Europe in the Age of the Reformation

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The Reformation in the Baltic

Denmark, Poland, Sweden

Sweden

Sweden was still a fairly new country in 1500, still under the control of Denmark, still part of the Union of Kalmar (1397). A rebellion against Danish rule began in 1521 and Gustavas Vasa emerged as its leader. The rebellion succeeded and Vasa was elected King in 1523. In the 16th century it acquired or asserted control over Estonia (Reval) and Finland. It was rivaled by Russia for a time, but then that country dissolved into chaos in the late 16th century. Poland was a rival, though for a time the two monarchies were actually united.

In 1611 Gustavus Adolphus became king at age seventeen. The country was technically at war with Poland, Russia, and Denmark. Russia settled up in 1617 and Sweden got territories that stretched as far east as Smolensk,.

The War of Kalmar, 1611-1613 was the result of Christian IV of Denmark trying to regain control of Sweden. At the end of it, Sweden had to make major concessions, but retained its independence. Gustavus' troops had proved to be very poor and he resolved to improve them. Moreover, the Danish victory drove the Dutch into the Swedish camp. Sweden and the Netherlands signed an alliance in 1614, and the Dutch helped Sweden pay off its war debt.

In 1620, Gustavus married Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg. In 1621 Sweden captured Riga. In 1626 it invaded Prussia. In 1629 Denmark made a separate peace with the emperor, leaving Sweden as the leading power of the Protestants.

Because the emperor and Spain were working with Poland, and because the Polish king had once ruled Sweden, Gustavus argued that Sweden needed to get involved in Germany, and specifically to control Mecklenburg and Pomerania and their ports. Otherwise, a Polish-imperial fleet might rival the Swedes. With concessions won in 1629, Sweden controlled every significant port on the southern Baltic coast, except Danzig, and much of the east as well.

Gustavus fostered the growth of industry by bringing in Dutch financiers and Flemish craftsmen. He exploited the Swedish copper mines, which flourished because war had shut down the rest of the European copper industry. He was desperate for cash. He sold revenues and lands. He made lavish concessions to attract skilled workers. He taxed everything in sight. He used his new Swedish navy, along with treaties and agreements, to gain income from tolls along the Sound and at various ports. In addition, after 1631, Sweden was receiving huge subsidies from France.

Perhaps Gustavus' greatest achievement was the creation of his army. He pushed forward the most progressive trends of his day. He used the salvo, field artillery, brought back the pike. Maybe more significant, he made a first-class army out of native conscripts by equipping them well, leading well, and enforcing endless drill. He proved a national army could be effective, without mercenaries. He also gave high prominence to attack and to mobility.

After Gustavus' death, Christian of Denmark resumed his intrigues. Danish tolls on the Sound grew heavier all through the 1630s and Danish enforcement grew stricter. This irritated both the Dutch and the Swedes. When Sweden launched a short, sharp war against Denmark in 1643 (-45), it was with the support of the Dutch. But the Swedish victory was so marked, France soon after allied with Denmark, to keep the Baltic from being dominated by any one power.

Reformation in Sweden

With the new monarch came an impetus for a break with Rome, if not yet for Lutheran-style reform. The king and his advisors argreed that the king ruled the Church within his kingdom, and its property belonged to him as the representative of the community of Christians. Some of his advisors, under Christian humanist influence, also put forward the primacy of the Bible over papal authority, but again it was mainly in the context of royal authority. This was a politically treacherous doctrine, for the king too could be held to be under the authority of the Bible.

Relations with Germany were many and frequent, so Lutherna influences arrived early. The leading Swedish reformer of the first generation was Olavus Petri, who had studied at Wittenberg from 1516 to 1518, before coming to serve as secretary to the bishop of Strägnäs.

Olavus began preaching at Stockholm in 1524. In 1525, he married but did not resign his position as priest, or cease to preach. Gustavus Vasa protected him, saying that the whole question of clerical marriage should be referred to a general council of the Church. In 1526, Olavus published Useful Instruction, a devotional book that was the first publication of the Swedish Reformation. A Swedish New Testament appeared that same year.

The crucial event in these early years was the Diet of ästeras, in the summer of 1527. The king opened the Diet by listing all the current woes of the realm, including peasant rebellions, heavy royal debt, and a persistent threat from Denmark. He declared that he was unable to rule under such circumstances, and asked the Diet to find a solution. He gave a clear indication on what course he wanted to pursue when he stated that one reason for the economic woes was the excessive wealth of the Church.

