German histories in the age of Reformations, 1400 - 1650

This book studies the connections between the political reform of the Holy Roman Empire and the German lands around 1500 and the sixteenth-century religious reformations, both Protestant and Catholic. It argues that the character of the political changes (dispersed sovereignty, local autonomy) prevented both a general reformation of the Church before 1520 and a national reformation thereafter. The resulting settlement maintained the public peace through politically structured religious communities (confessions), thereby avoiding further religious strife and fixing the confessions into the Empire's constitution. The Germans'emergence into the modern era as a people having two national religions was the reformation's principal legacy to modern Germany. Half-title......Page 3 Title......Page 5 Copyright......Page 6 Dedication......Page 7 Contents......Page 9 Figures, Maps, and Tables......Page 13 Acknowledgments......Page 15 A Note on Usages......Page 17 Part I The Empire, the German Lands, and Their Peoples......Page 21 1 Reformations in German Histories......Page 23 1. APPROACHING THE SUBJECT......Page 24 2. PECULIARITIES OF GERMAN HISTORIES......Page 26 3. LISTENING AND TELLING......Page 29 2 Shapes of the German Lands......Page 31 1. TOPOGRAPHY – THE LAY OF THE LAND......Page 32 2. LANGUAGES......Page 34 3. THE CHURCH......Page 35 4. GERMAN LANDS, GERMAN STATES......Page 38 5. POPULATIONS, ECONOMIES, SOCIETIES......Page 41 6. UNIVERSITIES......Page 43 7. PRINTING – THE GERMAN ART......Page 46 8. SHAPES OF THE GERMAN LANDS......Page 47 3 Temporal Estates – Farmers, Traders, Fighters......Page 49 1. "THOSE WHO WORK" – FARMERS......Page 50 2. "THOSE WHO WORK" – BURGHERS......Page 54 3. "THOSE WHO FIGHT" – NOBLES......Page 62 4 The Church and the Faith......Page 69 1. PARISHES AND PASTORS......Page 70 2. THE REGULAR CLERGY......Page 72 3. BISHOPS......Page 74 4. A NOBLE CHURCH......Page 76 5. RELIGION – THE BOND OF SOCIETY......Page 79 6. CHRISTIAN PIETIES IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY......Page 83 Part II Reform of the Empire and the Church, 1400–1520......Page 89 5 Reform of Empire and Church......Page 91 1. THE IMPERIAL MONARCHY – LUXEMBURG PROJECTS......Page 92 2. SIGISMUND – THE LUXEMBURGS’ SECOND CHANCE......Page 94 3. THINKING ABOUT IMPERIAL REFORM......Page 100 4. THE PASSING OF THE LUXEMBURGS......Page 106 6 The Empire and the Territorial States......Page 109 1. A HABSBURG COMES TO THE THRONE......Page 110 2. A MEETING OF MINDS WITH ROME......Page 112 3. THE TERRIBLE DECADES......Page 113 4. THE CULTURE OF VIOLENCE......Page 116 5. THE ORIGINS OF THE GERMAN TERRITORIAL STATE......Page 117 6. THE TERRITORIAL STATE – CHARACTER AND GROWTH......Page 119 7. FREDERICK AS EMPEROR AND HIS END......Page 124 7 The Reform of the Empire in the Age of Maximilian I......Page 127 1. YOUNG MAXIMILIAN......Page 128 2. A NEW WAY OF GOVERNANCE – AUSTRIA......Page 130 3. IMPERIAL REFORM......Page 134 4. THE IMPERIAL WARLORD......Page 141 5. MATTERS OUT OF HAND......Page 143 6. MAXIMILIAN’S END......Page 146 8 Ideals and Illusions of Reforming the Church......Page 151 1. THE