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The Spanish Reformation: An Untold Story

To suggest that the Spanish protestant reformation remains a neglected area of study seems at its surface to be an unqualified, blanket statement. After all, if we were to ask just how many books have been written on the subject, or how many scholars have contributed towards this area of historical research, or how many students are undertaking this study as part of their PhDs, one might just amass a long list of publications, unpublished dissertations, theses, and the names of various scholars dedicating their lives towards this field of academic research. But however long this list might be, it pales in comparison to the studies on the reformation and its effects in England, Germany, France and the Netherlands. It would be like comparing a puddle with the water reservoir of the Hoover Dam.

As is required of any researcher, prior to realizing any study in his or her chosen field, he or she must first be well-read, or at the very least, knowledgeable, of the research that was realized before him or her. I believe, therefore, that it is necessary to qualify my statement and make clear the scarcity of resources available on the Spanish protestant reformation, along with the need for not only the Cántaro Institute’s research to be realized, but for other projects of current and aspiring scholars. The truth is, a concerted effort is required in order to lift the veil that has long hidden the Spanish reformation from public knowledge; it is too far great a task for a single individual, let alone a small group of scholars.

Why the Neglect?

There are some reasons that might come to mind as to why this area of study has been neglected in academia. For one, it could be the Old Castilian language that has served as an impediment. Or, it could be the doubt of “Does anything good (and protestant) come from Catholic Spain?” It may also be the scarcity of Spanish reformers, or the lack of historical popularity of their works which has reduced them to obscurity. I don’t believe any of these reasons are entirely valid. Though Old Castilian was not a language ever shared by the Anglo-sphere of the West, this has not stopped researchers from studying works in Latin, German, French and Dutch. As to the doubt as to whether anything good or protestant could come from Catholic Spain, this should instead provoke than dissuade curiosity amongst history and religion scholars. And in regards to the scarcity and popularity of their works, though a case could perhaps be made for this, it is often the inaccessible and the rare which has attracted scholarly research, not necessarily always the common.

Where then lies the issue? What has caused this neglect? The very mistaken conception that such a reformation movement never happened. In the 1923 publication of the Enciclopedia Universal Ilustrada, the reformation in Spain was dismissed as non-existent, stating that: (1) its influence was minimal at best due to the Roman ecclesiastical reforms of Cisneros regarding the morality and training of the clergy; (2) its efforts were futile because of the deeply-rooted, irrefutable Roman Catholicism of the time; and (3) it was extinguished by the Inquisition which stamped out any whiff of Protestantism, including the first two early protestant centres in Sevilla and Valladolid.[1] This idea, however, that the reformation never occurred in the history of Spain is erroneous. According to the late scholar Arthur Gordon Kindle, the reformation movement began:

…in the 1540s and continued through the 1550s, but was completely stamped out by the Inquisition in the early 1560s. This movement had its origins both in native currents of evangelical thought and anti-Roman feeling, and also in ideas imported from Erasmus and main-stream Reformers through literary and political contacts with more northerly countries.[2]

The Spanish reformation did come to an end in the early 1560s, if we are referring specifically to the movement within Spanish borders, however, if we are referring to the reformation of God’s Spanish-speaking church, which had been exiled from her motherland, this has in fact never come to an end. Instead, faithful to the reformational phrase Semper Reformanda, the church has been always reforming according to the teaching of God’s inspired word. Though it may not be apparent when we look at the collective Spanish-speaking church today (for those familiar with the church culture), there has nonetheless been a faithful remnant of reformed Spanish protestants who have sought this on-going reformation for the church, and it has been only quite recently that the principles of the reformation, those being the five Solas (Sola Scriptura, Sola Fide, Sola Gratia, Solus Christos, Soli Deo Gloria) are being applied more consistently and faithfully over a much larger ecclesiastical community in Latin America and Spain.[3]

The Available AND Inaccessible Research

Any evaluation of the Spanish church’s reformation, however, requires a historical understanding of the reformation’s beginnings in Spain. And this is precisely what is sorely lacking, not because no research has been done, but because the information provided is shallow at best and not as exhaustive as with other reformation events in Europe. This is not to call into question the authenticity or quality of previously published research, but rather to make clear that not enough research exists. While it is useful to have a biographical study of John Calvin, it is doubly useful to have two, three or more. It completes the historical picture. Though what we presently have available to us is far more than we did in the past, more work is still required in this field.

