Hedge Sermon

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The sermon of John the Baptist

Hedge sermons were open-air worship, hosted by Calvinists and Anabaptists . They took place in the Netherlands in 1566 in the run-up to the Calvinist iconoclasm .

history

In January 1566, parts of the lower nobility in the Dutch provinces had formulated a complaint which, under the now misunderstood term "Compromis", summarized claims against the Spanish king and his governor-general Margarethe von Parma. The main representative of the high nobility, Wilhelm von Orange, was initially concerned with conveying these demands to the governor-general in a form of complaint accepted by all the nobles. But there was resistance to this; B. with Count Egmond, who gave the complaint an explosive power that would not correspond to a noble commitment. As a new way, a petition was prepared, for which the form of the ceremonial handover should be decisive; this would also set institutional accents, according to which Margarethe could react. In terms of content, the petition, similar to the Compromis, linked the demands for the lifting of the ban on heretics and the ban on Calvinist services to the formula of loyalty to the king.

The delivery of the petition turned into a public spectacle. In a procession of 200 to 300 people, the aristocratic messengers walked in rows of five, "with measured pace, eyes lowered to the ground" in Brussels to the castle. Here Henrik van Brederode handed over the petition to Margarethe, who assured an immediate examination. In the next few days she replied that the Inquisition would be relaxed until an answer was received from Spain. Corresponding measures were actually initiated. Parts of the Calvinist movement saw Margaret's attitude as a weakness. Overall, however, it was unsatisfactory that Margaret's statement underlined the old monopoly position of the Catholic Church and that the penal provisions for Calvinist activities were only moderated, but not repealed. After all, the circle around William of Orange felt compelled to send an additional delegation to Spain after Margaret's answer.

On the Calvinist side, people were looking for ways to fill the time for possible trials and negotiations in Spain in line with the promised easing. This included the hedge sermons, which, at least according to their idea, meant that Calvinists and Anabaptists avoided Catholic places of worship and avoided confrontation. “Flanders and Brabant were among the centers of this movement. In Antwerp in particular, more and more people took part in the open-air sermons of the Calvinists. From April to June 1566 the number of listeners rose from 1,000 to 2,000 to over 20,000. “People met outside of cities and their jurisdiction, in the protection of forests and hedges, but also on the lands of sympathetic nobles. Pieter Bruegel the Elder Ä. The painting The Sermon of John the Baptist , created in the same year, is believed to have been inspired by these partly open, partly secret gatherings.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ cf. Olaf Mörke: Wilhelm von Oranien (1533–1584). Prince and "father" of the republic . Kohlhammer Verlag, Stuttgart 2007, p. 95 ff.
  2. ↑ Dirk Maczkiewitz: The Dutch revolt against Spain (1568-1609). A communication science analysis. 2nd Edition. Münster 2007, p. 132.
  3. ↑ Joris van Eijnatten, Fred von Lieburg: Dutch religious history. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2011, ISBN 978-3-525-54004-6 , p. 182. Part II Christian ubiquity
  4. ^ Christian Gräf: The winter pictures of Pieter Bruegel the Elder. Ä. VDM Verlag Dr. Müller, 2009, ISBN 978-3-639-12775-1 , p. 65. Chapter: Excursus: Political, economic and social situation in the Netherlands 1555–68
  5. ^ Christian Vöhringer: Pieter Bruegel. 1525 / 30-1569. Tandem Verlag (hfullmann imprint), 2007, ISBN 978-3-8331-3852-2 , p. 83.