In what ways did the Popes in the Middle Ages compete with secular rulers?
Popes were the rulers of a kingdom (the Papal States). They had an army. They fought both defensive and offensive wars against rival states.
The Church had a good amount of influence over people & controlled land in every kingdom
Pope Leo X (Giovanni di Lorenzo de’ Medici)
The first of the Medici Popes. Presided over a time of great corruption with extensive indulgences, simony, and nepotism.
Outside of Italy, there was a lot of opposition to his leadership.
His efforts to oppose Martin Luther would fail and Protestantism would begin under this papacy.
Note: His younger cousin would become Pope Clement VII and see protestant armies rampage during “the sack of Rome” in 1527.
Indulgences
A person could purchase a pardon for sins committed during a person's lifetime.
In fact, a person could purchase this indulgence for the soul of a loved one who had passed away.
Prices varied based on the available market of buyers
Simony
Jobs in the church were sold for a price. Important jobs could fetch a very high price.
Secular rulers could also sell jobs in churches on their lands.
This corrupt practice raised questions about the true qualifications of priests, bishops, cardinals and even popes.
Nepotism
A practice where Church offices were given to the extended family members of powerful officials.
Also, when Church business is conducted to enrich the relatives of powerful officials.
What motivated the early reformers?
Corruption in the Church.
Ideas about improving church organization.
Desire to see new practices such as printing the Bible in new languages (not Latin or Greek).
New ideas about the sacraments.
New ideas about salvation.
Rejection of worldliness among church leaders.
Erasmus
a humanist scholar.
famous for his essays that criticized the worldliness of the Church.
“Though he carries St. Peter’s symbolic key to heaven on this belt, how could the Pope ever be allowed to enter the gates of heaven given?”
Made new and updated translations of the Bible in Greek and Latin - without Church approval.
Jan Hus
Called for translations of the Bible and for people to be able & encouraged to read the Bible themselves in their own languages.
He also criticized some church practices.
He was tried & executed as a heretic. (note the proximity of Prague and the base of Church power in Italy & Southern Germany)
John Wycliffe
attacked corruption in the Church and questioned some Church doctrines.
Best known for translating the Bible into English - without Church approval.
He is condemned as a heretic for this but kept safe from papal authority in England.
Martin Luther
a German monk and theologian who was the catalyst of the Protestant Reformation.
Trained to become a lawyer, he changed his path, joined a strict order of Roman Catholic monks, and studied theology.
Went on pilgrimage to Rome and witnessed the corruption of the Church under Pope Leo X.
95 Theses
Luther challenged Church teachings
This led to his excommunication and the development of Lutheranism, the first of several early Protestant sects.
Charles V
Holy Roman Emperor. Ruled vast areas of Europe.
He rejected Luther's doctrines but could not defeat the wave of protestant upheaval.
Diet of Worms
An assembly or legislature.
Where Luther faced trial & conviction for heresy.
Luther was protected by a German prince, Frederick the Wise of Saxony. (i. e. castle - army - protection)
4 New ideas that Luther proposed
Rejected five of the seven sacraments because the Bible did not mention them.
Banned indulgences, confession, pilgrimages, and prayers to saints.
Simplified the elaborate ritual of the mass and instead emphasized the sermon.
Permitted the clergy to marry.
Peasant’s Revolt
Peasants demanded an end to serfdom and for other changes to ease their harsh lives.
Luther strongly favored social order and respect for political authority. As it grew more violent, Luther denounced it.
Nobles suppressed the rebellion & killed as many as 100,000 people.
Peace of Augsburg
The settlement reached after the wars between Charles V (Catholic) and the Lutheran princes.
Each prince could decide which religion—Catholic or Lutheran—would be followed in his lands.
Most northern German states chose Lutheranism. The southern German states remained largely Catholic.
John Calvin
French theologian and lawyer.
Influenced by the humanist philosophy of Erasmus, became involved with the Protestant movement while a student at the University of Paris.
He set up a theocracy in Geneva, Switzerland and wrote Institutes of the Christian Religion.
Interpretation of Christian doctrine is called Calvinism.
