WITH AND WITHOUT CONFESSIONALIZATION. VARIETIES OF EARLY MODERN GERMAN CATHOLICISM

MARC R. FORSTER ConnecticutCollege

ABSTRACT

The article examines the origins of identity and the character of Catholic cul- ture in early modern Germany. Catholic identity, or confessionalism,developed in the two centuries after 1550 and had both popular and elite sources. The church and the state were, however, much less effectivein imposing a sense of loyalty to Catholicism than has generallybeen argued. Neither Tridentine reform (the "Counter-") in the period 1580-1620, nor the close cooperation between church and state known as "confessionalization"are sufficient to explain the creation of Catholic confessional identity. Indeed, Tridentine reform was more of an episode than a turning point in the history of German Catholicismand confessionalizationwas not possible in the many parts of Catholic Germany that lacked strong secular states. Broad-basedpopular Catholic identity had its primary roots in popular religious practices and traditions and devel- oped after the Thirty Years' War, when church and state came to accommodate many aspects of popular religion. The important role of the people in the development of confessionalism,along with the fragmentation and diversity of ecclesiasticalinstitutions, led to considerablevariety in Catholic practice across Germany, rather than to the uni- formity sought by ecclesiasticaland secular authorities.

German Catholicism in the early modern period remains poorly under- stood. Catholics of all social classes developed an identity as Catholics and demonstrated loyalty to the in their daily lives. But the origins and central characteristics of this confessional identity, and its accompanying churchliness, are not clear. The dominant "con- fessionalization" thesis asserts that confessionalism originated in the poli- cies of church officials and state bureaucrats intent on imposing order, discipline, and religious uniformity on the population from above.' This thesis provides at best an explanation of the creation of Catholic unity 316 and identity in several of the larger Catholic principalities of the Empire, particularly Bavaria. It is less successful in explaining the nature and development of Catholic culture in the majority of Catholic territories where states were weak. Furthermore, even if we emphasize the role of the state, confessionalization does not account for the important cre- ative role of the population in Catholicism. Catholic confessionalism,that is a broad popular loyalty to and identification with Catholicism, did not arise exclusively, or even primarily, from a policy of confessional- ization pursued by government officials. Instead, its origins were diverse, as was its character. Confessionalism was a defining characteristic of politics, culture, and society in the Holy Roman Empire and has become a shorthand to describe a number of different, if related, features of Gcrman history. For some scholars, confessionalism signifies that constitutional and political conflicts revolved around religious issues.' In the decades around 1600, military alliances developed along religious lines and led to the Thirty Years' War. I will use the tcrm confessionalism in a broader way. Confessionalism describes the distinct confessional cultures which developed after the Protestant Reformation. Competing religious the- ologies and institutions, different education systems, and diverging ties to the rest of Europe led to the creation of three cultural spheres (Catholic, Lutheran, Reformed), a process that was well under way by 1600, and clearly apparent by the late seventeenth century. Con- fessionalism further designates the strong sense of group identity that was so apparent to foreign visitors to Germany, which always included the identification of enemies and excluded groups. For the common people, especially in Catholic Germany, confessionalism also meant an active popular piety and a strong Kirchlichkeit, or churchliness. Ki-rchlichkeit meant, of course, loyalty to the Church and active participation in its rites. Recent research has shown that the wider population did not internalize a sense of confessional identity until after the Thirty Years' War, and in many places not until after 1 700.' The historical problem of confessionalism is, then, complicated both by the different ways the term is used and by chronological confusion. The confessionalism of Imperial politics in the late sixteenth century