A University of Sussex DPhil thesis Available online via Sussex Research Online: http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/ This thesis is protected by copyright which belongs to the author. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Please visit Sussex Research Online for more information and further details Religion and the Military in the Holy Roman Empire c.1500-1650 Nikolas Maximilian Funke DPhil candidate in History Registration Number: 20613175 Submitted to the University of Sussex in September 2011 University of Sussex Nikolas Maximilian Funke (DPhil in History) Religion and the Military in the Holy Roman Empire c.1500-1650 Summary This study is the first in-depth examination of military religiosity in the Holy Roman Empire in the 16th and early 17th century. Despite a lack of research into military religious sensibilities historians have uncritically repeated a contemporary stereotype that branded soldiers as ‘un-Christian’. The study argues that soldiers were not religiously deviant but that their spirituality differed little from that of their contemporaries. However, one aspect of post-Reformation culture, confessional thinking, was noticeably absent in the military, both structurally and in everyday life. These latitudinarian attitudes were fostered by warlords, as is reflected in martial law, and become evident in military diaries as well as the conduct of warfare in the period. The occurrence of military religious violence does not detract from this general atmosphere of ‘toleration’. Instances of confessional violence have to be considered exceptional given the predominantly unproblematic coexistence of adherents of different confessions within the military and daily encounters with populations of all creeds. An examination of attitudes towards dying, death and burial shows that, while the importance of dying well according to the ars moriendi was recognized in the military, the reality of soldier life made orderly deaths frequently impossible. Soldiers’ religious attitudes were therefore in some ways more pragmatic than those of the civilian population but soldiers of all denominations shared universal Christian norms, a finding that fundamentally challenges previous negative estimations regarding military religiosity. I hereby declare that this thesis has not been and will not be, submitted in whole or in part to another University for the award of any other degree: Signature:_____________________________________ Acknowledgements Thanks are due to many individuals and institutions. Naomi Tadmor proved an exceptional supervisor whose assiduousness, criticism and encouragement made this thesis possible and she agreed to supervise the project after a galling departure from this university. My heartfelt thanks. The History Department at the University of Sussex awarded me a bursary without which the project would have been financially unviable. The Stipendium from the Dr. Günther Findel Stiftung gave me the chance to research at the Herzog August Bibliothek, Wolfenbüttel, for six months, which allowed me vital access to primary and secondary materials. The German Historical Institute Washington DC and the BMW Centre for German and European Studies, Georgetown Universtiy, gave me the chance to present my research at an advanced stage during the 17th Transatlantic Doctoral Seminar. The input, criticism and encouragement from the convenors, mentors and fellow doctoral students helped me greatly. Helmut Klingelhöfer, Hessisches Staataarchiv Marburg, and Klaas-Dieter Voß, Johannes a Lasco Bibliothek Emden, helped me obtain scans from a distance. Michael Kaiser took the time in the very early stages of this project to set me straight about fundamentals. Jan Willem Huntebrinker very generously made his doctoral thesis available to a stranger. The Stipendiaten and other researchers at the Herzog August Bibliothek helped me formulate and refine questions early on. Anja Grothe, Craig Koslofsky, Maren Lorenz, Heike Preuß and Ralf Pröve were kind enough to answer questions and discuss ideas. Amanda Eiseman evaluated a horse for me that did not make it into the final version. Laura Kounine made me think about ‘identities’. The University of Sussex provided me with a friendly academic environment. Jim Livesey supervised the project in the very beginning. Paul Betts, Cesare Cuttica, Rob Iliffe, Roger Johnson, Ben Jones, Kevin Reynolds, Lucy Robinson, Becca Searle and Elke Weesjes have become friends. Thank you. Thanks to those who provided me with a book-free environment in Brighton: Clair Morrow, Ian Coleman and Arthur, Robyn Dillon, Danni