to be clever must not let + anything please him that others do, but must do something + of his own. Thus he does who wishes to subvert the + whole of astronomy: but I believe the Holy Scriptures, + which say that Joshua commanded the sun, and not the + earth, to stand still." + + +In his _Elements of Physics_, written probably in 1545, but not +published until 1549, Melanchthon said: + + The eyes bear witness that the sky revolves every + twenty-four hours. But some men now, either for love + of novelty, or to display their ingenuity, assert that the + earth moves. . . . But it is hurtful and dishonorable to + {622} + assert such absurdities. . . . The Psalmist says that the + sun moves and the earth stands fast. . . . And the earth, + as the center of the universe, must needs be the + immovable point on which the circle turns. + +Apparently, however, Melanchthon either came to adopt the new theory, +or to regard it as possible, for he left this passage entirely out of +the second edition of the same work. [Sidenote: 1550] Moreover his +relations with Rheticus continued warm, and Rheinhold continued to +teach the Copernican system at Wittenberg. + +The reception of the new work was also surprisingly mild, at first, in +Catholic circles. As early as 1533 Albert Widmanstetter had told +Clement VII of the Copernican hypothesis and the pope did not, at +least, condemn it. Moreover it was a cardinal, Schoenberg, who +consulted Paul III on the matter [Sidenote: 1536] and then urged +Copernicus to publish his book, though in his letter the language is so +cautiously guarded against possible heresy that not a word is said +about the earth moving around the sun but only about the moon and the +bodies near it so doing. [Sidenote: 1579] A Spanish theologian, +Didacus a Stunica (Zuniga) wrote a commentary on Job, which was +licensed by the censors, accepting the Copernican astronomy. + +But gradually, as the implications of the doctrine became apparent, the +church in self-defence took a strong stand against it. [Sidenote: +March 5, 1616] The Congregation of the Index issued a decree saying, +"Lest opinions of this sort creep in to the destruction of Catholic +truth, the book of Nicholas Copernicus and others [defending his +hypothesis] are suspended until they be corrected." A little later +Galileo was forced, under the threat of torture, to recant this heresy. +Only when the system had become universally accepted, did the church, +in 1822, first expressly permit the faithful to hold it. + +The philosophers were as shy of the new light as {623} the theologians. +Bodin in France and Bacon in England both rejected it; the former was +conservative at heart and the latter was never able to see good in +other men's work, whether that of Aristotle or of Gilbert or of the +great Pole. Possibly he was also misled by Osiander's preface and by +Tycho Brahe. Giordano Bruno, however, welcomed the new idea with +enthusiasm, saying that Copernicus taught more in two chapters than did +Aristotle and the Peripatetics in all their works. + +Astronomers alone were capable of weighing the evidence scientifically +and they, at first, were also divided. Erasmus Reinhold, of +Wittenberg, accepted it and made his calculations on the assumption of +its truth, as did an Englishman, John Field. [Sidenote: 1556] Tycho +Brahe, [Sidenote: Tycho Brahe, 1546-1601] on the other hand, tried to +find a compromise between the Copernican and Ptolemaic systems. He +argued that the earth could not revolve on its axis as the centrifugal +force would hurl it to pieces, and that it could not revolve around the +sun as in that case a change in the position of the fixed stars would +be observed. Both objections were well taken, of course, considered in +themselves alone, but both could be answered by a deeper knowledge. +Brahe therefore considered the earth as the center of the orbits of the +moon, sun, and stars, and the sun as the center of the orbits of the +planets. + +The attention to astronomy had two practical corollaries, the +improvement of navigation and the reform of the calendar. Several +better forms of astrolabe, of "sun-compass" (or dial turnable by a +magnet) and an "astronomical ring" for getting the latitude and +longitude by observation of sun and star, were introduced. + +[Sidenote: Reform of calendar] + +The reform of the Julian calendar was needed on account of the +imperfect reckoning of the length of the {624} year as exactly 365 1/4 +days; thus every four centuries there would be three days too much. It +was proposed to remedy this for the present by leaving out ten days, +and for the future by omitting leap-year every century not divisible by +400. The bull of Gregory XIII, [Sidenote: February 24, 1582] who +resumed the duties of the ancient Pontifex Maximus in regulating time, +enjoined Catholic lands to rectify their calendar by allowing the +fifteenth of October, 1582, to follow immediately after the fourth. +This was done by most of Italy, by Spain, Portugal, Poland, most of +Germany, and the Netherlands. Other lands adopted the new calendar +later, England not until 1752 and Russia not until 1917. + + +[1] _I.e._ the principle thus formulated in the _Encyclopaedia +Britannica_, s.v. "Mathematics": "If s is any class and zero a member +of it, also if when x is a cardinal number and a member of s, also x + +1 is a member of s, then the whole class of cardinal numbers is +contained in s." + +[2] Eratosthenes (276-196 B.C.) had correctly calculated the earth's +circumference at 25,000, which Poseidonius (c. 135-50 B.C.) reduced to +18,000, in which he was followed by Ptolemy (2d century A.D.). + + +SECTION 5. PHILOSOPHY + +[Sidenote: Science, religion and philosophy] + +The interrelations of science, religion, and philosophy, though complex +in their operation, are easily understood in their broad outlines. +Science is the examination of the data of experience and their +explanation in logical, physical, or mathematical terms. Religion, on +the other hand, is an attitude towards unseen powers, involving the +belief in the existence of spirits. Philosophy, or the search for the +ultimate reality, is necessarily an afterthought. It comes only after +man is sophisticated enough to see some difference between the +phenomenon and the idea. It draws its premises from both science and +religion: some systems, like that of Plato, being primarily religious +fancy, some, like that of Aristotle, scientific realism. + +The philosophical position taken by the Catholic church was that of +Aquinas, Aristotelian realism. [Sidenote: The Reformers] The official +commentary on the _Summa_ was written at this time by Cardinal Cajetan. +Compared to the steady orientation of the Catholic, the Protestant +philosophers wavered, catching often at the latest style in thought, be +it monism or pragmatism. Luther was the {625} spiritual child of +Occam, and the ancestor of Kant. His individualism stood half-way +between the former's nominalism and the latter's transcendentalism and +subjectivism. But the Reformers were far less interested in purely +metaphysical than they were in dogmatic questions. The main use they +made of their philosophy was to bring in a more individual and less +mechanical scheme of salvation. Their great change in point of view +from Catholicism was the rejection of the sacramental, hierarchical +system in favor of justification by faith. This was, in truth, a +stupendous change, putting the responsibility for salvation directly on +God, and dispensing with the mediation of priest and rite. + +[Sidenote: Attitude towards reason] + +But it was the only important change, of a speculative nature, made by +the Reformers. The violent polemics of that and later times have +concealed the fact that in most of his ideas the Protestant is but a +variety of the Catholic. Both religions accepted as axiomatic the +existence of a personal, ethical God, the immortality of the soul, +future rewards and punishments, the mystery of the Trinity, the +revelation, incarnation and miracles of Christ, the authority of the +Bible and the real presence in the sacrament. Both equally detested +reason. + + He who is gifted with the heavenly knowledge of faith + [says the Catechism of the Council of Trent] is free from + an inquisitive curiosity; for when God commands us to + believe, he does not propose to have us search into his + divine judgments, nor to inquire their reasons and causes, + but demands an immutable faith. . . . Faith, therefore, + excludes not only all doubt, but even the desire of + subjecting its truth to demonstration. + + We know that reason is the devil's harlot [says + Luther] and can do nothing but slander and harm all that + God says and does. [And again] If, outside of Christ, + you wish by your own thoughts to know your relation to + {626} + God, you will break your neck. Thunder strikes him + who examines. It is Satan's wisdom to tell what God + is, and by doing so he will draw you into the abyss. + Therefore keep to revelation and don't try to understand. + + +There are many mysteries in the Bible, Luther acknowledged, that seem +absurd to reason, but it is our duty to swallow them whole. Calvin +abhorred the free spirit of the humanists as the supreme heresy of free +thought. He said that philosophy was only the shadow and revelation +the substance. "Nor is it reasonable," said he, "that the divine will +should be made the subject of controversy with us." Zwingli, +anticipating Descartes's "finitum infiniti capax non est," stated that +our small minds could not grasp God's plan. Oecolampadius, dying, said +that he wanted no more light than he then had--an instructive contrast +to Goethe's last words: "Mehr Licht!" Even Bacon, either from prudence +or conviction, said that theological mysteries seeming absurd to reason +must be believed. + +[Sidenote: Radical sects] + +Nor were the radical sects a whit more rational. Those who represented +the protest against Protestantism and the dissidence of dissent +appealed to the Bible as an authority and abhorred reason as much as +did the orthodox churches. The Antitrinitarians were no more deists or +free thinkers than were the Lutherans. Campanus and Adam Pastor and +Servetus and the Sozinis had no aversion to the supernatural and made +no claim to reduce Christianity to a humanitarian deism, as some modern +Unitarians would do. Their doubts were simply based on a different +exegesis of the biblical texts. Fausto Sozini thought Christ was "a +subaltern God to whom at a certain time the Supreme God gave over the +government of the world." Servetus defined the Trinity to be "not an +illusion of three invisible things, but the manifestation of God {627} +in the Word and a communication of the substance of God in the Spirit." +This is no new rationalism coming in but a reversion to an obsolete +heresy, that of Paul of Samosata. It does not surprise us to find +Servetus lecturing on astrology. + +[Sidenote: Spiritual Reformers] + +Somewhat to the left of the Antitrinitarian sects were a few men, who +had hardly any followers, who may be called, for want of a better term, +Spiritual Reformers. They sought, quite in the nineteenth century +spirit, to make Christianity nothing but an ethical culture. James +Acontius, born in Trent [Sidenote: 1565] but naturalized in England, +published his _Stratagems of Satan_ in 1565 to reduce the fundamental +doctrines of Christianity to the very fewest possible. Sebastian +Franck of Ingolstadt [Sidenote: Franck, 1499-1542] found the only +authority for each man in his inward, spiritual message. He sought to +found no community or church, but to get only readers. These men +passed almost unnoticed in their day. + +[Sidenote: Italian skeptics] + +There was much skepticism throughout the century. Complete Pyrrhonism +under a thin veil of lip-conformity, was preached by Peter Pomponazzi, +[Sidenote: Pomponazzi,1462-1325] professor of philosophy at Padua, +Ferrara and Bologna. His _De immortalitate animi_ [Sidenote: 1516] +caused a storm by its plain conclusion that the soul perished with the +body. He tried to make the distinction in his favor that a thing might +be true in religion and false in philosophy. Thus he denied his belief +in demons and spirits as a philosopher, while affirming that he +believed in them as a Christian. He was in fact a materialist. He +placed Christianity, Mohammedanism and Judaism on the same level, +broadly hinting that all were impostures. + +Public opinion became so interested in the subject of immortality at +this time that when another philosopher, Simon Porzio, tried to lecture +on meteorology at Pisa, his audience interrupted him with cries, "Quid +de anima?" He, also, maintained that the soul of man {628} was like +that of the beasts. But he had few followers who dared to express such +an opinion. After the Inquisition had shown its teeth, the life of the +Italian nation was like that of its great poet, Tasso, whose youth was +spent at the feet of the Jesuits and whose manhood was haunted by fears +of having unwittingly done something that might be punished by the +stake. It was to counteract the pagan opinion, stated to be rapidly +growing, that the Vatican Council forbade all clerics to lecture on the +classics for five years. But in vain! A report of Paul III's +cardinals charged professors of philosophy with teaching impiety. +Indeed, the whole literature of contemporary Italy, from Machiavelli, +who treated Christianity as a false and noxious superstition, to Pulci +who professed belief in nothing but pleasure, is saturated with free +thought. "Vanity makes most humanists skeptics," wrote Ariosto, "why +is it that learning and infidelity go hand in hand?" + +[Sidenote: German skeptics] + +In Germany, too, there was some free thought, the most celebrated case +being that of the "godless painters of Nuremberg," Hans Sebald Beham, +Bartholomew Beham, and George Penz. The first named expressed some +doubts about various Protestant doctrines. Bartholomew went further, +asserting that baptism was a human device, that the Scriptures could +not be believed and that the preaching he had heard was but idle talk, +producing no fruit in the life of the preacher himself; he recognized +no superior authority but that of God. George Penz went further still, +for while he admitted the existence of God he asserted that his nature +was unknowable, and that he could believe neither in Christ nor in the +Scriptures nor in the sacraments. The men were banished from the city. + +[Sidenote: French skeptics] + +In France, as in Italy, the opening of the century saw signs of +increasing skepticism in the frequent {629} trials of heretics who +denied all Christian doctrines and "all principles save natural ones." +But a spirit far more dangerous to religion than any mere denial +incarnated itself in Rabelais. He did not philosophize, but he poured +forth a torrent of the raw material from which philosophies are made. +He did not argue or attack; he rose like a flood or a tide until men +found themselves either swimming in the sea of mirth and mockery, or +else swept off their feet by it. He studied law, theology and +medicine; he travelled in Germany and Italy and he read the classics, +the schoolmen, the humanists and the heretics. And he found everywhere +that nature and life were good and nothing evil in the world save its +deniers. To live according to nature he built, in his story, the abbey +of Theleme, a sort of hedonist's or anarchist's Utopia where men and +women dwell together under the rule, "Do what thou wilt," and which has +over its gates the punning invitation: "Cy entrez, vous, qui le saint +evangile en sens agile annoncez, quoy qu'on gronde." For Rabelais +there was nothing sacred, or even serious in "revealed religion," and +God was "that intellectual sphere the center of which is everywhere and +the circumference nowhere." + +Rabelais was not the only Frenchman to burlesque the religious quarrels +of the day. Bonaventure des Periers, [Sidenote: Des Periers, d. 1544] +in a work called _Cymbalum Mundi_, introduced Luther under the anagram +of Rethulus, a Catholic as Tryocan (_i.e._, Croyant) and a skeptic as +Du Glenier (_i.e._, Incredule), debating their opinions in a way that +redounded much to the advantage of the last named. + +Then there was Stephen Dolet [Sidenote: Dolet, 1509-46] the humanist +publisher of Lyons, burned to death as an atheist, because, in +translating the Axiochos, a dialogue then attributed to Plato, he had +written "After death you will be nothing at all" instead of "After +death you will be no {630} more," as the original is literally to be +construed. The charge was frivolous, but the impression was doubtless +correct that he was a rather indifferent skeptic, disdainful of +religion. He, too, considered the Reformers only to reject them as too +much like their enemies. No Christian church could hold the worshipper +of Cicero and of letters, of glory and of humanity. And yet this sad +and restless man, who found the taste of life as bitter as Rabelais had +found it sweet, died for his faith. He was the martyr of the +Renaissance. + +[Sidenote: Bodin] + +A more systematic examination of religion was made by Jean Bodin in his +_Colloquy on Secret and Sublime Matters_, commonly called the +_Heptaplomeres_. Though not published until long after the author's +death, it had a brisk circulation in manuscript and won a reputation +for impiety far beyond its deserts. It is simply a conversation +between a Jew, a Mohammedan, a Lutheran, a Zwinglian, a Catholic, an +Epicurean and a Theist. The striking thing about it is the fairness +with which all sides are presented; there is no summing up in favor of +one faith rather than another. Nevertheless, the conclusion would +force itself upon the reader that among so many religions there was +little choice; that there was something true and something false in +all; and that the only necessary articles were those on which all +agreed. Bodin was half way between a theist and a deist; he believed +that the Decalogue was a natural law imprinted in all men's hearts and +that Judaism was the nearest to being a natural religion. He admitted, +however, that the chain of casuality was broken by miracle and he +believed in witchcraft. It cannot be thought that he was wholly +without personal faith, like Machiavelli, and yet his strong argument +against changing religion even if the new be better than the old, is +entirely worldly. With France before his {631} eyes, it is not strange +that he drew the general conclusion that any change of religion is +dangerous and sure to be followed by war, pestilence, famine and +demoniacal possession. + +[Sidenote: Montaigne] + +After the fiery stimulants, compounded of brimstone and Stygian hatred, +offered by Calvin and the Catholics, and after the plethoric gorge of +good cheer at Gargantua's table, the mild sedative of Montaigne's +conversation comes like a draft of nepenthe or the fruit of the lotus. +In him we find no blast and blaze of propaganda, no fulmination of bull +and ban; nor any tide of earth-encircling Rabelaisian mirth. His words +fall as softly and as thick as snowflakes, and they leave his world a +white page, with all vestiges of previous writings erased. He neither +asseverates nor denies; he merely, as he puts it himself, "juggles," +treating of idle subjects which he believes nothing at all, for he has +noticed that as soon one denies the possibility of anything, someone +else will say that he has seen it. In short, truth is a near neighbor +to falsehood, and the wise man can only repeat, "Que sais-je?" Let us +live delicately and quietly, finding the world worth enjoying, but not +worth troubling about. + +Wide as are the differences between the Greek thinker and the French, +there is something Socratic in the way in which Montaigne takes up +every subject only to suggest doubts of previously held opinion about +it. If he remained outwardly a Catholic, it was because he saw exactly +as much to doubt in other religions. Almost all opinions, he urges, +are taken on authority, for when men begin to reason they draw +diametrically opposite conclusions from the same observed facts. He +was in the civil wars esteemed an enemy by all parties, though it was +only because he had both Huguenot and Catholic friends. "I have seen +in Germany," he wrote, "that Luther hath left as many {632} divisions +and altercations concerning the doubt of his opinions, yea, and more, +than he himself moveth about the Holy Scriptures." The Reformers, in +fact, had done nothing but reform superficial faults and had either +left the essential ones untouched, or increased them. How foolish they +were to imagine that the people could understand the Bible if they +could only read it in their own language! + +Montaigne was the first to feel the full significance of the +multiplicity of sects. [Sidenote: Multiplicity of sects] "Is there +any opinion so fantastical, or conceit so extravagant . . . or opinion +so strange," he asked, "that custom hath not established and planted by +laws in some region?" Usage sanctions every monstrosity, including +incest and parricide in some places, and in others "that unsociable +opinion of the mortality of the soul." Indeed, Montaigne comes back to +the point, a man's belief does not depend on his reason, but on where +he was born and how brought up. "To an atheist all writings make for +atheism." "We receive our religion but according to our fashion. . . . +Another country, other testimonies, equal promises, like menaces, might +sembably imprint a clean contrary religion in us." + +Piously hoping that he has set down nothing repugnant to the +prescriptions of the Catholic, Apostolic and Roman church, where he was +born and out of which he purposes not to die, Montaigne proceeds to +demonstrate that God is unknowable. A man cannot grasp more than his +hand will hold nor straddle more than his legs' length. Not only all +religions, but all scientists give the lie to each other. Copernicus, +having recently overthrown the old astronomy, may be later overthrown +himself. In like manner the new medical science of Paracelsus +contradicts the old and may in turn pass away. The same facts appear +differently to different men, and "nothing comes to us but falsified +{633} and altered by our senses." Probability is as hard to get as +truth, for a man's mind is changed by illness, or even by time, and by +his wishes. Even skepticism is uncertain, for "when the Pyrrhonians +say, 'I doubt,' you have them fast by the throat to make them avow that +at least you are assured and know that they doubt." In short, "nothing +is certain but uncertainty," and "nothing seemeth true that may not +seem false." Montaigne wrote of pleasure as the chief end of man, and +of death as annihilation. The glory of philosophy is to teach men to +despise death. One should do so by remembering that it is as great +folly to weep because one would not be alive a hundred years hence as +it would be to weep because one had not been living a hundred years ago. + +[Sidenote: Charron, 1541-1603] + +A disciple who dotted the i's and crossed the t's of Montaigne was +Peter Charron. He, too, played off the contradictions of the sects +against each other. All claim inspiration and who can tell which +inspiration is right? Can the same Spirit tell the Catholic that the +books of Maccabees are canonical and tell Luther that they are not? +The senses are fallible and the soul, located by Charron in a ventricle +of the brain, is subject to strange disturbances. Many things almost +universally believed, like immortality, cannot be proved. Man is like +the lower animals. "We believe, judge, act, live and die on faith," +but this faith is poorly supported, for all religions and all +authorities are but of human origin. + +[Sidenote: English skeptics] + +English thought followed rather than led that of Europe throughout the +century. At first tolerant and liberal, it became violently religious +towards the middle of the period and then underwent a strong reaction +in the direction of indifference and atheism. For the first years, +before the Reformation, the _Utopia_ may serve as an example. More, +under the influence {634} of the Italian Platonists, pictured his ideal +people as adherents of a deistic, humanitarian religion, with few +priests and holy, tolerant of everything save intolerance. They +worshipped one God, believed in immortality and yet thought that "the +chief felicity of man" lay in the pursuit of rational pleasure. +Whether More depicted this cult simply to fulfil the dramatic +probabilities and to show what was natural religion among men before +revelation came to them, or whether his own opinions altered in later +life, it is certain that he became robustly Catholic. He spent much +time in religious controversy and resorted to austerities. In one +place he tells of a lewd gallant who asked a friar why he gave himself +the pain of walking barefoot. Answered that this pain was less than +hell, the gallant replied, "If there be no hell, what a fool are you," +and received the retort, "If there be hell, what a fool are you." Sir +Thomas evidently believed there was a hell, or preferred to take no +chances. In one place he argues at length that many and great miracles +daily take place at shrines. + +The feverish crisis of the Reformation was followed in the reign of +Elizabeth by an epidemic of skepticism. Widely as it was spread there +can be found little philosophical thought in it. It was simply the +pendulum pulled far to the right swinging back again to the extreme +left. The suspicions expressed that the queen herself was an atheist +were unfounded, but it is impossible to dismiss as easily the numerous +testimonies of infidelity among her subjects. Roger Ascham wrote in +his _Schoolmaster_ [Sidenote: 1563] that the "incarnate devils" of +Englishmen returned from Italy said "there is no God" and then, "they +first lustily condemn God, then scornfully mock his Word . . . counting +as fables the holy mysteries of religion. They make Christ and his +Gospel only serve civil policies. . . . They boldly laugh {635} to +scorn both Protestant and Papist. They confess no Scripture. . . . +They mock the pope; they rail on Luther. . . . They are Epicures in +living and [Greek] _atheoi_ in doctrine." + +[Sidenote: 1569] + +In like manner Cecil wrote: "The service of God and the sincere +profession of Christianity are much decayed, and in place of it, partly +papistry, partly paganism and irreligion have crept in. . . . +Baptists, deriders of religion, Epicureans and atheists are +everywhere." Ten years later John Lyly wrote that "there never were +such sects among the heathens, such schisms among the Turks, such +misbelief among infidels as is now among scholars." The same author +wrote a dialogue, _Euphues and Atheos_, to convince skeptics, while +from the pulpit the Puritan Henry Smith shot "God's Arrow against +atheists." According to Thomas Nash [Sidenote: 1592] (_Pierce +Penniless's Supplication to the Devil_) atheists are now triumphing and +rejoicing, scorning the Bible, proving that there were men before Adam +and even maintaining "that there are no divells." Marlowe and some of +his associates were suspected of atheism. In 1595 John Baldwin, +examined before Star Chamber, "questioned whether there were a God; if +there were, how he should be known; if by his Word, who wrote the same, +if the prophets and the apostles, they were but men and _humanum est +errare_." The next year Robert Fisher maintained before the same court +that "Christ was no saviour and that the gospel was a fable." + +[Sidenote: Bacon] + +That one of the prime causes of all this skepticism was to be found in +the religious revolution was the opinion of Francis Bacon. Although +Bacon's philosophic thought is excluded from consideration by the +chronological limits of this book, it may be permissible to quote his +words on this subject. In one place he says that where there are two +religions contending for {636} mastery their mutual animosity will add +warmth to conviction and rather strengthen the adherents of each in +their own opinions, but where there are more than two they will breed +doubt. In another place he says: + + Heresies and schisms are of all others the greatest + scandals, yea more than corruption of manners. . . . So + that nothing doth so keep men out of the church and drive + men out of the church as breach of unity. . . . The doctor + of the gentiles saith, "If an heathen come in and hear + you speak with several tongues, will he not say that you + are mad?" And certainly it is little better when atheists + and profane persons hear of so many discordant and + contrary opinions in religion. + + +But while Bacon saw that when doctors disagree the common man will lose +all faith in them, it was not to religion but to science that he looked +for the reformation of philosophy. Theology, in Bacon's judgment, was +a chief enemy to philosophy, for it seduced men from scientific pursuit +of truth to the service of dogma. "You may find all access to any +species of philosophy," said Bacon, "however pure, intercepted by the +ignorance of divines." + +The thought here expressed but sums up the actual trend of the +sixteenth century in the direction of separating philosophy and +religion. In modern times the philosopher has found his inspiration +far more in science than in religion, and the turning-point came about +the time of, and largely as a consequence of, the new observation of +nature, and particularly the new astronomy. + +[Sidenote: Revolt against Aristotle] + +The prologue to the drama of the new thought was revolt against +Aristotle. "The master of them who know" had become, after the +definite acceptance of his works as standard texts in the universities +of the thirteenth century, an inspired and infallible authority {637} +for all science. With him were associated the schoolmen who debated +the question of realism versus nominalism. But as the mind of man grew +and advanced, what had been once the brace became a galling bond. All +parties united to make common cause against the Stagyrite. The Italian +Platonists attacked him in the name of their, and his, master. Luther +opined that no one had ever understood Aristotle's meaning, that the +ethics of that "damned heathen" directly contradicted Christian virtue, +that any potter would know more of natural science than he, and that it +would be well if he who had started the debate on realism and +nominalism had never been born. Catholics like Usingen protested at +the excessive reverence given to Aristotle at the expense of Christ. +Finally, the French scientist Peter Ramus [Sidenote: Ramus, c. 1515-72] +advanced the thesis at the University of Paris that everything taught +by Aristotle was false. No authority, he argued, is superior to +reason, for it is reason which creates and determines authority. + +[Sidenote: Effect of science on philosophy] + +In place of Aristotle men turned to nature. "Whosoever in discussion +adduces authority uses not intellect but memory," said Leonardo. Vives +urged that experiment was the only road to truth. The discoveries of +natural laws led to a new conception of external reality, independent +of man's wishes and egocentric theories. It also gave rise to the +conception of uniformity of law. Copernicus sought and found a +mathematical unity in the heavens. It was, above all else, his +astronomy that fought the battle of, and won the victory for, the new +principles of research. Its glory was not so much its positive +addition to knowledge, great as that was, but its mode of thought. By +pure reason a new system was established and triumphed over the +testimony of the senses and of all {638} previous authority, even that +which purported to be revelation. Man was reduced to a creature of +law; God was defined as an expression of law. + +How much was man's imagination touched, how was his whole thought and +purpose changed by the Copernican discovery! No longer lord of a +little, bounded world, man crept as a parasite on a grain of dust +spinning eternally through endless space. And with the humiliation +came a great exaltation. For this tiny creature could now seal the +stars and bind the Pleiades and sound each deep abyss that held a sun. +What new sublimity of thought, what greatness of soul was not his! To +Copernicus belongs properly the praise lavished by Lucretius on +Epicurus, of having burst the flaming bounds of the world and of having +made man equal to heaven. The history of the past, the religion of the +present, the science of the future--all ideas were transmuted, all +values reversed by this new and wonderful hypothesis. + +But all this, of course, was but dimly sensed by the contemporaries of +Copernicus. What they really felt was the new compulsion of natural +law and the necessity of causation. Leonardo was led thus far by his +study of mathematics, which he regarded as the key to natural science. +He even went so far as to define time as a sort of non-geometrical +space. + +[Sidenote: Theory of knowledge] + +Two things were necessary to a philosophy in harmony with the +scientific view; the first was a new theory of knowledge, the second +was a new conception of the ultimate reality in the universe. +Paracelsus contributed to the first in the direction of modern +empiricism, by defending understanding as that which comprehended +exactly the thing that the hand touched and the eyes saw. Several +immature attempts were made at scientific skepticism. That of +Cornelius Agrippa--_De incertitudine et vanitate scientiarum et {639} +artium atque excellentia Verbi Dei declamatio_--can hardly be taken +seriously, as it was regarded by the author himself rather as a clever +paradox. Francis Sanchez, on the other hand, formulated a tenable +theory of the impossibility of knowing anything. A riper theory of +perception, following Paracelsus and anticipating Leibnitz, was that of +Edward Digby, based on the notion of the active correspondence between +mind and matter. + +[Sidenote: The ultimate reality] + +To the thinker of the sixteenth century the solution of the question of +the ultimate reality seemed to demand some form of identification of +the world-soul with matter. Paracelsus and Gilbert both felt in the +direction of hylozoism, or the theory of the animation of all things. +If logically carried out, as it was not by them, this would have meant +that everything was God. The other alternative, that God was +everything, was developed by a remarkable man, who felt for the new +science the enthusiasm of a religious convert, Giordano Bruno. + +[Sidenote: Bruno, 1548-1600] + +Born at Nola near Naples, he entered in his fifteenth year the +Dominican friary. This step he soon regretted, and, after being +disciplined for disobedience, fled, first to Rome and then to Geneva. +Thence he wandered to France, to England, and to Wittenberg [Sidenote: +1569] and Prague, lecturing at several universities, including Oxford. +In 1593 he was lured back to Italy, was imprisoned by the Inquisition, +and after long years was finally burnt at the stake in Rome. +[Sidenote: February 17, 1600] + +In religion Bruno was an eclectic, if not a skeptic. At Wittenberg he +spoke of Luther as "a second Hercules who bound the three-headed and +triply-crowned hound of hell and forced him to vomit forth his poison." +But in Italy he wrote that he despised the Reformers as more ignorant +than himself. His _Expulsion of the Triumphant Beast_, in the disguise +of an {640} attack on the heathen mythology, is in reality an assault +on revealed religion. His treatise _On the Heroic Passions_ aims to +show that moral virtues are not founded on religion but on reason. + +[Sidenote: The new astronomy] + +The enthusiasm that Bruno lacked for religion he felt in almost +boundless measure for the new astronomy, "by which," as he himself +wrote, "we are moved to discover the infinite cause of an infinite +effect, and are led to contemplate the deity not as though outside, +apart, and distant from us, but in ourselves. For, as deity is +situated wholly everywhere, so it is as near us as we can be to +ourselves." From Nicholos of Cusa Bruno had learned that God may be +found in the smallest as in the greatest things in the world; the +smallest being as endless in power as the greatest is infinite in +energy, and all being united in the "Monad," or "the One." Now, +Bruno's philosophy is nothing but the cosmological implication and the +metaphysical justification of the Copernician theory in the conceptual +terms of Nicholas of Cusa. + +Liberated from the tyranny of dogma and of the senses, dazzled by the +whirling maze of worlds without end scattered like blazing sparks +throughout space, drunk with the thought of infinity, he poured forth a +paean of breathing thoughts and burning words to celebrate his new +faith, the religion of science. The universe for him was composed of +atoms, tiny "minima" that admit no further division. Each one of these +is a "monad," or unity, comprised in some higher unity until finally +"the monad of monads" was found in God. But this was no tribal +Jehovah, no personal, anthropomorphic deity, but a First Principle; +nearly identical with Natural Law. + + + + +{641} + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE TEMPER OF THE TIMES + +SECTION 1. TOLERANCE AND INTOLERANCE + +Because religion has in the past protested its own intolerance the most +loudly, it is commonly regarded as the field of persecution _par +excellence_. This is so far from being the case that it is just in the +field of religion that the greatest liberty has been, after a hard +struggle, won. It is as if the son who refused to work in the vineyard +had been forcibly hauled thither, whereas the other son, admitting his +willingness to go, had been left out. Nowadays in most civilized +countries a man would suffer more inconvenience by going bare-foot and +long-haired than by proclaiming novel religious views; he would be in +vastly more danger by opposing the prevalent patriotic or economic +doctrines, or by violating some possibly irrational convention, than he +would by declaring his agnosticism or atheism. The reason of this +state of things is that in the field of religion a tremendous battle +between opposing faiths was once fought, with exhaustion as the result, +and that the rationalists then succeeded in imposing on the two +parties, convinced that neither could exterminate the other, respect +for each other's rights. + +[Sidenote: Intolerance, Catholics] + +This battle was fought in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. +Almost all religions and almost all statesmen were then equally +intolerant when they had the power to be so. The Catholic church, with +that superb consistency that no new light can alter, has {642} always +asserted that the opinion that everyone should have freedom of +conscience [Sidenote: Freedom of conscience] was "madness flowing from +the most foul fountain of indifference." [1] Augustine believed that +the church should "compel men to enter in" to the kingdom, by force. +Aquinas argued that faith is a virtue, infidelity of those who have +heard the truth a sin, and that "heretics deserve not only to be +excommunicated but to be put to death." One of Luther's propositions +condemned by the bull _Exsurge Domine_ was that it is against the will +of the Holy Ghost to put heretics to death. When Erasmus wrote: "Who +ever heard orthodox bishops incite kings to slaughter heretics who were +nothing else than heretics?" the proposition was condemned, by the +Sorbonne, as repugnant to the laws of nature, of God and of man. The +power of the pope to depose and punish heretical princes was asserted +in the bull of February 15, 1559. + +The theory of the Catholic church was put into instant practice; the +duty of persecution was carried out by the Holy Office, of which Lord +Acton, though himself a Catholic, has said:[2] + + The Inquisition is peculiarly the weapon and peculiarly + the work of the popes. It stands out from all those things + in which they co-operated, followed or assented, as the + distinctive feature of papal Rome. . . . It is the + principal thing with which the papacy is identified and by + which it must be judged. The principle of the Inquisition + is murderous, and a man's opinion of the papacy is + regulated and determined by his opinion about religious + assassination. + + +But Acton's judgment, just, as it is severe, is not the judgment of the +church. A prelate of the papal {643} household published in 1895, the +following words in the _Annales ecclesiastici_:[3] + + Some sons of darkness nowadays with dilated nostrils + and wild eyes inveigh against the intolerance of the Middle + Ages. But let not us, blinded by that liberalism that + bewitches under the guise of wisdom, seek for silly little + reasons to defend the Inquisition! Let no one speak of + the condition of the times and intemperate zeal, as if the + church needed excuses. O blessed flames of those pyres + by which a very few crafty and insignificant persons + were taken away that hundreds of hundreds of phalanxes + of souls should be saved from the jaws of error and + eternal damnation! O noble and venerable memory of + Torquemada! + + +[Sidenote: Protestants] + +So much for the Catholics. If any one still harbors the traditional +prejudice that the early Protestants were more liberal, he must be +undeceived. Save for a few splendid sayings of Luther, [Sidenote: +Luther] confined to the early years when he was powerless, there is +hardly anything to be found among the leading reformers in favor of +freedom of conscience. As soon as they had the power to persecute they +did. + +In his first period Luther expressed the theory of toleration as well +as anyone can. He wrote: "The pope is no judge of matters pertaining +to God's Word and the faith, but a Christian must examine and judge +them himself, as he must live and die by thorn." Again he said: +"Heresy can never be prevented by force. . . . Heresy is a spiritual +thing; it cannot be cut with iron nor burnt with fire nor drowned in +water." And yet again, "Faith is free. What could a heresy trial do? +No more than make people agree by mouth or in writing; it could not +compel the heart. For true is the proverb: 'Thoughts are free of +taxes.'" Even {644} when the Anabaptists began to preach doctrines +that he thoroughly disliked, Luther at first advised the government to +leave them unmolested to teach and believe what they liked, "be it +gospel or lies." + +But alas for the inconsistency of human nature! When Luther's party +ripened into success, he saw things quite differently. The first +impulse came from the civil magistrate, whom the theologians at first +endured, then justified and finally urged on. All persons save priests +were forbidden [Sidenote: February 26, 1527] by the Elector John of +Saxony to preach or baptize, a measure aimed at the Anabaptists. In +the same year, under this law, twelve men and one woman were put to +death, and such executions were repeated several times in the following +years, _e.g._ in 1530, 1532 and 1538. In the year 1529 came the +terrible imperial law, passed by an alliance of Catholics and Lutherans +at the Diet of Spires, condemning all Anabaptists to death, and +interpreted to cover cases of simple heresy in which no breath of +sedition mingled. A regular inquisition was set up in Saxony, with +Melanchthon on the bench, and under it many persons were punished, some +with death, some with life imprisonment, and some with exile. + +While Luther took no active part in these proceedings, and on several +occasions gave the opinion that exile was the only proper punishment, +he also, at other times, justified persecution on the ground that he +was suppressing not heresy but blasphemy. As he interpreted blasphemy, +in a work published about 1530, it included the papal mass, the denial +of the divinity of Christ or of any other "manifest article of the +faith, clearly grounded in Scripture and believed throughout +Christendom." The government should also, in his opinion, put to death +those who preached sedition, anarchy or the abolition of private +property. + +[Sidenote: Melanchthon] + +Melanchthon was far more active in the pursuit of {645} heretics than +was his older friend. He reckoned the denial of infant baptism, or of +original sin, and the opinion that the eucharistic bread did not +contain the real body and blood of Christ, as blasphemy properly +punishable by death. He blamed Brenz for his tolerance, asking why we +should pity heretics more than does God, who sends them to eternal +torment? Brenz was convinced by this argument and became a persecutor +himself. + +[Sidenote: Bucer and Capito] + +The Strassburgers, who tried to take a position intermediate between +Lutherans and Zwinglians, were as intolerant as any one else. They put +to death a man for saying that Christ was a mere man and a false +prophet, and then defended this act in a long manifesto asking whether +all religious customs of antiquity, such as the violation of women, be +tolerated, and, if not, why they should draw the line at those who +aimed not at the physical dishonor, but at the eternal damnation, of +their wives and daughters? + +[Sidenote: Zwingli] + +The Swiss also punished for heresy. Felix Manz was put to death by +drowning, [Sidenote: January 5, 1527] the method of punishment chosen +as a practical satire on his doctrine of baptism of adults by +immersion. At the same time George Blaurock was cruelly beaten and +banished under threat of death. [Sidenote: September 9, 1527] Zurich, +Berne and St. Gall published a joint edict condemning Anabaptists to +death, and under this law two Anabaptists were sentenced in 1528 and +two more in 1532. + +[Sidenote: Calvin] + +In judicially murdering Servetus the Genevans were absolutely +consistent with Calvin's theory. In the preface to the _Institutes_ he +admitted the right of the government to put heretics to death and only +argued that Protestants were not heretics. Grounding himself on the +law of Moses, he said that the death decreed by God to idolatry in the +Old Testament was a universal law binding on Christians. He thought +that {646} Christians should hate the enemies of God as much as did +David, and when Renee of Ferrara suggested that that law might have +been abrogated by the new dispensation, Calvin retorted that any such +gloss on a plain text would overturn the whole Bible. Calvin went +further, and when Castellio argued that heretics should not be punished +with death, Calvin said that those who defended heretics in this manner +were equally culpable and should be equally punished. + +Given the premises of the theologians, their arguments were +unanswerable. Of late the opinion has prevailed that his faith cannot +be wrong whose life is in the right. But then it was believed that the +creed was the all-important thing; that God would send to hell those +who entertained wrong notions of his scheme of salvation. "We utterly +abhor," says the Scots' Confession of 1560, "the blasphemy of those +that affirm that men who live according to equity and justice shall be +saved, what religion so ever they have professed." + +[Sidenote: Tolerance] + +Against this flood of bigotry a few Christians ventured to protest in +the name of their master. In general, the persecuted sects, +Anabaptists and Unitarians, were firmly for tolerance, by which their +own position would have been improved. [Sidenote: Erasmus] Erasmus +was thoroughly tolerant in spirit and, though he never wrote a treatise +specially devoted to the subject, uttered many _obiter dicta_ in favor +of mercy and wrote many letters to the great ones of the earth +interceding for the oppressed. His broad sympathies, his classical +tastes, his horror of the tumult, and his Christ-like spirit, would not +have permitted him to resort to the coarse arms of rack and stake even +against infidels and Turks. + +The noblest plea for tolerance from the Christian standpoint was that +written by Sebastian Castellio [Sidenote: Castellio] as a protest +against the execution of Servetus. He {647} collects all the +authorities ancient and modern, the latter including Luther and Erasmus +and even some words, inconsistent with the rest of his life, written by +Calvin himself. "The more one knows of the truth the less one is +inclined to condemnation of others," he wisely observes, and yet, +"there is no sect which does not condemn all others and wish to reign +alone. Thence come banishments, exiles, chains, imprisonments, +burnings, scaffolds and the miserable rage of torture and torment that +is plied every day because of some opinions not pleasing to the +government, or even because of things unknown." But Christians burn +not only infidels but even each other, for the heretic calls on the +name of Christ as he perishes in agony. + + Who would not think that Christ were Moloch, or some + such god, if he wished that men be immolated to him and + burnt alive? . . . Imagine that Christ, the judge of all, + were present and himself pronounced sentence and lit + the fire,--who would not take Christ for Satan? For + what else would Satan do than burn those who call on + the name of Christ? O Christ, creator of the world, dost + thou see such things? And hast thou become so totally + different from what thou wast, so cruel and contrary to + thyself? When thou wast on earth, there was no one + gentler or more compassionate or more patient of injuries. + +Calvin called upon his henchmen Beza to answer this "blasphemy" of one +that must surely be "the chosen vessel of Satan." Beza replied to +Castellio that God had given the sword to the magistrate not to be +borne in vain and that it was better to have even a cruel tyrant than +to allow everyone to do as he pleased. Those who forbid the punishment +of heresy are, in Beza's opinion, despisers of God's Word and might as +well say that even parricides should not be chastized. + +Two authors quoted in favor of tolerance more than {648} they deserve +to be are Sir Thomas More [Sidenote: More] and Montaigne. In Utopia, +indeed, there was no persecution, save of the fanatic who wished to +persecute others. But even in Utopia censure of the government by a +private individual was punishable by death. And, twelve years after +the publication of the _Utopia_, More came to argue "that the burning +of heretics is lawful and well done," and he did it himself +accordingly. The reason he gave, in his _Dialogue_, was that heretics +also persecute, and that it would put the Catholics at an unfair +disadvantage to allow heresy to wax unhindered until it grew great +enough to crush them. There is something in this argument. It is like +that today used against disarmament, that any nation which started it +would put itself at the mercy of its rivals. + +[Sidenote: Montaigne] + +The spirit of Montaigne was thoroughly tolerant, because he was always +able to see both sides of everything; one might even say that he was +negatively suggestible, and always saw the "other" side of an opinion +better than he saw his own side of it. He never came out strongly for +toleration, but he made two extremely sage remarks about it. The first +was that it was setting a high value on our own conjectures to put men +to death for their sake. The second was thus phrased, in the old +English translation: "It might be urged that to give factions the +bridle to uphold their opinion, is by that facility and ease, the ready +way to mollify and release them; and to blunt the edge, which is +sharpened by rareness, novelty and difficulty." + +Had the course of history been decided by weight of argument, +persecution would have been fastened on the world forever, for the +consensus of opinion was overwhelmingly against liberty of conscience. +But just as individuals are rarely converted on any vital question by +argument, so the course of races and of civilizations is decided by +factors lying deeper than {649} the logic of publicists can reach. +Modern toleration developed from two very different sources; by one of +which the whole point of view of the race has changed, and by the other +of which a truce between warring factions, at first imposed as bitter +necessity, has developed, because of its proved value, into a permanent +peace. + +[Sidenote: Renaissance] + +The first cause of modern tolerance is the growing rationalism of which +the seeds were sown by the Renaissance. The generation before Luther +saw an almost unparalleled liberty in the expression of learned +opinion. Valla could attack pope, Bible and Christian ethics; +Pomponazzi could doubt the immortality of the soul; More could frame a +Utopia of deists, and Machiavelli could treat religion as an instrument +in the hands of knaves to dupe fools. As far as it went this liberty +was admirable; but it was really narrow and "academic" in the worst +sense of the word. The scholars who vindicated for themselves the +right to say and think what they pleased in the learned tongue and in +university halls, never dreamed that the people had the same rights. +Even Erasmus was always urging Luther not to communicate imprudent +truths to the vulgar, and when he kept on doing so Erasmus was so vexed +that he "cared not whether Luther was roasted or boiled" for it. +Erasmus's good friend Ammonius jocosely complained that heretics were +so plentiful in England in 1511 before the Reformation had been heard +of, that the demand for faggots to burn them was enhancing the price of +fire-wood. Indeed, in this enlightened era of the Renaissance, what +porridge was handed to the common people? What was free, except +dentistry, to the Jews, expelled from Spain and Portugal and persecuted +everywhere else? What tolerance was extended to the Hussites? What +mercy was shown to the Lollards or to Savonarola? + +{650} [Sidenote: Reformation] + +Paradoxical as it may seem to say it, after what has been said of the +intolerance of the Reformers, the second cause that extended modern +freedom of conscience from the privileged few to the masses, was the +Reformation. Overclouding, as it did for a few years, all the glorious +culture of the Renaissance with a dark mist of fanaticism, it +nevertheless proved, contrary to its own purpose, one of the two +parents of liberty. What neither the common ground of the Christians +in doctrine, nor their vaunted love of God, nor their enlightenment by +the Spirit, could produce, was finally wrung from their mutual and +bitter hatreds. Of all the fair flowers that have sprung from a dark +and noisome soil, that of religious liberty sprouting from religious +war has been the fairest. + +The steps were gradual. First, after the long deadlock of Lutheran and +Catholic, came to be worked out the principle of the toleration of the +two churches, [Sidenote: 1555] embodied in the Peace of Augsburg. The +Compact of Warsaw [Sidenote: 1573] granted absolute religious liberty +to the nobles. The people of the Netherlands, sickened with slaughter +in the name of the faith, took a longer step in the direction of +toleration in the Union of Utrecht. [Sidenote: 1579] The government +of Elizabeth, acting from prudential motives only, created and +maintained an extra-legal tolerance of Catholics, again and again +refusing to molest those who were peaceable and quiet. The papists +even hoped to obtain legal recognition when Francis Bacon proposed to +tolerate all Christians except those who refused to fight a foreign +enemy. France found herself in a like position, [Sidenote: 1592] and +solved it by allowing the two religions to live side by side in the +Edict of Nantes. The furious