Reformatio Legum Eccxesiasticarum, a code of Church laio, first projected by Cranmer at the com- mencement of his primacy, and accomplished, after va- rious impediments (1551), by a sub-committee of bish- ops, divines, canonists, and secular doctors of the law. It was ready to be submitted to king Edward, but his sudden decease prevented the royal confirmation, and so the project came to an end. The work, consequent- ly, is not, and never was, of any authority; but it is a valuable record, as throwing a clear light on the views of the Reformers. It not only reveals their plans with respect to canonical jurisprudence, but their opinions on Christian doctrine.
Reformation, The, is the name commonly given to the religious and ecclesiastical movement of the l'Gth century which resulted in the overthrow of the then all- powerful authority of the Roman popes in a large por- tion of the Christian world, and in the construction of a number of new religious organizations. The name it- self is highly significant, and points to the importance of the new departure in the history of Christianity which then began. It has come into quite general use even among Roman Catholic writers, although the theolo- gians of that Church have attempted to substitute for it other terms, like the "so-called Reformation," and the "separation of the Church." We have already had oc- casion in numerous articles of this Cyclopaedia to refer to detached portions of the Reformation. The Church history of no important country of Europe could be com- plete without a mention of its reformatory movements, whether they were successful or unsuccessful, and the biographies of the great fathers of the Reformation con- sist chiefly of an account of their labors in behalf of the reconstruction of the Church upon a new basis. The present article treats of the great turning-point in the history of Christianity as a whole.
I. Forerunners of the Reformation. — Like most of the great events in the history of mankind, the Reformation has had its preparatory history, in which attempts of a similar nature were made for the same purpose, meeting with no or but partial success, but yet smoothing the way for the marvellous changes which were achieved by the victorious reformation of the lGth century.
1. All the Reformed churches which have sprung from the movements of the 16th century are agreed in regard- ing the undue power which the bishops of Rome at an early time began to arrogate to themselves, and the cen- tralized constitution which consequently was forced upon the Christian Church, as one of the most fatal deviations from the doctrines of the Bible and the practice and the life of the apostolic age. In a wider sense of the word,
all the efforts, therefore, which have been made to re- press and abolish the arrogant and encroaching power of the Roman popes, and to bring back the Church to its purity in the time of her founder and his first disciples, might be called preparatory and forerunning movements of the great Reformation. These movements have been manifold and widely different in their origin, progress, and ramifications, and each of them has to be individu- ally judged by its own character and history. Indeed, throughout the Middle Ages, even when the power of the papacy was most despotic and absolute, a reformato- ry tendency was pervading the Church, often confining itself to secrecy and occult labors, but frequently burst- ing the bonds of the Church, proclaiming its reformato- ry principles in public, and defying the ire of an enraged hierarchy. Some of these outbursts ran smoothly on in the channels of a purely evangelical belief; others became impregnated with fanatical, sometimes even anti-Christian, elements, anil threatened with a common overthrow both the State and the Church of the times. Among the more prominent reformatory movements in the earlier part of the Middle Ages were those of the Albigenses, the Cathari, and the Waldenses, to all of which (and many others) this Cyclopaedia devotes spe- cial articles.
In the latter part of the Middle Ages, the deviation of the ruling Church from Scripture and primitive Chris- tianity became more and more glaring, and the corrup- tion among all classes of the clergy, from the highest, to the lowest, more and more general. The call for a " ref- ormation in the head and members" spread rapidly, and even great nations began to look upon the reformation of the Church as a national cause. It has been justly remarked that the meaning given to the term " refor- mation in the head and members" was by no means uniform, and that " every one understood it to mean pri- marily that which he most desired — the removal of what seemed to him most oppressive and unchristian." All malcontents, however, appeared to agree in regarding the administration of the Christian Church by the pa- pal court as utterly depraved, and as subversive of true Christianity.
The efforts made for putting an end to papal mis- rule and achieving a reformation of the Church were chiefly of two kinds. The one class found the seat of the degeneration not so much in a departure from the doctrine of the Bible as in the usurpation by the popes of greater power than belonged to them by divine and Church right. These men strongly believed in the con- tinuity of the visible Church ; they rejected the right of separation and secession, and looked upon the oecumen- ical councils of the Church as the only medium through which the needed reformation of the Church should be effected. This school had for a long time a centre in the most famous literary institution of the Church — the University of Paris. Its chief representatives were Peter d'Ailly, the chancellor, his pupil Gerson, and Nicolas de Clemanges, rector of that university. The hearty sup- port of many of the foremost princes of the age, includ- ing several emperors, was secured, and at the three great councils of Pisa, Constance, and Basle the majority of the assembled bishops and theologians expressed their con- currence in these views, and earnestly endeavored to ef- fecta radical reformation on this basis. The joyous hopes which had been raised in the Church by these reforma- tory efforts were, however, sorely disappointed when the pope succeeded in dissolving the Council of Basle.