Saxony, home of Martin Luther, was the first country to be divided over the issue of the Protestant faith. While Ernestine Saxony became the heartland of the Reformation, the neighbouring principality of Albertine Saxony saw the beginnings of the Counter-Reformation. The two Saxonies provide almost perfect laboratory conditions for comparing contrary reactions to the Reformation. By investigating the lives, piety and politics of the Wettin princes, Frederick the Wise, John the Constant and George of Saxony the Reformation is revealed to have been a true game changer. Christian humanism, attempts at church reform and sympathy for the Reformation did not correlate neatly. Rather, the dynamics of religious conversion disrupted lines of continuity from the Middle Ages into the early modern era. That disruption testifies to the groundbreaking impact of Protestant ideas. At the same time, early resistance to Luther in Electoral Saxony proves that even in his homeland, Reformation and Catholic reform were alternatives right from the very beginning.

Reformations Compared presents a collection of comparative studies of the Reformation as it reverberated across Europe in the sixteenth century. Each chapter is focused on two or more comparable geographical spaces, isolating the variables that help explain how and why the Reformation unfolded as it did in each separate setting. Rejecting notions of insularity, the contributors seek out the connections and contrasts that shaped the experiences of the Reformation, from the Baltic to the Mediterranean and from Ireland to Transylvania. In doing so, the volume offers a fresh understanding of the conditions in which the movement succeeded, whether wholly or partially, and those in which it did not. Reformations Compared provides a broad vantage point that encourages readers to reshape their understanding of this decisive episode in European history.

The religious world of late medieval and early modern Central Europe is complicated, convoluted and, above, all entangled. But despite the real and tangible connections that linked the various polities of this region together, scholars have tended to explore this landscape along anachronistic divisions defined narrowly by language and nation. This article, by contrast, examines connections that developed between the Bohemian and Austrian lands. It begins in the mid-fourteenth century by exploring rivalling efforts of Emperor Charles IV in Prague and his son-in-law, Duke Rudolf IV of Austria, to build the institutional foundations upon which critical ecclesiastical changes occurred in the following three centuries. The chapter traces parallel reform programmes in the fifteenth century that had very different outcomes. While Hussitism left Bohemia isolated, the efforts of Nicholas of Cusa and others helped to integrate the Austrian lands into the broader ecclesiastical culture of the West. The sixteenth century brought an Erasmian humanism to both regions as well as more radical expressions of reform. Protestantism reached its high point here in the late sixteenth century only to collapse dramatically a few decades later with the great crisis of the Thirty Years’ War. The chapter concludes with a comparison of the exiles who left this region after the Catholic victory.

Following the Battle of Mohács in 1526 the kingdom of Hungary was divided into three parts: the north and west came under Habsburg rule, the east formed the new principality of Transylvania while the rest was occupied by the Ottomans. That division created a favourable environment for the spread of the Reformation. The new religious ideas had already spread quickly to Hungary after 1517 with merchants and students from the German-speaking communities of the royal free cities being among the first to adopt and disseminate them. Even the royal couple, King Louis II and Queen Mary of Habsburg, showed a receptiveness to the Reformation through their relationship with Prince George of Brandenburg. However, after Mohács 75 per cent of Hungary’s medieval parishes collapsed and different variants of Protestantism won wide support across all three areas into which the former kingdom was divided. Antitrinitarianism also gained many adherents in those parts of Hungary that were not subject to the Habsburgs. Between the Catholics, Protestants and Antitrinitarians, as well as the substantial Orthodox Christian communities in the region, and the Muslims in Ottoman areas, Hungary became remarkably multi-confessional. However, the Catholic Church retained enough support across all three areas to form the basis of a remarkable renewal under Habsburg auspices in the seventeenth century.

The discovery of a consignment of books of Protestant propaganda in Seville in the autumn of 1557 convinced the Spanish inquisitors of the existence of clandestine circles that promoted doctrines that contradicted Catholic orthodoxy as redefined between 1547 and 1552 during the first sessions of the Council of Trent. The discovery of a second community of religious dissidents in Valladolid a few weeks later, followed by the arrest on suspicion of Lutheranism of Bartolomé de Carranza y Miranda, archbishop of Toledo, on 22 August 1559 created the impression in the royal court of Philip II that Spain had escaped an odious heretical conspiracy hatched by foreigners and supported by members of its own nobility and senior clergy. Some of the outstanding figures among the Seville and Valladolid dissidents cannot, contrary to what historiography has long maintained, be characterised simply as Erasmists; many of them subscribed to the doctrinal core of Protestantism. There were several networks of Lutherans in Spain, as well as among the communities of exiled Spaniards throughout Europe. The Reformation made a greater impression in Iberia than has long been assumed.

This chapter offers a comparative analysis of the territories along the southern Baltic littoral, namely Poland, Pomerania and Mecklenburg, with a primary focus on identifying the overarching patterns in the development of the Reformation in the region. The emergence and dissemination of the Reformation in the Baltic region can be traced back to Martin Luther’s prominent public appearance in Worms in 1521. Subsequently, the reform movement rapidly transcended the political and ecclesiastical boundaries in this area. Drawing upon pre-existing institutional frameworks, this article delves into the mechanisms behind the propagation of the new religious message, the establishment of reform networks and the responses of secular authorities. By shedding light on the content of Evangelical preaching and the phenomenon of Baltic iconoclasm, this study aims to discern the identity of the earliest proponents of the burgeoning reform movement. The chapter argues, however, that the subsequent monolithic Lutheran character of the region was a result of the collective decision of princes and secular authorities to adopt the Reformation according to the Wittenberg model.

Despite being inundated with publications on the subject historians today feel less confident than ever that they truly understand the Reformation. The prevalence of national paradigms, such as ‘confessionalisation’ in German Reformation studies and ‘revisionism’ in English Reformation studies, encourages scholars to focus their attention on local circumstances and on specific individuals in those localities without due attention to the bigger picture. The sheer volume of case-studies being generated risks the loss of an overall perspective, and threatens to obscure the magnitude and significance of the Reformation as a European phenomenon of the first order. It is critically important to appreciate the continental scale of the Reformation because it reflected the scale and severity of the crisis of authority that beset the Catholic Church during the half-century or so following Fr Martin Luther’s announcement of the sola scriptura principle. That crisis cannot be explained by reference to local circumstances only. It went to the very heart of the institution, and it posed an existential threat to the Catholic Church. Reformation historians have yet to explain convincingly why Luther’s challenge resonated with such devastating effects across the continent. This collection of essays reflects the impact of the Reformation across Europe and offers explanations of its impact.