hatred of the Christians for each other +blazed forth in the Thirty Years War, [Sidenote: 1598] but after that +lesson persecution on a large scale was at an end. Indeed, before its +end, wide religious {651} liberty had been granted in some of the +American colonies, notably in Rhode Island and Maryland. + + +[1] Gregory XVI, Encyclical, _Mirari vos_, 1832. + +[2] _Letters to Mary Gladstone_, ed. H. Paul, 1904, p. 298 f. + +[3] C. Mirbt: _Quellen zur Geschichte des Papsttums_, 3, 1911, p. 390. + + +SECTION 2. WITCHCRAFT + +Some analogy to the wave of persecution and confessional war that swept +over Europe at this time can be found in the witchcraft craze. Both were +examples of those manias to which mankind is periodically subject. They +run over the face of the earth like epidemics or as a great fire consumes +a city. Beginning in a few isolated cases, so obscure as to be hard to +trace, the mania gathers strength until it burns with its maximum +fierceness and then, having exhausted itself, as it were, dies away, +often quite suddenly. Such manias were the Children's Crusade and the +zeal of the flagellants in the Middle Ages. Such have been the mad +speculations as that of the South Sea Bubble and the panics that +repeatedly visit our markets. To the same category belong the religious +and superstitious delusions of the sixteenth century. + +The history of these mental epidemics is easier to trace than their +causes. Certainly, reason does nothing to control them. In almost every +case there are a few sane men to point out, with perfect rationality, the +nature of the folly to their contemporaries, but in all cases their words +fall on deaf ears. They are mocked, imprisoned, sometimes put to death +for their pains, whereas any fanatical fool that adds fuel to the flame +of current passion is listened to, rewarded and followed. + +[Sidenote: Ancient magic] + +The original stuff from which the mania was wrought is a savage survival. +Hebrew and Roman law dealt with witchcraft. The Middle Ages saw the +survival of magic, still called in Italy, "the old religion," and new +superstitions added to it. Something of the ancient enchantment still +lies upon the {652} fairylands of Europe. In the Apennines one sometimes +comes upon a grove of olives or cypresses as gnarled and twisted as the +tortured souls that Dante imagined them to be. Who can wander through +the heaths and mountains of the Scotch Highlands, with their uncanny +harmonies of silver mist and grey cloud and glint of water and bare rock +and heather, and not see in the distance the Weird Sisters crooning over +their horrible cauldron? In Germany the forests are magic-mad. Walking +under the huge oaks of the Thuringian Forest or the Taunus, or in the +pine woods of Hesse, one can see the flutter of airy garments in the +chequered sunlight falling upon fern and moss; one can glimpse goblins +and kobolds hiding behind the roots and rocks; one can hear the King of +the Willows[1] and the Bride of the Wind moaning and calling in the +rustling of the leaves. On a summer's day the calm of pools is so +complete that it seems as if, according to Luther's words, the throwing +of a stone into the water would raise a tempest. But on moonlit, windy, +Walpurgis Night, witches audibly ride by, hooted at by the owls, and vast +spectres dance in the cloud-banks beyond the Brocken. + +[Sidenote: The witch] + +The witch has become a typical figure: she was usually a simple, old +woman living in a lonely cottage with a black cat, gathering herbs by the +light of the moon. But she was not always an ancient beldam; some +witches were known as the purest and fairest maidens of the village; some +were ladies in high station; some were men. A ground for suspicion was +sometimes furnished by the fact that certain charletans playing upon the +credulity of the ignorant, professed to be able by sorcery to find money, +"to provoke persons to love," or to consume the body and goods of a +client's enemy. Black magic was occasionally resorted to to get rid +{653} of personal or political enemies. More often a wise woman would be +sought for her skill in herbs and her very success in making cures would +sometimes be her undoing. + +[Sidenote: The devil] + +If the witch was a domestic article in Europe, the devil was an imported +luxury from Asia. Like Aeneas and many another foreign conqueror, when +he came to rule the land he married its princess--in this case Hulda the +pristine goddess of love and beauty--and adopted many of the native +customs. It is difficult for us to imagine what a personage the devil +was in the age of the Reformation. Like all geniuses he had a large +capacity for work and paid great attention to detail. Frequently he took +the form of a cat or a black dog with horns to frighten children by +"skipping to and fro and sitting upon the top of a nettle"; again he +would obligingly hold a review of evil spirits for the satisfaction of +Benvenuto Cellini's curiosity. He was at the bottom of all the +earthquakes, pestilences, famines and wars of the century, and also, if +we may trust their mutual recriminations, he was the special patron of +the pope on the one hand and of Calvin on the other. Luther often talked +with him, though in doing so the sweat poured from his brow and his heart +almost stopped beating. Luther admitted that the devil always got the +best of an argument and could only be banished by some unprintably nasty +epithets hurled at his head. Satan and his satellites often took the +form of men or women and under the name of incubi and succubi had sexual +intercourse with mortals. One of the most abominable features of the +witch craze was that during its height hundreds of children of four or +five years old confessed to being the devil's paramours. + +So great was the power of Satan that, in the common belief, many persons +bartered their souls to him {654} in return for supernatural gifts in +this life. To compensate them for the loss of their salvation, these +persons, the witches, were enabled to do acts of petty spite to their +neighbors, turning milk sour, blighting crops, causing sickness to man +and animals, making children cry themselves to death before baptism, +rendering marriages barren, procuring abortion, and giving charms to +blind a husband to his wife's adultery, or philters to compel love. + +[Sidenote: Witches' Sabbath] + +On certain nights the witches and devils met for the celebration of +blasphemous and obscene rites in an assembly known as the Witches' +Sabbath. To enable themselves to ride to the meeting-place on +broomsticks, the witches procured a communion wafer, applied a toad to +it, burned it, mingled its ashes with the blood of an infant, the +powdered bones of a hanged man and certain herbs. The meeting then +indulged in a parody of the mass, for, so the grave doctors taught, as +Christ had his sacraments the devil had his "unsacraments" or +"execrements." His Satanic Majesty took the form of a goat, dog, cat or +ape and received the homage of his subjects in a loathsome ceremony. +After a banquet promiscuous intercourse of devils and witches followed. + +All this superstition smouldered along in the embers of folk tales for +centuries until it was blown into a devastating blaze by the breath of +theologians who started to try to blow it out. The first puff was given +by Innocence VIII in his bull _Summis desiderantes_. [Sidenote: December +5, 1484] The Holy Father having learned with sorrow that many persons in +Germany had had intercourse with demons and had by incantations hindered +the birth of children and blasted the fruits of the earth, gave authority +to Henry Institoris and James Sprenger to correct, incarcerate, punish +and fine such persons, calling in, if need be, the aid of the secular +arm. These {655} gentlemen acquitted themselves with unsurpassed zeal. +Not content with trying and punishing people brought before them, they +put forth _The Witches' Hammer_, [Sidenote: _Malleus Maleficarum_, 1487] +called by Lea the most portentous monument of superstition ever produced. +In the next two centuries it was printed twenty-nine times. The +University of Cologne at once decided that to doubt the reality of +witchcraft was a crime. The Spanish Inquisition, on the other hand, +having all it could do with Jews and heretics, treated witchcraft as a +diabolical delusion. + +[Sidenote: Inquisition] + +Though most men, including those whom we consider the choice and +master-spirits of the age, Erasmus and More, firmly believed in the +objective reality of witchcraft, they were not obsessed by the subject, +as were their immediate posterity. Two causes may be found for the +intensification of the fanaticism. The first was the use of torture by +the Inquisition. [Sidenote: Torture] The crime was of such a nature +that it could hardly be proved save by confession, and this, in general, +could be extracted only by the infliction of pain. It is instructive to +note that in England where the spirit of the law was averse to torture, +no progress in witch-hunting took place until a substitute for the rack +had been found, first in pricking the body of the witch with pins to find +the anaesthetic spot supposed to mark her, and secondly in depriving her +of sleep. + +[Sidenote: Bibliolatry] + +A second patent cause of the mania was the zeal and the bibliolatry of +Protestantism. The religious debate heated the spiritual atmosphere and +turned men's thoughts to the world of spirits. Such texts, continually +harped upon, as that on the witch of Endor, the injunction, "Thou shalt +not suffer a witch to live," and the demoniacs of the New Testament, +weighed heavily upon the shepherds of the people and upon their flocks. +Of the reality of witchcraft Luther harbored not a doubt. The first use +he made of the ban was to {656} excommunicate reputed witches. Seeing an +idiotic child, whom he regarded as a changeling, he recommended the +authorities to drown it, as a body without a soul. Repeatedly, both in +private talk and in public sermons, he recommended that witches should be +put to death without mercy and without regard to legal niceties. As a +matter of fact, four witches were burned at Wittenberg on June 29, 1540. + +The other Protestants hastened to follow the bad example of their master. +In Geneva, under Calvin, thirty-four women were burned or quartered for +the crime in the year 1545. A sermon of Bishop Jewel in 1562 was perhaps +the occasion of a new English law against witchcraft. Richard Baxter +wrote on the _Certainty of a World of Spirits_. At a much later time the +bad record of the Mathers is well known, as also John Wesley's remark +that giving up witchcraft meant giving up the Bible. + +[Sidenote: The madness] + +After the mania reached its height in the closing years of the century, +anything, however trivial, would arouse suspicion. A cow would go dry, +or a colt break its leg, or there would be a drought, or a storm, or a +murrain on the cattle or a mildew on the crops. Or else a physician, +baffled by some disease that did not yield to his treatment of bleeding +and to his doses of garlic and horses' dung, would suggest that +witchcraft was the reason for his failure. In fact, if any contrariety +met the path of the ordinary man or woman, he or she immediately thought +of the black art, and considered the most likely person for denunciation. +This would naturally be the nearest old woman, especially if she had a +tang to her tongue and had muttered "Bad luck to you!" on some previous +occasion. She would then be hauled before the court, promised liberty if +she confessed, stripped and examined for some mark of Satan or to be sure +that she was not hiding a charm {657} about her person. Torture in some +form was then applied, and a ghastly list it was, pricking with needles +under nails, crushing of bones until the marrow spurted out, wrenching of +the head with knotted cords, toasting the feet before a fire, suspending +the victim by the hands tied behind the back and letting her drop until +the shoulders were disjointed. The horrible work would be kept up until +the poor woman either died under the torture, or confessed, when she was +sentenced without mercy, usually to be burned, sometimes to lesser +punishments. + +When the madness was at its height, hardly anyone, once accused, escaped. +John Bodin, a man otherwise enlightened and learned, earned himself the +not unjust name of "Satan's attorney-general" by urging that strict proof +could not be demanded by the very nature of these cases and that no +suspected person should ever be released unless the malice of her +accusers was plainer than day. Moreover, each trial bred others, for +each witch denounced accomplices until almost the whole population of +certain districts was suspected. So frequently did they accuse their +judges or their sovereign of having assisted at the witches' sabbath, +that this came to be discounted as a regular trick of the devil. + +Persecution raged in some places, chiefly in Germany, like a visitation +of pestilence or war. Those who tried to stop it fell victims to their +own courage, and, unless they recanted, languished for years in prison, +or were executed as possessed by devils themselves. At Treves the +persecution was encouraged by the cupidity of the magistrates who +profited by confiscation of the property of those sentenced. At Bonn +schoolboys of nine or ten, fair young maidens, many priests and scores of +good women were done to death. + +[Sidenote: Numbers executed] + +No figures have been compiled for the total number {658} of victims of +this insanity. In England, under Elizabeth, before the craze had more +than well started on its career, 125 persons are known to have been tried +for witchcraft and 47 are known to have been executed for the crime. In +Venice the Inquisition punished 199 persons for sorcery during the +sixteenth century. In the year 1510, 140 witches were burned at Brescia, +in 1514, 300 at Como. In a single year the bishop of Geneva burned 500 +witches, the bishop of Bamberg 600, the bishop of Wuerzburg 900. About +800 were condemned to death in a single batch by the Senate of Savoy. In +the year 1586 the archbishop of Treves burned 118 women and two men for +this imaginary crime. Even these figures give but an imperfect notion of +the extent of the midsummer madness. The number of victims must be +reckoned by the tens of thousands. + +Throughout the century there were not wanting some signs of a healthy +skepticism. When, during an epidemic of St. Vitus's dance at Strassburg, +[Sidenote: 1588] the citizens proposed a pilgrimage to stop it, the +episcopal vicar replied that as it was a natural disease natural remedies +should be used. Just as witches were becoming common in England, Gosson +wrote in his _School of Abuse_: [Sidenote: 1578] "Do not imitate those +foolish patients, who, having sought all means of recovery and are never +the nearer, run into witchcraft." Leonardo da Vinci called belief in +necromancy the most foolish of all human delusions. + +As it was dangerous to oppose the popular mood at its height, the more +honor must go to the few who wrote _ex professo_ against it. The first +of these, of any note, was the Protestant physician John Weyer. +[Sidenote: Weyer] In his book _De praestigiis daemonum_ [Sidenote: 1563] +he sought very cautiously to show that the poor "old, feeble-minded, +{659} stay-at-home women" sentenced for witchcraft were simply the +victims of their own and other people's delusions. Satan has no commerce +with them save to injure their minds and corrupt their imaginations. +Quite different, he thought, were those infamous magicians who really +used spells, charms, potions and the like, though even here Weyer did not +admit that their effects were due to supernatural agency. This mild and +cautious attempt to defend the innocent was placed on the Index and +elicited the opinion from John Bodin that the author was a true servant +of Satan. + +[Sidenote: Scott] + +A far more thorough and brilliant attack on the superstition was Reginald +Scott's _Discovery of Witchcraft_, wherein the lewd dealings of _Witches +and Witchmongers is notably defected . . . whereunto is added a realise +upon the Nature and Substance of Spirits and Devils_. [Sidenote: 1584] +Scott had read 212 Latin authors and 23 English, on his subject, and he +was under considerable obligation to some of them, notably Weyer. But he +endeavored to make first-hand observations, attended witch trials and +traced gossip to its source. He showed, none better, the utter +flimsiness and absurdity of the charges on which poor old women were done +to death. He explained the performance of the witch of Endor as +ventriloquism. Trying to prove that magic was rejected by reason and +religion alike, he pointed out that all the phenomena might most easily +be explained by wilful imposture or by illusion due to mental +disturbance. As his purpose was the humanitarian one of staying the +cruel persecution, with calculated partisanship he tried to lay the blame +for it on the Catholic church. As the very existence of magic could not +be disproved completely by empirical reasons he attacked it on _a priori_ +grounds, alleging that spirits and bodies are in two categories, unable +to act directly upon each {660} other. Brilliant and convincing as the +work was, it produced no corresponding effect. It was burned publicly by +order of James I. + +[Sidenote: Montaigne] + +Montaigne, who was never roused to anger by anything, had the supreme art +of rebutting others' opinions without seeming to do so. It was doubtless +Bodin's abominable _Demonology_ that called forth his celebrated essay on +witchcraft, in which that subject is treated in the most modern spirit. +The old presumption in favor of the miraculous has fallen completely from +him; his cool, quizzical regard was too much for Satan, who, with all his +knowledge of the world, is easily embarrassed, to endure. The delusion +of witchcraft might be compared to a noxious bacillus. Scott tried to +kill it by heat; he held it up to a fire of indignation, and fairly +boiled it in his scorching flame of reason. Montaigne tried the opposite +treatment: refrigeration. He attacked nothing; he only asked, with an +icy smile, why anything should be believed. Certainly, as long as the +mental passions could be kept at his own low temperature, there was no +danger that the milk of human kindness should turn sour, no matter what +vicious culture of germs it originally held. He begins by saying that he +had seen various miracles in his own day, but, one reads between the +lines, he doesn't believe any of them. One error, he says, begets +another, and everything is exaggerated in the hope of making converts to +the talker's opinion. One miracle bruited all over France turned out to +be a prank of young people counterfeiting ghosts. When one hears a +marvel, he should always say, "perhaps." Better be apprentices at sixty +then doctors at ten. Now witches, he continues, are the subject of the +wildest and most foolish accusations. Bodin had proposed that they +should be killed on mere suspicion, but Montaigne observes, "To kill +human beings there is required a bright-shining {661} and clear light." +And what do the stories amount to? + + How much more natural and more likely do I find it + that two men should lie than that one in twelve hours + should pass from east to west? How much more natural + that our understanding may by the volubility of our + loose-capring mind be transported from his place, than + that one of us should by a strange spirit in flesh and + bone be carried upon a broom through the tunnel of a + chimney? . . . I deem it a matter pardonable not to + believe a wonder, at least so far forth as one may explain + away or break down the truth of the report in some way + not miraculous. . . . Some years past I traveled through + the country of a sovereign prince, who, in favor of me + and to abate my incredulity, did me the grace in his own + presence and in a particular place to make me see ten + or twelve prisoners of that kind, and amongst others an + old beldam witch, a true and perfect sorceress, both by + her ugliness and deformity, and such a one as long + before was most famous in that profession. I saw both + proofs, witnesses, voluntary confessions, and some + insensible marks about this miserable old woman; I enquired + and talked with her a long time, with the greatest heed + and attention I could, and I am not easily carried away + by preconceived opinion. In the end and in my + conscience I should rather have appointed them hellebore + than hemlock. It was rather a disease than a crime. + + +Montaigne goes on to argue that even when we cannot get an +explanation--and any explanation is more probable than magic--it is safe +to disbelieve: "Fear sometimes representeth strange apparitions to the +vulgar sort, as ghosts . . . larves, hobgoblins, Robbin-good-fellows and +such other bugbears and chimaeras." For Montaigne the evil spell upon +the mind of the race had been broken; alas! that it took so long for +other men to throw it off! + + +[1] Erikoenig. + + +SECTION 3. EDUCATION + +[Sidenote: Education] + +From the most terrible superstition let us turn to the noblest, most +inspiring and most important work of {662} humanity. With each +generation the process of handing on to posterity the full heritage of +the race has become longer and more complex. + +[Sidenote: Schools] + +It was, therefore, upon a very definite and highly developed course of +instruction that the contemporary of Erasmus entered. There were a few +great endowed schools, like Eton and Winchester and Deventer, in which +the small boy might begin to learn his "grammar"--Latin, of course. +Some of the buildings at Winchester and Eton are the same now as they +were then, the quite beautiful chapel and dormitories of red brick at +Eton, for example. Each of these two English schools had, at this +time, less than 150 pupils, and but two masters, but the great Dutch +school, Deventer, under the renowned tuition of Hegius, boasted 2200 +scholars, divided into eight forms. Many an old woodcut shows us the +pupils gathered around the master as thick as flies, sitting +cross-legged on the floor, some intent on their books and others +playing pranks, while there seldom fails to be one undergoing the +chastisement so highly recommended by Solomon. These great schools did +not suffice for all would-be scholars. In many villages there was some +poor priest or master who would teach the boys what he knew and prepare +them thus for higher things. In some places there were tiny +school-houses, much like those now seen in rural America. Such an one, +renovated, may be still visited at Mansfeld, and its quaint inscription +read over the door, to the effect that a good school is like the wooden +horse of Troy. When the boys left home they lived more as they do now +at college, being given a good deal of freedom out of hours. The +poorer scholars used their free times to beg, for as many were +supported in this way then as now are given scholarships and other +charitable aids in our universities. + +[Sidenote: Flogging] + +Though there were a good many exceptions, most of {663} the teachers +were brutes. The profession was despised as a menial one and indeed, +even so, many a gentleman took more care in the selection of grooms and +gamekeepers than he did in choosing the men with whom to entrust his +children. Of many of the tutors the manners and morals were alike +outrageous. They used filthy language to the boys, whipped them +cruelly and habitually drank too much. They made the examinations, +says one unfortunate pupil of such a master, like a trial for murder. +The monitor employed to spy on the boys was known by the significant +name of "the wolf." Public opinion then approved of harsh methods. +Nicholas Udall, the talented head-master of Eton, was warmly commended +for being "the best flogging teacher in England"--until he was removed +for his immorality. + +[Sidenote: Latin] + +The principal study--after the rudiments of reading and writing the +mother tongue were learned--was Latin. As, at the opening of the +century, there were usually not enough books to go around, the +pedagogue would dictate declensions and conjugations, with appropriate +exercises, to his pupils. The books used were such as _Donatus on the +Parts of Speech_, a poem called the _Facetus_ by John of Garland, +intended to give moral, theological and grammatical information all in +one, and selecting as the proper vehicle rhymed couplets. Other +manuals were the _Floretus_, a sort of abstruse catechism, the +_Cornutus_, a treatise on synonyms, and a dictionary in which the words +were arranged not alphabetically but according to their supposed +etymology--thus _hirundo_ (swallow) from _aer_ (air). One had to know +the meaning of the word before one searched for it! The grammars were +written in a barbarous Latin of inconceivably difficult style. Can any +man now readily understand the following definition of "pronoun," taken +from a book intended {664} for beginners, published in 1499? "Pronomen +. . . significat substantiam seu entitatem sub modo conceptus +intrinseco permanentis seu habitus et quietis sub determinatae +apprehensionis formalitate." + +That with all these handicaps boys learned Latin at all, and some boys +learned it extremely well, must be attributed to the amount of time +spent on the subject. For years it was practically all that was +studied--for the medieval trivium of grammar, rhetoric and logic +reduced itself to this--and they not only read a great deal but wrote +and spoke Latin. Finally, it became as easy and fluent to them as +their own tongue. Many instances that sound like infant prodigies are +known to us; boys who spoke Latin at seven and wrote eloquent orations +in it at fourteen, were not uncommon. It is true that the average boy +spoke then rather a translation of his own language into Latin than the +best idiom of Rome. The following ludicrous specimens of conversation, +throwing light on the manners as well as on the linguistic attainments +of the students, were overheard in the University of Paris: "Capis me +pro uno alio"; "Quando ego veni de ludendo, ego bibi unum magnum vitrum +totum plenum de vino, sine deponendo nasum de vitro"; "In prandendo non +facit nisi lichare suos digitos." + +[Sidenote: Reformation] + +Though there was no radical reform in education during the century +between Erasmus and Shakespeare, two strong tendencies may be discerned +at work, one looking towards a milder method, the other towards the +extension of elementary instruction to large classes hitherto left +illiterate. The Reformation, which was rather poor in original +thought, was at any rate a tremendous vulgarizer of the current +culture. It was a popular movement in that it passed around to the +people the ideas that had hitherto been the possession of the few. Its +first effect, indeed, together with that of {665} the tumults that +accompanied it, was for the moment unfavorable to all sorts of +learning. Not only wars and rebellions frightened the youth from +school, but men arose, both in England and Germany, who taught that if +God had vouchsafed his secrets to babes and sucklings, ignorance must +be better than wisdom and that it was therefore folly to be learned. + +[Sidenote: Luther] + +Luther not only turned the tide, but started it flowing in that great +wave that has finally given civilized lands free and compulsory +education for all. In a _Letter to the Aldermen and Cities of Germany +on the Erection and Maintenance of Christian Schools_ [Sidenote: 1524] +he urged strongly the advantages of learning. "Good schools [he +maintained] are the tree from which grow all good conduct in life, and +if they decay great blindness must follow in religion and in all useful +arts. . . . Therefore, all wise rulers have thought schools a great +light in civil life." Even the heathen had seen that their children +should be instructed in all liberal arts and sciences both to fit them +for war and government and to give them personal culture. Luther +several times suggested that "the civil authorities ought to compel +people to send their children to school. If the government can compel +men to bear spear and arquebus, to man ramparts and perform other +martial duties, how much more has it the right to compel them to send +their children to school?" Repeatedly he urged upon the many princes +and burgomasters with whom he corresponded the duty of providing +schools in every town and village. A portion of the ecclesiastical +revenues confiscated by the German states was in fact applied to this +end. Many other new schools were founded by princes and were known as +"Fuerstenschulen" or gymnasia. + +[Sidenote: England] + +The same course was run in England. Colet's foundation of St. Paul's +School in London, [Sidenote: 1510] for 153 boys, has perhaps won an +undue fame, for it was {666} backward in method and not important in +any special way, but it is a sign that people at that time were turning +their thoughts to the education of the young. When Edward VI mounted +the throne the dissolution of the chantries had a very bad effect, for +their funds had commonly supported scholars. A few years previously +Henry VIII had ordered "every of you that be parsons, vicars, curates +and also chantry priests and stipendiaries to . . . teach and bring up +in learning the best you can all such children of your parishioners as +shall come to you, or at least teach them to read English." Edward VI +revived this law in ordering chantry priests to "exercise themselves in +teaching youth to read and write," and he also urged people to +contribute to the maintenance of primary schools in each parish. He +also endowed certain grammar schools with the revenues of the chantries. + +In Scotland the _Book of Discipline_ advocated compulsory education, +children of the well-to-do at their parents' expense, poor children at +that of the church. + +[Sidenote: Jesuit colleges] + +In Catholic countries, too, there was a passion for founding new +schools. Especially to be mentioned are the Jesuit "colleges," "of +which," Bacon confesses, "I must say, _Talis cum sis utinam noster +esses_." How well frequented they were is shown by the following +figures. The Jesuit school at Vienna had, in 1558, 500 pupils, in +Cologne, about the same time, 517, in Treves 500, in Mayence 400, in +Spires 453, in Munich 300. The method of the Jesuits became famous for +its combined gentleness and art. They developed consummate skill in +allowing their pupils as much of history, science and philosophy as +they could imbibe without jeoparding their faith. From this point of +view their instruction was an inoculation against free thought. But it +must be allowed that their teaching of the {667} classics was +excellent. They followed the humanists' methods, but they adapted them +to the purpose of the church. + +[Sidenote: The classics] + +All this flood of new scholars had little that was new to study. +Neither Reformers nor humanists had any searching or thorough revision +to propose; all that they asked was that the old be taught better: the +humanities more humanely. Erasmus wrote much on education, and, +following him Vives and Bude and Melanchthon and Sir Thomas Elyot and +Roger Ascham; their programs, covering the whole period from the cradle +to the highest degree, seem thorough, but what does it all amount to, +in the end, but Latin and Greek? Possibly a little arithmetic and +geometry and even astronomy were admitted, but all was supposed to be +imbibed as a by-product of literature, history from Livy, for example, +and natural science from Pliny. Indeed, it often seems as if the +knowledge of things was valued chiefly for the sake of literary +comprehension and allusion. + +The educational reformers differed little from one another save in such +details as the best authors to read. Colet preferred Christian +authors, such as Lactantius, Prudentius and Baptista Mantuan. Erasmus +thought it well to begin with the verses of Dionysius Cato, and to +proceed through the standard authors of Greece and Rome. For the sake +of making instruction easy and pleasant he wrote his _Colloquies_--in +many respects his _chef d' oeuvre_ if not the best Latin produced by +anyone during the century. In this justly famous work, which was +adopted and used by all parties immediately, he conveyed a considerable +amount of liberal religious and moral instruction with enough wit to +make it palatable. Luther, on Melanchthon's advice, notwithstanding +his hatred for the author, urged the use of the {668} _Colloquies_ in +Protestant schools, [Sidenote: 1548] and they were likewise among the +books permitted by the Imperial mandate issued at Louvain. + +The method of learning language was for the instructor to interpret a +passage to the class which they were expected to be able to translate +the next day. Ascham recommended that, when the child had written a +translation he should, after a suitable interval, be required to +retranslate his own English into Latin. Writing, particularly of +letters, was taught. The real advance over the medieval curriculum was +in the teaching of Greek--to which the exceptionally ambitious school +at Geneva added, after 1538, Hebrew. Save for this and the banishment +of scholastic barbarism, there was no attempt to bring in the new +sciences and arts. For nearly four hundred years the curriculum of +Erasmus has remained the foundation of our education. Only in our own +times are Latin and Greek giving way, as the staples of mental +training, to modern languages and science. In those days modern +languages were picked up, as Milton was later to recommend that they +should be, not as part of the regular course, but "in some leisure +hour," like music or dancing. Notwithstanding such exceptions as +Edward VI and Elizabeth, who spoke French and Italian, there were +comparatively few scholars who knew any living tongue save their own. + +[Sidenote: University life] + +When the youth went to the university he found little change in either +his manner of life or in his studies. A number of boys matriculated at +the age of thirteen or fourteen; on the other hand there was a +sprinkling of mature students. The extreme youth of many scholars made +it natural that they should be under somewhat stricter discipline than +is now the case. Even in the early history of Harvard it is recorded +that the president once "flogged four bachelors" for {669} being out +too late at night. At colleges like Montaigu, if one may believe +Erasmus, the path of learning was indeed thorny. What between the +wretched diet, the filth, the cold, the crowding, "the short-winged +hawks" that the students combed from their hair or shook from their +shirts, it is no wonder that many of them fell ill. Gaming, fighting, +drinking and wenching were common. + +[Sidenote: Mode of government] + +Nominally, the university was then under the entire control of the +faculty, who elected one of themselves "rector" (president) for a +single year, who appointed their own members and who had complete +charge of studies and discipline, save that the students occasionally +asserted their ancient rights. In fact, the corporation was pretty +well under the thumb of the government, which compelled elections and +dismissals when it saw fit, and occasionally appointed commissions to +visit and reform the faculties. + +[Sidenote: of instruction] + +Instruction was still carried on by the old method of lectures and +debates. These latter were sometimes on important questions of the +day, theological or political, but were often, also, nothing but +displays of ingenuity. There was a great lack of laboratories, a need +that just began to be felt at the end of the century when Bacon wrote: +"Unto the deep, fruitful and operative study of many sciences, +specially natural philosophy and physics, books be not only the +instrumentals." Bacon's further complaint that, "among so many great +foundations of colleges in Europe, I find it strange that they are all +dedicated to professions, and none left free to arts and sciences at +large," is an early hint of the need of the endowment of research. The +degrees in liberal arts, B.A. and M.A., were then more strictly than +now licences either to teach or to pursue higher professional studies +in divinity, law, or medicine. Fees for graduation {670} were heavy; +in France a B.A. cost $24, an M.D. $690 and a D.D. $780. + +[Sidenote: New universities] + +Germany then held the primacy that she has ever since had in Europe +both in the number of her universities and in the aggregate of her +students. The new universities founded by the Protestants were: +Marburg 1527, Koenigsberg 1544, Jena 1548 and again 1558, Helmstadt +1575, Altdorf 1578, Paderborn 1584. In addition to these the Catholics +founded four or five new universities, though not important ones. They +concentrated their efforts on the endeavor to found new "colleges" at +the old institutions. + +[Sidenote: Numbers] + +In general the universities lost during the first years of the +Reformation, but more than made up their numbers by the middle of the +century. Wittenberg had 245 matriculations in 1521; in 1526 the +matriculations had fallen to 175, but by 1550, notwithstanding the +recent Schmalkaldic War, the total numbers had risen to 2000, and this +number was well maintained throughout the century. + +Erfurt, remaining Catholic in a Protestant region, declined more +rapidly and permanently. In the year 1520-21 there were 311 +matriculations, in the following year 120, in the next year 72, and +five years later only 14. Between 1521 to 1530 the number of students +fell at Rostock from 123 to 33, at Frankfort-on-the-Oder from 73 to 32. +Rostock, however, recovered after a reorganization in 1532. The number +of students at Greifswald declined so that no lectures were given +during the period 1527-39, after which it again began to pick up. +Koenigsberg, starting with 314 students later fell off. Cologne +declined in numbers, and so did Mayence until the Jesuits founded their +college in 1561, which, by 1568, had 500 pupils recognized as members +of the university. Vienna, also, having sunk to the number of 12 +students in 1532, kept at a {671} very low ebb until 1554, when the +effects of the Jesuit revival were felt. Whereas, during the fifteen +years 1508-22 there were 6485 matriculations at Leipzig, during the +next fifteen years there were only 1935. By the end of the century, +however, Leipzig had again become, under Protestant leadership, a large +institution. + +[Sidenote: British universities] + +Two new universities were founded in the British Isles during the +century, Edinburgh in 1582 and Trinity College, Dublin, in 1591. In +England a number of colleges were added to those already existing at +Oxford and Cambridge, namely Christ Church (first known, after its +founder, Wolsey, as Cardinal's College, then as King's College), +Brasenose, and Corpus Christi at Oxford and St. John's, Magdalen, and +Trinity at Cambridge. Notwithstanding these new foundations the number +of students sank. During the years 1542-8, only 191 degrees of B.A. +were given at Cambridge and only 172 at Oxford. Ascham is authority +for the statement that things were still worse under Mary, when "the +wild boar of the wood" either "cut up by the root or trod down to the +ground" the institutions of learning. The revenues of the universities +reached their low-water mark about 1547, when the total income of +Oxford from land was reckoned at L5 and that of Cambridge at L50, per +annum. Under Elizabeth, the universities rose in numbers, while better +Latin and Greek were taught. It was at this time that a college +education became fashionable for young gentlemen instead of being +exclusively patronized by "learned clerks." The foundation of the +College of Physicians in London deserves to be mentioned. [Sidenote: +1528] + +A university was founded at Zurich under the influence of Zwingli. +Geneva's University opened in 1559 with Beza as rector. Connected with +it was a preparatory school of seven forms, with a rigidly prescribed +{672} course in the classics. When the boy was admitted to the +university proper by examination, he took what he chose; there was not +even a division into classes. The courses offered to him included +Greek, Hebrew, theology, dialectic, rhetoric, physics and mathematics. + +[Sidenote: French universities] + +The foundation of the College de France by Francis I represented an +attempt to bring new life and vigor into learning by a free association +of learned men. It was planned to emancipate science from the tutelage +of theology. Erasmus was invited but, on his refusal to accept, Bude +was given the leading position. Chairs of Greek, Hebrew, mathematics +and Latin were founded by the king in 1530. Other institutions of +learning founded in France were Rheims 1547, Douai 1562, Besancon[1] +1564, none of them now in existence. Paris continued to be the largest +university in the world, with an average number of students of about +6000. + +Louvain, in the Netherlands, had 3000 students in 1500 and 1521; in +1550 the number rose to 5000. It was divided into colleges on the plan +still found in England. Each college had a president, three professors +and twelve fellows, entertained gratis, in addition to a larger number +of paying scholars. The most popular classes often reached the number +of 300. The foundation of the Collegium Trilingue by Erasmus's friend +Jerome Busleiden in 1517 was an attempt, as its name indicates, to give +instruction in Greek and Hebrew as well as in the Latin classics. A +blight fell upon the noble institution during the wars of religion. +Under the supervision of Alva it founded professorships of catechetics +and substituted the decrees of the Council of Trent for the _Decretum_ +of Gratian in the law school. Exhausted by the hemorrhages caused by +the Religious War and starved by the Lenten diet of Spanish +Catholicism, it gradually decayed, while its {673} place was taken in +the eyes of Europe by the Protestant University of Leyden. [Sidenote: +1575] A second Protestant foundation, Franeker, [Sidenote: 1585] for a +time flourished, but finally withered away. + +Spanish universities were crowded with new numbers. The maximum +student body was reached by Salamanca in 1584 with 6778 men, while +Alcala passed in zenith in 1547 with the respectable enrollment of +1949. The foundation of no less than nine new universities in Spain +bears witness to the interest of the Iberian Peninsula in education. + +Four new universities opened their doors in Italy during the year +1540-1565. The Sapienza at Rome, in addition to these, was revived +temporarily by Leo X in 1513, and, after a relapse to the dormant +state, again awoke to its full power under Paul III, when chairs of +Greek and Hebrew were established. + +[Sidenote: Contribution to progress] + +The services of all these universities cannot be computed on any +statistical method. Notwithstanding all their faults, their dogmatic +narrowness and their academic arrogance, they contributed more to +progress than any other institutions. Each academy became the center +of scientific research and of intellectual life. Their influence was +enormous. How much did it mean to that age to see its contending hosts +marshalled under two professors, Luther and Adrian VI! And how many +other leaders taught in universities:--Erasmus, Melanchthon, Reuchlin, +Lefevre, to mention only a few. Pontiffs and kings sought for support +in academic pronouncements, nor could they always force the doctors to +give the decision they wished. In fact, each university stood like an +Acropolis in the republic of letters, at once a temple and a fortress +for those who loved truth and ensued it. + + +[1] Besancon was then an Imperial Free City. + + +{674} + +SECTION 4. ART + +[Sidenote: Art the expression of an ideal] + +The significant thing about art, for the historian as for the average +man, is the ideal it expresses. The artist and critic may find more to +interest him in the development of technique, how this painter dealt with +perspective and that one with "tactile values," how the Florentines +excelled in drawing and the Venetians in color. But for us, not being +professionals, the content of the art is more important than its form. +For, after all, the glorious cathedrals of the Middle Ages and the +marvellous paintings of the Renaissance were not mere iridescent bubbles +blown by or for children with nothing better to do. They were the +embodiments of ideas; as the people thought in their hearts so they +projected themselves into the objects they created. + +The greatest painters the world has seen, and many others who would be +greatest in any other time, were contemporaries of Luther. They had a +gospel to preach no less sacred to them than was his to him; it was the +glad tidings of the kingdom of this world: the splendor, the loveliness, +the wonder and the nobility of human life. When, with young eyes, they +looked out upon the world in its spring-tide, they found it not the vale +of tears that they had been told; they found it a rapture. They saw the +naked body not vile but beautiful. + +[Sidenote: Leonardo, 1452-1519] + +Leonardo da Vinci was a painter of wonder, but not of naive admiration of +things seen. To him the miracle of the world was in the mystery of +knowledge,--and he took all nature as his province. He gave his life and +his soul for the mastery of science; he observed, he studied, he pondered +everything. From the sun in the heavens to the insect on the ground, +nothing was so large as to impose upon him, nothing too small to escape +him. Weighing, measuring, experimenting, {675} he dug deep for the inner +reality of things; he spent years drawing the internal organs of the +body, and other years making plans for engineers. + +When he painted, there was but one thing that fascinated him: the soul. +To lay bare the mind as he had dissected the brain; to take man or woman +at some self-revealing pose, to surprise the hidden secret of +personality, all this was his passion, and in all this he excelled as no +one had ever done, before or since. His battle picture is not some +gorgeous and romantic cavalry charge, but a confused melee of horses +snorting with terror, of men wild with the lust of battle or with hatred +or with fear. His portraits are either caricatures or prophecies: they +lay bare some trait unsuspected, or they probe some secret weakness. Is +not his portrait of himself a wizard? Does not his Medusa chill us with +the horror of death? Is not Beatrice d'Este already doomed to waste +away, when he paints her? + +[Sidenote: The Last Supper] + +The Last Supper had been treated a hundred times before him, now as a +eucharistic sacrament, now as a monastic meal, now as a gathering of +friends. What did Leonardo make of it? A study of character. Jesus has +just said, "One of you will betray me," and his divine head has sunk upon +his breast with calm, immortal grief. John, the Beloved, is fairly sick +with sorrow; Peter would be fiercely at the traitor's throat; Thomas +darts forward, doubting, to ask, "Lord, is it I?" Every face expresses +deep and different reaction. There sits Judas, his face tense, the cords +of his neck standing out, his muscles taut with the supreme effort not to +betray the evil purpose which, nevertheless, lowers on his visage as +plainly as a thunder cloud on a sultry afternoon. + +Throughout life Leonardo was fascinated with an enigmatic smile that he +had seen somewhere, perhaps in Verocchio's studio, perhaps on the face of +some {676} woman he had known as a boy. His first paintings were of +laughing women, and the same smile is on the lips of John the Baptist and +Dionysus and Leda and the Virgin and St. Anne and Mona Lisa! What was he +trying to express? Vasari found the "smile so pleasing that it was a +thing more divine than human to behold"; Ruskin thought it archaic, Muentz +"sad and disillusioned," Berenson supercilious, and Freud neurotic. +Reymond calls it the smile of Prometheus, Faust, Oedipus and the Sphinx; +Pater saw in it "the animalism of Greece, the lust of Rome, the reverie +of the Middle Ages with its spiritual ambitions and imaginary loves, the +return to the pagan world, the sins of the Borgias." Though some great +critics, like Reinach, have asserted that Mona Lisa [Sidenote: Mona Lisa] +is only subtle as any great portrait is subtle, it is impossible to +regard it merely as that. It is a psychological study. And what means +the smile? In a word, sex,--not on the physical side so studied and +glorified by other painters, but in its psychological aspect. For once +Leonardo has stripped bare not the body but the soul of desire,--the +passion, the lust, the trembling and the shame. There is something +frightening about Leda caught with the swan, about the effeminate +Dionysus and John the Baptist's mouth "folded for a kiss of irresistible +pleasure." If the stories then told about the children of Alexander VI +and about Margaret of Navarre and Anne Boleyn were true, Mona Lisa was +their sister. + +Everything he touched acquires the same psychological penetration. His +Adoration of the Magi is not an effort to delight the eye, but is a +study, almost a criticism, of Christianity. All sorts of men are brought +before the miraculous Babe, and their reactions, of wonder, of amazement, +of devotion, of love, of skepticism, of scoffing, and of indifference, +are perfectly recorded. + +{677} [Sidenote: The Venetians] + +After the cool and stormy spring of art came the warm and gentle summer. +Life became so full, so beautiful, so pleasant, so alluring, that men +sought for nothing save to quaff its goblet to the dregs. Venice, seated +like a lovely, wanton queen, on her throne of sparkling waters, drew to +her bosom all the devotees of pleasure in the whole of Europe. Her +argosies still brought to her every pomp and glory of vestment with which +to array her body sumptuously; her lovers lavished on her gold and jewels +and palaces and rare exotic luxuries. How all this is reflected in her +great painters, the Bellinis and Giorgione and Titian and Tintoretto! +Life is no longer a wonder to them but a banquet; the malady of thought, +the trouble of the soul is not for them. Theirs is the realm of the +senses, and if man could live by sense alone, surely he must revel in +what they offer. They dye their canvasses in such blaze of color and +light as can be seen only in the sunset or in the azure of the +Mediterranean, or in tropical flowers. How they clothe their figures in +every conceivable splendor of orphrey and ermine, in jewels and shining +armor and rich stuff of silk and samite, in robe of scarlet or in yellow +dalmatic! Every house for them is a palace, every bit of landscape an +enchanted garden, every action an ecstasy, every man a hero and every +woman a paragon of voluptuous beauty. + +The portrait is one of the most characteristic branches of Renaissance +painting, for it appealed to the newly aroused individualism, the +grandiose egotism of the so optimistic and so self-confident age. After +Leonardo no one sought to make the portrait primarily a character study. +Titian and Raphael and Holbein and most of their contemporaries sought +rather to please and flatter than to analyse. [Sidenote: Titian, c. +1490-1576] But withal there is often a truth to nature that make many +{678} of the portraits of that time like the day of judgment in their +revelation of character. Titian's splendid harmonies of scarlet silk and +crimson satin and gold brocade and purple velvet and silvery fur enshrine +many a blend of villainies and brutal stupidities. What is more cruelly +realistic than the leer of the satyr clothed as Francis, King of France; +than the bovine dullness of Charles V and the lizard-like dullness of his +son; or than that strange combination of wolfish cunning and swinish +bestiality with human thought and self-command that fascinates in +Raphael's portrait of Leo X and his two cardinals? On the other hand, +what a profusion of strong and noble men and women gaze at us from the +canvases of that time. They are a study of infinite variety and of +surpassing charm. + +The secularization of art proceeded even to the length of affecting +religious painting. Susanna and Magdalen and St. Barbara and St. +Sebastian are no longer starved nuns and monks, bundled in shapeless +clothes; they become maidens and youths of marvellous beauty. Even the +Virgin and Christ were drawn from the handsomest models obtainable and +were richly clothed. This tendency, long at work, found its consummation +in Raphael Sanzio of Urbino. + +[Sidenote: Raphael, 1483-1520] + +It is one of those useful coincidences that seem almost symbolic that +Raphael and Luther were born in the same year, for they were both the +products of the same process--the decay of Catholicism. When, for long +ages, a forest has rotted on the ground, it may form a bed of coal, ready +to be dug up and turned into power, or it may make a field luxuriant in +grain and fruit and flowers. From the deposits of medieval religion the +miner's son of Mansfeld extracted enough energy to turn half Europe +upside down; from the same fertile swamp Raphael culled the most +exquisite {679} blossoms and the most delicious berries. To change the +metaphor, Luther was the thunder and Raphael the rainbow of the same +storm. + +[Sidenote: Religious art] + +The chief work of both of them was to make religion understanded of the +people; to adapt it to the needs of the time. When faith fails a man may +either abandon the old religion for another, or he may stop thinking +about dogma altogether and find solace in the mystical-aesthetic +aspect of his cult. This second alternative was worked to its limit +by Raphael. He was not concerned with the true but with the beautiful. +By far the larger part of his very numerous pictures have religious +subjects. The whole Bible--which Luther translated into the +vernacular--was by him translated into the yet clearer language of sense. +Even now most people conceive biblical characters in the forms of this +greatest of illustrators. Delicacy, pathos, spirituality, idyllic +loveliness--everything but realism or tragedy--are stamped on all his +canvases. "Beautiful as a Raphael Madonna" is an Italian proverb, and so +skilfully selected a type of beauty is there in his Virgins that they are +neither too ethereal nor too sensuous. Divine tenderness, motherhood at +its holiest, gazes calmly from the face of the Sistine Madonna, "whose +eyes are deeper than the depths of waters stilled at even." The simple +mind, unsophisticated by lore of the pre-Raphaelite school, will worship +a Raphael when he will but revel in a Titian. Strangely touched by the +magic of this passionate lover both of the church and of mortal women, +the average man of that day, or of this, found, and will find, glad +tidings for his heart in the very color of Mary's robe. "Whoever would +know how Christ transfigured and made divine should be painted, must +look," says Vasari, on Raphael's canvases. + +The church and the papacy found an ally in Raphael, {680} whose pencil +illustrated so many triumphs of the popes and so many mysteries of +religion. In his Disputa (so-called) he made the secret of +transubstantiation visible. In his great cartoon of Leo I turning back +Attila he gave new power to the arm of Leo X. His Parnassus and School +of Athens seemed to make philosophy easy for the people. Indeed, it is +from them that he has reaped his rich