The Reformation

By the Medieval Ages, the Catholic Church had fallen into apostasy. Magical rites had replaced devotional practices and many of the priests were corrupt. Grandeur replaced service to the Church in the hearts of the religious leaders. Some, within the Catholic Church, called for reform, while others reformed their own lives to become more like Christ. An example of these reformers included Cardinal Ximenes of Spain, who rejected the pomp and privilege, choosing rather to exemplify Christ in his own life.

Along with the Renaissance came a renewed interest in ancient languages, encouraging scholars to read the Bible again, rather than depend upon the traditions of the church. In 1400, Jan Hus was ordained into the priesthood simultaneously with the transfer of the Pople from Rome to Avignon. Speaking against church abuses of church discipline and practice, Hus was excommunicated in 1412, found guilty and burned at the stake in 1415.

Two hundred years before the reformation, John Wycliffe's teachings were similar to reformers such as Luther and Calvin. Wycliffe denounced abuses and false teachings in England in the late 1300's. It was John Wycliffe who translated the Bible into English from Latin, the first ever of such a translation. Organizing a group of interent preachers known as the Lollards, he sent teachers to Europe. The Lollard movement was short lived, as the Church expelled Wycliffe from Oxford where he held a teaching position. Only because of his influential friends, was his life spared. However, some forty-four years after his death, the Pope had his body exhumed and his bones burned in order to eliminate his influence upon his followers.

Martin Luther, son of a coal miner, was educated at Erfurt University, where Martin decided to become a monk. The apostle Paul's exhortation that "the righteous shall live by faith" had an overwhelming effect upon the young Luther. Martin spoke out against the Catholic practice of indulgences in 1517. These indulgences were sold to the parisioners in exchange for a visit to purgatory after death. Posting his famous "95 Theses", Luther shared his views on the ineffectiveness of indulgences, afterwhich, he was called to defend his position. Strongly supported by allies of German priests, scholars and the German people, Luther referred to the pope as the Anti-Christ stating that the pope was an obstruction to the free course of the Gospel. Luther claimed that the Catholic church perverted God's grace and that salvation was rather, redemption through faith alone. Appearing before the Diet of Worms in 1521, Luther refused to recant, standing upon the authority of the Word itself. He was hidden in a German castle, where he escaped the retribution of the Church and where he also translated the Bible from Latin into German.

In Switzerland also, another reformer, Ulrich Zwingli was preaching the salvation through grace, rather than works. In 1519, Zwingli was elected as the "People's Priest", the most powerful ecclesiastical position in Zurich. He began to shift the city to the ideas of Luther and the new Protest church and in 1523, the city adopted Zwingli's ecclesiastical reforms, the first Protestant state outside of Germany.

John Calvin grew up during the establishment of the Protestant faith and was educated at the University of Paris and educated as an attorney. Calvin converted to the Protestant faith in his early 20's and began to devote his time to theological issues. He was to greatly change the emerging Protestant church, as he faced issues the reformers overlooked. Invited to Geneva, Calvin helped build the newly Reformed church where he created a leadership structure and a catechism, as well as a strict moral code. The people of Geneva felt they had traded the old papacy with a new papacy and exiled Calvin. During this exile, Calvin wrote his Bible commentaries and completed his massive account of Protestant doctrine. He was invited back to Geneva in 1540 by new politicians and revolutionized Geneva society by incorporating the church into city government and in particular the discipline of the populace. By the 1550's, Geneva was completely Calvinistic in thought and structure. Many reformers came to Geneva to escape persecution in France, England, Scotland, and the Netherlands.

The reformation was possible largely due to King Henry VIII's break from the Roman Catholic Church and the establishment of the Church of England. This was possible because England had become a cluster of humanist scholars and because of regular communication with Lutherans on the Continent. Henry's break with the Church of Rome was not because he sought to reform the Holy Catholic Church nor because he had lofty religious ideals, but rather his sole pursuit was to divorce his present wife. Though the monasteries in England were destroyed, it was due to their close ties with the Roman Catholic Church.