In the mid-nineteenth century, the Spaniards Luis de Usoz, Rio and the Englishman Benjamin Baron Wiffen partnered together to publish a twenty-volume work called Reformistas Antiguos Españoles (1847-1865), a scholarly publication that is difficult to acquire, save for the scattered pieces uploaded onto the internet.[4] This was the first project to “rescue from oblivion the works of Spanish Protestants of the Reformation period,” and to redistribute the material with accompanying commentary on the livelihoods and ministries of the reformers.[5]

It was Wiffen’s intention to provide a more systematic, biographical study of the reformers with bibliographic material, however, because of his passing, much of the burden of that work fell on his colleague Eduard Boehmer, a professor at the University of Strassburg. Boehmer produced a three-volume set titled Bibliotheca Wiffeniana as a memorial to the life and work of his friend.[6] And in addition to this work, he independently published several letters that he discovered by the Spanish reformers.

In the late-nineteenth to early-twentieth century, a German scholar, Ernst H.J. Schafer, investigated the Spanish inquisition and its relation to the protestant reformers, publishing a three-volume set titled Beiträge zur Geschichte des Spanischen Protestantismus (Gutersloh, 1902), and several articles, including one on the early protestant centres of Sevilla and Valladolid.[7]

A contemporary of Schafer, twenty-four year-old scholar Marcelino Menéndez y Pelayo, studied the preceding work on the Spanish reformation and published in 1880-1881 an eight-volume set titled Historia de los Heterodoxos Españoles in Madrid. Up until this point, the aforementioned scholars, Luis de Usoz, Rio, Wiffen, Schafer and Pelayo had all laid a foundation which, according to Kindle, must be heavily relied upon and referred to for any future studies.[8] We might refer to them as the patriarchs of Spanish reformational studies.

Other works that are worth consulting are those by the Frenchman Marcel Bataillon, a professor at the Institut de France, who wrote the two-volume set Erasme et l’Espagne (Paris, 1937), the Englishman William MacFadden, who wrote Antonio del Corro (Belfast, 1953), and the North-American Paul J. Hauben, who wrote Three Spanish Heretics (Geneva, 1967). And finally, though there are other more recently published works, the works of Kindle are to be regarded as perhaps the most authoritative in this field. Kindle made a name for himself, perhaps not intentionally, for his studies and publications on the Spanish protestant reformation. Anything written by Kindle is of immense value, and as an institute we owe part of our inspiration for our studies to his work.

As made evident by the names and titles of the patriarchs of Spanish reformational studies, most of their works are not available in English. And unless you are fluent in Spanish, whether Old Castilian or the contemporary Spanish of our day, or French or German, much of these works would be of no use to you. Fortunately, our staff can read Old Castilian, and that means that we can consult some of these early sources, and for that which we cannot, we rely on later publications, like those of Kindle, where we can draw from their research.

It is our earnest hope that this does not serve as a discouragement to you, but rather that it serves as a challenge to all of us to invest our time, resources and hard work towards unearthing the protestant heritage of Spain, bringing to light the biblical, reformational teachings of the reformers for our everyday life. Soli Deo Gloria.


[1] Enciclopedia Universal Ilustrada, L (1923) entry under ‘Reforma.’

[2] A. Gordon Kindle, Casiodoro de Reina: Spanish Reformer of the Sixteenth Century (London, UK.: Tamesis Books Limited, 1975), xv.

[3] Miguel Núñez, “La Reforma Protestante.” Integridad y Sabiduría. Accessed on February 2, 2018, http://integridadysabiduria.org/la-reforma-protestante/

[4] A facsímile reproduction of the entire set is allegedly available for $1,000 CAD at an online Spanish book distributor site. See REFORMISTAS ANTIGUOS ESPAÑOLES EDICIÓN FACSÍMIL, Certeza. Accessed on February 1, 2018, http://www.certeza.com/reformistas-antiguos-espanoles-edicion-facsimil-700-e/

[5] “Catalog Record: Reformistas Antiguos Españoles.” Hathi Trust Digital Library. Accessed February 2, 2018, https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000507080

[6] Kindle, Casiodoro de Reina, xiii.; See Eduard Boehmer, Bibliotheca Wiffeniana (London/Strassburg, 1883-1904).

[7] “Sevilla und Valladolid: die evangelischen Gemeinden Spaniens im Reformationzeitalter,” in Schriften des Vereins fur Reformationsgeschichte, Vol. 78 (Halle, 1903).

[8] Kindle, Casiodoro de Reina, xiv.