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Protestant Women in the Reformation

Peasants on their way to church

Women in the early 16th century were not passive bystanders in the Reformation. In fact, many women participated either partially or fully. Basing their participation on the Reformation principle that religion should be a priesthood of believers, women became leaders, influencers, preachers and martyrs for the Reformations cause.

On 31 of October 1517, The Protestant Reformation began when Martin Luther, a Catholic priest and university professor, nailed his Ninety-Five Theses on the door of the Wittenberg church. Luther's theses were intended to start a debate on the selling of indulgences by the Catholic church, but especially in regards to fund the building of Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome. Luther's Theses was soon printed and spread throughout Europe, essentially setting the Reformation in motion. Reformation ideas had been simmering for sometime in Europe, especially being championed by the Humanist movement.

Contents

• Gender roles of the Sixteenth Century
  • Marriage and Family
  • Education and Work
• Ecclesiastical Status of Women
  • Preaching and Publishing
  • Convents
  • Martyrs and Heresy
• Changing Social Attitudes on Women
• Denominational positions
  • Lutheranism
  • Calvinism or Reformed
    • Presbyterianism
  • Zwingli
  • Anabaptism
    • Hutterites
    • Baptists
    • Quakers
    • Amish
    • Congregationalists
• Further reading

Gender roles of the Sixteenth Century

The Role of Women in the Sixteenth Century

Eve's original sin

The feudal system and religion dictated the gender roles in 16th century society. Women were expected to be subordinate to men, but women found ways to participate in their communities in various ways. The idea that women were subordinate to men, stemmed from the early religious understands that women were accountable for Eve's original sin, thus making them accountable for all humankinds evils, wars and suffering. The idea of male or female suffrage was unthinkable, but women were lower class citizens than men. Women were expected to look to men in all matters, at home and with all legal matters

Despite this idea, many peasant women were afforded small freedoms to work inside and outside the home, marry whom they chose, run their homes, and council with their husbands. Counselling with their husbands and working outside their homes is where peasant women heard about the Reformation. Most peasant women were given some freedom in choosing a husband, although it was not a guarantee. Almost always though, upper class women were not given the choice of marriage since it was more a business transaction. Upper class women were minimally educated though since they were expected to manage servants, run a large household, and manage household finances.

Marriage and Family

Marriage contract

Marriage in the sixteenth century followed two patterns in Europe, late marriage and early marriage. In the Northern European countries, late marriage where women was more common. Women usually worked either for her parents or outside the home, and then chose her own spouse in her early to mid Twenties. In the Southern countries, early marriage was more common. Girls were considered women as soon as they could reproduce, and a daughter could given in marriage in early adolescence.

In both societies however a wife was expected to be a good companion to her husband, but she was still always considered his subordinate due to her original sin. Catholicism taught that celibacy, not marriage, was the ideal, but if one could not be celibate, it was better to be married than to sin. This idea of celibacy is a major reason that Reformers like Luther and John Calvin left Catholicism. Reformers took their doctrine from the New Testament, and there was no doctrinal foundation for celibacy.

Peasant mother

In the 16th Century, a woman's main purpose in society was as mother to her husband's children and a help meet to her husband. Obedience in an early marriage society was demanded by husbands, and women were restricted in their actions because they were the carriers of their husband's heirs, thus making them in need of protection to certify that they were only birthing their husbands children. Although this was the expectation, there is too much evidence of men and women acting contrary to these ideals to say that this was followed exactly.

Martin Luther, whose ideas on women coincided with the normal thinking of his day, believed that women were afforded salvation by childbirth, and that pain and death in childbirth was redeeming and the noble work of God. One example of Luthers ideal woman was Katharina Von Bora, his wife, who was considered a perfect example of womanhood by her husband. Katarina performed her wifely duties by counselled with Luther privately, giving him children and remaining silent, passive and subservient while guests were in the house even though she had a temper. Martin Luther himself taught that "the wife should stay at home and look after the affairs of the household as one who has been deprived of the ability of administering those affairs that are outside and concern the state…." John Calvin agreed that "the woman's place is in the home."

Education and Work

Women's Work

Gleaning

A women's life in the 16th Century was not easy. Famine, war and pestilence were a part of daily life. Most women had to contribute to the family finances by working. Some worked in the fields or had family farm work, while some were doing piece work, textile work, beer brewing or other food production at home, which they later sold in marketplaces. Women began to work outside the home as well as servants, barmaids, innkeepers, small shopkeepers, weavers or even goldsmiths. Girls began to apprentice in careers such as shoe and glove making, hatmaking, bookbinding, or some sort of cloth production. Girls were usually taught under the masters wife. In fact, the 15th and 16th century saw unprecedented amounts of women working outside the home, as well as choosing to remain single. Other woman worked with their husbands in the businesses or Guild work, although themselves were mostly excluded from Guilds. Women were allowed continue running their husbands business if they became widowed. This could vary considerably depending on social class and wealth.