reward, for while the Pharisees of +art pick flaws in him, point out what they find of shallowness and of +insincerity, the people love him more than any other artist has been +loved. It is for them that he worked, and on every labor one might read +as it were his motto, "I will not offend even one of these little ones." + +If Raphael's art was safe in his own hands there can be little doubt that +it hastened the decadence of painting [Sidenote: Decadence of religious +art] in the hands of his followers. His favorite pupil, Giulio Romano, +caught every trick of the master and, like the devil citing Scripture, +painted pictures to delight the eye so licentious that they cannot now be +exhibited. Andrea del Sarto sentimentalized the Virgin, turning +tenderness to bathos. Correggio, the most gifted of them all, could do +nothing so well as depict sensual love. His pictures are hymns to Venus, +and his women, saints and sinners alike, are houris of an erotic +paradise. Has the ecstasy of amorous passion amounting almost to +mystical transport ever been better suggested than in the marvellous +light and shade of his Jupiter and Io? These and many other contemporary +artists had on their lips but one song, a paean in praise of life, the +pomps and glories of this goodly world and the delights and beauties of +the body. + +But to all men, save those loved by the gods, there comes some moment, +perhaps in the very heyday of success and joy and love, when a sudden +ruin falls upon the world. The death of one loved more than self, {681} +disease and pain, the betrayal of some trust, the failure of the so +cherished cause--all these and many more are the gates by which tragedy +is born. And the beauty of tragedy is above all other beauty because +only in some supreme struggle can the grandeur of the human spirit assert +its full majesty. In Shakespeare and Michelangelo it is not the torture +that pleases us, but the triumph over circumstance. + +[Sidenote: Michelangelo, 1475-1564] + +No one has so deeply felt or so truly expressed this as the Florentine +sculptor who, amidst a world of love and laughter, lived in wilful +sadness, learning how man from his death-grapple in the darkness can +emerge victor and how the soul, by her passion of pain, is perfected. He +was interested in but one thing, man, because only man is tragic. He +would paint no portraits--or but one or two--because no living person +came up to his ideal. All his figures are strong because strength only +is able to suffer as to do. Nine-tenths of them are men rather than +women, because the beauty of the male is strength, whereas the strength +of the woman is beauty. Only in a few of his early figures does he +attain calm,--in a Madonna, in David or in the Men Bathing, all of them, +including the Madonna with its figures of men in the background, intended +to exhibit the perfection of athletic power. + +But save in these early works almost all that Michelangelo set his hand +to is fairly convulsed with passion. Leda embraces the swan at the +supreme moment of conception; Eve, drawn from the side of Adam, is +weeping bitterly; Adam is rousing himself to the hard struggle that is +life; the slaves are writhing under their bonds as though they were of +hot iron; Moses is starting from his seat for some tremendous conflict. +Every figure lavished on the decoration of the Sistine Chapel reaches, +when it does not surpass, the limit of human physical development. Sibyl +and Prophet, {682} Adam and Eve, man and God are all hurled together with +a riot of strength and "terribilita." + +The almost supernatural terror of Michelangelo's genius found fullest +scope in illustrating the idea of predestination that obsessed the +Reformers and haunted many a Catholic of that time also. In the Last +Judgment [Sidenote: The Last Judgment] the artist laid the whole emphasis +upon the damnation of the wicked, hurled down to external torment by the +sentence, "Depart from me, ye cursed," uttered by Christ, not the meek +and gentle Man of Sorrows, but the _rex tremendae majestatis_, a +Hercules, before whom Mary trembles and the whole of creation shudders. +A quieter, but no less tragic work of art is the sculpture on the tomb of +Lorenzo de' Medici at Florence. The hero himself sits above, and both he +and the four allegorical figures, two men and two women, commonly called +Day and Night, Morning and Evening, are lost in pensive, eternal sorrow. +So they brood for ever as if seeking in sleep and dumb forgetfulness some +anodyne for the sense of their country's and their race's doom. + +But it is not all pain. Titian has not made joy nor Raphael love nor +Leonardo wonder so beautiful as Michelangelo has made tragedy. His +sonnets breathe a worship of beauty as the symbol of divine love. He is +like the great, dark angel of Victor Hugo: + + Et l'ange devint noir, et dit:--Je suis l'amour. + Mais son front sombre etait plus charmant que le jour, + Et je voyais, dans l'ombre ou brillaient ses prunelles, + Les astres a travers les plumes de ses ailes. + + +The contrast between the fertility of Italian artistic genius and the +comparative poverty of Northern Europe is most apparent when the northern +painters copied most closely their transalpine brothers. The taste for +Italian pictures was spread abroad by the many {683} travelers, and the +demand created a supply of copies and imitations. Antwerp became a +regular factory of such works, whereas the Germans, Cranach, Duerer and +Holbein were profoundly affected by Italy. Of them all Holbein +[Sidenote: Hans Holbein the Younger, 1497-1543] was the only one who +could really compete with the Italians on their own ground, and that only +in one branch of art, portraiture. His studies of Henry VIII, and of his +wives and courtiers, combine truth to nature with a high sense of beauty. +His paintings of More and Erasmus express with perfect mastery the finest +qualities of two rare natures. + +[Sidenote: Albert Duerer, 1471-1528] + +Duerer seldom succeeded in painting pictures of the most beautiful type, +but a few of his portraits can be compared with nothing save Leonardo's +studies. The whole of a man's life and character are set forth in his +two drawings of his friend Pirckheimer, a strange blend of the +philosopher and the hog. And the tragedy is that the lower nature won; +in 1504 there is but a potential coarseness in the strong face; in 1522 +the swine had conquered and but the wreck of the scholar is visible. + +As an engineer and as a student of aesthetics Duerer was also the northern +Leonardo. His theory of art reveals the secret of his genius: "What +beauty is, I know not; but for myself I take that which at all times has +been considered beautiful by the greater number." This is making art +democratic, bringing it down from the small coterie of palace and mansion +to the home of the people at large. Duerer and his compeers were enabled +to do this by exploiting the new German arts of etching and +wood-engraving. Pictures were multiplied by hundreds and thousands and +sold, not to one patron but to the many. Characteristically they +reflected the life and thoughts of the common people in every homely +phase. Pious subjects were numerous, because religion bulked large in +the common thought, {684} but it was the religion of the popular +preacher, translating the life of Christ into contemporary German life, +wholesome and a little vulgar. The people love marvels and they are very +literal; what could be more marvellous and more literal than Duerer's +illustrations of the Apocalypse in which the Dragon with ten horns and +seven heads, and the Lamb with seven horns and seven eyes are represented +exactly as they are described? Duerer neither strove for nor attained +anything but realism. "I think," he wrote, "the more exact and like a +man a picture is, the better the work. . . . Others are of another +opinion and speak of how a man should be . . . but in such things I +consider nature the master and human imaginations errors." It was life +he copied, the life he saw around him at Nuremberg. + +But Duerer, to use his own famous criterion of portraiture, [Sidenote: +1513-14] painted not only the features of Germany, but her soul. Three +of his woodcuts depict German aspirations so fully that they are the best +explanation of the Reformation, which they prophesy. The first of these, +The Knight, Death and the Devil, shows the Christian soldier riding +through a valley of supernatural terrors. "So ist des Menchen Leben +nichts anderes dann eine Ritterschaft auf Erden," is the old German +translation of Job vii, 1, following the Vulgate. Erasmus in his +_Handbook of the Christian Knight_ had imagined just such a scene, and so +deeply had the idea of the soldier of Christ sunk into the people's mind +that later generations interpreted Duerer's knight as a picture of +Sickingen or Hutten or one of the bold champions of the new religion. + +In the St. Jerome peacefully at work in his panelled study, translating +the Bible, while the blessed sun shines in and the lion and the little +bear doze contentedly, is not Luther foretold? But the German study, +{685} that magician's laboratory that has produced so much of good, has +also often been the alembic of brooding and despair. More than ever +before at the opening of the century men felt the vast promises and the +vast oppression of thought. New science had burst the old bonds but, +withal, the soul still yearned for more. The vanity of knowledge is +expressed as nowhere else in Duerer's Melancholia, one of the world's +greatest pictures. Surrounded by scientific instruments,--the compass, +the book, the balance, the hammer, the arithmetical square, the +hour-glass, the bell--sits a woman with wings too small to raise her +heavy body. Far in the distance is a wonderful city, with the glory of +the Northern Lights, but across the splendid vision flits the little +bat-like creature, fit symbol of some disordered fancy of an overwrought +mind. + +[Sidenote: The Grotesque] + +Closely akin to the melancholy of the Renaissance is the love of the +grewsome. In Duerer it took the harmless form of a fondness for +monstrosities,--rhinoceroses, bearded babies, six-legged pigs and the +like. But Holbein and many other artists tickled the emotions of their +contemporaries by painting long series known as the Dance of Death, in +which some man or woman typical of a certain class, such as the emperor, +the soldier, the peasant, the bride, is represented as being haled from +life by a grinning skeleton. + +Typical of the age, too, was the caricature now drawn into the service of +the intense party struggles of the Reformation. To depict the pope or +Luther or the Huguenots in their true form their enemies drew them with +claws and hoofs and ass's heads, and devil's tails, drinking and +blaspheming. Even kings were caricatured,--doubly significant fact! + +[Sidenote: Architecture] + +As painting and sculpture attained so high a level of maturity in the +sixteenth century, one might suppose that architecture would do the same. +In truth, {686} however, architecture rather declined. Very often, if +not always, each special art-form goes through a cycle of youth, +perfection, and decay, that remind one strongly of the life of a man. +The birth of an art is due often to some technical invention, the full +possibilities of which are only gradually developed. But after the newly +opened fields have been exhausted the epigoni can do little but +recombine, often in fantastic ways, the old elements; public taste turns +from them and demands something new. + +[Sidenote: Churches] + +So the supreme beauty of the medieval cathedral as seen at Pisa or +Florence or Perugia or Rheims or Cologne, was never equalled in the +sixteenth century. As the Church declined, so did the churches. Take +St. Peter's at Rome, colossal in conception and enormously unequal in +execution. With characteristic pride and self-confidence Pope Julius II +to make room for it tore down the old church, and other ancient +monuments, venerable and beautiful with the hoar of twelve centuries. +Even by his contemporaries the architect, Bramante, was dubbed Ruinante! +He made a plan, which was started; then he died. In his place were +appointed San Gallo and Raphael and Michelangelo, together or in turn, +and towers were added after the close of the sixteenth century. The +result is the hugest building in the world, and almost the worst +proportioned. After all, there is something appropriate in the fact +that, just as the pretensions of the popes expanded and their powers +decreased, so their churches should become vaster and yet less +impressive. St. Peter's was intended to be a marble thunderbolt; but +like so many of the papal thunders of that age, it was but a _brutum +fulmen_ in the end! + +The love for the grandiose, carried to excess in St. Peter's, is visible +in other sixteenth century ecclesiastical buildings, such as the Badia at +Florence. Small {687} as this is, there is a certain largeness of line +that is not Gothic, but that goes back to classical models. St. Etienne +du Mont at Paris is another good example of the influence of the study of +the ancients upon architecture. It is difficult to point to a great +cathedral or church built in Germany during this century. In England +portions of the colleges at Oxford and Cambridge date from these years, +but these portions are grafted on to an older style that really +determined them. The greatest glory of English university architecture, +the chapel of King's College at Cambridge, was finished in the first +years of the century. The noble fan-vaulting and the stained-glass +windows will be remembered by all who have seen them. + +[Sidenote: Ecclesiastic architecture] + +After the Reformation ecclesiastical architecture followed two diverse +styles; the Protestants cultivated excessive plainness, the Catholics +excessive ornament. The iconoclasts had no sense for beauty, and +thought, as Luther put it, that faith was likely to be neglected by those +who set a high value on external form. Moreover the Protestant services +necessitated a modification of the medieval cathedral style. What they +wanted was a lecture hall with pews; the old columns and transepts and +the roomy floor made way for a more practical form. + +The Catholics, on the other hand, by a natural reaction, lavished +decoration on their churches as never before. Every column was made +ornate, every excuse was taken for adding some extraneous embellishment; +the walls were crowded with pictures and statues and carving to delight, +or at least to arrest, the eye. But it happened that the noble taste of +the earlier and simpler age failed; amid all possible devices to give +effect, quiet grandeur was wanting. + +[Sidenote: Castles] + +What the people of that secular generation really built with enthusiasm +and success were their own {688} dwellings. What are the castles of +Chambord and Blois and the Louvre and Hampton Court and Heidelberg but +houses of play and pleasure such as only a child could dream of? King +and cardinal and noble vied in making tower and gable, gallery and court +as of a fairy palace; banqueting hall and secret chamber where they and +their playmates could revel to their heart's content and leave their +initials carved as thickly as boys carve them on an old school desk. And +how richly they filled them! A host of new arts sprang up to minister to +the needs of these palace-dwellers: our museums are still filled with the +glass and enamel, the vases and porcelain, the tapestry and furniture and +jewelry that belonged to Francis and Catharine de' Medici and Leo X and +Elizabeth. How perfect was the art of many of these articles of daily +use can only be appreciated by studying at first hand the salt-cellars of +Cellini, or the gold and silver and crystal goblets made by his compeers. +Examine the clocks, of which the one at Strassburg is an example; the +detail of workmanship is infinite; even the striking apparatus and the +dials showing planetary motions are far beyond our own means, or perhaps +our taste. When Peter Henlein invented the watch, using as the +mainspring a coiled feather, he may not have made chronometers as exact +as those turned out nowadays, but the "Nuremberg eggs"--so called from +their place of origin and their shape, not a disk, but a sphere--were +marvels of chasing and incrustation and jewelry. + +[Sidenote: Love of beauty] + +The love of the beautiful was universal. The city of that time, less +commodious, sanitary, and populous than it is today, was certainly fairer +to the eye. Enough of old Nuremberg and Chester and Siena and Perugia +and many other towns remains to assure us that the red-tiled houses, the +overhanging storeys, the high gables and quaint dormer windows, presented +a {689} far more pleasing appearance than do our lines of smoky factories +and drab dwellings. + +[Sidenote: Music] + +The men so greedy of all delicate sights and pleasant, would fain also +stuff their ears with sweet sounds. And so they did, within the +limitations of a still undeveloped technique. They had organs, lutes, +viols, lyres, harps, citherns, horns, and a kind of primitive piano known +as the clavichord or the clavicembalo. Many of these instruments were +exquisitely rich and delicate in tone, but they lacked the range and +volume and variety of our music. Almost all melodies were slow, solemn, +plaintive; the tune of Luther's hymn gives a good idea of the style then +prevalent. When we read that the churches adopted the airs of popular +songs, so that hymns were sung to ale-house jigs and catches from the +street, we must remember that the said jigs and love-songs were at least +as sober and staid as are many of the tunes now expressly written for our +hymns. The composers of the time, especially Palestrina [Sidenote: +Palestrina, 1526-94] and Orlando Lasso, [Sidenote: Lasso, c. 1530-1594] +did wonders within the limits then possible to introduce richness and +variety into song. + +[Sidenote: Art and religion] + +Art was already on the decline when it came into conflict with the +religious revivals of the time. The causes of the decadence are not hard +to understand. The generation of giants, born in the latter half of the +fifteenth century, seemed to exhaust the possibilities of artistic +expression in painting and sculpture, or at least to exhaust the current +ideas so expressible. Guido Reni and the Caracci could do nothing but +imitate and recombine. + +And then came the battle of Protestant and Catholic to turn men's minds +into other channels than that of beauty. Even when the Reformation was +not consciously opposed to art, it shoved it aside as a distraction from +the real business of life. Thus it has come {690} about in Protestant +lands that the public regards art as either a "business" or an +"education." Luther himself loved music above all things and did much to +popularize it,--while Erasmus shuddered at the psalm-singing he heard +from Protestant congregations! Of painting the Reformer spoke with +admiration, but so rarely! What could art be in the life of a man who +was fighting for his soul's salvation? Calvin saw more clearly the +dangers to the soul from the seductions of this world's transitory charm. +Images he thought idolatrous in churches and he said outright: "It would +be a ridiculous and inept imitation of the papists to fancy that we +render God more worthy service in ornamenting our temples and in +employing organs and toys of that sort. While the people are thus +distracted by external things the worship of God is profaned." So it was +that the Puritans chased all blandishments not only from church but from +life, and art came to be looked upon as a bit immoral. + +[Sidenote: Counter-Reformation] + +But the little finger of the reforming pope was thicker than the +Puritan's loins; where Calvin had chastised with whips Sixtus V chastised +with scorpions. Adrian VI, the first Catholic Reformer after Luther, +could not away with "those idols of the heathen," the ancient statues. +Clement VII for a moment restored the old regime of art and +licentiousness together, having Perino del Vaga paint his bathroom with +scenes from the life of Venus in the manner of Giulio Romano. But the +Council of Trent made severe regulations against nude pictures, in +pursuance of which Daniel da Volterra was appointed to paint breeches on +all the naked figures of Michelangelo's Last Judgment and on similar +paintings. Sixtus V, who could hardly endure the Laocoon and Apollo +Belvidere, was bent on destroying the monuments of heathendom. The ruin +was complete when to her cruel hate the church added {691} her yet more +cruel love. Along came the Jesuits offering, like pedlars, instead of +the good old article a substitute guaranteed by them to be "just as +good," and a great deal cheaper. Painting was sentimentalized and +"moralized" under their tuition; architecture adopted the baroque style, +gaudy and insincere. The church was stuffed with gewgaws and tinsel; +marble was replaced by painted plaster and saintliness by sickliness. + + +SECTION 5. BOOKS + +[Sidenote: Numbers of books published] + +The sixteenth was the first really bookish century. There were then in +Germany alone about 100,000 works printed, or reprinted. If each +edition amounted to 1000--a fair average, for if many editions were +smaller, some were much larger--that would mean that about a million +volumes were offered to the German public each year throughout the +century. There is no doubt that the religious controversy had a great +deal to do with the expansion of the reading public, for it had the +same effect on the circulation of pamphlets that a political campaign +now has on the circulation of the newspaper. The following figures +show how rapidly the number of books published in Germany increased +during the decisive years. In 1518 there were 150, in 1519 260, in +1520 570, 1521 620, in 1522 680, 1523 935, and 1524 990. + +Many of these books were short, controversial tracts; some others were +intended as purveyors of news pure and simple. Some of these +broadsides were devoted to a single event, as the _Neue Zeitung: Die +Schlacht des tuerkischen Kaisers_, [Sidenote: 1526] others had several +items of interest, including letters from distant parts. Occasionally +a mere lampoon would appear under the title of _Neue Zeitung_, +corresponding to our funny papers. But these substitutes for modern +journals were both rare and irregular; the world then got along with +much {692} less information about current events than it now enjoys. +Nor was there anything like our weekly and monthly magazines. + +The new age was impatient of medieval literature. The schoolmen, never +widely read, were widely mocked. The humanists, too, fell into deep +disgrace, charged with self-conceit, profligacy and irreligion. They +still wandered around, like the sophists in ancient Greece, bemoaning +their hard lot and deploring the coarseness of an unappreciative time. +Their real fault was that they were, or claimed to be, an aristocracy, +and the people, who could read for themselves, no longer were imposed +on by pretensions to esoteric learning and a Ciceronian style. + +Even the medieval vernacular romances no longer suited the taste of the +new generation. A certain class continued to read _Amadis of Gaul_ or +_La Morte d'Arthur_ furtively, but the arbiters of taste declared that +they would no longer do. The Puritan found them immoral; the man of +the world thought them ridiculous. Ascham asserts that "the whole +pleasure" of _La Morte d'Arthur_, "standeth in two special points, in +open manslaughter and bold bawdry." The century was hardly out when +Cervantes published his famous and deadly satire on the knight errant. + +[Sidenote: Poetry] + +But as the tale of chivalry decayed, the old metal was transmuted into +the pure gold of the poetry of Ariosto, Tasso and Spenser. The claim +to reality was abandoned and the poet quite frankly conjured up a +fantastic, fairy world, full of giants and wizards and enchantments and +hippogryphs, and knights of incredible pugnacity who rescue damsels of +miraculous beauty. Well might the Italian, before Luther and Loyola +came to take the joy out of life, lose himself in the honeyed words and +the amorous adventures of the hero who went mad for love. Another +generation, and {693} Tasso must wind his voluptuous verses around a +religious epic. Edmund Spenser, the Puritan and Englishman, +allegorized the whole in such fashion that while the conscience was +soothed by knowing that all the knights and ladies represented moral +virtues or vices, the senses were titillated by mellifluous cadences +and by naked descriptions of the temptations of the Bower of Bliss. +And how British that Queen Elizabeth of England should impersonate the +principal virtues! + +Poetry was in the hearts of the people; song was on their lips. The +early spring of Italy came later to the northern latitudes, but when it +did come, it brought with it Marot and Ronsard in France, Wyatt and +Surrey in England. More significant than the output of the greater +poets was the wide distribution of lyric talent. Not a few +compilations of verses offer to the public the songs of many writers, +some of them unknown by name. England, especially, was "a nest of +singing birds," rapturously greeting the dawn, and the rimes were +mostly of "love, whose month is always May." Each songster poured +forth his heart in fresh, frank praise of his mistress's beauty, or in +chiding of her cruelty, or in lamenting her unfaithfulness. There was +something very simple and direct about it all; nothing deeply +psychological until at the very end of the century Shakespeare's +"sugared sonnets" gave his "private friends" something to think about +as well as something to enjoy. + +[Sidenote: Wit] + +If life could not be all love it could be nearly all laughter. Wit and +humor were appreciated above all things, and Satire awoke to a sense of +her terrible power. Two statues at Rome, called Pasquino and Marforio, +were used as billboards to which the people affixed squibbs and +lampoons against the government and public men. Erasmus laughed at +everything; {694} Luther and Murner belabored each other with ridicule; +a man like Peter Aretino owed his evil eminence in the art of +blackmailing to his wit. + +[Sidenote: Rabelais, c. 1490-1553] + +But the "master of scoffing," as Bacon far too contemptuously called +him, was Rabelais. His laughter is as multitudinous as the ocean +billows, and as wholesome as the sunshine. He laughed not because he +scorned life but because he loved it; he did not "warm both hands" +before the fire of existence, he rollicked before its blaze. It cannot +be said that he took a "slice of life" as his subject, for this would +imply a more exquisite excision than he would care to make; rather he +reached out, in the fashion of his time, and pulled with both hands +from the dish before him, the very largest and fattest chunk of life +that he could grasp. "You never saw a man," he said of himself, "who +would more love to be king or to be rich than I would, so that I could +live richly and not work and not worry, and that I might enrich all my +friends and all good, wise people." Like Whitman he was so in love +with everything that the mere repetition of common names delighted him. +It took pages to tell what Pantagruel ate and still more pages to tell +what he drank. This giant dressed with a more than royal lavishness +and when he played cards, how many games do you suppose Rabelais +enumerated one after the other without pausing to take breath? Two +hundred and fourteen! So he treated everything; his appetite was like +Gargantua's mouth. This was the very stamp of the age; it was +gluttonous of all pleasures, of food and drink and gorgeous clothes and +fine dwellings and merry-making without end, and adventure without +stint or limit. Almost every sixteenth-century man was a Pantagruel, +whose lust for living fully and hotly no satiety could cloy, no fear of +consequences {695} dampen. The ascetic gloom and terror of the Middle +Ages burned away like an early fog before the summer sun. Men saw the +world unfolding before them as if in a second creation, and they hurled +themselves on it with but one fear, that they should be too slow or too +backward to garner all its wonder and all its pleasure for themselves. + +[Sidenote: Tales of vagabonds] + +And the people were no longer content to leave the glory of life to +their superiors. They saw no reason why all the good things should be +preserved like game for the nobles to hunt, or inclosed like commons, +for the pasturage of a few aristocratic mutton-heads. So in literature +they were quite content to let the fastidious gentry read their fill of +poetry about knights wandering in fairy-lands forlorn, while they +themselves devoured books about humbler heroes. The Picaresque novel +in Spain and its counterparts, Till Eulenspiegel or Reinecke Vos in the +north, told the adventures of some rascal or vagabond. Living by his +wits he found it a good life to cheat and to gamble, to drink and to +make love. + +[Sidenote: Plays] + +For those who could not concentrate on a book, there was the drama. +From the Middle Ages, when the play was a vehicle of religious +instruction, it developed in the period of the Renaissance into a +completely secular mirror of life. In Italy there was an exquisite +literary drama, turning on some plot of love or tale of seduction, and +there was alongside of this a popular sort of farce known as the +Commedia dell' Arte, in which only the outline of the plot was +sketched, and the characters, usually typical persons as the Lover, his +Lady, the Bragging Captain, the Miser, would fill in the dialogue and +such comic "business" as tickled the fancy of the audience. + +Somewhat akin to these pieces in spirit were the {696} Shrovetide +Farces written in Germany by the simple Nuremberger who describes +himself in the verses, literally translatable: + + Hans Sachs is a shoe- + Maker and poet, too. + +The people, always moral, delighted no less in the rough fun of these +artless scenes than in the apothegms and sound advice in which they +abounded. + +[Sidenote: The spirit of the Sixteenth Century] + +The contrast of two themes much in the thought of men, typifies the +spirit of the age. The one motiv is loud at the beginning of the +Reformation but almost dies away before the end of the century; the +other, beginning at the same time, rises slowly into a crescendo +culminating far beyond the boundaries of the age. The first theme was +the Prodigal Son, treated by no less than twenty-seven German +dramatists, not counting several in other languages. To the +Protestant, the Younger Son represented faith, the Elder Son works. To +all, the exile in the far country, the riotous living with harlots and +the feeding on husks with swine, meant the life of this world with its +pomps and vanities, its lusts and sinful desires that become as mast to +the soul. The return to the father is the return to God's love here +below and to everlasting felicity above. To those who can believe it, +it is the most beautiful story in the world. + +[Sidenote: Faust] + +And it is a perfect contrast to that other tale, equally typical of the +time, the fable of Faust. Though there was a real man of this name, a +charlatan and necromancer who, in his extensive wanderings visited +Wittenberg, probably in 1521, and who died about 1536-7, his life was +but a peg on which to hang a moral. He became the type of the man who +had sold his soul to the devil in return for the power to know +everything, to do everything and to enjoy everything in this world. + +{697} The first printed _Faust-book_ (1587) passed for three centuries +as a Protestant production, but the discovery of an older and quite +different form of the legend in 1897 changed the whole literary +problem. It has been asserted now that the Faust of this unknown +author is a parody of Luther by a Catholic. He is a professor at +Wittenberg, he drinks heartily, his marriage with Helena recalls the +Catholic caricature of Luther's marriage; his compact with the devil is +such as an apostate might have made. But it is truer to say that Faust +is not a caricature of Luther, but his devilish counterpart, just as in +early Christian literature Simon Magus is the antithesis of Peter. +Faust is the man of Satan as Luther was the man of God; their +adventures are somewhat similar but with the reverse purpose. + +And Faust is the sixteenth century man as truly as the Prodigal or +Pantagruel. To live to the full; to know all science and all +mysteries, to drain to the dregs the cup crowned with the wine of the +pleasure and the pride of life: this was worth more than heaven! The +full meaning of the parable of salvation well lost for human experience +was not brought out until Goethe took it up; but it is implied both in +the German Faust-books and in Marlowe's play. + +[Sidenote: Greatness of the Sixteenth Century] + +Many twentieth-century men find it difficult to do justice to the age +of the Reformation. We are now at the end of the period inaugurated by +Columbus and Luther and we have reversed the judgments of their +contemporaries. Religion no longer takes the place that it then did, +nor does the difference between Catholic and Protestant any longer seem +the most important thing in religion. Moreover, capitalism and the +state, both of which started on their paths of conquest then, are now +attacked. + +Again, the application of any statistical method makes the former ages +seem to shrink in comparison {698} with the present. In population and +wealth, in war and in science we are immeasurably larger than our +ancestors. Many a merchant has a bigger income than had Henry VIII, +and many a college boy knows more astronomy than did Kepler. But if we +judge the greatness of an age, as we should, not by its distance from +us, but by its own achievement, by what its poets dreamed and by what +its strong men accomplished, the importance of the sixteenth century +can be appreciated. + +[Sidenote: An age of aspiration] + +It was an "experiencing" age. It loved sensation with the greediness +of childhood; it intoxicated itself with Rabelais and Titian, with the +gold of Peru and with the spices and vestments of the Orient. It was a +daring age. Men stood bravely with Luther for spiritual liberty, or +they gave their lives with Magellan to compass the earth or with Bruno +to span the heavens. It was an age of aspiration. It dreamed with +Erasmus of the time when men should be Christ-like, or with More of the +place where they should be just; or with Michelangelo it pondered the +meaning of sorrow, or with Montaigne it stored up daily wisdom. And of +this time, bone of its bone and flesh of its flesh, was born the +world's supreme poet with an eye to see the deepest and a tongue to +tell the most of the human heart. Truly such a generation was not a +poor, nor a backward one. Rather it was great in what it achieved, +sublime in what it dreamed; abounding in ripe wisdom and in heroic +deeds; full of light and of beauty and of life! + + + + +{699} + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE REFORMATION INTERPRETED + +The historians who have treated the Reformation might be classified in +a variety of ways: according to their national or confessional bias, or +by their scientific methods or by their literary achievement. For our +present purpose it will be convenient to classify them, according to +their point of view, into four leading schools of thought which, for +want of better names I may call the Religious-Political, the +Rationalist, the Liberal-Romantic, and the Economic-Evolutionary. Like +all categories of things human these are but rough; many, if not most, +historians have been influenced by more than one type of thought. When +different philosophies of history prevail at the same time, an +eclecticism results. The religious and political explanations were at +their height in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, though they +survived thereafter; the rationalist critique dominates the eighteenth +century and lasts in some instances to the nineteenth; the +liberal-romantic school came in with the French Revolution and subsided +into secondary importance about 1859, when the economists and +Darwinians began to assert their claims. + + +SECTION 1. THE RELIGIOUS AND POLITICAL INTERPRETATIONS. + (SIXTEENTH AND SEVENTEENTH CENTURIES) + +[Sidenote: Early Protestants] + +The early Protestant theory of the Reformation was a simple one based +on the analogy of Scripture. God, it was thought, had chosen a +peculiar people to serve him, for whose instruction and guidance, +particularly in view of their habitual backsliding, he raised up a +{700} series of witnesses to the truth, prophets, apostles and martyrs. +God's care for the Jews under the old dispensation was transferred to +the church in the new, and this care was confined to that branch of the +true church to which the particular writer and historian happened to +belong. + +[Sidenote: The name "Reformation"] + +The word "Reformation," far older than the movement to which it applies +_par eminence_, indicates exactly what its leaders intended it should +be. "Reform" has been one of the perennial watchwords of mankind; in +the Middle Ages it was applied to the work of a number of leaders like +Rienzi, and was taken as the program of the councils of Constance and +Basle. Luther adopted it at least as early as 1518, in a letter to +Duke George stating that "above all things a common reformation of the +spiritual and temporal estates should be undertaken," and he +incorporated it in the title of his greatest German pamphlet. The +other name frequently applied by Luther and his friends to their party +was "the gospel." In his own eyes the Wittenberg professor was doing +nothing more nor less than restoring the long buried evangel of Jesus +and Paul. "Luther began," says Richard Burton, "upon a sudden to drive +away the foggy mists of superstition and to restore the purity of the +primitive church." + +It would be easy but superfluous to multiply _ad libitum_ quotations +showing that the early Protestants referred everything to the general +purposes of Providence and sometimes to the direct action of God, or to +the impertinent but more assiduous activity of the devil. It is +interesting to note that they were not wholly blind to natural causes. +Luther himself saw, as early as 1523, the connection between his +movement and the revival of learning, which he compared to a John the +Baptist preparing the way for the preaching of the gospel. Luther also +saw, what many of his {701} followers did not, that the Reformation was +no accident, depending on his own personal intervention, but was +inevitable and in progress when he began to preach. "The remedy and +suppression of abuses," said he in 1529, "was already in full swing +before Luther's doctrine arose . . . and it was much to be feared that +there would have been a disorderly, stormy, dangerous revolution, such +as Muenzer began, had not a steady doctrine intervened." + +English Protestant historians, while fully adopting the theory of an +overruling Providence, were disposed to give due weight to secondary, +natural causes. Foxe, while maintaining that the overthrow of the +papacy was a great miracle and an everlasting mercy, yet recognized +that it was rendered possible by the invention of printing and by the +"first push and assault" given by the ungodly humanists. Burnet +followed Foxe's thesis in a much better book. While printing many +documents he also was capable, in the interests of piety, of concealing +facts damaging to the Protestants. For his panegyric he was thanked by +the Parliament. The work was dedicated to Charles II with the +flattering and truthful remark that "the first step that was made in +the Reformation was the restoring to your royal ancestors the rights of +the crown and an entire dominion over all their subjects." + +The task of the contemporary German Protestant historian, Seckendorf, +was much harder, for the Thirty Years War had, as he confesses, made +many people doubt the benefits of the Reformation, distrust its +principles, and reject its doctrines. He discharged the thankless +labor of apology in a work of enormous erudition, still valuable to the +special student for the documents it quotes. + +[Sidenote: Catholics] + +The Catholic philosophy of history was to the Protestant as a seal to +the wax, or as a negative to a {702} photograph; what was raised in one +was depressed in the other, what was light in one was shade in the +other. The same theory of the chosen people, of the direct divine +governance and of Satanic meddling, was the foundation of both. That +Luther was a bad man, an apostate, begotten by an incubus, and familiar +with the devil, went to explain his heresy, and he was commonly +compared to Mohammed or Arius. Bad, if often trivial motives were +found for his actions, as that he broke away from Rome because he +failed to get a papal dispensation to marry. The legend that his +protest against indulgences was prompted by the jealousy of the +Augustinians toward the Dominicans to whom the pope had committed their +sale, was started by Emser in 1519, and has been repeated by Peter +Martyr d'Anghierra, by Cochlaeus, by Bossuet and by most Catholic and +secular historians down to our own day. + +Apart from the revolting polemic of Dr. Sanders, who found the sole +cause of the Reformation in sheer depravity, the Catholics produced, +prior to 1700, only one noteworthy contribution to the subject, that of +Bossuet, Bishop of Meaux. [Sidenote: Bossuet] His _History of the +Variations of the Protestant Churches_, written without that odious +defamation of character that had hitherto been the staple of +confessional polemic, and with much real eloquence, sets out to condemn +the Reformers out of their own mouths by their mutual contradictions. +Truth is one, Bossuet maintains, and that which varies is not truth, +but the Protestants have almost as many varieties as there are pastors. +Never before nor since has such an effective attack been made on +Protestantism from the Christian standpoint. With persuasive iteration +the moral is driven home: there is nothing certain in a religion +without a central authority; revolt is sure to lead to indifference and +atheism in opinion, and to the overthrow of all established order in +civil {703} life. The chief causes of the Reformation are found in the +admitted corruption of the church, and in the personal animosities of +the Reformers. The immoral consequences of their theories arc alleged, +as in Luther's ideas about polygamy and in Zwingli's denial of original +sin and his latitudinarian admission of good heathens to heaven. + +[Sidenote: Secular historians] + +A great deal that was not much biassed by creed was written on the +Reformation during this period. It all goes to show how completely men +of the most liberal tendencies were under the influence of their +environment, for their comments were almost identical with those of the +most convinced partisans. For the most part secular historians +neglected ecclesiastical history as a separate discipline. Edward +Hall, the typical Protestant chronicler, barely mentions religion. +Camden apologizes for touching lightly on church history and not +confining himself to politics and war, which he considers the proper +subject of the annalist. Buchanan ignores the Reformation; De Thou +passes over it with the fewest words, fearing to give offence to either +papists or Huguenots. Jovius has only a page or two on it in all his +works. In one place he finds the chief cause of the Reformation in a +malignant conjunction of the stars; in another he speaks of it as a +revival of one of the old heresies condemned at Constance. Polydore +Vergil pays small attention to a schism, the cause of which he found in +the weakness of men's minds and their propensity to novelty. + +The one valuable explanation of the rise of Protestantism contributed +by the secular historians of this age was the theory that it was +largely a political phenomenon. That there was much truth in this is +evident; the danger of the theory was in its over-statement, and in its +too superficial application. How deeply the Reformation appealed to +the political needs {704} of that age has only been shown in the +nineteenth century; how subtly, how unconsciously the two revolutions +often worked together was beyond the comprehension of even the best +minds of that time. The political explanation that they offered was +simply that religion was a hypocritical pretext for the attainment of +the selfish ends of monarchs or of a faction. Even in this there was +some truth, but it was far from being the larger part. + +[Sidenote: 1527] + +Vettori in his _History of Italy_ mentions Luther merely to show how +the emperor used him as a lever against the pope. Guicciardini +[Sidenote: Guicciardini] accounts for the Reformation by the +indignation of the Germans at paying money for indulgences. From this +beginning, honest or at least excusable in itself, he says, Luther, +carried away with ambition and popular applause, nourished a party. +The pope might easily have allowed the revolt to die had he neglected +it, but he took the wrong course and blew the tiny spark into a great +flame by opposing it. + +A number of French writers took up the parable. Brantome says that he +leaves the religious issue to those who know more than he does about +it, but he considers a change perilous, "for a new religion among a +people demands afterwards a change of government." He thought Luther +won over a good many of the clergy by allowing them to marry. Martin +Du Bellay found the cause of the English schism in Henry's divorce and +the small respect the pope had for his majesty. Davila, de Mezeray and +Daniel, writing the history of the French civil wars, treated the +Huguenots merely as a political party. So they were, but they were +something more. Even Hugo Grotius could not sound the deeper causes of +the Dutch revolt and of the religious revolution. + +[Sidenote: Sleidan] + +The first of all the histories of the German Reformation {705} was +also, for at least two centuries, the best. Though surpassed in some +particulars by others, Sleidan united more of the qualities of a great +historian than anyone else who wrote extensively on church history in +the sixteenth or seventeenth centuries: fairness, accuracy, learning, +skill in presentation. In words that recall Ranke's motto he declared +that, though a Protestant, he would be impartial and set forth simply +"rem totam, sicut est acta." "In describing religious affairs," he +continues, "I was not able to omit politics, for, as I said before, +they almost always interact, and in our age least of all can they be +separated." Withal, he regards the Reformation as a great victory for +God's word, and Luther as a notable champion of the true religion. In +plain, straightforward narrative, without much philosophic reflection, +he sets forth,--none better,--the diplomatic and theological side of +the movement without probing its causes or inquiring into the popular +support on which all the rest was based. + +[Sidenote: Sarpi] + +Greater art and deeper psychological penetration than Sleidan compassed +is found in the writings of Paul Sarpi, "the great unmasker of the +Tridentine Council," as Milton aptly called him. This friar whose book +could only be published on Protestant soil, this historian admired by +Macaulay as the best of modern times and denounced by Acton as fit for +Newgate prison, has furnished students with one of the most curious of +psychological puzzles. Omitting discussion of his learning and +accuracy, which have recently been severely attacked and perhaps +discredited, let us ask what was his attitude in regard to his subject? +It is difficult to place him as either a Protestant, a Catholic +apologist or a rationalist. The most probable explanation of his +attacks on the creed in which he believed and of his favorable +presentation of the acts of the {706} heretics he must have +anathematized, is that he was a Catholic reformer, one who ardently +desired to purify the church, but who disliked her political +entanglements. It is not unnatural to compare him with Adrian VI and +Contarini who, in a freer age, had written scathing indictments of +their own church; one may also find in Doellinger a parallel to him. +Whatever his bias, his limitations are obviously those of his age; his +explanations of the Protestant revolt, of which he gave a full history +as introductory to his main subject, were exactly those that had been +advanced by his predecessors: it was a divine dispensation, it was +caused by the abuses of the church and by the jealousy of Augustinian +and Dominican friars. + +[Sidenote: Harrington] + +A brilliant anticipation of the modern economic school of historical +thought is found in the _Oceana_ of Harrington, who suggested that the +causes of the revolution in England were less religious than social. +When Henry VIII put the confiscated lands of abbey and noble into the +hands of scions of the people, Harrington thought that he had destroyed +the ancient balance of power in the constitution, and, while leveling +feudalism and the church, had raised up unto the throne an even more +dangerous enemy. + + +SECTION 2. THE RATIONALISTIC CRITIQUE. (THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY) + +While the "philosophers" of the enlightenment were not the first to judge +the Reformation from a secular standpoint, they marked a great advance in +historical interpretation as compared with the humanists. The latter had +been able to make of the whole movement nothing but either a delusion or +a fraud inspired by refined and calculated policy. The philosophers saw +deeper into the matter than that; though for them, also, religion was +false, originating, as Voltaire put it, when {707} the first knave met +the first fool. But they were able to see causes of religious change and +to point out instructive analogies. + +[Sidenote: Montesquieu] + +Montesquieu showed that religions served the needs of their adherents and +were thus adapted by them to the prevailing civil organization. After +comparing Mohammedanism and Christianity he said that the North of Europe +adopted Protestantism because it had the spirit of independence whereas +the South, naturally servile, clung to the authoritative Catholic creed. +The divisions among Protestants, too, corresponded, he said, to their +secular polity; thus Lutheranism became despotic and Calvinism republican +because of the circumstances in which each arose. The suppression of +church festivals in Protestant countries he thought due to the greater +need and zest for labor in the North. He accounted for the alleged fact +that Protestantism produced more free-thinkers by saying that their +unadorned cult naturally aroused a less warm attachment than the sensuous +ritual of Romanism. + +[Sidenote: Voltaire] + +One of the greatest of historians was Voltaire. None other has made +history so nearly universal as did he, peering into every side of life +and into every corner of the earth. No authority imposed on him, no fact +was admitted to be inexplicable by natural laws. It is true that he was +not very learned and that he had strong prejudices against what he called +"the most infamous superstition that ever brutalized man." But with it +all he brought more freedom and life into the story of mankind than had +any of his predecessors. + +For his history of the Reformation he was dependent on Bossuet, Sarpi, +and a few other general works; there is no evidence that he perused any +of the sources. But his treatment of the phenomena is wonderful. {708} +Beginning with an enthusiastic account of the greatness of the +Renaissance, its discoveries, its opulence, its roll of mighty names, he +proceeds to compare the Reformation with the two contemporaneous +religious revolutions in Mohammedanism, the one in Africa, the other in +Persia. He does not probe deeply, but no one else had even thought of +looking to comparative religion [Sidenote: Comparative religion] for +light. In tracing the course of events he is more conventional, finding +rather small causes for large effects. The whole thing started, he +assures us, in a quarrel of Augustinians and Dominicans over the spoils +of indulgence-sales, "and this little squabble of monks in a corner of +Saxony, produced more than a hundred years of discord, fury, and +misfortune for thirty nations." "England separated from the pope because +King Henry fell in love." The Swiss revolted because of the painful +impression produced by the Jetzer scandal. The Reformation, in +Voltaire's opinion, is condemned by its bloodshed and by its appeal to +the passions of the mob. The dogmas of the Reformers are considered no +whit more rational than those of their opponents, save that Zwingli is +praised for "appearing more zealous for freedom than for Christianity. +Of course he erred," wittily comments our author, "but how humane it is +to err thus!" The influence of Montesquieu is found in the following +early economic interpretation in the _Philosophic Dictionary_: + + There are some nations whose religion is the result of + neither climate nor government. What cause detached + North Germany, Denmark, most of Switzerland, Holland, + England, Scotland, and Ireland [sic] from the Roman + communion? Poverty. Indulgences . . . were sold too + dear. The prelates and monks absorbed the whole + revenue of a province. People adopted a cheaper religion. + + +[Sidenote: Scotch historians] + +Of the two Scotch historians that were the most faithful students of +Voltaire, one, David Hume, imbibed {709} perfectly his skepticism and +scorn for Christianity; the other, William Robertson, [Sidenote: +Robertson] everything but that. Presbyterian clergyman as was the +latter, he found that the "happy reformation of religion" had produced "a +revolution in the sentiments of mankind the greatest as well as the most +beneficial that has happened since the publication of Christianity." +Such an operation, in his opinion, "historians the least prone to +superstition and credulity ascribe to divine Providence." But this +Providence worked by natural causes, specially prepared, among which he +enumerates: the long schism of the fourteenth century, the pontificates +of Alexander VI and Julius II, the immorality and wealth of the clergy +together with their immunities and oppressive taxes, the invention of +printing, the revival of learning, and, last but not least, the fact +that, in the writer's judgment, the doctrines of the papists were +repugnant to Scripture. With breadth, power of synthesis, and real +judiciousness, he traced the course of the Reformation. He blamed Luther +for his violence, but praised him--and here speaks the middle-class +advocate of law and order--for his firm stand against the peasants in +their revolt. + +[Sidenote: Hume] + +Inferior to Robertson in the use of sources as well as in the scope of +his treatment, Hume was his superior in having completely escaped the +spell of the supernatural. His analysis of the nature of ecclesiastical +establishments, with which he begins his account of the English +Reformation, is acute if bitter. He shows why it is that, in his view, +priests always find it their interest to practice on the credulity and +passions of the populace, and to mix error, superstition and delusion +even with the deposit of truth. It was therefore incumbent on the civil +power to put the church under governmental regulation. This policy, +inaugurated at that time and directed against the great evil done to +{710} mankind by the church of Rome, in suppressing liberty of thought +and in opposing the will of the state, was one cause, though not the +largest cause, of the Reformation. Other influences were the invention +of printing and the revival of learning and the violent, popular +character of Luther and his friends, who appealed not to reason but to +the prejudices of the multitude. They secured the support of the masses +by fooling them into the belief that they were thinking for themselves, +and the support of the government by denouncing doctrines unfavorable to +sovereignty. The doctrine of justification by faith, Hume thought, was +in harmony with the general law by which religions tend more and more to +exaltation of the Deity and to self-abasement of the worshipper. Tory as +he was, he judged the effects of the Reformation as at first favorable to +the execution of justice and finally dangerous by exciting a restless +spirit of opposition to authority. One evil result was that it exalted +"those wretched composers of metaphysical polemics, the theologians," to +a point of honor that no poet or philosopher had ever attained. + +[Sidenote: Gibbon] + +The ablest and fairest estimate of the Reformation found in the +eighteenth century is contained in the few pages Edward Gibbon devoted to +that subject in his great history of _The Decline and Fall of the Roman +Empire_. "A philosopher," he begins, "who calculates the degree of their +merit [_i.e._ of Zwingli, Luther and Calvin] will prudently ask from what +articles of faith, above or against our reason they have enfranchised the +Christians," and, in answering this question he will "rather be surprised +at the timidity than scandalized by the freedom of the first Reformers." +They adopted the inspired Scriptures with all the miracles, the great +mysteries of the Trinity and Incarnation, the theology of the four or six +first councils, the Athanasian creed with its damnation of all who did +{711} not believe in the Catholic faith. Instead of consulting their +reason in the article of transubstantiation, they became entangled in +scruples, and so Luther maintained a corporeal and Calvin a real presence +in the eucharist. They not only adopted but improved upon and +popularized the "stupendous doctrines of original sin, redemption, faith, +grace and predestination," to such purpose that "many a sober Christian +would rather admit that a wafer is God than that God is a cruel and +capricious tyrant." "And yet," Gibbon continues, "the services of Luther +and his rivals are solid and important, and the philosopher must own his +obligations to these fearless enthusiasts. By their hands the lofty +fabric of superstition, from the abuse of indulgences to the intercession +of the Virgin, has been levelled with the ground. Myriads of both sexes +of the monastic profession have been restored to the liberties and labors +of social life." Credulity was no longer nourished on daily miracles of +images and relics; a simple worship "the most worthy of man, the least +unworthy of the Deity" was substituted for an "imitation of paganism." +Finally, the chain of authority was broken and each Christian taught to +acknowledge no interpreter of Scripture but his own conscience. This +led, rather as a consequence than as a design, to toleration, to +indifference and to skepticism. + +Wieland, on the other hand, frankly gave the opinion, anticipating +Nietzsche, that the Reformation had done harm in retarding the progress +of philosophy for centuries. The Italians, he said, might have effected +a salutary and rational reform had not Luther interfered and made the +people a party to a dispute which should have been left to scholars. + +[Sidenote: Goethe] + +Goethe at one time wrote that Lutherdom had driven quiet culture back, +and at another spoke of the {712} Reformation as "a sorry spectacle of +boundless confusion, error fighting with error, selfishness with +selfishness, the truth only here and there heaving in sight." Again he +wrote to a friend: "The character of Luther is the only interesting thing +in the Reformation, and the only thing, moreover, that made an impression +on the masses. All the rest is a lot of bizarre trash we have not yet, +to our cost, cleared away." In the last years of his long life he +changed his opinion somewhat for, if we can trust the report of his +conversations with Eckermann, he told his young disciple that people +hardly realized how much they owed to Luther who had given them the +courage to stand firmly on God's earth. + +The treatment of the subject by German Protestants underwent a marked +change under the influence of Pietism and the Enlightenment. Just as the +earlier Orthodox school had over-emphasized Luther's narrowness, and had +been concerned chiefly to prove that the Reformation changed nothing save +abuses, so now the leader's liberalism was much over-stressed. It was in +view of the earlier Protestant bigotry that Lessing [Sidenote: Lessing] +apostrophized the Wittenberg professor: "Luther! thou great, +misunderstood man! Thou hast freed us from the yoke of tradition, who is +to free us from the more unbearable yoke of the letter? Who will finally +bring us Christianity such as thou thyself would now teach, such as +Christ himself would teach?" + +German Robertsons, though hardly equal to the Scotch, were found in +Mosheim and Schmidt. Both wrote the history of the Protestant revolution +in the endeavor to make it all natural. In Mosheim, indeed, the devil +still appears, though in the background; Schmidt is as rational and as +fair as any German Protestant could then be. + + +{713} + +SECTION 3. THE LIBERAL-ROMANTIC APPRECIATION. (CIRCA 1794-c. 1860) + +At about the end of the eighteenth century historiography underwent a +profound change due primarily to three influences: 1. The French +Revolution and the struggle for political democracy throughout nearly a +century after 1789; 2. The Romantic Movement; 3. The rise of the +scientific spirit. The judgment of the Reformation changed +accordingly; the rather unfavorable verdict of the eighteenth century +was completely reversed. Hardly by its extremest partisans in the +Protestant camp has the importance of that movement and the character +of its leaders been esteemed so highly as it was by the writers of the +liberal-romantic school. Indeed, so little had confession to do with +this bias that the finest things about Luther and the most extravagant +praise of his work, was uttered not by Protestants, but by the Catholic +Doellinger, the Jew Heine, and the free thinkers, Michelet, Carlyle, and +Froude. + +[Sidenote: The French Revolution] + +The French Revolution taught men to see, or misled them into +construing, the whole of history as a struggle for liberty against +oppression. Naturally, the Reformation was one of the favorite +examples of this perpetual warfare; it was the Revolution of the +earlier age, and Luther was the great liberator, standing for the +Rights of Man against a galling tyranny. + +[Sidenote: Condorcet] + +The first to draw the parallel between Reformation and Revolution was +Condorcet in his noble essay on _The Advance of the Human Spirit_, +written in prison and published posthumously. Luther, said he, +punished the crimes of the clergy and freed some peoples from the yoke +of the papacy; he would have freed all, save for the false politics of +the kings who, feeling instinctively that religious liberty would bring +political enfranchisement, banded together against the {714} revolt. +He adds that the epoch brought added strength to the government and to +political science and that it purified morals by abolishing sacerdotal +celibacy; but that it was (like the Revolution, one reads between the +lines) soiled by great atrocities. + +In the year 1802, the Institute of France announced as the subject for +a prize competition, "What has been the influence of the Reformation of +Luther on the political situation of the several states of Europe and +on the progress of enlightenment?" The prize was won by Charles de +Villers [Sidenote: Villers] in an essay maintaining elaborately the +thesis that the gradual improvement of the human species has been +effected by a series of revolutions, partly silent, partly violent, and +that the object of all these risings has been the attainment of either +religious or of civil liberty. After arguing his position in respect +to the Reformation, the author eulogizes it for having established +religious freedom, promoted civil liberty, and for having endowed +Europe with a variety of blessings, including almost everything he +liked. Thus, in his opinion, the Reformation made Protestant countries +more wealthy by keeping the papal tax-gatherers aloof; it started "that +grand idea the balance of power," and it prepared the way for a general +philosophical enlightenment. + +[Sidenote: Guizot] + +The thesis of Villers is exactly that maintained, with more learning +and caution, by Guizot. According to him: + + The Reformation was a vast effort made by the human + race to secure its freedom; it was a new-born desire to + think and judge freely and independently of all ideas + and opinions, which until then Europe had received or + been bound to receive from the hands of antiquity. It + was a great endeavor to emancipate the human reason + and to call things by their right names. It was an + insurrection of the human mind against the absolute power + of the spiritual estate. + + +{715} [Sidenote: Romantic Movement] + +But there was more than politics to draw the sympathies of the +nineteenth century to the sixteenth. A large anthology of poetical, +artistic and musical tributes to Luther and the Reformation might be +made to show how congenial they were to the spirit of that time. One +need only mention Werner's drama on the subject of Luther's life +(1805), Mendelssohn's "Reformation Symphony" (1832-3), Meyerbeer's +opera "The Huguenots" (1836), and Kaulbach's painting "The Age of the +Reformation" (c. 1810). In fact the Reformation was a Romantic +movement, with its emotional and mystical piety, its endeavor to +transcend the limits of the classic spirit, to search for the infinite, +to scorn the trammels of traditional order and method. + +[Sidenote: Mme. de Stael] + +All this is reflected in Mme. de Stael's enthusiastic appreciation of +Protestant Germany, in which she found a people characterized by +reflectiveness, idealism, and energy of inner conviction. She +contrasted Luther's revolution of ideas with her own countrymen's +revolution of acts, practical if not materialistic. The German had +brought back religion from an affair of politics to be a matter of +life; had transferred it from the realm of calculated interest to that +of heart and brain. + +[Sidenote: Heine] + +Much the same ideas, set forth with the most dazzling brilliancy of +style, animate Heine's too much neglected sketch of German religion and +philosophy. To a French public, unappreciative of German literature, +Heine points out that the place taken in France by _belles lettres_ is +taken east of the Rhine by metaphysics. From Luther to Kant there is +one continuous development of thought, and no less than two revolutions +in spiritual values. Luther was the sword and tongue of his time; the +tempest that shattered the old oaks of hoary tyranny; his hymn was the +Marseillaise of the spirit; he made a revolution and not with {716} +rose-leaves, either, but with a certain, "divine brutality." He gave +his people language, Kant gave them thought; Luther deposed the pope; +Robespierre decapitated the king; Kant disposed of God: it was all one +insurrection of Man against the same tyrant under different names. + +Under the triple influence of liberalism, romanticism and the +scientific impulse presently to be described, most of the great +historians of the middle nineteenth century wrote. If not the +greatest, yet the most lovable of them all, was Jules Michelet, +[Sidenote: Michelet] a free-thinker of Huguenot ancestry. His _History +of France_ is like the biography of some loved and worshipped genius; +he agonizes in her trials, he glories in her triumphs. And to all +great men, her own and others, he puts but one inexorable question, +"What did you do for the people?" and according to their answer they +stand or fall before him. It is just here that one notices (what +entirely escaped previous generations), that the "people" here means +that part of it now called, in current cant, "the bourgeoisie," that +educated middle class with some small property and with the vote. For +the ignorant laborer and the pauper Michelet had as little concern as +he had small patience with king and noble and priest. One thing that +he and his contemporaries prized in Luther was just that bourgeois +virtue that made him a model husband and father, faithfully performing +a daily task for an adequate reward. Luther's joys, he assures us, +were "those of the heart, of the man, the innocent happiness of family +and home. What family more holy, what home more pure?" But he returns +ever and again to the thought that the Huguenots were the republicans +of their age and that, "Luther has been the restorer of liberty. If +now we exercise in all its fullness this highest prerogative of human +intelligence, it is to him we are indebted for it. {717} To whom do I +owe the power of publishing what I am now writing, save to this +liberator of modern thought?" Michelet employed his almost matchless +rhetoric not only to exalt the Reformers to the highest pinnacle of +greatness, but to blacken the character of their adversaries, the +obscurantists, the Jesuits, Catherine de' Medici. + +[Sidenote: Froude] + +English liberalism found its perfect expression in the work of Froude. +Built up on painstaking research, readable as a novel, cut exactly to +the prejudices of the English Protestant middle class, _The History of +England from the Fall of Wolsey to the Defeat of the Spanish Armada_ +won a resounding immediate success. Froude loved Protestantism for the +enemies it made, and as a mild kind of rationalism. The Reformers, he +thought, triumphed because they were armed with the truth; it was a +revolt of conscience against lies, a real religion over against "a +superstition which was but the counterpart of magic and witchcraft" and +which, at that time, "meant the stake, the rack, the gibbet, the +Inquisition dungeons and the devil enthroned." It was the different +choice made then by England and Spain that accounted for the greatness +of the former and the downfall of the latter, for, after the Spaniard, +once "the noblest, grandest and most enlightened people in the known +world," had chosen for the saints and the Inquisition, "his intellect +shrivelled in his brain and the sinews shrank in his self-bandaged +limbs." + +[Sidenote: Liberals] + +Practically the same type of opinion is found in the whole school of +middle-century historians. "Our firm belief is," wrote Macaulay, "that +the North owes its great civilization and prosperity chiefly to the +moral effect of the Protestant Reformation, and that the decay of the +Southern countries is to be mainly ascribed to the great Catholic +revival." It would be pleasant, {718} were there space, to quote +similar enthusiastic appreciations from the French scholars Quinet and +Thierry, the Englishman Herbert Spencer and the Americans Motley and +Prescott. They all regarded the Reformation as at once an +enlightenment and enfranchisement. Even the philosophers rushed into +the same camp. Carlyle worshipped Luther as a hero; Emerson said that +his "religious movement was the foundation of so much intellectual life +in Europe; that is, Luther's conscience animating sympathetically the +conscience of millions, the pulse passed into thought, and ultimated +itself in Galileos, Keplers, Swedenborgs, Newtons, Shakespeares, Bacons +and Miltons." Back of all this appreciation was a strong unconscious +sympathy between the age of the Reformation and that of Victoria. The +creations of the one, Protestantism, the national state, capitalism, +individualism, reached their perfect maturity in the other. The very +moderate liberals of the latter found in the former just that "safe and +sane" spirit of reform which they could thoroughly approve. + +[Sidenote: German patriots] + +The enthusiasm generated by political democracy in France, England and +America, was supplemented in Germany by patriotism. Herder first +emphasized Luther's love of country as his great virtue; Arndt, in the +Napoleonic wars, counted it unto him for righteousness that he hated +Italian craft and dreaded French deceitfulness. Fichte, at the same +time, in his fervent _Speeches to the German Nation_, called the +Reformation "the consummate achievement of the German people," and its +"perfect act of world-wide significance." Freytag, at a later period, +tried to educate the public to search for a German state at once +national and liberal. In his _Pictures from the German Past_, largely +painted from sixteenth-century models, he places all the high-lights on +"Deutschtum" and "Buergertum," {719} and all the shade on the foreigners +and the Junkers. With Freytag as a German liberal may be classed D. F. +Strauss, who defended the Reformers for choosing, rather than +superficial culture, "the better part," "the one thing needful," which +was truth. + +[Sidenote: Scientific spirit] + +It is now high time to say something of the third great influence that, +early in the nineteenth century, transformed historiography. It was +the rise of the scientific spirit, of the fruitful conception of a +world lapped in universal law. For two centuries men had gradually +become accustomed to the thought of an external nature governed by an +unbreakable chain of cause and effect, but it was still believed that +man, with his free will, was an exception and that history, therefore, +consisting of the sum total of humanity's arbitrary actions, was +incalculable and in large part inexplicable. But the more closely men +studied the past, and the more widely and deeply did the uniformity of +nature soak into their consciousness, the more "natural" did the +progress of the human race seem. When it was found that every age had +its own temper and point of view, that men turned with one accord in +the same direction as if set by a current, long before any great man +had come to create the current, the influence of personality seemed to +sink into the background, and that of other influences to be +preponderant. + +[Sidenote: Hegel] + +Quite inevitably the first natural and important philosophy of history +took a semi-theological, semi-personal form. The philosopher Hegel, +pondering on the fact that each age has its own unmistakable +"time-spirit" and that each age is a natural, even logical, development +of some antecedent, announced the Doctrine of Ideas as the governing +forces in human progress. History was but the development of spirit, +or the realization of its idea; and its fundamental law was the +necessary "progress in the consciousness of freedom." The {720} +Oriental knew that one is free, the Greek that some are free, the +Germans that all are free. In this third, or Teutonic, stage of +evolution, the Reformation was one of the longest steps. The +characteristic of modern times is that the spirit is conscious of its +own freedom and wills the true, the eternal and the universal. The +dawn of this period, after the long and terrible night of the Middle +Ages, is the Renaissance, its sunrise the Reformation. In order to +prove his thesis, Hegel labors to show that the cause of the Protestant +revolt in the corruption of the church was not accidental but +necessary, inasmuch as, at the Catholic stage of progress, that which +is adored must necessarily be sensuous, but at the lofty German level +the worshipper must look for God in the spirit and heart, that is, in +faith. The subjectivism of Luther is due to German sincerity +manifesting the self-consciousness of the world-spirit; his doctrine of +the eucharist, conservative as it seems to the rationalist, is in +reality a manifestation of the same spirituality, in the assertion of +an immediate relation of Christ to the soul. In short, the essence of +the Reformation is said to be that man in his very nature is destined +to be free, and all history since Luther's time is but a working out of +the implications of his position. If only the Germanic nations have +adopted Protestantism, it is because only they have reached the highest +state of spiritual development. + +[Sidenote: Baur] + +The philosopher's truest disciple was Ferdinand Christian Baur, of whom +it has been said that he rather deduced history than narrated it. With +much detail he filled in the outline offered by the master, in as far +as the subject of church history was concerned. He showed that the +Reformation (a term to which he objected, apparently preferring +Division, or Schism) was bound to come from antecedents already in full +operation before Luther. At most, he admitted, the {721} personal +factor was decisive of the time and place of the inevitable revolution, +but said that the most powerful personality would have been helpless +but for the popularity of the ideas expressed by him. Like Hegel, he +deduced the causes of the movement from the corruption of the medieval +church, and like him he regarded all later history as but the tide of +which the first wave broke in 1517. The true principle of the +movement, religious autonomy and subjective freedom, he believed, had +been achieved only for states in the sixteenth century, but thereafter +logically and necessarily came to be applied to individuals. + +[Sidenote: Ranke] + +From the Hegelian school came forth the best equipped historian the +world has ever seen. Save the highest quality of thought and emotion +that is the prerogative of poetic genius, Leopold von Ranke lacked +nothing of industry, of learning, of method and of talent to make him +the perfect narrator of the past. It was his idea to pursue history +for no purpose but its own; to tell "exactly what happened" without +regard to the moral, or theological, or political lesson. Thinking the +most colorless presentation the best, he seldom allowed his own +opinions to appear. In treating the Reformation he was "first an +historian and then a Christian." There is in his work little +biography, and that little psychological; there is no dogma and no +polemic. From Hegel he derived his belief in the "spirit" of the +times, and nicely differentiated that of the Renaissance, the +Reformation and the Counter-reformation. He was the first to +generalize the use of the word "Counter-reformation"--coined in 1770 +and obtaining currency later on the analogy of "counter-revolution." +The causes of the Reformation Ranke found in "deeper religious and +moral repugnance to the disorders of a merely assenting faith and +service of 'works,' and, secondarily, in the assertion of the {722} +rights and duties residing in the state." Quite rightly, he emphasized +the result of the movement in breaking down the political power of the +ecclesiastical state, and establishing in its stead "a completely +autonomous state sovereignty, bound by no extraneous considerations and +existing for itself alone." Of all the ideas which have aided in the +development of modern Europe he esteemed this the most effective. +Would he have thought so after 1919? + +[Sidenote: Buckle] + +A new start in the search for fixed historical laws was made by Henry +Thomas Buckle. His point of departure was not, like that of Hegel, the +universal, but rather certain very particular sociological facts as +interpreted by Comte's positivism. Because the same percentage of +unaddressed letters is mailed every year, because crimes vary in a +constant curve according to season, because the number of suicides and +of marriages stands in a fixed ratio to the cost of bread, Buckle +argued that all human acts, at least in the mass, must be calculable, +and reducible to general laws. At present we are concerned only with +his views on the Reformation. The religious opinions prevalent at any +period, he pointed out, are but symptoms of the general culture of that +age. Protestantism was to Catholicism simply as the moderate +enlightenment of the sixteenth century was to the darkness of the +earlier centuries. Credulity and ignorance were still common, though +diminishing, in Luther's time, and this intellectual change was the +cause of the religious change. Buckle makes one strange and damaging +admission, namely that though, according to his theory, or, as he puts +it, "according to the natural order," the "most civilized countries +should be Protestant and the most uncivilized Catholic [sic]," it has +not always been so. In general Buckle adopts the theory of the +Reformation {723} as an uprising of the human mind, an enlightenment, +and a democratic rebellion. + +Whereas Henry Hallam, who wrote on the relation of the Reformers to +modern thought, is a belated eighteenth-century rationalist, doubtless +Lecky is best classified as a member of the new school. His _History +of the Rise and Influence of the Spirit of Rationalism_ is partly +Hegelian, partly inspired by Buckle. His main object is to show how +little reason has to do with the adoption or rejection of any theology, +and how much it is dependent on a certain spirit of the age, determined +by quite other causes. He found the essence of the Reformation in its +conformity to then prevalent habits of mind and morals. But he thought +it had done more than any other movement to emancipate the mind from +superstition and to secularize society. + +[Sidenote: Protestants] + +It is impossible to do more than mention by name, in the short space at +my command, the principal Protestant apologists for the Reformation, in +this period. Whereas Ritschl gave a somewhat new aspect to the old +"truths," Merle d'Aubigne won an enormous and unmerited success by +reviving the supernatural theory of the Protestant revolution, with +such modern connotations and modifications as suited the still lively +prejudices of the evangelical public of England and America; for it was +in these countries that his book, in translation from the French, won +its enormous circulation.[1] + +[Sidenote: Doellinger] + +An extremely able adverse judgment of the Reformation was expressed by +the Catholic Doellinger, the most theological of historians, the most +historically-minded of divines. He, too, thought Luther had really +{724} founded a new religion, of which the center was the mystical +doctrine, tending to solipsism, of justification by faith. The very +fact that he said much good of Luther, and approved of many of his +practical reforms, made his protest the more effective. It is +noticeable that when he broke with Rome he did not become a Protestant. + + +[1] The preface of the English edition of 1848 claims that whereas, +since 1835, only 4000 copies were sold in France, between 150,000 and +200,000 were sold in England and America. + + +SECTION 4. THE ECONOMIC AND EVOLUTIONARY INTERPRETATIONS. + (1859 TO THE PRESENT) + +The year 1859 saw the launching of two new theories of the utmost +importance. These, together with the political developments of the next +twelve years, completely altered the view-point of the intellectual +class, as well as of the peoples. In relation to the subject under +discussion this meant a reversal of historical judgment as radical as +that which occurred at the time of the French Revolution. The three new +influences, in the order of their immediate importance for +historiography, were the following: 1. The publication of Marx's _Zur +Kritik der politischen Oekonomie_ in 1859, containing the germ of the +economic interpretation of history later developed in _Das Kapital_ +(1867) and in other works. 2. The publication of Darwin's _Origin of +Species_, giving rise to an evolutionary treatment of history. 3. The +Bismarckian wars (1864-71), followed by German intellectual and material +hegemony, and the defeat of the old liberalism. This lasted only until +the Great War (1914-18), when Germany was cast down and liberalism rose +in more radical guise than ever. + +[Sidenote: Marx] + +Karl Marx not only viewed history for the first time from the point of +view of the proletariat, or working class, but he directly asserted that +in the march of mankind the economic factors had always been, in the last +analysis, decisive; that the material basis of life, {725} particularly +the system of production, determined, in general, the social, political +and religious ideas of every epoch and of every locality. Revolutions +follow as the necessary consequence of economic change. In the scramble +for sustenance and wealth class war is postulated as natural and +ceaseless. The old Hegelian antithesis of idea versus personality took +the new form of "the masses" versus "the great man," both of whom were +but puppets in the hands of overmastering determinism. As often +interpreted, Marx's theory replaced the Hegelian "spirits of the time" by +the classes, conceived as entities struggling for mastery. + +This brilliant theory suffered at first in its application, which was +often hasty, or fantastic. As the economic factor had once been +completely ignored, so now it was overworked. Its major premise of an +"economic man," all greed and calculation, is obviously false, or rather, +only half true. Men's motives are mixed, and so are those of aggregates +of men. There are other elements in progress besides the economic ones. +The only effective criticism of the theory of economic determination is +that well expressed by Dr. Shailer Mathews, that it is too simple. +Self-interest is one factor in history, but not the only one. + +[Sidenote: Bax] + +Exception can be more justly taken to the way in which the theory has +sometimes been applied than to its formulation. Belfort Bax, maintaining +that the revolt from Rome was largely economic in its causes, gave as one +of these "the hatred of the ecclesiastical hierarchy, obviously due to +its increasing exactions." Luther would have produced no result had not +the economic soil been ready for his seed, and with that soil prepared he +achieved a world-historical result even though, in Bax's opinion, his +character and intellect were below those of the average English village +grocer-deacon who sold sand for sugar. Luther, {726} in fact, did no +more than give a flag to those discontented with the existing political +and industrial life. Strange to say, Bax found even the most radical +party, that of the communistic Anabaptists, retrograde, with its program +of return to a golden age of gild and common land. + +A somewhat better grounded, but still inadequate, solution of the problem +was offered by Karl Kautsky. [Sidenote: Kautsky] He, too, found the +chief cause of the revolt in the spoliation of Germany by Rome. In +addition to this was the new rivalry of commercial classes. Unlike Bax, +Kautsky finds in the Anabaptists Socialists of whom he can thoroughly +approve. + +The criticism that must be made of these and similar attempts, is that +the causes picked out by them are too trivial. To say that the men who, +by the thousands and tens of thousands suffered martyrdom for their +faith, changed that faith simply because they objected to pay a tithe, +reminds one of the ancient Catholic derivation of the whole movement from +Luther's desire to marry. The effect is out of proportion to the cause. +But some theorists were even more fantastic than trivial. When Professor +S. N. Patten traces the origins of revolutions to either over-nutrition +or under-nutrition, and that of the Reformation to "the growth of +frugalistic concepts"; when Mr. Brooks Adams asserts that it was all due +to the desire of the people for a cheaper religion, exchanging an +expensive offering for justification by faith and mental anguish, which +cost nothing, and an expensive church for a cheap Bible--we feel that the +dish of theory has run away with the spoon of fact. The climax was +capped by the German sociologist Friedrich Simmel, who explained the +Reformation by the law of the operation of force along the line of least +resistance. The Reformers, by sending the soul straight to God, spared +it the detour via the {727} priest, thus short-circuiting grace, as it +were, and saving energy. + +[Sidenote: Lamprecht] + +The genius who first and most fully worked out a tenable economic +interpretation of the Lutheran movement was Karl Lamprecht, who stands in +much the same relation to Marx as did Ranke to Hegel, to wit, that of an +independent, eclectic and better informed student. Lamprecht, as it is +well known, divides history into periods according to their psychological +character--perhaps an up-to-date Hegelianism--but he maintains, and on +the whole successfully, that the temper of each of these epochs is +determined by their economic institutions. Thus, says he, the condition +of the transition from medieval to modern times was the development of a +system of "money economy" from a system of "natural economy," which took +place slowly throughout the 14th, 15th, 16th and 17th centuries. "The +complete emergence of capitalistic tendencies, with their consequent +effects on the social, and, chiefly through this, on the intellectual +sphere, must of itself bring on modern times." Lamprecht shows how the +rise of capitalism was followed by the growth of the cities and of the +culture of the Renaissance in them, and how, also, individualism arose in +large part as a natural consequence of the increased power and scope +given to the ego by the possession of wealth. This individualism, he +thinks, strengthened by and strengthening humanism, was made forever safe +by the Reformation. + +It is a momentous error, as Lamprecht rightly points out, to suppose that +we are living in the same era of civilization, psychologically +considered, as that of Luther. Our subjectivism is as different from his +individualism as his modernity was from medievalism. The eighteenth +century was a transitional period from the one to the other. + +{728} One of the chief characteristics of the Reformation, continues +Lamprecht, seen first in the earlier mystics, was the change from +"polydynamism," or the worship of many saints, and the mediation of +manifold religious agencies, to "monodynamism" or the direct and single +intercourse of the soul with God. Still more different was the +world-view of the nineteenth century, built on "an extra-Christian, +though not yet anti-Christian foundation." + +In the very same year in which Lamprecht's volume on the German +Reformation appeared, another interpretation, though less profound and +less in the economic school of thought, was put forth by A. E. Berger. +[Sidenote: Berger] He found the four principal causes of the Reformation +in the growth of national self-consciousness, the overthrow of an ascetic +for a secular culture, individualism, and the growth of a lay religion. +The Reformation itself was a triumph of conscience and of "German +inwardness," and its success was due to the fact that it made of the +church a purely spiritual entity. + +The most brilliant essay in the economic interpretation of the origins of +Protestantism, though an essay in a very narrow field, was that of Max +Weber [Sidenote: Weber] which has made "Capitalism and Calvinism" one of +the watchwords of contemporary thought. The intimate connection of the +Reformation and the merchant class had long been noticed, _e.g._ by +Froude and by Thorold Rogers. But Weber was the first to ask, and to +answer, the question what it was that made Protestantism particularly +congenial to the industrial type of civilization. In the first place, +Calvinism stimulated just those ethical qualities of rugged strength and +self-confidence needful for worldly success. In the second place, +Protestantism abolished the old ascetic ideal of labor for the sake of +the next world, and substituted for it the conception of a calling, that +is, of doing {729} faithfully the work appointed to each man in this +world. Indeed, the word "calling'" or "Beruf," meaning God-given work, +is found only in Germanic languages, and is wanting in all those of the +Latin group. The ethical idea expressed by Luther and more strongly by +Calvin was that of faithfully performing the daily task; in fact, such +labor was inculcated as a duty to the point of pain; in other words it +was "a worldly asceticism." Finally, Calvin looked upon thrift as a +duty, and regarded prosperity, in the Old Testament style, as a sign of +God's favor. "You may labor in that manner as tendeth most to your +success and lawful gain," said the Protestant divine Richard Baxter, "for +you are bound to improve all your talents." And again, "If God show you +a way in which you may lawfully get more than in another way, if you +refuse this and choose the less gainful way, you cross one of the ends of +your calling, and you refuse to be God's steward." + +It would be instructive and delightful to follow the controversy caused +by Weber's thesis. Some scholars, like Knodt, denied its validity, +tracing capitalism back of the spirit of Fugger rather than of Calvin; +but most accepted it. Fine interpretations and criticisms of it were +offered by Cunningham, Brentano, Kovalewsky and Ashley. So commonly has +it been received that it has finally been summed up in a brilliant but +superficial epigram used by Chesterton, good enough to have been coined +by him--though it is not, I believe, from his mint--that the Reformation +was "the Revolution of the rich against the poor." + +[Sidenote: Darwinism] + +Contemporary with the economic historiography, there was a new +intellectual criticism reminding one superficially of the Voltairean, but +in reality founded far more on Darwinian ideas. The older "philosophers" +had blamed the Reformers for not coming up to a modern standard; the new +evolutionists censured {730} them for falling below the standard of their +own age. Moreover, the critique of the new atheism was more searching +than had been that of the old deism. + +Until Nietzsche, the prevailing view had been that the Reformation was +the child, or sister, of the Renaissance, and the parent of the +Enlightenment and the French Revolution. "We are in the midst of a +gigantic movement," wrote Huxley, "greater than that which preceded and +produced the Reformation, and really only a continuation of that +movement." "The Reformation," in the opinion of Tolstoy, "was a rude, +incidental reflection of the labor of thought, striving after the +liberation of man from the darkness." "The truth is," according to +Symonds, "that the Reformation was the Teutonic Renaissance. It was the +emancipation of the reason on a line neglected by the Italians, more +important, indeed, in its political consequences, more weighty in its +bearing on rationalistic developments than was the Italian Renaissance, +but none the less an outcome of the same grand influence." William +Dilthey, in the nineties, labored to show that the essence of the +Reformation was the same in the religious fields as that of the best +thought contemporary to it in other lines. + +[Sidenote: Nietzsche] + +But these ideas were already obsolescent since Friedrich Nietzsche had +worked out, with some care, the thought that "the Reformation was a +re-action of old-fashioned minds, against the Italian Renaissance." One +might suppose that this furious Antichrist, as he wished to be, would +have thought well of Luther because of his opinion that the Saxon first +taught the Germans to be unchristian, and because "Luther's merit is +greater in nothing than that he had the courage of his sensuality--then +called, gently enough, 'evangelic liberty.'" But no! With frantic +passion Nietzsche charged: "The Reformation, a duplication {731} of the +medieval spirit at a time when this spirit no longer had a good +conscience, pullulated sects, and superstitions like the witchcraft +craze." German culture was just ready to burst into full bloom, only one +night more was needed, but that night brought the storm that ruined all. +The Reformation was the peasants' revolt of the human spirit, a rising +full of sound and fury, but signifying nothing. It was "the rage of the +simple against the complex, a rough, honest misunderstanding, in which +(to speak mildly) much must be forgiven." Luther unraveled and tore +apart a culture he did not appreciate and an authority he did not relish. +Behind the formula "every man his own priest" lurked nothing but the +abysmal hatred of the low for the higher; the truly plebeian spirit at +its worst. + +[Sidenote: Acceptance of Nietzsche's opinion] + +Quite slowly but surely Nietzsche's opinion gained ground until one may +say that it was, not long ago, generally accepted. "Our sympathies are +more in unison, our reason less shocked by the arguments and doctrines of +Sadolet than by those of Calvin," wrote R. C. Christie. Andrew D. +White's popular study of _The Warfare of Science and Theology_ proved +that Protestant churches had been no less hostile to intellectual +progress than had the Catholic church. "The Reformation, in fact," +opined J. M. Robertson, "speedily overclouded with fanaticism what new +light of free thought had been glimmering before, turning into +Bibliolaters those who had rationally doubted some of the Catholic +mysteries and forcing back into Catholic bigotry those more refined +spirits who, like Sir Thomas More, had been in advance of their age." +"Before the Lutheran revolt," said Henry C. Lea, "much freedom of thought +and speech was allowed in Catholic Europe, but not after." Similar +opinions might be collected in large number; I {732} mention only the +works of Bezold and the brief but admirably expressed articles of +Professor George L. Burr, and that of Lemonnier, who places in a strong +light the battle of the Renaissance, intellectual, indifferent in +religion and politics, but aristocratic in temper, and the Reformation, +reactionary, religious, preoccupied with medieval questions and turning, +in its hostility to the governing orders, to popular politics. + +The reaction of the Reformation on religion was noticed by the critics, +who thus came to agree with the conservative estimate, though they +deplored what the others had rejoiced in. Long before Nietzsche, J. +Burckhardt had pointed out that the greatest danger to the papacy, +secularization, had been adjourned for centuries by the German +Reformation. It was this that roused the papacy from the soulless +debasement in which it lay; it was thus that the moral salvation of the +papacy was due to its mortal enemies. + +[Sidenote: Troeltsch] + +The twentieth century has seen two brilliant critiques of the Reformation +from the intellectual side by scholars of consummate ability, Ernst +Troeltsch and George Santayana. The former begins by pointing out, with +a fineness never surpassed, the essential oneness and slight differences +between early Protestantism and Catholicism. The Reformers asked the +same questions as did the medieval schoolmen and, though they gave these +questions somewhat different answers, their minds, like those of other +men, revealed themselves far more characteristically in the asking than +in the reply. "Genuine early Protestantism . . . was an authoritative +ecclesiastical civilization (kirchliche Zwangskultur), a claim to +regulate state and society, science and education, law, commerce, and +industry, according to the supernatural standpoint of revelation." The +Reformers separated early and with cruel violence from the humanistic, +philological, and philosophical {733} theology of Erasmus because they +were conscious of an essential opposition. Luther's sole concern was +with assurance of salvation, and this could only be won at the cost of a +miracle, not any longer the old, outward magic of saints and priestcraft, +but the wonder of faith occurring in the inmost center of personal life. +"The sensuous sacramental miracle is done away, and in its stead appears +the miracle of faith, that man, in his sin and weakness, can grasp and +confidently assent to such a thought." Thus it came about that the way +of salvation became more important than the goal, and the tyranny of +dogma became at last unbearable. Troeltsch characterizes both his own +position and that of the Reformers when he enumerates among the ancient +dogmas taken over naively by Luther, that of the existence of a personal, +ethical God. Finely contrasting the ideals of Renaissance and +Reformation, [Sidenote: Renaissance vs. Reformation] he shows that the +former was naturalism, the latter an intensification of religion and of a +convinced other-worldliness, that while the ethic of the former was based +on "affirmation of life," that of the latter was based on "calling." +Even as compared with Catholicism, Troeltsch thinks, supererogatory works +were abolished because each Protestant Christian was bound to exert +himself to the utmost at all times. The learned professor hazards the +further opinion that the spirit of the Renaissance amalgamated better +with Catholicism and, after a period of quiescence, burst forth in the +"frightful explosion" of the Enlightenment and Revolution, both more +radical in Catholic countries than in Protestant. But Troeltsch is too +historically-minded to see in the Reformation only a reaction. He +believes that it contributed to the formation of the modern world by the +development of nationalism, individualism (qualified by the objectively +conceived sanction of Bible and Christian community), moral health, and, +{734} indirectly, by the introduction of the ideas of tolerance, +criticism, and religious progress. Moreover, it enriched the world with +the story of great personalities. Protestantism was better able to +absorb modern elements of political, social, scientific, artistic and +economic content, not because it was professedly more open to them, but +because it was weakened by the memory of one great revolt from authority. +But the great change in religion as in other matters came, Troeltsch is +fully convinced, in the eighteenth century. + +[Sidenote: Santayana] + +If Troeltsch has the head of a skeptic with the heart of a Protestant, +Santayana's equally irreligious brain is biased by a sentimental sympathy +for the Catholicism in which he was trained. The essence of his +criticism of Luther, than whom, he once scornfully remarked, no one could +be more unintelligent, is that he moved away from the ideal of the +gospel. Saint Francis, like Jesus, was unworldly, disenchanted, ascetic; +Protestantism is remote from this spirit, for it is convinced of the +importance of success and prosperity, abominates the disreputable, thinks +of contemplation as idleness, of solitude as selfishness, of poverty as a +punishment, and of married and industrial life as typically godly. In +short, it is a reversion to German heathendom. But Santayana denies that +Luther prevented the euthanasia of Christianity, for there would have +been, he affirms, a Catholic revival without him. With all its +old-fashioned insistence that dogma was scientifically true and that +salvation was urgent and fearfully doubtful, Protestantism broke down the +authority of Christianity, for "it is suicidal to make one part of an +organic system the instrument for attacking the other part." It is the +beauty and torment of Protestantism that it leads to something ever +beyond its ken, finally landing its adherent in a pious skepticism. +Under the solvent of self-criticism {735} German religion and philosophy +have dropped, one by one, all supernaturalism and comforting private +hopes and have become absorbed in the duty of living manfully the +conventional life of the world. Positive religion and frivolity both +disappear, and only "consecrated worldliness" remains. + +Some support to the old idea that the Reformation was a progressive +movement has been recently offered by eminent scholars. [Sidenote: +Recent opinions] G. Monod says that the difference between Catholicism +and Protestantism is that the former created a closed philosophy, the +latter left much open. "The Reformation," according to H. A. L. Fisher, +"was the great dissolvent of European conservatism. A religion which had +been accepted with little question for 1200 years, which had dominated +European thought, moulded European customs, shaped no small part of +private law and public policy . . . was suddenly and sharply questioned +in all the progressive communities of the West." + +Bertrand Russell thinks that, while the Renaissance undermined the +medieval theory of authority in a few choice minds, the Reformation made +the first really serious breach in that theory. It is just because the +fight for liberty (which he hardly differentiates from anarchism) began +in the religious field, that its triumph is now most complete in that +field. We are still bound politically and economically; that we are free +religiously is due to Luther. It is an evil, however, in Mr. Russell's +opinion, that subjectivism has been fostered in Protestant morality. + +A similar opinion, in the most attenuated form, has been expressed by +Salomon Reinach. "Instead of freedom of faith and thought the +Reformation produced a kind of attenuated Catholicism. But the seeds of +religious liberty were there, though it was only after two centuries that +they blossomed and bore fruit, {736} thanks to the breach made by Luther +in the ancient edifice of Rome." + +[Sidenote: German nationalists] + +A judicious estimate is offered by Imbart de la Tour, to the effect that, +though the logical result of some of Luther's premises would have been +individual religion and autonomy of conscience, as actually worked out, +"his mystical doctrine of inner inspiration has no resemblance whatever +to our subjectivism." His true originality was his personality which +imposed on an optimistic society a pessimistic world-view. It is true +that the revolution was profound and yet it was not modern: "the classic +spirit, free institutions, democratic ideals, all these great forces by +which we live are not the heritage of Luther." + +As the wave of nationalism and militarism swept over Europe with the +Bismarckian wars, men began to judge the Reformation as everything else +by its relation, real or fancied, to racial superiority or power. Even +in Germany scholars were not at all clear as to exactly what this +relation was. Paul de Lagarde idealized the Middle Ages as showing the +perfect expression of German character and he detested "the coarse, +scolding Luther, who never saw further than his two hobnailed shoes, and +who by his demagogy, brought in barbarism and split Germany into +fragments." Nevertheless even he saw, at times, that the Reformation +meant a triumph of nationalism, and found it significant that the +Basques, who were not a nation, should have produced, in Loyola and +Xavier, the two greatest champions of the anti-national church. + +The tide soon started flowing the other way and scholars began to see +clearly that in some sort the Reformation was a triumph of "Deutschtum" +against the "Romanitas" of Latin religion and culture. Treitschke, as +the representative of this school, trumpeted forth that "the Reformation +arose from the good {737} German conscience," and that, "the Reformer of +our church was the pioneer of the whole German nation on the road to a +freer civilization." The dogma that might makes right was adopted at +Berlin--as Acton wrote in 1886--and the mere fact that the Reformation +was successful was accounted a proof of its rightness by historians like +Waitz and Kurtz. + +Naturally, all was not as bad as this. A rather attractive form of the +thesis was presented by Karl Sell. Whereas, he thinks, Protestantism has +died, or is dying, as a religion, it still exists as a mood, as +bibliolatry, as a national and political cult, as a scientific and +technical motive-power, and, last but not least, as the ethos and pathos +of the Germanic peoples. + +[Sidenote: The Great War] + +In the Great War Luther was mobilized as one of the German national +assets. Professor Gustav Kawerau and many others appealed to the +Reformer's writings for inspiration and justification of their cause; and +the German infantry sang "Ein' feste Burg" while marching to battle. + +Even outside of Germany the war of 1870 meant, in many quarters, the +defeat of the old liberalism and the rise of a new school inclined, even +in America--witness Mahan--to see in armed force rather than in +intellectual and moral ideas the decisive factors in history. Many +scholars noticed, in this connection, the shift of power from the +Catholic nations, led by France, to the Protestant peoples, Germany, +England and America. Some, like Acton, though impressed by it, did not +draw the conclusion ably presented by a Belgian, Emile de Laveleye, that +the cause of national superiority lay in Protestantism, but it doubtless +had a wide influence, partly unconscious, on the verdict of history. + +[Sidenote: Reaction against German ideals] + +But the recoil was far greater than the first movement. Paul Sabatier +wrote (in 1913) that until 1870 Protestantism had enjoyed the esteem of +thoughtful {738} men on account of its good sense, domestic and civic +virtues and its openness to science and literary criticism. This high +opinion, strengthened by the prestige of German thought, was shattered, +says our authority, by the results of the Franco-Prussian war, its train +of horrors, and the consequences to the victors, who raved of their +superiority and attributed to Luther the result of Sedan. + +The Great War loosed the tongues of all enemies of Luther. "Literary and +philosophic Germany," said Denys Cochin in an interview, "prepared the +evolution of the state and the cult of might. . . . The haughty and +aristocratic reform of Luther both prepared and seconded the aberration." + +[Sidenote: Paquier] + +Paquier has written a book around the thesis: "Nothing in the present war +would have been alien to Luther, for like all Germans of to-day, he was +violent and faithless. The theory of Nietzsche is monstrous, but it is +the logical conclusion of the religious revolution accomplished by Luther +and of the philosophical revolution accomplished by Kant." He finds the +causal nexus between Luther and Hindenburg in two important doctrines and +several corollaries. First, the doctrine of justification by faith meant +the disparagement of morality and the exaltation of the end at the +expense of the means. Secondly, Luther deified the state. Finally, in +his narrow patriotism, Luther is thought to have inspired the reckless +deeds of his posterity. + +On the other hand some French Protestants, notably Weiss, have sought to +show that the modern doctrines of Prussia were not due to Luther but were +an apostasy from him. + +Practically all the older methods of interpreting the Reformation have +survived to the present; to save space they must be noticed with the +utmost brevity. + +{739} [Sidenote: Protestants] + +The Protestant scholars of the last sixty years have all, as far as they +are worthy of serious notice, escaped from the crudely supernaturalistic +point of view. Their temptation is now, in proportion as they are +conservative, to read into the Reformation ideas of their own. Harnack +[Sidenote: Harnack] sees in Luther, as he does in Christ and Paul and all +other of his heroes, exactly his own German liberal Evangelical mind. He +is inclined to admit that Luther was little help to