The Reformation

Decline of  Catholic Empire, Emerging Nation-States, Rise Absolutist Kings “Europe” Emerges

Reformation: End of Holy Roman Empire and the Advent of Protestantism:  Also known as the "Protestant Revolution". Generally speaking, the Reformation formally begins when in 1517 the German, Catholic priest Martin Luther nails his famous "95 Theses" to the Castle Church door, in Wittenberg Germany.  The "Theses" generally condemned priests for acting immorally and, most importantly, for selling indulgences; that is, for a price, forgiving people's sins. 

In short,  although Luther initially only meant to reform the Catholic Church, he ultimately challenged the basic theology of Catholicism, and sparked (and in Germany helped literally lead) a complete revolution against its religious and political authority.

More generally, this era marks an emerging plurality of political models concerning how secular political institutions relate to church/religion:

         -- England: Henry VIII 1534: Anglican Church/Church of England: church and state alliances but church subservient to state on civic matters (leading to the English Civil War as Anglicans, Catholics and Puritans all fight for dominance)

         -- Germany (see Reformation, below): Martin Luther (1550s) – Protestantism, German Nation State, Translation of Bible to German

        -- Geneva: John Calvin (1536 – 1564) – Theocratic Dictatorship City State , Puritanism

 Reformation: Four Levels of Change:

1) Religious: Personal relationship with Biblical word, word of God, Bible translated into vernaculars, beginning with Luther's translation of the bible into German (Note relationship to spread of literacy; technology: printing press; philosophy: individualism and freedom) etc.

2) Aesthetic/Cultural: Northern European cultural Revolt Against Papal, Italian, Renaissance Splendor. Move toward Simplicity, Sparseness, Puritanism.

3) Political And Social: The rise of the Nation State. Germany under Luther; Geneva under Calvin.  Rise of Absolutist Kings: Freed from Papal control, Catholic and Protestant monarchs both root power in Divine Right: a king answers to no one but God.

4) Economic: Freed from Rome, nation-states develop new economic models, competition among countries to control/exploit colonies, death of "money-lender taboo (usury) and growth of capitalism.

Intolerance, Wars and Spreading Protestantism  As is often the case when a single, strong ruler or ruling system is eliminated, the Reformation leads to a violently swinging Intolerance/Tolerance pendulum: Catholics and Protestants (as well as struggles between Catholic sects, and between Protestant denominations etc.)  denounce each other as  heretics and/or followers of Satan (and of course Jews are routinely burned by both); Europe plunged into a varied series of wars that cost hundreds of thousands of lives, cripples it economically and will greatly influence that colonization of the New World. (This is the chaotic, violent, brutal political and civil landscape upon which Candide is set.)

Consider the Thirty Years War (1618-1648) between Catholics and Protestants in what is essentially now modern Germany, Austria and Bavaria: killed between 1/5 to 1/3 of the entire population, largely thru direct genocide of unarmed civilians.  This constituted the largest civilian slaughter in Europe, for all time, until WWI and WWII.

In Germany, Luther also reignites European anti-Semitism, and in the pamphlet "On The Jews And Their Lies" "advises" Germans to "set fire to their [the Jew's] synagogues or schools and to bury and cover with dirt whatever will not burn" and "that their houses also be razed and destroyed."  Über die Juden und Ihre Lügen  In another tract, Vom Schem Hamphoras, he repeatedly associates the Jews with Satan, and that "The Devil, with his angelic snout, devours what exudes from the oral and anal apertures of the Jews; this is indeed his favorite dish, on which he battens like a sow behind the hedge...."   ...Roughly 400 years later, the Nazis will cite Luther's advice and "celebrate" his birthday on November 10, 1938 with Kristelnacht.

It is from this bloody period that the next historical era -- The Enlightenment -- will spring, and the crowning achievement of The Age of Enlightenment, The United States Declaration of Independence and Constitution, will attempt to develop ta society in which all humans are both free to think and worship as they choose without threatening the liberties of others who worship as they choose.

 See English Civil War Notes

See Protestant England Notes