Reformation and Statism

Princes didn’t start the Reformation, but Mark Greengrass (Christendom Destroyed) says that they benefited most from it: “The empire’s evolution allowed them to present themselves as its primary law-makers and keepers of the peace” (314). 

It was beginning already before the Reformation: “Princes and imperial cities attempted to strengthen their control over monasteries and dioceses within their spheres of influence. In Switzerland too, the cantonal city of Zurich chose the clergy, promoted reform in the monasteries, controlled what the laity gave the Church, and used their sponsorship of sermons at Advent and Lent as a way of controlling who preached what. Princes equally challenges episcopal and papal authority in their lands. Duke George of Albertine Saxony, for example, pressured the clergy in the diocese of Meissen into submission to his influence. Margrave Albrecht Achilles of Brandenburg enforced his rights to tax the dioceses in his domains. Philip of Hesse sought to remove the remaining jurisdictional authority of the archbishopric of Mainz in his lands. At the Diet of 1511, German princes allied with the French king, Louis XII, to call for Church reform.” Not to be outdone, the Emperor promoted reforming efforts throughout the empire (314-5).

The uneasy balance of church-state settled in the aftermath of the Investiture Struggle was already tipping before the Reformation came along. With the help of princes, the Reformation tipped the scale further in favor of state power.