The Reformation And Rural Society: The Parishes Of Brandenburg-ansbach-kulmbach, 1528-1603 (cambridge Studies In Early Modern History)

What was the effect of the Reformation movement on the parishioners of the German countryside? This book examines the reform movement at the level of its implementation - the rural parish. Investigation of the Reformation and the sixteenth-century parish reveals the strength of tradition and custom in village life and how this parish culture obstructed and frustrated the efforts of the Lutheran reformers. The Reformation was not passively adopted by the rural inhabitants. On the contrary, the parishioners manipulated the reform movement to serve their own ends. Parish documentation reveals that the system of parish rule diffused the disciplinary aims of the church and rendered the pastors impotent. A look at parish beliefs suggests that the nature of parish thought worked to undermine the main tenets of the Lutheran faith, and that the legacy of the Reformation was a dialogue between these two realms of experience. 1. The Emergence And Reception Of The Evangelical Movement 1521-1533. The Reformation In The Towns. Margrave Casimir And The Reformation. Margrave Georg The Pious And The Implementation Of The. Reformation. Reception Of The Evangelical Message In The Parishes -- 2. The Lutheran Church In Brandenburg-ansbach-kulmbach. The Evolution Of The Church. The Consistory. Visitations -- 3. The Clergyman In Context: The Extension Of The Reformation To The Parish. The Clergy. Anticlericalism. Clerical Maintenance. Tithes, Labour, And The Refusal To Pay Fees -- 4. The Reformation And Parish Morality. Village Culture And Religious Change. Marriage, The Mass, And The Fortunes Of Discipline. Parish Politics -- 5. The Acculturation Of The Parish Mind. The Complexion Of Religious Reform. Education. The Catechism. The Pulpit. The Disenchantment Of The Church. Popular Beliefs And The Reformation. The Imprint Of Protestantism. C. Scott Dixon. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 208-222) And Index.

This book examines the relationship between the Reformation movement of the sixteenth century and the rural population of Germany. Over ninety percent of the population lived in the countryside, and yet to date they have received scant attention. The experience of the Reformation by the average villager is described, and an attempt is made to understand the villagers on their own terms: their beliefs, their customs, and their forms of rule. The result is an original work that both examines an important event such as the Reformation and judges it by the standards (and often the words) of the people themselves.

This book examines the relationship between the Reformation movement of the sixteenth century and the rural population of Germany. The experience of the Reformation by the average villager is described, and an attempt is made to understand the villagers in their own terms: their beliefs, their customs, and their forms of rule. In A Dialogue Concerning Heresies Thomas More made two observations that have since become commonplace in modern histories of the Reformation movement.