Cryptoprotestantism

The crypto Protestantism ( Greek. Κρυπτός kryptós hidden ') denotes a result of hidden religion exercising while confessionalisation onset of the experiments recatholicization .

Overview

During the Counter-Reformation, which was supported by compulsion, parts of the people living in the areas that had become Catholic tried to maintain their denomination internally combined with the corresponding exercise of the rite of faith, while externally they were forced to accept Catholicism . So one pretended to be outwardly, as was required, and tried to preserve freedom of thought inwardly . Ultimately, it was nothing more than a form of resistance by part of the population to an imposed form of belief.

There was significant underground Protestantism in particular in the Habsburg Empire and in France after the Edict of Fontainebleau in 1685 up to the Edict of Versailles by Louis XVI. in 1787. Forms of cryptoprotestantism also existed in Orthodox Lutheran territories in the form of cryptocalvinism , which there has a pejorative meaning. This was directed not only against Catholicism , but also against Lutheran orthodoxy .

Secret Protestantism in the Habsburg Empire

In the Habsburg Empire , crypto-Protestantism began with the Counter-Reformation and came to an end with the tolerance patent of Joseph II of 1781 and finally the Protestant patent of Franz Joseph . A well-known example of a secret place of worship is the Hundskirche in the Gailtal Alps .

The religious philosopher Friedrich Heer brought cryptoprotestantism and later anti-clerical German nationalism in connection.

In the 21st century, the Way of the Book was established in memory of the smuggling of German Bibles in Austria .

literature

Arno Herzig : The compulsion to believe. Recatholization from the 16th to the 18th century. Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, Göttingen 2000, ISBN 3-525-01384-1 .

Habsburg Empire:

Heinz Schießer : "We may go, but we will return." Counter-Reformation and secret Protestantism in the Salzkammergut , Wagner Verlag, Linz 2017, ISBN 978-3-903040-22-9 and ISBN 3-903040-22-3 ( table of contents )
Elisabeth Mansfeld: Legal aspects of the persecution of heretics in the Archduchy of Austria in the reign of Charles VI . Dissertation. Ed .: University of Vienna. Vienna 2008 ( pdf , othes.univie.ac.at).
Rudolf Leeb, Susanne Claudine Pils, Thomas Winkelbauer (ed.): State power and salvation. Counter-Reformation and Secret Protestantism in the Habsburg Monarchy. Oldenbourg, Vienna / Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-7029-0546-0 .
Martin Scheutz: The “fifth column”. Secret Protestantism in the 18th century in the Habsburg Monarchy and their imprisonment in conversion houses (1752–1775). In: Communications from the Institute for Austrian Historical Research. MIÖG. Vol. 114, 2006, ISSN 0073-8484 , pp. 329-380.

France:

Anna Bernard: The revocation of the Edict of Nantes and the Protestants in south-eastern France (Provence and Dauphiné) 1685–1730 (= Paris historical studies. Vol. 59). Oldenbourg, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-486-56720-9 .

Web links

From Google books (Herzig)

Individual evidence

^ Friedrich Heer : The struggle for the Austrian identity. 3rd, unchanged edition. Böhlau, Vienna et al. 2001, ISBN 3-205-99333-0 , pp. 21, 29; as well as Margarethe Haydter, Johann Mayr : Regional connections between main areas of resistance at the time of the Counter Reformation and the July battles in Upper Austria in 1934. In: Contemporary History. 9th year, issue 11/12, 1981/1982, ISSN 0256-5250 , pp. 392-407, digitized .

[1] Friedrich Heer : The struggle for the Austrian identity. 3rd, unchanged edition. Böhlau, Vienna et al. 2001, ISBN 3-205-99333-0 , pp. 21, 29; as well as Margarethe Haydter, Johann Mayr : Regional connections between main areas of resistance at the time of the Counter Reformation and the July battles in Upper Austria in 1934. In: Contemporary History. 9th year, issue 11/12, 1981/1982, ISSN 0256-5250 , pp. 392-407, digitized .