ABSTRACT
Theutilityofinvestigatingearlymodernreligiouschangewithinits broadersocial,political,andeconomiccontexthasbecomeacommonplaceforhistoriansoftheReformationsincethe1960s,inspiredin particularbythepioneeringworkofBerndMoeller.1Animportant instanceofthemanypossiblecontextualizationswhichcanbeapplied toreligiouschangeistheimpactofreformontherelationshipbetween thechurchanditsproperty.AdoptionoftheReformationinevitably entailedthesecularization,ortransferintolay(aboveall,princely) hands,ofecclesiasticalcapitalandrevenues,ofwhichthedissolutionof theEnglishmonasteriesinthe1530sisoneofthebest-knownexamples.InGermany,however,asHenryCohnhasargued,secularization was'thefate...notonly-andnotevenprincipally-ofmonasticlands, butofchurchpropertyinthewidersense,embracingalsothelandsand wholegovernmentofbishoprics...thepropertyofparishesintownand country,patronagetobenefices,religiousandcharitableendowments, schoolsanduniversities,andbyextensiontheecclesiasticaljurisdiction thathadcontrolledallsuchproperty'.2PluckingoneitemfromCohn's list,andtakingasitsfocusaregionalcasestudy,thefollowingessay concentratesonthethemeoflay,especiallynoble,patronagetobeneficesanditsrelationshiptoreligiouschange,instancedherenotbya shiftfromlate-medievalCatholicismtoProtestantism,butfromProtestantismtopost-TridentineCatholicism.3
