AP EURO UNIT 2 ULTIMATE REVIEW

Protestant Reformation contextualization

• in the middle ages there was a series of bitter disputes between Roman Catholic popes and European kings, especially the king of France

• so in 1309, the king of France pressured the new pope to establish the papacy in Avignon and away from Italy

• the popes of Avignon were awful focusing almost nothing on religion of the Church and all on consolidating power, wealth and satisfying their urges

• the papacy moved back to Italy in 1377 under the leadership of a new pope who was all about making sure such a violation never happened again. He was very intense about it and that led to a lot of fighting.So back in France they just elected another pope to rule from Avignon.

• so in 1377 the Catholic Church in Europe was dominated by 2 rival popes who both claimed absolute power

• this situation lasted 40 years so going into the 16th century the average European thought the church was corrupt and flawed

• people understood that popes were more interested in consolidating power than guiding the faithful

Complaints against the Church

corruption: drinking, neglecting celibacy, leading wars

Simony: the sale of religious office to the highest bidder

Absenteeism: members of the clergy who did not live in parish, absentee bishops

christian humanism: encouraged returning to a simpler Christianity and the culture of humanism made people value critical reading and reform

politics/money: rulers resented sending money to Rome and wanted more control over religion within their territories

poorly educated priests

church too wealthy

Indulgences

• in the 12th century the church developed the doctrine of purgatory which said after death you went neither to heaven or hell, but rather into a kind of middle space (purgatory). The soul would be purified before it entered heaven and depending on how you acted in life you could spend longer or shorter —> not pleasant place to be

• so early in the 16th century pope Leo 10th offered Catholics indulgences for purchase to finance the completion of Saint Peter´s Basilica. The more you spent the less time spent in purgatory.

• prior to this confession was required for the remission of sin but now if you bought an indulgence you didn´t need to confess for a sin to be forgiven.

• idea of good works and faith for salvation

Martin Luther

• monk who questioned indulgences. In 1515 a revolution occurred in his thinking. As he was studying the new testament he discovered it was not acts of good work that gave forgiveness but rather faith. Salvation was a gift of grace, not a reward for good works

• He began to hold to the priesthood of all believers which challenged church dogma of only a few believers. Idea that every believer had the ability to read and interpret the bible, that all people of faith were viewed by god as equals.

• also formulated sola scriptura, meaning scripture alone which became a core tenet of the reformation. Bible was the final authority for Christians.

• Composed his 95 theses in 1517 which outlined his complaints of the catholic church. allegedly nailed on the witerberg church.

• considering he his theses in Latin he was likely interested in sparking discussion among a few educated monks and priests.

• but due to the printing press the 95 theses spread throughout the German states of HRE with great speed and many actually agreed about the abuses of the church

Diet of Worms

• once his complaints and interpretations reached the church, they announced him a heretic —> excommunicated

• called him to stand before diet of worms (conference that Charles V called to question/prosecute Luther) and demanded that he recant his writings to which he refused

• then hid under the princes of Germany and continued to develop his ideas

John Calvin

• Reformation spreads rapidly

• Minister in Geneva, Switzerland who created the protestant doctrine (predestination) in his treatise of the institutes of Christian religion

• Predestination: God before the foundation of the world decided who would be saved and who would go to hell. Salvation and damnation was not a matter of human choice, but of god´s choice.

• Elect: the elect were those whom God had chosen to save. Those who were truly elect had no choice in the matter and could never lose their salvation.

• Calvin´s Geneva was run as a theocracy

• Calvin taught that financial wealth was the proper reward for hard work, and that so long as the elect didn´t allow money to become their god, then their accumulation of wealth could be see as a sign of God´s favor

Anabaptist

• believed in the reformation principles that Luther and Calvin did but separated from them on the question of baptism

• believed only adults should be baptized and not infants as only adults could confess they had faith

Early reformers

• 14th century Wycliffe who tried to reform catholic church in England

• 15th century, Jan Hus tried to remove corruption

Printing press

• one of Luther´s main arguments was that the bible should be translated into German, which is to say he believed in vernacular bibles

• for centuries the bible was only available in Latin and Latin was the language of the church —> only elite could read Latin

• printing press allowed for the widespread distribution of vernacular bibles

Reformation and state

• The church of England wasn´t that much different from the Catholic Church

• so a few reformers under the reign of Elizabeth I known as the puritans (Calvinist) challenged the lingering Catholicism in the church

• their attempts at reform ultimately led them into conflict with James/Charles I in the early 17th century —> English civil war

• Protestant Christians refused to recognize rulers as the ultimate authority over spiritual matters

• Anabaptist: favored a complete separation of Church and state refusing to let secular rulers determine religious doctrine which often led to their persecution

German Peasant´s war

• (1524-1525) largest and most popular uprising driven by economic exploitation, serfdom, and radical religious ideas of protestant reformation. Involved thousands of peasants and urban workers from Southern and central Germany

• Economic exploitation: peasant faced crushing taxes (10% tithes)

• loss of rights: Lords increasingly restricted access to common lands

• serfdom: peasants were legally bound to lands and had little protection

• reformation: Martin Luther´s priesthood of all believers and Christian liberty was interpreted by many as calls for social equality

• drafted 12 articles which cited bible as ultimate authority

• Luther´s condemnation: horrified by the violence wrote a book to urge princes to kill the rebels

• 100,000 peasants killed and win for ruling class

Wars of Religion France context

• in the 1st half of the 1500s most of the French people were Catholic but by the 1560s Protestantism spread into France and had a strong foothold

• French Calvinists were known as huguenots —> half of French nobility were huguenots and started agitating for recognition and rights. Catholics didn´t want to.

