In Spain and in Italy time spread of the reformation, which in both countries had taken an active and hopeful start, was almost entirely suppressed by the power of the Inquisition. The church of Rome was able to bring its whole force to bear upon these countries, unchecked by political hostility. The flames of martyrdom, which else where scented to kindle a double zeal for the cause which they aimed to destroy, were here kept burning with such an incessant and devouring cruelty, as to consume all life out of the new movement, and brand the name of Protestant with the infamy which, in the popular mind, always attaches itself to hopeless failure.
The same policy was attempted in the Netherlands. Upwards of 100,000 of the inhabitants are said to have fallen under the atrocious cruelty of Charles V. and his son, Philip II. But the spirit of political freedom and moral earnestness proved at length an equal and finally, through a protracted and bloody conflict, a victorious match for the blood-thirstiness even of Philip and Alva; and the principles of the reformation, after a Calvinistic type, were at length established in the United Provinces, along with the politi cal supremacy of the house of Orange.
The reformation in England is marked by peculiar of popular movement, dating even from the time of Wycliffe, and a somewhat inconsistent and wavering series of political changes during the reigns of the three Tudor princes, Henry VIII., Edward VI., and Elizabeth. In the beginning of the 16th c., as early as the first movements of Luther, there are indications of a revival of evangelical religious life among the tradesmen of London, and the peasantry in different parts of the country, particularly in Lincolnshire. The popular mind had begun to look with suspicion and ridicule upon some of the most characteristic doctrines of Romanism. A. story is told by Foxe of a Lincolnshire peasant, busy thrashing his corn in his barn, accosted by a neighbor. " Good-morrow, you are hard at work." " Yes," replied the man, in allu sion to the doctrine of transubstantiation, I am thrashing God Almighty out of the straw." The residence of Erasmus in England, in the beginning of the reign of Henry VIII., stimulated a spirit of biblical inquiry among the educated classes, which, while it remained for the most part faithful to the church of Rome, as in the case of More and others, yet helped to advance a reforming movement. The study of his Greek Testa
ment was eagerly entered upon by a' few students at both universities, especially at Cambridge. We find Riling, Tyndale, and Frith associated at the latter place in 1520; and in the decade-following, Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer all come into prominent notice. It is at the end of this latter period—the year 1529—a year before the meeting of the diet of Augsburg in Germany, that the reformation in England may be said to take its first decided advance. In this year the usurpations of the clergy, and the manifold ecclesiastical abuses prevailing in the country, were the subject of parlia inenutry legislation. The negotiations as to Henry's divorce from Catharine had beet proceeding forsonic time, and the country was greatly excited by the course of events. 111 1533 Henry was married to Anne Boleyn. and his former marriage with Catharine declared void. All appeals to Rome were forbidden. In the two following years the sovereign was declared to be the supreme head of the church of England, with author ity to redress all errors, heresies, and abuses iu the church; the monasteries were dis solved; and parliament petitioned that a new translation of the Scriptures might be authorized and set up in churches. In all this course of reformation, however, there was but little religious impulse on Henry's part, for we find him again, in 1539, yielding violently to the spirit of reaction, and passing the famous statute known as the six articles, which rendered it penal to deny the doctrine of transubstantiation, or to affirm that priests might marry. Cramer, who had been for some years archbishop of Can terbury, labored to prevent their passing; and Latimer resigned his bishopric as soon as they were confirmed.
With the accession of Edward VI.. in 1547, the reformation greatly advanced. The statute of the six articles was repealed, with other reactionary measures of the close of Henry's reign. The parliament of 1548 established the use of the book of common prayer; the clergy were permitted to Marry; the cup was allowed to the laity; and in 1551 the 42 articles of religious belief, afterward reduced to 39, were promulgated. The temporary restoration of popery under Nary, and the final establishment of Angli can Protestantism under Elizabeth, are well-known events, belonging to the special his tory of these reigns.