Nicholls for resurrecting me from the musically dead, Kathy Sleigh and Sarah Woolner. Christoph Brands, Philipp Gerhardus, Julia Hahmann, Christian Kubczak, Vera Petterson, Carina Schneider, thank you for being lasting friends despite sporadic contact. Ruth Charnock has sustained me with love, encouragement and help in every respect. Thank you so much. Finally, inestimable gratitude is due to my family, Anne and Werner Funke, my sister Jana and Edith Fuchs. You have supported and encouraged me. This thesis is for you. Table of Contents Introduction p.1 Chapter 1 ‘A New Order of Soulless Men’ – Towards an Understanding of the Soldier Stereotype in Early Modern Society and Culture p.14 Chapter 2 The Religious Structures of the Military p.39 Chapter 3 Religion, Morality and Military Everyday Life p.74 Chapter 4 Military Religious Violence, Confessional Thinking and the Individual p.118 Chapter 5 Dying, Death and Burial in the Military p.150 Conclusion p.182 Bibliography p.185 Appendix 1: p.205 Table of Military Autobiographers Appendix 2: p.207 Nikolas Funke, ‘‘Naturali legitimâque Magica’ oder‚ Teufflische Zauberey’? Das ‚Festmachen’ im Militär des 16. Und 17. Jahrhunderts, Militär und Gesell- schaft in der Frühen Neuzeit , 13 (2009) 1, 16-32 1 Introduction Thomas von Lobbecke was losing his mind. He was a Landsknecht mercenary and had had his fair share of “gorging, boozing, fornication and blasphemy” when one night in 1558, he broke into a Catholic church in Flanders.1 He vandalized it, stripped naked, broke into chests and closets, dressed in liturgical vestments and paced through the church singing. When the priests found him, they could get no sense out of the “strange canon” and fetched the regiment’s provost, who was in charge of policing the soldiers, but he, too, could do little. Finally, the priests found all the hosts gone and asked Lobbeke where he had taken them. He replied that he had eaten them all because he had not received the sacrament in a good twenty years and had wanted to make up for his negligence on this occasion.2 Whether this scene really took place or not is secondary; what is important is its message: Lobbeke represented a typical German mercenary, steeped in sin and with little regard for religion. God smote him with madness for his un-Christian ways and his behaviour in the church was a reminder of what befell those who disregarded their religious duties and violated Christian norms. For 16th and 17th century readers it would have seemed neither surprising nor accidental that the protagonist was a Landsknecht, as the German infantry were commonly known to be arch sinners and irreligious. Some claimed that they were without any religion at all and even in league with the Devil. This study deals with these men, their families, and their religious views and examines the characteristics of religion in the socio-cultural context of the military. The period between 1500-1650 witnessed dramatic changes in the military sphere and European society and culture in general. At the beginning of the 16th century, the military was in the midst of a comprehensive transformation that deemphasized the role of the former professional military elites and saw an unprecedented number of commoners who sought to make a living as mercenaries. Due to the large numbers of infantry needed to make the new tactics efficient, military historians suggest that army size increased at least ten-fold in the 16th and 17th century.3 The wider socio-cultural framework was fundamentally altered by the fragmentation of Latin Christianity and the 1 Hans Wilhelm Kirchhof, Wendunmuth, Herman Österley (ed.), Tübingen 1869, I:102, 130f. 2 Ibid. 131. 3 Geoffrey Parker, The Military Revolution, Military Innovation and the Rise of the West 1500-1800, 2nd rev. ed. Cambridge 1996 [11988], 1ff; Frank Tallett, War and Society in Early Modern Europe (1495- 1715), London/New York 1992, 9. 2 pluralization of religious cultures that ensued, which in turn led to confessional conflicts and wars across Europe in which soldiers naturally played a central role.4 How soldiers related to the ever-changing religious and socio-political climate is almost entirely un- researched, however. This study represents the first systematic examination of the religious dimension of military life during the period of reformation and religious pluralization in Germany. Although the last few decades have produced a wealth of scholarship in military social history, we know hardly anything about the role of religion in 16th and early 17th century military life.5 There exists only a single collection of essays