Luther’s incredible skill with languages and the printing press made his ideas well known outside of Germany. Ulrich Zwingli (1484–1531) introduced religious reform ideas in Switzerland, campaigning against church abuses and preaching against all practices that were not found specifically in the Scriptures. Like Luther, Zwingli rejected celibacy, the worship of saints, fasting, and confession, and regarded the Bible – not the pope – as the final authority. However, he disagreed with Luther by denying all the sacraments and insisting that the Eucharist, which he called the Last Supper or Communion, was only a symbol and that Christ was not actually present.
Zwingli set up a theocracy (a government that is led by religious leaders or ruled by someone who is said to have divine authority) from 1523 until 1525. He required church attendance by all citizens and regulated many aspects of their personal lives. Zwingli’s brand of Protestantism spread from Zurich to all but five of Switzerland’s thirteen cantons. Civil war broke out between Protestants and Catholics. In 1531, Zwingli died in battle fighting a religious war against the Swiss Catholic cantons. In 1531, a peace treaty was signed that allowed each canton to determine its own religion. This agreement served as a model for the other European countries fighting religious wars.
John Calvin (1509–1564) was another influential reformer in Switzerland. Trained as a lawyer, he fled from Catholic France to safety in Geneva because he feared persecution for being a Protestant. In 1536, he published The Institutes of Christian Religion. Although he was a generation younger than Luther, he was influenced by Luther’s writings, which first appeared in France in 1518. Like Luther, he believed that the Bible was the final authority and salvation was possible by faith alone. However, Calvin had his own views on the power of God and the nature of human beings as well as the role of the state:
Predestination Calvin viewed man as sinful and corrupt and believed that God had already determined from the beginning who was going to be saved (the Elect) and who was going to be damned. Since God was all-powerful and predetermined our fate, there was no room for free will. Those predestined for salvation could be identified by the virtue of their moral life. In time, the Elect would also be identified by their material and economic success. The belief that poverty was a sign of damnation contributed to the idea known as the Protestant work ethic and served as a justification for capitalism. The Calvinist doctrine permitting the charging of interest on loans also helped to support the ideals of capitalism.
Unity of church and state Unlike Luther, Calvin did not believe that the church should be ruled by the state. He insisted that it should be a moral force in the secular government. Under his theocratic state, Calvinism became the official religion of Geneva. He imposed laws that controlled the religious and secular life of the people. He closed down all the taverns, outlawed card playing or any other forms of amusement, and was intolerant of anyone who did not follow these rules.
During the 1540s and 1550s, Calvinism spread throughout Europe under different names. In Scotland, where John Knox helped to make it a state religion, it was called Presbyterianism. In England, the Calvinists were called Puritans who later brought it to America. In France, Calvin’s followers were known as the Huguenots. Many were attracted to Calvinism by its simplicity and strict moral life.
In England, political and emotional considerations, rather than religious reasons, were the causes for the reform movement. King Henry VIII (who reigned from 1509–1547) led the English Reformation. In 1509, Henry married Catherine of Aragon – the aunt of the powerful Emperor Charles V, King of Spain and the Holy Roman Empire. After twenty years of marriage, Catherine failed to produce a male heir to the throne; all of her sons died in infancy (one daughter, Mary, survived). Henry, meanwhile, had fallen in love with Anne Boleyn, a young woman at the Court, that he wanted to marry. As a Catholic, however, he was unable to obtain a divorce. In 1527, Henry appealed to the pope for an annulment, thinking that the pope would grant it because of Henry’s past service and the fact that he had written a pamphlet against Luther and had even received the title, “Defender of the Faith.”
When Pope Clement VII (who reigned from 1523–1534), who was under the control of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, refused to grant the annulment, Henry took matters into his own hands. Between 1529 and 1533, Henry used Parliament to dissolve ties with the Church in Rome. Parliament cut off all revenue to Rome and no longer recognized the pope’s supreme authority in religious matters in England. In April 1533, Henry appointed Thomas Cranmer as Archbishop of Canterbury, who declared Henry’s marriage to Catherine null and void. Henry had already secretly married Anne who was three months pregnant. In September, Anne gave birth to a baby girl (Elizabeth) who later ruled England from 1558–1603 as Elizabeth I. Still seeking a male heir, Henry married a total of six more times. His third wife, Jane Seymour, finally produced his male heir, Edward, who ruled from 1547–1553 as Edward VI.
In 1534, Parliament passed the Act of Supremacy, which made the king of England instead of the pope the head of the Church of England. As the leader of the Church of England (known as the Anglican Church), Henry did not change any of the doctrines or rituals except the one regarding the authority of the pope. However, he seized the monasteries, which were Catholic and represented 25% of the country’s wealth. He also distributed the Catholic Church’s land to the nobles who supported him, while persecuting Protestants as heretics. In 1539, Parliament passed the The Acts of Six Articles that made Catholic beliefs obligatory in England. After Henry’s death in 1547, there were some doctrinal changes. His son, Edward VI (who reigned from 1547–1553), introduced Calvinism. During this time (in 1549), Archbishop Thomas Cranmer prepared the Book of Common Prayer. This book, a version of which is still used today, includes the order for all services of the Church of England.
Mary (who reigned from 1553–1558), Edward’s half sister and daughter of Catherine of Aragon, tried to restore the links with the papacy but was unsuccessful. Mary had many Protestants killed. She earned the nickname “Bloody Mary” from her opponents. Finally, under Elizabeth, a religious settlement (the Elizabethan Settlement) was worked out in which the Church of England followed a moderate course that provided for a Church of England (or Anglican Church) that was Protestant with Catholic features and made concessions to both Protestants and Catholics:
Protestant concession: Priests in the Church of England were allowed to marry.
Catholic concession: The Church of England kept some of the symbols of Catholicism, such as the golden crucifix and rich robes.
The Book of Common Prayer also was revised to be somewhat more acceptable to Catholics. While Elizabeth restored religious peace, she was threatened from Catholic Spain. In 1588, Philip II assembled the Spanish Armada, a fleet of 130 ships and 19,000 sailors, who were ready to invade England. When they reached the southwest coast of England in July, the bad weather and the strength of the English fleet defeated the Armada.