Radical Protestant Propaganda of the Thirty Years' War

e justified if they were perceived to be a threat to the legal and religious order of a
territory. 28
Yet how was the right to resist compatible with the idea that subjects should obey their
rulers, who were believed to have been placed in positions of authority by God, and who
possessed a divine right to rule? The issue is closely connected to theories of when to obey
godly, and when to obey worldly authority. Christian clergy stressed that in all
circumstances or in the case of conflict between the two powers, God’s word must have
primacy. This is summed up well in a text by Thomas Rorer (1521-82), a priest from the
county of Ortenburg. 29 He states that those placed in authority by God must also perform
their duty by keeping to his rules. The Christian community can only rely on God’s
benevolence and aid if they keep to his commandments, and so their observance by rulers
ensures the protection of the community from outside attack. If the prince neglects his
Christian duties, then he places his subjects in danger and can no longer be considered to be
fulfilling his duty as a Christian protector. This releases his subjects from their duty of
obeying him . Writing in his Fürstenspiegel on the relationship between emperor, clergy,
and the laity, he writes: “Wir wurden gelehret / dem gewalt / so von Gott ist / ehre zu
beweisen / Aber doch solche / die dem Glauben nit zuwider ist.” If the authorities fail to
uphold Christian values, Rorer’s instructions are clear: “da sollen die Unterthanen wissen /
das sie zu gehorsamen nicht schuldig sind.” 30 This resistance theory paved the way, in the
28 The discussion in this paragraph is based on Robert von Friedeburg, ‘Welche Wegscheide in die
Neuzeit? Widerstandsrecht, “Gemeiner Mann” und konfessioneller Landespatriotismus zwischen
“Münster” und “Magdeburg”’, Historische Zeitschrift, 270 (2000), 561-616, p. 616. Henceforth
Friedeburg.
29 Luise Schorn-Schütte, ‘Politische Kommunikation in der Frühen Neuzeit: Obrigkeitskritik im Alten
Reich (Political Communication in Early Modern History: Critique of Authorities in the Holy Roman
Empire)’, Geschichte und Gesellschaft, 32, (2006), 273-314, p. 291. Henceforth Schütte.
30 Schütte, pp. 307-8.
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