Process Of Confessionalization Research Articles

Differenzierung und Integration: Konfessionalisierung im frühneuzeitlichen Gesellschaftssystem. Das Beispiel der habsburgischen Vorlande

Using the example of the Habsburg lands, the author reformulates the paradigm of confessionalization in the light of system theory. Confessionalization is understood as symptom of a reorganization which deeply affected the entire social structure. The process of confessionalization brought about the disintegration of the hierarchical patterns of feudal society and the slow integration of religion and politics as functionally related systems of action with their own social rationality of action. From the perspective of the prince, the confessionalization of the Vorlande meant the creation of clearly marked boundaries between the secular and the ecclesiastical sphere of influence. This made it increasingly difficult to employ secular titles of possession for ecclesiastical purposes and vice versa. On the other hand, the prince used his religious and secular reform policy in order to bypass the nobility and to bring his princely authority to bear directly upon his subjects. In this way, confessionalization contributed decisively to the formation of a state independent of the nobility. There were analogous developments in the ecclesiastical sphere. The process of confessionalization brought about the reorganization of the Adelskirche and its structure based on benefices into a bureaucratic organization centered on the bishop and staffed by an educated clergy committed to a special, i.e. non-noble, way of life. At the same time, the church succeeded in extending its legal autonomy vis-a-vis the secular government. With the Tridentine reform of piety, the division between the holy and the profane also became clearer in other areas of life. This furthered the separation of the religious sphere from other fields of social interaction. Therefore, confessionalization became possible because it was linked with the complex processes of integration, in the course of which religion and politics developed into social systems independent of one another. Hence it has to be doubted

Veni, vidi, Deus vixit - Karl V. zwischen Religionskrieg und Religionsfrieden

Article Veni, vidi, Deus vixit - Karl V. zwischen Religionskrieg und Religionsfrieden was published on December 1, 1998 in the journal Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte - Archive for Reformation History (volume 89, issue jg).

Confessionalizzazione e identit collettivà – II caso italiano: Siena 1575-1800

This is a research article analysing the process of confessionalisation in a Catholic city-state. Drawing on his monography on early modern Siena (Peccato, penitenza, perdono. La formazione della coscienza nell'Italia moderna, Siena 1575-l800) the author outlines the effects that Tridentine reformation and Medicean politics had on the private and public behaviour of individuals. Basing his conclusions mostly on two centuries of ecclesiastical and lay criminal sources, the author attempts to reconstruct the critical factors that could shape the identity of people in a Catholic urban environment.

Unterschiede und Gemeinsamkeiten bei der Durchsetzung der Reformation in den Hansestädten Wismar, Rostock und Stralsund

Schildhauer argued that in the Hanse cities Wismar, Rostock, and Stralsund a civic movement (institutionalized as a committee of citizens) and the Reformation movement operated hand-in-hand. In Stralsund, however, a civic movement and its committee (which fought high taxation) wavered for two years (1523-25) between the old and the new faith. When in April of 1525 the Reformation officially took place, it was the result of Bildersturm and Kiostersturm. In order to avoid that certain plebeian groups would create chaos in the city, the council and the committee felt compelled finally to take the initiative in religious-ecclesiastical matters. And in Rostock the Reformation movement developed over a period of eight years (1523-1531), and did so without any support by a citizens' committee. Only the situation in Wismar confirms Schildhauer's presentation. In that city developed some sort of cooperation of the civic movement and the Reformation movement. In 1529 the council of Wismar and in 1531 the council of Rostock officially adopted the new faith. Yet notwithstanding this switch to the new faith, both cities were safe havens for members of the old church until the 1550s. This rather slow development of the Reformation in Wismar and Rostock was the result of the policies of the territorial princes, who were more influential in these two cities than in the more independent Stralsund. The events in Wismar and Rostock suggest the existence of some sort of religious plurality. In the case of Wismar the value of this suggestion is strengthened by two facts: Wismar harboured a large congregation of Schwenckfeldians; the theological quarrels among the Protestants made the victory of the Reformation in Wismar difficult. Not the city Reformation but the territorial Reformation through the process of confessionalization changed the situation in Wismar and Rostock. The events in these two cities should force us to reexamine the thesis that the city had a quasi-inborn tend