It was Bezold, the historian, who removed historiography on the Reformation period from within religious boundaries.
(1848-1928) German historian. He made important studies on the Renaissance and Reformation periods. Friedrich Gustav Johannes Bezold was born on 26 December 1848 in Munich and died on 29 April 1928 in Bonn. After studying at the universities of Munich and Berlin, he received his doctorate from the University of Munich in 1870. In 1883 he was appointed a member of the historical commission of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences. He was promoted to professor in 1884. In 1907 he became a member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences. He transferred to the University of Bonn in 1896 and continued his studies there until 1921.
Friedrich Gustav Johannes von Bezold, born 26 December 1848 in Munich, Germany, 29 April 1928 in Bonn, was a German historian.
He was influenced by the Göttingen School led by G Waitz in Munich and by Theodor Mommsen in Berlin. After dealing with classical antiquity for a short time, he concentrated his studies on the Renaissance and Reformation periods. In his book, Aus Mittelalter und Renaissance (“The Middle Ages and the Renaissance”), he examined the ongoing struggle between science and beliefs. In his work Das Fortleben der antiken Götter im mittelalterlichen Humanismus (“The Place of the Ancient Gods in Medieval Humanism”), he discussed the place of superstitions in human life.
Bezold, who removed the historiography on the Reform period from within the religious boundaries, gave much more importance to the social and economic events of the 16th century than what had been written up to that time and placed the Reform period in its place in the process of social development. The book that best reflects this point of view was published as Geschichte der Deutschen Reformation (“History of the German Reform”).
In 1908, he wrote an important article titled "Staat und Gesellschaft des Reformationszeitalters" ("State and Society in the Reform Era") for the journal Die Kultur der Gegenwart, which deals with the socio-economic situation of the Reformation period. Growing up in the liberal environment of Munich and influenced by the revolutionary ideas of 1848, Bezold became one of the fiercest opponents of the Wilhelm II era.