The Counter-Reformation in the History of Europe - Book Report/Review Example

The Counter Reformation in the History of Europe Introduction The Counter Reformation is one the interesting eras in the history of Europe as it was first serious attempt by Church to counter the challenge that Protestants posed to its authority. This period refers to an era where the Catholic revival in Europe started to take place after an onslaught from Luther and Calvin. This was an era when Catholic Church started to bring in a process of reformation within itself in a manner which shaped its future course and its overall position in the modern European society. It was this process of internal change and reformation that actually helped Catholic Church to win back the support of those who were looking to Protestants and other factions in order to get rid from the old fashioned school of thought. The gap that was left behind by Catholic Church due to its own internal and inherent weaknesses was filled by Calvinism which swiftly established its power across the Europe in more extensive manner. The process of reformation that Protestants started to initiate was however, met with the Counter Reformation which ultimately lead to the widespread changes in the way Church used to operate and influence the European society and its different aspects. This literature will present a historical analysis of what has been written in recent times on the subject and what are some of the emerging themes which can provide new insights into the way our overall understanding of the Counter Reformation and the people of Catholic Europe. Counter Reformation Era According to Mack Holt, the developments and changes that took place in the social history during 1960s and 1970s actually witnessed the emergence of a new beginning towards the scholarship in understanding European History. Methodologically, new approaches allowed historians to view the Europe of Middle Ages into an entirely different perspective thus uncovering critical changes and patterns that were within European society during that era. (Holt 2003). Holt raised certain important issues in terms of the lack of social history of the period of reformation within Europe. However, this trend gradually changed and the new approaches towards writing the history of this period uncovered important implication for the subject of social history as the new historians approached this issue in an entirely new manner. What is also significant to understand that historians of new era practically refused to accept the earlier ideas on the social history of reformation and formulated an entirely new set of ways of looking at the social history of this period? To view the process of reformation and Counter Reformation in an entirely new manner, historians considered this phenomenon from a social perspective of class. Some even went on to declare the reformation as the revolution of common men and how common men actually rose against the authority. This literature also subsequently focused on the role of the authority in curbing the revolution of common men. It was mainly because of this reason that the counter revolution period also witnessed a different and renewed emphasis on the way poor in Catholic European societies were viewed by other members of the society. It is critical to note that it was during this era that a wholly new attitude towards the suppressed of the society emerged and issues like giving money on interest were considered as acceptable in order to provide breathing space to the poor of the society. Thus both the reformists as well as the counter reformists considered the good work as the point of salvation and engaged, collectively, in raising the overall standards of the society. (Pullan 2005). This change therefore also influenced the way how the welfare relationships between the State and the citizens developed over the period of time. Since the era of reformation signfiicantly weakened the role and power of the powerful Monarchs therefore the State as a whole attempted to provide a new dimension to the European society with special emphasis on the welfare of the citizens of the State. John Van Engen is of the view that the overall interpretation of the so called middle Ages has changed a lot over the period of time (Engen 1986). This change in the overall interpretation of the era is also characterized by the fact that it was interpreted in different manner however, according to Engen (1986) it still maintained one common thread and that was of the Catholic or Christian roots of this era. Bossy (1970) however, is also of the view that for ordinary Christians of that era, this was the period which further institutionalized the Church and through its Bishops, Church actually went on to enforce the “system of Parochial Conformity”. (Bossy 1970). Thus Bossy is of the view that this was an era when Catholics were further institutionalised to attend the Church Regularly and accept the authority and will of the Church in an entirey new manner. As such the overall era of Counter Reformation created a new set of practices and code of religious practices within Europe which the people of Europe has to follow. This renewed and more focused effort by the Church therefore is seen as an effort to further the cause of Church and inculcate the overall Christian values in an entirely different manner. Engen (1986) however, was of the view that the era which ushered before the occurrence of Counter Reformation was the one where deep rooted Catholic beliefs and values were challenged and people started to question the existence of Europe as a single Christian land. This was also considered as the beginning of weakening the religious values in the region and growing infuence of other religious alternatives and views were started to being accepted. Thus there was an inherent urge within the hierarchy of Church not to challenge the religious hierarchy however, to maintain and resurrect the authority which Church enjoyed in the past. This counter reformation therefore saw the development of methods such as inquisition to tame the opposition and re-establish the authority of Church. Another important chracterstics of this era was the Roman inquisition which was another signfiicant aspect of the counter reformation era. During this era, it was not only the reformation of the Church through the change that took place within Church but also the Church came hard on heresy and went on to crush all the possible opposition which it can encountered