Polygamy
Based upon his study of the Bible, Martin Luther concluded as early as 1522 that "Abraham did not commit adultery by leading a decent life with his second wife also. Abraham was a true Christian. His example dare not be condemned. It is true, one dare not make any laws out of the behavior of our forefathers, but one may not make sin out of their example." Luther's views were supported by his colleagues, notably Philip Melanchthon and Martin Bucer (whose writings influenced Calvin and who later helped Thomas Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury, in the Protestant reform of the Church of England).Though modern critics of the Book of Mormon and the restored Church find fault with the concept that the Old Testament patriarchs and prophets (including the Book of Mormon prophets) were Christians, it was taught by a number of the early Church Fathers of the second through the fifth centuries A.D. Luther, who studied these early writings as a Catholic priest/monk, undoubtedly was aware of this.
Polygyny was practiced among Irish Christians and by the Merovingian kings of France. As early as A.D. 726, Pope Gregory II decreed that when a man has a sick wife who cannot discharge her marital responsibilities, he could take a second wife on condition that he continue to care for the first. The Catholic Emperor (of the Holy Roman Empire) at the time of the Reformation fathered children all over Europe and had the Pope legitimize them.
In 1522, Henry VIII, king of England, wrote a book denouncing Luther's reforms and defending the seven sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church. For this action, the pope bestowed on him the title "Defender of the Faith." The friendship between England and Rome was not to endure, however. Henry had fallen in love with Anne Boleyn and sought to have the church grant an annulment of his marriage with Catherine of Aragon, on grounds that she had been the wife of his deceased brother Arthur and that all of their children had been stillborn. Pope Clement VIII drafted an order directing the king to reject his "concubine," Anne, or face excommunication or even an interdict against his entire kingdom. In January 1533, Henry secretly married Anne and thus became a polygamist. His actions may have been prompted by a letter that Melanchthon wrote to the king in August 1531:
"But what is to be done, if the public welfare renders a new marriage advisable for the sake of succession, as is the case with the King of England, where the public welfare of the whole kingdom renders a new marriage advisable? Here I reply: if the King wishes to provide for the succession, it is much better to do this without any stigma on the previous marriage. And this can be done, without any danger to the conscience or reputation of anyone, through polygamy . . . So I hold that the safest course for the King is the first one; for it is certain that polygamy is not forbidden by divine law (quia certum est polygamiam non esse prohibitam iure divino), nor is it a thing altogether without precedent. Abraham, David, and other holy men had several wives; hence it is obvious that polygamy is not against divine law (unde apparet polygamiam non esse ius divinum)."
As tensions grew, Henry, backed by Thomas Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury, sought more earnestly to distance himself from Catherine and from the Pope. Cranmer had been influenced by the Lutheran reformer Andreas Osiander, whose niece Margarete he married secretly in 1532.(While studying for the priesthood, Cranmer had married a woman named Joan, who died in childbirth.) On 30 March 1533, Cranmer became Archbishop of Canterbury, in which position annulled King Henry's marriage to Catherine, and subsequently presided over Henry's public marriage to Anne Boleyn. In 1534, the British parliament passed the Act of Supremacy, by which the nation was declared free from all allegiance to Rome and naming the British monarch as head of the Church of England. Rather than follow Melanchthon's advice to enter into a polygynous relationship, Henry went through a series of wives and divorces and actually executed two of them.
Another European ruler, Philip, Landgrave of Hesse, also wanted to take other wives. John Calvin argued that the practice was "unchristian." When Philip petitioned Luther to allow him to take another wife, the Reformer counseled him to have "secret relations," comparing this to the concubinage of the Patriarchs in the Old Testament. Though Philip was already an adulterer and pedophile, he persisted in his request for a sanctioned bigamous marriage, though technically illegal in Germany since 1832 and punishable by beheading. Permission was granted in a document (issued on 10 December 1539 and subsequently called the "Wittenberg Deliberation") written by Luther's right-hand man Philip Melanchthon and signed by Luther and six other "reformers," including Martin Bucer. It approved Philip's request on condition that he "abstain from fornication, adultery and boys." A portion of the letter reads, "We declare under an oath that it ought to be done secretly . . . It is nothing unusual for princes to have concubines . . . and this modest way of living would please more than adultery." On 4 March 1540, Denis Melander, one of the signatories, who himself had three living wives, officiated at Philip's second marriage, with Melanchthon present. The marriage made Philip a brother-in-law of Luther himself.
Concubinage was regularly practiced by Catholic European rulers, but it was the insistence of Philip of Hesse that his second marriage be considered legal that made things difficult for Luther. The secret marriage soon became public and caused much consternation among Lutherans, whereupon Melanchthon "sickened almost to death with remorse." Luther pretended that he knew nothing about the affair and counseled the adulterer to "tell a good, strong lie." Criticized by Roman Catholics and Protestants such as Calvin, Luther feared that the Reformation might fail if he insisted on allowing polygyny. In this he was probably correct. Ferdinand, archduke of Austria, was leaning toward Protestantism but changed his mind after hearing of the Hesse affair, thus averting possible political and religious turmoil when he later became Emperor Ferdinand I of the Holy Roman Empire.
Ironically, Lutherans and Catholics had earlier joined forces to defeat a Protestant sect called Anabaptists ("rebaptizers"), who had begun to gain a foothold in parts of northern Europe. By about 1530, they were prominent in Amsterdam. In 1534, a more activist group of Anabaptists, led by John of Leyden, took control in the German city of Munster, where the people had just rebelled against their prince-bishop, and instituted a communist state. As men in the city died during skirmishes with a joint Protestant-Catholic army that laid siege to the city for twelve months, Anabaptist leaders introduced polygyny. Following the defeat of the Anabaptists, polygyny continued to be practiced secretly by a few. Many polygynists were executed by Lutherans and Catholics alike. The most well-known of these was Jan Willemsen of the German province of Westphalia, who had 21 wives.
Though the Reformation ultimately distanced itself from plural marriage, it continued to be advocated by such sects as the Muckers of Germany, the Agapemonites of 19th-century England, and 19th-century American groups such as the Oneida Perfectionists and the Shakers. John Milton, most noted for his 1667 book Paradise Lost, wrote a defense of defense of polygamy in another of his works, entitled Christian Doctrine. (For annotation see Notes 16-27)
Martin Luther and the Reformers Concerning Polygamy
The thoughts, beliefs and actions of Martin Luther and the Reformers concerning the subject of polygamy are a very interesting subject. In the article, "Will the Real Martin Luther Please Stand Up" by John A. Tvedtnes in the section under Polygamy shows how polygamy was brought into the Reformation:
