Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 20.djvu/352

Rh 334 REFORMATION reigning duke entered into a treaty with the Protestant League. Treaties were about the same time made with France and Denmark, and it was evident that the new confederation would be able to oppose a resistance which even the resources of the empire might not be able to overcome. At this juncture another circumstance formed an appreciable element in the imperial calculations. All attempts at arriving at an understanding with the Turks had proved without result, and Solyman's invasion of Hungary was imminent. At the advice of his brother, Charles accordingly condescended to treat with the mem- bers of the League, and in July 1532 the religious peace of Nuremberg afforded a temporary compromise, which it was provided should remain in force until a general council, of the character demanded by the Lutherans, was con- vened, or until the assembling of a new diet of the states of the empire. In the meantime the Lutherans were to be free from molestation and to be permitted to preach and publish the doctrines of the Confession of Augsburg. They were also to be left in possession of such church property as they still retained, and the jurisdiction of the courts of the empire in ecclesiastical questions was to be suspended. In return for these concessions the Leaguers pledged themselves to be loyal to the emperor, and to render aid both with money and men in the event of an invasion by the Turks. They likewise undertook not to afford protection either to the Anabaptists or to the followers of Zwingli. Contest The great leader of the Reformation in Switzerland was in Swit- a t this time no more. In the year 1531 the feud between ^ ' the Catholic and Protestant cantons had reached a climax; in the former the more bigoted section, aided by Ferdinand of Austria, had commenced an active persecution, and some of the Protestant preachers had been put to death,. In order to repel these aggressions a league was formed between Zurich, Strasburg, and the landgrave of Hesse, and Zwingli strongly advised that a combined attack should forthwith be made on their opponents in Lucerne and Schwyz, and freedom of conscience obtained by an armed demonstration. Divided counsels, however, pre- vailed ; and eventually Zurich was left to bear the brunt of the contest almost entirely alone. At the battle of Cappel (llth October 1531) Zwingli fell, and his followers sustained a defeat which, although they carried on a war of fierce retaliation, they were unable to retrieve, and a decided reaction in favour of Catholicism now set in. The death of (Ecolampadius took place soon after the battle of Cappel, and was followed in 1535 by that of Francis Kolb, the Bernese Reformer. The heroic end of Zwingli was a matter of exultation not only to his Catho- lic antagonists but even to Luther, who was ungenerous enough to class his brother Reformer with lawless fanatics like Miinzer, 1 and in a letter written in the following year even went so far as to warn Duke Albert of Prussia not to tolerate the followers of Zwingli within his territories. 2 Progress In Germany, on the other hand, the Reformation con- Ger " tinued to progress. In 1533 Philip of Hesse, who was subsidized by France, inflicted a severe defeat on Ferdi- nand, and was able shortly after to reinstate Ulrich, duke of Wiirtemberg, in his dominions. The emperor at the peace of Kadan (29th June 1534) undertook to abstain from further interference in the ecclesiastical affairs of the duchy, and the understanding arrived at on that occasion is regarded by Ranke as marking the second important stage in the history of the Reformation in Germany. The Reformed faith was forthwith established throughout Wiirt- emberg, and soon after was introduced into Holstein, Fomerania, the Mark of Brandenburg, Upper Saxony, 1 De Wette, Letters, iv. Nos. 1429, 1430. 2 Ib., No. 1445. Brunswick, and the Palatinate. The League of Schnial- kald was thus strengthened by numerous and powerful accessions ; among the number was King Francis himself, who, although he was repressing the Reformation move- ment with severity in his own dominions, saw his advan- tage in siding with the Protestant princes against his chief enemy, the emperor. Henry VIII. declared himself also a supporter of the League. The city of Basel had already in 1534 put forth, independently, a new confession of faith, and this was followed in 1536 by a second, which received the approval of Luther and became known as the " first Helvetic confession." In order, however, still further to unite the Protestant party, with a view to a general council, Luther, in conjunction with other theologians from Saxony, Swabia, and Hesse, drew up and transmitted to the Lutheran representatives at Schmalkald in February 1537 another confession. In this the doctrines contained in the Confession of Augsburg were reiterated, but in a far more uncompromising form. Luther denounced the pope as Antichrist and the mass as an abomination. Melanchthon declared himself unable to concur in this language, and in an additional article expressed his readi- ness to yield submission to the bishop of Rome as the highest dignitary in the church so soon as the latter should sanction really scriptural teaching. As elsewhere, the history of the Reformation in France Refon is that of a twofold struggle, an endeavour to bring about tion i; a reform of discipline, and a contest which pointed in the ^ direction of doctrinal change. The abuses that prevailed in the Gallican Church at this period were scarcely less glaring than those in Germany. The appointments to the higher benefices were dictated solely by the most sordid motives, political ambition, court favouritism, and family interest. Pluralism largely prevailed ; and both bishoprics and abbeys were granted in commendam to such an extent that residence was almost unknown. Preferments were often bestowed upon laymen, and even upon females and children. Pierre de 1'Estoile, writing of the middle of the 16th century, states that the majority of the benefices in France were then held by persons who were by the canon law disqualified for their office. But in no country was the movement, that aimed at the correction of abuses such as these, more completely dissociated from the religious revolution contemplated by the Protestant leaders. In the first instance, the doctrines of Luther were favourably regarded by many of the nobility and of the episcopal order. The leader of the party which represented those doctrines was Lefevre d'Etaples, whose translation of the New Testament into French appeared in the year 1522. In the year 1521, having been singled out by the Sorbonno for special attack as a teacher of the tenets which the university had just so emphatically condemned, he deemed it prudent, notwithstanding the encouragement he received from Francis, to retire to Meaux. Here, under the pro- tection of Brigonnet, the eminent bishop of that diocese, he became the guiding genius of a movement which at ono time seemed likely to transform Meaux into a second Wittenberg. This activity, however, was very early checked by the terrors of a commission. Lefevre and his disciple Farel fled to Strasburg, the latter subsequently to Geneva, where his efforts founded the famous school of theology associated with the name of Calvin (see CALVIN) ; Brigonnet, alarmed at the prospect of a schism which threatened to prove permanent, reverted to Catholicism, and even acquiesced in a policy of persecution in his own diocese. Both Francis I. and his sister Margaret, queen of Navarre, were at this time disposed to support the Reformation. When the Sorbonne condemned the Col- loquies of Erasmus (May 1526) Francis gave orders that 24,000 copies should be printed and circulated throughout