CAESAROPAPIST ILLUSION – EMPEROR AND CHURCH REFORM......Page 152 2. THE NATIONAL ILLUSION – BLAMING ROME, DISCOVERING GERMANY......Page 155 3. THE COMMUNAL ILLUSION – JOHANN GEILER VON KAYSERSBERG......Page 160 4. MAXIMILIAN I AND THE IMPERIAL CHURCH......Page 164 5. MARTIN LUTHER – FRIAR, PROFESSOR, AND PROPHET......Page 166 6. LUTHER’S APPEAL TO THE CHRISTIAN NOBILITY (1520)......Page 170 7. CHARLES V AND LUTHER AT THE DIET OF WORMS (1521)......Page 172 Part III Church, Reformations, and Empire, 1520 –1576......Page 177 1. CONTOURS OF URBAN REFORMATION......Page 181 2. THE POWER OF THE WORD, PRINTED AND SPOKEN......Page 184 3. PATRICIANS, NUNS, AND MONKS......Page 192 4. BURGHERS AND PRIESTS......Page 197 10 A Revolution of the Common Man......Page 205 1. THE MAKING OF A REVOLUTION – 1525......Page 206 2. REBEL FORCES – THE ARMIES......Page 207 3. POLITICAL PROGRAMS OF THE GERMAN PEASANTS’ WAR......Page 211 4. THE GOSPEL OF SOCIAL UNREST......Page 217 5. RECKONINGS, RETRIBUTION, AND RESTORATION......Page 220 6. PEACEABLE KINGDOMS – ANABAPTISM......Page 221 1. THE HABSBURG BROTHERS AS LORDS OF THE EMPIRE......Page 227 2. EMPIRE AND REFORMATIONS – THE BEGINNINGS, 1521–1524......Page 229 3. IN THE SHADOW OF REVOLUTION – THE BIRTH OF PROTESTANTISM, 1525–1529......Page 233 4. A MOMENT OF DECISION – AUGSBURG, 1530......Page 237 5. THE RISE AND FALL OF THE SMALKALDIC LEAGUE......Page 240 6. THE BITTER FRUITS OF THE EMPEROR’S VICTORY......Page 247 12 Imperial Peace, 1555–1580......Page 249 1. THE RELIGIOUS PEACE OF AUGSBURG (1555)......Page 251 2. SECURING THE PEACE......Page 253 3. THE EMPIRE IN THE ERA OF RELIGIOUS WARS......Page 257 4. THE SAXONYS – ORDER AND REVOLUTION......Page 259 5. IMPERIAL CATHOLICISM – EMPEROR MAXIMILIAN II......Page 265 6. THE SCHISM AND THE EMPIRE’S FUTURE......Page 267 7. THE "SECOND REFORMATION" OF GERMAN CALVINISM......Page 272 8. AN EMPEROR’S END......Page 274 Part IV Confessions, Empire, and War, 1576–1650......Page 277 13 Forming the Protestant Confessions......Page 279 1. LUTHER’S REFORMATION AND THE STATE......Page 280 2. FORMING THE LUTHERAN CONFESSION......Page 284 3. PAX LUTHERANORUM......Page 286 4. RECONSTRUCTING CHURCHES......Page 288 5. THE REFORMED CONFESSION – A SECOND REFORMATION?......Page 291 6. FORMING A NEW CLERGY......Page 297 7. REFORMING THE LAITY – DISCIPLINING MARRIAGE......Page 301 8. PROTESTANT EVANGELIZATION......Page 305 9. THE HARVEST OF THE PROTESTANT REFORMATIONS......Page 309 14 Reforming the Catholic Church......Page 311 1. THE ORDEAL OF THE IMPERIAL CHURCH......Page 312 2. BAVARIA – WELLSPRING OF CATHOLIC RESURGENCE......Page 314 3. COUNTERREFORMATION AND CATHOLIC REFORMATION IN INNER AUSTRIA......Page 316 4. THE STRUGGLE FOR UPPER AND LOWER AUSTRIA......Page 319 5. IMPERIAL BISHOPS AND CATHOLIC REFORMS......Page 322 6. ROME, ITALY, AND THE GERMAN LANDS......Page 327 7. JESUITESSES – WOMEN AND CATHOLIC REFORMS......Page 330 8. CATHOLIC EVANGELIZATIONS......Page 334 15 Limits of Public Life – Jews, Heretics, Witches......Page 339 1. GERMAN JEWRY FROM PERSECUTION TO CONVIVENCIA......Page 340 2. FROM PROSECUTION TO EXILE – HERETICS......Page 347 3. PURGING SATAN’S SERVANTS – WITCHES......Page 356 