3 - The Confessional Turn

Summary

This chapter traces the evolution of reformist ideas in the Netherlands during the middle decades of the sixteenth century. It describes a confessional turn – that is, the gradual emergence of three principal streams of religious reform: Mennonite, Reformed and Catholic. The Mennonite or Doopsgezinde stream arose out of Anabaptism; after the judicial reaction to the Muenster kingdom, Menno Simons and his followers eschewed the radicalism of the Melchiorites and turned inward, creating self-segregated communities focused on internal piety and moral reform. Meanwhile Reformed Protestantism made its way into the Low Countries and gained a substantial following by the 1560s. Both Mennonites and Reformed would develop confessional identities distinct from each other, including their own martyrologies and Bible translations. Meanwhile, Catholic reform came to the region through the Tridentine canons and the reorganization of the region’s bishoprics.