ENGLISH PROTESTANT NEACTIONS TO THE COUNCIL OF TRENT A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of Graduate Studies Universitv of }ianitoba In Partial Fulfill-ment of the Recluirements for the Der"ree l'laster of Arts by Ben Ilarder r973 TNGLISH PROTESTANT REACTIONS TO THE COUNCIL OF TRENT by BEN HARDTR A dissert¡.rtion subnlittcd to tltc [ìlculty of'Graduutc Sttrclics of' tllc Univcrsity ol' Ivl:rnitobr in ¡-xrrti;rl l'ull'illmcnt of' the roqLtirotncltts tll' thc dcgt'cc rll' MASTER OF ARTS @ t9l4 l)cnnissit¡n h¿ts lrcclt gl';.trttcrl to thc l.llìllAlìY Ol;'l'llti LlNlVlill- Sl'l'Y Otj l\,1^Nl'l'OllA to lc¡rtl or scll copics ol'this tlisscrtrttiotl, ttr Lhc NAT'tONAL Lltsl{^llY Ot'('^N^l)^ to ¡tricrol'ilrn tllis disscrtatioll ¿utd to lenü or scrll cqpics rrl'tltc l'illll, lrld LJNlVlillSl't\' MICIì()t ILMS to publish rtrl ¿tlr.strrtr;t of'this tlisscrfirtioll. 'l'hs autltor roscrves othcr ¡rtrblictttititt rights, lrttl tlcitltcl' thc disscrtatio¡¡ ¡lor exteltsivc cxtracts l'¡r¡tt't it nray bc printcd or tttltcr- wise rcprtrtluccd without t llc atltl¡tlt'"s wl'it tc¡t ¡rct'ttt is;siotl- TABLE O]T COT,IT]J}iTS IIJTROIIUCTION o o o ø o o o é ø è o o o o o o o o I J. THE COUI'rCII, Il'l iii'iGl.ISH PJRSP]ìCTIVE o ô ê o 12 The Character of the Engli-sh Refornati-on England ts EarJiest Protestants Fienry UJII and the Conciliar Question Henrician Propaganda Cranmer ancÌ the Pan-Protestant Confess ion II. AIIGLO-'R0I'!A}',' R.ELÀTIOltS FP'01'i ELIZABETHIS , SUCCJSSIOI.{ TO THE PU3IICåT]ON OF JOH} JEi,,,-jjLIS .\POLOGY o o o o ê ê o o o o o @ 57 The English Religious Settlement Parpagliors i'-ission The- Councif of Trent: InCiction or ì,esumption Ì'lartinengo I s l'!ission The Dudley Àffair JOI{N JEiiEL, ÀPOLCGIST 0F TflE IILIZÀBETIÏAN III. dn CHU]ìCH o c c c ø o o o ø ê o o o o c c ø o ó9 Ear1y Life Influence of Peter l'iartYr Jervel- in ilxile Ìteturns to Ingl-and The Àpo lo¡ia iig c ]es ia Anî lic ana IV. JE,rtELtS COI'iCILIAR THXOFiY o o ø ø o o ô . " 104 Bacli¡rouncl to the i\pololy Jev¡el.?s Concil-iar Theory COi\CLUSIO}'I a o o o o a o o o o . ø o o " Il+l+ BItsLIOGÌLiPllY o e o o o o o o o o o o o o ø ë o c Il+7 ABBREVIATIONS Calendar of State Papers tr'oreÍgn, 1 560-6 1 . Calendar of State Papers Spanish u 1558-1567 " Calend.ar of State Papers Venetia¡r, j558-1580" Dictionary of National Biograpby" Letters and Papers, I'oreign and Domestic u of the E, Her-gn oI Henry vLrr. 9-*l' Originaf Letters Relative to the English Reformation. Su T" C. A Short Tit1e Catalogue of Engllsh Books printed Zt "L" The Zurich Letters. II INTRODUCTION The Protestant lleformaÈion destroyed whatever remained of the concept of the unity and authority of the lt{edieval Church. The rapidity with which the heretical doctrines of Luther spread across Europe only served to indicate the ex- tent to which dissatÍsfactíon with the ecclesiastical system had penetrated Buropean society" V/ithin a few decades, Protest- antism had swept Central Europe and v{as challenging the su- premacy of the Roman Catholic church in the north and west" The effect on the Roman Catholic Church was devastating' The territorial and numerical losses, great as they were, were overshadowed by the profound effect the Protestant move- ment had on the unity and authority of the l"Íedieval Church, The demand for reform was not new" Luther merely echoed the reform sentiments of Catholic intetlectual-s, devotees of the via noderna, and German humanists.l The Cathofic church had stubbornly resisted, or perhaps more correctly, had not seen the immediacy of the need to reform" For this oversight she was to pay dearly. The success of the Lutheran revolt demon- strated. vividly how irrelevant the church had become to a broad spectrum of societY. *ForI a discussion of this see L" Spitz, Lhç EClfeig-q-q Renaiss¿rnce of the German l{umanists (Cambrldg,ez1963) . 