In the Reformation, how class-based or city/rural divided were Catholics or Protestants?

by The_Manchurian
declawedboys

This is an interesting topic that I haven't considered in quite the light you're asking so I'm interested to see the responses. I have a bit of preamble before I ask a related follow-up.

I know in Carter Lindberg's The European Reformation he comments on the shifting social classes as a possible impetus for the Reformation -- what we would call a rising middle-class starts to emerge. And points of conflict among Protestants did have to do with these divides. The Twelve Articles definitely demonstrates the religious elements to these divides, but these are within Protestantism (the peasants were seeking radical reforms and while the elite were backing more moderate reform movements). Some of these issue persist past the Peasants War: I'm an Anabaptist and the commonly traced root for the Anabaptist sects comes out of dissatisfaction of the pace and scope of the Zwinglian Reformation in Zurich. The Anabaptist movement outside of Zurich had concerns that were clearly rooted in a city/rural divide (at least some rural areas wanted reform, but were opposed to the fact that under Zwingli's reformation they wouldn't be able to choose their own priests but the city of Zurich would pick priests for rural churches). So I know these are very live tensions within the reform movements.

However, I was largely taught about the Reformation through the lens of nationality/ethnicity (and have generally seen it discussed that way) when it comes to whether or not one was ultimately Catholic or some form of Protestant, even if there was infighting among Protestants that can be understood as being based around issues of class. But, it only just occurs to me that this might clearly be the product of how powers ultimately brokered a peace: princes would dictate the religion of their subjects. As an sidebar to this question, I'd be interested to know if there's work that shows whether the Reformation was largely among these national lines from the start or if that's largely a byproduct of the Peace of Augsburg.