The Radical Reformation and the Making of Modern Europe: A Lasting Heritage

193 Pages·2016·1.536 MB·English

by  Mario Biagioni

The Radical Reformation and the Making of Modern Europe
Studies in Medieval
and Reformation Traditions
Edited by
Andrew Colin Gow (Edmonton, Alberta)
In cooperation with
Sara Beam (Victoria, BC)
Falk Eisermann (Berlin)
Berndt Hamm (Erlangen)
Johannes Heil (Heidelberg)
Martin Kaufhold (Augsburg)
Erik Kwakkel (Leiden)
Ute Lotz-Heumann (Tucson, Arizona)
Jürgen Miethke (Heidelberg)
Christopher Ocker (San Anselmo and Berkeley, California)
Founding Editor
Heiko A. Oberman †
VOLUME 207
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/smrt
The Radical Reformation and the
Making of Modern Europe
A Lasting Heritage
By
Mario Biagioni
LEIDEN | BOSTON
Cover illustration: Adam and Eve Expelled from the Garden of Eden. Fresco, Museum Brancacci Chapel,
Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence, Itay. Height 255 cm, dated around 1425. Artist: Masaccio (born
Tommaso di ser Giovanni di Simone Guidi Cassai, 1401–1428).
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Contents
Preface VII
1 A Broader Vision of the Radical Reformation: Some Historiographical
Remarks 1
1.1 Bainton, Cantimori and “Eretici italiani del Cinquecento” 1
1.2 The Radical Reformation in the Historiography of the Second Half of
the Twentieth Century 7
1.3 A Broader Vision of the Radical Reformation 17
2 Travelers of Utopia: The Other Europe of the Italian Exiles religionis
causa 27
2.1 Travelers of Utopia 27
2.2 Parallel Escapes: Pietro Martire Vermigli and Bernardino Ochino 32
2.3 The Hard Choice of Fausto Sozzini 40
2.4 Francesco Pucci and the Realistic Utopia 48
3 Toleration and Adam’s Immortality: An Example of the Relationship
between Locke and the Socinians 57
3.1 The Immortality of Adam and the Breadth of the Kingdom of God in
Locke’s Writings 57
3.2 Adam, Locke and the Socinians 62
3.3 The Debate Between Fausto Sozzini and Francesco Pucci on Adam’s
Immortality 65
3.4 The Issue of Adam’s Immortality in Socinian Thought After Fausto
Sozzini 69
3.5 The Immortality of Adam, Salvation of Mankind and Toleration:
Is there a Relationship? 72
4 Infinite Mercy and the Infinite Universe: Francesco Pucci and Giordano
Bruno 76
4.1 The Infinite Amplitude of the Kingdom of God 76
4.2 Erasmian Affinities: Francesco Pucci and Giordano Bruno 83
4.3 A lasting heritage: A Brief History of Puccianism in the Seventeenth
Century 93
vi Contents
5 Christian Francken and the Skepticism of the Sixteenth Century 108
5.1 The Descent of Christian Francken “in immensum” 108
5.2 Christian Francken and the Criterion of Truth 113
5.3 Christian Francken and the “Dispute between a Theologian and a
Philosopher on the Uncertainty of Christian Religion” 117
5.4 Christian Francken and the Sixteenth-Century Origins of the Treatise
“De tribus impostoribus” 126
6 Conclusions 135
6.1 The Radical Reformation and the Making of Modern Europe 135
6.2 Secularism 137
6.3 Toleration and Rationalism 139
6.4 The Break of Modernity 142
Bibliography 145
Index of Names 172
Preface
Some of the main principles of modern western civilization originated in theo-
logical controversies of the sixteenth century, such as the notion of toleration,
the dignity of atheism, and the idea of otherness. Theological language was
the most important medium of the intellectual debate: philosophy, medi-
cal science, astronomy, political thought, and so on were all connected with
theo logy. The theological debate extended beyond universities, convents, and
cathedrals. Nobles, bourgeois, and common people often spoke at home, at
work and even in the streets about final salvation, the Trinity, the relationship
between faith and work, and the holy supper. The introduction of printing
allowed free thinkers, who didn’t belong to any church, to spread their ideas
throughout Europe. The borders between orthodoxy and heterodoxy were usu-
ally determined by disputations. Even commonly accepted ideas could quickly
be considered heretical, and many orthodox theologians or intellectuals were
soon regarded with suspicion (as were the works of Erasmus). So-called ortho-
doxy is the historical result, temporary and subject to change, of a long series
of debates, struggles, and choices. Even more interesting to historians are these
debates, struggles, and choices themselves.
Historians know that historical time is “continuous time” according to
George Duby and, more recently, Jacques Le Goff (for example in his last book
Faut-il vraiment découper l’histoire en tranches? Editions du Seuil, 2014). All his-
torians know, however, that historical time is the time of man, and is therefore
marked by quick transformations and strong resistances. Every periodization
implies an ideological choice. The aim of the historian is to rationalize the past
by identifying the dynamics of transformations, paying the highest of respect
to sources while focusing on his own research interests that are inevitably
linked to the present. The historian is as much a part of history as the argu-
ments he studies, and his interpretation of the past, though it is consistent,
verifiable, and honest, cannot but be relative, partial, and subject to changes.
A point of observation is essential in order to understand the sense of recon-
struction and to express a critical judgment. If one changes the point of obser-
vation, the events appear in a different perspective, resulting in the discovery
of new lines of research.
The Reformation is considered to be one of the key events in the history of
Modern Europe. Its first and more evident impact can be seen in the break-
down of the unity within the Roman Church in Europe, and in the birth of
new churches, generically termed “Protestant,” which modified not only the
religious framework of the continent, but also the social, political and cultural
viii Preface
ones. Today those churches provide tangible evidence of the Reformation;
