The Reformation and Wars of Religion
What really happened during the Reformation and the Wars of Religion? Was the Reformation the expected consequence of a corrupted church or a surprising rebellion against a devoted and contented Christendom? Was Western Civilization liberated by Martin Luther and the reformers or crippled by them? When the Reformations had settled, was “religious warfare” the inevitable result? Who was at fault for the 16th and 17th century wars, how brutal was the fighting, and how much did religion—whether Christian or Islamic—motivate people to kill each other? The course will explore the range of scholarly opinions on these questions as it surveys the history of Western Europe and its relations with the Ottoman Empire from 1350 to 1683. The course begins with the height of medieval Europe newly threatened by the rising Ottoman Empire. It then transitions to the development of the three strands of the Reformation—Magisterial Protestants, Catholics, and Radical Reformers—that competed with one another during the European Reformations. Students will experience the confidence and crisis of Late Medieval Christians, follow the lives of the major reformers, endure the unraveling of Christendom in its wake, watch the Ottoman advance that threatened to overwhelm the West, and understand how the medieval world transitioned to the early modern world.
Lecture Topics
UNIT 1: 1300 - 1516 The Last Medieval Reformation
To 1400: The King and a Banking Family in a World in Crisis
To 1400: Three Peasants in a World of Hope
To 1414: To Solve the Schism and Save Christendom
To 1418: The Council of Constance
Met Trip 1: Joan of Arc’s Christian World
A Medici Oversees the Renaissance and the Reunified Church
A Medici & the Italian Wars
UNIT 2: 1480 - 1555 Nine Lives in the Reformation that Went Awry
To 1516: An Emperor, Four Humanists, a Monk, & a Nun
To 1523: Luther & Faith Alone
To 1531: Expansion & Conflict
To 1540 (The Continent): The Spread of Anabaptism
To 1540 (England): The King’s Great Matter
To 1547: The Parsonage & Concluding Thoughts on Luther
To 1555: Calvin’s Reformation and the Nine Day’s Queen
UNIT 3: 1555 - 1588 Battle Lines after the Council of Trent
Orphan, Bastard, Prince, & Last Knight in a Tridentine World
To 1571: Catholic Defense against the Ottomans
To 1572: Catholic Offense against the Protestants
To 1587: The Protestants Strike Back
To 1610: Armadas, Assassins, and Armistices
UNIT 4: 1588 - 1653 Wars of Religion or Rise of Violent States?
To 1618: A Cardinal, a Puritan, and the Calm before the Storm
To 1648: The Thirty Years War
To 1658: The Puritan’s Righteous Cause
1683: A Friar at Vienna and the End of Christendom . . .