Women's work

Some examples are; commoner Kaarina Multiala (d. between 1563-1571) owned several ships and was a wealthy Finnish merchant. Another commoner, Brigitta Lars Anderssons (d. after 1551) was a folk healer who became the personal physician and nurse to the queen. Also, in 1572 Danish scientist Sophia Brahe (1556–1643) assisted her brother Tycho with his astronomical observations. Anna Taskomakare (c. 1480 - d. after 1528) was a successful and wealthy landlady who also traded copper and iron. Calvinist Anne Locke was a translator and poet who published the first English sonnet sequence. Anna Karlsdotter (d. 1552) was a noblewoman who retracted donations her ancestors had made to a church and died wealthy.

The most famous example is between Martin Luther, and his wife, former nun Katharina von Bora, due to her moderately wealthy background and a household license to brew and sell beer she was able to support Luther financially.

Education

Woman reading

Due partly to the invention of the printing press and the susequent increase in literacy, the Reformation championed education for both sexes. Protestant women were encouraged to study the Bible in vernacular language. Calvinists began separate schools for boy and girls in Geneva. Also, the Swedish Church Ordinance of 1571 mandated the education of girls along with the boys.

Education of women

The extent of most peasant women's education before the Reformation was the training in domestic skills. Women were taught how to look after children, care for their homes, make clothing for her family, and tend livestock.

Noble women were almost always educated enough to read and write, as well as in simple mathematics, but they were not afforded the same educational liberties and respect that their male relatives were. One of the most famous examples of an educated noble woman is Christine de Pizan, who after she was widowed, wrote multiple books on the equality and contributions of women. In 1569 Magdalena Heymair became the first woman ever to have her writings listed on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum. She published a series of pedagogical writings for elementary-age teaching and also wrote poetry. By the age of twelve, Olimpia Fulvia Morata (1526 –1555) was able to converse fluently in Greek and Latin, and in her teens, lectured on Cicero and Calvin's works. Her writings were published posthumously and also placed on the Index.

Ecclesiastical status[edit]

Publishing and Public Preaching

Publishing

Woman writing

The effect of the printing press cannot be understated in Reformation in Europe. Most of the Reformers published books or pamphlets of their beliefs because it was the fastest way to spread new ideas. Many women participated in the writing of the reformation such as Argula von Grumbach, Ana de la Cruz, Marie Dentiere. Elisabeth Cruciger was a friend of Martin Luther and the first female Reformation-era hymn writer. In 1590, Christine of Hesse published the psalm-book Geistliche Psalmen und Lieder and Elizabeth Melville was the first woman to print a book in Scotland. Women's preaching or publishing material stood in direct opposition to the words ascribed to St. Paul (1 Timothy 2: 11-15) which ordered women not to teach or preach. Women who published felt it necessary to justify their actions.

Lutheran poet Catharina Regina von Greiffenberg was exiled from her home in Austria during the Counter-Reformation.

Preaching

Woman preaching in a Quaker meeting

The Reformationist's believed in the New Testament exact doctrinal restoration. Because of this, women were allowed to preach in some the Protestant congregations. They justified this based on the three doctrines of sola scriptura (scripture alone), the priesthood of all believers, and when they felt compelled by the Holy Spirit. Luther believed that men and women had the same responsibility towards missionary work. Calvin believed women should study scriptures in groups and that God would call on women to preach or prophesy, especially if men were not worthy. However, both still kept the patriarchal church despite their liberal view of women. Pietist and Baptist women, were fairly equal spiritually to their male contemporaries. Quaker women were considered equal to men socially and sexually, and were encouraged to speak up publicly, while some were even ordained to ministerial offices. Moravian women, influenced by the Quakers, were also allowed religious equality.

Queen Elizabeth

Another religion that allowed women to fully participate was the Anabaptists. Founded by Conrad Grebel in 1527, and based on a community of believers or accountable baptism of adults. Because of their belief in lay leadership, or untrained leaders, women n their early church were allowed to preach publicly and in church, and were frequently sent on proselytizing missions throughout Europe. The evidence of this was from their letters sent home, and through the court document of their heresy trials. In the beginning of their religion, women were allowed to preach anywhere they felt the spirit and there is a few accounts of women leading congregations.

Another famous example of women in religious leadership, was Elizabeth I of England, despite being head of the church, was not given the same religious power as her father. Elizabeth and her Parliament decided to make her the Supreme Governor of the Church of England instead of the Supreme Head of the Church of England, partly because it was less offensive to Catholics, but also because she was a women. Although through the Elizabethan Religious Settlement she played a role in developing the English church into the Protestant Church of England that exists today.

