Protestant Reformation Reading Questions

In the early 16th century, critics of the Catholic clergy concentrated on what problems?

Clerical immorality, Clerical ignorance, and Clerical pluralism with related problems of absenteeism.

Part of the resistance to Catholic Rome was fueled by nationalistic resentment by those who saw church leaders in their religion as…

foreign/absent.

Explain the basic doctrinal arguments that Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli, and other Early Protestant leaders agreed on in their break with the Roman Catholic Church.

A person is saved by faith and faith alone, religious authority resided in the bible (word of God), The church is an invisible fellowship not fixed in any place or person, highest form of Christian life is serving God at his or her own calling, indulgences undermined the importance of being Christian.

Besides those Germans that supported Luther due to religious agreement with him, what other reasons might have drawn certain Germans to his cause?

Literacy: like translation into languages other than Latin (and made available for people who couldn’t read through wood carvings and pictures, Higher-ups in cities were annoyed that the Clergy owned land and had special privileges both economically and lawfully.

Rapidly reproducing and making known his ideas, Luther’s fame and success can somewhat be attributed to the invention of the…

Printing Press

What social and political consequences can be attributed to Luther translating the Bible into German?

Luther’s dialect of the German language was accepted as the standard for the written version of the German language & people were able to read it

What was Luther’s reaction to the German Peasant Revolts and Why? What were the results of these revolts?

Initially he sided with the Peasants, but when rebellion against secular order broke out, he turned on them (he believed that people should be free from the Roman Catholic rule but not able to oppose legally established secular powers)

How did the early Protestant Reformation effect the role of Women in Society?

Still had to be obedient and charitable while also cheerful in their obedience, still could not preach, Monasteries and Covenants closed leaving many upper-class women to only have marriage as an option. Spiritual equality.

Why might the rise of Protestantism in Spain and/or France be more easily squelched?

Because they had a strong central government (that was also Catholic).

Wat technique did early modern Hapsburg monarchs use to enhance their wealth and territorial acquisition?

Marital Politics (marrying other rich, powerful, wealthy people, did the same thing with their children)

What two European royal families experienced centuries of conflict in early modern European history and why?

Hapsburgs (HRE) and Valois (France) because France wanted independence, Maximilian I and Mary of Burgundy’s Marriage (St. Barts’ day massacre) was a contributing factor.)

When Luther’s rebellion resulted in war, what factor besides religion divided the Holy Roman Empire?

was a fight for power: political power struggles between various princes and rulers in the empire.

Why would the Catholic King of France support the Protestant side in 16th century German civil war?

A way for independence from HRE and they didn’t want Charles V (HRE) to get even more power.

What were the results of the German religious war of the 16th century for the Holy Roman Empire (Peace of Augsburg) and personally for the emperor Charles V?

Ended the war, split up everything and made it so the state decides their religion, Lutheranism officially recognized. Charles V abdicated and became a monk.