“For Germany!” or “For England!” are perhaps the single greatest
phrases that capture the reason why the Reformation was able to succeed and
fundamentally shape Western religious culture today. Nationalistic feelings in
both the German provinces of the Holy Roman Empire and in England provided the
support necessary to preserve and spread the ideas of the Protestant
Reformation. Without it, there is no way that Martin Luther and others would
have survived the persecution of the Catholic Church.
After Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the
cathedral in Wittenberg, the Catholic Church severed connection with Martin
Luther and was looking to kill him when he would not rescind his statement. If
it were not for the German prince who took him in, he would have likely been
burned at the stake. From that point on, the spread of Luther’s ideas directly
tied to German nationalism among the princes of individual provinces. Luther
encouraged Eoban Koch, “Do not give way to your apprehension lest we Germans
become more barbarous than ever we were by reason of the decline of letters
through our theology.” By invoking the idea that German people should continue
their religious devotion through scholarship, Martin Luther is clearly invoking
German nationalistic pride to promote his religious ideas.
Like
those in Germany looking for an excuse to separate themselves from the Catholic
church, for England, it seemed to fall right into their laps. With Henry the
8th holding the crown and in need of an heir, which his current wife could no
provide, he decided it was time for a divorce. The Catholic church did not
believe in divorce, therefore, declined King Henry to make the legal separation
from his wife. Frustrated and determined, King Henry decided to show the
Catholic church who has the real power by severing his ties with them, divorcing
and remarrying multiple times and proclaiming that England is now Protestant.
This created confusion among the people, unable to decide who their loyalty
belonged to: church or state? Though later, when Bloody Mary took the throne,
that decision became easier to make with the introduction of propaganda: Foxe’s
Book of Martyrs.
“John
Foxe first published his Book of Martyrs in Latin in 1519, a large format book
that illustrated how Catholics tortured and murdered Protestant heretics. It
fed a tabloid appetite and was greatly expanded in its larger English edition
of 1563. Below is a sample page from the book” (Foxe).
In the image below, German peasants are showing their rear ends to the Pope when he asks them to kiss his feet. With rhetoric and images like this, invoking their German pride, it is no wonder that the Protestant ideas of Martin Luther spread so well among the German people.
With Bloody Mary furthering the English people from the Catholic church, along with ideological disseminated encouragement like that of Luther to Eoban Koch, a spirit of loyalty to one’s nation rather than one’s church was created. Thus, if it weren’t for the Nationalism of individual people, the Reformation would not have been as successful as it was.
Mitchell Bayles, Jake Smith, Kaylee Tanner, Amelia Oross
Thank you for shedding some light on this key catalyst for such huge a movement. I never really thought about how crucial Germany was in spreading Protestantism worldwide. I especially loved the images you included; I feel they really enhance the post and helped me connect the facts to the feelings of the time period.
ReplyDeleteI really appreciate how this post emphasized how closely Protestantism and German nationalism were connected. As alluded to in the title, the relationship between Protestantism and German nationalism is not unlike the relationship between Christianity in general and American nationalism.
ReplyDeleteI like the connection shown here between nationalism and the spread of protestantism. I've never considered it, but it does seem to be true, with England and Germany being the hotbeds of protestantism while the rest of Europe stayed largely Catholic. It's also interesting that both Germany and England had a powerful leader that drove the movement.
ReplyDeleteI think I sometimes overlook the nationalism aspects of the Reformation, especially when it comes to Germany, but this post brought some throughts to mind. I think it's interesting how nationalism was so tied to religion in Luther's day and how it still is, in a lot of ways (you can make a pretty good guess as to what someone's rligion is based on their nationality). Because travel was more difficult and took longer, it would probably make individual countries more diverse and more prone to nationalism. It makes sense how countries that were farther away from Rome (Germany and England) seemed to have an easier time breaking away from the church.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing how the Protestant Reformation split apart the one uniting factor of the European continent. Alongside what you were saying, social scientists today credit the signing of the terms of peace at the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648 as the date when nation states as we know them today were created. Why was the Treaty of Westphalia signed? To end the Thirty Years War, a conflict that spread throughout Europe largely between Catholics and Protestants. So it really was the division of the church that led to national identities as we know them today.
ReplyDeleteIt's quite interesting to see the visual rhetoric that a picture can give. I really like the example of Foxe's illustration of the death to heretics. Not only was it a way to inform those how cruel and unjust the church was to those who believed against whatever it might be, the image also amplified the fear to those who had any thoughts of rebelling against the church.
ReplyDeleteLiterally a double edge sword.
DeleteEngland certainly went through some interesting times before becoming solidly Protestant. Not only did it flip-flop with Henry's kids, it also tended to flip a little between each wife. Henry never really came close to rejoining the Catholic Church, but his wives did follow a pattern of being either sympathetic to Catholicism or sympathetic to Protestantism, and he never had two in a row sympathetic to the same religion.
ReplyDeleteIt's kind of interesting to tie in Henry and his influence of the reformation in England. Usually, when we think of him, we think of all the terrible things he was, but I guess him being nasty kind of helped the progression of the reformation in England.
ReplyDelete