Has Christianity really overcome its long history of disagreement and conflict? (3) Religion brandishes weapons
In the period between the reform attributed to Martin Luther and the signing of the Peace of Westphalia, which changed European history, the continent - which had not yet become old - crossed a sea of blood of its people, regardless of their churches and sectarian affiliations. By the year 1560, the general scene in Europe showed unprecedented divisions, for reasons in which the religious and the political were intertwined. Protestantism had expanded and spread and enjoyed the support of many leaders and princes, based on different motives for each of them, and the attempts of “counter-reformation” - which the church adopted - were no longer Catholicism, which we touched upon in the previous article, is beneficial, as the matter went beyond the religious aspect, and the spark of wars had been ignited.
We saw how corruption within the Church reached unprecedented levels, and the money collected from the poor, through the sale of indulgences and church positions, was used to build churches and finance luxurious works of art, so the spiritual status of the Church declined, and in return the ability of the “common people” to read the texts of the Bible increased. The sacred is the result of the flourishing process of translation and printing. At the same time, the political power of some kings expanded against the authority of the Pope. Their power increased and they were able to build organized armies. Then some of them completely separated from the authority of the Papal Empire of Rome.
The overlooked climate factor
In addition, a natural factor played a role in the violent events that we are about to talk about, although it is not mentioned much in the references that talk about Europe’s religious wars. This factor is what is known as the period of the Little Ice Age, when the Earth’s temperature dropped by several degrees, which had an impact on On agricultural crops, famines spread and economic and social conditions deteriorated severely. In England, for example, grain prices rose by 630% over the course of the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.
This climate change began in the fourteenth century, but it became more evident between the mid-sixteenth century and the beginning of the eighteenth century, and its harshest periods were from about 1600 to 1640, the decades that witnessed the most famous and most destructive religious wars ever in Europe: the Thirty Years’ War. years. It is noteworthy that most of the countries affected by this climate change, from China to the Ottoman Empire, suffered during that period from civil wars and devastating invasions.
As a result of these famines, and as happens in major crises, the control of the wealthy princes, landowners, and merchants increased, while the peasants and workers were marginalized and became poorer, which contributed greatly to the outbreak of the Peasants’ Revolt early (1524-1525) and its invasion of the principalities of Bavaria, Thuringia, and Swabian in Germany, the revolution that Martin Luther stood against, as we mentioned in the previous article, ended with a massacre that claimed the lives of more than 100,000 peasants.
These wars were characterized as “religious” because religious division was the main factor in their outbreak and continuation, but the political aspect was strongly present in most of their battles. In many times and places, the two sides of the fighting were not completely clear. The newly established Protestant groups were not in harmony, and groups affiliated with the Catholic Church often found themselves involved in fighting alongside other Protestants against other Catholics and vice versa. Geography, politics, and economics were important factors in determining the warring parties, and this is likely to be normal in any conflict.
Because reviewing the European wars of religion is not an easy matter, given their number, complexity, and simultaneity, so dividing them according to the country in which they broke out was the clearest and least complicated method. Let us start with Germany, Martin Luther’s mother country, in which strong nationalist sentiments began to emerge that pushed its princes - who were increasingly powerful - To reject the control of a foreign authority (such as the papacy) over their affairs.
Germany...from the Peasants' Revolution to Augsburg
The "Peasants' Revolt" took place in 1524 under the influence of Protestant reformist ideas in which the peasants found a way to escape from the dominance of the (Catholic) aristocracy. Thomas Müntzer is considered the most prominent advocate of this revolution. He was a follower of Luther, but he developed a more radical thought in which he believes that real change only occurs through a spiritual leadership revolution and not through some official religious reforms. He led several rebellious movements , and wrote pamphlets urging resistance, which led to the outbreak of the revolution, which became the first protest to turn violent after the spread of religious reform.
The peasants' demands were political and social within the framework of religion, but Martin Luther condemned that revolution, describing the peasants as thieves and their revolution as "the work of the devil." This may be due to Müntzer's extremism, or because Luther had exiled him earlier. In the end, the peasants - who lacked experience and weapons - were unable to withstand the German army, and the rebellion ended with the deaths of tens of thousands of them.