The religious controversy was of course of central concern. Because of his support for Olaf, and other actions, rumors ran that Gustavus intended to introduce Lutheran practices. He denied this and called for a disputation. The leading Catholic, Bishop Hans Brask, refused, saying he would not argue with heretics. He went further, saying that the king must agree to protect the Church's privileges and that changes in religious practice must have papal approval. When the Swedish nobility supported this position, it became obvious that Vasa's plans were thwarted. Brask may well have thought he had won the day, but Vasa played one more card.

He abdicated.

This instantly created a crisis. No one else in the Swedish nobility had enough support to be chosen king, and the only other option was for Christian of Denmark to press his claims. The reformers, who if they lost this contest were likely to lose offices and estates, if not their very lives, pressed hard for a special hearing of the king's complaints. They created a split among the bishops. The reformers compromised on religion while the Catholics compromised on economic and political matters.

The settlement was eminently pragmatic. The Church lost revenues and properties on a vast scale--not quite the secularization seen in Tudor England, but enough to satisfy both Vasa and the nobility. The bishops retained their political position, though, and there was no hint of a break with Rome. In preaching, Sweden adopted the German formula that only the "pure Word of God" should be preached, a phrase sufficiently vague as to leave room for the evangelists. Although it was indeed a compromise, there was no mistaking the direction in which the kingdom was moving: Bishop Brask left Sweden immediately after the Diet ended.

The course of reform was not smooth. There were revolts by peasants and by nobles, and reform was resisted in some areas even as it was accepted in others. Key steps included publication of a Swedish mass (1531) and the abolition of celibacy (1536). Olavus was joined by his younger brother Laurentius; between them they dominated Swedish reform literature.

Vasa discovered what other princes were learning: that the reformers could pose as real a check to royal authority as could the old Church. When Olavus preached a sermon openly criticizing the king's morals, and Laurentius complained that Vasa was not giving enough to the new schools, the king had them both arrested. They bought a commutation of sentence, but the incident (1539-1540) made it clear who held ultimate authority in Sweden. Olavus became a simple parish priest, while Laurentius retired from public life.

The official break with Rome came in 1544, in the wake of a serious revolt in southern Sweden. Although the revolt had to do with economic complaints, Catholic priests had agitated, trying to take advantage of the situation. The 1544 Diet, again at Västeras, declared Sweden to be now and forever an evangelical kingdom and foreswore a range of Catholic practices. The Diet also made the crown hereditary in the house of Vasa.

Many of the practices of Swedish Lutheranism were codified in 1571. They bear a strong influence from Melanchthon.

Denmark

Denmark is another place where the role of politics and the prince were key in the development of the Reformation.

Denmark had a rocky political past and the Reformation brought still further complications. In 1397 the country seemed to be on its way to becoming a significant power. By the Union of Kalmar the kingdoms of Norway and Sweden were combined with Denmark, with rule firmly in the latter country. The Hanseatic League was a rival in the Baltic, but the Danes controlled the Sound--the sea passage from the Baltic to the North Sea, and the Sound tolls brought in a steady, generous stream of revenue.

Unfortunately, political stability proved elusive. Sweden and Norway broke away more than once, never for long but always requiring a response, and setting precedents for future rebellions. Dissension within Denmark also raised up rivals. On the economic front, historic shifts in fishing shoals removed some income, while in Holland, the city of Antwerp was beginning to stir.

As in Germany, there was a humanistic movement for reform prior to 1520, and many of the voices came from within the Church. The king at the time, Christian II (1513-1523), supported these ideas, though he was more concerned with asserting royal authority against the Church and nobility than with the details of theology. He was high-handed in his tactics, provoking a revolt in 1523 that drove him into exile in Holland. He visited Wittenberg in 1524 and became a Lutheran.

After Christian II fled, the royal council elected Duke Frederick of Schleswig-Holstein, who was Christian's uncle. Lutheranism was actually stronger in the duchy, for in the kingdom Frederick had been forced to swear to defend Catholicism and to persecute Lutherans. His eldest son was a strong Lutheran and already by 1528 had abolished clerical celibacy and instituted other Lutheran reforms in his county.