Convents

Reformation perception of nunneries

Ideas on celibacy led the charge in some Protestant schisms. Not only was marriage now encouraged for the Protestant clergy, it was seen as ordained of God. Martin Luther was known for not only writing a pamphlet advising and encouraging nuns to break their vows, his own wife, Katharine von Bora, was a nun who converted to Lutheranism. Many women became involved in the Reformation because the new Protestant faith was a priesthood of believers. John Calvin's Taught that everyone could be saved it one was predestined by God. Many women were drawn to his religion. He encouraged women to read and have Bible study groups together.[1]

Traditionally, convents were the most socially acceptable alternative for women outside of marriage. But for many women in the 16th Century, that option was no longer available in Reformed Protestant areas. Some convents chose to voluntarily participated in the Reformation. For example, following Catherine of Mecklenburg's choice to defy her Catholic husband and smuggle Lutheran books to Ursula of Munsterberg and other nuns, Ursula (in 1528) published 69 articles justifying their reasons to leave their convent. Although her writings reached Martin Luther, they were listed on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum from 1596 to 1900.

Some convents (such as Ebstorf Abbey near the town of Uelzen and Bursfelde Abbey in Bursfelde) adopted the Lutheran Christian faith. They are sometimes called damenstift. Three exclusively female Lutheran orders for women open today are the Communität Casteller Ring, the Daughters of Mary, and the Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary. Although Communität Christusbruderschaft Selbitz is mixed, it is almost entirely female.

Women Martyrs

Protestant martyr Anne Askew

Many women were martyred or imprisoned for Protestantism during the Reformation. Despite universal laws against torturing women, many Protestant women were tortured. Torture of heretical women was justified because it was believed that the devil was causing the dissenting voices of heretics, thus it was for their own salvation that the devil was tortured out of them before they died. Court records and letters from mothers to their children, prove that Anabaptist women had by far the greatest number of executions. Women accounted for at least 1/3 of all Anabaptist Martyrs. An edict from the Zurich (1530), the Holy Roman Empire (1535) and England(1538) making it lawful to kill any Anabaptist that did not recant their re-baptism. Anabaptists began being hunted, tortured and killed for centuries, leaving many children orphans or motherless.[10]

The Catholic Church and The Holy Roman Empire declared that Protestantism was heresy, a crime punishable by burning. Some of the women martyrs include:

Anne Askew being tortured

1. Anne Askew (1521–1546), was tortured so badly in the in the Tower of London that she could not even walk to her own execution and had to be carried there. She was martyred in Smithfield for Protestantism
2. Joan Bocher (?–1550) English Anabaptist martyr in Smithfield
3. Elizabeth Pepper (?–1556) martyred while pregnant for Protestantism
4. Agnes George ()
5. Weynken, daughter of Claes (?-20 November 1527) Strangled to death for her belief in Anabaptist religion
6. Anna of Frieburg (?-1529) drowned
7. Appollonia Seyle (?1539) drowned
8. Anna of Rotterdam (?-24 January 1539) wrote a letter to her son Isaiah before she was executed.
9. Christina Tolinger, Agatha Kampner, Elizabeth Kampner, Barbara Thiers (?-1529) all died together by drowning for Anabaptist beliefs
10. Christina Haring (?-1533) imprisoned while pregnant, then executed by a sword, then burned.
11. Guernsey Martyrs, three women martyred for Protestantism in 1556, one woman was pregnant and gave birth while being burned, the child was rescued but then ordered to be burned too
12. Maria van Beckum and Ursula, her brothers wife (?-1544) burned
13. Elizabeth (?- 27 March 1549) drowned in a bag
14. Barbara Thielemans and Truyken Boens (?-20 March 1549) burned together in Amsterdam
15. Cecilia Jeribymus (?-1549) burned in Amsterdam
16. Claudine Le Vettre (?-1568) gagged and executed in Flanders
17. Ursel van Essen, Neeltgen and old woman, and Trijntgen her daughter (1570) executed by the Duke of Alva in Maestricht.
18. Lijsken, wife of Jerome Segers (?-1551) executed together
19. Joan Waste (1534–1556), blind woman martyred for Protestantism
20. Alice Benden (?–1557), martyred for Protestantism
21. Alice Driver (?–1558), testified for and martyred for Protestantism
22. Aeltgen Baten, an aged woman and Maeyken Wouters age 24 (?- 24 July 1595) drowned together
23. Elizabeth Hilzin (?-1639) executed in Othenbach, and then her husband was fined 500 guilders
24. Marie Durand (1711–1776), imprisoned 38 years in the Tower of Constance for Protestantism with 24 other women

Protestant Denominations That Came Out of the Reformation

All modern day Protestant churches had their roots in the Reformation, but these are the churches that started during the Reformation

Lutheranism

Founded by Martin Luther

Calvinism

Founded by John Calvin, a follower of Zwingli

Reformed

A break off of Calvinism

Anglican

Henry VIII's church, completed and standardized by his daughter Elizabeth I

Anabaptism

Anabaptism broke off into many different smaller sects, the most famous are Mennonites, Amish and Hutterites