during this period. This era therefore is also marked as an era in European Catholic society wherein the overall opposition to the Church was vehimentally condemend and whoever attempted to stand against the Church was handled with extreme cruelty. What is also signficiant to note that the inquisition during this era was relatively soft and the methods of torture were not used so often and as such though inquisition was there but its enforcement was not as letha as it was in the past. There is an interesting debate regarding whether the Europe during reformation era was a Chiristian Europe or it was something which was ready for a change from its past. Bob Scribner (1978) considered the era of reformation as the emergence of collective mentalities wherein a transition took place from old beliefs and values to more modern and rational values on which the future of European society was built. (Scribner 1978). This period of reformation was therefore a radical rupture in the traditional European societal values based on Christian faith. Traditional approaches to describing the Medieval Europe therefore is based on the assumption that it helped the emergence of an educated clergy from within Europe. Thus this period is chractercise by something which initiated deep rooted changes in the way Christian society within Europe tend to move ahead. It is also critical to note that the era during the counter reformation was also an era where the so called old wine was presented in a new bottled. According to Bossy (1970) the trained bishops were basically enforcing the old legislations with an entirely new attitude as well as the new zeal and urge to reclaim the lost glory of Church. Bossy therefore is of the view that the era of Counter Reformation was actually an era wherein Church re-emerged as the strongest force in the society to revamp and re-chracterctercise the original Christianity in an entirely new form thus giving a new direction to follow. One important aspect of reformation is the role of women during this era and how women were influenced during this period. It is generally believed that most of the literature on the reformation era has failed to view this era from a gender perspective also and to some extent few women belonging to Royal Families are discussed. This ignornace of women is mostly based on the assumption that the women shared most of this era with their husbands and fathers therefore the overall impact of the era was actually transferred to them through the male members of their household. (Wiesner 1987). This aspect of research on the subject therefore indicates towards the lack of interest on the part of the historians to actualy recognize the role of women during that era and how they were actually influenced by the subtle changes that took place within European society over the period of time. However, this trend, according to Wiesner has changed during the recent times wherein the historians have now started to actually explore the impact on women an entirely new manner thus bringing forward the role that Women has played during the period and the overall influence of counter reformation and reformation on the women and normal Christian family. Since women was the center of family life therefore recent research has started to focus the impact of this era from this perspective and how family, as a whole, was influenced by the reformation and counter reformation era which was mostly dominated by religious authorities with very orthodox religious views about the women. Counte reformation and the increased influence of Church also created signfiicant changes in the way the European family tend to operate. Church influenced even the way Baptism was carried out in the families and the role of parents and grand parents in that process. Church enforced strict rules in terms of performing the Baptism of the children and according to Bossy Church came an spirited conflict with the family in Catholic Europe. (Bossy 1970). This was mainly due to the restrictions placed by Church on the role of grandparents in the baptism of the children and as such the family as a unit came in direct conflict with the Church. It is also generally argued that the reformation and counter reformation actually shattered the way religion was viewed in Europe. The basic tenents and the chracterstics of the religious practices as well as values changed dramatically during this period. The process of reformation therefore is believed to increase the concept of political liberty in European society and as such the seed for challenging the authority were sown in Europe. Though the actual manifestation of these seeds took place much later on however, the process as a whole was started by the Protestants in European society. Conclusion The existing literature on the topic took an entirely new turn during the later part of 20th century wherein new techniques as well as the methodologies emerged to provide an entirely new face to the way social history of Counter Reformation was written. The process of social reformation started as a result of the reformation efforts undertaken by protestants. However, the counter reformation itself proved as a much difficult period for the Church itself as it went through a systematic change within itself. This new change brought important new changes which altered the role and influence of Church in the ordinary Catholic family. There are various patterns which can be assessed from the available literture on the topic however, most importantly the emphasis is on the influence of Counter Refromation on the family as individual unit of the society. Church seem to influence many aspects of family life during tha era of Counter Reformation. Bibliography 1. Bossy, John. "The Counter-Reformation and the People of Catholic Europe." Past and Present 47 (1970): 51-70. 2. Engen, John Van. "The Christian Middle Ages as an Historiographical Question." American Historical Review 91 (1986): 519-552. 3. Holt, Mack P. "The Social history of the Reformation: Recent Trends and Future Agendas." Journal of Social History 37, no. 1 (2003): 133-144. 4. Pullan, Brian. "Catholics, Protestants, and the Poor in Early Modern Europe." Journal of Interdisciplinary History, no. 35 (2005): 441-456. 5. Scribner, Bob. "Reformation, Carnival, and the World Turned Upside-Down." Social History 3, no. 3 (1978): 303-329. 6. Wiesner, Merry. "Beyond Women and the Family: Toward a Gender Analysis of the Reformation." Sixteenth Century Journal 18, no. 3 (1987): 311-321. Read More