(3) Protestantism: Notable Policies and Documents

1521 - Edict of Worms (All Facts)

• Decree issued by Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, it

  • condemned Martin Luther as "a notorious heretic"

  • Banned citizens of the Empire (Germany) from propagating his ideas

1529 - 1536 - English Reformation Parliament (All Facts)

• Parliament in which the House of Commons put forth bills against abuses amongst the clergy and in the church courts of England

• Parliament which was the first to last for five years

• Parliament which passed the

  • Submission of the Clergy Act

  • Supremacy Act

  • Succession Act

  • Suppression of Religious Houses Act

1529 - Protestation of Speyer (All Facts)

• Letter of protest signed by six of Germany’s (Protestant) Princes and the burgers of 14 cities whose signatories were dubbed “Protestants” and which rejected the conclusions made at the (Second) Diet of Speyer

• Letter of protest which was seen as a challenge to the authority of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V

• Letter of protest which states that, “in matters which concerns God’s honor and salvation and the eternal life of souls, everyone must stand and give account before God and himself”

• Letter of protest against an imperial ban of Martin Luther, as well as the proscription of his works and teachings, and called for the unhindered spread of the evangelical faith

• Letter of protest signed by six figures including

  • Philip of Hesse

  • John of Saxony

1530 - Augsburg Confession (All Facts)

• Document that was the primary “Confession of Faith” of Lutheranism / the Lutheran Church

  • It was one of the most important documents of the Protestant Reformation

• Document prepared by Philip Melanchthon

• Document presented at the namesake Imperial Diet

• Document which sought to achieve reconciliation with the Catholic Church

• Document which consists of 28 articles of faith

  • The first 21 articles are points on which Protestants and Catholics all agree(d)

  • The last 7 articles dealt with controversial issues but left them open as being “under discussion” including

    • confession

    • celibacy of priests

1534 - Supremacy Act (All Facts)

• Passed by Parliament during the English Reformation under King Henry VIII, it

  • separated the Church of England from the Roman Catholic Church

  • declared the King of England to be the supreme head of the Church of England, with full powers to deal with heresies, errors, and abuses and full authority over the Church of England

  • had the Archbishop of Canterbury replace the Pope in terms of being able to provide any and all dispensations the pope would have originally made

  • made it so that no more taxes were to be paid to Rome

  • amended laws against heresy to allow for criticism of the Roman Catholic Church

1535 - Suppression of Religious Houses Act (All Facts)

• Passed by Parliament during the English Reformation under King Henry VIII, it initiated the Dissolution of the Monasteries, thus making it legal for Henry VIII and his administration, via Thomas Cromwell’s commission, to have

  • disbanded all Catholic monasteries, priories, convents, and friaries in England, Wales, and Ireland

  • seized their wealth

  • redistributed their wealth to the Crown of England and to fund King Henry VIII’s military campaigns

  • disposed of their assets

  • destroyed buildings and relics

  • dispersed or destroyed libraries

  • provided for their former personnel and functions

    • former abbots, monks, and nuns were given pensions; however clerical unemployment rose significantly during this movement

  • turned many of the nearly 800 church properties sold into private homes for the Gentry class

  • ceased the Church’s system of distributing alms

1539 - Six Articles (All Facts)

• Issued by King Henry VIII of England, they were a repressive decree of Catholic orthodoxy and were repealed a few years after they were issued

1543 - King’s Book (All Facts)

• Revised the previous “Bishop’s Book", it confirmed Protestant statues passed in Parliament but maintained key elements of Catholic doctrine, such as the validity of monastic vows

• It effectively outlaws any further theological reform to the Church of England

1549 - Act of Uniformity (All Facts)

• Passed by Parliament under King Edward VI, it

  • enforced the use of the Book of Common Prayer, the moderate Protestant Prayer Book

1549 - Consensus Tigurinus (All Facts)

• Document comprising an agreement reached between John Calvin and his followers and the late Ulrich Zwingli’s followers which reconciled the differences between the Calvinists and Zwinglians

1552 - Act of Uniformity (All Facts)

• Passed by Parliament under King Edward VI, it

  • enforced the use of a revised edition of the Book of Common Prayer, which was more explicitly Protestant compared to the original edition

1553 - 42 Articles (All Facts)

• Official doctrinal statement of the Church of England issued by Thomas Cramner under the reign of King Edward VI

  • Cramner had help from a committee of six to draft the namesake, which supplemented the new Protestant prayer book

1559 - Supremacy Act (All Facts)

• Passed by Parliament under Queen Elizabeth, it

  • Repealed and reversed all of the pro-Catholic policies and developments of her predecessor

  • Defined the monarch as the supreme governor of the Church of England (NOT supreme head)

  • Provided for a high commission for the correction of errors and abuses to be set up

1560 - Scots Confession (All Facts)

• Protestant Confession of Faith drafted by John Knox and accepted by the Scottish Parliament under the reign of Queen Mary of Guise, it

  • renounced and abolished the Pope’s authority in Scotland

  • forbade the saying of Mass

  • rejected the rituals of Rome

• Document which aimed to embrace the “elect of all ages, realms, nations, Jews or Gentiles”

1561 - Edict of July / First Edict of St. Germain (All Facts)