William Tyndale was educated at Magdalen Hall, Oxford and Cambridge. The English Bible had been banned since 1480 and Tyndale sought to provide a better translated English Bible. The English bishops so feared an English translated Bible that Tyndale's life was threatened and he fled to Germany in 1524, meeting with Luther at Wittenberg. The following year, he finished his translation of the New Testament. William Royce began printing Tyndale's new translation but the city's magistrates stopped the printing. Tyndale then fled to Worms, where his new translation was successfully printed. Tyndale was charged with heresy and went into hiding for a period of time while revising his translation of the New Testament. Arrested in Antwerp in 1535 and charged with heresy, Tyndale was condemned to be burned at the stake but was mercifully strangled before the fire was lit.

The King James Version of the Bible appeared at the insistence of Puritans under James I of England. It was published in 1611 and is known as the "Authorized Version". It was based upon Tyndale's translation.

John Knox, founder of the Kirk (Church) of Scotland, the Presbyterian Church, was heavily influenced by Calvin and adopted Calivinistic doctrines, which became the basis for the Scottish Kirk. Prior influences in Scotland included the Lollards, the humanists and by strong nationalist sentiment. Knox returned from exile in Geneva and joined the Scots in their anti-Catholic movement, as well as opposition to the Catholic Mary, Queen of Scots. In 1560, the Scottish Parliament established the Kirk of Scotland.

In Scandinavia, Calvinism spread following the death of Martin Luther in 1546. Lutheranism was established in Scandinavia by King Frederick I and in Sweden was led by Gustavus Vasa and other theologians from Wittenberg. Finally King Michael Agricola adopted Lutheranism, establishing it in Finland.

In Poland, Calvinism competed with the Unitarians of Sozzina, while Hungary chose Lutheranism. Calvinism spread throughout Europe. It became a cause for not only reformation but also political independence. France survived as a Catholic nation only by expelling the Protestant Huguenots, which consisted of a large portion of the French Middle Class.

The French Huguenots were Protestants in a very Catholic France. Lutheran Protestantism entered France about 1520 and was heavily opposed by French Catholics, whose rulers were strongly tied to the papacy of Rome. Calvin's influence strengthened the Protestant movement in France and increased until the reign of Francis I (1497-1547). The Huguenots suffered heavy persecution but their ranks continued to increase until they held their first synod in 1559, adopting a code based upon Calvinistic doctrines. Under Henry II, persecution of the Huguenots increased 1547-1559. Supporting the Catholic cause were the Guise family. The Protestant cause as supported by the Bourbons. Friction increased until war broke out in 1562, when the Guises seized Charles IX, the young king (1550-1574) and the Huguenots, under Prince Conde and Admiral Coligny, took up arms against the Guises and Catholic forces. This conflict was one of eight civil wars, with intervening intervals of peace until the treaty of Vervins in 1598 ended the conflict.

The massacre of St. Bartholomew 24 Aug 1572 merely strengthened the Huguenot cause. King Henry IV (1552-1610), supported by the Protestant cause, signed the Edict of Nantes in 1598, which guaranteed religious freedom for the Huguenots. However, future rulers realized that the Huguenots hindered absolutism and the persecutions of Huguenots was resumed, especially under Cardinal Richelieu and later under Louis XIV, when many thousands of Huguenots fled to Europe and to the colonies.


