Andrew Andersen
CRISIS OF THE LATE 15th - EARLY 16th
CENTURIES
REFORMATION AND COUNTER-REFORMATION
(1480 - 1570)
Maps: Putzgers,
F.W., Historischer Schul-Atlas,
The New
The beginning of the 16th century in Germany
was marked by the reforms of the Habsburg Emperors Frederick III (1440 -
1493) and Maximilian I (1493-1519) who desperately tried to strengthen the
Empire at the expense of local rulers who in their turn, tried to get more
independence. One of the major results of Neither Frederick, nor Maximilian had any success in
bringing stable peace to the Empire. The states and parties were fighting for
power sometimes turning to foreign countries for support. The major foreign
power getting involved in the Imperial affairs was |
Emperor Maximilian I |
The election of Charles V (1519-56) resulted in strengthening imperial power and economic decline that led to sharp social conflicts. |
Martin Luther |
Social tensions of the 16th century combined
with the crisis of Roman Catholic Church, led to the Reformation movement which in fact
turned into a revolt against the Papacy. The beginning of Reformation is considered to be the 31st
of October of the year 1517 when German priest and theology professor Martin Luther
posted ninety-five theses on the door of his church in In
1521 Luther was banned by the Imperial Edict of Worms and expelled from |
|
Finally,
Martin Luther’s teachings developed into Lutheranism which became one of the
major doctrines of Protestantism together with several other doctrines like
for example, Calvinism that established itself in semi-independent In fact, most of the free Imperial cities became Lutheran and so did several German states, especially in the north of the country, while quite a few other states remained Catholic and hostile towards their Lutheran neighbors. |
John Calvin |
|
The hostilities developed into the explosions of violence,
such as The Knights' War of 1522-1523 which in fact, was a rebellion of the
lower nobility in southwestern areas of the country and the Peasants' War of
1524-25 that ravaged southwestern and central Supported by the cities, as well as by some knights, the
Peasants’ War was the largest uprising in the history of (Click on the map to see the
full-screen image) |
|
Emperor Charles V Although Reformation seemed to be triumphant in parts of
the Empire, it had very strong opponents. Its main enemy was the Emperor
Charles V who in addition to the Imperial throne was the King of Spain and However, decisive action of Charles made him unpopular in
many parts of the Empire. In |
(Click on the map to see the
full-screen image) |
The
Empire also had to face external attacks from the west ( (Click on the map to see the
full-screen image) |
THE PEACE OF
The Peace of Augsburg signed in 1555, marked the victory
of the Princes, strengthened German particularism
and confirmed the official status of both Lutheranism and Roman Catholicism
providing local rulers the right to choose the dominant religion for their
states.
(Click on the map to see the
full-screen image) At the same time, religious controversy that accompanied
the rule of Ferdinand I (1558-1564) and his successors, added to the
existing economic and political problems and drew attention of the rulers from
securing internal consolidation and repelling external attacks. The Dutch
Revolt of 1566-67 against Imperial rule under William of Orange led to
de-facto loss of Imperial control over some of the (Click on the map to see the
full-screen image) |