The Authorities Respond: Pope and Emperor Seize the Initiative

Abstract

Chapter Four investigates the responses of various opponents of Reformation ideas emanating from the Reformed Augustinian cloisters of Lower Germany. After the Diet of Worms (1521), pope and emperor made common cause with forces already arrayed against religious dissent in Lower Germany. This chapter traces the development of the campaign against the Antwerp Augustinians, which quickly expanded to include the other six Reformed Augustinian cloisters of Lower Germany. It also explores the pope’s response to these Augustinians as it relates to his capacious efforts to limit Reformed Augustinian influence throughout the empire. The chapter demonstrates that key authorities understood the Reformed Augustinians as a threat, and that the response to that threat was an important element in the early Reformation.