Predestination
Calvinist belief that God long ago determined who would gain salvation
Geneva
Swiss city-state that became a Calvinist theocracy in the 1500s; today a major city in Switzerland
Theocracy
government run by religious leaders
Spread of Calvinism
By the late 1500s, Calvinism had taken root in Germany, France, (Huguenots) the Netherlands (Dutch Reformed Church), England, (Puritans & Pilgrims) and Scotland. (Scottish Presbyterian Church)
This new challenge to the Roman Catholic Church set off bloody wars of religion across Europe.
Sect
subgroup of a major religious group
Beliefs of the Anabaptists
Only adults - not infants - should be Baptized.
religious toleration AND
separation of church and state.
Today, the Baptists, Mennonites, and Amish all trace their religious ancestry to here.
Henry VIII of England
Desire for a male heir was the catalyst for his eventual break with the Roman Catholic Church and the formation of the Church of England.
Broke with the Church when the Pope refused to grant an annulment or divorce to end his first marriage & make his children with subsequent wives legitimate heirs to the throne.
Church of England
Between 1536 and 1540, Henry ordered the closing of all convents and monasteries in England and seized their lands and wealth for the crown.
This became known as the dissolution, the dissolving, or ending, of Catholic monasteries in England.
Book of Common Prayer
The 9 y.o. king’s advisers pushed for Calvinist reforms: this was used in the Anglican Church.
It imposed a moderate form of Protestant service but preserved many Catholic doctrines. Even so, it sparked uprisings that were harshly suppressed.
Mary Tudor
the next Monarch - ruled for just 5 years - She attempted to restore Catholicism and persecuted Protestants
Elizabethan Settlement
The next Monarch adopted a policy of religious compromise, or acceptable middle ground. She moved cautiously at first but gradually enforced reforms that both moderate Catholics and Protestants could accept.
English replaced Latin as the language of the Anglican service.
The Book of Common Prayer was restored
Much of the Catholic ritual was kept.
The Church of England also kept the old hierarchy of bishops and archbishops,
the monarch, not the pope, was the head of the Anglican Church.
Council of Trent
a group of Catholic leaders that met between 1545 and 1563 to respond to Protestant challenges and direct the future of the Catholic Church.
Inquisition
To deal with the Protestant threat more directly, Pope Paul strengthened this.
a Church court set up during the Middle Ages.
used secret testimony, torture, and execution
prepared the Index of Forbidden Books
The list included books by Luther and Calvin and even some books by Italian humanists.
Jesuits
Ignatius of Loyola (1491–1556) was a theologian and an influential participant in the Catholic Reformation.
Ignatius studied, preached, and did missionary work as founder of the Society of Jesus, an order of religious men who came to be known as Jesuits.
Became advisers to Catholic rulers, helping them combat heresy in their lands.
They set up schools that taught humanist and Catholic beliefs and enforced discipline and obedience.
Missionaries spread their Catholic faith to Asia, Africa, and the Americas.
Teresa of Avila
gained renown as the author of several books on spiritual matters.
She was a key influence during the Catholic Reformation.
Teresa dedicated most of her life to the reform of the Carmelite order, founding many convents throughout Spain.
Witch Hunts
Between 1450 and 1750, tens of thousands of women and men died as victims of this.
Often, those accused of being witches, or agents of the devil, were women.
At the time, people saw a close link between magic and heresy.
Witches, they believed, were in league with the devil and were thus anti-Christian.
Persecutions of Jews
Luther hoped that Jews would be converted to his teachings. When they did not convert, he called for them to be expelled and for their synagogues to be burned.
Some German princes expelled Jews from their lands. All German states confined Jews to ghettos or required them to wear a yellow badge if they traveled outside the ghetto.
In the 1550s, Pope Paul IV reversed the lenient policy of Renaissance popes and restricted Jewish activities.
After 1550, many Jews migrated to Poland-Lithuania and to parts of the Ottoman Empire.
Dutch Calvinists also tolerated Jews, taking in families who were driven out of Portugal and Spain.
Ghetto
A separate section of a city where members of a minority group are forced to live.
Venice and other Italian cities set up walled ghettos in which Jews were forced to live