Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Introduction: The Reformed Augustinians of Lower Germany
- 2 The German Reformed Congregation and its Province of Lower Germany
- 3 The Antwerp Cloister
- 4 The Authorities Respond: Pope and Emperor Seize the Initiative
- 5 Wittenberg’s Influence on the Events in Lower Germany
- 6 Reformation Ideas in the Low Countries
- 7 ‘Summer is at the Door’: The Impact of the Executions on Martin Luther
- 8 The Impact of the Executions in the Low Countries
- 9 The Impact of the Executions in the German-Speaking Lands of the Holy Roman Empire
- 10 The Marian Dimension
- 11 The Reformed Augustinians of Lower Germany and the Dynamics of the Early Reformation
- Bibliography
- About the Author
- Index
4 - The Authorities Respond: Pope and Emperor Seize the Initiative
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 November 2020
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Introduction: The Reformed Augustinians of Lower Germany
- 2 The German Reformed Congregation and its Province of Lower Germany
- 3 The Antwerp Cloister
- 4 The Authorities Respond: Pope and Emperor Seize the Initiative
- 5 Wittenberg’s Influence on the Events in Lower Germany
- 6 Reformation Ideas in the Low Countries
- 7 ‘Summer is at the Door’: The Impact of the Executions on Martin Luther
- 8 The Impact of the Executions in the Low Countries
- 9 The Impact of the Executions in the German-Speaking Lands of the Holy Roman Empire
- 10 The Marian Dimension
- 11 The Reformed Augustinians of Lower Germany and the Dynamics of the Early Reformation
- Bibliography
- About the Author
- Index
Summary
Abstract
Chapter Four investigates the responses of various opponents of Reformation ideas emanating from the Reformed Augustinian cloisters of Lower Germany. After the Diet of Worms (1521), pope and emperor made common cause with forces already arrayed against religious dissent in Lower Germany. This chapter traces the development of the campaign against the Antwerp Augustinians, which quickly expanded to include the other six Reformed Augustinian cloisters of Lower Germany. It also explores the pope's response to these Augustinians as it relates to his capacious efforts to limit Reformed Augustinian influence throughout the empire. The chapter demonstrates that key authorities understood the Reformed Augustinians as a threat, and that the response to that threat was an important element in the early Reformation.
Keywords: Jerome Aleander, book burnings, Inquisition, Frans van der Hulst
A simple narration of the events surrounding the rise and fall of the Antwerp Augustinian cloister reveals its connections to the highest levels of temporal and ecclesiastical authority of the era, the Holy Roman Emperor and the Roman Pontiff respectively. It further indicates that Luther and the hierarchy of the German Reformed Augustinians were keenly aware of what was happening. But if one argument of this book is that the fight over the cloisters of the Province of Lower Germany must be seen as a proxy battle, it is necessary to investigate more closely the precise roles played by the emperor and pope in the events surrounding the cloisters of that province – especially the Antwerp house – and to consider their actions against the background of broader events in the early Reformation. An analysis of the nature and extent to which they were involved will demonstrate not only an awareness of, but a considerable direct participation in these events.
Efforts to Control Religious Dissent in the Low Countries Prior to 1521
Prior to pope and emperor entering the struggle against Reformation impulses in Brabant, the lines there had already been drawn. A coalition comprised of the faculty of theology from the University of Leuven, representatives of the mendicant orders, and the inquisition of the Bishop of Cambrai (with significant overlap among these three groups) had already censured Luther's ideas and confronted humanist-minded reformers in the Low Countries.
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- Publisher: Amsterdam University PressPrint publication year: 2020