Reformation and Society in Sixteenth Century Europe

by A.G. Dickens

The book examines some of the causes of the Reformation and the importance of universities and the printing press in fueling the reformation.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

216 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1966

About the author

Arthur Geoffrey Dickens FBA, English academic and author.

Educated at Oxford, served in the military government of Lübeck from May to October 1945 and was appointed Professor of History at Hull in 1949.

Best known for his work on the English Reformation.

Reviews

[Monica · Rating 5 out of 5]

This gem is a quintessential example of the wonderfully esoteric books found in college, bought used from the University of Michigan Libraries, because I consider myself knowledgeable about the 16th century, and the 139 paintings, etchings, sketches, political cartoons, illustrations, maps and portraits of the day appealed to my passion for art history. It’s smartly presented, 6 x 8.5 finished size, with black linen hard covers, the title gold foil hot-stamped on the spine.

Will I ever need to know who Luke of Prague was,
http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/MOL_MOS...

or what Thomist Rationalism was?
http://www.reformed.org/webfiles/anti...

Who Zwingli was and what was he responsible for? (He was actually pretty important in the scheme of things...) http://www.flowofhistory.com/units/we...

What about nominalism? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nominalism

Or that in 1532, in the Angrogna Valley, at the council of Cianrorian, Protestant reformers accepted celibacy and the two sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion? (Read this link fast, The Britannia wants you to pay for knowledge...)
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/t...

Have you ever heard of the Albigenses? I hadn't until reading this. http://www.carm.org/heresy/albigensis...

During the 12th century, an Arab philosopher, Ibn Rushd, interpreted Aristotle's writings http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Averroism and many ideas survived into the 16th century writings of the famous renaissance humanist, Pico della Mirandola http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pico_del...

Ate bread and wine the body and blood of Christ,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consubst...

or do you take it on faith?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transubs...

Anabaptist history is particularly intriguing. “Like so many revolutionary movements, the Protestant Reformation swiftly gave birth to enthusiasts who sought to outbid and displace its original leaders.” Not only were people wishing to dislodge themselves from Catholicism, they became separatist from Calvin, Luther and Zwingli, holding simplified communion, refusing infant baptism in favor of baptism at adulthood, some by immersion in rivers, forming groups behaving as a “gathered church” without hierarchical leadership. The trend was popular with the peasant population and spread wildly throughout Zurich and the surrounding countryside outside Switzerland, into Germany and Austria.

One leader, (Huth), refused to pay war-taxation to the state, defending the action from scripture, defying the imperial government. He was burned at the stake and his wife was cast into the Danube with a stone around her neck.

Another strong leader, Jakob Hutter, formed over eighty hard working Anabaptist communities in Moravia. Communities spread to Poland and Italy. In Munster, (Westphalia), Communalism was advocated, and in Holland, upon “universal baptism,” real property was declared to be common. Radicalism drove Catholics and Lutherans away; the city council was dissolved and a theocracy was set in place. “Sins made punishable by death included blasphemy, reviling parents, disobeying a master, adultery, spreading scandal and complaining.”(!!!)

"The introduction of polygamy…owed something to emergency conditions in the siege of Munster. There were four times as many women as men. Since the bible said to be fruitful and multiply,“a husband should not be impeded by the sterility or indisposition of one wife. Moreover women,‘who every-where have been getting the upper hand’, would no longer be able to lead men about like bears on ropes”. [One leader:] “took as many as sixteen wives and had one beheaded for impertinence trampling her body in the presence of the rest of the harem.”

Anabaptism had no single spiritual leader. The “Schleitheim Confession,” written in 1527, (Michael Sattler, Zurich), gave the code seven articles. “Baptism shall only be accorded to ‘those who have learned repentance and amendment in life… Those in error may only be excommunicated after three warnings, and this must be done before the breaking of bread, so that only a pure council and united church will sit together. The Lord’s Supper is only for the baptized and is a memorial-service. Members must relinquish both popish and anti-popish worship, and to take no part in public affairs. They must renounce warfare and the ‘unchristian, devilish weapons of force...

There was a general belief in free will, contrary to Protestant belief in predestination.

“Few Anabaptists taught polygamy, and sexual innovations or orgies took place in some sectarian groups, these groups were at most on the fringes of Anabaptsm…[they:] did not teach communism, though versions of it proved useful…The most broadly subversive doctrine lay in the rejection of secular law and military duties…A sect which withdraws from the rest of society…restricts salvation to its own little flock...can hardly claim the ancestry of Milton and Locke...the Anabaptists did...strike a blow against... more tolerant...Reformation thought...Anabaptist indiscretion blasted the infant shoots of liberalism...in the imaginations of many...seemed...a vast conspiracy to tear down the fragile social structure of Europe...hence some persecution became inevitable.”

This book challenges average readers. The author expects a deeper knowledge of religious history and geography from the start. It’s a level 4 or 5 book, so students at level 1 or 2, get ready for the ride.

Pantheism, different movements of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation have helped us progress to where we are today. People are not being burned at the stake, yes, warfare is far more ghastly, but hopefully we are making progress.

Some other interesting links
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eschatology

Pauline-Augustinian theory
http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&...
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/jo...

Philip IV vs Boniface VIII
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Bon...

Eschatological ideas
http://epress.anu.edu.au/islamic/itc/...

Pantheism + anti-Romanism
http://books.google.com/books?id=l5ah...

Celtic Spirituality
http://www.faith.org.uk/Publications/...

[Pip]

especially liked the description of the potato as "that humble aristocrat of history".

[Matias Andrade · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really great, very dense though, have to read and research terms in encyclopedia.

[Mark Bownas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting ideas and content, however the style of writing made it unnecessarily hard to follow.

[Derek Henderson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Technical, dense and wholly unpopular book of history. Dickens certainly doesn't believe in letting his hair down. I gave the extra star for the copious and interesting illustrations.

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title of this scholarly book accurately describes its contents. In just 200 pages I learned much more than I ever knew about Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, and others and their times. I also met new characters, some of whom I find like much better than the more famous names. Hans Denk is one, and his friend Sebastien Franck is another. They more closely resemble Erasmus, the great humanist of the age. Wonderful illustrations by contemporary artists, e.g. Cranach the Elder, Durer, Holbein, fill and enrich this book.

[Walt · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book provides a very good overview of Reformation Europe. It becomes a little tedious in the later chapters when Dickens spends more time (larger chapters) on Calvin's theology. In comparison, he seems to gloss over Luther, Melanchthon, Zwingli, Muntzer, and others adequately.

[John E · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like the others in this series, this study is well-illustrated and much like a textbook. There was a lot on the Reformation and very little on the Society of the 1500s. It is tough to get 100 years of history into 200 pages. Not my favorite in the series.

[Alan Swartz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reformation and society in sixteenth-century Europe by A. G. Dickens (1966), [1st American ed