Most important of the Danish reformers was Hans Tausen, who lived in Viborg, Jutland. He studied at Wittenberg in 1523-24. When he returned, he began preaching in the town and was very popular. He was expelled from his monastery in 1526 and in the same year became chaplain to the king, who extended his protection despite his oath. Also in 1526, a printing press was established, Tausen married, and he ordained another reformer as minister. Denamrk was clearly breaking with Rome, but most of the bishops, closely allied with the nobility, were still in place and still Catholic.

The council itself was now under the influence of reformers, and it took action in 1529. The essence of the position it took was that all should preach the true Word of God. This formula allowed room for both Catholics and Lutherans, but not (they held) Anabaptists. New bishops were to receive their offices from the archbishop rather than the pope, but no one was turned out of office.

The popular sentiment, though, was strongly anti-Catholic, and secularization proceeded apace, at the local rather than the royal level. Monks were forced out of monasteries. Reform-minded bishops were chosen whenever there was a vacancy. Lutheran rights began to be practiced in otherwise Catholic churches.

Frederick I died in 1533. Christian II was still around, a serious threat since his brother-in-law was Emperor Charles V. The Danish council was divided. The prelates opposed Frederick's son, Christian, because he was an ardent Lutheran. They proposed Duke Christian's younger brother, still under-age, intending to raise him as a Catholic. The reformers would have none of that. The council deadlocked and an interregnum ensued. Invasion was a real danger, the economy was rocky and a peasant rebellion erupted in Jutland. Finally, the cities of Copenhagen and Malmö allied with Lübeck and a pro-Lutheran army placed Duke Christian on the throne as Christian III in 1536. Deeply in debt, he turned for help to the Catholic Church, but without result. Encouraged by his German advisers, he secularized the Church in Denmark and seized its lands. This solved his debt problem nicely.

Christian proceeded to establish the Danish Church. The provisions of the document were sent to Wittenberg for review by Luther and Melanchthon, and was formally proclaimed in 1537. A similar form, in Low German, was issued for Schleswig-Holstein in 1542. The king was the head of the church. Bishops were elected by the clergy of the towns and confirmed by the Crown. The urban clergy themselves were chosen by the mayor and town council; rural clergy by the dean and "respectable men". The nobility retained its right to nominate. Divine services, sermons, rituals, schools, the legal status of priests, all were regulated. Denmark preserved the episcopal structure, but bishops held only spiritual authority.

Because the king of Denmark also ruled Norway, the same structure was imposed there. But Norway proved resistant to Lutheran ideas, and it took another two generations before Norway was genuinely Lutheran.

The first phase of the Danish Reformation ended around 1560. Christian III died in 1559. The Danish Bible, called Christian III's Bible, was published in 1550. With a new generation came new challenges, including the advent of Calvinism.

Poland

Poland may be thoroughly Catholic today, but the Reformation made great progress in that country in the middle and later 1500s. It is a prime example of the weaknesses of the reforming movement and the successes of the Catholic Reformation.

Students from Wittenberg brought the reforming message early to Danzig and Cracow, but here as elsewhere national sentiments directly affected the course of the reform movement. Partly because of Polish political traditions, partly because of long-standing ties with France, and partly because of a growing antipathy toward Germans, the Poles took much more strongly to Calvinism and Calvinistic sects. It's worth pointing out, too, that the Hussites had flourished in western Poland, so the country had a long tradition of dissatisfaction with the clergy. Moreover, the country also had a long tradition of religious toleration: many Jews had fled thither from persecutions in the West, and there was even an Islamic Tatar population in Lithuania. In the event, a number of different reform churches took root in Poland, especially during the 1540s and 1550s. While ideas and enclaves could be found everywhere, different flavors of Protestantism flourished in different regions of Poland, for exactly the same reason they did in Germany: due to the preferences and protection of the local nobility.

The 16th century Polish kings were either indifferent to the reform issues, or genuinely believed it was not the place of a king to interfere in religious disputes. In any event, the Polish king could do little effectively without the cooperation of the Polish Diet (Sjem), and the Diet was dominated by reformist princes. Indeed, in the 1550s, they were strong enough to get legislation passed specifically excluding the Catholic Church from a variety of public spheres. Poland seemed to be travelling down the same road as other Protestant nations.

But it never got much further. the reasons are complex and make for a fascinating study. To oversimplify here, I will boil it down to two main factors: the variety of Protestants sects within Poland, and a renewed Catholic vigor.

