Munich

The Bavarian capital of Munich stands exemplary for the duchy of Bavaria and thus for the Catholic counter-movement to the Reformation. Dukes William IV of Bavaria (1493–1550, duke 1508–1550) and Louis X (1495–1545, duke 1514–1545) together decided in matters of religious policy for their respective regional parts.

It was only with the papal bull of excommunication against Martin Luther (1483–1546) and the prohibition of Luther’s writings at the diet of Worms in 1521 that the dukes began to protest decisively against the new doctrine and to issue their own religious mandates. Their previous wait-and-see attitude led to the spread of the Lutheran doctrine, in particular in the area around the imperial city of Ratisbon, in the Innviertel, the Rottal and in some cities of the uplands, such as Wasserburg and Aibling. After the Peasants’ War in 1524/25, punitive measures were tightened and arrests, trials of heresy, expulsions and death sentences were issued against Luther’s followers and the Anabaptists.

In addition to these sanctions, Bavarian chancellor Leonhard von Eck (1480–1550) also implemented measures to reform the church. This path was already undertaken at the Grünwald conference in 1522 at which the two dukes agreed on the first steps. The Ratisbon convention of 1524 decided on an order to reform the clergy. Its way of life should once again conform to the prescribed norms. Although the effect of this order remained negligible, it helped to extend ducal ecclesiastical sovereignty. After 1530, both Luther’s followers and the Anabaptists were marginalised in Bavaria. Only after 1550, the Protestant movement revived in the country.