the progress of +science and enlightenment, that he did not absorb the cultural elements +of his time nor recognize the right and duty of free research, but yet he +thinks the Reformation more important than any other revolution since +Paul simply because it restored the true, _i.e._ Pauline and Harnackian +theology. Loisy's criticism of him is brilliant: "What would Luther have +thought had his doctrine of salvation by faith been presented to him with +the amendment 'independently of beliefs,' or with this amendment, 'faith +in the merciful Father, for faith in the Son is foreign to the Gospel of +Jesus'?" The same treatment of Mohammedanism, as that accorded by +Harnack to Christianity would, as Loisy remarks, deduce from it the same +humanitarian deism as that now fashionable at Berlin. + +I should like to speak of the work of Below and Wernle, of Boehmer and +Koehler, of Fisher and Walker and McGiffert, and of many other Protestant +scholars, by which I have profited. But I can only mention one other +Protestant tendency, that of some liberals who find the Reformation +(quite naturally) too conservative for them. Laurent wrote in this sense +in 1862-70, and he was followed by one of the most thoughtful of +Protestant apologists, Charles Beard. [Sidenote: Beard] Beard saw in +the Reformation the subjective form of religion over against the +objectivity of Catholicism, and also, "the first great triumph of the +scientific spirit"--the {740} Renaissance, in fact, applied to theology. +And yet he found its work so imperfect and even hampering at the time he +wrote (1883) that the chief purpose of his book was to advocate a new +Reformation to bring Christianity in complete harmony with science. + +[Sidenote: Philosophers] + +Several philosophers have, more from tradition than creed, adopted the +Protestant standpoint. Eucken thinks that "the Reformation became the +animating soul of the modern world, the principle motive-force of its +progress. . . . In truth, every phase of modern life not directly or +indirectly connected with the Reformation has something insipid and +paltry about it." Windelband believes that the Reformation arose from +mysticism but conquered only by the power of the state, and that the +stamp of the conflict between the inner grace and the outward support is +of the _esse_ of Protestanism. William James was also in warm sympathy +with Luther who, he thought, "in his immense, manly way . . . stretched +the soul's imagination and saved theology from puerility." James added +that the Reformer also invented a morality, as new as romantic love in +literature, founded on a religious experience of despair breaking through +the old, pagan pride. + +[Sidenote: Catholics] + +While many Catholics, among them Maurenbrecher and Gasquet, labored +fruitfully in the field of the Reformation by uncovering new facts, few +or none of them had much new light to cast on the philosophy of the +period. Janssen [Sidenote: Janssen] brought to its perfection a new +method applied to a new field; the field was that of _Kulturgeschichte_, +the method that of letting the sources speak for themselves, but +naturally only those sources agreeable to the author's bias. In this way +he represented the fifteenth century as the great blossoming of the +German mind, and the Reformation as a blighting frost to both culture and +morality. Pastor's [Sidenote: Pastor] work, though dense with fresh +knowledge, offers no connected {741} theory. The Reformation, he thinks, +was a shock without parallel, involving all sides of life, but chiefly +the religious. It was due in Germany to a union of the learned classes +and the common people; in England to the caprice of an autocrat. +From the learned uproar of Denifle's school emerges the explanation +of the revolt as the "great sewer" which carried off from the +church all the refuse and garbage of the time. Grisar's far finer +psychology--characteristically Jesuit--tries to cast on Luther the origin +of the present destructive subjectivism. Grisar's proof that "the modern +infidel theology" of Germany bases itself in an exaggerated way on the +Luther of the first period, is suggestive. + +[Sidenote: Acton] + +Though the Reformation was one of Lord Acton's favorite topics, I cannot +find on that subject any new or fruitful thought at all in proportion to +his vast learning. His theory of the Reformation is therefore the old +Catholic one, stripped of supernaturalism, that it was merely the product +of the wickedness and vagaries of a few gifted demagogues, and the almost +equally blamable obstinacy of a few popes. He thought the English Bishop +Creighton too easy in his judgment of the popes, adding, "My dogma is not +the special wickedness of my own spiritual superiors, but the general +wickedness of men in authority--of Luther and Zwingli and Calvin and +Cranmer and Knox, of Mary Stuart and Henry VIII, of Philip II and +Elizabeth, of Cromwell and Louis XIV, James and Charles, William, Bossuet +and Ken." Acton dated modern times from the turn of the 15th and 16th +centuries, believing that the fundamental characteristic of the period is +the belief in conscience as the voice of God. He says, that "Luther at +Worms is the most pregnant and momentous fact in our history," but he +confesses himself baffled by the problem, which is, to his mind, why +Luther did not return to the church. Luther, alleges Acton, gave up +{742} all the doctrines commonly insisted on as crucial and, then or +later, dropped predestination, and admitted the necessity of good works, +the freedom of the will, the hierarchical constitution, the authority of +tradition, the seven sacraments, the Latin Mass. In fact, says Acton, +the one bar to his return to the church was his belief that the pope was +Antichrist. + +It is notable that none of the free minds starting from Catholicism have +been attracted to the Protestant camp. Renan prophesied that St. Paul +and Protestantism were coming to the end of their reign. Paul Sabatier +carefully proved that the Modernists owed nothing to Luther, and their +greatest scholar, Loisy, succinctly put the case in the remark, "We are +done with partial heresies." + +[Sidenote: Anglicans] + +The Anglicans have joined the Romanists to denounce as heretics those who +rebelled against the church which still calls Anglicans heretics. +Neville Figgis, having snatched from Treitschke the juxtaposition "Luther +and Machiavelli," has labored to build up around it a theory by which +these two men shall appear as the chief supports of absolutism and +"divine right of kings." Figgis thinks that with the Reformation +religion was merely the "performance for passing entertainment," but that +the state was the "eternal treasure." A far more judicious and +unprejudiced discussion of the same thesis is offered in the works of +Professor A. F. Pollard. He sees both sides of the medal for, if +religion had become a subject of politics, politics had become matter of +religion. He thinks the English Reformation was primarily a revolt of +the laity against the clergy. + +[Sidenote: Other schools] + +The liberal estimate of the Reformation fashionable a hundred years ago +has also been revived in an elaborate work of Mackinnon, and is assumed +in obiter dicta by such eminent historians as A. W. Benn, {743} E. P. +Cheyney, C. Borgeaud, H. L. Osgood and Woodrow Wilson. Finally, +Professor J. H. Robinson has improved the old political interpretation +current among the secular historians of the sixteenth and seventeenth +centuries. The essence of the Lutheran movement he finds in the revolt +from the Roman ecclesiastical state. + + +SECTION 5. CONCLUDING ESTIMATE + +The reader will expect me, after having given some account of the +estimates of others, to make an evaluation of my own. Of course no +view can be final; mine, like that of everyone else, is the expression +of an age and an environment as well as that of an individual. + +[Sidenote: Causes of the Reformation] + +The Reformation, like the Renaissance and the sixteenth-century Social +Revolution, was but the consequence of the operation of antecedent +changes in environment and habit, intellectual and economic. There was +the widening and deepening of knowledge, due in one aspect to the +invention of printing, in the other to the geographical and historical +discoveries of the fifteenth century and the consequent adumbration of +the idea of natural law. Even in the later schoolmen, like Biel and +Occam, still more in the humanists, one finds a much stronger +rationalism than in the representative thinkers of the Middle Ages. +The general economic antecedent was the growth in wealth and the change +in the system of production from gild and barter to that of money and +wages. This produced three secondary results, which in turn operated +as causes: the rise of the moneyed class, individualism, and +nationalism. + +All these tendencies, operating in three fields, the religious, the +political and the intellectual, produced the Reformation and its +sisters, the Renaissance and the Social Revolution of the sixteenth +century. The Reformation--including in that term both the Protestant +movement and the Catholic reaction--partly occupied {744} all these +fields, but did not monopolize any of them. There were some religious, +or anti-religious, movements outside the Reformation, and the Lutheran +impulse swept into its own domain large tracts of the intellectual and +political fields, primarily occupied by Renaissance and Revolution. + +[Sidenote: Religious aspect] + +(1) The _gene_ felt by many secular historians in the treatment of +religion is now giving way to the double conviction of the importance +of the subject and of its susceptibility to scientific study. Religion +in human life is not a subject apart, nor is it necessary to regard all +theological revolts as obscurantist. As a rationalist[1] has remarked, +it is usually priests who have freed mankind from taboos and +superstitions. Indeed, in a religious age, no effective attack on the +existing church is possible save one inspired by piety. + +[Sidenote: Parallels to the Reformation] + +Many instructive parallels to the Reformation can be found both in +Christian history and in that of other religions; they all markedly +show the same consequences of the same causes. The publication of +Christianity, with its propaganda of monotheism against the Roman world +and its accentuation of faith against the ceremonialism of the Jewish +church, resembled that of Luther's "gospel." Marcion with his message +of Pauline faith and his criticism of the Bible, was a second-century +Reformer. The iconoclasm and nationalism of the Emperor Leo furnish +striking similarities to the Protestant Revolt. The movements started +by the medieval mystics and still more by the heretics Wyclif and Huss, +rehearsed the religious drama of the sixteenth century. Many revivals +in the Protestant church, such as Methodism, were, like the original +movement, returns to personal piety and biblicism. The Old Catholic +schism in its repudiation of the papal supremacy, and even Modernism, +notwithstanding its {745} disclaimers, are animated in part by the same +motives as those inspiring the Reformers. In Judaism the Sadducees, in +their bibliolatry and in their opposition to the traditions dear to the +Pharisees, were Protestants; a later counterpart of the same thing is +found in the reform the Karaites by Anan ben David. Mohammed has been +a favorite subject for comparison with Luther by the Catholics, but in +truth, in no disparaging sense, the proclamation of Islam, with its +monotheism, emphasis on faith and predestination, was very like the +Reformation, and so were several later reforms within Mohammedanism, +including two in the sixteenth century. Many parallels could doubtless +be adduced from the heathen religions, perhaps the most striking is the +foundation of Sikhism by Luther's contemporary Nanak, who preached +monotheism and revolted from the ancient ceremonial and hierarchy of +caste. + +What is the etiology of religious revolution? The principal law +governing it is that any marked change either in scientific knowledge +or in ethical feeling necessitates a corresponding alteration in the +faith. All the great religious innovations of Luther and his followers +can be explained as an attempt to readjust faith to the new culture, +partly intellectual, partly social, that had gradually developed during +the later Middle Ages. + +[Sidenote: Faith vs. works] + +The first shift, and the most important, was that from salvation by +works to salvation by faith only. The Catholic dogma is that salvation +is dependent on certain sacraments, grace being bestowed automatically +(_ex opere operato_) on all who participate in the celebration of the +rite without actively opposing its effect. Luther not only reduced the +number of sacraments but he entirely changed their character. Not +they, but the faith of the participant mattered, and {746} this faith +was bestowed freely by God, or not at all. In this innovation one +primary cause was the individualism of the age; the sense of the worth +of the soul or, if one pleases, of the ego. This did not mean +subjectivism, or religious autonomy, for the Reformers held +passionately to an ideal of objective truth, but it did mean that every +soul had the right to make its personal account with God, without +mediation of priest or sacrament. Another element in this new dogma +was the simpler, and yet more profound, psychology of the new age. The +shift of emphasis from the outer to the inner is traceable from the +earliest age to the present, from the time when Homer delighted to tell +of the good blows struck in fight to the time when fiction is but the +story of an inner, spiritual struggle. The Reformation was one phase +in this long process from the external to the internal. The debit and +credit balance of outward work and merit was done away, and for it was +substituted the nobler, or at least more spiritual and less mechanical, +idea of disinterested morality and unconditioned salvation. The God of +Calvin may have been a tyrant, but he was not corruptible by bribes. + +We are so much accustomed to think of dogma as the _esse_ of religion +that it is hard for us to do justice to the importance of this change. +Really, it is not dogma so much as rite and custom that is fundamental. +The sacramental habit of mind was common to medieval Christianity and +to most primitive religions. For the first time Luther substituted for +the sacramental habit, or attitude, its antithesis, an almost purely +ethical criterion of faith. The transcendental philosophy and the +categorical imperative lay implicit in the famous _sola fide_. + +[Sidenote: Monism] + +The second great change made by Protestantism was more intellectual, +that from a pluralistic to a monistic {747} standpoint. Far from the +conception of natural law, the early Protestants did little or nothing +to rationalize, or explain away, the creeds of the Catholics, but they +had arrived at a sufficiently monistic philosophy to find scandal in +the worship of the saints, with its attendant train of daily and +trivial miracles. To sweep away the vast hierarchy of angels and +canonized persons that made Catholicism quasi-polytheistic, and to +preach pure monotheism was in the spirit of the time and is a +phenomenon for which many parallels can be found. Instructive is the +analogy of the contemporary trend to absolutism; neither God nor king +any longer needed intermediaries. + +[Sidenote: Political and economic aspects] + +(2) In two aspects the Reformation was the religious expression of the +current political and economic change. In the first place it reflected +and reacted upon the growing national self-consciousness, particularly +of the Teutonic peoples. [Sidenote: Nationalism and Teutonism] The +revolt from Rome was in the interests of the state church, and also of +Germanic culture. The break-up of the Roman church at the hands of the +Northern peoples is strikingly like the break-up of the Roman Empire +under pressure from their ancestors. Indeed, the limits of the Roman +church practically coincided with the boundaries of the Empire. The +apparent exception of England proves the rule, for in Britain the Roman +civilization was swept away by the German invasions of the fifth and +following centuries. + +That the Reformation strengthened the state was inevitable, for there +was no practical alternative to putting the final authority in +spiritual matters, after the pope had been ejected, into the hands of +the civil government. Congregationalism was tried and failed as +tending to anarchy. But how little the Reformation was really +responsible for the new despotism and the divine right of kings, is +clear from a comparison with {748} the Greek church and the Turkish +Empire. In both, the same forces which produced the state churches of +Western Europe operated in the same way. Selim I, a bigoted Sunnite, +after putting down the Shi'ite heresy, induced the last caliph of the +Abbasid dynasty to surrender the sword and mantle of the prophet; +thereafter he and his successors were caliphs as well as sultans. In +Russia Ivan the Terrible made himself, in 1547, head of the national +church. + +[Sidenote: Capitalism] + +Protestantism also harmonized with the capitalistic revolution in that +its ethics are, far more than those of Catholicism, oriented by a +reference to this world. The old monastic ideal of celibacy, solitude, +mortification of the flesh, prayer and meditation, melted under the sun +of a new prosperity. In its light men began to realize the ethical +value of this life, of marriage, of children, of daily labor and of +success and prosperity. It was just in this work that Protestantism +came to see its chance of serving God and one's neighbor best. The man +at the plough, the maid with the broom, said Luther, are doing God +better service than does the praying, self-tormenting monk. + +Moreover, the accentuation of the virtues of thrift and industry, which +made capitalism and Calvinism allies, but reflected the standards +natural to the bourgeois class. It was by the might of the merchants +and their money that the Reformation triumphed; conversely they +benefited both by the spoils of the church and by the abolition of a +privileged class. Luther stated that there was no difference between +priest and layman; some men were called to preach, others to make +shoes, but--and this is his own illustration--the one vocation is no +more spiritual than the other. No longer necessary as a mediator and +dispenser of sacramental grace, the Protestant clergyman sank +inevitably to the same level as his neighbors. + +{749} [Sidenote: Intellectual aspect] + +(3) In its relation to the Renaissance and to modern thought the +Reformation solved, in its way, two problems, or one problem, that of +authority, in two forms. Though anything but consciously rational in +their purpose, the innovating leaders did assert, at least for +themselves, the right of private judgment. Appealing from +indulgence-seller to pope, from pope to council, from council to the +Bible and (in Luther's own words) from the Bible to Christ, [Sidenote: +Individualism] the Reformers finally came to their own conscience as +the supreme court. Trying to deny to others the very rights they had +fought to secure for themselves, yet their example operated more +powerfully than their arguments, even when these were made of ropes and +of thumb-screws. The delicate balance of faith was overthrown and it +was put into a condition of unstable equilibrium; the avalanche, +started by ever so gentle a push, swept onward until it buried the men +who tried to stop it half way. Dogma slowly narrowing down from +precedent to precedent had its logical, though unintended, outcome in +complete religious autonomy, yes, in infidelity and skepticism. + +[Sidenote: Vulgarization of the Renaissance] + +Protestantism has been represented now as the ally, now as the enemy of +humanism. Consciously it was neither. Rather, it was the +vulgarization of the Renaissance; it transformed, adapted, and +popularized many of the ideas originated by its rival. It is easy to +see now that the future lay rather outside of both churches than in +either of them, if we look only for direct descent. Columbus burst the +bounds of the world, Copernicus those of the universe; Luther only +broke his vows. But the point is that the repudiation of religious +vows was the hardest to do at that time, a feat infinitely more +impressive to the masses than either of the former. It was just here +that the religious movement became a great solvent of conservatism; it +made the masses think, passionately if not {750} deeply, on their own +beliefs. It broke the cake of custom and made way for greater +emancipations than its own. It was the logic of events that, whereas +the Renaissance gave freedom of thought to the cultivated few, the +Reformation finally resulted in tolerance for the masses. Logically +also, even while it feared and hated philosophy in the great thinkers +and scientists, it advocated education, up to a certain point, for the +masses. + +[Sidenote: The Reformation a step forward] + +In summary, if the Reformation is judged with historical imagination, +it docs not appear to be primarily a reaction. That it should be such +is both _a priori_ improbable and unsupported by the facts. The +Reformation did not give _our_ answer to the many problems it was +called upon to face; nevertheless it gave the solution demanded and +accepted by the time, and therefore historically the valid solution. +With all its limitations it was, fundamentally, a step forward and not +the return to an earlier standpoint, either to that of primitive +Christianity, as the Reformers themselves claimed, or to the dark ages, +as has been latterly asserted. + + + +[1] S. Reinach: _Cultes, Mythes et Religions_, iv, 467. + + + + +{751} + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + +PRELIMINARY + +1. UNPUBLISHED SOURCES. + +The amount of important unpublished documents on the Reformation, +though still large, is much smaller than that of printed sources, and +the value of these manuscripts is less than that of those which have +been published. It is no purpose of this bibliography to furnish a +guide to archives. + +Though the quantity of unpublished material that I have used has been +small, it has proved unexpectedly rich. In order to avoid repetition +in each following chapter, I will here summarize manuscript material +used (most of it for the first time), which is either still unpublished +or is in course of publication by myself. See _Luther's +Correspondence_, transl. and ed. by Preserved Smith and C. M. Jacobs, +1913 ff; _English Historical Review_, July 1919; _Scottish Historical +Review_, Jan. 1919; _Harvard Theological Review_, April 1919; _The N. +Y. Nation_, various dates 1919. + +From the Bodleian Library, I have secured a copy of an unpublished +letter and other fragments of Luther, press mark, Montagu d. 20, fol. +225, and Auct. Z. ii, 2. + +From the British Museum I have had diplomatic correspondence of Robert +Barnes, Cotton MSS., Vitellius B XXI, foil. 120 ff.; a letter of +Albinianus Tretius to Luther, Add. MS. 19, 959, fol. 4b ff; and a +portion of John Foxe's _Collection of Letters and Papers_, Harleian MS +419, fol. 125. + +From the Pennsylvania Historical Society, Philadelphia, collection of +autographs made by Ferdinand J. Dreer, unpublished and hitherto unused +letters of Erasmus, James VI of Scotland (2), Leo X, Hedio, Farel to +Calvin, Forster, Melanchthon, Charles V, Albrecht of Mansfeld, Henry +VIII, Francis I (3), Catherine de' Medici, Grynaeus, Viglius van +Zuichem, Alphonso d'Este, Philip Marnix, Camden, Tasso, Machiavelli, +Pius IV, Vassari, Borromeo, Alesandro Ottavio de' Medici (afterwards +Leo XI), Clement VIII, Sarpi, Emperor Ferdinand, William of Nassau +(1559), Maximilian III, Paul Eber (2), Rudolph II, Henry III, Philip +II, Emanuel Philibert, Henry IV, Scaliger, Mary Queen of Scots, Robert +Dudley (Leicester), Filippo Strozzi, and others. + +From Wellesley College a patent of Charles V., dated Worms, March 6, +1521, granting mining rights to the Count of Belalcazar. Unpublished. + +Prom the American Hispanic Society of New York unpublished letter of +Henry IV of France to Du Font, on his conversion, and letter of Henry +VII of England to Ferdinand of Aragon. + + +2. GENERAL WORKS + +_Encyclopaedia Britannica_.[11] 1910-1. (Many valuable articles of a +thoroughly scientific character). + +_The New International Encyclopaedia_, 1915f. (Equally valuable). + +_Realencyklopaedie fuer protestantische Theologie und Kirche_.[3] 24 +vols. Leipzig. 1896-1913. (Indispensable to the student of Church +History; The Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religions Knowledge, 12 +vols., 1908 ff, though in part based on this, is far less valuable for +the present subject). + +Wetzer und Welte: _Kirchenlexikon oder Encyclopaedie der katholischen +Theologie und ihrer Huelfswissenschaften_. Zweite Auflage von J. Card. +Hergenroether und F. Kaulen. Freiburg im Breisgau. 1880-1901. 12 +vols. (Valuable). + +_Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart_, hg. von H. Gunkel, O. +Scheel, F. M. Schiele. 5 vols. 1909-13. + +_The Cambridge Modern History_, planned by Lord Acton, edited by A. W. +Ward, G. W. Prothero, Stanley Leathes. London and New York. 1902 ff. +Vol. 1. _The Renaissance_. 1902. Vol. 2. _The Reformation_. 1904. +Vol. 3. _The Wars of Religion_. 1905. Vol. 13. _Tables and Index_. +1911. Vol. 14. _Maps_. 1912. (A standard co-operative work, with +full bibliographies). + +_Weltgeschichte, hg.v.J. von Pflugk-Harttung: Das Religioese Zeitalter_, +1500-1650. Berlin. 1907. (A co-operative work, written by masters of +their subjects in popular style. Profusely illustrated). + +E. Lavisse et A. Rambaud: _Histoire generale du IVe siecle a nos jours. +Tome IV Renaissance et reforme, les nouveaux mondes 1492-1559_. 1894. +Tome V. _Les guerres de religion 1559-1648_. 1895. + +R. L. Poole: _Historical Atlas of Modern Europe_. 1902. + +W. R. Shepherd: _Historical Atlas_. 1911. + +Ramsay Muir: _Hammond's New Historical Atlas for Students_. 1914. + +A list of general histories of the Reformation will be found in the +bibliography to the last chapter. + +An excellent introduction to the bibliography of the public documents +of all countries will be found in the _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, s.v. +"Record." + + +CHAPTER I. THE OLD AND THE NEW + +SECTION 1. _The World_ + +On economic changes see bibliography to chapter xi; on exploration, +chapter ix; on universities, chapter xiii, 3. On printing: + +J. Janssen: _A History of the German People from the Close of the +Middle Ages_, transl. by M. A. Mitchell and A. M. Christie. 2d English +ed. 16 volumes. 1905-10. + +A. W. Pollard: _Fine Books_. 1912. + +T. L. De Vinne: _The Invention of Printing_. 1878. + +Veroeffentlichungen der Gutenberg-Gesellschaft. 1901 ff. + +H. Meisner und J. Luther: _Die Erfindung der Buchdruckerkunst_. 1900. + +Article "Typography" in Encyclopedia Britannica. (The author defends +the now untenable thesis that printing originated in Holland, though +the numerous and valuable data given by himself point clearly to +Mayence as the cradle of the art). + + +SECTIONS 2 and 3. _The Church, Causes of the Reformation_ + +SOURCES. + +C. Mirbt: _Quellen sur Geschichte des Papsttums und der roemischen +Katholizismus_.[3] 1911. (Convenient and scholarly; indispensable to +any one who has not a large library at command). + +_The Missal_, compiled from the Missale Romanum. 1913. + +_The Priest's New Ritual_, compiled by P. Griffith. 1902. (The rites +of the Roman Church, except the Mass, partly in Latin, partly in +English). + +_The Catechism of the Council of Trent_, translated into English by J. +Donovan. 1829. + +_Corpus Juris Canonici_, post curas A. L. Richteri instruxit Aemilius +Friedberg. 2 vols. 1879-81. + +_Codex Juris Canonici_, Pii X jussu digestus, Benedicti XV auctoritate +promulgatus. 1918. + +Thomas Aquinas: _Summa Theologiae_. Many editions; the best, with a +commentary by Cardinal Cajetan (1469-1534) in _Opera Omnia, iussu +impensaque Leonis XIII PP_. vols. 4-10. 1882 ff. + +_The Summa theologica of St. Thomas Aquinas_, translated by the Fathers +of the English Dominican Province. 1911 ff. (In course of +publication, as yet, 6 vols). + +Von der Hardt: _Magnum Oecumenicum Constantiense Concilium_. 6 vols. +1700. + +D. Mansi: _Conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio_. Vols. 27-32. +Venice. 1784 ff. (Identical reprint, Paris, 1902). + +Most of the best literature of the 14th and 15th centuries, e.g., the +works of Chaucer, Langland, Boccaccio and Petrach [Transcriber's note: +Petrarch?]. + +Special works of ecclesiastical writers, humanists, nationalists and +heretics quoted below. + +V. Hasak: _Der christliche Glaube des deutschen Volkes beim Schlusse +des Mittelalters_. 1868. (A collection of works of popular +edification prior to Luther). + +G. Berbig: "_Die erste kursaechsische Visitation im Ortland Franken_." +_Archiv fuer Reformationsgeschichte_, iii. 336-402; iv. 370-408. 1905-6. + + +TREATISES. + +E. Friedberg: _Lehrbuch des katholischen und evangelischen +Kirchenrechts_.[5] Leipzig. 1903. + +L. Pastor: _History of the Popes from the close of the Middle Ages_. +English translation,[2] vols. 1-6 edited by Antrobus, vols. 7-12 edited +by R. Kerr. 1899 ff. (Exhaustive, brilliantly written, Catholic, a +little one-sided). + +Mandel Creighton: _A History of the Papacy 1378-1527_. 6 vols. 1892 +ff. (Good, but in large part superseded by Pastor). + +F. Gregorovius: _A History of Rome in the Middle Ages_, translated by +A. Hamilton. vols 7 and 8. 1900. (Brilliant). + +_Schaff's History of the Christian Church_. Vol. 5, part 2. The +Middle Ages. 1294-1517, by D. S. Schaff. 1910. (A scholarly summary, +warmly Protestant). + +J. Schnitzer: _Quellen und Forschungen zur Geschichte Savonarolas_. 3 +vols. 1902-4. + +J. Schnitzer: _Savonarola im Streite mit seinem Orden und seinem +Kloster_. 1914. + +H. Lucas: _Fra Girolamo Savonarola_.[2] 1906. + +H. C. Lea: _An Historical Sketch of Sacerdotal Celibacy_.[3] 2 vols. +1907. (Lea's valuable works evince a marvelously wide reading in the +sources, but are slightly marred by an insufficient use of modern +scholarship). + +H. C. Lea: _A History of Auricular Confession and Indulgences in the +Latin Church_. 3 vols. 1896. + +Aloys Schulte: _Die Fugger in Rom, 1495-1523_. 2 vols. Leipzig. +1904. (Describes the financial methods of the church. The second +volume consists of documents). + +E. Rodocanachi: _Rome au temps de Jules II et de Leon X_. 1912. + +H. Boehmer: _Luthers Romfahrt_. 1914. (The latter part of this work +gives a dark picture of the corruption of Rome at the beginning of the +16th century). + + +SECTION 4. _The Mystics_ + +SOURCES. + +W. R. Inge: _Life, Light and Love_. 1904. (Selections from Eckart, +Tauler, Suso, Ruysbroeck, etc.). + +H. Denifle: "_M. Eckeharts lateinische Schriften und die +Grundanschauung seiner Lehre_." _Archiv fuer Literaturund +Sprachgeschichte_. ii. 416-652. + +_Meister Eckeharts Schriften und Predigten aus dem Mittelhochdeutschen_ +uebersetzt von H. Buttner. 2 vols. 1912. + +_H. Seuses Deutsche Schriften_ uebertragen von W. Lehmann. 2 vols. +1914. + +_J. Taulers Predigten_, uebertragen von W. Lehmann. 2 vols. 1914. + +Thomas a Kempis: _imitatio Christi_. (So many editions and +translations of this celebrated work that it is hardly necessary to +specify one). + +_The German Theology_, translated by Susannah Winkworth. 1854. + + +TREATISES. + +Kuno Francke: "_Medieval German Mysticism_." _Harvard Theological +Review_, Jan., 1912. + +G. Siedel: _Die Mystik Taulers_. 1911. + +M. Windstosser: _Etude sur la 'Theologie germanique.'_ 1912. + +W. Preger: _Geschichte der deutschen Mystik im Mittelalter_. 3 vols. +1874-93. + +_History and Life of the Rev. John Tauler, with 25 sermons_, translated +by Susannah Winkworth. 1858. + +M. Maeterlinck: _Ruysbroeck and the Mystics_, with selections from +Ruysbroeck, translated by J. T. Stoddard. 1894. + +J. E. G. de Montmorency: _Thomas a Kempis, his Age and his Book_. 1906. + +A. R. Burr: _Religious Confessions and Confessants_. 1914. (The best +psychological study of mysticism). + + +SECTION 5. _Pre-Reformers_ + +SOURCES. + +_J. Wyclif's Select English Works_, ed. by T. Arnold. 1869-71. 3 vols. + +_J. Wyclif's English Works hitherto unprinted_, ed. F. Matthew. 1880. + +F. Palacky: _Documenta Magistri J. Hus_. 1869. + +_The Letters of John Huss_, translated by H. B. Workman and R. M. Pope. +1904. + +Wyclif's Latin Works have been edited in many volumes by the Wyclif +Society of London, the last volume being the _Opera minora_, 1913. + +John Huss: _The Church_, translated by D. S. Schaff. 1915. + + +TREATISES. + +H. C. Lea: _A History of the Inquisition in the Middle Ages_. 3 vols. +1888. + +G. M. Trevelyan: _England in the Age of Wyclif_[2]. 1899. + +F. A. Gasquet: _The Eve of the Reformation_[2]. 1905. + +F. Palacky: Geschichte von Boehmen.[3] 1864 ff. 5 vols. + +J. H. Wylie: _The Council of Constance to the Death of John Hus_. 1900. + +H. B. Workman: _The Dawn of the Reformation_. The Age of Hus. 1902. + +Count F. Luetzow: _The Hussite Wars_. 1914. + +Count F. Luetzow: _The Life and Times of Master John Hus_. 1909. + +D. S. Schaff: _The Life of John Hus_. 1915. + + +SECTION 6. _Nationalizing the Churches_ + +Most of the bibliography in this chapter is given below, in the +chapters on Germany, England and France. + +Freher et Struvius. _Rerum German icarum Scriptores_. (1717.) pp. +676-1704: "Gravamina Germanicae Nationis . . . ad Caesarem Maximilianum +contra Sedem Romanam." + +C. G. F. Walch: _Monumenta medii aevi_. (1757.) pp. 101-110. +"Gravamina nationis Germanicae adversus curiam Romanam, tempore Nicolai +V Papae." + +B. Gebhardt: _Die Gravamina der deutschen Nation gegen den roemischen +Hof_. 1895. + +_Documents illustrative of English Church History_, compiled by Henry +Gee and W. J. Hardy. 1896. + +A. Werminghoff: _Geschichte der Kirchenverfassung Deutschlands im +Mittelalter_. Band I.[2] 1913. + +A. Stoermann: _Die Staedtischen Gravamina gegen den Klerus_. 1916. + + +SECTION 7. _The Humanists_ + +SOURCES. + +_The Utopia of Sir Thomas More_. Ralph Robinson's translation, with +Roper's Life of More and some of his letters. Edited by G. Sampson and +A. Guthkelch. With Latin Text of the Utopia. 1910. (Bohn's +Libraries). + +_Der Briefwechsel des Mutianus Rufus_, bearbeitet von C. Krause. 1885. + +_J. Reuchlins Briefwechsel_, hg. von L. Geiger. 1875. + +E. Boecking: _Hutteni Opera_. 1859-66. 5 vols. + +_Epistolae Obscurorum Virorum_: The Latin Text with an English +translation, Notes and an Historical Introduction by F. G. Stokes. +1909. + +_Des. Erasmi Roterodami Opera Omnia_, curavit J. Clericus. 1703-6. 10 +vols. + +_Des. Erasmi Roterodami Opus Epistolarum_, ed. P. S. Allen. 1906 ff. +(A wonderful edition of the letters, in course of publication. As yet +3 vols). + +_The Colloquies of Des. Erasmus_, translated by N. Bailey, ed. by E. +Johnson. 1900. 3 vols. + +_The Praise of Folly_. Written by Erasmus 1509 and translated by John +Wilson 1668, edited by Mrs. P. S. Allen. 1913. + +_The Epistles of Erasmus_, translated by F. M. Nichols. 1901-18. 3 +vols. (To 1519). + +_The Ship of Fools_, translated by Alexander Barclay. 2 vols. 1874. +(Sebastian Brandt's _Narrenschiff_ in the old translation). + + +TREATISES. + +P. Monnier: _Le Quattrocento_. 2 vols. 1908. (Work of a high order). + +L. Geiger: _Renaissance und Humanismus in Italien und Deutschland_. +1882. (In Oncken's Series). 2d ed. 1899. + +J. Burckhardt: _Die Cultur der Renaissance in Italien_. 20. Auflage +von L. Geiger. Berlin. 1919. (Almost a classic). + +P. Villari: _Niccolo Machiavelli and His Times_, translated by Mrs. +Villari[2]. 4 vols. 1891. + +W. H. Hutten: _Sir Thomas More_. 1900. + +J. A. Froude: _The Life and Letters of Erasmus_. London. 1895. +(Charmingly written, but marred by gross carelessness). + +E. Emerton: _Erasmus_. New York. 1900. + +G. V. Jourdan: _The Movement towards Catholic Reform in the early XVI +Century_. 1914. + +A. Humbert: _Les Origines de la Theologie moderne_. Paris. 1911. +(Brilliant). + +A. Renaudet: _Prereforme et Humanisme a Paris 1494-1517_. 1916. + + +CHAPTER II. GERMANY + +GENERAL + +_List of References on the History of the Reformation in Germany_, ed. +by G. L. Kieffer, W. W. Rockwell and O. H. Pannkoke, 1917. + +Dahlmann-Waitz: _Quellenkunde der deutschen Geschichte_.[8] 1912. + +G. Wolf: _Quellenkunde der deutschen Reformationsgeschichte_. 2 vols. +1915-16. + +A. Morel-Fatio: _Historiographie de Charles-Quint_. Pt. 1 1913. + +B. J. Kidd: _Documents illustrative of the Continental Reformation_. +1911. + +T. M. Lindsay: _A History of the Reformation_. Vol. 1, In Germany. +1906. + +J. Janssen: _op. cit._ + +K. Lamprecht: Deutsche Geschichte, vols. 4 and 5. 1894. + +T. Brieger: _Die Reformation_. (In Pflugk-Harttung's _Weltgeschichte: +Das religioese Zeitalter 1300-1650_. 1907; also printed separately in +enlarged form). + +G. Mentz: _Deutsche Geschichte 1493-1648_. 1913. (The best purely +political summary). + +M. de Foronda y Aguilera: _Estancias y viajes del Emperador Carlos V, +desde el dia de su nacimiento hasta el de su muerte_. 1914. + + +SECTION 1. _Luther_ + +Bibliography in Catalogue of the British Museum. + +_Dr. Martin Luther's Werke_. Kritische Gesamtausgabe, von Knaake und +Andern. Weimar. 1883 ff. (The standard edition of the Reformer's +writings, in course of publication, approaching completion. As yet +have appeared more than fifty volumes of the Works, and, separately +numbered: Die Deutsche Bibel, 4 vols., and Tischreden, 4 vols.). + +_Dr. Martin Luther's Briefwechsel_, bearbeitet von E. L. Enders (vols. +12 ff. fortgesetzt von G. Kawerau). 1884 ff. (In course of +publication; as yet 17 volumes). + +_Luther's Briefe_, herausgegeben von W. L. M. de Wette. 6 vols. +1825-56. + +_Luther's Primary Works_, translated by H. Wace and C. A. Buchheim. +1896. + +_The Works of Martin Luther_, translated and edited by W. A. Lambert, +T. J. Schindel, A. T. W. Steinhaeuser, A. L. Steimle and C. M. Jacobs. +1915 ff. (To be complete in ten volumes; as yet 2). + +_Luther's Correspondence and other Contemporary Letters_, translated +and edited by Preserved Smith. Vol. 1, 1913. Vol. II, in +collaboration with C. M. Jacobs, 1918. + +_Conversations with Luther, Selections from the Table Talk_, translated +and edited by Preserved Smith and H. P. Gallinger. 1915. + +_Melanchthonis Opera_, ed. Bretschneider und Bindseil. 1834 ff. In +Corpus Reformatorum vols. i-xxviii. + +J. Koestlin: _Martin Luther_, fuenfte Auflage besorgt von G. Kawerau. 2 +vols. 1903. (The standard biography. The English translation made +from the edition of 1883 in no wise represents the scholarship of the +last edition). + +A. Hausrath: _Luther's Leben_, neue Auflage von H. von Schubert. 1914. +(Excellent). + +H. Grisar: _Luther_. English translation by F. M. Lamond. 1913 ff. +(Six volumes, representing the German three. A learned, somewhat +amorphous work, from the Catholic standpoint, but not unfair). + +H. Denifle: _Luther und Lutherthum in der ersten Entwicklung_[2]. 3 +vols. 1904 ff. (G. P. Gooch calls "Denifle's eight hundred pages +hurled at the memory of the Reformer among the most repulsive books in +historical literature"; nevertheless the author is so wonderfully +learned that much may be acquired from him). + +A. C. McGiffert: _Martin Luther, the Man and his Work_. 1911. + +Preserved Smith: _The Life and Letters of Martin Luther_[2]. 1914. + +O. Scheel: _Martin Luther, vom Katholizismus zur Reformation_.[2] 2 +vols. 1917. (Detailed study of Luther until 1517. Warmly Protestant). + +W. W. Rockwell: _Die Doppelehe des Landgrafen Philipp von Hessen_. +1904. (Work of a high order). + + +SECTIONS 2-5. _The Revolution_ + +_Deutsche Reichstagsakten unter Karl V_, herausgegeben von A. Kluckhohn +and A. Wrede. 1893 ff. (Four volumes to 1524 have appeared). + +_Nuntiaturberichte aus Deutschland nebst ergaenzenden Aktenstuecken_, +herausgegeben durch das Koenigliche Preussische Institut in Rom. Erste +Abtheilung 1533-59. 1892 ff. (As yet have appeared vols. 1-6, 8-12). + +Emil Sehling: _Die Evangelischen Kirchenordungen des XVI Jahrhunderts_. +5 vols. 1902-13. + +E. Armstrong: _The Emperor Charles V_[2]. 2 vols. 1910. + +Christopher Hare: _A Great Emperor_. 1917. (Popular). + +O. Clemen: _Flugschriften aus der Reformationszeit_. 4 vols. 1904-10. + +O. Schade: _Satiren und Pasquille aus der Reformationszeit_.[2] 3 vols. +1863. + +H. Barge: _Der deutsche Bauernkrieg in zeitgenossischen, +Quellenzeugnissen_. 2 vols. (No date, published about 1914. A small +and cheap selection from the sources turned into modern German). + +J. S. Schapiro: _Social Reform and the Reformation_. 1909. (Gives +some of the texts and a good treatment of the popular movement). + +E. Belfort Bax: _The Peasants' War in Germany_. 1889. (Based chiefly +on Janssen, and unscholarly, but worth mentioning considering the +paucity of English works). See also articles Carlstadt, Karlstadt, T. +Muenzer, Sickingen, etc. in the _Encyclopaedia of Religious Knowledge_ +and other works of reference. + +W. Stolze: _Der deutsche Bauermkrieg_. 1908. + +P. Wappler: _Die Taeuferbewegung in Thueringen 1526-84_. 1913. + +B. Bax: _Rise and Fall of the Anabaptists_. 1903. + +P. Wappler: _Die Stellung Kursuchsens und Landgraf Philipps von Hefssen +zur Taeuferbewegung_. 1910. + +F. W. Schirrmacher: _Briefe und Akten zur Geschicte des +Religionsgespraeches zu Marburg 1529 und des reichstages zu Ausburg, +1530_. 1876. + +H. von Schubert: _Bekenntnisbildung und Religionspolitik 1529-30_. +1910. + +W. Gussmann: _Quellen und Forschungen zur Geschichte des Augsburgischen +Glaubensbekenntnises_. Die Ratschlaege der evangelischen Reichsstaende +zum Reichstag zu Augsburg. 3 vols. 1911. + +_Politische Korrespondenz des Herzog und Kurfuerst Moritz von Sachsen_, +hg. v. E. Brandenburg. 2 vols. (as yet), 1900, 1904. + +S. Cardauns: _Zur Geschichte der Kirchlichen Unions--und +Reformbestrebungen 1538-42_. 1910. + +P. Heidrich: _Karl V und die deutschen Protestanten am Vorabend des +Schmalkaldischen Krieges_. 2 vols. 1911-12. + +G. Mentz: _Johann Friedrich_, vol. 3, 1908. + +See also the works cited above by Armstrong, Pflugk-Harttung, Janssen, +Pastor, _The Cambridge Modern History_, and documents in Kidd. + + +SECTION 6. _Scandinavia, Poland, and Hungary_ + +Documents in Kidd, and treatment in _The Cambridge Modern History_. + +_Ada Pontificum Danica_, Band VI 1513-36. Udgivet af A. Krarup og J. +Lindbaek. 1915. + +C. F. Allen; _Histoire de Danemark_, traduite par E. Beauvois, 2 vols. +1878. + +P. B. Watson: _The Swedish Revolution under Gustavus Vasa_. 1889. + +_Specimen diplomatarii norvagici . . . ab vetustioribus inde temporibus +usque ad finem seculi XVI_. Ved Gr. Fougner Lundh. 1828. + +J. Lund: Histoire de Norvege . . . traduite par G. Moch. 1899. + +_Norges historie, fremstillet for det norske folk af_ A. Bugge, E. +Hertzberg, O. A. Johnsen, Yngvar Nielsen, J. E. Sars, A. Taranger. +1912. + +C. Zivier: _Neuere Geschichte Polens_. Band I. 1506-72. 1915. + +T. Wotschke: _Geschichte der Reformation in Polen_. 1911. + +A. Berga. _Pierre Skarga 1536-1612_. Etude sur la Pologne du XVIe +siecle et le Protestantisme polonais. 1916. + +F. E. Whitton: _A History of Poland_. 1917. (Popular). + + +CHAPTER III. + +SWITZERLAND + +SECTION 1. _Zwingli_ + +_Ulrichi Zwinglii opera_ ed. Schuler und Schulthess, 8 vols. 1828-42. + +_Ulrich Zwinglis Werke_, hg. von Egli, Finsler und Koehler, 1904 ff. +(Corpus Reformatorum, vols. 88 ff). As yet, vols. i, ii, iii, vii, +viii. + +_Ulrich Zwingli's Selected Works_, translated and edited by S. M. +Jackson. 1901. + +_The Latin Works and Correspondence of Huldreich Zwingli_, ed. S. M. +Jackson, vol. i, 1912. + +_Vadianische Briefsammlung_, hg. von E. Arbenz und H. Wartmann, +1890-1913. 7 vols. and 6 supplements. + +_Der Briefwechsel der Brueder Ambrosius und Thomas Blaurer_, hg. von T. +Schiess, 3 vols. 1908-12. + +_Johannes Kesslers Sabbata_, hg. von E. Egli and R. Schoch. 1902. +(Reliable source for the Swiss Reformation 1519-39). + +_Documents in Kidd_. + +S. M. Jackson: _Huldreich Zwingli_. 1900. + +W. Koehler: "Zwingli" in Pflugk-Harttung's _Im Morgenrot der +Reformation_, 1912. + +E. Egli: _Schweizerische Reformationsgeschichte_. Band I, 1519-25. +1910. + +F. Humbel: _Ulrich Zwingli und seine Reformation im Spiegel der +gleichzeitigen Schweizerischen volkstuemlichen Literatur_. 1913. + +_Cambridge Modern History_, Lindsay, etc. + +H. Barth: _Bibliographie der Schweizer Geschichte_. 3 vols. 1914 f. + +Bibliography in G. Wolf, _Quellenkunde_, vol. 2. + +On Jetzer see _Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart_, s.v. "Jetzer +Prozess," and R. Reuss: "Le Proces des Dominicains de Berne," _Revue de +l'Histoire des Religions_, 1905, 237 ff. + +P. Burckhardt: _H. Zwingli_. 1918. + +W. Koehler: Ulrich Zwingli.[2] 1917. + +_Ulrich Zwingli: Zum Gedaechtnis der Zuercher Reformation_, 1519-1919, +ed. H. Escher, 1919. (Sumptuous and valuable). + +_Amtliche Sammlung der aelteren eidgenoessischen Abschiede_, Abt. 3 und +4. 1861 ff. + +J. Strickler: _Aktensammlung zur Schweizer Reformationsgeschichte_. +1878. + +J. Dierauer: _Geschichte der schweizerischen Eidgenossenschaft_. Band +III. 1907. + +Hadorn: _Kirchengeschichte der reform_. _Schweiz_. 1907. + +G. Tobler: _Aktensammlung zur Geschichte der Berner Reformation_. 1918. + +E. Egli: _Analecta Reformatoria_. 2 vols. 1899-1901. + + +SECTION 2. _Calvin_ + +Bibliography in Wolf: _Quellenkunde_, ii. + +_Correspondance des Reformateurs dans les Pays de langue francaise_[2], +pub. par A. L. Herminjard. 9 vols. 1878 ff. + +_Calvini Opera omnia_, ed. G. Baum, E. Cunitz, E. Reuss, 59 vols. 1866 +ff. (_Corpus Reformatorum_ vols. 29-87). + +John Calvin: _The Institutes of the Christian Religion_, translated by +J. Allen. Ed. by B. B. Warfield. 2 vols. 1909. + +_The Letters of John Calvin_, compiled by J. Bonnet, translated from +the original Latin and French. 4 vols. 1858. + +J. Calvin: _Institution de la religion chrestienne_, reimprimee, sous +la direction d' A. Lefranc par H. Chatelain et J. Pannir. 1911. + +_The Life of John Calvin_ by Theodore Beza, translated by H. Beveridge. +1909. + +A. Lang: _Johann Calvin_. 1909. + +W. Walker: _J. Calvin_. 1906. (Best biography). + +H. Y. Reyburn: _John Calvin_. 1914. + +J. Doumergue: _Jean Calvin_. As yet 5 vols. 1899-1917. + +E. Knodt: _Die Bedeutung Calvins und Calvinismus fuer die +protestantische Welt_. 1913. (Extensive bibliography and review of +recent works). + +E. Troeltsch: "Calvin," _Hibbert Journal_, viii, 102 ff. + +T. C. Hall: "Was Calvin a Reformer or a Reactionary?" _Hibbert +Journal_, vi, 171 ff. + +Etienne Giran: _Sebastien Castellion_. 1913. (Severe judgment of +Calvin from the liberal Protestant standpoint). + +Allan Menzies: _The Theology of Calvin_. 1915. + +H. D. Foster: _Calvin's programme for a Puritan State in Geneva +1536-41_. 1908. + +F. Brunetiere: "L'oeuvre litteraire de Calvin." _Revue des Deux +Mondes_, 4 serie, clxi, pp. 898 ff. (1900). + +E. Lobstein: _Kalvin und Montaigne_. 1909. + + + +CHAPTER IV + +FRANCE + +SOURCES. + +A. Molinier, H. Hauser, E. Bourgeois (et autres): _Les Sources de +l'histoire de France depuis les origines jusqu'en 1815_. Deuxieme +Partie. Le XVIe siecle, 1494-1610, par. II. Hauser. 4 vols. +1906-1915. (Valuable, critical bibliography of sources). + +_Recueil generale des anciennes lois francaises_, par Isambert, +Decrusy, Armet. Tomes 12-15 (1514-1610). 1826 ff. + +_Ordonnances des rois de France_. Regne de Francois I. 10 vols. +1902-8. + +Michel de L'Hopital: Oeuvres completes, ed. Dufey. 4 vols. 1824-5. + +_Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris sons le regne de Francois Ier +(1515-36)_, ed. par L. Lalanne. 1854. + +_Commentaires de Blaise de Monluc_, ed. P. Courtreault. 2 vols. 1911 +ff. + +_Memoires-journaux du duc de Guise 1547-61_, ed. Michaud et Poujoulat. +1839. + +_Oeuvres completes de Pierre de Bourdeille, seigneur de Brantome_, ed. +par L. Lalanne, 11 vols. 1864-82. + +_Histoire Ecclesiastique des Eglises reformees au Royaume de France_, +ed. G. Baum et E. Cunitz, 3 vols. 1883-9. (This history first +appeared anonymously in 1580 in 3 vols. The place of publication is +given as Antwerp, but probably it was really Geneva. The author has +been thought by many to be Theodore Beza.) + +_Memoires of the Duke of Sully_. English translation in Bohn's +Library. 3 vols. No date. + +Crespin: _Histoire des martyrs, persecutes et mis a mort pour la verite +de l' Evangile_. Ed. of 1619. + +_Memoires de Martin et de Guillaume du Bellay_, ed. par V. L. Bourilly +et F. Vindry. 4 vols. 1908-1920. + +_Correspondance des Reformateurs dans les pays de langue francaise_, +pub. par A. L. Herminjard. 9 vols. 1878 ff. + +J. Fraikin: _Nonciatures de la France_. Vol. i, Clement VII, 1906. + +_Lettres de Catherine de Medicis_, publiees par H. de la Ferriere et B. +de Puchesse. 10 vols. Paris. 1880-1909. + +_Catalogue generale de la Bibliotheque Nationale_. Actes Royaux. Vol. +i, 1910. + + +LITERATURE. + +A. M. Whitehead: _Gaspard de Coligny_. 1904. + +Louis Batiffol: _The Century of the Renaissance_, translated from the +French by E. F. Buckley, with an introduction by J. E. C. Bodley. 1916. + +J. W. Thompson: _The Wars of Religion in France 1559-76_. 1909. + +E. Lavisse: _Histoire de France_. Tome Cinquieme. I. Les guerres d' +Italie. La France sous Charles VIII, Louis XII et Francois I, par H. +Lemonnier. 1903. II. La lutte contre la maison d'Autriche. La France +sous Henri II, par H. Lemonnier. 1904. Tome Sixieme. I. La Reforme +et la Ligue. L'Edit de Nantes (1559-98), par J. H. Mariejol. 1904. +(Standard work). + +H. M. Baird: _The Rise of the Huguenots in France_, 2 vols. 1879. + +H. M. Baird: _The Huguenots and Henry of Navarre_. 2 vols. 1886. + +H. N. Williams: _Henri II_. 1910. + +E. Marcks: _Gaspard von Coligny_: sein Leben und das Frankreich seiner +Zeit. 1892. (Excellent, only Volume I, taking Coligny to 1560, has +appeared). + +P. Imbart de la Tour: _Les Origines de la Reforme_. I. La France +Moderne. 1905. II. L'Eglise Catholique et la Crise de la Renaissance. +1909. III. L'Evangelisme (1521-38). 1914. (Excellent work, social +and cultural rather than political). + +E. Sichel: _Catherine de' Medici and the French Reformation_. 1905. + +E. Sichel: _The Later Years of Catherine de' Medici_. 1908. + +C. E. du Boulay: _Historia Universitatis Parisiensis_. Tomus VI. 1673. + +J. Michelet: _Histoire de France_. Vols. 8-10. First edition 1855 ff. +(A beautiful book; though naturally superseded in part, it may still be +read with profit). + +W. Heubi: _Francois I et le mouvement intellectuel en France_. 1914. + +A. Autin: _L' Echec de la Reforme en France au XVI, siecle_. +Contribution a l' Histoire du Sentiment Religieux. 1918. + +L. Romier: _Les Origines Politiques des Guerres de Religion_. 2 vols. +1911-13. + +L. Romier: "Les Protestants francais a la veille des guerres civiles," +_Revue Historique_, vol. 124, 1917, pp. lff, 225 ff. + +E. Armstrong: _The French Wars of Religion_. 1892. + +C. G. Kelley: _French Protestantism 1559-62_. Johns Hopkins University +Studies, vol. xxxvi, no. 4. 1919. + +N. Weiss: _La Chambre Ardente_. 1889. + + +CHAPTER V. THE NETHERLANDS + +H. Pirenne: _Bibliographie de l'Histoire de Belgique_. Catalogue des +sources et des ouvrages principaux relatifs a l'histoire de tous les +Pays-Bas jusq'en 1598.[2] 1902. + + +SOURCES: + +Kervyn de Lettenhove: _Relations politiques des Pays-Bas et +d'Angleterre_. 10 vols. 1882-91. (Covers 1556-76). + +_Resolution der Staaten-Generaal 1576-1609_. Door N. Japikse. As yet +4 vols. (1576-84.) 1915-19. + +_Corpus documentorum Inquisitionis_ . . . _Neerlandicae_ . . . +Uitgegeven door P. Predericq. Vols. 4-6, 1900 ff. + +_Bibliotheca Reformatoria Neerlandica_ . . . Uitgegeven door S. Cramer +en F. Pijper. 1903-14. 10 vols. + +_Collectanea van Gerardus Geldenhauer Noviomagus_ . . . +Uitgegeven . . . door J. Prinsen. 1901. + +_La Chasse aux Lutheriens des Pays-Bas_. Souvenirs de Francisco de +Enzinas. Paris. 1910. (Memoirs of a Spanish Protestant in the +Netherlands. This edition is beautifully illustrated). + +_Correspondance de Guillaume le Taciturne_, publiee . . . par M. +Gachard. 1847-57. 6 vols. + +Correspondance de Philippe II sur les affaires des Pays-Bas, +publiee . . . par M. Gachard. 5 vols. 1848-79. + +H. Grotius: _The Annals and History of the Low Country-Wars_, Rendered +into English by T. M[anley]. 1665. + +Calendar of State Papers, Foreign, of Elizabeth, ed. J. Stevenson and +others. London 1863-1916. (19 volumes to date; much material on the +Netherlands). + + +LITERATURE. + +H. Pirenne: _Histoire de Belgique_. Vols 3 and 4. 1907-11. (Standard +work. A German translation by F. Arnheim was published of the third +volume in 1907, before the French edition, and of the 4th volume, +revised and slightly improved, in 1915). + +P. J. Blok: _History of the People of the Netherlands_. Translated by +Ruth Putnam. Part 2, 1907, Part 3, 1900. (Also a standard work). + +E. Grossart: _Charles V et Philippe II_. 1910. + +Felix Rachfahl: _Wilhelm von Oranien und der niederlaendische Aufstand_. +Vols. 1 and 2. 1906-8. + +Ruth Putnam: _William the Silent_ (Heroes of the Nations). 1911. + +P. Kalkoff: _Anfaenge der Gegenreformation in den Niederlanden_. 1903. +(Monograph of value). + +_Geschiedenis van de Hervorming en de Hervormde Kerk der Nederlanden_, +door J. Reitsma. Derde, bijgewerkte en vermeerderde Druk beworkt door +L. A. von Langeraad . . . en bezorgd door F. Reitsma. 1916. + +J. I. Motley: _The Rise of the Dutch Republic_. 1855. (A classic, +naturally in part superseded by later research). + +J. F. Motley: _The Life and Death of John of Oldenbarneveld_. 1873. + +J. C. Squire: _William the Silent_. (1918). + + +CHAPTER VI. ENGLAND 1509-88 + +Bibliographies in _Cambridge Modern History_, and in the _Political +History of England_, by Pollard and Fisher, for which see below. + + +SOURCES: + +_Letters and papers, foreign and domestic, of the reign of Henry VIII_, +arranged by J. S. Brewer, J. Gairdner and R. H. Brodie. 20 vols. +(Monumental). + +Similar series of "Calendars of State Papers" have been published for +English papers preserved at Rome (1 vol. 1916), Spain, (15 vols.), +Venice (22 vols), Ireland (10 vols.), Domestic of Edward VI, Mary, +Elizabeth and James (12 vols.), Foreign Edward VI (1 vol.), Mary (1 +vol.), Elizabeth (19 vols. to 1585). Milan (1 vol. 1912). + +_The English Garner_: Tudor Tracts 1532-88, ed. E. Arber. 8 vols. +1877-96. + +_Documents illustrative of English Church History_, compiled by H. Gee +and W. J. Hardy. 1896. + +_Select Statutes and other Constitutional Documents 1558-1625_, ed. G. +W. Prothero.[2] 1898. + +_The Statutes of the Realm_, printed by command of George III. 1819 ff. + +_Select Cases before the King's Council in Star Chamber_, ed. I. S. +Leadam. Vol. 2, 1509-44. Selden Society. 1911. + +Original Letters, ed. by Sir H. Ellis. 1st series, 3 vols. 1824; 2d +series 4 vols. 1827; 3 series 4 vols. 1846. + + +LITERATURE: + +H. A. L. Fisher: _Political History of England 1485-1547_. New edition +1913. (Political History of England edited by W. Hunt and R. L. Poole, +vol. 5. Standard work). + +A. F. Pollard: _Political History of England 1547-1603_. 1910. +(Political History of England ed. by Hunt and Poole, vol. 6. Standard +work). + +A. D. Innes: _England under the Tudors_. 1905. + +H. Gee: _The Reformation Period_. 1909. (Handbooks of English Church +History). + +J. Gairdner: _Lollardy and the Reformation_. 