Voices of the Reformation: contemporary accounts of daily life

Evaluating and Interpreting Primary Documents

Chronology of the Protestant Reformation

Documents of the Reformation

Late Medieval Religion

1. "Men Loaded with Gold and Clad in Purple": Criticisms of the Avignon Papacy (Mid-14th Century)

2. "Such Evidence Should Satisfy No One": English Cleric John Wycliffe on the Eucharist and the Power of the Pope (1377, 1384)

3. "God Will Help Thy Good Intent": The Imitation of Christ, the Devotio Moderna, and the Call for Reform (ca. 1420)

4. "Wherefore Are Some Chosen and Others Cast Out?": The Reformation Foreshadowed in the Life and Preaching of Fra Girolamo Savonarola (1493, 1497)

5. "May I Be Lost If in All of Luther's Works There Is a Single Syllable of Mine": Erasmus and His Circle React to Martin Luther and the Start of the German Reformation (1518, 1521)

Reformation in Germany

6. "He Has Collected Many Heresies": The Edict of Worms (1521)

7. "On Holy Easter There Was Neither Singing Nor Preaching": An Account of the Peasants' War (1525)

8. "It Is Consistent with Scripture That We Should Be Free": The Twelve Articles of the Peasants (1525)

9. "One Simple Truth and Christian Concord": The Augsburg Confession (1530)

10. "Shall Let Them Quietly and Peacefully Enjoy Their Religion": The Peace of Augsburg (1555)

Martin Luther and Lutheranism

11. "They Now Fish for the Riches of Men": Martin Luther's 95 Theses (1517)

12. "So That We May Blow Down These Walls of Straw and Paper": Luther's Address to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation (1520)

13. "From the Word I Would Not Depart": Martin Luther's Account of His Hearing before the Diet of Worms (1521)

14. "This Damnable and Offensive Worm": Martin Luther and the King of England (1522, 1525)

15. "Indulging in Nothing but Robbery, Murder, and Bloodshed": Martin Luther Reacts to the Peasants' War (1525)

Ulrich Zwingli, Anabaptism, and the Reformation in Switzerland

16. "The Decree about Cheese and Butter Is a Roman Swindle": The 67 Articles Defended by Ulrich Zwingli (1523)

17. "Baptism of Infants, the Supreme Abomination of the Roman Pontiff": The Schleitheim Confession (1527)

18. "The Hangman Shall Dispute with You": An Account of the Trial and Execution of Michael Sattler (1527)

19. "What Shame, Pray, Will Be Left Us?": Ulrich Zwingli's "Refutation of the Tricks of the Baptists" (1527)

20. "He Compelled Me to Seize a Pen": Ulrich Zwingli's Letter to Joachim Vadian Concerning the Marburg Colloquy (1529).

John Calvin and Calvinism

21. "A Question, in the Opinion of Many, Full of Perplexity": John Calvin on the Doctrine of Predestination (1536)

22. "Taverns Shall Be Closed during the Sermon": Ordinances for the Regulation of the Churches Dependent Upon the Seigniory of Geneva (1547)

23. "His Said Book Could Not Be Tollerated Even among Papists": The Charges Brought against Michael Servetus (1553)

24. "He is a Monster Not to Be borne": John Calvin's Letters Describing the Arrest and Condemnation of Michael Servetus (1553)

25. "Being of a Disposition Somewhat Unpolished and Bashful": John Calvin Describes His Conversion Experience (1557)

Reformation in England and Scotland

26. "The Field Is Won": Sir Tomas More and the Defense of Papal Supremacy (1534-1535)

27. "Jangled in Every Alehouse and Tavern": Henry VIII Implores His Subjects to Put Aside Religious Differences (1545)

28. "My heart, Do Thine Office": The Execution of Scottish Reformer George Wishart (1546)

29. "We Will Have ... ": West Country Resistance to the New English Liturgy (1549)

30. "That Horrible Monster Jezebel": Scottish Reformer John Knox Denounces the Queen of England and the Rule of Women (1558)

Catholic Reformation

31. "We Will Remain Unvanquished": Catholic Women Resist the Reformers, The Short Chronicle of Jeanne de Jussie (ca. 1534)

32. "Remember That You Are a Member of the Society of Jesus": The Work of the Jesuits in Europe and Without (1552,1597)

33. "One Day the Eyes of His Soul Were Opened": The Autobiography of St. Ignatius of Loyola (1555)

34. "Who Has Delivered Me from Myself": A Mystical Reformation, the Autobiography of Saint Teresa of Avila (1562)

35. "Scandals and Stumbling-Blocks of the Faithful": Decrees of the Council of Trent on Purgatory, Relics, Images, and Clerical Concubines (1563)

Europe Divided, 1570-1600

36. "They Threw the Body through the Window into the Courtyard": An Account of and Reactions to the Murder of French Protestants on St. Bartholomew's Day (1572)

37. "The Letters of a Deceitful and Hypocritical King": Religion and War in the Netherlands (1580),1581)

38. "Unless He Consent and Subscribe to These Articles Following": Archbishop John Whitgift's Articles for Uncovering Anglican Ministers of Presbyterian Inclination (1583)

39. "The Wicked and Dangerous Practices of Seditious Sectaries": Dissenting from the English Via Media, Jesuits and Puritans (1585, 1593)

40. "Obliterated and Forgotten, As If No Such Things Had Ever Happened": The Edict of Nantes, Ending the Wars of Religion in France (1598)

Biographical Sketches of Important Individuals Mentioned in Text

Glossary of Terms Mentioned in Text

Comparison of Catholic and Protestant Positions of Key Doctrines

Sixteenth-Century Monarchs and Popes.