By the year 1531, the princes in northern Germany, led by Philip I, and the Lutheran cities led by Johann Frederick found that they had a common interest to stand up to Emperor Charles V, so they formed the Schmalkalden League (named after the town of Schmalkalde), which helped spread Lutheranism throughout Germany. It soon ignited war with the Roman Emperor, taking advantage of the fact that he had just returned to Germany from the Italian War after signing the Caribbean Treaty, and began forming alliances that included Lutheran princes and one of Frederick’s relatives, meaning that he had begun preparing for war. On the other hand, Martin Luther had died a short time ago, which removed from their path a major obstacle in making the decision to go to war, which he had always opposed.
After his victory in the Battle of Mühlberg, Charles thought that he had restored peace to the empire, but the violence did not stop until 1552, when a settlement was reached and the Treaty of Augsburg was concluded in 1555, which stipulated a famous principle that was summarized in the Latin phrase (cuius regio, eius religio), meaning “in Prince's land, prince's religion. This means that each prince chooses the sect he wants (Catholic or Protestant), and on the basis of his choice, the religion of all his subjects is determined. As for whoever desires a religion other than the religion of his prince, he must choose either to immigrate to an emirate that is compatible with his sect, or leave himself vulnerable to persecution, imprisonment, or perhaps execution!
This treaty was considered an agreement guaranteeing religious freedom, but in essence it only guarantees the freedom of rulers and princes to choose their sect and the sect of their followers, without these followers being able to truly determine their fate. This agreement continued to be implemented until the outbreak of the Thirty Years' War in 1618, and was renewed with the Peace of Westphalia, but in another form.
Switzerland.. Protestantism by force
Calvinism (named after the reformer John Calvin) appeared in Geneva in the 1640s, but church reform had arrived in Switzerland years before that. In Zurich specifically, the process of reorganizing the church began under the leadership of Huldrich Zwingli in 1523, a process that led to what was known as The First and Second Kappel Wars, in which Zwingli was killed. In fact, the cantons of Bern and Zurich had powerful armies, and they used their power to impose Protestantism on other cities - Geneva, Lausanne, Pays-de-Vaud, etc. - and maintain the reforms there.
The theology of Calvinism, which appeared in Switzerland later, seemed to be designed for war and fighting. We mentioned previously that it was more stringent in terms of teachings than Lutheranism. The Calvinists saw that God was the one who chose the “reformers” to lead the reform process, and that the rule of the prince had nothing to do with the region. Thus, they linked freedom of worship and freedom of conscience, transcending ethnic and national identities. They saw the Pope of Rome as an embodiment of the Antichrist, and they considered the war against his followers part of the end-of-the-world war against the forces of evil!
As a result, Calvinism did not agree to the regional agreements that ended the war in Europe under the previous Treaty of Augsburg, so clashes and unrest continued on the continent. The strict Calvinist doctrine gave its followers great strength and power, and so the war continued for another 90 years after 1560.
?France: Massacres, then unity...religious or political
France and Spain were the most powerful and populous kingdoms in Europe, each with a large army and a dynamic economy. Despite this, France witnessed some of the most violent and bloody religious conflicts over the course of 40 years, and even its “peaceful” periods were not without acts of violence that reached the point of mass massacres. Despite the power factors, its monarchy under the rule of the Valois dynasty was weak, and some French nobles were stronger than the king and more influential due to the huge armies they possessed.
In 1560, the Huguenots (French Protestants) constituted about 10% of the people of France, most of whom were concentrated in the south near Navarre, a small independent kingdom located between France and Spain that had followed Protestantism. The Huguenots represented the educated middle class in France, which was religiously divided into two groups belonging to two powerful families: the fanatical Catholic Guise family supported by the King of Spain, and the Bourbon family, which was from the Huguenots. Fearing the influence of the latter, the Guises created an armed militia that included Catholic monks. They committed a massacre against a group of Huguenots in 1562, and war broke out.
