Die evangelischen Kirchenordnungen des XVI. Jahrhunderts

With the establishment of the Reformation in a territory or an imperial city, the regional rulers and the city authorities had to provide their communities with various new systems in order to regulate the broad spectrum of church life, especially since they no longer recognized their obligation to obey the Pope or to accept episcopal jurisdiction. Due to the close interaction between religion and politics in the 16th century, the new church orders had an impact on church matters and considerable influence on secular legal life. With the commitment to the Protestant faith, it was not only the circumstances within the church which changed; there were also sweeping changes in everyday life. The term "Protestant Church Orders" refers to those texts dealing with secular authority in the 16th century which regulated these changes. The integral parts of church orders are the regulation of church services as well as the regulation of church discipline, caring for the poor, schools and matrimonial law.