4 vols. 1908 ff. +(Written by an immensely learned man with a very strong high-church +Anglican bias). + +Preserved Smith: "Luther and Henry VIII," _English Historical Review_, +xxv, 656 ff, 1910. + +Preserved Smith: "German Opinion of the Divorce of Henry VIII," +_English Historical Review_, xxvii, 671 ff, 1912. + +Preserved Smith: "Hans Luft of Marburg," _Nation_, May 16, 1912. + +Preserved Smith: "News for Bibliophiles," _Nation_, May 29, 1913. (On +early English translations of Luther). + +Preserved Smith: "Martin Luther and England," _Nation_, Dec. 17, 1914. + +Preserved Smith: "Complete List of Works of Luther in English," +_Lutheran Quarterly_, October, 1918. + +E. R. Adair: "The Statute of Proclamations," _English Historical +Review_, xxxii, 34 ff. 1917. + +Lord Ernest Hamilton: _Elizabethan Ulster_. (1919). + +Peter Guilday: _The English Catholic Refugees on the Continent +1558-1795_. Vol. 1. 1914. (Brilliant study). + +A. F. Pollard: _England under Protector Somerset_. 1900. + +A. F. Pollard: _Henry VIII_. 1902. + +A. F. Pollard: _Thomas Cranmer_. 1906. + +J. H. Pollen: _The English Catholics in the Reign of Elizabeth_. 1920. + +F. A. Gasquet: _The Eve of the Reformation_. New ed. 1900. + +E. B. Merriman: _The Life and Letters of Thomas Cromwell_. 2 vols. +1902. (Valuable). + +A. O. Meyer: _England und die katholische Kirche unter Elizabeth_. +1911. (Thorough and brilliant). Said to be translated into English, +1916. + +L. Tresal: _Les origines du schisme anglican 1509-71_. 1908. + +A. J. Klein: _Intolerance in the Reign of Elizabeth_. 1917. + +J. A. Froude: _History of England from the Fall of Wolsey to the +Armada_. 12 vols. 1854-70. (Still the best picture of the time. +Strongly royalist and Protestant, some errors in detail, brilliantly +written). + +_Dictionary of National Biography_, ed. by Leslie Stephens and Sidney +Lee. 63 vois. 1887-1900. + +Carlos B. Lumsden: _The Dawn of Modern England 1509-25_. 1910. + +Richard Bagwell: _Ireland under the Tudors_. 3 vols. 1885. + +H. Holloway: _The Reformation in Ireland_. 1919. + +Mrs. J. R. Green: _The Making of Ireland and its Undoing 1200-1600_. +First edition 1908; revised and corrected 1909. (Nationalist; +interesting). + +H. N. Birt: _The Elizabethan Religions Settlement_. 1907. + +W. Walch: _England's Fight with the Papacy_. 1912. + +R. G. Usher: _The Rise and Fall of High Commission_. 1913. + +_Die Wittenberger Artikel von 1536_, hg. von G. Mentz. 1905. + +R. G. Usher: _The Presbyterian Movement 1582-9_. 1905. + + + +CHAPTER VII. SCOTLAND + +SOURCES. + +_Acts of the Parliament of Scotland_. 12 vols. 1844 ff. + +B. J. Kidd: _Documents of the Continental Reformation_, 1911, pp. +686-715. + +_Calendar of State Papers relating to Scotland 1509-1603_. 2 vols. +ed. M. J. Thorpe. 1858. + +_State Papers relating to Scotland and Mary Queen of Scots_ 1542-81, +ed. J. Bain and W. K. Boyd. 5 vols. 1898 ff. + +_Hamilton Papers, 1532-90_, ed. J. Bain. + +Much in the English calendars for which see bibliography to chap. VI. + +John Knox's Works, ed. Laing, 1846-64. + +R. Lindsay of Pitscottie: _Historie and cronicles of Scotland_, ed. A. +J. G. Mackay. 1899-1911. 3 vols. + +_Satirical Poems of the Time of the Reformation_, ed. J. Cranstoun. 2 +vols. 1891. + +John Knox: _The History of the Reformation of Religion in Scotland_, +ed. by Cuthbert Lennox. 1905. + + +LITERATURE: + +P. Hume Brown: _History of Scotland_. 3 vols. 1899-1909. + +W. L. Mathieson: _Politics and Religion; a study of Scottish history +from Reformation to Revolution_. 2 vols. 1902. + +D. H. Fleming: _The Reformation in Scotland_. 1910. (Strongly +Protestant). + +G. Christie: _The Influence of Letters on the Scottish Reformation_. +1908. + +A. Lang: _John Knox and the Reformation_. 1905. + +J. Crook: _John Knox the Reformer_. 1907. + +A. B. Hart, "John Knox," in _American Historical Review_, xiii, 259-80. +(Brilliant character study). + +R. S. Rait: "John Knox," in _Quarterly Review_, vol. 205, 1906. + +A. Lang: _The Mystery of Mary Stuart_. 1902. + +Lady Blennerhassett: _Maria Stuart, Koenigin von Schottland_. 1907. + +A. Lang: _A History of Scotland_. 4 vols. 1900-7. + +P. Hume Brown: _John Knox_. 2 vols. 1895. + +H. Cowan: _John Knox_. 1905. + +A. R. Macewen: _A History of the Church in Scotland_. Vol. I +(397-1546), 1913; Vol. II (1546-60), 1918. (Good). + +A. Lang: "Casket Letters," _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, 1910. + +P. Hume Brown: _Surveys of Scottish History_. 1919. (Philosophical). + + + +CHAPTER VIII. THE COUNTER REFORMATION + +SECTIONS 1 and 2. _The Papacy and Italy 1521-1590_. + +SOURCES: + +C. Mirbt: _op. cit._ + +Consilium delectorum cardinalium et aliorum praelatorum de emendanda +ecclesia 1537. In Mansi: _Sacrorum Conciliorum et Decretorum collectio +nova_, 1751, Supplement 5, pp. 539-47. The same in German with +Luther's notes in _Luther's Werke_, Weimar, vol. 50. + + +LITERATURE: + +L. von Pastor: _A History of the Popes from the Close of the Middle +Ages_. English translation ed. by R. F. Kerr. Vols. 9-12. 1910 ff. +(These volumes cover the period 1522-1549. Standard work dense with +new knowledge). + +L. von Pastor: _Geschichte der Paepste seit dem Ausgang des +Mittelalters_. Band VI. 1913; VII. 1920. (Of these volumes of the +German, covering the years 1550-65, there is as yet no English +translation). + +P. Herre: _Papsttum und Papstwahl im Zeitalter Philipps, II_. 1907. + +J. McCabe: _Crises in the History of the Papacy_. 1916. (Popular). + +Mandel Creighton: _op. cit._ + +L. von Ranke: _History of the popes, their church and state, in the +sixteenth and seventeenth centuries_, translated from the German by +Sarah Austin. Vol. 1, 1841. (Translation of Ranke's _Die roemischen +Paepste_, of which the first edition appeared 1834-6. A classic). + +H. M. Vaughan: _The Medici Popes_. 1908. (Popular, sympathetic). + +G. Droysen: _Geschichte der Gegenreformation_. 1893. (Oncken's +Series). + +E. Rodocanachi: "La Reformation en Italic," _Revue des Deux Mondes_, +March, 1915. + +Lord Acton: _Lectures on Modern History_, 1906, pp. 108 ff. + +J. A. Symonds: _The Catholic Reaction_. 2 vols. 1887. + +G. Monod: "La Reforme Catholique," _Revue Historique_, vol. cxxi (1916). + +B. Wiffen: _Life and Writings of Juan de Valdes_. 1865. + +C. Hare: _Men and Women of the Italian Reformation_. (1913). + +_Kirche und Reformation_. Unter mitwirkung von L. v. Pastor, W. +Schnyder, L. Schneller usw. hg. von J. Scheuber. 1917. + +"Counter-Reformation" in the _Catholic Encyclopaedia_. + +G. Benrath: _Geschichte der Reformation in Venedig_. 1886. + +J. Burckhardt: _op. cit._ + + +SECTION 3. _The Council of Trent_ + +SOURCES: + +_Concilium Tridentinum_. Diariorum, actorum, epistularum, tractatuum +nova collectio. Edidit Societas Goerresiana. 1901 ff. In course of +publication; as yet have appeared vols. 1-5, 8, 10. + +J. Susta: _Die roemische Kurie und das Komil von Trient unter Pius IV_. +Aktenstucke zur Geschichte des Konzils von Trient. 4 vols. 1904-1914. + +Le Plat: _Monumenta ad historiam Concilii Tridentini spectantia_. 7 +vols. 1781-7. + +_The Canons and Decrees of the Sacred and Ecumenical Council of Trent_, +translated by J. Waterworth. 1848. Reprint, Chicago, 1917. + +G. Drei: "Per la Storia del Concilio de Trento. Lettere inedite del +Segretario Camille Olivo 1562." _Archivio Storico Italiano_ 1916. + +P. Schaff: _The Creeds of Christendom_. Vol. 2, 1877. (Latin text and +English translation of canons and decrees). + +_The Cathechism of the Council of Trent_, translated into English by J. +Donovan. 1829. + + +LITERATURE: + +J. A. Froude: _Lectures on the Council of Trent_. 1899. + +P. Sarpi: _The historie of the Councel of Trent_. 1620. (Translation +from the Italian, which first appeared 1619). + +A. Harnack: _Lehrbuch der Dogmengeschichte_,[4] 1910, vol. iii, pp. 692 +ff. English translation, vol. vii, pp. 35-117. + +Ranke's remark that there was no good history of the Council of Trent +holds good today. The best, as far as it goes, is in Pastor. + + +SECTION 4. _The Jesuits_ + +SOURCES: + +Bibliotheque de la Compagnie de Jesus. I ere partie: Bibliographie par +les peres De Backer. 2eme partie par A. Carayan. Nouvelle ed. par C. +Sommervogel. 10 vols. 1890-1909. Corrections et Additions par E. M. +Riviere. 1911. + +_Monumenta historica Societatis Jesu_, edita a Patribus ejusdem +Societatis. Madrid, 1894-1913. 46 volumes. + +_Cartas de San Ignacio de Loyola_, 6 vols. 1874-89. + +_Acta Sanctorum_, July 7. 1731. + +_The Autobiography of St. Ignatius_, English translation ed. by J. F. +X. O'Connor. 1900. + +_Letters and Instructions of St. Ignatius Loyola_, translated by D. F. +O'Leary and ed. by A. Goodier. 1914. + +_The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola_. Spanish and English, +by J. Rickaby, S. J. 1915. + +_Beati Petri Canisii, S. J., Epistulae et Acta_, ed. O. Braunsberger. +6 vols. as yet. 1896-1913. + + +LITERATURE. + +H. Boehmer: _Les Jesuites_. Ouvrage traduit de l'allemand avec une +Introduction et des Notes par G. Monod. 1910. (Standard work though +very concise). + +E. Gothein: _Ignatius von Loyola und die Gegenreformation_. 1895. + +A. McCabe: _A Candid History of the Jesuits_. 1913. (Hostile but not +unveracious). + +B. Duhr: Geschichte der Jesuiten in den Laendern deutscher Zunge im +16ten Jahrhundert. Band I. 1907. + +H. Fouqueray: _Histoire de la Compagnie de Jesus en France_. 2 vols. +1910-13. + +E. L. Taunton: _The Jesuits in England_. 1901. + +Francis Thompson: _Saint Ignatius Loyola_. 1913. (I mention this book +by "a seventeenth century poet born into the nineteenth century" on +account of the author's fame). + +S. Brou: _St. Francois Xavier_. 2 vols. Paris, 1912. + +J. M. Cros: _St. Francois de Xavier_, 2 vols. Toulouse, 1900. + +On Xavier see also Mirbt, _op cit._, no. 350, A. D. White: Warfare of +Science and Theology, 1896, ii, 5-22, and Pastor. + +_Life of St. Francis Xavier_ by Edith A. Stewart, with translations +from his letters by D. Macdonald. 1917. (Popular and sympathetic). + +W. G. Jayne: _Vasco da Gama and his successors_ (1910), On Xavier, pp. +188 ff. + + +SECTION 5. _The Inquisition and the Index_ + +SOURCES: + +P. Fredericq: _Corpus Documentorum Inquisitionis Neerlandicae_, vols. +4, 5., 1900 ff. + +L. von Pastor: _Allegemeine Dekrete der roemischen Inquisition 1555-97_. +1913. + +_Mandament der Keyserlijcken Maiesteit_, vuytghegeven int Iaer xlvi. +Louvain. 1546. One hundred facsimile copies printed for A. M. +Huntington at the De Vinne Press, New York, 1896. + +_Catalogi Librorum reprobatorum & praelegendorum ex iudicio Academiae +Louaniensis_, Pinciae. MDLI. Mandato dominorum de consilio sanctae +generalis Inquisitionis. One hundred facsimile copies printed for A. +M. Huntington at the De Vinne Press, New York, 1895. + +_Catalogus librorum qui prohibentur mandato Illustrissimi & Rev. D. D. +Ferdinand de Valdes_, Hispalen. Archiepiscopi, Inquisitoris Generalis +Hispaniae, 1559. One hundred facsimile copies printed at De Vinne +Press, 1895. + + +LITERATURE. + +H. C. Lea: _A History of the Inquisition in Spain_. 4 vols. 1906-7. +Characterized by wide reading and the use of many manuscripts which Lea +had copied from all European archives. A really wonderful work. The +manuscripts on which it is based are still in his library in +Philadelphia. I have been kindly allowed by his son and daughter to +look over those on Spanish Protestantism. + +H. C. Lea: _The Inquisition in the Spanish Dependencies_. 1908. + +P. Fredericq: "Les recents historiens catholiques de l'Inquisition en +France," _Revue Historique_, cix, 1912, pp. 307 ff. (A scathing +criticism of the apologists of the Inquisition who have written against +Lea). + +E. N. Adler: _Auto de Fe and the Jew_. 1908. + +E. Schaefer: _Beitraege zur Geschichte des spanischen Protestantismus und +der Inquisition_. 3 vols. 1902. + +G. Bushbell: _Reformation und Inquisition in Italien um die Mitte des +XVI Jahrhunderts_. 1910. + +F. H. Reusch: _Der Index der verbotenen Buecher_. 2 vols. 1883. +(Standard). + +J. Hilgers: _Der Index der verbotenen Buecher_. 1904. (Apologetic). + +H. C. Lea: _Chapters from the Religious History of Spain connected with +the Inquisition_. 1890. (Chiefly on the Index). + +Articles: "Inquisition," "Holy Office," &c. in the _Encylopaedia of +Religion and Ethics, Protestantische Realencyclopaedie, Catholic +Encyclopedia_, &c. + +G. H. Putnam: _The Censorship of the Church of Rome_. 2 vols. 1906. + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE IBERIAN PENINSULA AND THE EXPANSION OF EUROPE + +SECTION 1. _Spain_ + +SOURCES: + +_Coleccion de documentos ineditos para la historia de Espana_. 112 +vols. 1842 ff. + +_Nueva Coleccion de documentos ineditos &c_. 6 vols. 1892-6. + +_Calendar of Letters, Despatches and State Papers, Spanish_, &c., 15 +vols. covering 1509-1603, except 1555-8. 1862 to date. + +A. Morel-Fatio: _Historiographie de Charles Quint_. 1913. (Contains a +new French version of the Commentaries of Charles V). + +F. L. de Gomara: _Annals of the Emperor Charles V_, ed. by R. B. +Merriman. 1912. + + +LITERATURE. + +Rafael Altamira y Crevea: _Historia de Espana_, Tomo III,[3] 1913. +(The best general history, very largely social, written in easy, +popular style). + +C. E. Chapman: _The History of Spain_. 1918. (Based on Altamira). + +E. B. Merriman: _The Rise of the Spanish Empire_. 2 vols., to 1516. +1918. (Doubtless the future volumes of the excellent work will be even +more valuable for our present purpose). + +K. Haebler: _Geschichte Spaniens unter den Habsburgern_, Band 1, 1907. +(Standard work for the period of Charles V). + +Martin A. S. Hume: _Spain, its Greatness and Decay 1479-1788_. 1898. +(Popular). + +M. A. S. Hume: _Philip II of Spain_. 1897. + +E. Gossart: _Charles V et Philip II_. 1930. + +E. A. Armstrong: _Charles V_. Second ed. 1910. 2 vols. + +W. H. Prescott: _History of the Reign of Philip II, King of Spain_. +1855-74. (Unfinished, a classic). + +H. C. Lea: _The Moriscos in Spain: their Conversion and Expulsion_. +1901. + +Bratli: _Philippe II, roi d'Espagne_, 1912. (An unhappy attempt to +whitewash Philip; uses some new material). + +M. Philippson: _Westeuropa im Zeitalter von Philip II, Elizabeth und +Heinrich IV_. 1882. + + +SECTION 2. _The Expansion of Europe_ + +W. H. Prescott: _History of the Conquest of Mexico_. 1843. (A +classic). + +W. H. Prescott: _History of the Conquest of Peru_. 1847. + +H. Vander Linden: "Alexander VI and the Bulls of Demarcation," +_American Historical Review_, xxii, 1916, pp 1 ff. + +I. A. Wright: _Early History of Cuba_, 1492-1586. 1916. + +C. de Lannoy et H. Van der Linden: _L'Expansion coloniale des Peuples +Europeens_. Vol. 1. Portugal et Espagne. 1907. + +E. G. Bourne: _Spain in America_. 1904. (Excellent). + +S. Ruge: _Geschichte des Zeitalters der Entdeckungen_. 1881. (Oncken: +Allgemeine Geschichte). + +P. Leroy-Beaulieu: _De la Colonisation chez les peuples modernes_. 1st +ed. 1874. 6th ed. 1908. 2 vols. + +J. Winsor: _Narrative and Critical History of America_, vols. 1, 2, +1889, 1886. + +H. Morse Stephens: _The Story of Portugal_. 1891. + +G. Young: _Portugal Old and Young_. 1917. + +_The Commentaries of the great Afonso Dalboquerque_, ed. by W. de G. +Birch. 4 vols. 1875-84. + +K. G. Jayne: _Vasco da Gama and his Successors_. (1910). + +K. Waliszewski: _Ivan le Terrible_. 1904. + +_The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the +English Nation_, by R. Hakluyt. 12 vols. 1903. + +_Purchas His Pilgrimes_, by S. Purchas. 20 vols. 1905. + +F. G. Davenport: _European Treaties bearing on the History of the +United States and its Dependencies_. 1917. + +W. C. Abbott: _The Expansion of Europe_. 2 vols. 1918. + + + +CHAPTER X + +SOCIAL CONDITIONS + +As the sources for this chapter would include all the extant literature +and documents of the period, it is impossible to do more than mention a +few of those particularly referred to. Moreover, as most political +histories now have chapters on social and economic conditions, a great +deal on the subject will be found in the previous bibliographies. + +_General_ + +SOURCES: + +Wm. Harrison's _Description of England_ (1577, revised and enlarged +1586) ed. F. J. Furnivall. 1877 ff. 7 parts. + +_Social Tracts_, ed. A. Lang from Arber's _English Garner_. 1904. + + +LITERATURE. + +_Handwoerterbuch der Staatswissenschaften_,[3] ed. J. Conrad, W. A. +Lexis, E. Loening. 8 vols. 1909-11. (Standard). + +_Woerterbuch der Volkswirtschaft_,[3] hg. von L. Elster. 2 vols. 1911. + +_Social England_, ed. by H. D. Traill and J. S. Mann. Vol. 3. Henry +VIII to Elizabeth. 1902. (Standard work, originally published 1894). + +S. B. Fay: _The Hohenzollern Household_. 1916. + +_A Catalogue of French Economic Documents from the 16th, 17th and 18th +Centuries_, published by the John Crerar Library, Chicago, 1918. + +H. van Houtte: _Documents pour servir a l' histoire des prix de 1387 a +1794_. 1902. + +Cavaignac: "La Population de l'Espagne vers 1500." _Seances et Travaux +de l'Academie des Sciences morales et politiques, 79e Annee_, 1919, pp. +491 ff. (puts the population at ten to twelve millions). + +J. Culevier: _Les denombrements de foyers en Brabant (XVIe et XVIIe +siecles.)_ 1912. + +W. Cunningham: _Essay on Western Civilization in its Economic Aspect_. +Vol. 2. 1900. + +J. Beloch: "Die Bevoelkerung Europas zur Zeit der Renaissance." +_Zeitschrift fuer Sozialwissenschaft_, iii, 1900, pp. 765-86. + +D. J. Hill: _A History of Diplomacy in the International Development of +Europe_. Vol. 2. 1910. + +C. H. Haring: "American Gold and Silver Production in the first half of +the Sixteenth Century," _Quarterly Journal of Economics_, May, 1915. + +C. H. Haring: _Trade and Navigation between Spain and the Indies in the +Time of the Hapsburgs_. 1918. + +L. Felix: Der Einfluss von Staat und Recht auf die Entwicklung des +Eigenthums. 2te Haelfte, 2te Abteilung. 1903. + +G. Wiebe: _Zur Geschichte der Preisrevolution der 16. und 17. +Jahrhunderten_, in Von Miaskowski: _Staats und sozialwissenschaftliche +Beitraege_, II, 2. 1895. (Important.) + +G. d' Avenel: _Histoire economique de la propriete, des salaires, des +denrees et de tous les prix en general 1200-1800_. 6 vols. 1894 ff. +(Wonderfully interesting work). + +G. d' Avenel: _Decouvertes d'Histoire Sociale_. 1910. (Brief summary +of his larger work). + +W. Naude: _Die Getreidehandelspolitik der Europaeischen Staaten von +13ten bis zum 18ten Jahrhundert_. 1896. + +N. S. B. Gras: _The Evolution of the English Corn Market_. 1915. + +A. P. Usher: _The History of the Grain Trade in France_. 1400-1710. +1913. + +K. Haebler: _Die wirtschaftliche Bluete Spaniens im 16. Jahrhundert und +ihr Verfall_. 1888. + +B. Moses: "The Economic Condition of Spain in the 16th Century." +_American Historical Association Reports_. 1893. + +E. P. Cheyney: _Social Changes in England in the Sixteenth Century as +Reflected in Contemporary Literature_. Part I, Rural Changes. 1895. + +A. Luschin von Ebengreuth: _Allgemeine Muenzkunde und Geldgeschichte des +Mittelalters und der neueren Zeit_. 1904. + +SECTION 4. _Life of the People_ + +SOURCES: + +_Das Zimmersche Chronik_,[2] hg. v. K. A. Barack. 4 vols. 1861-2. + +_Social Germany in Luther's Time_, the Memoirs of Bartholomew Sastrow, +translated by A. D. Vandam. 1902. + +T. Tusser: _A Hundred Points of Good Husbandrie_. 1558. (Later +expanded as: Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry united to as many of +Good Huswifery. 1573). + +L. von Pastor; _Die Reise Kardinals Luigi d'Aragona 1517-8_. 1905. +(Ergaenzungen und Erlaeuterungen zu Janssens Geschichte des deutschen +Volkes. Band IV, Teil 4). + +Baldassare Castiglione: _The Book of the Courtier_. English +translation by Opdycke. 1903. + +_The Seconde Parte of a Register: being a Calendar of Manuscripts under +that title intended for publication by the Puritans_. 1593. By A. +Peel. 2 vols. 1915. + + +TREATISES: + +E. B Bax: _German Society at the Close of the Middle Ages_. 1894. + +P. V. B. Jones: _Household of a Tudor Nobleman_. 1917. + +W. B. Rye: _England as seen by Foreigners in the Days of Elizabeth and +James I_. 1865. + +C. L. Powell: _English Domestic Relations, 1487-1653: a study of +Matrimony and Family Life in Theory and Practice as revealed in the +Literature, Law and History of the Period_. 1917. + +W. Kawerau: _Die Reformation und die Ehe_. 1892. + +P. S. Allen: _The Age of Erasmus_. 1914. + +K. E. Greenfield: _Sumptuary Laws of Nuernberg_. 1918. + +Preserved Smith: "Some old Blue Laws," _Open Court_, April, 1915. + +H. Almann: _Das Leben des deutschen Volkes bem Beginn der Neuzeit_. +1893. + +E. S. Bates: _Touring in 1600_. 1911. + +T. F. Ordish: _The Early London Theatres_. 1894. + +J. Cartwright: _Baldassare Castiglione_. 2 vols. 1908. + +J. L. Pagel: _Geschichte der Medizin. Zweite Auflage von K. Suedhoff_. +1915. + +A. H. Buck: _The Growth of Medicine from the Earliest Times to about +1800_. 1917. + +H. Haeser: _Geschichte der Medicin_. Band II.[3] 1881. + +F. H. Garrison: _An Introduction to the History of Medicine_. 1914. + +J. Lohr: _Methodisch-kritische Beitraege zur Geschichte der Sittlichkeit +des Klerus, besonders der Erzdioezese Koeln am Ausgang des Mittelalters_. +1910. + +H. A. Krose: _Der Einfluss der Konfession auf die Sittlichkeit nach den +Ergebnissen der Statistik_. 1900. + +Henri (J. A.) Baudrillart: _Histoire du luxe prive et public depuis +l'antiquite jusqu' a nos jours_. Vol. 3, Moyen Age et Renaissance. +1879. + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE CAPITALISTIC REVOLUTION + +Many of the books referred to in the last chapter and many general +histories have chapters on the subject. Their titles are not repeated +here. + +_English Economic History_. Select Documents ed. by A. E. Bland, P. A. +Brown and R. H. Tawney. 1914. (With helpful bibliographies and +well-selected material). + +H. G. Rosedale: _Queen Elizabeth and the Levant Company_. 1904. + +E. Levasseur: _Histoire des classes ouvrieres et de l' industrie en +France avant 1789_.[2] 2 vols. 1900-1. + +G. Avenel: _Paysuns et Ouvriers depuis sept cent ans_.[4] 1904. + +W. Cunningham: _The Growth of English Industry and Commerce, during the +Early and Middle Ages_.[5] 1910. Modern Times.[3] 1894. + +W. J. Ashley: _The Economic Organisation of England_. 1914. (Brief, +brilliant). + +G. Unwin: _The Industrial Organization of England in the Sixteenth and +Seventeenth Centuries_. 1904. (Scholarly). + +A. P. Usher: _The Industrial History of England_. 1920. + +J. W. Burgon: _Life and Times of Sir T. Gresham_. 2 vols. 1839. + +O. Noel: _Histoire du commerce du monde_. 3 vols. 1891-1906. + +H. G. Selfridge: _The Romance of Commerce_. 1918. + +J. A. Williamson: _Maritime Enterprise 1485-1558_. 1913. + +J. Strieder: _Die Inventar der Firma Fugger aus dem Jahre 1527_. 1905. + +J. Strieder: _Zur Genesis des modernen Kapitalismus_. 1904. + +J. Strieder: _Studien zur Geschichte kapitalistischer +Organisationsformen: Monopole, Kartelle, und Aktiengesellschaften im +Mittelalter und zu Beginn der Neuzeit_. 1914. (Highly important). + +Clive Day: _History of Commerce_. 1907. + +W. Mueck: _Der Mansfelder Kupferschieferbergbau_. 1910. + +R. Ehrenberg: _Das Zeitalter der Fugger_. Band I, 1896. + +C. A. Herrick: _History of Commerce and Industry_. 1917. (Text-book). + +M. P. Rooseboom: _The Scottish Staple in the Netherlands, 1292-1676_. +1910. + +W. Sombart: _Krieg und Kapitalismus_. 1913. + +W. Sombart: _Der Moderne Kapitalismus?_ 2 vols. in 3. 1916-7. + +L. Brentano: _Die Anfaenge des modernen Kapitalismus_. 1916. + +A. Schulte: _Die Fugger in Rom_. 2 vols. 1904. + +Maxime Kowalewsky: _Die oekonomische Entwicklung Europas bis zum Beginn +der kapitalistischen Wirtschaftsform_. _Aus dem Russischen uebersetzt +von A. Stein_. Vol. 6. 1913. (Important). + +E. E. Prothero: _English Farming Past and Present_. 1912. + +E. F. Gay: "Inclosures in England in the 16th Century," _Quarterly +Journal of Economics_, vol. 17, 1903. + +E. F. Gay: _Zur Geschichte der Einhegungen in England_. 1902. (Berlin +dissertation). + +J. S. Leadam: _The Domesday of Inclosures_. 1897. + +J. E. T. Rogers: _Six Centuries of Work and Wages_. 1884. + +J. E. T. Rogers: _A History of Agriculture and Prices in England_. +Vols. iii and iv, 1400-1582. 1882. (A classic). + +J. Klein: _The Mesta: A Study in Spanish Economic History_. 1920. + +R. H. Tawney: _The Agrarian Problem in the Sixteenth Century_. 1912. + +W. Stolze: _Zur Vorgeschichte des Bauernkrieges_. (_Staatsund +sozialwissenschaftliche Forschungen, hg. von G. Schmoller_. Band 18, +Heft 4). 1900. + +J. Hayem: _Les Greves dans les Temps Modernes. Memoires et Documents +pour servir a l'histoire du commerce et de l'industrie en France_. +1911. + +L. Feuchtwanger: "Geschichte der sozialen Politik und des Armenwesens +im Zeitalter der Reformation." _Jahrbuch fuer Gesetzgebung_, 1908, +xxxii, and 1909, xxxiii. + +J. S. Schapiro: _Social Reform and the Reformation_. 1909. + +G. Uhlhorn: _Die Christliche Liebestaetigkeit_. 1895. + +E. M. Leonard: _The Early History of English Poor Relief_. 1900. + +O. Winckelmann: "Die Armenordnungen von Nuernberg (1522), Kitzingen +(1523), Regensburg (1523) und Ypern (1525)," _Archiv fuer +Reformationsgeschichte_, x, 1913 and xi, 1914. + +J. L. Vives: _Concerning the Relief of the Poor_, tr. by M. M. +Sherwood. 1917. + +_Liber Vagatorum_, reprinted, with Luther's preface, in Luther's Werke, +Weimar, vol. xxvi, pp. 634 ff. + +Brooks Adams: _The New Empire_. 1902. (Fanciful). + +K. Lamprecht: _Zum Verstandnis der wirtschaftlichen und sozialen +Wandlungen in Deutschland vom 14-16. Jahrhundert_. 1893. + +_Shakespeare's England_, by various authors. 2 vols. 1916. chap. xi, +G. Unwin: "Commerce and Coinage." + +H. Schoenebaum: "Antwerpens Bluetezeit im XVI. Jahrhundert." _Archiv fuer +Kulturgeschichte_, xiii. 1917. + +O. Winckelmann: "Ueber die aeltesten Armenordnungen der +Reformationszeit." _Historische Vierteljahrschrift_, xvii. 1914-5. + +Stella Kramer: _The English Craft Gilds and the Government_. 1905. + +_Niederlaendische Akten und Urkunden zur Geschichte der Hanse und zur +deutschen Seegeschichte . . . bearbeitet von R. Haepke_. Band I +(1531-57). 1913. + +W. Cunningham: _Progress of Capitalism in England_. 1916. + + + +CHAPTER XII + +MAIN CURRENTS OF THOUGHT + +SECTION 1. _Biblical and Classical Scholarship_ + +_Novum Instrumentum omne, diligenter ab Erasmo Rot. recognitum et +emendatum_. _Basileae_. _1516_. (Nearly 300 editions catalogued in +the Bibliotheca Erasmiana. In Erasmi Opera Omnia, 1703, vol. VI.) + +_Novum testamentum graece et latine in academia Complutensi noviter +impressum_. _1514_. _Vetus testamentum multiplici lingua nunc primum +impressum_. _In hac praeclarissima Complutensi universitate_. 1517. + +C. R. Gregory: _Die Textkritik des Neuen Testaments_. 3 parts. 1900-9. + +Articles "Bible," in _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, _Encyclopaedia of +Religion and Ethics_, _Protestantische Realencyklopaedie_, and _Die +Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart_. + +E. von Dobschuetz: _The Influence of the Bible on Civilization_. 1913. + +F. Falk: _Die Bibel am Ausgange des Mittelalters, ihre Kenntnis und +ihre Verbreitung_. 1905. + +Martin Luther's _Deutsche Bibel_, in Saemmtliche Werke, Weimar, +separately numbered, vols. i, ii, iii, v. + +K. Fullerton: "Luther's doctrine and criticism of Scripture," +_Bibliotheca Sacra_, Jan. and April, 1906. + +H. Zerener: _Studien ueber das beginnende Eindringen der lutherischen +Bibeluebersetzung in der deutschen Literatur_. 1911. + +_Lutherstudien zur 4. Jahrhundertfeier der Reformation, von den +Mitarbeitern der Weimarer Lutherausgabe_. 1917. pp. 203 ff. + +K. A. Meissinger: _Luther's Exegese in der Fruehzeit_. 1911. + +O. Reichert: _Martin Luther's Deutsche Bibel_. 1910. + +Sir H. H. Howorth: "The Biblical Canon according to the Continental +Reformers," _Journal of Theological Studies_, ix, 188 ff. (1907-8). + +J. P. Hentz: _History of the Lutheran Version of the Bible_. 1910. + +D. Lortsch: _Histoire de la Bible en France_. 1910. + +A. W. Pollard: _Records of the English Bible_. 1911. + +S. C. Macauley: "The English Bible," _Quarterly Review_, Oct. 1911, pp. +505 ff. + +W. Canton: _The Bible and the Anglo-Saxon People_. 1914. + +H. T. Peck: _A History of Classical Philology_. 1911. + +Sir J. E. Sandys: "Scholarship," chap. ix in _Shakespeare's England_, +1916. + +Sir J. E. Sandys: _A History of Classical Scholarship_. Vol. ii, 1908. +(Standard). + +H. Hallam: _Introduction to the Literature of Europe in the 15th, 16th +and 17th Centuries_. 1837-9. (Very comprehensive, in part antiquated, +somewhat external but on the whole excellent). + + +SECTION 2. _History_ + +TREATISES: + +E. Fueter: _Geschichte der Neueren Historiographie_. 1911. French +translation, revised, 1916. (Work of brilliance: philosophical, +reliable, readable). + +M. Ritter: "Studien ueber die Entwicklung der Geschichtswissenschaft." +_Historische Zeitschrift_, cit. (1912). 261 ff. + +E. Menke-Glueckert: Die Geschichtschreibung der Reformation und +Gegenreformation. Bodin und die Begruendung der Geschichtsmethodologie +durch Bartholomaeus Keckermann. 1912. + +P. Joachimsen: _Geschichtsauffassung und Geschichtschreibung in +Deutschland unter dem Einfluss des Humanismus_. Teil I. 1910. + +G. L. Burr: "The Freedom of History," _American Historical Review_, +xxii, 261 f. 1916. + +A. Morel-Fatio: _Historiographie de Charles-Quint_. 1913. + +F. C. Baur: _Die Epochen der kirchlichen Geschichtschreibung_. 1852. + +L. von Ranke: _Zur Kritik neueren Geschichtschreiber_.[2] 1874. + +G. Wolf: _Quellenkunde der deutschen Reformationsgeschichte_. Vol. i, +1915; vol. ii, 1916. + +Article, "History" in _Encyclopedia Americana_, ed. of 1919. + + +ORIGINALS. + +N. Machiavelli: _Istorie fiorentine_. (to 1492). First ed. 1561-64. +Numerous editions, and English translation by C. E. Detmold: The +Historical, Political and Diplomatic Writings of N. Machiavelli. 4 +vols. 1882. + +Francesco Guicciardini: _Storia fiorentina_. (1378-1509). First +published 1859. _Istoria d' Italia_. (1492-1534). First edition +1561-64; numerous editions since, and English translation by G. Fenton: +The historie of Guicciardini. 1599. + +Benvenuto Cellini: _Life_, translated by R. H. H. Cust. 2 vols. 1910. +(The original text first correctly published by O. Bacci, 1901. Many +English translations). + +Paulus Jovius: _Historiarum sui temporis libri. xlv. (1493-1347)_. +1550-52. + +Polydore Vergil: _Anglicae Historiae libri. xxvii, (to 1538)_. First +edition, to 1509, Basle, 1534; 2d ed. 1555. (I use the edition of +1570. The best criticism is in H. A. L. Fisher's Political History of +England 1485-1547, pp. 152 ff.) + +Polydore Vergil: _De rerum inventoribus libri octo_. 1536. 2d ed., +enlarged, 1557. + +Caesar Baronius: _Annales Ecclesiastici_ (to 1198). Rome. 1588-1607. + +_Ecclesiastica Historia . . . secundum centurias, a M. Flacio, et +aliis_. Magdeburg. 1559-74. + +H. Bullinger: _Reformationsgeschichte, hg. von J. J. Hottinger und H. +H. Voegeli_. 3 vols. 1838-40. (Index to this in preparation by W. +Wuhrmann; Bullinger's Correspondence will also soon appear). + +Joan. Sleidani: _De statu religionis et reipublicae, Carolo Quinto +Caesare, commentariorum libri xxvi_. 1555. (My edition, 1785, 3 +vols., was owned formerly by I. Doellinger). + +Joannis Cochlaei: _Historia de Actis et scriptis M. Lutheri 1517-46_. +Coloniae. 1549. (Critique in A. Herte's dissertation, Die +Lutherbiographie des J. Cochlaeus. 1915). + +J. Mathesius: _Siebzehn Predigten von den Historien des Herrn Doctoris +Martini Luthers_. 1st ed. 1566; new ed. by Loesche. 1898. + +_Memoires de Martin et de Guillaume du Bellay_: (1513-52). 1st ed. +1569. Critical ed. by V. L. Bourrilly and Fleury Vindry, 1908 ff. + +Blaise de Monluc: _Commentaires_ (1521-76); 1st ed. 1592; critical ed. +by P. Courtreault. 1911-14. + +_Oeuvres de P. de Bourdeille, Seigneur de Brantome_, ed. L. Lalanne. +11 vols. 1864 ff. + +J. J. Scaliger: _Opus novum de emendatione temporum_. 1583, 1593. + +_Histoire ecclesiastique des eglises francaises reformees_. Pub. par +Baum et Cunitz. 3 vols. 1883-9. (Attributed, with probability, to +Beza; first published 1580). + +Jean Bodin: _Methodus ad facilem historiarum cognitionem_, 1566. + +Peter Martyr d' Anghiera: _Opus epistolarum_. _1530_. (This rare +edition at Harvard. The work is a history in the form of letters, +partly fictitious, partly genuine. Cf. J. Bernays: Peter Martyr +Anghierensis und sein Opus Epistolarum. 1891). + +Ignatius de Loyola: Autobiography. _Monumenta Societatis Jesu_, ser. +iv, tom. 1, 1904. English translation ed. by J. F. X. O'Connor. 1900. + +George Buchanan: _Rerum scoticarum historia_. Edinburgh. 1582. (Cf. +M. Meyer-Cohn: G. Buchanan als Publizist und Historiker Maria Stuarts. +1913). + +John Knox: _The History of the Reformation of Religion within the realm +of Scotland_. (First incomplete edition, 1586; critical complete +edition by D. Laing, 1846, in vol. 1 of Knox's Works. Cf. A. Lang: +"Knox as Historian," _Scottish Historical Review_, ii, 1905, pp. 113 +ff). + +John Foxe: _Acts and Monuments of the Christian Martyrs_. _1563_. +(The MS that I have compared with Fox is Harleian MS 419 of the British +Museum, endorsed: "John Fox's Collection of Letters and Papers on +Theological Matters," fol. 125). + +Nicholas Sanders: _De origine et progressu schismatis Anglicani_. 1585. + +Edward Hall: _The Union of the Noble and Illustrious Families of +Lancaster and York, 1542_. Published as Hall's Chronicle, 1809. + +Raphael Holinshed: _Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland_. Vol. +1, 1577. + +John Stow: _The Chronicles of England from Brute unto this present year +of Christ 1580_. Second edition, _The Annals of England_, 1592. + + +SECTION 3. _Political Theory_ + +SOURCES: + +Erasmus: _Institutio principis christiani_, in Opera omnia, 1703, iv, +561. + +_The Utopia of Sir Thomas More_ (English and Latin) edited by G. +Sampson with an introduction by A. Guthkelch. 1910. + +N. Machiavelli: _The Prince_. (Innumerable editions and translations). + +H. Jordan: _Luthers Staatsauffassung_. 1917. (Extracts from his +works). + +Zwingli: _De vera et falsa religione_, Werke ed. Egli, Finsler und +Koehler, iii, (1914), 590 ff. + +Calvin: _Institutio_, ed. 1541, cap. xvi. + +L. Vives: _De communione rerum_. 1535. + +_Vindiciae contra Tyrannos, sive de principis in populum populique in +principem legitima potestate_. Stephano Iunio Bruto Celta Auctore. +1580. + +Francisci Hotmani: _Francogallia_. _Nune quartum ab auctore +recognita_. 1586. + +E. de la Boetie: _Discours de la servitude volontaire_. In Oeuvres +completes pub. par P. Bonnefon. 1892, pp. 1 ff. + +_De Jure Magistratuum in subditos_ [by Beza]. 1573 + +_The Works of Mr. Richard Hooker_, ed. J. Keble. 3 vols. 1888. + +J. Bodin: _Les six livres de la republique_. 1577. + +G. Buchanan: _De Jure Regni apud Scotos_. 1579. + +J. de Mariana: _De rege et regis institutione_. 1599. + + +LITERATURE: + +Lord Acton: "Freedom in Christianity," (1877), in _The History of +Freedom and other Essays_, ed. J. N. Figgis and R. V. Lawrence. 1907. + +W. A. Dunning: _A History of Political Theories_. _Ancient and +Medieval_. 1902. _From Luther to Montesquieu_. 1905. + +J. N. Figgis: _Studies in Political Thought from Gerson to Grotius_.[2] +1916. + +J. Mackinnon: _A History of Modern Liberty_. Vol. 2. The Age of the +Reformation. 1907. + +L. Cardauns: _Die Lehre vom Widerstandsrecht des Volkes gegen die +rechtmaessige Obrigkeit im Luthertum und im Calvinismus des sechzehnten +Jahrhunderts_. 1903. + +R. Chauvire: _Jean Bodin, Auteur de la Republique_. 1914. + +J. Kreutzer: _Zwinglis Lehre von der Obrigkeit_. 1909. + +F. Meinecke: "Luther ueber christlichen Geminwesen und christlichen +Staat," _Historische Zeitschrift_, Band 121, pp. 1 ff, 1920. + +J. Faulkner: "Luther and Economic Questions," _Papers of the Am. Ch. +Hist. Soc._, 2d ser. vol. ii, 1910. + +K. D. Macmillan: _Protestantism in Germany_. 1917. + +K. Sell: "Der Zusammenhang von Reformation und politischer Freiheit." +_Abh. in Theolog. Arbeiten aus dem rhein. wiss. Predigerverein_. Neue +Folge. 12. 1910. + +L. H. Waring: _The Political Theories of Martin Luther_. 1910. + +G. von Schulthess-Rechberg: _Luther, Zwingli und Calvin in ihren +Ansichten ueber das Verhaeltnis von Staat und Kirche_. 1910. + +K. Rieker: "Staat und Kirche nach lutherischer, reformierter, moderner +Anschauung," _Hist. Vierteljahrschrift_, i, 370 ff. 1898. + +E. Troeltsch: _Die Soziallehren der christlichen Kirchen und Gruppen_. +1912. + +H. L. Osgood: "The Political Ideas of the Puritans." _Political +Science Quarterly_, vi, 1891. + +E. Treumann: _Die Monarchomachen_. _Erne Darstellung der +revolutionaeren Staatslehren des xvi Jahrhundert 1573-1599_. 1885. + +A. Elkan: _Die Publizistik der Bartholomaeusnacht und Mornays Vindiciae +contra tyrannos_. 1905. + +H. D. Foster: "The Political Theories of the Calvinists," _American +Historical Review_, xxi, 481 ff. (1916). + +Paul van Dyke: "The Estates of Pontoise," _English Historical Review_, +1913, pp. 472 ff. + +E. Armstrong: "Political Theory of the Huguenots," _English Historical +Review_, iv, 13 ff, 1889. + +K. Glaeser: "Beitraege zur Geschichte der politischen Literatur +Frankreichs in der zweiten Haelfte des 16. Jahrhundert." _Zeitschrift +fuer Franzoesische Sprache und Literatur_. Vols. 31, 32, 33, 39, 45; +1904-18. + +W. Sohm: "Die Soziallehren Melanchthons." _Historische Zeitschrift_, +cxv, pp. 64-76. 1915. + +Lord Acton: _History of Freedom_, pp. 212-31. (Reprint of introduction +to L. A. Burd's edition of the Prince of Machiavelli.) 1907. + +John Morley: _Miscellanies_, 4th series. 1908. 1 ff. "Machiavelli." + +Dr. Armaingaud: _Montaigne Pamphletaire_. _L'Enigme du Contr'un_. +1910. + +J. Jastrow: "Kopernikus' Muenz- und Geld-theorie." _Archiv fuer +Sozialwissenschaft und Sozialpolitik_, xxxviii, 734 ff. 1904. + +K. Kautsky: _Communism in Central Europe in the Time of the +Reformation_. 1897. + +E. Jenks: _A Short History of English Law_. 1912. + +A. Esmein: _Histoire du Droit Francais_.[6] 1905. (And later +editions). + +S. Schroeder: Deutsche Rechtsgeschichte.[5] 1907. + +Walter Platzhoff: _Die Theorie von der Mordbefugnis der Obrigkeit im +XVI. Jahrhundert_. Ebinger's Historische Studien, 1906. + +O. H. Pannkoke: "_The Economic Teachings of the Reformation_." In a +collection of essays entitled _Four Hundred Years_, 1917. + +G. Schmoller: _Zur Geschichte der nationaloekonomischen Ansichten in +Deutschland waehrend der Reformationsperiode_. 1860. + +F. G. Ward: _Darstellung und Wuerdigung der Ansichten Luthers ueber Staat +und Gesellschaft_. 1898. + + +SECTION 4. _Science_ + +J. P. Richter: _The Literary Works of Leonardo da Vinci_. 2 vols. +1883. + +_Les Manuscrits de Leonard de Vinci de la bibliotheque de l'Institut_. +Publies en facsimile avec transcription litterale, traduction francaise +. . . par Ch. Ravaisson-Molien. 6 vols. 1881-91. + +_Leonardo da Vinci's notebooks_; arranged and rendered into English by +E. McCurdy. 1906. + +Leonardo de Vinci: _Notes et Dessins sur la Generation_. 1901. + +Leonard de Vinci: _Feuillets inedits conserves a Windsor_. 22 vols. +1901 ff. + +_Institute di Studi Vinciani:--Per il IVo centenario della morte di +Leonardo da Vinci_. 1919. + +A. C. Klebs: _Leonardo da Vinci and his anatomical studies_. 1916. + +Hieronymi Cardani: _Opera Omnia_. 1663. 10 vols. + +W. W. R Ball: _A Short Account of the History of Mathematics_. 1901. + +M. Cantor: _Vorlesungen ueber Geschichte der Mathematik_. Vol. 2 +(1200-1668). 1900. + +H. G. Zeuthen: _Geschichte der Mathematik in 16. und 17. Jahrhundert_. +1903. + +Articles, "Algebra" and "Mathematics" in _Encyclopedia Britannica_. + +Maximilien Marie: _Histoire des sciences mathematiques et physiques_, +vols. 2 and 3. 1883-4. + +F. Cajori: _History of Mathematics_.[2] 1919. + +David E. Smith: _Rara arithmetica_. A catalogue of the arithmetics +written before the year MDCI, with a description of those in the +library of G. A. Plimpton. 1908. + +F. Dannemann: _Grundriss einer Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften_.[2]. +2 vols. 1902. + +W. A. Locy: _Biology and its makers_.[3] 1915. + +W. A. Locy: _The Main Currents of Zooelogy_. 1918. + +E. L. Greene: _Landmarks of Botanical History_. Part 1. 1909. +(Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, vol. 54). + +J. V. Carus: _Geschichte der Zooelogie bis auf Joh. Mueller und Ch. +Darwin_. 1872. + +F. Cajori: _A History of Physics in Its Elementary Branches_. 1899. + +Conradi Gesneri: _Historiae Animalium_, libb. iii, 3 vols. 1551-8. + +Wm. Gilbert . . . _on the Loadstone and Magnetic Bodies_ . . . a +translation by P. F. Mottelay. 1893. + +E. Gerland: _Geschichte der Physik von den aeltesten Zeiten bis zum +Ausgange des achtzehnten Jahrhunderts_. 1913. (Work of high +philosophical and scientific value). + +J. C. Brown: _A History of Chemistry from the Earliest Times Till the +Present Day_. 1913. + +F. J. Moore: _A History of Chemistry_. 1918. + +T. E. Thorpe: _A History of Chemistry_. 2 vols. 1909-10. + +_Quaestiones Novae in Libellum de Sphaera Johannis de Sacro Bosco, +collectae ab Ariele Bicardo_. Wittenberg, 1550. (Library of Mr. G. A. +Plimpton, New York). + +S. Guenther: _Geschichte der Erdkunde_. 1904. + +Articles, "Geography" and "Map" in _Encyclopaedia Britannica_. + +L. Gallois: _Les geographes allemands de la Renaissance_, 1890. + +_N. Copernici De Revolutionibus orbium caelestium_ libri vi. (First +edition 1543; I use the edition of Basle, 1566). + +L. Prowe: _Nikolaus Coppernicus_. 3 vols. 1883-4. (Standard). + +Wohlwill: "Melanchthon und Kopernicus," in _Mitteilungen zur Geschichte +der Medizin und der Naturwissenschaften_, iii, 260, 1904. + +_Luther on Copernicus_, Bindseil: Lutheri Colloquia, 3 vols. 1863-66, +vol. ii, p. 149. (This is the best text; the stronger form of the same +saying, in which Luther called Copernicus a fool, seems to have been +retouched by Aurifaber). + +A. D. White: _The Warfare of Science and Theology_, 2 vols. 1896. +Vol. i, pp. 114 ff. + +A. Mueller: _Nikolaus Copernicus_. 1898. + +Dorothy Stimson: _The Gradual Acceptance of the Copernican Theory of +the Universe_. 1917. (Excellent). + +W. W. Bryant: _History of Astronomy_. 1907. + +Article, "Navigation," in _Encyclopaedia Britannica_. + + +SECTION 5. _Philosophy_ + +The Works of Luther, Melanchthon, Calvin, Zwingli, &c. + +_The Workes of Sir Thomas More_, 1357. (Passage quoted, p. 329h). + +_De Trinitatis Erroribus per M. Servetum_. (Printed, 1531; I use the +MS copy at Harvard). + +_M. Serveti Christianismi Restitutio_. (I use the MS copy at Harvard). + +E. P. K. Mueller: _Die Bekenntnisschriften der reformierten Kirche_. +1903. + +_Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent_, translated by T. A. +Buckley. 1851. + +Thomas Cajetan's commentary on Aquinas, in the standard edition of the +_Summa_, 1880 ff. + +_Catechism of the Council of Trent_, translated into English by J. +Donovan. 1829. + +Altensteig: _Lexicon Theologicum_. 1583. + +A. Harnack: _A History of Dogma_, translated from the third edition by +N. Buchanan. 7 vols. 1901. + +A. Harnack: _Lehrbuch der Dogmengeschichte_.[4] 1910. Vol. iii. + +E. Troeltsch: _Geschichte der christlichen Religion_. 1909. (Kultur +der Gegenwart). + +E. M. Jones: _Spiritual Reformers of the 16th and 17th Centuries_. +1914. + +O. Ritschl: _Dogmengeschichte des Protestantismus_, i, ii, Haelfte, 1912. + +A. C. McGiffert: _Protestant Thought before Kant_. 1911. + +J. Gottschick: _Luther's Theologie_. 1914. + +Francis Bacon: _Novum Organum_, Bk. I, aphorisms xv, lxv, and lxxix; +Essays i, (Truth), iii, (of Unity in Religion), xxxv, (Prophecy). +Advancement of Learning, Bk. ix. + +_Montaigne's Essays_, passim (numerous editions and excellent English +translation by Florio). + +W. Lyly: _Euphues and Atheos_ (edited by E. Arber, 1904). + +R. Ascham: _The Schoolmaster_. 1761. + +_Janssen-Pastor_[20] ii, 461f (on the Godless Painters of Nuremberg; +cf. also M. Thausing: A Duerer, translated by F. A. Eaton, 1882, ii. 248 +f.) + +Francois Rabelais: _Oeuvres_ (numerous editions and translations). + +J. M. Robertson: _A Short History of Freethought_.[2] 2 vols. 1906. + +_Colloque de Jean Bodin des Secrets caches et des Choses Sublimes_. +Traduction francaise du Colloquium Heptaplomeres, par R. Chauvire. +1914. + +F. von Bezold: "Jean Bodins Colloquium Heptaplomeres und der Atheismus +des 16. Jahrhunderts," _Historische Zeitschrift_, cxiii, 260-315. + +_Jordani Bruni Opera_, ed. Fiorentino. 3 vols. 1879-91. + +_Giordano Brunos Gesammelte Werke, verdeutscht und erlaeutert von L. +Kuhlenbeck_. 6 vols. 1907-10. + +W. Boulting: _Giordano Bruno: His Life, Thought and Martyrdom_. (1916). + +L. Kuhlenbeck: _Giorduno Bruno, seine Lehre von Gott, von der +Unsterblichkeit und von der Willensfreiheit_. 1913. + +W. Pater: _Gaston de la Tour_. 1896. + +J. R. Charbonnel: _L'Ethique de Giordano Bruno et le deuxieme dialogue +de Spaccio_, traduction. 1919. + +J. Owen: _The Skeptics of the Italian Renaissance_.[2] 1893. + +J. Owen: _The Skeptics of the French Renaissance_. 1893. + +A. M. Fairbairn; "Tendencies of European Thought in the Age of the +Reformation," _Cambridge Modern History_, ii, chap. 19. + +_Allegemeine Geschichte der Philosophie_. (Kultur der Gegenwart, Teil +i, Abt. V.) 1909. W. Windelband: Die neuere Philosophie. + +E. Cassirer: _Das Erkenntnisproblem in der Philosophie und Wissenschaft +der neuen Zeit_. Vol. i.[2] 1911. (Excellent. First edition, +1906-7). + +R. Adamson: _A Short History of Logic_. 1911. + +H. Hoeffding: _A History of Modern Philosophy_. English translation. 2 +vols. 1900. + +R. Eucken: _The Problem of Human Life as Viewed by the Great Thinkers_. +English translation. 1909. + +J. M. Baldwin: _Dictionary of Philosophy and Psychology_. 3 vols. +1901-5. + +J. R. Charbonnel: _La pensee italienne au XVIe siecle_. 1919. + +A. Bonilla y San Martin: _Luis Vives y la filosofia del renacimiento_. +1903. + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE TEMPER OF THE TIMES + +SECTION 1. _Tolerance and Intolerance_ + +Lord Acton: _The History of Freedom_. 1907. "The Protestant Theory of +Persecution," pp. 150-187. (Essay written in 1862). + +T. Ruffini: _Religious Liberty_, translated by J. P. Heyes. 1912. + +N. Paulus: _Protestantismus und Toleranz_. 1912. + +G. L. Burr: "Anent the Middle Ages." _American Historical Review_. +1913, pp. 710-726. + +P. Wappler: _Die Stellung Kursachsens und Philipps von Hessen zur +Taeuferbewegung_. 1910. + +_Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics_, ix, s. v. "Persecution." + +S. Castellion: Traite des Heretiques. A savoir, si on les doit +persecuter. Ed. A. Olivet. Geneve. 1913. + +P. Wappler: Inquisition und Ketzerprozess zu Zwickau. 1908. + +J. A. Faulkner: "_Luther and Toleration_," _Papers of American Church +History Society_, Second Series, vol. iv, pp. 129 ff. 1914. + +K. Voelker: _Toleranz und Intoleranz im Zeitalter der Reformation_. +1912. + +W. E. H. Lecky: _A History of the Rise and Influence of the Spirit of +Rationalism in Europe_. 2 vols. 1865. chapter iv, "Persecution" (in +vols. 1 and 2 both). + +_Erasmi opera_, 1703, ix, 904 ff. Proposition iii. + +H. Hermelinck: _Der Toleranzgedanke_. 1908. + +_The Workes of Sir Thomas More_, 1557, pp. 274 ff. (A Dialogue of Sir +Thomas More, 1528). + +Montaigne: _Essays_, Book ii, no. xix. + +A. J. Klein: _Intolerance in the Reign of Elizabeth_. 1917. + +R. Lewin: _Luther's Stellung zu den Juden_. 1911. + +R. H. Murray: _Erasmus and Luther: their attitude to Toleration_. 1920. + + +SECTION 2. _Witchcraft_ + +_Papers of the American Historical Association_, iv, pp. 237-66. +Bibliography of witchcraft by G. L. Burr. + +N. Paulus: Hexenwahn und Hexenprozess, vornehmlich im 16. Jahrhundert. +1910. + +G. L. Burr: _The Witch Persecutions_. Translations and Reprints issued +by the University of Pennsylvania, vol. 3, no. 4, 1897. + +G. L. Burr: _The Fate of Dietrich Flade_. 1891. + +J. Hansen: _Zauberwahn, Inquisition und Hexenprozess im Mittelalter, +und die Entstehung der grossen Hexenverfolgung_. 1900. + +F. von Bezold: "Jean Bodin als Okkultist und seine Demonomanie." +_Historische Zeitschrift_, cv. 1 ff. (1910). + +Gosson: _The School of Abuse_ (1578), ed. E. Arber, 1906, p. 60. + +De Praestigiis demonum . . . authore Joanne Wiero . . . 1564. + +Johannis Wieri: _De lamiis_. 1582. + +Reginald Scott: _The Discoverie of Witchcraft, wherein the Lewde +dealing of Witches and Witchmongers is notably detected . . . whereunto +is added a Treatise upon the Nature and Substance of Spirits and +Devils_. 1584. Reprinted by B. Nicholson, 1886. + +W. Notestein: _A History of Witchcraft in England 1558-1718_. 1911. + +W. E. H. Lecky: _A History of the Rise and Influence of the Spirit of +Rationalism in Europe_. 2 vols. 1865. Vol. 1, chaps. i, and ii. + +Montaigne: _Essays_, vol. iii, no. xi. + +H. C. Lea: _A History of the Inquisition in the Middle Ages_. Vol. +iii, 392 ff. + +G. L. Kittredge: "A Case of Witchcraft," _American Historical Review_, +xxiii, pp. 1 ff, 1917. + +C. Mirbt: _Quellen zur Geschichte des Papsttums und des roemischen +Katholizismus_.[3] 1911. p. 182. (Bull, Summis desiderantes). + +G. Roskoff: _Geschichte des Teufels_. 1869. + +A. Graf: _Il diavolo_. 1889. + +H. C. Lea: _The Inquisition in Spain_, 1907, vol. iv, chaps. 8 and 9. + +_Statutes of the Realm_, 5 Eliz. 16: An Act agaynst Inchantmentes and +Witchcraftes. (1562-3). + +T. de Cauzons: _La Magie et la Sorcellerie en France_. 4 vols. (1911). + +E. Klinger: _Luther und der deutsche Volksaberglaube_. 1912. +(Palaestra, vol. 56). + + +SECTION 3. _Education_ + +_Album Academiae Vitebergensis 1502-1602_, Band I, ed. K. E. +Foerstemann, 1841. Band ii, 1895. Band iii Indices, 1905. (Reprint of +vol. i, 1906). + +J. C. H. Weissenborn: _Akten der Erfurter Universitaet_. 3 vols. 1884. + +G. Buchanan: "Anent the Reformation of the University of St. Andros," +in _Buchanan's Vernacular Writings_, ed. P. Hume Brown, 1892. + +_The Statutes of the Faculty of Arts and of the Faculty of Theology at +the Period of the Reformation, of St. Andrews' University_, ed. R. K. +Hannay, 1910. + +K. Hartfelder: _Melancthoniana paedogogica_. 1895. + +F. V. N. Painter: _Luther on Education_, including a historical +introduction and a translation of the Reformer's two most important +educational treatises. 1889. + +_Mandament der Keyserlijcker Maiesteit, vuytghegeven int Jaer xlvi_. +Louvain. 1546. (100 facsimiles printed for A. M. Huntington at the +De Vinne Press, N. Y., 1896. Contains lists of books allowed in +schools in the Netherlands). + +C. Borgeaud: _Histoire de l' Universite de Geneve_. 2 vols. 1900, +1909. + +J. M. Hoefer: _Die Stellung des Des. Erasmus und J. L. Vives zur +Paedagogik des Quintilian_. (Erlangen Dissertation). 1910. + +F. Watson: _Vives and the Renascence education of Women_. 1912. + +P. Monroe: _Cyclopedia of education_. 5 vols. 1912-3. + +K. A. Schmid: _Geschichte der Erziehung vom Anfang bis auf unserer +Zeit_. 5 vols. in 7. 1884-1902. (Standard). + +A. Zimmermann: _Die Universitaeten Englands im 16. Jahrhundert_. 1889. + +A. Zimmermann: _England's "oeffentliche Schulen" von der Reformation bis +zur Gegenwart_, 1892 (Stimmen aus Maria-Lach. vol. 56). + +F. P. Graves: _A History of Education during the Middle Ages and the +Transition to Modern Times_. 1910. + +"Die Frequenz der deutschen Universitaeten in frueherer Zeit," _Deutsches +Wochenblatt_, 1897, pp. 391 ff. + +P. Monroe: A Text-Book of the History of Education. 1905. (Standard +text-book). + +W. S. Monroe: _A Bibliography of Education_. 1897. + +G. Mertz: _Das Schulwesen der deutschen Reformation_. 1902. + +F. Paulsen: _Geschichte des gelehrten Unterrichts in Deutschland_.[2] +2 vols. 1896-7. + +W. Sohm: _Die Schule Johann Sturms_. 1912. + +J. Ficker: _Die Anfaenge der akademischen Studien in Strassburg_. 1912. + +_Shakespeare's England_, 1916. 2 vols. ch. 8 "Education" by Sir J. E. +Sandys. + +A. Roersch: _L' Humanisme belge a l' epoque de la Renaissance_. 1910. + +Sir T. Elyot: _The boke named the governour_. 1531. (New edition by +H. H. S. Croft. 2 vols. 1880). + +_Melanchthonis opera omnia_, xi, 12 ff. "Declamatio de corrigendis +adolescentiae studies." (1518). + +E. Ascham: _The Schole Master_. 1571. (I use the reprint in the +English Works of R. Ascham, ed. J. Bennet, 1761). + +M. Fournier: _Les Statuts et Privileges des Universites francaises +depuis leur fondation jusqu'en 1789_. 4 vols. 1890-4. + +F. Bacon: _The Advancement of Learning_, Book ii. + +Elizabethan Oxford: reprints of rare tracts ed. by C. Plumer. 1887. + +_Grace book [Greek delta] containing records of the University of +Cambridge 1542-89_, ed. by J. Venn. 1910. + +_Registres des proces-verbaux de la Faculte de theologie de Paris, pub. +par A. Clerval_. Tome I. 1917. (1505-23). + +J. H. Lupton: _A Life of John Colet_. new ed. 1909. (First printed +1887. On St. Paul's School, pp. 169, 271 ff.) + +W. H. Woodward: _Des. Erasmus concerning the Aim and Method of +Education_. 1904. (Fine work). + +F. P. Graves: _Peter Ramus and the Educational Reformation of the 16th +Century_. 1912. + +_Encyclopaedia Britannica_, articles "Universities" and "Schools." + +Altamira y Crevea: _Historia de Espana_,[3] iii, 532 ff. (1913). + +F. Gribble: _The Romance of the Cambridge Colleges_. (1913). + +J. B. Mullinger: _A History of the University of Cambridge_. 1888. + +G. C. Brodrick: _A History of the University of Oxford_. 1886. + +C. Headlam: _The Story of Oxford_. 1907. + +W. H. Woodward: _Studies in Education during the Age of the +Renaissance_ 1400-1600. + +A. Bonilla y San Martin: _Luis Vives y la filosofia del renacimiento_. +1903. + +A. Lefranc: Histoire du College de France depuis ses origines jusqu' a +la fin du premier empire. 1893. + +P. Feret: _La Faculte de Theologie de Paris_. _Epoque Moderne_. 7 +vols. 1900-10. + +W. Friedensburg: _Geschichte der Universitaet Wittenberg_. 1918. + + +SECTION 4. _Art_ + +Very fine reproductions of the works of the principal painters of the +time are published in separate volumes of the series, Klassiker der +Kunst in Gesamtausgaben, Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart und +Leipzig. A brief list of standard criticisms of art, many of them well +illustrated, follows: + +K. Woermann: _Geschichte der Kunst aller Zeiten und Voelker_. Band +4.[2] 1919. + +S. Reinach: _Apollo_.[4] 1907. (Also English translation. +Marvelously compressed and sound criticism). + +J. A. Symonds: _The Italian Renaissance_. The Fine Arts. 1888. + +L. Pastor: _History of the Popes_. (Much on art at Rome, passim). + +B. Berenson: _North Italian Painters of the Renaissance_. 1907. + +B. Berenson: _Central Italian Painters of the Renaissance_. 1897. + +B. Berenson: _The Venetian Painters of the Renaissance_.[3] 1902. + +B. Berenson: The Florentine Painters of the Renaissance.[2] 1903. + +Giorgio Vasari: _Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors and +Architects_, newly translated by G. du C. de Vere. 10 vols. 1912-14. +(Other editions). + +E. Lanciani: _The Golden Days of the Renaissance in Rome_. 1907. + +E. Muentz: Histoire de l' art pendant la Renaissance. 3 vols. 1889-95. + +J. Crowe and G. Cavalcaselle: _History of Italian Painting_. 1903 ff. + +L. Dimier: _French Painting in the Sixteenth Century_. 1904. + +L. F. Freeman: _Italian Sculptors of the Renaissance_. 1902. + +H. Janitschek: _Geschichte der deutschen Malerei_. 1890. + +H. A. Dickenson: _German Masters of Art_. 1914. + +E. Bertaux: _Rome de l' avenement de Jules II a nos jours_.[2] 1908. + +M. Reymond: _L' Education de Leonard_. 1910. + +W. Pater: "Leonardo da Vinci," in the volume called _The Renaissance_, +1878. (Though much attacked this is, in my opinion, the best criticism +of Leonardo). + +S. Freud: _Leonardo da Vinci_. 