2 Tiris crisis v;hich CathoLic ism f ac ed prec ipitated new j-nternal- demands for reform" Such reform, it was gen- erally believecì, v,Jas the r.rorl< of reforming councils, and it was to such a council that Christendom not,' looked for a remedy of its ills and the recovery of its lost fortunes. Jedin argues that it nas this persistent rt.o"belief in the need (a) and in the reforning virtue ofo " . "..Councif. ", (r,vhich). ".became one of the most polverful factors to r^rhich the Council of Trent or,red its convocation",,l But the cafl- for a counci] came not only from cathol-ics. Throughout the early years of the Ileformation the demand for an ecclesiasti- cal council v¡as promoted by Protestants and catho]ics al-ike who hoped through the council- to acconplish a reconciliation through effective reform. The General council- which finally convened at Trent in l-5l+5 soon frustrated those expectations. It soon becane apparent that no reconcil-ia.tion vuas in fact possibl-e. \'ilrat Trent accomplished r,vas the consolidation of Catholicism through the re-affirmation of the Churchls theol- ogy and the eradication of obvious eccl_esiastical_ abuses. Trent v;as Cathol-icism taking the offensive" Its canons and decrees left littl-e room for reconcil-iation r,vith tthereti- cafr? Protestantism. In the final- analysis Trent serr¡ed onl'r¡ to v.¡iden the breach betneen the opposing carnps. I Ilubert Jcdin, A llis¡6¡1' of the Council. of Trent. Lrans. ljom ljrnest Graf (i'lcv¡ YorT:-ETTf--;f --æ 3 At issue rvas the whol-e question of authority and it r'{as apparent f rom the outset that Protestants and Catholics hel-d opposing conceptions of v¡hat a council should be and do. Continental Protest,ants, insnired by Luther, had demanded a srfree general Christian Council-.t?1 By this they meant a eouncil that was truly representative, uneontrolled by the Pope, and subject to the authority of Scriptures as inter- preted by the reformers " Lutherans again and again insisted that they r,',tere ready to submit to such a gathering. The Roman Cathol-ic conception of a General- Council- difíered greatly.2 The basic Catholic premises of a concil-iar I _ A particularly good discussion of this Cemand by Continental- reio::nici.s i-s íouncl in ieclin. À History of the ÇS¡gncil of TEn!, I, L66-2I9. Jedinis prffi ffis aþparent rvillingness ïo submit to the decrees of such a "iree Christian-councilrrlvhile at the same tirne maintaining that Scripture i,ras abo'¡e lrPope and council,rr i,hen it became apparent that no council- r^;as forthcomlng Luther r¡ras spurred on to some of his most violent attacl<s on the Papacyr âil attitude picked upr Jedin points out, by most Continental- Protesfants" Cf " Ludvrig von Past,or, The History of the Poces.'--ã------i-_---T- fror¡ the Cl-ose of the i:iddl-e,iqes. trans. iì.I"irntrobus (2nd ed.; London: l89l--l-9&O), r/olumés ,{ through XIIf. 2 An excel-lent discussion of the back,qrounCs to the v¡hole conciliar question of the sixteenth century is tsrian Tiernelr, Foundations of the Concilj.ar Theor''/ (Cambridge: Univerêít Jedin, å Hi-stor.¡ of the Counc i} of Trent and Pastor. Historii of iies" of the óonclEãFques- tion of the sixteenth centur:/, hoting particularly the flux and change in Catholic conciliar theory since the Council- of Constance" Helpful materiat is âlso founC in Fi"O"uvennett. The Cardina.l- of l.orraine and the Conncil of Trent (Cambricìr1e@ primarily concerned r¡ith the l'rench orientation to the concepb of a ,leneral counc il, but his discussion includes maLerial- on prevail"ing .Luropcan concil-iar theory. 4 settl-enent 1'rere a recoqnition of papal authority, both in calling and presiding over such a Cou.ncil, and that all- reforn measures must of necessity be in confornity vrith the t,raCitions of the church, Furthernore, Catholics generally pressed for Protestants to .acknowledge that their befiefs i.vere heretical and the basic premíse underJ-ying Protestant participation r,ras an agreement "...beforehand to accept the princi.ole tha.t decisions of the council were final- tr'I and d ef initive " Hoi,vever, there vras still another dimension to the con- n.ili¡r,ôìteqtin- -*Jn, nanery,n¡malr¡ If,-+1ro lrnq.iiinr¡ t.rl.:l¡n hrr f.hr, llm-...peror Charl-es V and most of the German Princes" Though Catholicsr they l^Jere nuch more concerned l.,rith the poli'bical real-ities of the rnoment. They bypassed, Paucli sa]/s, t'o.,the question of tru.th and authority, and attributed prirnarily a functiona-l- ) authority to the councilnr?' They felt t,hat the main points of dissension coul-d be reconciled, and that the issues regard- ing eccl-esiastical organization could be settled through con- cession and compromise. These varying conceptions of Nhe im- pending council precietermined its fa|e as a rneans to unite Christendom. lihen it finally convened, after numerous abort- ive at,tenpts, ât Trent on Decem'oer 13, L51+5, the cÌyes r.,Jere I *}fllhelm Pauck- The Heritase of the Ãeformation ( I{er,v p Yor'}i: 19ó1) .