The French King Charles IX was a child when the war began, and his mother, Catherine de Medici - who was the de facto ruler - sought to end the conflict. In 1572, she invited the Huguenot prince Henri of Navarre to Paris to marry Charles' sister (Marguerite de Valois). Navarre did come with 2,000 of his followers unarmed and the wedding took place without the Pope's approval, but the Catholic Duke of Guise managed to convince King Charles that the death of Henri of Navarre would be what would end the war, and so the Catholic forces launched a massacre on Saint Bartholomew's Day, August 24. ), in which more than 2,000 Protestants were killed and their leader, Navarre, survived.
This massacre led to the exacerbation of the religious conflict in France, and led to long years of war and blood. It was followed by 12 other massacres in different parts of France, killing more than 7,000 thousand people. It is said that the Pope, who had rejected attempts at peace with the Huguenots, had given 100 pieces A golden cash reward for the person who conveyed the news of the war that broke out in France!
As for Navarre, he managed to escape towards the south to re-mobilize the Protestant forces. Meanwhile, Henry (the younger brother of King Charles) had assumed the rule of France after his brother died from his illness in 1574. The war resumed in 1576 between three leaders, each of whom bore the name Henry. The leader of the Catholic League (Henri Guise), the King of France (Henry III), and the leader of the Huguenots (Henri of Navarre), the first two were Catholics who hated each other. After their assassination, only Henry of Navarre remained to preside over the throne of France as a result of his marriage into the royal family and the lack of an heir other than him. Thus, the Protestant became king of Catholic France under the name Henry IV, and he quickly realized that he would not be able to rule it unless he converted to Catholicism, and this is what happened!
As a result of his popularity among both parties, Henry IV issued in 1598 the Edict of Nantes, which allowed the Huguenots to build a state for themselves inside France with walled cities and a private army, but they were prevented from entering Paris and participating in its government. Although Henry IV was later assassinated by a Catholic, the Edict of Nantes He had laid the foundation for the unity of France, based on political interests, not on the basis of true tolerance between the two parties.
About 3 million people were killed in the French Wars of Religion, and until the beginning of the seventeenth century, French lands were still an arena for violence between the Huguenots, who were supported by the English, Scottish-German, Dutch, and Swiss Protestant forces, and the Catholics, who were supported by the Spanish, Italian, German, and Swiss-Catholic forces.
Netherlands.. Reform and Spanish madness
The Netherlands, in turn, lived through a long war known as the “Eighty Years’ War,” which began in 1567 and stopped for one year later, only to return again at the beginning of 1572. The Netherlands lived for about 37 years of continuous war, followed by a truce that lasted 12 years, after which conflicts renewed in 1621. This war was not religious as much as it had political and economic dimensions - so that at one point in the conflict, groups of Lutherans, Calvinists, and Catholics were standing together against Spain - but religion was certainly the reason for its continuation for so long.
The Habsburgs ruled the Holy Roman Empire, as well as other lands in Europe, and controlled Spain in the sixteenth century. They were the most powerful family in Europe. Philip II was the Spanish king at the time, and his main competitor in the public scene was the Bourbon dynasty that ruled France after the accession of Henry IV, as we saw previously.
This Philip was a fanatical and tyrannical Catholic, and his persecution was not limited to Protestants. Rather, he was cruel to several groups, such as the Moriscos, who were the descendants of Muslims from the inhabitants of Andalusia, and forced them to hand over their children to Catholic schools. He also persecuted groups of cryptozoans (former Jews), and pursued them through the Inquisition, accusing them of They are heretics and practice Judaism secretly.
Despite imposing his control over Spain, Philip was unable to do the same in the Netherlands, which he inherited as part of his ancestral possessions. The Netherlands enjoyed a diverse social mix, and good and stable economic conditions based primarily on foreign trade, but Philip's constant attempts to interfere in its affairs ignited a conflict between Calvinists and Catholics in it, which Philip found an excuse to send his troops and establish Inquisition courts to tighten control over, and the military court was Established by the Spanish Duke of Alba in the Netherlands, it is known among the population as the “Council of Blood” because of its extreme violence. For this reason, the Duke’s brutal practices towards Protestants quickly led to the mobilization of popular resistance against him.
