7 The Impact of Reform

Historians have often made very sweeping claims about the

impact of the Reformation on religion, society and the state.
These range from practical matters such as the reshaping
of marriage laws, or the emergence of new forms of poor
relief, to broad political developments such as the growth
of the absolutist state, and vast generalisations about the
emergence of capitalism or the development of ‘secularisa-
tion’ or ‘modernisation’. Some of these latter claims display
par excellence the teleological view of history, and bristle with
so many question-begging prejudgments that they cannot be
adequately discussed in so brief a space as is available here.
It does seem certain, however, that recent research is leading
us to such a different understanding of the Reformation,
that many of these common notions about its impact should
be drastically revised.
The most obvious area of impact was in the conduct and
organisation of church life. Many traditional religious
ceremonies and customs were abolished, as well as many tra-
ditional feast days. The most important, because of the
impressive religious and secular ceremony with which it had
been observed, was the feast of Corpus Christi, celebrating
the Real Presence of Christ in the consecrated bread and
wine. Religious worship was radically reshaped: the Mass
became the celebration of the Lord’s Supper, conducted in
the vernacular by a minister in a plain black gown who faced
the congregation over a table, using bread instead of a wafer,
and who offered the cup to the laity. The sermon became
more central to religious worship, and in some places a
daily sermon replaced daily Mass, while the Lord’s Supper
was received infrequently, often no more than monthly, and
sometimes only at Christmas and Easter. The only other
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R. W. Scribner and C. S. Dixon, The German Reformation

© R. W. Scribner 2003
Sacrament recognised was Baptism, although Penance
continued as a pious practice in some places. Marriage went
through a curious change, for although it was no longer
recognised as a Sacrament, the ceremony was made more
religious than in the past, with a service in church being
given greater prominence over secular celebrations (116).
These were significant changes, especially in the most
radically reformed places, but there was wide variation in
many Protestant communities. In some places the liturgy
could appear much the same as it had under the old religion,
and often the service book being used well into the later part
of the sixteenth century was merely a German translation of
the old Latin Mass Book. In parts of Saxony vestments and
candles were used for the Lord’s Supper, and until the mid-
dle of the century even the practice of the Elevation, holding
aloft the consecrated bread for the adoration of the congre-
gation. Many images were retained in Lutheran churches,
while church buildings themselves saw only minimal alter-
ation to adapt them to the new form of worship. It was not
until 1618 that the first uniquely Protestant ‘preaching
church’ was built, in Nidda in Hessen, resembling a meeting
house more than a traditional church (133). In Brandenburg
the liturgy retained much of its Catholic outward appear-
ance, although it had turned Protestant in 1540. This was
largely because of the affection of the Elector Joachim II for
the colour and display of Catholic ritual, and many Catholic
practices remained for the next sixty years (33).
The most marked changes were seen in the new clergy.
They lost many of their old legal and financial privileges,
removing one of the greatest causes of anticlericalism. Here,
however, the reformers had merely supplied a theological
justification for a trend already present during the fifteenth
century, of subjecting the clergy to secular duties and
responsibilities. More striking was the emergence of a mar-
ried clergy, which brought them closer to married parish-
ioners, and stabilised the lives of those unable to face the
demands of celibacy (113). It also relieved lay fears about the
sexual predatoriness of the old clergy: better to have married
priests than have them chasing one’s wife or daughters.
Even so, the change was not as radical as has been claimed.
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