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By the Medieval Ages, the Catholic Church had fallen into apostasy. Magical rites had replaced devotional practices and many of the priests were corrupt. Grandeur replaced service to the Church in the hearts of the religious leaders. Some, within the Catholic Church, called for reform, while others reformed their own lives to become more like Christ. An example of these reformers included Cardinal Ximenes of Spain, who rejected the pomp and privilege, choosing rather to exemplify Christ in his own life. Along with the Renaissance came a renewed interest in ancient languages, encouraging scholars to read the Bible again, rather than depend upon the traditions of the church. In 1400, Jan Hus was ordained into the priesthood simultaneously with the transfer of the Pople from Rome to Avignon. Speaking against church abuses of church discipline and practice, Hus was excommunicated in 1412, found guilty and burned at the stake in 1415. Two hundred years before the reformation, John Wycliffe's teachings were similar to reformers such as Luther and Calvin. Wycliffe denounced abuses and false teachings in England in the late 1300's. It was John Wycliffe who translated the Bible into English from Latin, the first ever of such a translation. Organizing a group of interent preachers known as the Lollards, he sent teachers to Europe. The Lollard movement was short lived, as the Church expelled Wycliffe from Oxford where he held a teaching position. Only because of his influential friends, was his life spared. However, some forty-four years after his death, the Pope had his body exhumed and his bones burned in order to eliminate his influence upon his followers. Martin Luther, son of a coal miner, was educated at Erfurt University, where Martin decided to become a monk. The apostle Paul's exhortation that "the righteous shall live by faith" had an overwhelming effect upon the young Luther. Martin spoke out against the Catholic practice of indulgences in 1517. These indulgences were sold to the parisioners in exchange for a visit to purgatory after death. Posting his famous "95 Theses", Luther shared his views on the ineffectiveness of indulgences, afterwhich, he was called to defend his position. Strongly supported by allies of German priests, scholars and the German people, Luther referred to the pope as the Anti-Christ stating that the pope was an obstruction to the free course of the Gospel. Luther claimed that the Catholic church perverted God's grace and that salvation was rather, redemption through faith alone. Appearing before the Diet of Worms in 1521, Luther refused to recant, standing upon the authority of the Word itself. He was hidden in a German castle, where he escaped the retribution of the Church and where he also translated the Bible from Latin into German. In Switzerland also, another reformer, Ulrich Zwingli was preaching the salvation through grace, rather than works. In 1519, Zwingli was elected as the "People's Priest", the most powerful ecclesiastical position in Zurich. He began to shift the city to the ideas of Luther and the new Protest church and in 1523, the city adopted Zwingli's ecclesiastical reforms, the first Protestant state outside of Germany. John Calvin grew up during the establishment of the Protestant faith and was educated at the University of Paris and educated as an attorney. Calvin converted to the Protestant faith in his early 20's and began to devote his time to theological issues. He was to greatly change the emerging Protestant church, as he faced issues the reformers overlooked. Invited to Geneva, Calvin helped build the newly Reformed church where he created a leadership structure and a catechism, as well as a strict moral code. The people of Geneva felt they had traded the old papacy with a new papacy and exiled Calvin. During this exile, Calvin wrote his Bible commentaries and completed his massive account of Protestant doctrine. He was invited back to Geneva in 1540 by new politicians and revolutionized Geneva society by incorporating the church into city government and in particular the discipline of the populace. By the 1550's, Geneva was completely Calvinistic in thought and structure. Many reformers came to Geneva to escape persecution in France, England, Scotland, and the Netherlands. The reformation was possible largely due to King Henry VIII's break from the Roman Catholic Church and the establishment of the Church of England. This was possible because England had become a cluster of humanist scholars and because of regular communication with Lutherans on the Continent. Henry's break with the Church of Rome was not because he sought to reform the Holy Catholic Church nor because he had lofty religious ideals, but rather his sole pursuit was to divorce his present wife. Though the monasteries in England were destroyed, it was due to their close ties with the Roman Catholic Church. William Tyndale was educated at Magdalen Hall, Oxford and Cambridge. The English Bible had been banned since 1480 and Tyndale sought to provide a better translated English Bible. The English