Is There a ‘New History’ of the Urban Reformation?

Abstract

Following the impact of a generation of research on the urban Reformation,¹ it would seem appropriate to question whether a ‘new history’ has emerged. While it might be tempting to approach the question iconoclastically, that would surely be too narrow. Moreover, it would fail to take account of the shift in emphasis which has relativised the importance of the ideal of the ‘corporate identity’ of the citizenry.² This ideal has now been confined to the milieu of the petty artisan, while its development through evangelical preaching into a means of control valuable to and exercised by the ruling elite has been demonstrated. The resulting emphasis upon the social context of the Reformation reflects a marked change in historiographical approach.³ No longer is the Reformation seen purely in terms of Luther, Zwingli or even Calvin, for it has been shown that the statement by the Augsburg ropemaker, Ott, ‘We have always been evangelicals and we still are today… If we truly followed the Gospel we would all be brothers’ demands at least equal consideration.’⁴ The ropemaker is therefore a part, if not an integral element, of what we term the urban Reformation.