There Should Be No Beggars How the Christian Reformations Changed the Very Fabric of Their Times and That of the Modern Christian World Brother Thad 2 There Should Be No Beggars Copyright 2010 Cover Image: Gallait, Louis. Monk Feeding the Poor. 1845. Neue Pinakothek. Munich, Germany. Photo credit: Don Kurtz. artrenewal.org (Author-provided member download)Web. 2 November 2010. 3 Contents Part One: The Reformers and The Reformations Introduction to Part One 4 Late Medieval Reformers 5 The Reformation in Germany 17 The Reformation on the Continent 31 The Reformation in England 46 The Catholic Reformation 63 Christianity in the New World 75 Part Two: Christianity and the Modern World Introduction to Part Two 86 Revivalism in Europe and America 87 Christianity and the Enlightenment 100 Christianity and the French Revolution 110 Nineteenth-Century Piety 123 The Churches and Modernity 143 The Missionary Movement 159 Christianity in the Twentieth Century 169 Conclusion 179 4 Introduction to Part One “There should be no beggars among Christians.” ~ Andreas Bodenstein von Karlstadt (1522)1 No one causative agent underlies the Protestant Reformation. However, a series of en- abling threads helps explain the rise of the Reformation and provides the necessary context to understand the Reformation’s earth-changing series of events. Part One of this book will exam- ine those causative threads as it details the Reformation and the extraordinary new religious tapestry woven by its reformers. In addition, Part One of this book will examine those who sought to unravel the new Protestant tapestry as it follows the the weft threads of the Counter Reformation. This book will also present a graphically-based overview of the tattered cloth of this pe- riod by examining the changing perception of the poor as seen by the religious community. These observations will be presented in snapshot form as graphical text boxes at appropriate points throughout the discussion. 1 Lindberg, Carter. ed. & trans. Piety, Politics, and Ethics: Reformation Studies in Honor of George Wolfgang Forell. Kirksville, Mo: Six- teenth Century Journal Publishers. 1984. pp. 157-66. books.google.com. Web. 4 November 2010. 5 Late Medieval Reformers “Crown and cloth maken no priest, nor the emperor’s bishop with his words, but power that crist giveth; and thus by life been priests known.” ~ John Wycliffe1 Late medieval (1300-1500) Christian piety was characterized by its intensity of feeling.2 A predominant theme in this intensely personal form of medieval piety was the transitory nature of life and the ultimate importance of eternity. The cause? One cause not to be overlooked was the horrific destruction wreaked by the Black Death.3 The effects of the Black Death were in- exorable and manifest. As noted English church historian Henry Donald Maurice Spence-Jones wrote: “We first hear of it in the Italian ports on the Black Sea. During the year 1347 there were notable atmospheric disturbances, extending over a large area of southern Europe, resulting in extensive failure of the harvest, and consequent distress and famine. In the January of 1348 we hear of a violent earthquake, which wrought immense damage in Italy and on the Mediterranean seaboard. And early in the same year the pestilence made its appearance in Avignon and other cities, and a dreadful mortality was reported, especially in the towns of Italy and France. Enormous numbers are said to have perished on the continent of Europe in the fatal year of 1348.”4 Early in the following year, the Black Death made its appearance in England. According to Spence-Jones, half of the population of England and Wales was wiped out in less than a year and the economy lay in shambles: “Its effect on England is best gauged by a simple quotation of the probable num- bers who perished of the deadly visitation. The entire population of England and Wales previously to the mortality of 1349 apparently consisted of from four to five millions half of whom seem to have perished. The general result on the life of the country was most striking. Rents fell to half their value. Thousands of acres of land lay untitled and valueless. Cottages mills and houses were left without tenants. Ordinary commodities increased 50, 100 and even 200 percent in value. Wages everywhere rose to double the previous rate and more.”5 Incredibly, the effect of the Black Death on the clergy in England was even worse. In the county of Norfolk alone 527 of 799 priests died. In the West Riding of Yorkshire, 96 priests died out of 141. In the East Riding, 60 out out of 95 perished. In all, Spence-Jones estimates that more than two thirds of the clergy of England were killed by the Black Death. Indeed, the Black Death not only killed the majority of English clergy, it also nearly destroyed the church. Spence- 1 Wordsworth, J. Typical English Churchmen, Series II. From Wyclif to Gardner. Quoting “De Papa”, Matthew, 467. The Church Historical Society. London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. 