Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 12.djvu/787

 REFORMATION

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REFORMATION

in widening circles. Into Pfalz-Neuburg and the towns of Halberstadt, Halle, etc., the Reformation found entrance. The collapse of the Smalkaldic League (1547) somewhat stemmed the progress of the Reformation: Juhus von Pflug was installed in his Diocese of Naumburg, Duke Henry of Brunswick- Wolfenbiittel recovered his lands, and Hermann von Wied had to resign the Diocese of Cologne, where the CathoUc Faith was thus maintained.

The formula of union established by the Diet of Augsburg in 1547^8 (Augsburg Interim) did not succeed in its object, although introduced into many Protestant territories. Meanwhile the treach- ery of Prince Moritz of Saxony, who made a secret treaty with Henry 11 of France, Germany's enemy, and formed a confederation with the Protestant princes William of Hesse, John Albert of Mecklen- burg, and Albert of Brandenburg, to make war on the emperor and empire, broke the power of the emperor. At the suggestion of Charles, King Ferdinand convened the Diet of Augsburg in 1555, at which, after long negotiations, the compact known as the Religious Peace of Augsburg was concluded. This compact contained the following provisions in its twenty-two paragraphs: (1) between the Catholic imperial estates and those of the Augsburg Confession (the Zwinglians were not considered in the treaty) peace and harmony was to be observed; (2) no estate of the empire was to compel another estate or its subjects to change rehgion, nor was it to make war on such on account of religion; (3) should an ecclesiastical dignitary espouse the Augs- burg Confession, he was to lose his ecclesiastical dignity with all offices and emoluments connected with it, without prejudice, however, to his honour or private possession. Against this ecclesiastical pro- viso the Lutheran estates protested: (4) the holders of the Augsburg Confession were to be left in pos- session of all ecclesiastical property which they had held since the beginning of the Reformation; after 1555 neither party might seize anything from the other; (5) until the conclusion of peace between the contending religious bodies (to be effected at the approaching Diet of Ratisbon) the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the CathoUc hierarchy was suspended in the territories of the Augsburg Confession; (6) should any conflict arise between the parties con- cerning lands or rights, an attempt must first be made to settle such disputes by arbitration; (7) no im- perial estate might protect the subjects of another estate from the authorities; (8) every^ citizen of the Empire had the right of choosing either of the two recognized religions and of practising it in another territory without loss of rights, honour, or property (without prejudice, however, to the rights of the territorial lord over his peasantry); (9) this peace was to include the free knights and the free cities of the empire, and the imperial courts had to be guided exactly by its provisions; (10) oaths might be administered either in the name of God or of His Holy Gospel. By this peace the re- ligious schism in the German Empire was definitively established; henceforth the Catholic and Protestant estates are opposing camps. Almost all Germany, from the Netherlands frontier in the west to the PoUsh frontier in the east, the territory of the Teu- tonic Order in Prussia, Central Germany with the exception of the greater part of the western portion, and (in South Germany) Wilrtembcrg, Ansbach, Pfalz-Zweibriicken, and other small domains, with numerous free cities, had espoused the Lutheran Reformation. Moreover, in the south and south- east, which remained prevailingly Catholic, it found more or less numerous supporters. Calvinism also spread fairly widely.

But the Peace of Augsburg failed to _ secure the harmony hoped for. In defiance of its express XII.— 45

provisions, a series of ecclesiastical principaUties (2 archbishoprics, 12 bishoprics, and numerous abbeys) were reformed and secularized before the beginning of the seventeenth century. The Cathohc League was formed for the protection of Catholic interests, and to offset the Protestant Union. The Thirty Years War soon followed, a struggle most ominous for Germany, since it surrendered the country to its enemies from the west and north, and destroyed the power, wealth, and influence of the German Empire. The Peace of Westphalia, concluded in 1648 with France at Miinster and with Sweden at Osnabrtick, confirmed definitely the status of rehgious scliism in Germany, placed both the Cahdnists and the Reformed on the same footing as the Lutherans, and granted the estates immediately subject to the emperor the right of introducing the Reformation. Henceforth terri- torial sovereigns could compel their subjects to adopt a given religion, subject to the recognition of the independence of tho.se who in 1624 enjoyed the right to hold their own religious services. State Absolutism in religious matters had now attained its highest development in Germany.

In German Switzerland a similar course was pursued. After Zurich had accepted and forcibly introduced the Reformation, Basle followed its ex- ample. In Basle John CEcolampadius and Wolfgang Capito associated themselves with Zwingli, spread his teaching, and won a victory for the new faith. The Catholic members of the Great Council were exjjelled. Similar results followed in Appenzell Outer Rhodes, Schaffhausen, and Glarus. After long hesitation, the Reformation was accepted also at Berne, where an apostate Carthusian, Franz Kolb, with Johann and Berthold Haller, preached Zwing- lianism; all the monasteries were suppressed, and great violence was exercised to force Zwinglianism upon the people of the territory. St. Gall, where Joachim Vadianus preached, and a great portion of Graubiinden also adopted the innovations. Throughout the empire Zwinglianism was a strong rival of Lutheranism, and a \dolent conflict between the two confessions began, despite constant negotia- tions for union. Attempts were not wanting in Switzerland to terminate the unhappy rehgious division. In May, 1526, a great religious disputa- tion was held at Baden, the Catholics being repre- sented by Eck, Johann Faber, and Murner, and the Reformed by CEcolampadius and Berthold Haller. The result was favourable to the Cathohcs; most of the representatives of the estates present declared against the Reformation, and writings of Luther and Zwingli were prohibited. This aroused the opposition of the Reformed estates. In 1527 Zurich formed an alliance with Constance; Basle, Bern, and other Reformed estates joined the con- federacy in 1528. In self-defence the Catholic estates formed an alliance in 1529 for the protection of the true Faith within their territories. In the resulting war the CathoUc estates gained a victory at Kappel, and ZwingU was slain on the battle-field. Zurich and Berne were granted peace on condition that no place should disturb another on account of reUgion, and that Catholic services might be freely held in the common territories. The CathoUc Faith was restored in certain districts of Glarus and Appenzell; the Abbey of St. Gall was restored to the abbot, though the town remained Reformed. In Zurich, Berne, Basle, and Schaffhausen, however, the Cathohcs were unable to secure their rights. The Swiss Reformers soon composed formal state- ments of their beUefs; especially noteworthy were the First Helvetic Confession (Confessio Helvetica I), composed by Bullinger, Myconius, Gryna>us, and others (1536), and the Second Confession composed by Bullinger in 1564 (Confessio Helvetica II);