Calvinists were perhaps strongest in Poland, but there were also a number of Zwinglians. Besides these, a strong group of Socinians (Anti-Trinitarians) were protected by a variety of princes. There was even a kind of re-birth of the Hussites, known as the Bohemian Brotherhood. While these (and other) groups could agree on a handful of core principles, when attempts at reform went further, their differences weakened them in the face of Catholic opposition. Even their great proclamation of 1570, the Concord of Sandomir, was boycotted by the Socinians.

Beyond these divisions, the poor of Poland never abandoned the Catholic cause. With the nobility going Protestant, the peasants and lesser nobility, who were steadfastly in opposition to the great nobles and viewed the king as their ally, naturally took the opposite view in religion. Thus, even where the Protestants were strong, a significant portion of the population remained Catholic.

This provided fertile ground for the post-Tridentine Church (that is, the Catholic Church after the Council of Trent). Led by Bishop Hosius of Warmia, and by the papal legate John Francis Commendoni, the Catholic Church in Poland made a determined effort to reform itself and to win back those who had fallen away. Here there was no Inquisition nor decisions on the field of battle. The Counter-Reformation in Poland was generally peaceful and successful. The Hosius and Commendoni brought Jesuits into the country, and the Order founded schools, debated the Protestants, and helped greatly to restore the credibility and respectability of the Catholic Church.

Interestingly, the Protestants were not run out of the country. Rather, they continued to be tolerated by the government. But throughout Europe, the Protestant cause only flourished when it was able to associate itself with the national identity, and that it failed to do in Poland. Protestants simply became fewer and fewer in number, until they were only a tiny minority.

A postscript is worth mentioning here. Nicholas Copernicus died in 1543. He spent most of his career in Poland as a practicing medical doctor but deriving his steady income as a canon in the Church at Warmia (Ermland). The Protestant Reformation was in full swing at the time, and was just really catching fire in Poland itself. Given that political-religious environment, and given his own position as a Church employee, it's hardly surprising that Copernicus chose not to publish his On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres until after his death.

The chief ecclesiastic was the archbishop of Gniezno, appointed by the pope. All other prelates were nominated by the crown. The Polish clergy were strong supporters of conciliarism and reform, especially at Cracow.

The Polish Church was firmly in noble hands. At the request of the Polish Diet, Pope Leo X in 1515 declared no one should be admitted to the episcopal clergy who was not born of noble parents.

Poland included Lithuania and Galicia, both Russian Orthodox. Lithuania looked to Kiev. The Ruthenians of Galicia were Orthodox but independent.

The earliest Lutheran influences came into the country by way of the many German communities, and by way of a strong Polish humanist community attending universities elsewhere in Europe. The influence was haphazard, driven by individual priests. We don't see the conversion of princes and cities that occurred in Germany.

The first place it did happen was in West Prussia, and it failed. West Prussia was heavily German and had a strong reformist population early on. In 1523 the local bishop tried to suppress some of their activities, which only spurred a stronger reaction. The reformers forced the city council of Danzig out of office and took over the town. The council appealed to King Sigismund and he responded in 1526 in force, occupying the city. Fifteen reformist leaders were executed and Sigismund issued a decree making apostasy punishable by death.

The first prince to convert was Albrecht, formerly the head of the Teutonic Knights. In April 1525 he became the vassal of King Sigismund, and in July he declared himself a Lutheran. The Duchy of Prussia became a Lutheran state. In 1544 he founded a university at Königsberg.

In the Kingdom of Poland, Sigismund tried to keep the reform impulses under control. In 1534, for example, he ordered all Polish students attending foreign, reformist universities to return to Poland. But efforts at control were inconsistent and not effective.

Lutheranism, in any case, made little impact on the Poles, perhaps because of its strong German associations. Calvinism, on the other hand, was well received. This began in the reign of Sigismund II Augustus (1548-1572).

Leaders and sponsors of Polish Calvinism were Mikolai Radziwill, a powerful noble; Jan Laski (Lasco); and Felix Krzyzak (Cruciger), a priest. Lasco had been an exile in London for three years in the reign of Edward VI and had actually met Calvin in Frankfurt in 1557. Cruciger was the key leader in promoting a strong presbyterian reform in Lesser Poland.

Poland also provided a refuge for anti-Trinitarianism, as well as to Socinians, Italian protestants, Arians, and others.

