Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Introduction: The Reformed Augustinians of Lower Germany
- 2 The German Reformed Congregation and its Province of Lower Germany
- 3 The Antwerp Cloister
- 4 The Authorities Respond: Pope and Emperor Seize the Initiative
- 5 Wittenberg’s Influence on the Events in Lower Germany
- 6 Reformation Ideas in the Low Countries
- 7 ‘Summer is at the Door’: The Impact of the Executions on Martin Luther
- 8 The Impact of the Executions in the Low Countries
- 9 The Impact of the Executions in the German-Speaking Lands of the Holy Roman Empire
- 10 The Marian Dimension
- 11 The Reformed Augustinians of Lower Germany and the Dynamics of the Early Reformation
- Bibliography
- About the Author
- Index
10 - The Marian Dimension
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 November 2020
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Introduction: The Reformed Augustinians of Lower Germany
- 2 The German Reformed Congregation and its Province of Lower Germany
- 3 The Antwerp Cloister
- 4 The Authorities Respond: Pope and Emperor Seize the Initiative
- 5 Wittenberg’s Influence on the Events in Lower Germany
- 6 Reformation Ideas in the Low Countries
- 7 ‘Summer is at the Door’: The Impact of the Executions on Martin Luther
- 8 The Impact of the Executions in the Low Countries
- 9 The Impact of the Executions in the German-Speaking Lands of the Holy Roman Empire
- 10 The Marian Dimension
- 11 The Reformed Augustinians of Lower Germany and the Dynamics of the Early Reformation
- Bibliography
- About the Author
- Index
Summary
Abstract
Chapter Ten investigates the influence of these events on the Reformation dispute over the proper understanding of the Virgin Mary within Christianity. Vos and van den Esschen were executed on the eve of the festival of Mary's Visitation and it did not take long for the rumour to spread that at the last moment, they recanted, a turn of heart attributed to Mary's miraculous intervention and a demonstration of her agency as a saint. Aware of the dangers posed by an overly aggressive critique of Marian piety, supporters of Reformation theology responded in gentle and subtle ways. This chapter offers an example of how these events became embedded in a broader Reformation debate about sainthood and the role of Mary within Christianity.
Keywords: Marian Piety, Virgin Mary, Inquisition, Protestant Marian Antiphons
As news of the events that ended with the executions of Vos and van den Esschen rippled outward, key individuals like the anonymous pamphleteers, Martin Luther, Claes vander Elst, and George Hauer interpreted and explained it in various ways, ascribing to it diverse meanings that then went on to have their own impact. Up to this point, I have investigated the influence of these interpretations from the perspective of geography: in concentric circles beginning with the person of Martin Luther, then moving to the region of the Low Countries, then the German-speaking lands more broadly. But the executions of Vos and van den Esschen also became fodder for both sides in some of the broader doctrinal arguments of the period. For example, reactions to the event became a forum for questions surrounding martyrdom and sainthood, as has been noted by severalhistorians. Such uses of the executions should come as no surprise, for one side declared the men heretics, while the other, with Luther leading the way, immediately christened them the Reformation's first martyrs. But what historians have failed to adequately note is that this dispute also became an arena for the debate regarding the nature, role, and powers of the Virgin Mary that was already underway between adherents of the church and those pressing for Reformation. This is but one more way in which the events that transpired among the Reformed Augustinians of Lower Germany impacted the Reformation.
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- Publisher: Amsterdam University PressPrint publication year: 2020