1909. 2 Landry, Stan M. Late Medieval Reformers, University of Arizona, Online presentation. 18 October 2010. Lecture notes. 3 Belyea, Gordon. Late medieval popular religion: Piety 1270-1500. Wycliff College, University of Toronto. utoronto.ca. Web. 2 Novem- ber 2010 4 Spence-Jones, Henry Donald Maurice. The Church of England: A History for the People, Vol. II, The Medieval Church. London: Cassell and Company, Limited. 1897. p. 313. 5 Spence-Jones, Henry Donald Maurice. The Church of England: A History for the People, Vol. II, The Medieval Church. London: Cassell and Company, Limited. 1897. p. 314. 6 Late Medieval Reformers Jones quoted Dr. Jessop when he wrote: “It is impossible to estimate the effect of the plague upon the religious houses … The monasteries suffered very greatly indeed from the terrible visitation. A violent disturbance of the old traditions and the utter breakdown in the old ob- servances acted as disastrously upon these institutions as the first stroke of pa- ralysis does upon men who have passed their prime; they never were again what they had been.”.6 This “utter breakdown” would deeply affect the church for gen- erations to come. The deaths of so many of the experienced clerics re- quired the bishops who survived to promote young and inexperienced — indeed “positively uneducated clerics” — to fill the historic void within the Church of England. The news on the continent was equally grave. At the general chap- ter meeting of the Franciscans held in 1351 at Lyons it was reported that the order had lost 13,883 members in Europe. As cited by Spence-Jones, 1 Wadding the Franciscan annalist at- Burning of Jews during the Black Death epidemic, 1349 tributed the “frightful mortality” of 1 Image: Burning of Jews during the Black Death epidemic, 1349. European chronicle, scanned and cropped from A History of the Jewish People by H.H. Ben- the plague to the near destruction Sasson, ed. (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1976) p.564-565. wikimedia.org. of his own European order: Web. 3 November 2010. “This evil (the black death) wrought great destruction to the holy houses of reli- gion carrying off the masters of regular discipline and the seniors of experience … Our illustrious members being carried off the rigours of discipline, being re- laxed by these calamities, could not be renewed by the youths received without the necessary training rather to fill the empty houses than to restore the lost discipline.”7 The news was much the same for members of other religious orders. As chronicled by Henry Knighton an Augustinian canon of Leicester in the early 1390’s and then translated by 19th century editor J. R. Lumby: “On a single day 1312 people died in Avignon, according to a calculation made in the pope’s presence. On another day more than 400 died. 358 of the Dominicans in Provence died during Lent. At Montpelier only seven friars survived out of 140. At Magdalen seven survived out of 160, which is quite enough. From 140 Mi- 6 Spence-Jones, Henry Donald Maurice. The Church of England: A History for the People, Vol. II, The Medieval Church. London: Cassell and Company, Limited. 1897. p. 315. 7 Spence-Jones, Henry Donald Maurice. The Church of England: A History for the People, Vol. II, The Medieval Church. London: Cassell and Company, Limited. 1897. p. 315. 7 Late Medieval Reformers norites at Marseilles not one remind to carry the news to the rest — and a good job too. Of the Carmelites of Avignon, 66 had died before the citizens realized what was causing the deaths; they thought that the brothers had been killing each other. Not one of the English Augustinians survived in Avignon …” 8 Monasteries were ruined. Church orders were decimated. Ecclesiastical discipline was destroyed. In some areas cathedral construction was abruptly halted.9 In other areas, cathe- dral construction raced forward as a tangible display of piety despite plague-caused economic depression, labor shortages, and soaring construction costs.10 So many people died that, in a firsthand account, Agnolo di Tura wrote: “all believed it was the end of the world”. 11 Having once felt the immanence of God12, many people now questioned the very pres- ence of God. In fact, the terrors of the Black Death, followed by deadly earthquakes in Italy in 1348, coupled with the scandals in the Church “intensified in the popular mind the feeling that the end of all things was come”.13 The Black Death has been termed the “great watershed” for medieval European history and a defining event for me- dieval Christianity.14 Indeed, the horrific results of the Black Death — and the memory of its effects — empowered and tied together many of the late medieval reformers.