1910. + +W. von Seidlitz: _Leonardo da Vinci_. 2 vols. 1909. (Excellent). + +Osvald Siren: _Leonardo da Vinci_. 1916. + +Leonardo da Vinci: _A treatise on painting_, translated from the +Italian by J. F. Rigaud. London. 1897. + +C. J. Holmes: _Leonardo da Vinci_. _Proceedings of the British +Academy_. 1919. + +E. Muentz: _Raphael, sa vie, son oeuvre et son temps_. 1881. + +W. Pater: "Raphael," in _Miscellaneous Studies_, 1913. (First written +1892: fine criticism). + +Edward McCurdy: _Raphael Santi_. 1917. + +H. Grimm: _Life of Michael Angelo_, tr. by F. E. Bunnett. 2 vols. New +ed. 1906. + +Crowe and Cavalcasselle: _Life and Times of Titian_. 1877. + +H. Thode: _Michelangelo und das Ende der Renaissance_. 5 vols. +1902-13. + +L. Dorez: "Nouvelles recherches sur Michel-Ange et son entourage," +Bibliotheque de l' Ecole des Chartes. Vol. 77, pp. 448 ff. (1916), +vol. 78, pp. 179 ff. (1917). + +Romain Roland: _Vie de Michel-Ange_.[4] 1913. + +_The Sonnets of Michael Angela Buonarroti_, translated into English by +J. A. Symonds. (My copy, Venice, has no date). + +R. W. Emerson: _Essay on Michaelangelo_. + +A. Duerer's _Schriftliche Nachlass_, ed. E. Heidrich. 1908. + +M. Thausing: _A. Duerer_.[2] 1876. (English translation from 1st ed. +by F. A. Eaton. 1882). + +_Albrecht Duerers Niederlaendische Reise_, hg. van J. Veth und S. Mueller. +2 vols. 1918. + +A. B. Chamberlain: _Hans Holbein the Younger_. 2 vols. 1913. + +A. Michel: _Histoire de l'art depuis les premiers temps chretiens +jusqu' a nos jours_. 3 vols. 1905-8. + +C. H. Moore: _The Character of Renaissance Architecture_. 1905. + +R. Bloomfield: _A History of French Architecture from the Reign of +Charles VIII till the death of Mazarin_. 2 vols. 1911. + + +SECTION 5. _Belles Lettres_ + +Note: The works of the humanists, theologians, biblical and classical +scholars, historians, publicists and philosophers have been dealt with +in other sections of this bibliography. Representative poets, +dramatists and writers of fiction for the century (up to but not +including the Age of Shakespeare in England or of Henry IV in France) +are the following: + +Italian: Ariosto, A. F. Grazzini, M. Bandello, T. Tasso, Berni, Guarini. + +French: Margaret of Navarre, C. Marot, Rabelais, Joachim du Bellay, +Ronsard, Montaigne. + +English: Lyndesay, Skelton, Wyatt, Surrey, anonymous poets in Tottel's +Miscellany, Sidney, E. Spenser, Donne, Lyly, Heywood, Kyd, Peele, +Greene, Lodge, Nash, Marlowe. + +German: Hans Sachs, Fischart, T. Murner, anonymous Till Eulenspiegel +and Faustbuch, B. Waldis. + +Spanish: The Picaresque novel, La vida de Lazarillo de Tormes y de sus +fortunas y adversidades. + +Portuguese: Camoens. + +As it is not my purpose to give even a sketch of literary history, but +merely to illustrate the temper of the times from the contemporary +belles lettres, only a few suggestive works of criticism can be +mentioned here. + +H. Hallam: _Introduction to the Literature of Europe in the 15th, 16th +and 17th Centuries_. 1838-9. (Old, but still useful). + +J. A. Symonds: _Italian Literature_. 1888. + +G. Lanson: _Histoire de la litterature francaise_.[9] 1906. + +C. H. C. Wright: _A History of French Literature_. 1912. + +C. Thomas: _A History of German Literature_. 1909. + +E. Wolff: _Faust und Luther_. 1912. + +_The Cambridge History of English Literature_, vol. iii, Renaissance +and Reformation. 1908. + +J. J. Jusserand: _Histoire Litteraire du Peuple Anglais_. Tome ii, De +la Renaissance a la Guerre Civile. 1904. (Also English translation: a +beautiful work). + +Winifred Smith: _The Commedia dell' Arte_. 1912. (Notable). + +A. Tilley: _The Literature of the French Renaissance_. 2 vols. 1904. + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE REFORMATION INTERPRETED + +The purpose of the following list is not to give the titles of all +general histories of the Reformation, but of those books and articles +in which some noteworthy contribution has been made to the +philosophical interpretation of the events. Many an excellent work of +pure narrative character, and many of those dealing with some +particular phase of the Reformation, are omitted. All the noteworthy +historical works published prior to 1600 are listed in the bibliography +to Chapter XII, section 2, and are not repeated here. The +chronological order is here adopted, save that all the works of each +writer are grouped together. In every case I enter the book under the +year in which it first appeared, adding in parentheses the edition, if +another, which I have used. + +Francis Bacon (1561-1626): Essay lviii; also Essays i, iii, xxxv; Novum +Organum Bk. i, aphorisms xv and lxv; Advancement of Learning, Bk. ix, +and i. + +Jacques-Auguste de Thou (Thuanus): _Historiae sui temporis_. 1604-20. + +Hugo Grotius: _Annales et historiae de rebus belgicis_. 1657. +(Written 1611 ff). + +William Camden: _Annales Rerum Anglicarnm et Hibernicarum regnante +Elizabetha_. Pars I, 1615; Pars II, 1625. + +Agrippa d'Aubigne: _Histoire Universelle_. 1616-20. + +Paolo Sarpi: _Istoria del Concilio Tridentino_. 1619. (P. Sarpi: +Histoire du Concile du Trente, French translation by Amelot de la +Houssaie. 1699). + +Arrigo Caterino Davila: _Storia delle guerre civili di Francia_. 1630. + +Giulio Bentivoglio: _Guerra di Fiandria_. 1632-39. + +Famiano Strada: _De bello belgico decades duo_. 1632-47. + +Francois Eudes, [called] de Mezeray: _Histoire de France_. 1643-51. + +David Calderwood (1575-1650): _History of the Kirk of Scotland_, ed. T. +Thompson, 1842-9. + +Lord Herbert of Cherbury: _Life and Reign of Henry VIII_. 1649. + +Thomas Fuller: _Church History_, 1655. (Ed. Brewer, 6 vols. 1845). + +J. Harrington: _Oceana_, 1656. (Harrington's Works, 1700, pp. 69, 388). + +Sforza Pallavicino: _Istoria del Concilio di Trento_. 1656-7. + +_Annales ecclesiastici . . . auctore Reynaldo_, ed. J. D. Mansi. Tomi +33-35. Lucae. 1755. (Oderic Reynaldus, who died 1671, was a +continuator of Baronius, covering the period in church history +1198-1565). + +Jean Claude: Defense de la Reformation. . . . 1673. (English +translation: An historical defense of the Reformation. 1683). + +Gilbert Burnet: _History of the Reformation of the Church of England_. +3 vols. 1679, 1681, 1715. (Ed. by Pocock, 6 vols. 1865 ff). + +Louis Maimbourg: _Histoire du Lutheranisme_. 1680. + +Pierre Jurieu: _Histoire du Calvinisme et celle du Papisme mises en +parallele_. 1683. (English translation, 2 vols. 1823). + +Veit Ludwig von Seckendorf: _Commentarius historicus et apologeticus de +Lutheranismo_. 1688-92. + +Jacques Benigne Bossuet: _Histoire des variations des eglises +protestantes_. 1688. (I have used the editions of 1812 and 1841). + +Pierre Bayle: _Dictionnaire historique et critique_, 1697., s.v. +"Luther," "Calvin," &c. + +Gabriel Daniel: _Histoire de France_. 1703. + +Jeremy Collier: _Ecclesiastical History_, 2 vols. 1708-14. (ed. +Lathbury, 9 vols. 1852). + +Rapin Thoyras: _Histoire d'Angleterre_. 1723ff. + +Johann Lorenz Mosheim: _Institutiones historiae christianae +recentiores_. 1741. + +Montesquieu: _Esprit des Lois_, 1748, Livre xxiv, chaps. 2, 5, 25; +Livre xxv, chap. 2, 6, 11. + +Frederick II (called The Great) of Prussia: _De la Superstition et de +la Religion_. 1749. (Oeuvres, 1846, i, 204 ff). + +Voltaire: _Essai sur les moeurs et l' esprit des nations, et sur les +principaux faits de l' histoire depuis Charlemagne jusqu'a Louis XIII_. +1754. (_Cf_. also a passage in his Dictionnaire philosophique). + +David Hume: _History of England from the Invasion of Julius Caesar to +the Revolution of 1688_. The volumes on the Tudor period came out in +1759. + +William Robertson: _A History of Scotland_. 1759. + +William Robertson: _History of the Reign of the Emperor Charles V_. +1769. + +Edward Gibbon: _The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire_. 1776-88. +(On the Reformation, chap. liv, end). + +_Encyclopedie_, 1778, s.v. "Lutheranisme." (Anonymous article). + +Johann Gottfried von Herder: _Das Weimarische Gesangbuch_, 1778, +Vorrede. + +Herder: _Briefe das Studium der Theologie betreffend_, 1784. +(Saemtliche Werke, Teil 14). + +Herder: _Briefe zur Befoerderung der Humanitaet_, 1793-7. (Samtliche +Werke, Teil 14). + +Michael Ignaz Schmidt: _Geschichte der Deutschen_. Aeltere Geschichte +(to 1544), 1778 ff. Neuere Geschichte (1544-1660), 1785 ff. + +Jakob Gottlieb Planck: _Geschichte des protestantischen Lehrbegriffs_, +6 vols. 1783-1800. + +[M. J. A. N. de Caritat, Marquis] De Condorcet: _Esquisse d'un tableau +historique des Progres de l' Esprit humain_. 1794. (I use the fourth +edition, 1798, pp. 200 ff.) + +F. A. de Chateaubriand: _Essai historique sur les Revolutions_, 1797. +(Oeuvres, 1870). + +Chateaubriand: _Analyse raisonnee de l'histoire de France_. (Oeuvres, +1865, Tome 8). + +Friedrich von Hardenberg (called Novalis): _Die Christenheit oder +Europa_, 1799 (Novalis' Schriften hg. von Minor, 1907, Band ii. Also +English translation). + +Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832): _Saemtliche Werke_, +Jubilaeumsausgabe, no date, Stuttgart and Berlin, i, 242 and ii, 279, +and other obiter dicta for which see the excellent index. See also +Gespraeche mit Eckermann, 1832, English translation in Bohn's library, +p. 568. + +Friedrich Schiller: _Geschichte des Abfalles der Vereinigten +Niederlande von der spanischen Regierung_. 1788. (2d ed., much +changed, 1801; translation in Bohn's library). Cf. also Schiller's +letter to Goethe, Sept. 17, 1800, in Schiller's Briefe, hg. von F. +Jonas, 1895, vi, 200. + +Christoph Martin Wieland (1733-1813). His opinion, in 1801 is given in +_Diary &c of Henry Crabb Robinson_, ed. T. Sadler, 3 vols., 1869, i, +109, and in "Charakteristik Lulhers," in Pantheon der Deutschen, 1794. + +Charles de Villers: _Essai sur l'esprit et l'influence de la Reforme de +Luther_. 1803. (English translation by James Mill, 1805). + +William Roscoe: _Life and Pontificate of Leo X_. 1805. + +J. G. Fichte: _Reden an die deutsche Nation_, 1808. Nr. 6. + +Mme. de Stael: _De l'Allemagne_. 1813. + +E. M. Arndt: _Ansichten und Aussichten der deutschen Geschichte_. 1814. + +Arndt: _Vom Worte und vom Kirchenliede_. 1819. + +Arndt: _Christliches und Tuerkisches_. 1828, pp. 255 ff. + +Arndt: _Vergleichende Voelkergeschichte_. 1814. + +Friedrich von Schlegel: _Geschichte der alten und neuen Literatur_. +1815. (Saemtliche Werke, 1822, ii, 244 ff). + +Schlegel: _Philosophie der Geschichte_. 1829. (English translation in +Bohn's Library). + +Joseph de Maistre: _De l'eglise gallicane_. 1820, cap. 2. (Oeuvres, +1884, ii, 3 ff). + +De Maistre: _Lettres sur l'Inquisition espagnole_. 1815 ff. (Oeuvres +ii). + +John Lingard: _History of England_, vols. 4, 5. 1820 ff. + +G. W. F. Hegel: _Philosophie der Geschichte_. Lectures delivered first +1822-3, published as vol. ix of his Werke by E. Gans, 1837. (English +translation by J. Sibree, 1857, in Bohn's Library). + +Leopold von Ranke: _Geschichte der romanischen und germanischen Voelker +von 1491-1535_. Band i, (bis 1514). 1824. Appendix: Zur Kritik +neuerer Geschichtschreiber. + +Ranke: _Die roemischen Paepste, ihre Kirche und ihr Staat im XVI. und +XVII. Jahrhiindert_. 1834-6. (Many editions and translations of this +and other works of Ranke). + +Ranke: _Deutsche Geschichte im Zeitalter der Reformation_. 1839-47. + +Ranke: _Zwoelf Buecher Preussischer Geschichte_. Band i und ii, 1874. + +Ranke: _Die Osmannen und die Spanische Monarchie im 16. und 17. +Jahrhundert_. 1877. + +C. H. de Rouvroy, Comte de Saint-Simon: _Nouveau Christianisme_, +Oeuvres, 1869, vii, 100 ff. (written 1825). + +Henry Hallam: _Constitutional History of England from the accession of +Henry VII to the death of George II_. 1827. + +Hallam: _Introduction to the Literature of Europe in the 15th, 16th and +17th Centuries_. 1837-9. + +A. Thierry: _Vingt-cinq letters sur l'histoire de France_. 1827. + +Francois-Pierre-Guillaume Guizot: _Histoire de la civilisation en +Europe_. 1828. (English transl. by Hazlitt. 1846). + +Guizot: _Histoire de la civilisation en France_. 4 vols. 1830. + +Philipp Marheineke: _Geschichte der deutschen Reformation_. 4 vols. +1831-4. + +Heinrich Leo: _Geschichte der Niederlanden_. 2 vols. 1832-5. + +Leo: _Lehrbuch der Universalgeschichte_, 6 vols. 1835-44. + +Friedrich von Raumer: _Geschichte Europas seit dem Ende des 15. +Jahrhundert_. 1832-50. + +A. Vinet: _Moralistes des 16. and 17. siecles_. 1859 (Lectures given +1832-47). + +H. Martin: _Histoire de France_. 1833-6. + +Heinrich Heine: _Zur Geschichte der Religion und Philosophie in +Deutschland_. 1834. + +Jules Michelet: _Memoires de Luther ecrits par lui-meme, traduits et +mis en ordre_. 1835. + +Michelet et Quinet: _Les Jesuites_. 1842. + +Michelet: _Histoire de France_, vols. 8-10, 1855 ff. + +J. H. Merle d'Aubigne: _Histoire de la Reformation du 16. siecle_. 5 +vols. 1835-53. (English translation, 1846). + +Thomas Babington Macauley: "On Ranke's History of the Popes," 1840, +published in his _Essays_, 1842. There are also remarks on the effect +of the Reformation in his _History of England_, 1848 ff. + +John Carl Ludwig Gieseler: _Lehrbuch der Kirchengeschichte_. Band iii, +Abteilung 1, 1840. (Many later editions, and an English translation). + +Jaime Balmes: _El protestantismo comparado con el catolicismo en sus +relaciones con la civilizacion Europea_. 4 vols. 1842-4. (English +translation as, Protestantism and Catholicism compared, 2d ed. 1851). + +Thomas Carlyle: _Heroes and Hero-worship_. 1842. + +Philarete Chasle: "La Renaissance sensuelle: Luther, Rabelais, Skelton, +Folengo," _Revue des deux Mondes_, March, 1842. + +Edgar Quinet: _Le genie des religions_. 1842. + +Quinet: (see Michelet). + +Quinet: _Le Christianisme et la Revolution francaise_. 1845. + +Johann Joseph Ignaz von Doellinger: _Die Reformation_. 3 vols. 1846-8. + +Doellinger: _Luther, eine Skizze_. 1851. + +Doellinger: _Kirche und Kirchen_. 1861, p. 386. + +Doellinger: _Vortraege ueber die Wiedervereinigungsversuche zwischen den +christlichen Kirchen und die Aussichten einer kuenftigen Union_. 1872. + +F. C. Baur: _Lehrbuch der christlichen Dogmengeschichte_. 1847. + +Baur: _Die Epochen der kirchlichen Geschichtschreibung_. 1852. + +Baur: _Geschichte der christlichen Kirche_, Band iv, 1863. + +E. Forcade: "La Reforme et la Revolution," _Revue des Deux Mondes_, +Feb. 1849. + +William Corbbett: _A History of the Protestant "Reformation" in England +and Ireland, showing how that event has impoverished and degraded the +main body of the People in these countries_. 1852. + +Napoleon Roussel: _Les nations catholiques et les nations protestantes +comparees sous le triple rapport du bien-etre, des lumieres et de la +moralite_. 1854. + +William H. Prescott: _History of the Reign of Philip II, King of +Spain_. 1855-72. + +John Lothrop Motley: _The Rise of the Dutch Republic_. 1855. + +Motley: _History of the United Netherlands from the death of William +the Silent to the Synod of Dort_. 1860-7. + +Motley: _Life and Death of John of Barneveldt_. 1874. + +James Anthony Froude: _History of England from the Fall of Wolsey to +the Death of Elizabeth_. (Later: To the Spanish Armada). 1856-70. + +Froude: _Short Studies on Great Subjects_. 1867-83. + +Froude: _The Divorce of Catharine of Aragon_. 1891. + +Froude: _The Life and Letters of Erasmus_. 1894. + +Froude: _Lectures on the Council of Trent_. 1896. + +Henry Thomas Buckle: _History of Civilization in England_. 1857-61. + +Paul de Lagarde: "Ueber das Verhaeltnis des deutschen Staates zu +Theologie, Kirche und Religion." _Deutsche Schriften_, 1886, pp. 48 +ff. (Written in 1859, first printed 1873). + +David Friedrich Strauss: _Ulrich von Hutten_. 1858. + +Gustav Freytag: _Bilder aus der deutschen Vergangenheit_. 1859-62. + +Ferdinand Gregorovius: _Geschichte der Stadt Rom im Mittelalter_. +1859-71. + +Lord Acton: Many essays and articles, beginning about 1860, mostly +collected in his _History of Freedom and Other Essays_, 1906, and +_Historical Essays and Studies_, 1907. + +Acton: _Lectures on Modern History_. 1906. (I use the 1912 edition; +the lectures were delivered in 1899-1901). + +Acton: _Letters to Mary Gladstone_, ed. H. Paul, 1904. + +Jacob Burckhart: _Die Cultur der Renaissance in Italien_. 1860. +(English translation by S. G. C. Middlemore, 1878). Twentieth ed. by +L. Geiger, 1919. + +W. Stubbs: _Lectures on European History_. 1904. (Delivered 1860-70). + +Francois Laurent: _Etudes sur l'histoire de l'humanite_. 18 vols. +Vol. viii: La Reforme. (No date, circa 1862). Vol. xvii: La Religion +de l'avenir. 1870. Vol. xviii: Philosophie de l'histoire. 1870. +(pp. 340 ff). + +John William Draper: _History of the Intellectual Development of +Europe_. 1863. + +Draper: _History of the Conflict of Science and Religion_. 1874. + +W. E. H. Lecky: _History of the Rise and Influence of the Spirit of +Rationalism in Europe_. 1865. + +K. P. W Maurenbrecher: _Karl V und die deutschen Protestanten_. 1865. + +Maurenbrecher: _England im Reformationszeitalter_. 1866. + +Maurenbrecher: _Studien und Skizzen zur Geschichte der +Reformationszeit_. 1874. + +Maurenbrecher: _Geschichte der katholischen Reformation_. 1880. + +Henry Charles Lea: _Superstition and Force_. 1866. + +Lea: _Historical Sketch of Sacerdotal Celibacy_. 1867. + +Lea: _Chapters from the Religious History of Spain connected with the +Inquisition_. 1890. + +Lea: _History of Auricular Confession and Indulgences in the Latin +Church_. 1896. + +Lea: _History of the Inquisition in Spain_. 1906-7. + +Lea: "The Eve of the Reformation," _Cambridge Modern History_, ii, 1902. + +Ludwig Haeusser: _Geschichte des Zeitalters der Reformation_. 1867-8. + +Frederic Seebohm: _The Oxford Reformers_, 1867. + +Seebohm: _The Era of the Protestant Revolution_. 1874. + +H. H. Milman: _Savonarola, Erasmus and other Essays_. 1870. + +Eichhoff: Dr. Martin Luther: _100 Stimmen namhafter Maenner aus 4 +Jahrhunderten_. 1872. + +George Park Fisher: _The Reformation_. 1873. (New ed. 1906). + +John Richard Green: _Short History of the English People_. 1874. + +Green: _History of the English People_, 4 vols. 1877-80. + +John Addington Symonds: _The Renaissance in Italy_, 7 vols. 1875-86. + +Symonds: "Renaissance," article in _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, 9th, +10th, 11th ed. + +Johannes Janssen: _Geschichte des deutschen Volkes seit dem Ausgange +des Mittelalters_, 1876-88. (Twentieth ed. of vols. 1, 2; eighteenth +ed. of vols. 3-8, by L. Pastor, 1913 ff). + +Emile de Laveleye: _Le protestantisme et le catholicisme dans leurs +rapports avec la liberte et la prosperite des peuples_, 1875. + +Richard Watson Dixon: _History of the Church of England from the +abolition of the Roman jurisdiction_, 6 vols. 1878-1902. + +Friedrich Nietzsche: _Menschliches, Allzumenschliches_. 1878, p. 200. + +Nietzsche: _Die froehliche Wissenschaft_. 1882, Sections 35, 148, 149, +385. (And other obiter dicta, cf. Werke, vii, 401). + +Pasquale Villari: _Niccolo Machiavelli e i suoi tempi_. 1878. +(English transl., 1891). + +Ludwig (von) Pastor: _Die kirchliche Unionsbestrebungen unter Karl V_, +1879. + +Pastor: _Geschichte der Paepste seit dem Ausgange des Mittelalters_, 7 +vols. 1886-1920. (English translation of German vols. 1-5, making 12 +vols, ed. by Antrobus and Kerr). + +H. M. Baird: _The Rise of the Huguenots in France_. 1879. + +Baird: _The Huguenots and Henry of Navarre_. 1886. + +Georg Christian Bernhard Puenjer: _Geschichte der christlichen +Religionsphilosophie seit der Reformation_. 2 Baende. 1880-3. +(English translation of the first volume as, _History of the Christian +Philosophy of Religion from the Reformation to Kant_, by W. Hastie. +1887). + +J. E. Thorold Rogers: _History of Agriculture and Prices in England_, +vol. iv, 1882, pp. 72 ff. + +Rogers: _The Economic Interpretation of History_, 1888, pp. 83 ff. + +K. W. Nitzsch: _Geschichte des deutschen Volkes bis zum Augsburger +Religionsfriede_, hg. von Matthaei, 1883-5. + +Heinrich von Treitschke: "Luther und die deutsche Nation," 1883. +(English translation in _Germany, France, Russia and Islam_, 1915, 227 +ff. Other criticisms of the Reformation may be found in his other +works, e.g., _Deutsche Geschichte im 19. Jahrhundert_, 1 Teil,[5] 1895, +pp. 86, 391). + +Charles Beard: _The Reformation of the Sixteenth Century in its +relation to Modern Thought and Knowledge_. 1883. + +A. Stern: _Die Socialisten der Reformationszeit_. 1883. + +Matthew Arnold: _St. Paul and Protestantism_. 1883. + +Adolf (von) Harnack: _Martin Luther in seiner Bedeutung fuer die +Geschichte der Wissenschaft und der Bildung_. 1883 (Fifth ed. 1910). + +Harnack: _M. Luther und die Grundlegung der Reformation_. 1917. + +Harnack: _Lehrbuch der Dogmengeschichte_, Band iii, 1890. (Fourth ed. +1910, and English translation by Neil Buchanan, 1897). + +Harnack: _Das Wesen des Christentums_. 1900. (English translation, +_What is Christianity_? 1901). + +Harnack: "Die Bedeutung der Reformation innerhalb der allgemeinen +Religionsgeschichte," _Reden und Aufsaetze_, Baud ii, Teil ii, 1904. + +Harnack: "Die Reformation," _Internationale Monatsschrift_, xi, 1917. + +M. Monnier: _La Reforme, de Luther a Shakespeare_. (Histoire de la +litterature moderne). 1885. + +Leo Tolstoy: _Thoughts and Aphorisms_. 1886-93. Tolstoy's Works, +English, 1905, xix, 137 f. + +Philip Schaff: _History of the Christian Church_. Vol. VI, The German +Reformation. 1888. Vol. VII, The Swiss Reformation. 1892. + +F. von Bezold: _Die Reformation_. 1890. (In Oncken's Allgemeine +Geschichte in Einzeldarstellungen). + +F. von Bezold, E. Gotheim und R. Koser: _Staat und Gesellschaft der +neueren Zeit_. 1908. (Die Kultur der Gegenwart, Teil ii, Abteilung V). + +William Cunningham: _Growth of English Industry and Commerce during the +early and Middle Ages_. 1890. (Fourth ed. 1905). + +Cunningham: _Growth of English Industry and Commerce in Modern Times_. +1882. (3d ed. 1903). + +Cunningham: _Western Civilization in its Economic Aspects in Ancient +Times_. 1898. + +Cunningham: _Western Civilization in its Economic Aspects in Modern +Times_. 1900. (I also have the advantage of having taken notes of Dr. +Cunningham's lectures at Columbia University, November, 1914). + +Rudolph Cristoph Eucken: _Die Lebensanschauungen der grossen Denker_. +1890. (7th ed. 1907: English translation, _The Problem of Human Life_, +by W. Hough and Boyce Gibson, 1909). + +F. Simmel: _Soziale Differenzierung_. 1890. + +Robert Flint: History of the Philosophy of History. 1893. + +C. Borgeaud: _The Rise of Modern Democracy in Old and New England_. +Translated by Mrs. B. Hill. Preface by C. H. Firth. 1894. (First +published in French periodicals 1890-1). + +Herbert L. Osgood: "The Political Ideas of the Puritans," _Political +Science Quarterly_, vi, 1 ff., 201 ff., 1891. + +Wilhelm Dilthey: "Auffassung und Analyse des Menschen im 15. und 16. +Jahrhundert." _Archiv fuer die Geschichte der Philosophie_, iv, (1891) +604 ff., v, (1892), 337 ff. + +Dilthey: "Die Glaubenslehre der Reformatoren," _Preussiche Jahrbuecher_, +lxxv, (1894), pp. 44 ff. + +Dilthey: "Weltanschauung und Analyse des Menschen seit Renaissance und +Reformation." _Gesammelte Schriften_, ii, 1914. + +E. A. Freeman: Historical Essays, 4th series, 1892. + +Karl Lamprecht: _Zum Verstandnis der wirtschaftlichen und sozialen +Wandlungen in Deutschland vom. 14. bis zum 16. Jahrhundert_. 1893. + +Lamprecht: _Deutsche Geschichte_, Band 5, 1894-5. + +Otto Pfleiderer: _Philosophy and Development of Religion_. (Gifford +Lectures at Edinburgh), 1894, vol. ii, pp. 321 ff. + +Pfleiderer: "Luther as the founder of Protestant civilization." In +_Evolution and Theology_, 1900, pp. 48-79. (Address given 1883). + +E. Belfort Bax: _German Society at the Close of the Middle Ages_. 1894. + +Bax: _The Peasants' War in Germany_. 1899. + +Bax: _The Rise and Fall of the Anabaptists_. 1903. (Large portions of +the three works by Bax have been reprinted in his _German Culture Past +and Present_. 1915). + +Brooks Adams: _The Law of Civilisation and Decay_. 1895. + +Brooks Adams: _The New Empire_. 1902. + +Karl Kautsky: _Vorlaeufer des neuren Sozialismus_, Band i, "Der +Kommunismus in der deutschen Reformation," 1895. (Communism in Central +Europe in the Time of the Reformation, transl. by J. L. and E. G. +Mulliken. 1897). + +A. Berger: _Die Kulturaufgaben der Reformation_. 1895. ([2] 1908). + +Berger: _M. Luther in kulturgeschichtlicher Darstellung_, 3 parts, +1895, 1907, 1919. + +Berger: _Ursachen und Ziele der deutschen Reformation_. 1899. + +Berger: _Sind Humanismus und Protestantismus gegensaetzig?_ 1899, + +H. Hauser: "De l'humanisme et de la Reforme en France," _Revue +Historique_, July-Aug. 1897. + +Karl Sell: "Die wissenschaftliche Aufgaben einer Geschichte der +christlichen Religion," _Preussische Jahrbuecher_, xcviii. (1899), 12 +ff. + +Sell: _Christentum und Weltgeschichte seit der Reformation_. 1910. + +Sell: _Der Zusammenhang von Reformation und politischer Freiheit_. +Abhandlungen in Theologischen Arbeiten aus dem rheinischen +wissenschaftlichen Predigerverein. N. F. 12. 1910. + +John Mackinnon Robertson: _A Short History of Freethought_. 1899. +([3] 1915). + +Robertson: _A Short History of Christianity_. 1901. ([2] 1913). + +S. N. Patten: _The Development of English Thought_. A Study in the +Economic Interpretation of History. 1899. (Fanciful). + +Ferdinand Brunetiere: "L'oeuvre litteraire de Calvin." _Revue des Deux +Mondes_, Oct. 15, 1900. + +Brunetiere: "L'oeuvre de Calvin." (1901). _Discours de Combat_, ii, +1908, pp. 121 ff. + +Williston Walker: _The Reformation_. 1900. + +Walker: _A History of the Christian Church_. 1918. + +A. Loisy: L'Evangile et l'Eglise. 1901. (Answer to Harnack's Wesen +des Christentums). + +A. Lang: _History of Scotland_, i, 1901, p. 382. + +A. F. Pollard: _Henry VIII_. 1902. + +A. F. Pollard: _Thomas Cranmer_. 1904. + +Pollard: _Political History of England 1547-1603_. 1910. + +James Gairdner: _The English Church in the Sixteenth Century_ +(1509-58). 1902. + +J. Gairdner: Chapters in the _Cambridge Modern History_, ii, 1902. + +Gairdner: _Lollardy and the Reformation_. 4 vols. 1908 ff. + +Mandell Creighton: _A History of the Papacy_, vol. 5, 1902. + +E. Armstrong: _The Emperor Charles V_. 1902. + +H. Lemonnier: _Histoire de France_ (ed. par E. Lavisse), v, 1903-4. + +James Harvey Robinson: "The Study of the Lutheran Revolt," _American +Historical Review_, viii, 205. 1903. + +J. H. Robinson: "The Reformation," _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, 1911. + +Auguste Sabatier: _Les religions d'autorite et la religion de +l'esprit_. 1903. ([4] 1910. English translation 1904). + +(H. M.) Alfred Baudrillart: _L'Eglise catholique, la Renaissance, le +Protestantisme_. 1904. (English translation by Mrs. Philip Gibbs. +1908). + +W. H. Frere: _The English Church in the Reigns of Elizabeth and James +I_, 1904. + +H. A. L. Fisher: _A Political History of England 1486-1547_. 1904. + +Fisher: _The Republican Tradition in Europe_, 1911, pp. 34 ff. + +J. H. Mariejol: _Histoire de France_ (ed. par E. Lavisse), Tome vi, +1904. + +E. P. Cheyney: _The European Background of American History_, 1904, p. +168. + +O. Hegemann: _Luther in katholischem Urteil_. 1904. + +Friedrich Heinrich Suso Denifle: _Luther and Luthertum in der ersten +Entwicklung_, i, 1904; ii, hg. von A. M. Weiss, 1909. + +Max Weber: "Die protestantische Ethik und der 'Geist' des +Kapitalismus," _Archiv fuer Sozialwissenschaft und Sozialpolitik_, xx +and xxi, 1905. + +George Santayana: _Reason in Religion_, 1905, pp. 114-124. + +Santayana: _Winds of Doctrine_, 1913, pp. 39-46. + +Santayana: _Egotism in German Philosophy_, 1917, pp. 1 ff., 23. + +P. Imbart de la Tour: _Les Origines de la Reforme_, 3 vols. 1905-13. + +P. Imbart de la Tour: "Luther et l'Allemagne," in _Revue de +metaphysique et morale_, 1918, p. 611. + +David J. Hill: _A History of Diplomacy in the International Development +of Europe_, vol. 2, 1906, pp. 422 f, 460. + +A. W. Benn: _A History of English Rationalism in the Eighteenth +Century_, 1906, pp. 76 f. + +J. Mackinnon: _A History of Modern Liberty_, Vol. iii, The Age of the +Reformation, 1906. + +T. M. Lindsay: _A History of the Reformation_. 2 vols. 1906-7. + +H. Boehmer: _Luther im Lichte der neueren Forschung_. 1906. (2d. ed. +1909, 3d. 1913, 5th 1918, each much changed). + +Ernst Troeltsch: _Bedeutung des Protestantismus fuer die Entstehung der +modernen Welt_. 1906. (2d ed. 1911; English translation, +"Protestantism and Progress." 1912). + +Troeltsch: _Protestantisches Christentum und Kirche in der Neuzeit_, +1906. (Kultur der Gegenwart, I, Teil iv, 1). 2d ed. 1909. + +Troeltsch: "Protestantismus und Kultur," in _Die Religion in Geschichte +und Gegenwart_, 1912. + +Troeltsch: _Die Soziallehren der christlichen Kirchen und Gruppen_, +1912. + +Troeltsch: "Renaissance und Reformation," _Historische Zeitschrift_, +cx. 519 ff., 1913. + +Troeltsch: "Die Kulturbedeutung des Kalvinimus," _Internationale +Wochenschrift_, iv, 1910. + +Troeltsch: "Luther und der Protestantismus," _Neue Rundschau_, Oct. +1917. + +T. Brieger: "Die Reformation." In _Weltgeschichte 1500-1648_, ed. +Pflugk-Harttung, 1907. (Published separately, enlarged, 1909). + +F. Loofs: _Luther's Stellung zum Mittelalter und zur Neuzeit_. 1907. + +Horst Stephan: _Luther in den Wandlungen seiner Kirche_. 1907. + +A. Kalthoff: _Das Zeitalter der Reformation_. 1907. + +Otto Pfleiderer: _Die Entwicklung des Christentums_. 1907. + +Joseph Fabre: _La pensee moderne, de Luther a Leibnitz_. 1908. + +F. Lepp: _Schlagwoerter des Reformationszeitalters_. 1908. + +Paul Sabatier: _Les Modernistes_, 1908 (Translated, _Modernism_, 1908, +pp. 75 ff). + +Paul Sabatier: _L'Orientation religieuse de la France actuelle_, 1911. +(Translated, _France Today, its Religious Orientation_, 1913, pp. +49-51). + +John Morley: _Miscellanies_, Fourth Series, 1908, pp. 120 ff. + +R. Eckert: _Luther im Urteil bedeutender Maenner_. 1908. (2d ed., +expanded, 1917). + +E. Boutroux: _Science et religion dans la philosophie contemporaine_, +1908, p. 13. + +L. Zscharnack: "Reformation und Humanismus im Urteil der deutschen +Aufklaerung," _Protestantische Monatshefte_, 1908, xii, 81 ff, 153 ff. + +F. Rachfahl: "Kalvinismus und Kapitalismus," _Internationale +Wochenschrift_, iii, 1909. + +E. Fueter: "Die Weltgeschichtliche Bedeutung des Calvinismus." +_Wissen und Leben_, ii, 1909, pp. 269 ff. + +E. Fueter: _Geschichte der neueren Historiographie_. 1911. (French +translation, 1916). + +E. Fueter: _Geschichte des Europaeischen Staatensystems 1492-1559_. +1919. + +W. Windelband: _Allgemeine Geschichte der Philosophie_, p. 395. +(_Kultur der Gegenwart_, Teil I, Abt. 5, 1909). + +Solamon Reinach: _Orpheus_, 1909. + +Jacob Salwyn Schapiro: _Social Reform and the Reformation_. 1909. + +F. Katzer: _Luther und Kant_. 1910. + +Emil Knodt: _Die Bedeutung Calvins und des Calvinismus fuer die +protestantische Welt_. 1910. + +Jaeger: "Germanisierung des Christentums," _Religion in Geschichte und +Gegenwart_, 1910. + +A. Dide: _J. J. Rousseau, le Protestantisme et la Revolution +francaise_. (1910). + +J. Rivain: _Politique, Morale, Religion; Sur l'Esprit protestant; +Protestantisme et progres; l'Eglise et l'Etat_. 1910. + +C. Burdach: "Sinn und Ursprung der Worte Renaissance und Reformation." +Koenigliche-preussische Akademie der Wissenschaften, _Sitzungsberichte_, +1910, pp. 594-646. + +W. Koehler: _Idee und Persoenlichkeit in der Kirchengeschichte_. 1910. + +W. Koehler: "Luther," in _Morgenrot der Reformation_, hg. von +Pflugk-Harttung, 1912. + +W. Koehler: _Martin Luther und die deutsche Reformation_. 1916. + +W. Koehler in _Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart_, 1909. i, 2117 ff. + +Koehler: "Erasmus," 1918. (_Klassiker der Religion_). + +Koehler: _Dr. M. Luther, der deutsche Reformator_. 1917. + +H. T. Andrews: "The Social Principles and Effects of the Reformation." +In _Christ and Civilization_, ed. J. B. Patten, Sir P. W. Bunting and +A. E. Garvie, 1910. + +Fernand Mouret: _Histoire generale de l'Eglise_. Tome 5. La +Renaissance et la Reforme. 1910. ([2] 1914). + +A. Humbert: _Les Origines de la Theologie moderne_, 1911. + +Hartmann Grisar: _Luther_. 3 vols. 1911-13. + +Preserved Smith: _Life and Letters of Martin Luther_, 1911. +(Especially the preface to the second edition, 1914). + +Preserved Smith: "Justification by Faith," _Harvard Theological +Review_, 1913. + +Preserved Smith: "Luther," _International Encyclopaedia_, 1915. + +Preserved Smith: "The Reformation 1517-1917." _Bibliotheca Sacra_, +Jan. 1918. + +Preserved Smith: "English Opinion of Luther," _Harvard Theological +Review_, 1917. + +Hillaire Belloc: "The Results of the Reformation." _Catholic World_, +Jan. 1912. + +P. Wernle: _Renaissance und Reformation_. 1912. + +Alfred Plummer: _The Continental Reformation_. 1912. + +Maxime Kowalewsky: _Die oekonomische Entwicklung Europas bis zum Beginn +der kapitalistischen Wirtschaftsform_. Aus dem Russischen ueberstezt +von A. Stein. Vol. vi, 1913, pp. 51 ff. + +J. B. Bury: _A History of Freedom of Thought_. 1913. + +G. L. Burr: "Anent the Middle Ages," _American Historical Review_, 1913. + +Burr: "The Freedom of History," _American Historical Review_, Jan. 1917. + +W. J. Ashley: _Economic Organization of England_, 1914, pp. 64 ff. + +A. Elkan: "Entstehung und Entwicklung des Begriffs 'Gegenreformation,'" +_Historische Zeitschrift_, cxii, pp. 473-93, 1914. + +E. M. Hulme: _The Renaissance, the Protestant Revolution and the +Catholic Reformation_. 1914. (Second ed. 1915). + +G. Wolf: _Quellenkunde der deutschen Reformationsgeschichte_, 2 vols. +1915, 1916. + +A. E. Harvey: "Economic Self-interest in the German Anti-clericalism of +the 15th and 16th Centuries," _American Journal of Theology_, 1915. + +Harvey: "Economic Aspects of the Reformation," _Lutheran Survey_, Aug. +1, 1917, pp. 459-64. + +Harvey: "Martin Luther in the Estimate of Modern Historians," _American +Journal of Theology_, July, 1918. + +W. P. Paterson: "Religion," chap. 9 of _German Culture_, ed. by W. P. +Paterson, 1915. + +John Dewey: _German Philosophy and Politics_. 1915. + +H. Cohen: _Deutschtum und Judentum_. 1915. + +G. Kawerau: _Luther's Gedanken ueber den Krieg_. 1916. + +G. Monod: "La Reforme Catholique," _Revue Historique_, cxxi, 1916, esp. +pp. 314 f. + +F. S. Marvin: _Progress and History_, 1916. (Essays by various +authors). + +Shailer Mathews: _The Spiritual Interpretation of History_, 1916, esp. +pp. 57 ff. + +Frank Puaux: "La Reformation jugee par Claude et Jurieu." _Bulletin de +la Societe de l'histoire du Protestantisme_, Juillet-Sept. 1917. + +L. Marchaud: _La Reformation: ses causes, sa nature, ses consequences_. +1917. + +N. Weiss: "Pour le Quatrieme Centenaire de la Reformation," _Bulletin +de la Societe de l'histoire du Protestantisme_, 1917, pp. 178 ff. + +K. D. Macmillan: _Protestantism in Germany_. 1917. + +Georg von Below: _Die Ursachen der Reformation_, 1917. + +H. M. Gwatkin: "Reformation," in _Encyclopaedia of Religion and +Ethics_, 1917. + +Alfred Fawkes: "Papacy," _ibid._ + +Max Lenz: "Luthers weltgeschichtliche Stellung," _Preussische +Jahrbuecher_, clxx, 1917. + +Chalfant Robinson: "Some Economic Aspects of the Protestant Reformation +Doctrines." _Princeton Theological Review_, October 1917. + +Arthur Cushman McGiffert: "Luther and the Unfinished Reformation." +Address given at Union Seminary Oct. 31, 1917, published in the _Union +Seminary Bulletin_, 1918. + +_Revue de Metaphysique et Morale_, Sept.-Dec., 1918. Special number on +the Reformation with important articles by C. A. Bernouilli, Imbart de +la Tour, N. Weiss, F. Buisson, F. Watson, Frederic Palmer, E. Doumergue +and others. + +W. K. Boyd: "Political and Social Aspects of Luther's Message," _South +Atlantic Quarterly_, Jan., 1918. + +H. Scholz: "Die Reformation und der deutsche Geist." _Preussische +Jahrbuecher_, clxx, 1, 1918. + +F. Heiler: _Luther's Religionsgeschichtliche Bedeutung_. 1918. + +F. T. Teggart: _The Processes of History_, 1918, pp. 162 ff. + +Lucy H. Humphrey: "French Estimates of Luther," _Lutheran Quarterly_, +April, 1918. (Interesting study). + +J. Paquier: _Luther et l'Allemagne_. 1918. + +Wilbur Cross Abbott: _The Expansion of Europe 1415-1789_. 2 vols. +1918. + +H. E. Barnes: "History," _Encyclopaedia Americana_, 1919. + +George Foot Moore: _History of Religions: Judaism, Christianity, +Mohammedanism_. 1919. + +P. Hume Brown: _Surveys of Scottish History_. 1919. (Essays +posthumously collected). + +J. Haller: _Die Ursachen der Reformation_. 1919. + +F. Arnold: _Die deutsche Reformation in ihren Beziehungen zu den +Kulturverhaeltnissen des Mittelalters_. 1919. + +D. H. Bauslin: _The Lutheran Movement of the Sixteenth Century_. 1919. + + + + +{819} + + INDEX + + Aalst, 264. + Aberdeen, University of, 12. + Abgarus, 585. + Abyssinia, 405. + Acontius, J., 627. + Acton, Lord, 357, 377, 642, 737, 741. + Adams, B., 726. + Adrian VI, Pope, + appeal to Germany, 84 f., 378. + and Luther, 241, 378. + and Inquisition, 242, 378, 415. + pontificate, 378 f., 389. + in Spain, 427. + and art, 690. + Aerschot, Duke of, 269. + Aeschylus, 574. + Aesop, 574. + Africa, 10, 437, 441, 443, 445 f., 473, 525, 533, 616. + Agriculture, 540 ff. + Agrippa of Nettesheim, H. C., 420, 508, 510, 638 f. + Aigle, 161. + Aix-in-Provence, 203. + Alamanni, L., 373. + Albertinus, A., 453. + Albertus Magnus, 612. + Albigenses, 35. + Albuquerque, A. d', 443. + Alcala, University of, 12, 400, 565, 673. + Aleander, J., 78, 80, 191, 195, 241. + Alencon, 195. + Charles, Duke of, 189. + Aleppo, 446. + Alesius, A., 354. + Alexander VI, Pope, 17 f., 407, 418, 435, 709. + Algiers, 449. + Allenstein, 618. + Almeida, F. d', 442. + Altdorf, 670. + Alva, Duke of, + defeats German Protestants, 120. + besieges Metz, 200. + regent of the Netherlands, 254, 257 ff., 672. + and England, 332, 335, 339 f. + art of war, 488. + Amazon, 438. + America, 275, 407, 416, 430, 435 ff., 457, 512, 523, 616, 651. + gold and silver from, 473 ff. + Amboise, 197. + Tumult of, 210 f. + Amboyna, 524. + Ameaux, 175. + Ammonius, A., 649. + Amsterdam, 244, 257, 261 f., 275, 531. + Amyot, 576. + Anabaptists, 82. + in Germany, 99 ff. + and Melanchthon, 117. + and polygamy, 120. + in Sweden, 138. + in Poland, 142. + in Transylvania, 145. + in Switzerland, 154 ff. + in Netherlands, 237, 243 f., 248 f., 295. + in England, 295, 308, 315. + in Italy, 376, 417. + and Council of Trent, 392. + and Bible, 573. + communism, 606. + persecuted, 644 f. + for toleration, 646. + judged by Bax and Kautsky, 726. + Andalusia, 433 f. + Andelot, 205. + Andrea del Sarto, 680. + Anghierra, P. M. d', 702. + Anjou, Francis, Dnke of, 269 f., 272, 274, 602. + Anne Boleyn, Queen of England, 287, 290 f., 293, + 295, 298 f., 548, 588, 676. + Anne of Cleves, Queen of England, 306 f. + Anne, Queen of France, 182 f. + _Anthology_, 574. + Antwerp, 237, 239 ff., 245, 256 f., 260, 265, 284, + 355, 442, 454, 467, 472, 565. + trade, 523 ff., 531 f., 537. + charity, 559. + art, 683. + Appenzell, 146. + Aquaviva, 410. + Aquinas, T., 34, 43, 47, 163, 529, 590, 624. + Arabs, 442 f., 448. + Aragon, 428. + Arbuthnot, A., 355. + Archangel, 526. + Arcimboldi, 136. + Aretino, P., 694. + Argyle, Earl of, 360. + Ariosto, 11, 19, 374, 502, 508 ff., 628, 692. + Aristarchus, 617. + Aristophanes, 574. + Aristotle, 49, 52, 63 f., 66, 513, 574, 590, 609, 612, 617, 623. + reaction against, 636 f. + Armentieres, 256. + Armstrongs, 505. + Arndt, 718. + Arras, League of, 271 ff. + Art, 3, 674, 91. [Transcriber's note: 691?] + Gothic, 7. + rewards of artists, 472. + history of, 582 f. + painting, 674 ff. + architecture, 685 ff. + Reformation and Counter-reformation, 689 ff. + Artois, 239. + Arzila, 446. + Ascham, R., 327, 497 f., 634 f., 667 f., 671, 692. + Ashley, 729. + Asia, 447 f., 474, 616. + Aske, R., 304. + Askewe, A., 309. + Atahualpa, 440. + Atlantic, 10, 442, 490, 523. + Aubigne, M. d', 723. + Aubigne, T. A. d', 600 f. + Augsburg, 74, 113, 128, 454. + Diet of (1518), 46, 67. + Diet of (1530), 110, 116 ff. + Diet of (1548), 129, 239. + Diet of (1555), 130. + Religious Peace of, 114, 130 ff., 255, 650. + Confession, 116 f., 122, 130, 145, 299, 392. + banks, 520 f., 527 f. + pauperism, 559 f. + Augustine, 34, 65, 584, 606. + Augustinian Friars, 67, 240, 702, 708. + Australia, 443. + Austria, 74 ff., 79, 146, 158, 238. + Rudolph IV, Duke of, 44. + Don John of, 266 ff., 272. + Matthew, Archduke of, 268 ff. + Auvergne, 202. + Avicenna, 513. + Avignon, popes at, 14, 42. + Azores, 435, 441. + Aztecs, 438 f. + + Babington, A., 338. + Bacon, F., 392, 487, 591 f., 609, 623, 626, 650, 666, 669. + on effect of the Reformation, 635 f. + Baden, 157, 238. + Badius, J., 471. + Balboa, 438. + Baldwin, J., 635. + Bale, J., 578. + Balearic Isles, 535. + Baltic, 523, 526. + Bamberg, 114, 658. + Bandini, P. A., 377. + Baptista Mantuanus, 667. + Baptists, 102. + Barbarossa, 449. + Barbary, 535. + Barcelona, 428, 535. + University of, 12, 400. + Barnabites, 397. + Barnes, R., 308. + Baronius, C., 585. + Barton, E., 290. + Basil III, Czar, 447. + Basle + joins Swiss Confederacy, 146. + center of humanism, 147, 150. + Reformation, 156 f., 160, 162. + Council of, 15 f., 40, 45, 147 f., 389. + University of, 11, 149. + Baur, F. C., 720 f. + Bavaria, 44, 74, 114, 127, 406, 454. + Bax, B., 725 f. + Baxter, R., 656, 729. + Bayard, 501. + Beard, C., 739. + Beaton, D., 356 f., 382. + Beatus Rhenanus, 53. + Becket, T., 59, 305. + Beda, N., 161. + Beirut, 446. + Beham, B., 103, 628. + Beham, H. S., 103, 628. + Belgium, 76, 555. + Belgrade, 449. + Bellay, J. du, 576, 579. + Bellay, M. du, 582, 704. + Bellay, R. du, 196. + Bellinis, 677. + Below, G. von, 739. + Bembo, P., 51, 374, 376. + Benedict, St., 397. + Bengal, 524. + Ben Mosheh, G., 565. + Benn, A. W., 742. + Ber, L., 106. + Berger, A. E., 728. + Bernard, St., 34, 397. + Berne, 146 ff., 153, 157 f., 160 f., 168 f., 179, 645. + Berni, F., 376. + Berquin, L. de, 193. + Berthelier, P., 175. + Berwick, 358. + Berwickshire, 362. + Besancon, University of, 672. + Bessarion, 52. + Beucklessen, 101 f. + Beza, T., 172, 181, 213, 565, 585, 598, 647, 671. + Bezold, 732. + Bible + first printed, 9. + number of editions, 26. + Vulgate, 26, 188, 392, 396, 566. + French, 26, 175, 188, 196, 570. + German, 26, 81, 86, 100, 111 f., 157, 569 f. + English, 37 f., 243, 284, 289, 300, 329, 354 ff., 359, 566, 570 f. + Swedish, 138. + Polish, 142. + Greek, 147, 188, 374, 420, 564 ff. + Dutch, 243. + Spanish, 245. + new Latin translations, 374, 565 f. + Italian, 374. + Hebrew, 565. + Complutensian Polyglot, 565 f. + authority of, 35, 37 f., 40, 165 f., 392, 571 ff. + exegesis and criticism of, 566 ff. + by Valla, 49, 566 f. + by Lefevre, 52 f. + by Colet, 53. + by Reuchlin, 54. + by Erasmus, 60, 564 ff. + by Luther, 568 f. + new translations condemned, 192, 203, 284, 309, 420 ff. + price of, 468. + popularity, 571 f. + effect of bibliolatry, 573, 655 f. + illustrated by Raphael, 679. + _Biblia Pauperum_, 8, 26. + Biel, G., 160, 743. + Bijns, A., 246. + Bion, 574. + Blaurer, A., 179. + Blaurer, T., 134. + Blaurock, G., 645. + Blois, 197, 210. + States General, 222. + Blue Laws, 171 ff., 482 ff. + Boccaccio, 47 f., 422. + Bodin, J., 222, 582, 601 f., 608, 623. + on religion, 630. + on witchcraft, 657, 659 f. + Boece, H., 354. + Bohemia, 38 ff., 74, 144, 290. + Bohemian Brethren, 40 f., 142, 144. + Boehm, H., 87. + Boehmer, 739. + Boiardo, 376. + Bologna, 393. + University of, 11, 603, 613, 618, 627. + Concordat of, 42 f., 184, 230. + Bolsec, J., 167, 176, 375. + Bombasius, 564. + Boniface VIII, Pope, 14, 23, 41 f. + Bonivard, 168. + Bonn, 657. + Bonner, 604. + Books + numbers of, 9, 691 f. + prices of, 468. + royalties, 471 f. + literature, 691-8. + Borgeaud, C., 743. + Borgia family, 15, 676. + Caesar, 17, 590, 676. + Lucretia, 17, 676. + Borgia, F., 410. + Borneo, 524. + Borromeo, C., 386, 417. + Borthwick, D., 355 note. + Bossuet, 702 f. + Botero, J., 608. + Bothwell, Earl of, 366 ff. + Boucher, J., 190, 600, 605. + Bourbon, Anthony of, 205, 210, 213. + Bourbon, Charles, Constable of, 185, 205, 380. + Bourbon, Charles, Cardinal of, 223. + Bourgeoisie, 5, 236, 278, 549 ff. + Bourges, 195. + University of, 11, 162. + Pragmatic Sanction of, 42 f. + Archbishop of, 227. + Boyneburg, 313. + Brabant, 245, 253, 255, 264, 269, 274. + population, 454. + Brahe, T., 623. + Bramante, 686. + Brandenburg, 74, 468, 540. + population, 454. + Joachim I, Elector of, 77. + Joachim II, Elector of, 119, 127. + Albert of, Grand Master of the Teutonic Order, 113, 139. + John, Margrave of, 398. + Brandenburg-Culmbach, Albert of, 130. + Brant, S., 88. + _Ship of Fools_, 54, 147. + Brantome, 211, 350, 582, 704. + Brask, J., 137. + Brazil, 405, 408, 435, 444. + Breda, 251. + Brederode, 257. + Brentano, 729. + Brenz, 645. + Brescia, 455, 565, 658. + Brethren of the Common Life, 12, 26, 32. + Briconnet, W., 180 ff. + Brielle, 260. + Bristol, 323. + Brittany, 182, 195. + Brothers of Mercy, 397. + Browne, R., 345. + Brueck, G., 116. + Bruges, 273, 559. + Bruno, 507, 623, 639 f. + Brunswick, Henry, Duke of, 120. + Brussels, 235, 242, 245, 253, 255 ff., 264, 266, 268, + 272, 439, 502, 540. + Bucer, M., 110, 120, 122, 164, 169, 312 f., 322, 375, + 508, 596, 645. + Buchanan, G., 354, 579 f., 603, 703. + Buckingham, Duke of, 280. + Buckle, H. T., 722. + Bude, W., 187, 190, 193 f., 667, 672. + Bugenhagen, J., 137. + Bullinger, H., 102, 123, 150, 160, 179, 299, 312, + 326, 356, 420, 587. + Burckhardt, J., 732. + Burghley, W. Cecil, Lord, 327, 333 f., 337 f., 554, 635. + Burgos, 457. + Burgundy, Free County of, 76, 234, 257, 455, 553. + Philip the Good, Duke of, 234. + Charles the Bold, Duke of, 235. + Burgundy (France), 186. + Burnet, G., 701. + Burr, G. L., 732. + Busleiden, J., 672. + Butts, W., 470 f. + + Cabot, S., 446. + Cabral, 442. + Cabrieres, 203. + Cadiz, 341, 524 f. + Cairo, 446. + Cajetan, T. de Vio, Cardinal, 46, 67 f., 393, 566, 605, 624. + Calais, 200, 281, 302, 319, 332 + Calcagnini, C., 620. + Calderon, 433. + Calendar, reform of the, 623 f. + Calicut, 441 f. + Calixtus III, Pope, 16. + Calvin, G., 161. + Calvin, I., 169. + Calvin, J.: + and _German Theology_, 32. + doctrine of the eucharist, 110, 165 f. + and Lutherans, 134. + and Zwingli, 134, 159 f., 166. + and Bohemian Brethren, 144. + early life, 161 f. + and Erasmus, 162, 164. + and Luther, 162, 164 f. + conversion, 162. + _Institutes of the Christian Religion_, 162 ff., 169, + 198, 208, 645. + doctrine of predestination, 164 ff., 746. + in Italy, 168, 376. + in Geneva, 168 ff., 179. + at Strassburg, 169. + at Colloquy of Ratisbon, 169. + marriage, 169. + social reform, 170 ff., 483. + persecutes, 175 ff., 645 f. + and Servetus, 177 f. + international position, 179 f. + death and character, 180 f. + and French Reformation, 189, 201, 230 f. + and Rabelais, 194 f. + and French Bible, 196. + political theory, 211, 592, 596 f., 604. + influence in Netherlands, 248. + influence in England, 312, 326 f., 335. + influence in Scotland, 359. + and Bolsec, 375. + and Council of Trent, 392. + and Index, 420. + on torture, 481. + on amusements, 485. + biblical exegesis, 569, 572. + on usury, 609. + and free thought, 626. + and witchcraft, 656. + and art, 690. + judged by Gibbon, 710 f. + judged by Christie, 731. + Calvinism + barred by Peace of Augsburg, 130. + and Lutheranism, 134, 179 f. + in Scandinavia, 138. + in Poland, 142 f. + international, 179 f. + in France, 201 ff. + in Netherlands, 247 ff. + in Scotland, 353. + in Spain, 416. + in Italy, 417. + political effect, 594, 707. + and Capitalism, 728 f. + Camden, 703. + Cambrai + Treaty of, 186. + Archbishopric of, 252. + Cambridge, University of, 56, 471, 604, 671, 687. + and Reformation, 281 f. + Cambridgeshire, 323. + Camoens, 11, 444 f. + Campanus, 626. + Campeggio, 122. + Canisius, P., 32, 406. + Cano, S. del, 441. + Canon Law, 43 f., 69, 71, 78. + Canossa, 43. + Cape of Good Hope, 10, 441. + Cape Verde Islands, 435, 441. + Capitalism, 3-5, 515-562. + and Reformation, 515, 727 f., 748. + origins, 515 ff. + first great fortunes, 517 f. + banking, 518 ff. + mining, 522 f. + commerce, 523 ff. + manufacture, 536 ff. + gilds, 537 ff. + agriculture, 541 ff. + bourgeoisie, 548 ff. + proletariat, 552 ff. + pauperism, 556 ff. + Capito, W., 110, 150, 157, 189, 508, 645. + Cappel + First Peace of, 158. + battle of, 158 f. + Capuchins, 375, 397. + Caracci, 689. + Caracciolo, M., 78. + Caraffa, J. P., see Paul IV. + Cardan, J., 610 f., 614. + Carlstadt, A. Bodenstein of, 69, 81, 83, 90, 108, + 120, 136, 241, 420, 569. + Carlyle, T., 718. + Carpi, Berengar of, 613. + Cartier, J., 446, 526. + Cartwright, T., 343. + Cassander, 248, 255. + Castellio, S., 175, 646 f. + Castiglione, B., 492, 501, 510. + Castile, 412, 427 f. + Cateau-Cambresis, Treaty of, 200, 206, 372. + Catechisms, 112, 142, 395, 406 f. + Catharine of Aragon, Queen of England, 279, 286 f., 290 f., 321. + Catharine Howard, Queen of England, 307. + Catharine Parr, Queen of England, 307. + Catharine de' Medici, Queen of France, + marriage, 198 f. + character, 211. + policy, 211 ff. + "flying squadron," 215. + and St. Bartholomew, 217 f. + as seen by Huguenots, 220 f. + death, 224. + and Pius V, 386. + invents corsets, 497. + and Machiavelli, 591. + and art, 688. + judged by Michelet, 717. + Catholic Church (see also Papacy and Counter-reformation). + revolt from, 4. + history in later Middle Ages, 13-20. + heir of the Roman Empire, 13, 747. + abuses, 20 f. + wealth, 21. + temporal power, 29, 37, 70 f. + attacked by Luther, 123, 388. + intolerance, 641 ff. + Celibacy, sacerdotal, + effect on race, 13, 453. + vow not kept, 25. + rejected by Wyclif, 37. + repudiated by Luther, 71, 81. + in England, 306, 313. + and Inquisition, 508. + Cellarius, C., 561. + Cellini, B., 504, 583, 653, 688. + Censorship of the press, 417 ff., 423 f. + Cerdagne, 426. + Cerratani, B., 377. + Cervantes, 433, 692. + Ceuta, 446. + Ceylon, 408, 524. + Chambre Ardente, 203 f. + Chancellor, R., 447. + Chapuis, 288, 291. + Charles V, Emperor, + heir of Burgundy and Spain, 76, 126. + elected emperor, 77. + crowned, 78. + religious policy, 79 ff., 116 ff., 121 f., 236, 322 note. + conquers Tunis, 121. + war with France, 121, 185 ff., 198, 427. + Schmalkaldic War, 126, 383. + abdicates, 132, 246. + in Netherlands, 235, 238. + suppresses rebellion of Ghent, 236 f. + and England, 278 ff., 294, 317 f. + and papacy, 378 ff. + and Inquisition, 417. + character, 427, 498. + betrothed to Mary Tudor, 432. + and Moors, 433. + and Russia, 447. + finance, 467. + in Spain, 477. + and Fuggers, 528. + portrait, 678. + Charles VIII, King of France, 17, 35. + Charles IX, King of France, 143, 211 ff., 217 f. + Charron, P., 633. + Chartres, 227. + Chateaubriand, Edict of, 204. + Chaucer, G., 25. + Cheshire, 323. + Chesterton, G. K., 729. + Cheyney, E. P., 742 f. + Chieregato, F., 84, 377. + Children, 510 f., 555. + China, 443. + Christian II, King of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, 136. + Christian III, King of Denmark, 119, 137. + Christianity, 13, 583, 627, 744 f. + Christie, R. C., 731. + Cicero, 49, 488, 619. + Ciceronians, 577 f. + Cisneros, G. de, 401. + Civita Vecchia, 535. + Clement of Rome, 568. + Clement V, Pope, 14. + Clement VII, Pope, 186, 250. + and Charles V, 236, 433. + and Henry VIII, 287, 291 + pontificate, 379 ff., 389. + forbids duelling, 485 f. + and Copernicus, 622. + and art, 690. + Clement VIII, Pope, 228. + Clenoch, M., 325. + Clergy + morals, 25, 493 f. + power of, 27 f. + denounced by Wyclif, 37. + attacked in _Gravamina_, 45. + assailed by Luther, 71. + in Netherlands, 236. + reform in England, 314. + in Scotland, 353 f., 356. + pay of, 470. + position of, 493 ff. + spoliation, 550 f. + Cleves, 44. + William, Duke of, 306. + Clocks and watches, invention of, 7 f., 688. + Cochin, D., 738. + Cochin (India), 442. + Cochin-China, 408. + Cochlaeus, 284, 588, 702. + Coeur, J., 460. + Cognac, League of, 186. + Cole of Faversham, 167. + Colet, J., 26, 53, 57, 280 f., 510, 665, 667. + Coligni, G. de, 199, 205, 214 ff., 261. + Cologne, 44, 54, 74, 252, 454. + University of, 77, 241, 655, 666, 670. + reformation of, 120, 127, 283. + counter-reformation of, 128. + Colonna family, 16. + Vittoria, 375. + Columbus, C., 3, 10 f., 62, 430, 434 f., 614 f. + Commerce, 442 ff., 523 ff. + Communism, 94, 155. + Como, 658. + Compass, invention of, 7, 614 f. + Compostella, 499. + Conde, Prince of, 211, 214 f. + Condorcet, 713. + Congo, 405. + Constance, Council of, + ends Great Schism, 14. + deals with heresy, 14, 39 f. + reforms, 14 f., 45. + memory of, 148, 389, 703. + Constantinople, 9, 16, 448. + Consubstantiation, 33, 108. + Contarini, G., 117, 122, 377, 382, 393, 402. + Coornheert, D. V., 249, 251. + Cop, 172. + Copenhagen, University of, 12. + Copernicus, N. + Bible quoted against, 573. + economic theory, 608. + trigonometry, 610. + life, 618. + astronomy, 3, 618 ff. + _De Revolutionibus Orbium Caelestium_, 620. + reception of his theory, 621 ff., 632. + influence on philosophy, 637 ff. + Cordus, E., 558. + Correggio, 680. + Corsica, 456. + Cortez, H., 438 f. + Cossacks, 139 f. + Cotta, U., 63. + Counter-reformation, 377-424. + turns back Protestants, 388. + Spanish Spirit, 389. + and art, 690 f. + origin of word, 721. + Courtenay, W., 36. + Coutras, battle of, 223. + Coverdale, M., 299 f., 327, 355, 570 f. + Cox, R., 508. + Cracow,140, 144. + University of, 618. + Craig, J., 603. + Cranach, L., 376, 683. + Cranmer, T., 290, 299, 313 f., 322 f., 495. + Creighton, M., 741. + Crepy, Peace of, 121, 198. + Crespin, 585. + Cromwell, T. + alliance with France, 187. + and Reformation, 289, 295 ff., 299 ff., 306 f. + death, 307. + fortune, 518. + and Machiavelli, 591. + Cuba, 438. + Cugnatis, I. de, 502. + Cumberland, 304. + Cunningham, W., 729. + Cusa, N. of, 48, 617, 640. + + Damascus, 446. + Dancing, 500. + Daniel, G., 704. + Dante, 47, 423. + Danzig, 140 f., 454. + Darnley, Lord, 366 f. + Dauphine, 202. + Davila, 704. + Delft, 264. + Demonology, 63, 653 ff. + Demosthenes, 574. + Denifle, 741. + Denmark + and Luebeck, 118. + early emigration, 135. + Reformation, 136 ff. + population, 458. + church property, 551. + Dessau, League of, 114. + Deventer, school, 56, 662. + Diaz, B., 10. + Digby, E., 639. + Digges, L., 614. + Dillenburg, 251, 258. + Dilthey, W., 730. + Diodorus, 574. + Dionysius the Areopagite, 50, 52 f. + Dispensations, papal, 22 f. + Dolet, S., 187, 203, 231, 629 f. + Doellinger, I., 723 f. + Dominic, St., 397, 399. + Dominicans, 148, 407, 702, 708. + Donatus, Latin grammar of, 8 f., 663. + Dordrecht, 240. + Doria, A., 449. + Douai, 186, 672. + Drake, F., 339 ff., 446. + Dress, 496 f. + Drinking, 485, 497 f. + Dublin, 347. + Dudley, Edmond, 279. + Dudley, Guilford, 317, 518. + Duelling, 485 f. + Dundee, 354. + Durand, 108. + Duerer, A., 510. + at Basle, 147. + in Netherlands, 240, 454, 466 ff., 537. + and Mexican spoils, 439. + property, 472. + art, 683 ff. + + East Indies, 274 f., 409. + Eck, J., 68 f., 77 f., 117 f., 122, 608. + Eckhart, 30 f. + Edinburgh, 355 f., 360, 367, 671. + Treaty of, 361 f. + Education, 661-73. + method, 662 f., 667 f. + curriculum, 663 f. + effect of Reformation, 664 f., 670. + Edward II, King of England, 296. + Edward VI, King of England, + foreign policy, 200. + and Reformation, 286. + birth, 299. + reign, 310-7. + and Scotland, 352. + a law of, 483. + and gilds, 540. + and Bible, 572. + schools, 666. + accomplishments, 668. + Edwards, J., 166 f. + Egmont, L., Count of, 200, 251, 257, 259. + Egmont, N. of, 240. + Egypt, 449. + Einsiedeln, 140, 150. + Eisenach, 63, 81. + Eleanor, Queen of France, 186. + Elizabeth, Queen of England, + and St. Bartholomew, 219. + and Netherlands, 253, 267, 275. + birth, 291. + heir to the throne, 316 f. + character, 324. + religious policy, 324 ff., 336 ff. + refuses to marry, 331. + foreign policy, 332 ff. + and popes, 335, 337 f., 386 f. + and Ireland, 346, 348. + and Knox, 