Martyrs and Martyrology

views updated

MARTYRS AND MARTYROLOGY

MARTYRS AND MARTYROLOGY. The politico-religious struggles of the Protestant and Catholic Reformations produced a revival of the creation of martyrs and martyrologies. The conflicts between Catholics and Protestants, most notably in northern Europe, caused numerous casualties, many of whom voluntarily sacrificed their lives in the name of their religious beliefs. Those who "correctly" testified for their particular faith were recognized as martyrs; those who did not were categorized as antimartyrs or simply heretics. The martyrs' stories were then collected by various editors in significant volumes, which were published and used as literary weapons in the struggle against persecution providing inspiration, education, edification, and the defense of their particular causes.

MARTYRS

The term "martyr" is taken from the Greek martus meaning 'witness' or 'testifier'. Hence, those who witnessed their faith with their blood could posthumously be recognized as such. From the beginning, Protestantism had been identified as a threat to both Catholic states and the Roman Church, and its adherents were then perceived as not only heretics but also traitors. On the Continent the persecution of Protestants began in the 1520s. Most of the first generation of martyrs emerged from the clergy and monastic orders. As Protestantism spread and expanded during the 1540s, the second generation, which included women, peasants, artisans, and those of the professional class, experienced heightened persecution especially in France, as heresy was defined under the Edict of Fontainebleau (1540) as treason against God and king.

The level and type of persecution, however, varied from region to region and fluctuated depending on the power of the religious minority (Catholic or Protestant) or the religious confession of the monarch. For example, in England both Protestants and Catholics were persecuted depending on the politico-religious views of the monarch, creating Protestant martyrs during the reign of Mary Tudor and Catholic martyrs during the reign of Elizabeth I. And in the German territories the Religious Peace of Augsburg of 1555 decreased the overall number of martyrs when it became the right of individual princes to choose the religion of their territory. Anabaptists, however, were persecuted throughout northern Europe and experienced no toleration.

Normally, a heretic would be arrested, interrogated, and given the opportunity to recant. Those who did would be penalized with a fine or public penance or both; those who did not would then suffer capital punishment at the hands of the state. Their "criminal" confession would later be transformed by their supporters into a "religious" confession, which was considered to be a "mark" of a martyr. The executions of heretics/martyrs were for the most part public events held in town or city squares, intended to discourage others and to demonstrate state authority, though displays of constancy by martyrs often served as vehicles for conversion for some observers. Forms of capital punishment included immolation, interment alive, hanging, beheading, and drowning. Mob violence also created martyrs as tensions between religious factions led to communal retaliation for perceived religious offenses or slights.

Faced with persecution, religious noncompliants (Catholic or Protestant) had three options: to remain in place and practice their faiths, risking the legal penalties of losing not only land, home, offices, and wealth, but also their lives, which is to say, to risk martyrdom; second, to go into exile and still lose many if not all of their goods and lands, leaving behind family in many instances; or third, to dissimulate as Nicodemites (to appear Catholic while hiding Protestant beliefs).

MARTYROLOGY

The martyr was not simply an individual: once recognized with the title, he became a representation and embodiment of the movement to which he belonged. He would then become a symbol in the struggle against persecution. This transformation is evident in martyrdom's literary companion, the martyrology, a compilation of the accounts of the martyrs' lives and deaths. During the mid-sixteenth century no fewer than seven major Protestant martyrologies were produced, many of which were issued in multiple editions and languages: Ludwig Rabe, Der heiligen aus erwohlten Gottes Zeugen Bekennen und Martyren (1552; The history of god's chosen witnesses, confessors, and martyrs); John Foxe, Acts and Monuments (1563); Jean Crespin, Le livre des martyrs (1554; The book of martyrs); Matthias Flacius Illyricus, Catalogus testium veritatis (1556; Catalogue of witnesses to the truth); Adriaan Cornelis van Haemstede, De Gheschiedenisse ende den doodt der vromer Martelaren (1559; History and deaths of the devout martyrs); Heinrich Pantaleone, Martyrum historia (1563; History of martyrs); and Antoine de la Roche Chandieu, L'histoire des persecutions, et martyrs de l'église de Paris (1563; The history of the persecutions and martyrs of the church of Paris). Many of these editors/authors drew upon each others' works or corresponded, universalizing the plight of those suffering persecution.

The editors/authors of these martyrologies modeled their texts on the historical and hagiographical works of Eusebius of Caesarea (the fourth-century Ecclesiastical History ) and Jacobus de Voragine (the thirteenth-century Golden Legend ). The association with the early Christian tradition of martyrdom and genre of martyrology demonstrated a continuum between the two groups, attempting to prove the Protestants direct heirs to the first Christians. This connection also legitimated the disobedience of the Protestants toward the Catholic hierarchy in continuing a tradition of sacrifice sanctioned and even demanded by God. By drawing upon the martyrological tradition, the Protestant movements could claim the legitimating notion that "persecution marks the true church of God," a phrase Jean Crespin employed in the preface to his first edition.

In light of the multiplicity of claims to the name "Christian," a primary goal of the martyrologists was to define correct belief against those who espoused heresy. They identified their martyrs as those who testified "correctly" and who died confessing their particular movement's doctrine. Hence, the martyr's verbal or written confession of faith, sometimes as a letter to the faithful or a family member or as the "criminal" confession obtained during interrogation, was the focal point of the accounts. In the midst of the expanding number of martyrologies representing numerous religious movements, Calvinist and Lutheran works clearly protested and attacked Catholic "idolatry," "superstition," and "innovation" through their martyrs' testimonies and experiences. Catholic polemicists responded to this proliferation of Protestant martyrologies by creating their own "antimartyrologies," which then challenged the title of "martyr" assigned to those they considered heretics and criminals. Anabaptist martyrs, while recognized as "dying well," were decried as antimartyrs dying for the wrong confession by both Catholics and mainstream Protestants.

Due to their production during times of persecution, the martyrologies contain a prominent element of propaganda. The individual accounts of martyrs were placed in highly political, polemical, and historical contexts. The accounts themselves were constructed using eyewitness accounts, trial records, and personal and epistolatory letters that were then woven together with commentaries (including previously published pamphlets) on the events, nature, and origins of the persecution to create a larger history of their movements. Most importantly, the martyrologies embodied the polemical stance of the faiths they represented.

The target audience for these martyrologies was their faithful coreligionists. The martyrs' stories and context offered consolation and encouragement to the reader, while also providing models for comportment and correct doctrine. These works and the individuals whose stories they tell were significant weapons in the struggle against persecution.

See also Anabaptism ; Augsburg, Religious Peace of (1555) ; Catholicism ; Hagiography ; Reformation, Protestant .