The conservatives, however, could do little but scold until the arrival
of Charles V in June 1520, and of the papal nuncio Aleander in September.
The latter saw Charles immediately at Antwerp and found him already
determined to resist heresy. Acting under the edict procured at that
time, though not published until the following March 22, Aleander busied
himself by going around and burning Lutheran works in various cities and
preaching against the heresy. [Sidenote: October, 1520] He found far
more opposition than one would think probable, and the burning of the
books, as Erasmus said, removed them from the bookstores only, not from
the hearts of the people. The nuncio even discovered, he said, at this
early date, heretics who denied the real presence in the eucharist:
evidently independent spirits like Hoen who anticipated the doctrine
later taken up by Carlstadt and Zwingli.
The validity of the Edict of Worms was affirmed for the Burgundian
provinces. The edict was read publicly at Antwerp [Sidenote: July 13,
1521] while four hundred of Luther's books were burnt, three hundred
confiscated from the shops and one hundred brought by the people. {242}
Whereas spiritual officers were at first employed, civil magistrates now
began to act against the innovators. In the beginning, attention was
paid to municipal privileges, but these soon came to be disregarded, and
resistance on any pretext was treated as rebellion and treason. The
first persons to be arrested were the Prior of Antwerp, Probst,
[Sidenote: 1522] who recanted, but later escaped and relapsed, and two
other intimate friends of Erasmus.
[Sidenote: The Inquisition]
Charles wished to introduce the Spanish inquisition, but his councillors
were all against it. Under a different name, however, it was exactly
imitated when Francis van der Hulst was appointed chief inquisitor by the
state, [Sidenote: April 23, 1522] and was confirmed by a bull of Adrian
VI. [Sidenote: June 1, 1523] The original inquisitorial powers of the
bishops remained, and a supreme tribunal of three judges was appointed in
1524.
[Sidenote: Martyrs, July 1, 1523]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account