Peter Blickle - Religion, Politics and Social Protest: Three Studies on Early Modern Germany

Volume 19

RELIGION, POLITICS AND SOCIAL PROTEST

Three Studies on Early Modern Germany

PETER BLICKLE, HANS-CHRISTOPH RUBLACK AND WINFRIED SCHULZE

First published in 1984 by George Allen & Unwin (Publishers) Ltd

This edition first published in 2022

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1984 German Historical Institute

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ISBN: 978-1-03-203038-8 (Set)

ISBN: 978-1-00-319086-8 (Set) (ebk)

ISBN: 978-1-03-204967-0 (Volume 19) (hbk)

ISBN: 978-1-03-204971-7 (Volume 19) (pbk)

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DOI: 10.4324/9781003195382

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Three Studies on Early Modern Germany

PETER BLICKLE
HANS-CHRISTOPH RUBLACK
WINFRIED SCHULZE

Edited by
Kaspar von Greyerz

With an Introduction by
Wolfgang J. Mommsen

German Historical Institute 1984

This book is copyright under the Berne Convention. No reproduction without permission. All rights reserved.

George Allen & Unwin (Publishers) Ltd,

Park Lane, Hemel Hempstead, Herts HP2 4TE, UK

Allen & Unwin, Inc.,

9 Winchester Terrace, Winchester, Mass. 01890, USA

George Allen & Unwin Australia Pty Ltd,

8 Napier Street, North Sydney, NSW 2060, Australia

First published in, 1984

Blickle, Peter

Religion, politics and social protest.

1. ReformationGermany

I. Title II. Rublack, Hans Christoph

III. Schulze, Winfried

274.306 BR305.2

ISBN 0-04-940077-0

Blickle, Peter.

Religion, politics, and social protest.

Based on papers given in seminars at the German
Historical Institute in 1980.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. ReformationGermanyAddresses, essays, lectures.
2. Social movementsGermanyHistory16th century
Addresses, essays, lectures. 3. GermanySocial conditions
Addresses, essays, lectures. 4. Germany
Politics and government1517-1648Addresses, essays, lectures.
I. Rublack, Hans-Christoph. II. Schulze, Winfried.
III. Greyerz, Kaspar von. IV. German
Historical Institute of London.
BR307.B54 1984 943'.03 84-10963
ISBN 0-04-940077-0 (alk. paper)

Set in 11 on 13 point Garamond by V & M Graphics Ltd, Aylesbury and printed in Great Britain by Nene Litho and bound by Woolnough Bookbinding both of Wellingborough, Northants

Introduction

2 Political and Social Norms in Urban Communities in the Holy Roman Empire

3 Peasant Resistance in Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century Germany in a European Context

Wolfgang J. Mommsen

The three studies by Peter Blickle, Hans-Christoph Rublack and Winfried Schulze collected in this volume have one theme in common, namely the social impact of the Reformation on German and other European societies in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. They represent important threads in current research in the Federal Republic of Germany on the social history of early modern Europe. The studies emerged from papers originally given in seminars at the German Historical Institute in 1980. While all three authors have published widely in German on the social history of the Reformation and German peasant revolts, British readers may not be as familiar with their work. Thus the German Historical Institute decided to publish these essays which provide a most informative insight into the views, research strategies and approaches currently dominant in the Federal Republic of Germany in this particular field of research. The German Historical Institute hopes to publish similar collections of essays on other topics of general interest in the near future; a collection of essays on the Holocaust is currently in preparation. It is to be hoped that in this way the German Historical Institute can help to promote the co-operation between British and German historical research.

The essay by Peter Blickle on Social protest and Reformation theology argues with much justification that the theology of the Reformation and the ideologies of the various social protest movements which began during that period had, in fact, much in common, whatever the theologians felt about it, and that one cannot be understood without the other. Blickle masterfully outlines an ideal-typical pattern of both urban and rural protest movements during the Reformation and points out in some detail how intimately connected they were to the theological teachings of the Reformation preachers. Social protest in its various forms was justified by contemporaries, albeit in very different ways, as based upon what they considered the only legitimate interpretation of the gospel. In this way Blickle succeeds in establishing a systematic link between the theology and the social protest movements of the time. Though in the end they were mostly suppressed, they made a lasting impact upon early modern society in Germany.

Hans-Christoph Rublacks essay on Political and social norms in urban communities in the Holy Roman Empire tackles a wider theme, namely the fundamental norms of German society before and during the Reformation, that is to say, the value principles which not only legitimised the social fabric as such, but also served as guidelines for social action throughout. Rublack does so on a rather sophisticated, abstract level, relying to a considerable degree upon sociological conceptualisations. In a way, his theme is a corollary to Blickles. He agrees with Blickle that the Reformation released enormous energies which tended to disrupt the traditional socio-political fabric of society, but he is concerned with the fact that most of the fundamental value norms of the age, particularly those with an integrative content, did survive. These were invoked to preserve the cohesion of society in the face of disruptive forces. Rublack emphasises three of them, the ideas of