Notable women of the Reformation Author:William Chapman Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. ELIZABETH OF BRANDENBURG. IN the year 1485, there was born to John II., king of Denmark, a princess who was destined to play a prominent part in... more » the great Reformation. Many agencies were at work which were leading up to a wholesome and salutary change in the moral and political government of the nations of the world. Not least among them may be mentioned the invention of printing, which enabled those who were desirous of reform to transmit their thoughts rapidly to all parts, thus inducing a universal brotherhood in the place of the dark isolation which formerly prevailed. Another powerful factor in the Reformation of the sixteenth century was the great impetus which literature and art received at the hands of Lorenzo the Magnificent of Florence, and taken 'up with no less zealous ardour by his son, Giovanni de Medici, afterwards raised to the pontifical chair under the title of Leo X. Though this pontiff spent vast sums in the prosecution of his designs, he did not imagine that they would greatly conduce to the enfranchisement of the people, who groaned under the burdens inflicted by Rome. But when once light is admitted, however sideways, it throws up withdreadful impartiality the darkest corners. True, the particular branch of learning encouraged by Leo was that which is called heathen philosophy, yet it opened the way for broader measures, and the school of humanists, or those who favoured universal culture, were in sympathy with the leaders of reform. When the study of ancient literature grew common, it involved a knowledge of the Greek language, in which the Scriptures were written, which, when they came, to be examined by cultivated minds, directly contradicted the pretensions of Rome. Of a truth, a reformation thorough and wide-reaching was necessary; w...« less