Led by a Dutch prince named Willem the Silent, the Dutch began launching attacks on Spanish forces. Philip tried to contain the situation by abolishing the “Court of Blood” and summoning the duke who headed it, but he made a fatal mistake when he left his forces in the Netherlands without wages, and those forces rebelled and began plundering Dutch cities loyal to Spain. The Dutch called these actions "Spanish madness", a madness for which Philip would pay dearly, as the northern provinces of the Netherlands soon declared their independence from Spain, and caravans of Calvinists began to flock towards them, and in 1588 it became an independent Protestant republic allied with Anglican England. In response, Spain prepared a massive military campaign that cost it a lot. Although gold bullion was flowing into Spain from the New World, the kingdom suffered from enormous debts, most of which were due to the war in the Netherlands, the conflict in which did not actually stop until 1648.
England...unintended reform
The English King Henry VIII was the first European king to deny the authority of the papacy, going so far as to appoint himself the "Supreme Head" of the Church in England. History portrays Henry as the creator of a “fully sovereign New England,” and the effects of his secession reached the English colonies on the other side of the Atlantic, that is, America.
Although this separation coincided with the wave of church reforms in Europe, reform was not Henry's real goal, as references indicate that when he died, reform in England had only just begun, and that his separation from the authority of the Pope was not for a religious motive, but rather the result of purely personal reasons. Henry had married Catherine of Aragon, the widow of his brother Arthur, with the aim of producing a legitimate heir (he had many illegitimate children). This marriage required a special papal dispensation granted to the English government. But that marriage only resulted in a daughter - who later became: Queen Mary I.
Henry believed that his marriage to his brother's wife was against divine law, and so they had no children (another account says that his lust and desire to marry another woman was the reason for his seeking a divorce from Catherine). Henry did not obtain the approval of the Church, nor the approval of Cardinal Wolsey, who had been the king's prime minister since 1514, so Henry had no choice but to replace him without the approval of the Pope of Rome.
In 1529, Henry called a new parliament to support his divorce efforts, called the Parliament of Reform. This Parliament accused the English clergy of corruption and extortion. The laws that were passed by the new Parliament changed the relationship between England and the Catholic Church forever. For example, Parliament issued a law transferring ownership of all monasteries in England to the Crown, which was a major blow to the Catholic Church, as monasteries were a major source of income and power. Thus, the English Reformation turned into a political issue more than a theological one.
Henry II's marriage to Anne Boleyn did not result in a male child (he had him in his third marriage), but it did result in the birth of Elizabeth I, who was influenced by Protestant ideas, and who inherited the throne after her half-siblings Edward and Mary in 1558. Edward had begun to lay the foundations of the Church Protestant during his short reign, but his sister Queen Mary returned the country to the Catholic Church.
To end these religious divisions, Elizabeth reached what was later known as the “religious settlement,” and in 1559 she issued two laws: the first made her the supreme “ruler” of the church, and the title “ruler” suggests that Elizabeth would not act under her father’s same dictatorship when he declared himself “head.” the church". The second law made Protestant Christianity the official religion of England, but it established rules for religious practices and worship that preserved some Catholic traditions within a unified book of prayers. However, this did not satisfy Catholics at all.
England lived a golden age with Elizabeth, the intelligent and courageous queen. After her death, the country returned to engaging in a series of civil wars called the Wars of the Three Kingdoms (England, Scotland, and Ireland) that extended between the years (1642-1651).
The churches and sects that arose in Europe during the Reformation and Civil War periods were the basis of sectarian diversity in the United States of America, which was established beginning with 13 states, all of which were English colonies, which made it necessary for there not to be a single national church within the emerging state, and created the need to pass laws for religious freedom.
"The Tragedy of Europe"... The Thirty Years' War
Before the outbreak of the war, which is considered the most destructive religious conflict in European history, an uneasy truce took place between the Catholic Emperor Ferdinand II (1578-1637), who had limited authority over lands that were in name only belonging to the empire, such as the Netherlands, for example, and several Protestant princes in the north. Despite the continuation of the wars that were raging in the border areas. This weak settlement collapsed completely when Emperor Ferdinand II attempted to crack down on Calvinist Protestants in Bohemia (now the Czech Republic). He sent officials to Prague to demand that Parliament abandon Protestantism, but his request was rejected, and members of Parliament even threw the officials from the window of the building in which they were meeting, in an incident known as “throwing from the window.”