361. + and Mary, Queen of Scots, 368. + censorship, 419. + government, 477, 479. + navy, 491. + dancing, 500. + commercial policy, 527. + and Bible, 572. + and liberty, 604 f. + skepticism, 634. + tolerance, 650. + accomplishments, 668. + and universities, 671. + and art, 688. + and Spenser, 693. + Elizabeth of Valois, Queen of Spain, 226. + Ely, H., 338. + Elyot, T., 510, 667. + Emden, 260. + Emerson, R. W., 718. + Empson, R., 279, 518. + Emser, J., 702. + England + pays Peter's Pence, 21. + church of, 41 f., 327, 330. + literature, 135. + and French Calvinists, 204, 214, 219. + and Netherlands, 238, 248 f., 260, 275, 288, 339. + foreign policy under Henry VIII, 277 ff., 288, 309. + Reformation, 281 ff., 310 ff. + Reformation Parliament, 288 ff. + dissolution of monasteries, 296 f., 551. + alliance with Schmalkaldic League, 300 f., 305 f. + Pilgrimage of Grace, 302 ff. + religious parties and statistics, 308, 311, 323, 325 f., 328. + Book of Common Prayer, 312, 329 f., 344, 358. + social disorders, 314 ff. + Catholic reaction, 318 ff. + war with France, 319, 332. + conversion of masses to Protestantism, 327 f. + Thirty-nine Articles, 329 f., 343. + finances, 331 f., 522. + war with Spain, 332, 339 ff., 433. + rebellion of Northern Earls, 334 f., 550. + buccaneers, 339 f., 533. + Puritanism, 343 ff. + and Scotland, 359, 361 f. + censorship, 419. + population, 453, 458. + coinage, 462, 474. + navy, 470, 490 f. + criminal law, 481 f. + army, 489. + clergy, 494. + brigandage, 505. + commerce, 526 f., 532 ff. + gilds, 540 f. + inclosures, 543 ff. + agriculture, 546 ff. + serfs, 553. + regulation of labor, 554. + poor-relief, 561 f. + and Polydore Vergil, 581. + chronicles, 582. + skeptics, 633 ff. + witchcraft, 656, 658. + schools, 665 f. + universities, 671. + Enzinas, F., 245. + Epictetus, 574. + _Epistolae Obscurorum Virorum_, 55. + Erasmus, 51. + _Enchiridion Militis Christiani_, 26, 57, 193, 684. + on worship of saints, 28 f. + and Colet, 53. + early life and works, 56-61. + _Praise of Folly_, 57. + "philosophy of Christ," 58, 583, 698. + _Colloquies_, 59 f., 667 f. + Latin style, 60 f., 577 f. + foresees Reformation, 61. + and Luther, 104 ff., 134, 241, 649, 733. + _Diatribe on Free Will_, 105, 167. + edits New Testament, 147, 564 f. + and Zwingli, 149 f., 153 f., 160. + and Farel, 160 f. + and Calvin, 162, 164. + biblical criticism, 188. + on persecution, 191, 642, 646 f. + influence in France, 193. + and Netherlands, 235, 239 ff. + and Henry VIII, 277, 287 + and English Reformation, 281 f. + on polygamy, 287, 507. + influence in Italy, 376. + and Index, 420 ff. + income, 471. + on war, 488. + on German inns, 499 f. + anecdote, 502. + on treatment of women, 509. + political theory, 557, 592 f. + edits Fathers, 575. + on Roman capitol, 575. + on books, 577. + biographies, 582. + and witchcraft, 655. + on education, 667, 669, 672. + portrait, 683. + on hymn-singing, 690. + wit, 693. + Erastus, T., 594. + Erfurt, 30, 82, 350, 454. + University of, 63 f., 670. + Eric XIV, King of Sweden, 138. + Ermeland, 618. + Esch, J., 242. + Essex, 323. + Earl of, 348. + Esthonia, 139. + Estienne family, 187, 203. + Henry, 220. + Henry, junior, 575. + Robert, 565, 575 + Eton, 662 f. + Eucharist, doctrine of the, 86, 107 ff., 133, 160, + 165 f., 206, 241, 301, 314, 711. + Eucken, 740. + Euclid, 574, 610. + Eugene IV, Pope, 15. + Euripides, 574. + Exeter, 323. + Exploration, 10 f., 434-50. + _Exsurge Domine_, 77 f. + Eyemouth, 362. + + Faber, see Le Fevre and Lefevre. + Fagius, 312, 322. + Fallopius, 613. + Farel, W., 160 f., 164, 168 f., 176, 178, 195 f. + Farnese, A., 272 ff. + Farnese, O., 250. + Faust, 696 f. + Ferdinand, Emperor, 76, 238. + and Wuerttemberg, 79, 119. + and Luther, 86. + opposes German reforms, 114. + elected King of Romans, 118. + tolerates Lutherans, 131. + becomes emperor, 132, 246. + in Hungary, 144. + and Elizabeth, 333. + and Council of Trent, 391, 394 f. + commercial grants, 528. + Ferdinand, King of Aragon, 76, 398, 412, 426, 590. + Ferrara, 375 f. + Alphonso, Duke of, 492. + Renee, Duchess of, 168, 376, 646. + University of, 618, 627. + Fichte, 718. + Ficino, M., 51. + Field, J., 623. + Figgis, N., 742. + Finland, 138, 458. + Fish, S., 283, 296. + Fisher, G. P., 739. + Fisher, H. A. L., 735. + Fisher, J., 282 f., 290, 294, 382. + Fisher, R., 635. + Fitzherbert, 543. + Flacius Illyricus, 133, 584. + Flanders, 239 f., 246, 257, 274, 288, 525. + Flemings, 270. + Flodden, battle of, 279, 353, 488. + Florence, 17 f., 372, 381, 456, 463 f., 514, 520, 686. + Florida, 437. + Flushing, 260. + Folengo, 374. + _Formula of Concord_, 133 f. + Forzio, B., 376. + Fox, E., 301. + Foxe, J., 327, 585 f., 701. + France + Universities, 11 f. + Reformation, 12, 187 ff. + invades Italy, 17, 185. + Gallican church, 42, 184, 215, 551. + war with Germany, 79, 116, 121, 123, 127, 185 ff., 198, 207. + relations with Switzerland, 147. + Calvin, 162. + condition, 182, 184. + royal pedigrees, 183. + Renaissance, 187. + expansion of, 199 f. + wars of religion, 210 ff., 455. + failure of Protestantism, 228 ff. + war with England, 279, 309, 319, 332. + civilization, 350. + and Scotland, 359. + and Council of Trent, 395. + Jesuits in, 405 f. + censorship, 419. + population, 455, 458. + wealth, 459 ff. + army, 459. + coinage, 462 f. + finance, 467, 470, 480, 522. + duelling, 486. + trade, 525 f. + serfs, 553. + poor-relief, 561. + memoirs, 582. + republicans, 597 ff. + skeptics, 628 ff. + Franche Comte, see Burgundy, Free County of. + Francis, St., 397, 399, 404. + Francis I, King of France, + candidate for imperial throne, 77. + and Zwingli, 157 f. + and Calvin, 162. + character, 184 f., 278 f. + and Lnther, 191, 231. + alliance with German Protestants, 197. + death, 198. + and Waldenses, 203. + army, 459, 489. + finance, 461, 467, 470. + on gambling, 485. + College de France, 672. + portrait, 678. + and art, 688. + Francis II, King of France, 210 f., 330, 359, 362. + Francis, Dauphin, 221. + Franciscans, 148, 397, 407. + Francke, S., 583, 627. + Franconia, 91. + Franeker, University of, 673. + Frankenhausen, 95. + Frankfort-on-the-Oder, University of, 11, 670. + Frankfort-on-the-Main, 31, 76, 321, 358, 523. + Treaty of, 122. + Frauenburg, 618. + Frederic III, Emperor, 45. + Frederic I, King of Denmark, 136 f. + Free Will, 105, 164 ff. + Freiburg-in-the-Breisgau, University of, 11. + Freiburg in Switzerland, 146, 168. + Freytag, G., 718 f. + Friesland, 235, 238, 259, 272. + Froben, J., 147, 190, 280. + Frobisher, M., 446. + Froude, J. A., 343, 367, 717. + Frundsherg, 380, 488. + Fugger, Bank of, 77, 461, 520 ff. + family, 461, 479, 522 f. + Anthony, 528. + James, 527 f. + Jerome, 528. + Raymond, 528. + Funk, 133. + Fust, J., 9. + + Gaetano di Tiene, 397. + Galateo, J., 375. + Galen, 513, 574. + Galileo, 424, 621 f. + Gama, Vasco da, 3, 10 f., 441 ff. + Gambling, 485. + Gandia, Duke of, 517. + Garland, John of, 663. + Garv, N., 347. + Gascony, 216. + Gasquet, 740. + Gelasius, Pope, 418. + Gembloux, battle of, 269. + Geneva + evangelized by Zwingli's missionaries, 158, 160. + Calvin at, 168 ff. + constitution, 168 f. + theocracy, 170 ff. + immigration, 174 f., 204, 321. + Libertines, 175 f. + capital of Protestantism, 179. + under Beza, 181. + Knox at, 358 f. + dancing, 500. + witch persecution, 656, 658. + school, 668, 671 f. + university, 671. + Genoa, 381, 456, 468, 520, 525. + Gentillet, 591. + Germaine de Foix, Queen of Spain, 398. + _German Theology, The_, 31. + Germany + universities, 11, 53, 670 f. + mystics, 30 ff. + nationalism, 43 ff. + humanism, 53. + condition, 74 ff. + Peasants' War, 87-95, 552. + causes, 87 ff. + _Twelve Articles_, 92 f. + suppression, 94 f. + Luther, 97 f. + effect of, 155, 192, 531, 593 f. + rebellion of the Knights, 83 f., 505. + religious statistics, 132 f. + effect of religious controversy, 134. + French Calvinists in, 204. + and Netherlands, 237 ff. + Ascham's opinion of, 327. + civilization, 350. + and Italy, 371. + and Spain, 372. + Counter-reformation, 388. + and Council of Trent, 395. + Jesuits in, 405 ff. + censorship, 419. + and Reformation, 425. + population, 454, 458. + coinage, 463. + inns, 499 f. + mines, 522 f. + trade, 526 f. + agriculture, 543. + serfs, 553. + labor, 554 f. + poor-relief, 560 f. + constitution, 595 f. + reform of calendar, 624. + witch hunt, 657 f. + schools, 665. + books, 691. + Gertruidenberg, 251. + Gesner, C., 611 f. + Ghent, 236 f., 240, 256, 269 f., 272 f., 454. + Pacification of, 265, 270. + Ghislieri, see Pius V. + Giberti, M., 382. + Gibbon, E., 167, 710 f. + Gilbert, H., 532 f. + Gilbert, W., 615, 639. + Gilds, 3 ff., 263 f., 537 ff. + Giorgione, 677. + Gipsies, 558. + Giulio Romano, 680, 690. + Giustiniani, 280. + Glarus, 146, 149, 157. + Glasgow, 354; 368. + University of, 12. + Glencairn, Earl of, 360. + Gloucester, 323. + Goa, 408, 443, 445. + Goch, J. Pupper of, 420. + Goethe, J. W. von, 697, 711 f. + Gold, production of, 473 ff., 516 f. + Gonzalez, 588. + Gosson, 658. + Gotha, 128. + Gouge, J., 519. + Granada, 426, 433. + Granvelle, A. P., 250 ff. + Gratius, O., 55. + _Gravamina_, 45 f. + Gravelines, battle of, 200. + Great Schism, 14. + Greek, 16, 53, 667 ff. + classics, 574 ff. + Gregory VII, Pope, 43. + Gregory XI, Pope, 36, 44. + Gregory, XIII, Pope, + and St. Bartholomew, 218 f., 387. + and Elizabeth, 337 f., 387. + pontificate, 386 f. + reform of Calendar, 624. + Gregory XIV, Pope, 226. + Greifswald, University of, 11, 670. + Grenoble, 195. + Gresham, T., 534. + Grey, Lady Jane, 316 ff., 511. + Gribaldi, M., 178 f. + Grimani, 575. + Grisar, H., 741. + Grisons, Confederacy of, 146 f. + Groningen, 235, 238. + Groote, G., 32. + Grotius, H., 276, 704. + Gruet, J., 176. + Grumbach, 132. + Guadegni, T., 520. + Guam, 440. + Guelders, 235, 238, 262, 272. + Guicciardini, F., 373, 422, 580, 704. + Guicciardini, L., 454. + Guinea, 533. + Guinegate, 279. + Guines, 200, 280 f., 319. + Guise + Claude, Duke of, 199. + Francis, Duke of, 199 f., 210 f., 214, 319, 597. + Henry, Duke of, 217 f., 221, 223 f. + Guizot, 714. + Gustavus Vasa, King of Sweden, 137 f. + Gutenberg, J., 8 f. + + Haarlem, 101, 262. + Hagenau, 122. + Hague, 240. + Haiti (Espaniola, Hispaniola), 436, 533. + Hales, J., 608. + Hall, E., 284, 582, 703. + Hallam, H., 723. + Hamburg, 113, 454, 559. + Hamilton, P., 354. + Haring, C. H., 475. + Harnack, A. von, 739. + Harrington, 706. + Harrison, 498, 547. + Harzhorn, E., 420. + Haug bank, 521. + Hawkins, 339, 533. + Health, public, 486 f., 511 ff. + Hebrew, 53 f., 668, 672. + Hegel, 719 f. + Hegius, 662. + Heidelberg, 67; + Heilsberg, 618. + Heimburg, Gregory of, 46. + Heine, H., 112, 715 f. + Helmont, 255. + Helmstadt, University of, 670. + Henlein, P., 688. + Henry VII, King of England, 279, 517. + Henry VIII, King of England, + and France, 186, 279. + character, 277 ff. + and Luther, 277, 287 f., 472. + Empson and Dudley, 279. + and Scotland, 279, 356. + and Charles V, 280 f. + "Defender of the Faith," 283. + divorce from Catharine, 286 f., 290 f., 704, 708. + Supreme Head of the Church, 289 ff., 293. + will, 316, 321. + and Ireland, 346, 348. + finances, 461. + government, 477, 479. + navy, 491. + commercial policy, 526. + and Polydore Vergil, 581. + and Sanders, 588. + and Melanchthon, 605. + and education, 666. + portrait, 683. + Henry II, King of France + character, 198 f. + suppresses Protestantism, 203 f. + death, 206 f. + and Council of Trent, 393. + income, 461. + Henry III, King of France, 143, 219 ff., 600. + Henry IV, King of France, 597. + policy, 167, 212, 225. + leader of Huguenots, 223 ff. + character, 224 f. + conversion, 227 f. + Edict of Nantes, 228 f. + Henry d'Albret, King of Navarre, 189. + Henry, King of Portugal, 432, 446. + Heracleides, 617. + Herder, 718. + Herodotus, 574. + Hertford, 322. + Hesse, 84, 113, 551. + Philip, Landgrave of, + suppresses Peasants' Revolt, 95. + calls conference at Marburg, 109. + attacks Wuerzburg and Bamberg, 114. + signs Protest, 115. + restores Ulrich of Wurttemberg, 119. + commits bigamy, 119. + expels Henry of Brunswick, 120. + captivity, 128, 130. + and Zwingli, 157. + Heywood, J., 283. + Hindoos, 443. + Hippocrates, 513. + Historiography + in the sixteenth century, 579-588. + humanistic, 579 ff. + memoirs, 582. + chronicles, 582. + biography, 582 f. + church history, 583 ff. + later treatment of Reformation, see Reformation. + Hobbes, T., 594. + Hoechstetter, C., 529. + Hochstraten, J., 54. + Hoen, 108, 240 f. + Hofen, U. T. von, 160. + Hoffberg, P. von, 538. + Hoffmann, M., 101, 243. + Holbein, H., 278, 548, 677, 683, 685. + Holland, 76, 251. + Anabaptists, 301. + Reformation, 240, 250, 256, 270. + war with Spain, 260, 263 f., 271 f., 274, 342. + population, 454. + Hollinshed, R., 582. + Holyrood, 356. + Homer, 574. + Hooker, R., 344 f., 604, 606. + Hooper, 314. + Horn, Count of, 257, 259. + Hotman, F., 218, 220, 223, 582, 598. + Howard of Effingham, Lord, 342. + Huebmaier, B., 92. + Huguenots + origin of the name, 208. + character, 208 f. + history, 210 ff. + guaranteed liberty of worship, 228 f. + in Netherlands, 248, 260. + and England, 332. + politics, 596 ff. + caricatured, 685. + judged by French secular historians, 704. + judged by Michelet, 716. + Hulst, F. van der, 242. + Humanism + patronized by papacy, 16. + prepares for Reformation, 47, 61. + turns against Luther, 102 ff. + in Poland, 140. + in Netherlands, 254 f. + in Scotland, 354. + decay, 692. + Hume, D., 708 ff. + Hungary, 144, 350, 449, 463. + universities, 12. + Huss, J. + protected by a university, 12. + death, 14, 39. + life and work, 38 ff. + influence on Luther, 41, 69, 71 f., 86, 744. + influence in Poland, 140. + followers in Bohemia, 144. + on Index, 420. + Hussites, 75, 80, 649. + Huetlin, M., 558. + Hutten, U. von, 684. + mocks Julius II, 24. + publishes Valla's _Donation of Constantine_, 49, 55, 70. + character and work, 55 f. + supports rebellion of knights, 83. + incites peasants, 91. + and Luther, 96. + taunts Erasmus, 105. + commercial ideas, 530. + Hutton, M., 604. + Huxley, 730. + + Iceland, 137. + Idria, 528. + Imbart de la Tour, P., 736. + Incas, 439 f. + Independents, 102, 345 f. + _Index of Prohibited Books_, 32, 245, 381, 383, 388, 395, + 420 ff., 591. + Congregation of, 422. + _Index Expurgatorius_, 422 f. + effect, 423 f. + and Copernicus, 622. + and Weyer, 659. + India, 10, 441 ff., 446, 523, 616. + Indians (American), 436 ff. + Individualism, 6, 28, 515, 677, 749. + Indulgences, + letters of first printed, 9. + theory and practice of, 23 f. + denounced by Wyclif, 37. + denounced by Huss, 39. + Erasmus's opinion of, 57. + attacked by Luther, 66 f. + in Denmark, 136. + in Switzerland, 151. + in Netherlands, 236. + and Fuggers, 527. + Inghirami, 51. + Ingolstadt, 51. + University of, 11, 406. + Innocent III, Pope, 14, 35. + Innocent VIII, Pope, 16 f., 35, 654. + Inquisition + in Netherlands, 242 ff., 257. + Spanish, 242, 412 ff., 431. + in Venice, 376. + and Loyola, 400. + medieval, 412. + procedure, 413. + penalties, 414. + number of victims, 414 f. + scope, 415. + in Spanish dependencies, 416. + Roman, 416 f. + _Index_, 420, 423. + in Portugal, 445. + suppresses books on anatomy, 613. + and philosophy, 628. + and Bruno, 639. + judged by modern Catholics, 642 f. + and witchcraft, 655, 658. + judged by Froude, 717. + Institoris, H., 654. + Intelligence, growth of, 12 f. + Intelligentsia, 551 f. + Inventions, 6 ff. + Ireland, 346-9, 453, 535. + Jesuits in, 405. + and Inquisition, 417. + Isabella, Queen of Castile, 76, 412, 426. + Isabella of Portgual, Queen of Spain, 432. + Isocrates, 574. + Italy + first printers in, 9. + lack of national feeling, 43, 372. + and Renaissance, 47, 372 f., 425. + decadence, 135. + invaded by France, 17, 185. + civilization, 350. + and Reformation, 371 ff. + Jesuits in, 405. + population, 455 f., 458. + coinage, 463 f. + hospitals, 514. + banks, 519 f. + trade, 525. + reform of calendar, 624. + universities, 673. + Ivan IV, Czar, 143, 447, 748. + Ivry, battle of, 225. + + Jagiello dynasty, 139. + James IV, King of Scotland, 279, 352. + James V, King of Scotland, 199, 210, 352 f., 355 f., 580. + James VI, King of Scotland, 367, 369 f., 484, 505, 660. + James, W., 167, 740. + Jane Seymour, Queen of England, 299. + Janizaries, 449, 489. + Jansen, 276. + Jansenists, 406. + Janssen, J., 740. + Japan, 405, 408, 443, 616. + Jarnac, battle of, 215. + Java, 443, 616. + Jena, University of, 670. + Jerome, St., 192, 684. + Jerome of Prague, 14, 40. + Jerusalem, 400, 402, 499. + Jesus Christ, 13, 29, 63. + Jesuits, 396-411. + in Poland, 143 f. + in Bohemia, 144. + in France, 202, 216, 231. + in Netherlands, 249. + in England, 328, 336 f. + origins, 381, 402 f. + and Paul IV, 384. + at Council of Trent, 393 f. + typical, 398. + organization, 403 f. + obedience, 404 f. + growth, 405 f. + combat heresy, 405 ff. + foreign missions, 407 ff. + decay, 409 ff. + casuistry, 411, 506. + in Portugal, 445. + and tyrannicide, 605. + and philosophy, 628. + colleges, 666, 670 f. + art, 691. + judged by Michelet, 717. + Jetzer, J., 148, 708. + Jewel, J., 327, 344, 656. + Jews, 415 ff., 426, 445, 649. + Joan d'Albret, Queen of Navarre, 205, 213. + Joan of Arc, 581. + Joanna, Queen of Spain, 76, 477. + John the Baptist, 63. + John XXIII, Pope, 39. + John III, King of Portugal, 409, 445. + John III, King of Sweden, 138. + Jonas, J., 420, 508. + Josephus, 574. + Jovius, P., 580 ff., 703. + Jud, L., 157. + Julius II, Pope, 18 f., 24, 51, 686, 709. + Julius III, Pope, 383 f., 393, 420. + Justification by faith only, + Lefevre, 53, 65. + Luther, 65 f., 86, 570, 625, 724, 745. + Contarini, 122. + At Ratisbon Colloquy, 127. + in France, 196, 206. + in England, 301, 314. + in Italy, 375, 377. + at Council of Trent, 392 f. + historical estimate of the doctrine, 745 f. + + Kaiserberg, G. of, 530. + Kant, I., 165, 625, 715 f. + Kaulbach, 715. + Kautsky, K., 726. + Kawerau, O., 737. + Keller, L., 508. + Kempis, Thomas a, _Imitation of Christ_, 26, 32 f., 401. + Kent, 322. + Kett, 314. + Khair-ed-Din, 449. + Knodt, 729. + Knollys, 603. + Knox, J., 167. + at Geneva, 174, 358 f. + in England, 313, 325, 358. + political theory, 325, 363 f., 366, 602 ff. + character, 357 f. + early life, 358. + _Monstrous Regiment of Women_, 361. + and Mary, 364 ff. + on women, 361, 509. + and Buchanan, 580. + as an historian, 586 f. + Koberger, A., 510. + Koehler, W., 739. + Kohlhase, J., 505. + Koenigsberg, 526, 670. + Koran, 420, 584. + Kovalewsky, 729. + Kurdistan, 449. + Kurtz, 737. + Kuestrin, J. von, 127, 130. + + La Boetie, 599 f. + Lactantius, 667. + Ladrones, 440. + Lagarde, P. de, 736. + Lamprecht, K., 737. + Lancaster, John of, 36. + Landau, 495. + Landstuhl, 84. + Lang, A., 367. + Lang, M., 557. + Languedoc, 216. + La Rochelle, 216, 219, 229, 260, 526. + Las Casas, B. de, 436. + Laski, J., 141, 312. + Lasso, O., 689. + Lateran Council, Fifth, 19, 418 f., 628. + Latimer, H., 294, 299, 322, 495, 504. + Latin, 53, 63, 451, 663 ff. + classics, 574 ff. + La Tour, 354. + Laurent, 739. + Laveleye, E. de, 737. + Laynez, 394, 401. + Lea, H. C., 423, 731. + Lecky, 723. + Lefevre d'Etaples, J., + early life, 52. + biblical work, 52, 188, 196, 566, 570. + justification by faith, 53, 65. + and Farel, 160. + and Calvin, 162. + and French Reformation, 188 ff., 196 f. + Le Fevre, P., 400, 406. + Leghorn, 535. + Leicester, Robert Dudley, Earl of, 275, 331. + Leinster, 348. + Leipheim, 95. + Leipzig + University of, 38, 671. + debate, 68 f., 77, 191. + Interim, 129. + Lemnius, S., 502 f. + Lemonnier, 732. + Leo X. + character and policy, 19, 77. + finance, 22. + Concordat of Bologna, 43. + and Diet of Augsburg (1518), 46. + and indulgences, 66 ff. + condemns Luther, 77. + and Charles V, 81, 236. + death, 84. + attacked by Sachs, 86. + and Henry VIII, 283. + Oratory of Divine Love, 397. + and Sapienza, 673. + portrait, 678. + and art, 688. + Leo, Emperor, 744. + Leon, P. de, 437. + Leonardo da Vinci, + income, 472. + scientific work, 612 f., 637 f. + anatomy, 613. + physics, 613 f. + astronomy, 617. + on necromancy, 658. + art, 674 ff. + Lepanto, battle of, 266, 432, 490. + Lerma, Duke of, 517 f. + Leslie, J., 354. + Lessing, 712. + Levant, 442. + Lewis, King of Hungary, 144. + Leyden, 263. + John of, 101 f. + University of, 275, 673. + L'Hopital, M. de, 213, 215, 597. + Liege, 235, 260. + Lilienstayn, J., 40. + Lille, 186, 559. + Lima, 416. + Lincolnshire, 303, 323. + Lisbon, 9, 408, 442, 444, 524. + Lister, G., 240. + Lithuania, 138 ff. + Livonia, 139. + Livy, 667. + Lochleven, 368. + Loisy, A., 739, 741. + Lollards, 38, 354, 649. + Lombardy, 456. + London, 288, 317, 332. + first printers in, 9. + Netherlanders in, 253. + and Reformation, 281, 301, 322 f. + population, 453. + credit, 467. + and theater, 485. + brothels, 506. + death-rate, 511 f. + trade, 524, 533 f., 539, 548. + pauperism, 559. + Loretto, 499. + Lorraine, 257. + Charles, Cardinal of, 199, 210 f. + Lotto, L., 376. + Lotzer, 92. + Louis XI, King of France, 42, 556. + Louis XII, King of France, 19, 182 f. + Louvain, University of, 77, 241, 245, 253, 378, + 420, 422, 668, 672. + Loyola, I., + early life, 398 f. + conversion, 399 f. + and Luther, 400, 405. + first disciples, 400 f. + _Spiritual Exercises_, 401 f. + founds Company of Jesus, 402 f. + death, 405. + autobiography, 588. + judged by Lagarde, 736. + Luebeck, 113, 118 f., 454. + Lublin, 140. + Union of, 141. + Lucca, 420, 456. + Lucerne, 146, 153. + Ludolph of Saxony, 399. + Luther, C. von Bora, 123, 288. + Luther, M. + career + changes in his life-time, 3. + alludes to New World, 11, 497. + and University of Wittenberg, 12. + influenced by mystics, 32 ff. + nationalism, 44, 46 f. + early life, 62 ff. + becomes a friar, 64. + inner development, 64 ff. + journey to Italy, 64, 514. + summoned to Augsburg (1518), 67 f. + debates with Eck, 68 f. + condemned by Catholic church, 77. + burns bull and Canon Law, 78. + at Diet of Worms, 79 f., 132, 398, 441, 741. + under ban of the Empire, 81. + at Wartburg, 81. + opposes radicals, 82 ff., 96 ff. + and Peasants' War, 91, 93, 97 f., 557 f. + wins German ruling classes, 111. + reforms church service and government, 112 f. + illnesses, 123. + marriage, 123 f., 284. + death, 124, 322 note. + real estate and income, 468, 471. + anecdotes, 495 f., 580. + closes brothels, 506 f. + doctrines, opinions and character + doctrine of eucharist, 36 (see controversy with Zwingli). + justification by faith only, 65. + declares councils can err, 69. + literary genius, 111, 125. + political theory, 116, 549, 594 ff., 606. + opinion of polygamy, 120, 286, 507, 703. + virulence, 123. + character, 124 f. + opinion of theater, 485. + on Sunday observance, 171. + on Aristotle, 637. + opinion of war, 487. + on hunting, 500. + on Reformation, 504, 700 f. + on lying, 506. + on marriage, 506, 508 f. + on education, 511, 665, 667. + commercial ideas, 530 f., 608. + on poor relief, 560. + biblical criticism, 568 f., 572. + refutes Koran, 584. + on Copernican theory, 621. + philosophy, 624 ff. + on toleration, 642 ff. + on witchcraft, 652, 655 f. + on art and music, 687, 690. + writings + translates Valla on _Donation of Constantine_, 49. + lectures on Bible, 64. + _Ninety-five Theses_, 67, 281. + _Address to the Christian Nobility_, 70 ff., 376, 530, 560. + _Babylonian Captivity of Church_, 72 f., 120, 164, 282. + translation of Bible, 73 f., 81, 111 f., 569 f. + _On Monastic Vows_, 81. + _Bondage of the Will_, 105 f., 164. + hymns, 112, 354, 689, 737. + catechisms, 112, 164, 407. + _Jack Sausage_, 120. + _Schmalkaldic Articles_, 121. + _Against the Papacy at Rome_, 123. + _Table Talk_, 124. + influence and relations with contemporaries + Lefevre, 53. + Hutten, 56. + general influence, 62, 80 f., 83, 698. + Sachs, 86 f. + deserted by humanists, 102 ff. + and Erasmus, 104 ff., 241, 649. + and Zwingli, 107 ff., 150 ff., 154, 159 f. + and Melanchthon, 133. + invited to Denmark, 136. + hailed by Bohemian Brethren, 144. + and Calvin, 162, 165, 179 f. + More, 167. + influence in France, 188 ff., 203. + influence in Netherlands, 239 ff. + and Henry VIII, 277, 282 f., 285, 287. + influence in England, 281 ff., 299 f., 312, 326, 635. + influence in Scotland, 354 ff. + influence in Italy, 373 ff., 380. + influence on Catholic reform, 388. + _Index_, 420. + Loyola, 400, 405. + Lemnius, 503. + and Raphael, 678 f. + and Duerer, 684. + caricatured, 685. + and Faust, 697. + judged by posterity, + Sleidan, 587, 705. + earily biographers, 588. + Des Periers, 629. + Montaigne, 631 f. + Charron, 633. + Bruno, 639. + R. Burton, 700. + early Catholics, 702. + Bossuet, 703. + Vettori, 704. + Guicciardini, 704. + Brantome, 704. + Robertson, 709. + Hume, 710. + Gibbon, 710 f. + Wieland, 711. + Goethe, 712. + Lessing, 712. + Condorcet, 713. + and French Revolution, 713 ff. + and Romantic Movement, 715 ff. + Mme. de Stael, 715. + Heine, 715 f. + Michelet, 716 f. + Carlyle, 718. + Emerson, 718. + Herder, 718. + Arndt, 718. + German patriots, 718 f. + Hegel, 720. + Doellinger, 723 f. + Bax, 725 f. + Nietzsche, 730 f. + Troeltsch, 733. + Santayana, 734. + Imhart de la Tour, 736. + Lagarde, 736. + The Great War, 737 f. + Paquier, 738. + Harnack, 739. + Loisy, 739. + W. James, 740. + Grisar, 741. + Acton, 741. + secularization of the world, 748. + Lutheranism, + in England, 38, 308, 330. + in Germany, 111, 133 f. + in France, 195 ff. + in Netherlands, 243 ff. + in Italy, 376 f., 417. + and papacy, 383. + in Spain, 415 f. + political theory, 594, 707. + Luxemburg, 76, 238. + Lyly, J., 635. + Lyndsay, D., 351, 355 note, 356, 615. + Lyons, 512, 523, 526, 556. + Waldenses, 35. + and Reformation, 192, 195, 218. + + Maastricht, 258, 273. + MacAlpine, J., 354. + Macaulay, 432, 717. + McGiffert, A. C., 739. + Machiavelli, N. + _The Prince_, 295, 589. + and _Index_, 421 f. + on war, 487 ff. + ethics, 505 f. + on classics, 576. + as an historian, 580. + political theory, 589 ff., 599, 601 f., 608. + and Christianity, 628, 649. + Mackinnon, 742. + Madagascar, 443. + Madeira, 441, 444. + Madrid, 9. + Treaty of, 185 f., 379. + Madgeburg, 63, 66, 129. + _Magdeburg Centuries_, 584 f. + Magellan, F., 3, 440 f., 615. + Magni, O., 138. + Magrath, 417. + Maitland, 365. + Majorca, 415. + Malabar, 524. + Malacca, 443. + Malay Peninsula, 446, 616. + Maldonato, 106. + Malines, 252 f., 262. + Malory, T. + _La Morte d'Arthur_, 692. + Malta, 456. + Manchester, 538. + Manners, 500 ff. + Manresa, 399, 401. + Manichaeans, 418. + Mansfeld, 62, 523, 662. + Mantua, 121. + Benedict of, 376. + Isabella d'Este, Marchioness of, 376, 572. + Manz, F., 645. + Marburg, + Colloquy at, 109 f. + University of, 287, 354, 670. + Marcellus II, Pope, 384. + Marcion, 583, 744. + Marcourt, A. de, 197. + Marcus Aurelius, 574. + Margaret d 'Angouleme, Queen of Navarre, 29, 324, 572, 676. + and Reformation, 189 f., 194 f. + Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scotland, 330, 352. + Mariana, 605. + Marignano, battle of, 147, 150, 185, 488. + Marlowe, C., 635, 697. + Marnix, P. van, 263. + Marot, C., 187, 194, 197, 203, 232, 693. + Marranos, 240, 445. + Marriage, + prohibited degrees, 22 f. + Protestant regulation of, 112, 173. + Catholic reform, 395. + esteemed, 507 f. + Marsiglio of Padua, 43. + Mary, Mother of Jesus, worshiped, 29, 63, 148, 358, 495. + Mary of Burgundy, Empress, 76, 235. + Mary Tudor, Queen of England, 287, 291. + foreign policy, 200, 319. + and Netherlands, 248 f. + succession, 316 f. + marriage, 318 f., 432. + religious policy, 319 ff. + and Knox, 358, 361. + censorship, 419. + commercial policy, 526. + and universities, 671. + Mary Tudor, Queen of France, 281, 316, 432. + Mary of Hapsburg, Queen of Hungary, 237, 244, 249. + Mary of Lorraine, Queen of Scotland, 199, 352, 359, 361. + Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, and England, 325, 330, + 333 f., 336, 338, 340, 352, 365, 368. + execution, 339 f., 368 f. + marriage with Francis II, 210, 351, 359. + birth, 356. + and Knox, 364 ff. + marriage with Darnley, 366. + marriage with Bothwell, 367 f. + Casket Letters, 367 f. + deposed, 367, 602 f. + dress, 466. + and Buchanan, 580. + Martyr, Peter, see Vermigli and Anghierra. + Marx, C., 724 f. + Masuccio, 50. + Mathesius, 588. + Mathews, S., 725. + Matthews, T., 300. + Matthys, J., 101 f. + Maurenbrecher, 740. + Maurer, H., 91. + Maurolycus, 611. + Maximilian I, Emperor, + and Julius II, 19. + and Luther, 68. + policy, 75 f. + death, 77. + and Netherlands, 235, 238, 486. + Maximilian II, Emperor, 132, 144, 258. + Mayence, 8 f., 74, 666, 670. + Albert, Elector of, 66, 79, 496. + Berthold, Elector of, 418. + Mayenne, Duke of, 225 ff., 492. + Mayr, C., 528. + Meaux, 192, 195, 202, 218. + Mecca, 446. + Medici, de', family, 15, 17, 519. + Lorenzo the Magnificent, 19, 682. + Lorenzo II, 198 f. + Alexander, 250, 381. + Cosimo, 372. + Medina, 446, 513 ff. + Medina Sidonia, Duke of, 341. + Mediterranean, 442, 523. + Melanchthon, P. + doctrine of eucharist, 70. + and Luther, 81, 111, 124, 133. + and Peasants' War, 98, 558. + at Marburg Colloquy, 109. + drafts Augsburg Confession, 117. + on polygamy, 120, 287. + reforms Cologne, 121. + negotiates with Catholics, 122. + attacked by Lutherans, 129, 133. + and Zwingli, 134. + and Calvin, 164. + and Servetus, 178. + and France, 187, 203. + and England, 299, 301, 312, 326 f. + and Scotland, 356. + on _Index_, 420. + salary, 471. + and Lemnius, 503. + and Bible, 569. + political theory, 596, 605. + and Copernicus, 621 f. + persecutes, 644 f. + on education, 667. + Mendelssohn, 715. + Mercator, G., 616. + Merindol, 203. + Metz, 184, 200. + Mexico, 416, 438 f., 474 f. + Meyerbeer, 715. + Mezeray, de, 704. + Michaelangelo, 472, 681 ff., 686, 690. + Michelet, J., 398, 716 f. + Middleburg, 263. + Milan, 185 f., 372, 380 f., 416 f., 456. + Milne, W., 359. + Miltitz, C. von, 68. + Milton, J., 74, 423, 608, 668. + _Mirabilia Urbis Romae_, 74. + Mirandola, Pico della, 51 ff., 108, 374, 606. + Miritzsch, M., 240. + Mississippi, 437. + Modena, 456. + Mohacs, battle of, 144. + Mohammedanism, 433, 448, 583 f., 627, 707 f., 745. + Moluccas, 408, 443. + Monarchy, 476 f., 549. + Moncontour, battle of, 215. + Money + value of, in the sixteenth century, 461 ff., 472 f. + coins, 462 ff. + interest, 467 f. + power of, 548. + Monod, G., 735. + Monopolies, 85, 88, 528 ff. + Mons, battle of, 216, 261. + Montaigne, M. de, + and New World, 11. + and Reformation, 231 f. + on torture, 482. + on classics, 576 f. + and La Boetie, 599 f. + skepticism, 631 f. + on toleration, 648. + on witchcraft, 660 f. + Montauban, 219. 229. + Montbeliard, 161. + Monte, A. C. del, 382. + Montesquieu, 707. + Montluc, B. de, 216, 582. + Moutmorency, A. de, 185, 187, 517. + Montpellier, 229. + Mook, battle of, 263. + Moors, 426, 428, 433 f. + Morals, 503 ff. + of clergy, 25, 493 f. + Morata, O., 374. + Moravians, see Bohemian Brethren. + Moray, Earl of, 334, 367 f. + More, T. + _Utopia_, 11, 26, 509, 558, 606 f., 648, 698. + debt to Lefevre, 53. + and Reformation, 167, 281 ff., 295, 299. + on Henry VIII, 279, 295. + death, 294 f. + on persecution, 294 f., 648. + drinks only water, 497. + on hunting, 500. + marriages, 508 f. + and Bibles, 571. + and religion, 633 f., 649. + and witchcraft, 655. + portrait, 683. + judged by Robertson, 731 + Moriscos, 415, 433 f., 517. + Morley, Lord, 592. + Mornay, P. Duplessis, 264, 598 f. + Morocco, 446. + Morone, 394. + Mortmain, Statute of, 41. + Morton, Earl of, 360. + Moschus, 574. + Moscow, 512. + Mosheim, 712. + Motley, 718. + Mountjoy, Lord, 277. + Muehlberg, battle of, 128, 238. + Muehlhausen in Thuringia, 94. + Muelhausen in Alsace, 160. + Munich, 666. + Muenster, 101 f., 244. + Muenster, S., 420, 565. + Muenster, T., 82, 91, 94 f., 97, 112, 594, 701. + Muret, 576. + Murner, T., 472, 694. + Muscovy, 139, 143 f., 447. + Music, 689. + Mutian, 54, 103. + Myconius, 160, 313. + Mystics, 29-34, 744. + + Naarden, 262. + Namur, 267. + Nanak, 745. + Nantes + University of, 11. + Edict of, 228 f., 406, 650. + Naples + French in, 42, 186. + Spanish, 372, 380, 416 f. + Reformation, 375 f. + population, 456. + Narva, 534. + Nash, T., 635. + Nassau, 251. + Louis of, 257 ff., 263. + Nationalism + rise of, 5. + effect on church, 41-47. + in France, 182. + Naumburg, Bishop of, 120. + Negroes, 437, 525, 533. + Neo-Platonism, 51, 54. + Nesbit, J., 354. + Netherlands + mystics, 32 f. + Charles V, 78. + and French Calvinists, 204, 216. + constitution, 234 ff. + Mary, Regent of, 237, 244, 249. + Margaret of Austria, Regent of, 237. + relations with the Empire, 237 f. + Reformation, 239 ff., 271 ff. + and Spain, 246 ff., 254 ff., 488. + and Alva, 258 ff. + Northern Provinces declare independence, 272 ff., 602. + "Beggars," 256 ff., 342. + and England, 332, 344 f. + civilization, 350. + Jesuits, 405 f. + censorship, 419. + population, 453, 458. + post office, 486. + commerce, 531 ff. + agriculture, 547. + serfs, 553. + poor-relief, 559 f. + reform of calendar, 624. + Newcastle, 358. + Nice, Truce of, 121, 198. + Nicholas V, Pope, 16, 45, 566. + Nicoletto, 374. + Nietzsche, F., 730 f. + Niklashausen, Piper of, 87. + Nimes, 219. + Bishop of, 205. + Nobility, 236, 491 f., 550. + Nola, 639. + Norfolk, 323. + Duke of, 334 f. + Norman, R., 615. + Normandy, 202. + North, T., 576. + Northumberland, John Dudley, Duke of, 316 f., 321. + Norway, 135, 137,458. + Norwich, 254, 315. + Novara, battle of, 150. + Noyen, 161. + Nuremberg, 74, 79, 86, 90, 128, 454, 483, 688. + humanism, 54. + Diet of (1522), 84 f., 528. + Diet of (1524), 85 f. + "godless painters," 103, 628. + revolts from Rome, 113. + Peace of, 118. + Duerer, 472, 684. + poor-relief, 560. + + Occam, William of, 35 f., 43, 108, 625, 743. + Ochino, B., 174, 312, 375, 397, 420. + Oecolampadius, J., 108 ff., 156 f., 159, 161, 299, + 312, 420, 508, 626. + Oldenbarneveldt, J. van, 275, 602. + Olivetan, 162, 196, 570. + Orange, Anne, Princess of, 251, 253. + Orange, Charlotte, Princess of, 251. + Orange, William, Prince of, 167, 246, 250 ff., 258. + character, 251, 274. + elected Statholder of Holland, 261. + death, 274, 340. + and England, 339. + Orellana, 438. + Orinoco, 436. + Orleans, University of, 162. + Reformation, 197, 202, 218. + States General, 212 f. + Osgood, H. L., 743. + Osiander, A., 420, 620, 623. + Oudewater, 264. + Overyssel, 235. + Oxford, University of, 36, 38, 281, 471, 639, 671, 687. + Oxfordshire, 314. + + Pacific Ocean, 438, 440. + Paciolus, L., 610. + Pack, O. von, 114. + Paderborn, University of, 670. + Padua, University of, 618, 627. + Paget, Lord, 310. + Palatinate, 74, 79, 84, 121, 127. + Frederic III, Elector Palatine, 121, 128. + Palermo, 416. + Palestrina, 384, 689. + Palma, University of, 12. + Pampeluna, 399 f. + Papacy + history of in the later Middle Ages, 13-20. + triumphs over Councils, 15. + secularization, 15. + patronizes art and letters, 16. + denounced by Wyclif, 37. + rejected by Bohemian Brethren, 40. + attacked by Marsiglio, 43. + assailed by Valla, 49. + rejected by Luther, 68 ff., 123, 388. + dependent on Spain, 372. + history, 1522-90, 377-88. + and Turks, 449. + finance, 480. + judged by Creighton and Acton, 642, 741. + Paquier, 738. + Paracelsus, T., 513, 632, 638 f. + Paraguay, 408. + Pare, A., 513 f. + Paris + first printers at, 9. + university of, 11, 42, 161, 190 f., 202 ff., 227, + 250, 400, 422, 561, 566, 600, 642, 664. + College of Montaigu, 161, 400 f., 669. + Parlement of, 42, 184 f., 191, 227, 229, 406. + and Reformation, 192, 195 ff., 213, 217, 221, 228. + Jesuits, 202. + besieged by Henry IV, 225 f., 455. + population, 455. + credit, 467. + constabulary, 482. + brothels, 507. + hospitals, 514. + trade, 539. + Parker, 604. + Parma, Duke of, 226, 456. + Parma, Margaret of, 250, 256 f. + Pascal, B., 398. + Passau, Convention of, 130. + Pastor, A., 626. + Pastor, L. von, 740 f. + Patten, S. N., 726. + Paul the Apostle, 13, 52 f., 65, 98, 150, 356, 377, 418, 742. + Paul II, Pope, 16. + Paul III, 250. + and oecumenical council, 121, 389 f. + and Luther, 123. + alliance with Charles V, 127. + and Margaret of Navarre, 189. + and Rabelais, 194. + and England, 292 ff. + pontificate, 381 ff. + reforms, 381 ff. + foreign policy, 383. + and Jesuits, 401. + and Inquisition, 416. + and American Indians, 436. + and Sapienza, 471, 673. + and artists, 472, 504. + and Copernicus, 620, 622. + and philosophy, 628. + Paul IV, 382, 384, 397, 417, 421 f. + Paulet, Sir A., 339. + Paulus Diaconus, 608. + Pauperism, 558 ff. + Pausanias, 574. + Pavia, battle of, 94, 185, 372, 379, 459. + Penz, G., 103, 628. + Periers, Des, 629. + Perrin, A., 176. + Persia, 449. + Perth, 360. + Peru, 416, 438 ff., 474 f. + Pescia, Domenico da, 18. + Petrarch, 47. + Petri, L., 138. + Petri, O., 137. + Pfefferkorn, J., 54. + Philibert, E., 249. + Philip IV of France, 14, 42. + Philip the Handsome of Hapsburg, 76, 235. + Philip II, King of Spain, 130, 132. + and France, 212, 226 ff., 252. + on St. Bartholomew, 218. + and Netherlands, 246 ff., 272 ff., 602. + marriage with Mary of England, 318 f. + and Elizabethan England, 331 ff., 338, 362, 533. + and papacy, 384 ff. + and Council of Trent, 395. + finances, 431. + character and policy, 431 ff. + and Portugal, 446. + and Turks, 449 f. + portrait, 678. + Philippine Islands, 440 f. + Philosophy, 624-40. + Reformers, 624 ff. + skeptics, 627 ff. + science, 637 ff. + Piacenza, 250, 456 + Picardy, 161, 202. + Piccolomini family, 15. + Piedmont, 35. + Pindar, 574. + Pinkie, battle of, 359. + Pirckheimer, W., 104, 106, 683. + Pisa, 627. + Council of (1409), 14. + Schismatic Council of (1511), 19. + Pistoia, 488. + Pius II, Pope, 16, 24 f., 42, 350. + Pius IV, Pope, 384 ff., 393 ff. + Pius V, Pope, 334 f., 338, 386 f., 417, 422. + Pizarro, 439 f. + Plato, 51, 150, 418, 574, 606, 629. + Pliny the Elder, 667. + Plutarch, 574, 576, 619. + Pocock, R., 48. + Podiebrad, 40. + Poggio, 51, 421. + Poissy, Colloquy of, 213 f., 598. + Poitiers, Diana of, 199. + Poitou, 216. + Poland, + pays Peter's Pence, 21. + suzerain of Prussia, 113. + literature, 135. + constitution, 138 f. + wars, 139 f., 447. + Reformation, 140-44. + Henry III, 143, 219. + civilization, 350. + Counter-reformation, 388. + and Council of Trent, 395. + Jesuits, 405. + population, 458. + gilds, 540. + reform of calendar, 624. + Pole, R., 318 ff., 377, 382, 396, 591, 604. + Political theory, 588-609. + the state as power, 589 ff. + republicanism, 592 ff. + church and state, 593 ff. + constitution, 595 ff. + tyrannicide, 606. + radicals, 606 f. + economic, 607 ff. + Pollard, A. F., 742. + Polybius, 574. + Polygamy, 102, 120, 507, 574. + Pomponazzi, P., 105, 627, 649. + Ponet, J., 604 f. + Pontano, 508. + Pontoise, Estates of, 598. + Porta, J. B., della, 614. + Portsmouth, 322. + Portugal + exploration, 10, 435. + literature, 135. + civilization, 350. + and Council of Trent, 395. + Jesuits, 405. + colonies, 407 ff., 435, 441 ff. + Inquisition, 416, 445. + annexed to Spain, 432, 446. + decadence, 444 ff. + population, 458. + navy,490. + commerce, 524. + reform of calendar, 624. + Porzio, S., 627. + Posen, 140, 144. + Post Office, 468 f., 486. + Praemunire, Statute of, 41 f., 289. + Prague, University of, 38, 639. + Predestination, doctrine of, 164 ff., 176, 249, 682. + Prescott, 718. + Pressburg, University of, 12. + Prices, 88, 315, 464 ff. + wheat, 464 f. + animals, 465. + groceries, 466. + drygoods, 466 f. + metals, 467. + real estate, 468. + books, 468. + rise of, 473, 516 f., 608. + Priscillian, 564. + Printing, 3, 8 ff., 239, 349 f., 418 f. + Probst, J., 240, 242. + Proletariat, 552 ff. + Prostitution, 506 f. + Protestantism + origin of the name, 115. + period of expansion, 132, 388 f. + varieties of, 179 f. + in France, 229 ff. + judged by Renan, 742. + Provisors, Statute of, 41, 289. + Prudentius, 667. + Prussia, 113, 133, 139, 141, 350. + Ptolemy, 574, 616 note, 617. + Puglia, Francis da, 18. + Pulci, 628. + Puritans, 167, 286, 328, 339, 343 ff, 358, 483, 486, 604, 690. + + Quakers, 102. + Quinet, E., 718. + Quirini, 595. + + Rabelais, F., 187. + and Reformation, 194 f., 197, 231 f. + given a benefice, 471. + anarchism, 606. + philosophy, 629. + love of life, 694. + Racau, 142. + Racovian catechism, 142. + Radewyn, 32. + Raleigh, W., 532. + Ramus, P., 637. + Ranke, L. von, 343, 367, 379, 721 f. + Raphael, Sanzi, 472, 492, 677 ff., 686. + Ratisbon + League of, 114. + Diet of, 122. + Book of, 122. + Colloquy of, 127, 169. + Recorde, R., 616 + Reinach, S., 735. + Reformation + antecedents, 4 ff. + causes, 20-29, 743 f. + and Renaissance, 47, 187 f., 231 ff., 730, 732 f., 749 f. + and morals, 503 f. + and capitalism, 515. + historiography in 16th century, 585 ff. + and state, 593 ff. + and education, 664 ff. + and art, 684 f., 689 f. + and books, 691. + parallels to, 744 f. + religious changes, 745 ff. + political and economic changes, 747 f. + intellectual changes, 749 f. + the word, 700. + various interpretations, 699-750. + Protestant, 699 ff., 739 f. + Catholic, 701 ff., 740 f. + political, 703 ff. + economic, 106, 708, 724 ff. + rationalist, 706 ff. + French Revolutionary, 713 ff. + romantic, 715 ff. + liberal, 716 ff., 742. + scientific, 719 ff. + Darwinian, 729 ff. + Teutonic, 736 f., 747. + _Reformation of the Emperor Frederic III_, 90. + _Reformation of the Emperor Sigismund_, 89 f. + Reinhold, E., 621, 623. + Rembrandt, 276. + Renaissance, 4. + and Reformation, 47, 187 f., 231 ff., 730, 732 f., 743, 749 f. + in France, 187. + in Netherlands, 239. + Renan, 742. + Renard, 320 f. + Renaudie, 210 f. + Reni, G., 689. + Requesens, L., 263. + Reuchlin, J., 54 f., 103. + Reval, 534. + Rheims, 252, 672. + Rheticus, G. J., 610, 620 ff. + Rhodes, 449. + Ribadeneira, 588. + Riccio, D., 366. + Richmond, Duke of, 287, 471. + Ridley, 299, 322. + Riga, 144, 534. + Rink, M., 100. + Ritschl, 723. + Robertson, J. M., 731. + Robertson, W., 367, 709. + Robespierre, 716. + Robinson, J. H., 743. + Rode, H..240. + Rodrigo, 416. + Rogers, J., 322. + Rohrbach, J., 94, 98. + Rome + and Luther, 64, 67. + sack of, 185, 372, 380, 456. + population, 456. + university of, 471, 673. + administration, 481, 504. + pilgrimages, 499. + prostitutes, 507. + and Copernicus, 618. + St. Peter's Church, 686. + Pasquino and Marforio, 693. + Roennow, 137. + Ronsard, P. de, 231 f., 693. + Rosenblatt, W., 508. + Rostock, University of, 670. + Roth, C., 529. + Rotterdam, 235, 260. + Rouen, 197, 214. + Rousillon, 426. + Rovere family, 15, 18. + Rubeanus, C., 55, 103 f. + Rudolph II, Emperor, 268. + Russell, B., 735. + Russia, 446 f., 534, 551. + Ruthenians, 138. + Ruexner, G., 90. + Ruysbroeck, John of, 32, 34. + + Saal, M. von der, 120. + Sabatier, P., 737 f., 742. + Sachs, H., 86 f., 696. + Sacraments + Catholic doctrine of, 27, 745. + Protestant doctrine of, 72 ff., 301, 314, 625, 745 f. + Sacro Bosco, J. de, 615. + Sadoleto, 169, 566. + St. Andrews, 355, 358, 360. + St. Bartholomew, massacre of, 217 f., 261 f., 387, 597. + St. David's, 323. + St. Gall, 101, 157, 160, 645. + St. Quentin, battle of, 200. + Saints, worship of, 28 f., 57, 206, 747. + Salamanca, University of, 400, 673. + Salerno, University of, 11. + Salisbury, 323. + Salmeron, 393, 401. + Samosata, Paul of, 627. + Sanchez, F., 639. + Samson, B., 151. + Sanders, N., 325, 588, 702. + Sandomir, 142. + San Gallo, 686. + Santayana, G., 734 f. + Saracens, 448. + Saragossa, University of, 12. + Sardinia, 456. + Sarpi, P., 377, 390, 395, 423, 705 f. + _Satyre Menippee_, 226 f. + Savonarola, 16 ff., 51, 580, 649 + Savoy, 35, 168, 372, 395, 455 f., 658. + Charles III, Duke of, 168. + Louise of, 185. + Saxony + division into Albertine and Ernestine, 119 note. + Albertine + George, Duke of, 24, 56, 119, 191, 283, 528, 554 f., 700. + Henry, Duke of, 119. + Maurice, Duke and Elector of, 119. + alliance with Charles V, 127 f. + attacks John Frederic, 128. + becomes elector, 128. + captures Magdeburg, 129. + turns against Charles V, 130, 393. + death, 130. + and Council of Trent, 393. + Ernestine + nationalism, 44. + indulgences, 66. + mentioned, 74. + Peasants' War, 91 ff. + Anabaptists, 103, 644. + becomes Lutheran, 113. + brigandage, 505. + church property, 551. + Frederic, Elector of, 77, 82, 93. + supports Luther, 66, 79, 81, 104, 113, 283. + John, Elector of, 113, 283, 595, 644. + signs Protest, 115. + votes against Ferdinand, 118. + John Frederic the Elder, Elector and Duke of, 305. + expels Bishop of Naumburg, 120. + defeated and captured by Charles V, 128. + freed, 130. + loses electoral vote, 128. + John Frederic the Younger, Duke of, 132. + Scaliger, J. J., 575, 585. + Scandinavia, 21, 135 ff., 350. + Schaffhausen, 146, 157, 160. + Schaertlin, 128. + Scheldt barred by Holland, 274. + Schenck, M., 134. + Schenitz, J., 518. + Schleswig-Holstein, 136. + Schmalkalden, League of, 118 ff., 187, 197, 300 f., 305 f. + Schmalkaldic War, 126 ff., 198, 200, 376, 383, 393. + Schmidt, 712. + Schoenberg, 622. + Schools, 12, 471, 662 ff. + Schoonhoven, 264. + Schwenckfeld, C. von, 164. + Schwyz, 146, 153. + Science, 609-24. + inductive method, 609. + mathematics, 609 ff. + zooelogy, 611 f. + anatomy, 612 f. + physics, 613 ff. + geography, 615 f. + astronomy, 616 ff. + schools, 666. + Scotland + and England, 279, 309, 351 f., 358 f., 369. + condition, 350 ff. + and France, 351 f., 358 f. + Reformation, 352 ff., 359 ff., 369 f. + the kirk, 364, 369 f. + Black Acts, 369. + population, 453 f., 458. + theater, 485. + duelling, 486. + brigandage, 505. + serfdom, 553. + Scott, R., 659 f. + Scotus, Duns, 34. + Sea power, 490 f. + Sebastian, King of Portugal, 446. + Seckendorf, 701. + Selim I, Sultan, 449, 748. + Sell, K., 737. + Semblancay, 518. + Seneca, 162. + Serfdom, 89 f., 97 f., 552 f. + Seripando, 417. + Servetus, M., 177 f., 613, 626 f., 645. + Severn, 322. + Seville, 341, 416, 457, 524 f. + University of, 12. + Seymour, T., 315. + Shakespeare, W., 424, 581, 693, 698. + Sicily, 416, 455. + Sickingen, F. von, 56, 83 f., 505, 550, 684. + Sidney, H., 348. + Sidney, P., 336, 501. + Siena, 375, 381. + Sievershausen, battle of, 130. + Sigismund, Emperor, 39. + Sigismund I, King of Poland, 139 ff. + Sigismund II, King of Poland, 141 ff. + Sigismund III, King of Poland, 144. + Sigueenza, University of, 12. + Sikhism, 745. + Silver, production of, 473 ff., 516 f. + Simmel, F., 726. + Simons, M., 244. + Sixtus IV, Pope, 16, 412. + Sixtus V, Pope, 223, 341, 387 f., 504 f., 670. + Skelton, J., 283. + Sleidan, 587 f., 704 f. + Smith, H.. 635. + Socinians, 376. + Somascians, 397. + Somerset, E. Seymour, Duke of, 310, 352, 359. + Sophocles, 574. + Soto, H. de, 437. + Sozini, F., 145, 375, 626. + Sozini, L., 142, 145, 375. + Spain + universities, 12, 673. + Charles V, 76. + literature, 135. + and Netherlands, 238, 246 ff., 430, 488. + and England, 318 f., 332, 339 ff., 348, 431 f. + Armada, 341 f., 387, 433. + civilization, 350. + and papacy, 378 ff. + and Counter-reformation, 389. + Jesuits, 405. + colonies, 407, 425, 430 f., 435 ff. + Inquisition, 412 ff. + censorship, 419. + unification, 426. + revolt of Communes, 78, 427 f., 477, 550, 552. + revolt of Hermandad, 78, 428, 552. + empire, 430. + Cortes, 428 f. + and Portugal, 432 f. + and Moors, 433 f. + population, 455 ff. + coinage, 463. + finances, 480, 522. + navy, 490 f. + clergy, 494. + trade, 524 f. + the Mesta, 624. + reform of calendar, 624. + judged by Froude, 717. + Spencer, H., 718. + Spenser, E., 327, 347, 692 f. + Spinoza, B., 276. + Spires, 666. + Diet of (1526), 114. + Diet of (1529), 109, 115, 644. + Diet of (1542), 122. + Diet of (1544), 123. + Sprenger, J., 654. + Spurs, battle of the, 279. + Stael, de, 715. + Sterling, 356. + Steven Bathory, King of Poland, 144. + Stevin, S., 610, 614. + Stockholm, 9, 136. + Stourbridge, 523. + Stow, J., 582. + Strabo, 574. + Strassburg, 31, 101, 110, 113, 169, 260, 464, 506, 658. + Strauss, D. F., 719. + Stuehlingen, 91, 93. + Stunica, D., 622. + Suffolk, 323. + Charles Brandon, Duke of, 316. + Henry Grey, Duke of, 316. + Suleiman, Sultan, 187, 449. + Sully, Duke of, 215, 218, 228. + Sumatra, 443, 616. + Surrey, Earl of, 693. + Suso, H., 31. + Sussex, 323. + Swabia, 93 ff., 119. + Sweden + universities, 12. + Reformation, 113, 137 f. + Christian II, 136. + war with Poland, 139. + population, 458. + a law of, 511. + church property, 551. + Switzerland, 88, 146 f. + Reformation, 146-181. + civilization, 350. + population, 454. + Symonds, J. A., 398, 730. + Syria, 449, 535. + + Taborites, 40. + Tacitus, 574, 606. + Tangier, 446. + Tapper, 254. + Tartaglia, N., 610, 614. + Tartars, 139, 447. + Tasso, T., 374, 449, 628, 692 f. + Tauler, J., 31, 65. + Tetzel, J., 66 f. + Teutonic Order, 31, 44 f., 113, 139, 618. + Tewkesbury, J., 299. + Theater, 485, 695 ff. + Theatines, 384, 397. + Theocritus, 574. + Theognis, 574. + Thierry, 718. + Thorn, 618. + Edict of, 140. + Thou, de, 217, 703. + Thucydides, 574. + Tierra del Fuego, 616. + Tintoretto, 677. + Titian, 677 f. + Tobacco, 498. + Toledo, 428, 457. + Enriquez de, 502. + Toleration, 641-51. + Peace of Augsburg, 131. + Edict of Nantes, 229 f. + and Bible, 573. + intolerance of Catholics, 641 ff. + intolerance of Protestants, 643 ff. + Renaissance, 649. + Reformation, 650 f., 750. + Tolstoy, L., 730. + Tordesillas, Treaty of, 435. + Torgau, League of, 114. + Torquemada, 643. + Toul, 184, 200. + Toulouse, 214. + Tournai, 235, 274. + Tours, 195, 197. + Transubstantiation, + rejected by Wyclif, 37. + rejected by Taborites, 40. + attacked by Melanchthon and Luther, 70, 72. + Lateran Council, 108. + in Augsburg Confession, 117. + in England, 306, 314. + and Council of Trent, 393. + Transylvania, 144 f. + Treitschke, 736 f., 742. + Trent, Council of, 388-96. + and Protestants, 127, 383, 389 f., 393. + decrees in France, 215. + reforms, 231, 382, 388, 393 ff., 486. + decrees in England, 333 f. + opening, 381, 390. + and Pius IV, 385. + preparation, 389 ff. + constitution, 390 f. + dogmatic decrees, 391 ff., 566. + result, 395 f. + and Index, 420 ff. + and charity, 561. + political theory, 606. + and reason, 625. + and Louvain, 672. + and art, 690. + judged by Sarpi, 705. + Treves, 74, 84, 657 f. + University of, 11, 666. + Diet of Treves-Cologne, 530. + Trie, William, 177. + Trinity College, Dublin, 349, 671. + Troeltsch, E., 732 ff. + Tuebingen, University of, 11. + Tunis, 121. + Tunstall, C., 38, 282, 284, 305 + Turks, + capture Constantinople, 16. + war with Germany, 46, 116, 122, 132. + war with Hungary, 144. + conquer Transylvania, 145. + alliance with France, 200. + and papacy, 383. + and Spain, 432. + empire, 448 ff. + army, 489. + trade, 535. + Tuscany, 372. + Duke of, 613. + Tyler, Wat, 37. + Tyndale, W., 284 f., 300, 304, 355, 570 f., 596. + + Udal, N., 471, 663. + Ukraine, 140. + Ulm, 113, 128. + Ulster, 348. + Unitarians, 142 f., 145, 177, 375, 626, 646. + Universities + in fifteenth century, 11 f. + and Reformation, 12. + reform of, 72. + and Henry VIII, 287. + pay of professors, 471. + in sixteenth century, 668 ff. + Unterwalden, 146, 153. + Upsala, University of, 12. + Uri, 146, 153. + Ursulines, 397. + Usingen, 637. + Usury, 72, 529 f., 608 f. + Utrecht, 235, 238, 240, 252, 268, 272, 274. + Union of, 272, 650. + + Vaga, P. del, 690. + Valais, 146 f. + Valangin, 161. + Valdes, J. de, 376. + Valence, University of, 11. + Valencia, 428. + University of, 12. + Valla, L., 16, 48 ff., 649. + _Donation of Constantine_, 48,70. + _Annotations on New Testament_, 49, 566 f. + _Dialogue on Free Will_, 50, 105. + _On Monastic Life_, 50. + _On Pleasure_, 50. + Valliere, J., 191. + Van Dyke, 276. + Varthema, L. de, 446. + Vasari, G., 582 f., 676, 679. + Vassy, massacre of, 214. + Velasco, 457. + Velasquez, 433. + Venezuela, 457. + Venice, 372, 402, 512. + war with Julius II, 19. + alliance with France, 186. + and Reformation, 375 f. + Inquisition, 417, 658. + trade, 442, 525, 535. + population, 456. + coinage, 463 f. + bank, 522. + church property, 551. + art, 677. + Verdun, 184, 200. + Vergerio, P. P., 377, 390. + Vergil, Polydore, 581, 703. + Vermigli, P. M., 213, 312, 322, 375. + Verona, 455. + Vespucci, A., 436, 606 f. + Vettori, 704. + Vienna, 448 f. + Concordat of, 45. + University of, 149, 406, 666, 670. + Vienne, 168, 177. + Vieta, F., 610 f. + Villalar, battle of, 428. + Villavicenzio, L. da, 561. + Villers, C. de, 714. + Villiers, 258 f. + Vilvorde, 284 f. + Vitrier, J., 26, 57. + Vives, L., 559 f., 574, 606, 609, 667. + Voes, H., 242. + Volmar, M., 162. + Voltaire, 388, 707 f. + Volterra, D. da, 690. + + Wages and salaries, 469 ff., 556 f. + Waitz, 737. + Waldenses, 35, 82, 203. + Waldo, P., 35. + Waldseemueller, M., 616. + Wales, 298, 323, 453, 458, 559. + Arthur, Prince of, 286 f. + Walker, W., 739. + Walloons, 260, 270 f. + Walsingham, 305, 499. + Walsingham, F., 347. + Warham, W., 557. + Warsaw, Compact of, 143, 650. + Waterford, 347. + Wealth of the world, 458 ff. + Weber, M., 728. + Wedderburn, James, 355. + Wedderburn, John, 355. + Weinsberg, 94. + Weiss, N., 738. + Welser bank, 520 f. + Werner, 715. + Wernle, 739. + Westeras, Diet of, 137. + West Indies, 274, 436 f., 524, 535. + Westmoreland, 304. + Weyer, J., 658 f. + White, Andrew D., 731. + Widmanstetter, A., 622. + Wied, H. von, 120. + Wieland, 711. + Wilna, 144. + Wilson, W., 743. + Winchester, 323, 662. + Wishart, G., 357 f. + Witchcraft, 63, 422, 651-61. + ancient magic, 651 f. + the witch, 652 f. + the devil, 653. + the Inquisition, 655. + Protestantism, 655 f. + the witch hunt, 656 ff. + growing skepticism, 658 ff. + Wittenberg, 66, 81 ff., 96 f., 128, 240, 301, 322 note, + 354 f., 390, 461, 464, 560 f. + University of, 11, 64, 287, 471, 494, 502, 509, + 620 ff., 639, 670, 696 f. + Concord, 110. + Articles, 301. + Wolsey, T., 243, 518, 671. + character and policy, 280 f., 292, 294. + and Reformation, 282 f., 355. + death, 288. + Women, position of, 361, 509 f. + Worms, 284. + Concordat of, 43. + Diet of (1495), 75. + Diet of (1521), 78 ff., 96, 282, 398. + Diet of (1545), 123. + Edict of, 81, 85, 114, 116, 241, 479. + Colloquy of, 122, 134. + Wullenwever, G., 118. + Wuerttemberg, 79, 128. + Ulrich, Duke of, 79, 90, 119. + Wurzach, 95. + Wuerzburg, 114, 350, 454, 658. + Wyatt, Sir T. (conspirator), 318. + Wyatt, Sir T. (poet), 693. + Wyclif, J., 12. + life and doctrine, 36 ff., 42, 284. + condemned at Constance, 39 f. + and Reformation, 41, 289, 354, 744. + and Bible, 571. + + Xavier, F., 400, 408 f., 499, 736. + Xenophon,574. + Ximenez, 426, 565. + + Yorkshire, 302 f., 544. + Ypres, 560. + + Zapolya, J., 144. + Zasius, U., 103. + Zeeland, 256, 260, 263 f., 270 ff. + Zierickzee, 264. + Zug, 146, 153. + Zuiderzee, battle of, 262. + Zuetphen, 262, 272. + Henry of, 240. + Zurich + Anabaptists, 101, 154, 645. + joins Swiss Confederacy, 146. + Zwingli, 151. + Reformation, 152 ff. + theocracy, 156. + defeat at Cappel, 158 ff. + Bullinger, 160. + English Bible printed at, 300. + dancing, 500. + brothels, 506. + university, 671. + Zwickau, 82 f. + Zwilling, G., 81, 83. + Zwingli, A., 152. + Zwingli, U. + and Luther, 108 ff., 151 f., 154. + death, 110, 159. + and Melanchthon, 134. + and Calvin, 164, 166. + early life, 148 ff. + mocks indulgences, 150 f. + at Zurich, 151. + a Reformer, 152 ff. + marriage, 152. + and Erasmus, 153. + and Anabaptists, 154 ff., 645. + political schemes, 157 f. + _True and False Religion_, 158. + _Exposition of the Christian Faith_, 158. + First Peace of Cappel, 158. + at battle of Cappel, 158 f. + character, 159. + influence in France, 196. + doctrine of the eucharist, 108 ff., 154, 241. + influence in England, 284, 299. + and Council of Trent, 392. + on _Index_, 420. + biblical exegesis, 569. + political theory, 596. + on usury, 608 f. + on reason, 626. + on education, 671. + judged by Bossuet, 703. + judged by Voltaire, 708. + judged by Gibbon, 710. + Zwolle, 240. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE AGE OF THE REFORMATION*** + + +******* This file should be named 18879.txt or 18879.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/8/7/18879 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://www.gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: +http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + |