The protestant movement

Question 1

What was the great danger for Luther’s movement after the Diet of Worms?

Answer 1

• Eck’s warning that Luther will cause social disorder, he has to make sure this doesn’t happen
• September 1521, Luther wrote a new translation of the New Testament in German to make it more accessible. It was so successful (60000 copies sold) that another edition was published in December

Question 2

Who led the reformation while Luther was in hiding?

Answer 2

• Melanchthon, a devotee of Luther. He was meek and mild and respected Luther
• Karlstadt was too enthusiastic and was determined for reform to take place immediately. He got married to illustrate that priests could marry as it doesn’t say they can’t in the Bible. He preached iconoclasm (“cleansing churches”).

Question 3

Who were the Zwickau prophets?

Answer 3

• Storch, Stubner and Dreschel had been exiled from the city of Zwickau
• Thomas Muntzer, a Lutheran supporter, befriended them
• They preached Divine Revelation, and claim to be regularly speaking to the Holy Spirit (not in the Bible, and so they’re theologically radical)
• Preached a “cleansing” (murder of all Catholic priests)

Question 4

Who were the imperial knights?

Answer 4

• resentful of any non- German authority
• imperial immediacy, report directly to the HRE
• Luther’s message resonated with Hutton and Sickengen (imperial knights)
• After the Diet of Worms, Sickengen offers Luther his personal protection. Luther refuses because he’s politically radical, and Luther wants to keep his movement conservative
• September 1522: Brotherly Convention of Knights, held by Hutton and Sickengen. They agree to start a German rebellion
• November 1522: declare war on the Archbishop of Trier. They want a unified Germany. This is a very radical idea.
• Ordered to desist by Ferdinand (Charles V’s brother)
• Siege of Landstuhl May 1523 - his castle was destroyed in days.
• Imperial knights go completely into decline after this
• Luther clearly states he wasn’t involved

Question 5

What caused the Peasants’ War?

Answer 5

• Peasants’ discontent had been high for over a century, mainly due to high tax levels
• increasing financial demands coincided with the spread of new ideas during the 1520s. Questioning authority was becoming normalised
• local uprisings in 1524 turned into a general uprising in 1525

Question 6

What happened during the Peasants’ War?

Answer 6

• Semi organised peasant armies sacked over 270 castles and towns
• peasant armies were crushed by the princes’ armies. There were 100000 executions across Germany

Question 7

Why did the Peasants’ War damage Luther’s reputation?

Answer 7

• Eck’s statement at the Diet of Worms
• Luther needed the nobility on his side and so couldn’t be too radical
• Muntzer thought Luther wasn’t going far enough (bad for Luther because he taught Muntzer all he knows)

Question 8

How did Luther control the revolution from Peasants through his print output?

Answer 8

• 1522: he translated the New Testament into German - this made it accessible to more people
• 1526: The Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ: Against the fanatics - an outline of his interpretation of the Eucharist
• 1527: The German Mass - gives one official standard version of Lutheranism
• 1529: Small and Large Catechism - manual of faith
• 1/3 of everything written in Germany in the 1520s was written by Luther

Question 9

How did Luther control the revolution from peasants through visitations?

Answer 9

• Arranged for church people to spread his message in places without much Lutheran support
• Relied on the nobility for this (temporal bishops)

Question 10

What were Charles’ other priorities during the 1520s? - Spanish rebellion

Answer 10

• Charles left Spain in 1520
• Riots broke out and city council took charge, proclaiming Joanna the Mad as Queen
• Revolt of the Comuneros
• Battle of Villalar 1521
• Spain is a priority for Charles because of the New World

Question 11

What were Charles’ other priorities during the 1520s? - Italian War of 1521-6

Answer 11

• Personal rivalry between Charles and Francis I as they were competitors for HRE
• French ousted from Milan in 1521
• French captured at Battle of Pavia
• Treaty of Madrid 1526 - Francis promises to never contest Charles’ lands again

Question 12

What were Charles’ other priorities during the 1520s? - the Sack of Rome

Answer 12

• Clement VII formed the league of Cognac against Charles in May 1526
• 1527: Charles’ troops hadn’t been paid and so attacked and looted Rome
• Pope Clement was protected by the Swiss Guard and escaped to the Castel Sant Angelo, but was imprisoned
• He paid 400000 ducati and ceded territory in exchange for his life and freedom
• Massive lasting damage to the city and reputation of the RCC
• Luther used this to his movement that God is punishing the papacy for its corruption