After a series of mutual attacks, the Catholic Emperor and a group of his princes found themselves facing the German Protestant princes - led by Frederick of the Palatinate - and the Danish king allied with them. The victories were initially won by the Catholic forces, who lost 50% of their population in Bohemia, killed or fled, and the Catholic forces were able to occupy Denmark for a short period. The euphoria of these victories prompted Emperor Ferdinand to issue the Edict of Restoration in 1629 demanding the return of all church lands seized since the Reformation, after he retracted the policies of limited tolerance previously approved by the Treaty of Augsburg, and invaded the provinces beyond the Rhine in retaliation, upsetting the balance of power in the empire.
But the Protestant forces, led by King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, were able to invade northern Germany, then marched across the empire, undermining the emperor’s victories, before he was killed in a battle in 1632 with the commander of the Catholic armies, and the war raged, which eventually turned from a religious conflict into a political conflict between the two Habsburg families ( The family of the Roman Emperor) in Austria and Spain on the one hand, and the ruling Bourbons in France on the other hand.
France actually entered the war in 1536, and over the next thirteen years, the war covered all parts of Europe, financed by all the princes and nobles in it, and in the period from 1618 to 1648, the decline in the population of the empire reached approximately 8 million people, and several years passed. Decades before Europe's economy can recover.
In 1648, all parties were completely exhausted by the killing, destruction, and debts, so they decided to begin peace negotiations via letters, after the delegations refused to be in one place. These negotiations resulted in the signing of the famous Peace of Westphalia, to which I will devote a later article and its results. Although there was no "victorious" party in the literal sense, Catholics benefited from these agreements, when the proportion of Protestants in Western and Central Europe declined from about half in 1590 to only one-fifth in 1690.
Some believe that Spain was the biggest loser in that war, as it emerged burdened with debt and was unable to catch up with the rest of the European countries economically, especially France, England, and the Netherlands, which relied on trade while the Spanish maintained their agricultural system.
?Why did the wars last so long
The belief that prevailed among all the warring sects was that they were waging a battle between good and evil, which was the main reason for the continuation of these wars for many decades, and this may be the reason for sectarian wars in every place and time. Each party has a firm conviction that it possesses the “true religion,” and that it fights in the name of God and in support of Him, and that the other party is the enemies of “the truth.” This growing sense of righteousness and entitlement for each party made it difficult to concede or admit defeat, even when things were going against them. Also, this belief stood in the way of any of the settlements that only occurred through military pressure on one party, not because it was convinced of the other party’s right and religious freedom.
The Calvinists, for example, were spreading among their fighters the idea that a “divine miracle” was about to happen, and God would dedicate it to them, so victory would be theirs. This idea was so powerful that it made caravans of warriors stick to their war even in the worst setbacks. This happened, for example, with William of Orange, the leader of the Dutch revolt, who, after his defeat, expressed sadness and uncertainty, but then declared that he believed that “the will of God” would eventually take hold.
Each party's belief that others are enemies of God led them to portray them as non-human creatures. This means that taking their lives is a good deed that does not violate morality, and that killing people in ordinary wars is different from killing them in religious wars, as they are nothing but agents of Satan! As the Spanish writer Diego de Savadera y Fajardo, who lived during that period, points out.
All those wars and the losses and destruction they caused had an adverse effect on the Christian religion, as the levels of faith and the numbers of believers declined significantly due to the religion’s association with murder and intimidation in the minds of successive generations. The end of those wars was accompanied by a scientific and intellectual renaissance at all levels in Europe that contributed to Reducing the importance of faith and the occult in general, and marked the beginning of the European Enlightenment, as a reaction against religious fanaticism, and the establishment of an intellectual movement based on rationalism, humanity, and tolerance.
The state of the Christian Church after the Treaty of Westphalia, and then throughout the European Enlightenment, and its relationship with its men and their ideas, will be the subject of the next part.
Source: websites