4. THE ENTROPY OF RELIGIOUS COERCION......Page 366 16 Roads to War......Page 369 1. THE MILITARY REVOLUTION IN THE GERMAN LANDS......Page 371 2. THE SPECTER OF THE TURK......Page 373 3. THE IMPERIAL CONVIVENCIA AND CATHOLIC RESURGENCE......Page 385 4. ARISTOCRATIC POLITICS AND CONFESSIONAL STRIFE......Page 387 5. THE HABSBURGS AND THEIR BOHEMIAN PROBLEM......Page 390 17 The Thirty Years War......Page 395 1. THE BOHEMIAN WAR TO THE IMPERIAL WAR......Page 396 2. THE ENTERPRISE OF WAR – FINANCES AND FORCES......Page 401 3. THE HUMAN FACE OF WAR – SOLDIERS AND SAVAGES......Page 406 4. THE PROTESTANT CAUSE – GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS AND WALLENSTEIN......Page 412 5. END GAME – THE FINAL PHASE......Page 418 18 German Reformations, German Futures......Page 425 1. THE AGE OF REFORMATIONS......Page 426 2. FROM THE OLD CONFESSIONAL ORDER TO THE NEW CONFESSIONALISM......Page 429 3. THE RANKEAN SPELL AND THE AGE OF REFORMATIONS......Page 437 2. ECCLESIASTICAL ORGANIZATION OF THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE, ca. 1500......Page 441 3. THE IMPERIAL DIET, ca. 1600......Page 443 5. UNIVERSITIES IN THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE (WITH YEAR OF FOUNDING)......Page 444 Glossary......Page 447 Bibliography......Page 453 Index......Page 473 Thomas A. Brady, Jr. Studies The Connections Between The Political Reform Of The Holy Roman Empire And The German Lands Around 1500 And The 16th Century Religious Reformations, Both Protestant And Catholic. Part I. The Empire, The German Lands, And Their Peoples. Reformations In German Histories ; Shapes Of The German Lands ; Temporal Estates--farmers, Traders, Fighters ; The Church And The Faith -- Part Ii. Reform Of The Empire And The Church, 1400-1520. Reform Of Empire And Church ; The Empire And The Territorial States ; The Reform Of The Empire In The Age Of Maximilian I ; Ideals And Illusions Of Reforming The Church -- Part Iii. Church, Reformations, And Empire, 1520-1576. Urban Reformations ; A Revolution Of The Common Man ; Imperial Reformations In The Age Of Charles V ; Imperial Peace, 1555-1580 -- Part Iv. Confessions, Empire, And War, 1576-1650. Forming The Protestant Confession ; Reforming The Catholic Church ; Limits Of Public Life--jews, Heretics, Witches ; Roads To War ; The Thirty Years War ; German Reformations, German Futures. Thomas A. Brady Jr. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. This book studies the connections between the political reform of the Holy Roman Empire and the German lands around 1500 and the sixteenth-century religious reformations, both Protestant and Catholic. It argues that the character of the political changes (dispersed sovereignty, local autonomy) prevented both a general reformation of the Church before 1520 and a national reformation thereafter. The resulting settlement maintained the public peace through politically structured religious communities (confessions), thereby avoiding further religious strife and fixing the confessions into the Empires constitution. The Germans emergence into the modern era as a people having two national religions was the reformations principal legacy to modern Germany.