bishops so feared an English translated Bible that Tyndale's life was threatened and he fled to Germany in 1524, meeting with Luther at Wittenberg. The following year, he finished his translation of the New Testament. William Royce began printing Tyndale's new translation but the city's magistrates stopped the printing. Tyndale then fled to Worms, where his new translation was successfully printed. Tyndale was charged with heresy and went into hiding for a period of time while revising his translation of the New Testament. Arrested in Antwerp in 1535 and charged with heresy, Tyndale was condemned to be burned at the stake but was mercifully strangled before the fire was lit. The King James Version of the Bible appeared at the insistence of Puritans under James I of England. It was published in 1611 and is known as the "Authorized Version". It was based upon Tyndale's translation. John Knox, founder of the Kirk (Church) of Scotland, the Presbyterian Church, was heavily influenced by Calvin and adopted Calivinistic doctrines, which became the basis for the Scottish Kirk. Prior influences in Scotland included the Lollards, the humanists and by strong nationalist sentiment. Knox returned from exile in Geneva and joined the Scots in their anti-Catholic movement, as well as opposition to the Catholic Mary, Queen of Scots. In 1560, the Scottish Parliament established the Kirk of Scotland. In Scandinavia, Calvinism spread following the death of Martin Luther in 1546. Lutheranism was established in Scandinavia by King Frederick I and in Sweden was led by Gustavus Vasa and other theologians from Wittenberg. Finally King Michael Agricola adopted Lutheranism, establishing it in Finland. In Poland, Calvinism competed with the Unitarians of Sozzina, while Hungary chose Lutheranism. Calvinism spread throughout Europe. It became a cause for not only reformation but also political independence. France survived as a Catholic nation only by expelling the Protestant Huguenots, which consisted of a large portion of the French Middle Class. The French Huguenots were Protestants in a very Catholic France. Lutheran Protestantism entered France about 1520 and was heavily opposed by French Catholics, whose rulers were strongly tied to the papacy of Rome. Calvin's influence strengthened the Protestant movement in France and increased until the reign of Francis I (1497-1547). The Huguenots suffered heavy persecution but their ranks continued to increase until they held their first synod in 1559, adopting a code based upon Calvinistic doctrines. Under Henry II, persecution of the Huguenots increased 1547-1559. Supporting the Catholic cause were the Guise family. The Protestant cause as supported by the Bourbons. Friction increased until war broke out in 1562, when the Guises seized Charles IX, the young king (1550-1574) and the Huguenots, under Prince Conde and Admiral Coligny, took up arms against the Guises and Catholic forces. This conflict was one of eight civil wars, with intervening intervals of peace until the treaty of Vervins in 1598 ended the conflict. The massacre of St. Bartholomew 24 Aug 1572 merely strengthened the Huguenot cause. King Henry IV (1552-1610), supported by the Protestant cause, signed the Edict of Nantes in 1598, which guaranteed religious freedom for the Huguenots. However, future rulers realized that the Huguenots hindered absolutism and the persecutions of Huguenots was resumed, especially under Cardinal Richelieu and later under Louis XIV, when many thousands of Huguenots fled to Europe and to the colonies.	Our Family in the Reformation William Cromer, Lord Mayor (1395-1434) During his first mayoralty, Cromer helped to put down Sir John Oldcastle's rebellion and was largely responsible for the emergency measures which led to the arrest of several supporters of the Lollards. John de Montacute, 3d EO Montacute (1350-1400) John de Montacute was a chief patron of the sect of Wycliffe and the Lollards. He is said to have destroyed all the images of saints, which had been set up in hic Chapel at Shenley. Major General Robert Overton (1609-1678) Robert was a soldier for Oliver Cromwell and was involved in the Parliamentary defeat of the Royalists at Hull in 1643. Robert was later made Governor of Hull and was responsible for its defense against the Royalist forces of Charles II. Robert later became one of the principals in the Leveller movement and stood in opposition to Cromwell. Robert was a Baptist. John of Gaunt 1st Duke of Lancaster (1340-1399) Noted as a firm and powerful protector of John Wycliffe, his clerical advisor. John was with Wycliffe when Wycliffe was summoned to appear before the Bishop of London at St.Paul's. The Bishop, angered by the support of Wycliffe by John of Gaunt and Lord Percy, caused an uproar and the trial was abandoned. John of Gaunt supported Wycliffe for his own political reasons and not because he shared Wycliffe's religious opinions.

Our Family in the Reformation

William Cromer, Lord Mayor (1395-1434)

John de Montacute, 3d EO Montacute (1350-1400)

Major General Robert Overton (1609-1678)

John of Gaunt 1st Duke of Lancaster (1340-1399)