• Decree issued by Catherine de Medici, it

  • gave Huguenots qualified toleration

  • was passed as a result of the Colloquy of Peace talks organized by Catherine de Medici

1562 - Edict of January / Edict of St. Germain (All Facts)

• Decree issued by Catherine de Medici, it

  • gave Huguenots qualified toleration

  • obligated Huguenots to practice their religion outside town walls

• French (Catholic) Parliament refused to recognize or register the edict, which precipitated the French Wars of Religion

1563 - 39 Articles (All Facts)

• Official doctrinal statement of the Church of England issued under the reign of Queen Elizabeth

• They combined Protestant doctrine with Catholic Church organization, and its adoption thus officially established the Church of England

1577 / 1580 - Formula of Concord (All Facts)

• Document which brought together most of the German Lutherans as was agreed between John George of Brandenburg, Augustus of Saxony, Louis VI of Palatine, 20 other princes, 24 counts, and 38 cities

1584 - Jesuits, etc. Act (All Facts)

• Passed by Parliament under Queen Elizabeth, it

  • commanded all Roman Catholic priests to leave the country within 40 days of its passing or they would be punished for high treason, unless within the 40 days, they swore an oath to obey the Queen

  • fined, imprisoned, and/or executed all those who harbored them or knew of their presence and failed to inform the authorities

  • banned seminaries

1592 - Religion / Seditious Sectaries Act (All Facts)

• Passed by Parliament under Queen Elizabeth, it

  • imprisoned and/or fined Protestant Separatists (Puritans) who established self-governing congregations or attended religious meetings outside the Church of England

1598 - Edict of Nantes (All Facts)

• Decree issued by King Henry IV,

  • it

    • granted Huguenots and other Protestants (a large measure of) religious freedom (freedom of conscience) throughout the kingdom of France

    • restored old places of worship for Huguenots and other Protestants

    • granted Huguenots and other Protestants permission to build new places of worship

    • provided Huguenots and other Protestants with civic rights equal to their Catholic counterparts

    • allowed Huguenots and other Protestants access to all public posts

    • granted full amnesty to all those who fought in and during the French Wars of Religion

    • assigned 100 towns to Huguenots and other Protestants as “towns of refuge”

    • was passed in order to promote “union, concord, and tranquility” between French Roman Catholics and Huguenots and other French Protestants

    • was considered “perpetual and irrevocable”

  • it

    • was not received well by Catholics, but they were willing to accept its terms in return for peace due to their war-weariness from the past century

    • was received well by Huguenots, who returned their support for King Henry IV after he had betrayed them upon his conversion to Catholicism and his declaration that “Paris is worth a mass”

1603 - Millenary Petition (All Facts)

• Document that consisted of a list of requests given to King James of England by Henry Jacob and Puritans when the King was travelling to London in order to claim the English throne

• Document which was a moderate plea for church reform, calling for

  • the abandonment of “popish religious ceremonies,” such as

    • the use of the ring in marriage

    • making the sign of the cross at baptism

• Document which

  • was carefully worded and expressed Puritan distaste regarding the state of the Church of England

  • took into consideration James' religious views as well as his liking for a debate

  • claimed to have 1,000 signatures prior to its signing, hence the namesake

• Document which culminated in the Hampton Court Conference between King James of England and Henry Jacob and the Puritans

1609 - Letter of Majesty (All Facts)

• Issued by Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II, it

  • granted Bohemians the freedom to worship as Catholics or Protestants

1611 - King James / Robert Barker: King James Version, Holy Bible / KJV (All Facts)

• Authorized, backed, and published during the reign of the namesake for the purposes of conceding to the demands of Protestant (Puritan) clergy for reform

  • Printed by the namesake’s printer Robert Barker

• Bible translation that was produced over the course of seven years by 54 scholars based in Oxford, Cambridge, and Westminster using much of the original Hebrew and Greek

  • It was then reviewed by a committee of 12 scholars led by Thomas Bilson and Miles Smith, who put the finishing touches to its final version

• Critics of its time were impressed by the majesty and music of the rhythm of its language

  • The unity of the style it achieved was most impressive; nobody would have guessed it was the work of a committee

1638 - National Covenant (All Facts)

• Agreement signed by many Presbyterians of Scotland in order to preserve the purity of the gospel and that opposed the proposed reforms of the Church of Scotland by King Charles I and Archbishop of Canterbury William Laud

• Agreement in which hundreds of thousands of Scottish people from all walks of life had subscribed to a “covenant with God” to resist to the death the attempt to destroy their Calvinist traditions

• Agreement in which Scottish nobility and clergy signed in order to defend the kirk (Scottish Presbyterian Church) against the imposition of the Book of Common Prayer of England

1643 - Solemn League and Covenant (All Facts)

• Agreement between the leaders of the Scottish Covenanters and English Roundheads (Parliamentarians) during the First English Civil War

• It

  • was a national oath by both England and Scotland to increase the pace of religious reform

  • guaranteed Scottish support of the Roundhead (Parliamentarian) cause of the English Civil War in England

• The Scottish Covenanters saw it was a way to

  • impose Presbyterianism in England and Ireland

  • preserve the constitutional liberties won by both England and Scotland’s Parliaments