Jane, I give you my hand and my heart, and half of everything that is mine. Jane, will you marry me?
After 1530 the emperor, Charles V, made clear his intention to crush the growing heresy. In defense, the Lutheran princes banded together in 1531 in the Schmalkaldic League, and between 1546 and 1555 a sporadic civil war raged. The combatants reached a compromise in the Peace of Augsburg (1555), which allowed each prince to decide the religion of his subjects, forbade all sects of Protestantism other than Lutheranism, and ordered all Catholic bishops to give up their property if they turned Lutheran.
The effects of these provisions on Germany were profound. Lutheranism became a state religion in large portions of the empire. From Germany it spread to Scandinavia. Religious opinions became the private property of the princes, and the individual had to believe what his prince wanted him to believe, be it Lutheran or Catholic.
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Luther’s conservative political and economic views arose from his belief that the equality of all people before God applied to spiritual not secular matters. While alienating the peasants, such views were a boon to alliances with the princes, many of whom became Lutheran in part because Luther’s views allowed them to control the church in their territories, thereby strengthening their power and wealth.
Encouraged by the reformer’s concept of the freedom of a Christian, which they applied to economic and social spheres, the German peasants revolted against their lords. Long ground down by the nobles, the peasants included in their twelve demands abolition of serfdom—unless it could be justified from the gospel—and relief from the excessive services demanded of them.
At first Luther recognized the justice of the peasants’ complaints, but when they turned to violence against established authority, he lashed out against them. In a virulent pamphlet, Against the Thievish and Murderous Hordes of Peasants , Luther called on the princes to “knock down, strangle, and stab . . . and think nothing so venomous, pernicious, or Satanic as an insurgent.”
In 1522 Luther returned to Wittenberg to put into effect a spiritual reform that became the model for much of Germany. He abolished the office of bishop, since he found no warrant for it in Scripture. The churches needed pastors, not dignitaries. Most of the ministers in Saxony and surrounding territories abandoned celibacy. Monks and nuns also married. After exhorting others to marry, Luther himself finally agreed to take a former nun, Katherine Von Bora, as his wife.
Dominican John Tetzel was preaching throughout much of Germany on behalf of a papal fundraising campaign to complete the construction of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. In exchange for a contribution, Tetzel boasted, he would provide donors with an indulgence that would apply even beyond the grave and free souls from purgatory. “As soon as the coin in the coffer rings,” went his jingle, “the soul from purgatory springs.”
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