Pre-Reformation Religious Dissent in The Netherlands, 1518-1530
Publisher: University Press of America
Published: August 28, 2006
Language: eng
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 308
ISBN-13: 9780761835264
Subjects: European history (ie other than Britain & Ireland); History; History - General History; History: World; Christianity - History - General; Western Europe - Benelux; History / Europe / Western; General; Modern - 16th Century; Western Europe - General; Dissenters, Religious; Early works to 1800; Netherlands; Reformation
Description: Although much of Protestant Reformation history focuses on movements in Germany, Switzerland, and France, during the sixteenth century the Netherlands was the site of some of the earliest instances of pre-Reformation religious dissent. During the 1520s, no "figurehead" led the movement in the Netherlands; instead, six theological tracts by six individual scholars voiced religious dissent. These dissenting theological ideas were based on either Northern Renaissance or biblical humanist scholarship--most notably Erasmus--or the writing and monastic students of Martin Luther. These tracts emphasized the need for renewed biblical study, spiritual rather than literal interpretations of the medieval church's rituals, re-evaluation of the status quo, and a revised interpretation of the authority of the Bible. This period of inquiry and religious and social unrest was the foundation for impending changes in the Netherlands and the rest of Europe. Using primary historical data from the trials of suspected heretics and the works of the aforementioned theologians, only one of which has appeared in English, this book is a study of the role of the Netherlands in the Protestant Reformation.