Sigismund Augustus died in 1572, the last of the Jagiellons. He had ruled Poland, Lithuania, Mazovia, royal Prussia, ducal Prussia, Curland, and Livonia. Henry of Valois was elected and reigned two years (1573-1575), whereupon the nobles turned to Stephen Báthory (1576-1586) and Sigismund Vasa (1587-1632). Henry was focused on France, Báthory on Transylvania, and Sigismund on Sweden.

Bohemia

Bohemia had already had a reformation: the Hussite rebellion of the 15th century had yielded a church with its own rules. On the surface, the main difference was that the Bohemian Church allowed communion in both kinds. A closer look shows that the Bible had been translated into Czech, churches were bare of images, many hymns were in Czech, and the Utraquists denied the authority of pope or council to tell them otherwise; only the Bible was the supreme authority. Moreover, Church property had long ago been seized, and most monasteries were long gone. Due mainly to politics, there was no archbishop at Prague from 1431 to 1561. In short, much of the Lutheran programme had already been accomplished in Bohemia.

Utraquists were theologically conservative, though. They honored saints and kept the sacraments. Their view of Christ and of communion was orthodox. Some even wished for a reunion with Rome. Moreover, the Bohemian Church was founded on a strong sense of Czech national identity, closely tied to the Czech language, and was suffused with a strong anti-German sentiment. In other words, though there were many points in common with the Lutherans, the differences were significant and insurmountable.

The emperor was the ruler of the Hussite Church and had to swear to the Compact of 1436, which preserved Hussite privileges. Since there was no archbishop, bishops had to find someone to consecrate them, sometimes going as far as Venice.

Lutheranism could make little headway here. What inroads were achieved came mainly among German Catholics. But the Hussites were friendly to the Lutherans, not least because Luther himself openly acknowledged his debt to Hus.

The Hutterites found a home here, in Moravia in the 1520s and after. Calvinism, on the other hand, made few gains.

After 1547 Ferdinand made a serious effort to eliminate the Bohemian Brethren, but succeeded only in driving them into exile in Moravia and western Poland.

The Counter-Reformation was ineffectual in Bohemia. Jesuits were established in Prague in 1556, but they won few converts. Protestantism, including Hussitism, became well-rooted in Bohemia. It took the calamity of the Thirty Years War to uproot it.

In 1575, in response to the Counter-Reformation, the Lutherans, Utraquists, and Brethren signed the Confessio Bohemica, which created a common document for all three. As everywhere else, Anabaptists were excluded.

Hungary

The crown in Hungary was weak, but it did still possess rights over the bishops. The Hungarian episcopacy was worldly and political, an extension of the nobility. At the opening of the Reformation, the king was Lewis II, who died at Mohács in 1526.

This disaster was followed by a generatin of civil war as Ferdinand of Germany (Lewis' brother-in-law) claimed the crown but the magnates elected John Zápolyai. The conflict left Hungary exposed to the Turks, who took full advantage, culminating in the siege of Vienna in 1529. By 1541 about a third of Hungary was controlled by the Turks, about a quarter was controlled by Ferdinand, and the remainder was ruled by Hungarians.

With the situation so dire, neither claimant tried to suppress the Lutheran reformers. Even the Turks tolerated them. Especially in Magyar Hungary, Lutheranism made considerable progress. In the 1550s and after, Calvinism also enjoyed considerable success. Protestant progress ended only with the election of Stephen Báthory as king.

Lutheranism was strongest in the German towns, Calvinism in the Magyar countryside.

Battle of Mohács

The Turks brought a large army into the field that year, about seventy thousand. Lewis, calling upon his Habsburg relatives, managed to field about fifty thousand, a very large European army for the time. Lewis delayed at Buda while Suleiman's armies advanced.

When he finally did decide to fight, he was able to choose his ground, a wide gentle slope up from the Danube River. But he was not at all a good field commander. The Hungarians managed to win some early advantage, but did not exploit it. When they finally did advance on the right, their forces became detached.

Meanwhile, the Turks were giving a memorable demonstration of the effectiveness of cannon and musket fire. The Hungarian troops fought bravely, which simply meant they died in large numbers. An indication both of the ferocity of the battle and the nature of the Hungarian episcopacy is seen in the fact that of sixteen Hungarian bishops, seven were killed at Mohács. Lewis himself also died in the battle.