they are the final results of the long historical process that began at that time.
However, the Lutheran, Calvinist and Anglican churches, plus minority groups
that stemmed from Anabaptism and Unitarianism, represent only the most
visible, institutional results of the great heritage of that extraordinary conflict
of ideas. Many other religious options remained open for a long time during
the sixteenth century, and were possible alternatives to the churches that were
successful, at least until they were no longer historically feasible. The ideas and
experiences linked to these unfulfilled possibilities penetrated equally into
the religious, political, and social life of Early Modern Europe, as well as into
theological debates; before doctrines had been fixed in dogmas and had
become orthodox, yet were still significant, independent of their negative out-
comes. The distinction between heterodoxy and orthodoxy is very important
when addressing the history of churches and the historical reconstruction
of the identity of a religious community, but becomes ambiguous in the his-
tory of ideas. It is important to know whether certain ideas were later con-
sidered orthodox or heterodox, yet, more important still, whether such ideas
represented the expectations of the men of the time, whether they were real
alternatives to the choices made later, or whether these ideas influenced the
cultural debate and left a lasting heritage.
In 1699 Gottfried Arnold published Unpartheyische Kirchen und Ketzer
Historie in Frankfurt am Main, wherein he claimed that the history of true
Christianity was the history of “heretical” ideas (especially spiritualist ones).
He simply exchanged the roles between orthodoxy and heterodoxy on the
basis of his own religious beliefs; however, he demonstrated the possibility
of a mirror image of history in which outcasts and losers became those who
defended the true Gospel message. In short, Arnold wrote a history apart from
the official one, presenting an antithetic point of view. It was a strongly ideo-
logical interpretation, and therefore weak in terms of historical reliability.
Nevertheless, such an interpretation makes us think about the ecclesiological
nature of the notions of orthodoxy and heterodoxy. The history of religious
thought is not only the history of visible churches, just as the history of the
Reformation is not only the history of the institutions that arose from it. From
the churches’ point of view, religious radicalism of the sixteenth century played
a minor role without real autonomy, which is often regarded as subsidiary to
that of the Magisterial Reformation. However, if we change our point of view
and immerse ourselves in the center of those religious controversies—which
now seem abstruse—with the aim of understanding which hopes, needs, and
fears were under debate, we can find some key contributions to the rise of the
modern European conscience in the struggles of those who later were defeated
Preface ix
and excluded. In this context the so-called heterodox thought was particularly
fruitful, owing to the same critical force that often was the cause of its failure.
The Radical Reformation left us a lasting and universal heritage of ideas that
today, we feel, belong to everybody.
This book is the synthesis of twelve years of research, study and publica-
tions on the Radical Reformation. My first essay, Nuove prospettive di ricerca
su Francesco Pucci, was published in 1995 in « Rivista Storica Italiana ». From
then on, following the teaching of my first master Antonio Rotondò, I devoted
myself to the study of the exiles religionis causa, especially Italians, who were
not accepted by any church. Despite their marginalization, their ideas spread
across much of Europe through their preaching but primarily due to the circu-
lation of their books. Their thought influenced the cultural debate in the Early
Modern Age. I support the theory that such ideas were more important than
recent historiography on the Reformation seems to support.
The first five chapters of this book deal with different topics. The sixth chap-
ter contains some final remarks. In the first chapter, A broader vision of the
Radical Reformation. Some historiographical remarks, I deal with what seem to
me to be the current limits and strengths of Italian historiographical tradition.
The core of this topic is based on my brief remark, published by the journal
« Bruniana & Campanelliana » in 2011, expressing doubt about the plausibility
of the notion of the “heretic” in historical research, particularly in reference to
the radical reformers of the sixteenth century. At that time I thought (and am
now even more convinced) that such a notion was theoretically unsuitable and
closely linked to an out-dated historiographical perspective. My doubts led me
to study the issue in depth and to consider the characteristics and objectives
of the main research on the Radical Reformation, concentrating my attention
on the relationships between the historic Anglophone and Italian traditions.
I have no intention of providing a complete picture of the historiographical
perspectives; I want only to underline differences, contradictions and varying
sensibilities (some of which conflict), with the aim of stimulating a reflection
that I think may be useful.
The second chapter provides examples of stories of Italian exiles of the six-
teenth century, linked by the topics of travel and utopia, as evidenced in the
title: Travelers of utopia: the other Europe of the Italian exiles religionis causa.
Travel meant knowledge and discovery, but in the minds of religious exiles it
was also the only way to reach the countries they believed would accommodate
their hopes of religious freedom and renaissance of true faith. Their destina-
tions were Switzerland, Germany, England, and later Poland and Transylvania,
yet their travels revealed a Europe very different from the one they had ima-
gined. Their forerunner was Erasmus, but these pages deal with the vicissitudes