• Then Charles IX took the throne however he was only 11 so his mother Catherine De medici ruled in his place

• Catherine was very Catholic and she was agitated about the huguenots demanding rights/recognition

Massacre of Vassy

• Catherine decided she wanted to purge France of the huguenots as they were a threat to her power

• so the French Wars of Religion began in 1562 with the massacre of Vassy; a group of huguenots were at a worship service when a duke of the Catholic guise family ordered them all killed.

• huguenots were not a strong force atp but they fought defensively for 10 years until the next massacre

Bartholomew´s day massacre

• now it´s 1572, and religious tensions seemed to be solved in the marriage of Catholic sister of Charles IX and Calvinist Henry of Navarre. So since Henry of Navarre was kind of the leader of the huguenots many of them travel to Paris for the wedding. The guise family convinced Catherine that the Huguenots were a threat to Catholic France. So Charles IX ordered the mass killing of them which unleashed a 3 day killing spree—> thousands dead.

• Henry of Navarre saved his own life by promising to convert to Catholicism. But then he converted back to Calvinism for the war of the 3 Henry´s. 3 different Henry´s vied for the control of France

War of 3 Henry´s

• in 1574, Henry III was on the throne having succeeded Charles Ix but apparently he wasn´t Catholic enough for Henry of Guise, leader of the ultra Catholic holy league and he wanted the throne

• Henry of Guise with the help of the Spanish throne took back the French throne by force

• So Henry III had Henry of Guise assassinated and then joined Henry of Navarre to rid Paris of the holy league

• which he did but then in 1589 a monk assassinated Henry III and that left Henry of Navarre to take the throne

• He understood that a protestant king would be unpopular so he converted back to Catholicism and became Henry IV with his ascension of the throne —> wars of religion over

• Edict of Nantes: officially established France as a Catholic state, but also provided Huguenots the freedom to worship without fear of being massacred/harrassed (1598)

Wars of Religion Spain context

• Spain was ruled by Habsburgs and was very Catholic

• Philip II was upset about the fracturing of Christianity in Europe and he hated Protestants

• wanted to restore Catholic unity and had his eyes set of England and Netherlands

• in the Netherlands there was a growing Calvinist contention and while Philip´s dad (Charles V) was relatively tolerant of this group he was not

• when Dutch Calvinists began to destroying Catholic religious images (iconalism) Philip II targeted persecution on them

• So William of Orange rose to the leadership of the Dutch Calvinist and in 1581 declared themselves independent of Spanish rule

• Spain also had English problems as Elizabeth I devout Protestant supported the Dutch Protestant rebellion

• Phillip II sent Spanish Armada but England was victorious so that paired with Dutch rebellion meant Protestantism was gaining a foothold in Europe.

Thirty Years War

• occurred in HRE

• context: Peace of Augsburg 1555 offered some degree of religious toleration in HRE by stating princes could decide whether subjects of their territories would be Catholic or Lutheran

• Calvinists of HRE did not want to submit to Lutheranism

• So, when Catholic Ferdinand became king in the Calvinist territory of Bohemia things got complicated

• Ferdinand started a program of re-Catholiczing Bohemia and the Calvinist nobility were like no

• so the nobility threw 2 of Ferdinand´s messengers out a window known as defenestration of Prague. This event set off the 30 year war

• 4 phases of this war and as we move through each phase the motivations for fighting go from less religious to political

Bohemian phase

• Ferdinand II defeated Protestant forces led by Fredrick I at the battle of white mountain

• Catholics gained the upper hand and established Catholicism across many places in the HRE

Danish phase

• King Christian IV of Denmark took up the Protestant cause, because he was in alliance with England

• political motives bleeding in (anti-Habsburg)

• Catholics still won this phase of the war

Swedish Phase

• war begins to extend beyond the HRE and King Adolphus of Sweden organizes the Protestant cause and scores a major victory

• King Adolphus was a military genius so protestants won buttt they also received financial help from France. This is the major turning point where we can see that the religious character of the war is lost to politics

• Catholic French monarchy hated habsburgs —> felt threatened by their rule

French phase

• France entered into the war on the side of the Protestants fighting Spain to assure Habsburgs would not rebound from their defeats

Peace of Westphalia of 1648

• end of 30 year war

• major turning point in European history

• amended the peace of Augsburg to include Calvinism as a legitimate faith

• officially marked the end of the medieval idea of a universal Christendom

• kept HRE weak and rulers of individual states strong

Catholic Counter Reformation

• 30 years after the Protestant Reformation the Catholics started rethinking things

• the Catholics underwent their own reformation

• 1st the Catholic Reformation responded to Protestant power with the Jesuit order. Established by Loyola whose purpose was to educate the church, creating educational institutions across Europe on the assumption that if Catholics were educated they would be less likely to fall prey to Protestantism. Jesuits were also responsible for rooting out heretics among the church —> index of prohibited books

• Ursuline: focused on educating Catholics especially young girls

• St. Teresa of Avila: formed carmelite order which rejected affluence of the Church and adopted a life of prayer and poverty

Council of Trent

• goal was to resolve differences between protestants and Catholics

• Protestant complaints: simony, immorality, indulgences

• in 1545 Pope Paul III called the council of Trent to address these issues. Met intermittently until 1563 and made a few changes

• outcomes: suppressed simony, reestablished celibacy of priesthood, cleaned up practice of indulgences —> not fully gone

• buttttt the council also reaffirmed traditional Catholic doctrines that did not align with Protestants —> salvation comes from faith and works, transubstantiation (bread and wine served at mass actually become the flesh and blood of Christ), Seven sacraments (protestants only 2), equal authority of bible and Church dogma

• so with the council of Trent the split between the protestants and Catholics was made permanent