Editing Reformation (section)

=== Spread ===

{{See also|Magisterial Reformation}}

[[File:Christ mocked - pope venerated.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.35|alt=|Woodcuts by [[Lucas Cranach the Elder]] from the ''Passional of Christ and Antichrist'', contrasting Christ who wears the [[Crown of Thorns]] and is mocked ''(on the left)'', with the pope crowned with a [[Papal tiara|tiara]] and adored by bishops and abbots ''(on the right)'']]
Roper argues that "the most important reason why Luther did not meet with Hus's fate was technology: the new medium of print". Luther was publishing his views in short but pungent treatises that gained unexpected popularity: he was responsible for about one-fifth of all works printed in Germany in the first third of the {{nowrap|16th century}}.{{refn|group=note|Between 1517 and 1520, Luther completed 30 treatises, and more than 300,000 of their copies were sold.{{sfn|Rubin|2014|p=7}}}}{{sfn|Roper|2022|pp=68–69}} German printing presses were scattered in many urban centers which prevented their control by central authorities.{{sfn|Marshall|2009|p=17}} Statistical analysis indicates a significant [[correlation]] between the presence of a printing press in a German city and the adoption of Reformation.{{refn|group=note|According to an [[econometric analysis]] by the economist Jared Rubin, "the mere presence of a printing press prior to 1500 increased the probability that a city would become Protestant in 1530 by 52.1 percentage points, Protestant in 1560 by 43.6 percentage points, and Protestant in 1600 by 28.7 percentage points."{{sfn|Rubin|2014|p=26}} Cities with a competitive printing market were even more likely to accept new theologies.{{sfn|Dittmar|Seabold|2015|p=21}}}}{{sfn|Becker|Pfaff|Rubin|2016|p=18}}

Reformation spread through the activities of enthusiastic preachers such as [[Johannes Oecolampadius]] (d. 1531) and [[Konrad Pellikan|Konrad Kürsner]] (d. 1556) in [[Basel]], [[Sebastian Hofmeister]] (d. 1533) in [[Schaffhausen]], and [[Matthäus Zell]] (d. 1548) and [[Martin Bucer]] (d. 1551) in [[Strasbourg]].{{sfn|Cameron|2012|pp=111–112}} They were called "Evangelicals" due to their insistence on teaching in accordance with the [[Gospel]]s (or {{lang|he|Evangelion}}).{{sfn|Pfaff|2013|p=189}} Luther and many of his followers worked with the artist [[Lucas Cranach the Elder]] (d. 1553) who had a keen sense of visualising their message. He produced Luther's idealised portrait setting a template for further popular images printed on the covers of books.{{sfn|Roper|2022|pp=69–71}} Cranach's [[woodcut]]s together with itinerant preachers' explanations helped the mainly illiterate people to understand Luther's teaching.{{sfn|Becker|Pfaff|Rubin|2016|p=205}} The illustrated pamphlets were carried from place to place typically by peddlers and merchants.{{sfn|Kim|Pfaff|2012|p=205}} Laypeople started to discuss various aspects of religion in both private and public all over Germany.{{sfn|Kaufmann|2023|pp=92–93}}

The self-governing [[Free imperial city|free imperial cities]] were the first centers of the Reformation.{{sfn|Pfaff|2013|p=190}} The Evangelical preachers emphasized that many of the well-established church practices had no precedent in the Bible. They offered the Eucharist to the laity in both kinds,{{sfn|Kaufmann|2023|pp=95–96}} and denied the clerics' monopolies, which resonated with popular anti-clericalism.{{sfn|Becker|Pfaff|Rubin|2016|p=9}} It was not unusual that their supporters attacked clerics and church buildings.{{sfn|Kaufmann|2023|p=96}} Violent iconoclasm was common.{{refn|group=note|"Sixteenth-century Protestants and Catholics knew that iconoclasm was not simply a byproduct of the Reformation, or a violent spasm, but its very essence."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Eire |first1=Carlos M.N. |title=Book reviews: Early Modern European. 'Voracious Idols and Violent Hands: Iconoclasm in Reformation Zurich, Strasbourg, and Basel' by Lee Palmer Wandel. |journal=Catholic Historical Review |date=Oct 1996 |volume=82 |issue=4 |pages=703–704|doi=10.1353/cat.1996.0153  | issn = 0008-8080}}</ref> }}In some cities such as Strasbourg and [[Ulm]], the urban magistrates supported the Reformation; in the cities of the [[Hanseatic League]] the affluent middle classes enforced changes in church life.{{sfn|Rubin|2014|p=9}} Cities located closer to the most important ideological centers of the Reformation—Wittenberg and Basel—adopted its ideas more likely than other towns. This indicates the significance either of student networks,{{sfn|Kim|Pfaff|2012|p=206}} or of neighbours who had rejected Catholicism.{{sfn|Cantoni|2012|p=20}}

The sociologist Steven Pfaff underlines that "ecclesiastical and liturgical reform was not simply a religious question ... since the sort of reforms demanded by Evangelicals could not be accommodated within existing institutions, prevailing customs, or established law". After their triumph, the reformers expelled their leading opponents, dissolved the monasteries and convents, secured the urban magistrates' control of the appointment of priests, and established new civic institutions.{{sfn|Pfaff|2013|p=191}} Evangelical town councils usually prohibited begging but established a common chest for [[poverty relief]] by expropriating the property of dissolved ecclesiastic institutions. The funds were used for the daily support of orphans, old people and the sick, but also for low-interest loans to the impoverished to start a business. Luther was convinced that only educated people could effectively serve both God and the community. Under his auspices, public schools and libraries were opened in many towns offering education to more children than the traditional [[monastic school|monastic]] and [[cathedral school]]s.{{sfn|Lindberg|2021|pp=113–124}}