Lay Spirituality Term Paper

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Spirituality

The purpose of this discussion is to examine two interpretations of the functions of lay spirituality during reformation in France. For the purposes of this discussion we will examine "Wine, Community and Reformation in Sixteenth-Century Burgundy" by Mack Holt, and "Strikes and Salvation in Sixteenth-century Lyon" by Natalie Davis. We will discuss the most important factor shaping lay spirituality in each article during this period. Our discussion will explore whether or not the two historians agree or disagree, and which one we believe has the greater validity and why.

In "Wine, Community and Reformation in Sixteenth-century Burgundy" Holt argues that the most important factor shaping lay spirituality during this period is that the "city's magistrates and elites forged an alliance with the wine growing community to produce a militant anti-Huguenot culture." (Holt)

The Wine growing community consisted of Catholics while the Huguenot was composed of Protestants. There were obvious tensions between the two religious groups and on November 1, 1561 "Protestant militants organized a mass demonstration in the center of the city, which the city fathers presumed was an attempt to seize the city by force" (Holt) this was the first of many other protests forged by the Protestants. When these protests turned violent the concerned wine growers and magistrates took swift action and banished all the known Protestants. This single action suppressed the onslaught of a religious war.

Holt believed that the economic power that the wine growers possessed allowed them to forge this alliance.

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The magistrates wanted to maintain order in the city and relied on the wine growers for support. The historian concedes that the force of this alliance was a potent factor in defeating Calvinism. The author writes, "Catholic culture forged by wine growers from below and protected by magistrates and clerics from above ultimately worked to eliminate Protestants." (Holt)

Strikes and Salvation at Lyon" discusses the relationship between printers' journeymen and the Masters -- the merchant publishers and the printer-publishers. All of these groups were dependent upon one another for economic survival but in many ways the journeymen had the most power because they did the most amount of work. Davis believed that the factor shaping lay spirituality was the socio economic conditions of journeymen in relation to those of their master. In this article, Davis asserts that the struggle in between Journeymen and Masters in Lyon had more to do with economic status and work conditions than with religious differences. Davis writes "the printers' journeymen did not conclude that a change in religious institutions and practices was essential for change in relations between them and their masters." (Davis)

However, the article does assert that the journeymen believed….....

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