§ 133.4. The Reformation in Anhalt and Pomerania, A.D. 1532-1534.—Wolfgang of Anhalt had at an early date introduced the Reformation on the banks of the Saale and into Zerbst. Another prince of Anhalt, George, at first an opponent of Luther, but converted by means of his writings, began in A.D. 1532 the Reformation of the country east of the Elbe. And when the Bishop of Brandenburg refused to ordain his married priests, he sent them to be ordained by Luther in Wittenberg. Much more violent was the Reformation of Pomerania. Nobles and clergy sought to rouse the people against Lutheranism. Prince Barnim was an ardent supporter of Luther, but his brother George was bitterly opposed. On George’s death, his son Philip joined with Barnim in introducing the Reformation into the land. At the Assembly of Treptow, in Dec., A.D. 1534, they presented a scheme of Reformation, which the nobles heartily accepted. It was carried into operation by Bugenhagen by a church visitation after the pattern of that of Saxony.
§ 133.5. The Reformation in Westphalia, A.D. 1532-1534.—In the Westphalian cities much was accomplished by Luther’s hymns. Pideritz, priest of Lamgo, was a supporter of Eck; but wishing to see the working of the new views for himself, he went to Brunswick, and returned to inaugurate the Reformation in his own city. At Soest, the Catholic council condemned to death a workman who had spoken of it with disrespect. Two blundering attempts were made upon the scaffold, and the victim at last was conducted home by the crowd in triumph. He died next day. The council precipitately fled from the city. And thus in July, A.D. 1533, Catholicism lost its last prop in that place. In Paderborn, where liberty of preaching had been enjoyed, the Elector of Cologne (§ [135, 7]) had some of the leading Lutherans imprisoned; and when some on the rack confessed to a treasonable correspondence with the Landgrave of Hesse, of which they had been falsely accused, he condemned them to death. But moved by the request of an old man to share their death, and by the weeping of the wives and maidens, Hermann spared their lives. In Münster, Luther’s doctrines were preached as early as A.D. 1531 by Rottmann, and soon the evangelicals won the ascendency, so that council and clergy left the city. The Bishop of Waldeck, after an unsuccessful attempt by force of arms, was obliged in A.D. 1533 to grant unconditional religious freedom. The neighbouring cities were about to follow the example of the capital, when a catastrophe occurred which resulted in the complete restoration of Catholicism.
§ 133.6. Disturbances at Münster, A.D. 1534, 1535.—Rottmann had added to his Zwinglian creed the renunciation of infant baptism, and prepared the way for Anabaptist excesses. John of Leyden appeared in A.D. 1534, gained great popularity as a preacher, and the council was weak enough to grant legal recognition to the fanatics. Mad enthusiasts flocked into the city. One of their prophets proclaimed it as God’s will that unbelievers should be expelled. This was done on 27th February, A.D. 1534. Seven deacons divided what was left among the believers. In May the bishop laid siege to the city. This had the effect of confining the mad disorder to Münster. After the destruction of all images, organs, and books, with exception only of the Bible, community of goods was introduced. John of Leyden got the council set aside as required by his revelations, and appointed a theocratic government of twelve elders, who took their inspiration from the prophet. He proclaimed polygamy, himself taking seventeen wives, while Rottmann contented himself with four. In vain did the moral conscience of the inhabitants protest. The objectors were executed. One of his fellow prophets proclaimed John king of the whole world. He set up a showy and expensive establishment, and committed the most frightful abominations. He regarded himself as called to inaugurate the millennium, sent out twenty-eight apostles to extend his kingdom, and named twelve dukes who should rule the world under him. The besiegers made an unsuccessful attempt in August, A.D. 1534, to storm the city. Had not aid been sent them before the end of the year from Hesse, Treves, Cleves, Mainz, and Cologne, they would have been obliged to raise the siege. Even then they could only think of reducing the city by famine. It was already in great straits. On St. John’s night, A.D. 1535, a deserter led the troops to the walls. After a stubborn resistance the Anabaptists were beaten. Rottmann threw himself into the hottest of the fight, and there perished. John, with his chief officers, was taken prisoner, put to death with frightful tortures on 22nd Jan., A.D. 1536, and then hung in chains from St. Lambert’s tower. Catholicism was thus restored to absolute supremacy.
§ 133.7. Extension of the Schmalcald league, A.D. 1536.—A war with France had broken out in A.D. 1536, which taxed all the emperor’s resources. Francis I. had made a league with Soliman for a combined attack upon the emperor. Instead therefore of punishing the Protestant princes for their proceedings in Württemberg, he was obliged to do all he could to conciliate them, as Francis was bidding for their alliance. Ferdinand therefore, from the summer of A.D. 1535, sought to ingratiate himself with the Protestants. In November he received a visit of the elector in Vienna, and granted the extension of the Peace of Nuremberg to all nobles who since its ratification had become Protestants. The elector then went to an assembly at Schmalcald, where the Schmalcald League was extended for ten years, the French embassy dismissed, and the opposition to Austria abandoned. On the basis of the Vienna compact Württemberg, Pomerania, Anhalt, and several cities were added to the league. Signature of the Augsburg Confession was the indispensable condition of reception. Bucer managed to win over the upland cities to accept this condition.
§ 133.8. The Wittenberg Concordat of A.D. 1536.—Bucer and ultimately Œcolampadius, made such concessions on the doctrine of the sacraments as satisfied Luther, but they were rejected by Bullinger of Zürich. In December, A.D. 1535, there was a conference at Cassel between Bucer and Melanchthon. A larger conference was afterward held at Wittenberg, at which Bucer and Capito from Strassburg, and eight other distinguished theologians from the uplands, were present. As they accepted the formula “in, with, and under,” the only question remaining was whether unbelievers partook of the body of Christ. They admitted this in regard to the unworthy, but not, as Luther wished, in regard to the godless and unbelieving. Luther was satisfied. On 25th May, A.D. 1536, Melanchthon composed the “Wittenberg Concord,” which was signed by all, and ratified by the common partaking of the sacrament. In consequence of this union effort, three of the Swiss theologians, Bullinger, Myconius, and Grynæus seceded, and produced the Confessio Helvetica prior, in which the Zwinglian doctrine of the sacraments was moderately but firmly maintained.
§ 134. Incidents of the Years A.D. 1537-1539.
Clement VII. made many excuses for postponing the calling of a council. At last, in A.D. 1533, he declared himself willing to do so in the course of the year; but he required of the Protestants unconditional acceptance of its decisions, to which they would not agree. His successor, Paul III., A.D. 1534-1549, called one to meet at Mantua in A.D. 1537. Luther composed for it as a manifesto the Schmalcald Articles; but finally the Protestants renewed their demand for a free council in a German city. In A.D. 1538 the Catholic nobles concluded the Holy Alliance at Nuremberg for carrying out the decrees of the Diet of Augsburg; but the political difficulties of the emperor compelled him to make new concessions to the Protestants in the Frankfort Interim of A.D. 1539. But in the same year the duchy of Saxony and the electorate of Brandenburg went over to the Reformation. By the beginning of A.D. 1540 almost all North Germany was won. Duke Henry of Brunswick alone held out for the old faith.
§ 134.1. The Schmalcald Articles, A.D. 1537.—In A.D. 1535 Paul III. sent his legate Vergerius (§ [139, 24]) into Germany to fix a place of meeting for the council. At Wittenberg he conferred with Luther and Bugenhagen, who scarcely expecting the council were indifferent as to the place. The council was formally summoned to meet at Mantua on May 23rd, A.D. 1537. At a diet at Schmalcald in Feb., A.D. 1537, the Protestants stated their demands. Luther, by the elector’s orders, had drawn up the articles of which the council must treat. These Schmalcald Articles are distinctly polemical, and indicate boldly the limits of the papal hierarchy demanded by evangelicals. The first part states briefly four uncontested positions on the Trinity and the Person of Christ; the second part deals with the office and work of Christ or our redemption, and marks abruptly the points of difference between the two confessions; the third part treats of those points which the council may further discuss. In the second part Luther unconditionally rejected the primacy of the pope, as not of Divine right and inconsistent with the character of a true evangelical Church. When the articles had been subscribed by the theologians, Melanchthon added under his name: “As to the pope, I hold that if he will not oppress the gospel, for the sake of the peace and unity of those Christians who are or may be under him, his superiority over bishops jure humano might be allowed by us.” Melanchthon’s tracts on “The Power of the Pope” and the “Jurisdiction of Bishops” were also subscribed by the theologians and added to the Schmalcald Articles. It was then decided that in order to secure a free Christian council it must be held in a German city. The elector even made the bold proposal to have a counter-council summoned, say, at Augsburg, by Luther and his fellow bishops.
§ 134.2. The League of Nuremberg, A.D. 1538.—The Protestant princes were astonished at the close of the Schmalcald convention to be told by Vice-Chancellor Held, on behalf of the emperor, that he did not recognise the Peace of Cadau or the Vienna Compact, and that the prosecutions would be resumed. They therefore resumed their old attitude of opposition. But Held visited all the Catholic courts in order to complete the formation of a Catholic league for the suppression of Protestantism. Ferdinand, who knew well that Held exceeded his instructions, was very angry, for the emperor was in the greatest straits, but he could not offer direct opposition without offending the Catholic princes. So on July 10th, A.D. 1538, the Holy Alliance was actually formed at Nuremberg, embracing George of Saxony, Albert of Brandenburg, Henry and Eric of Brunswick, King Ferdinand, and the Archbishop of Salzburg. The Schmalcald nobles prepared to meet force with force. A general bloody engagement seemed unavoidable.
§ 134.3. The Frankfort Interim, A.D. 1539.—As the emperor needed help against Soliman, he recalled Held, and sent in his place John, formerly Archbishop of Leyden. The electors of Brandenburg and the Palatinate went as mediators with the new envoy to Frankfort, where negotiations were opened with the Protestants present, who demanded an unconditional, lasting peace, and a judiciary court with Protestant as well as Catholic members. These demands were at first refused, but pressing need obliged the emperor to reopen negotiations, proposing that a diet should be held, consisting of learned theologians and simple, peaceable laymen, to effect a final union of Christians in faith and worship. He would also grant suspension of all proceedings against the Protestants for eighteen months. The Protestants accepted in this “Frankfort Interim” what had been greatly sought for at the Diet of Nuremberg. It was a victory of the Schmalcald over the Nuremberg League. The public confidence in Protestantism grew, and the cause rapidly spread into new regions.