Documents of the Ren/Ref

On the False Donation of Constantine

A piece by Valla where he exposed the Donation of Constantine as fraudulent using textual criticism

The Prince

A piece by Machiavelli where he guides rulers on how to be most successful based on past rulers

The Book of Courtier

A piece by Castiglione where he gives a guideline of how people of the court should behave

In Praise of Folly

A piece by Erasmus where he criticized the church for its corruption, specifically among the clergy, and strongly influenced Luther and his criticisms

Utopia

A piece by Thomas More which describes a perfect society in which none of the current problems were significant, it is achieved by having a government devoid of corruption

The City of Ladies; The Book of Three Virtues

Pieces by Christine de Pisan which chronicle the accomplishments of women throughout history, it was a survival guide for woman in the Renaissance

95 Theses

A piece by Luther which mainly criticized the sale of indulgences and acknowledging the corruption of church clergy

Confessions of Augsburg

• Written by a friend of Luther

• an attempt to compromise the religious faiths of Lutheran and Catholic princes of the HRE

• rejected by Catholics and became the traditional statement of Lutheranism

• states that salvation was achieved through FAITH ALONE and that Bible is the SOLE AUTHORITY

Twelve Articles

Written by German peasants who demanded an end to serfdom, believed they were supported by Luther but they were not

Peace of Augsburg

Temporarily ended the struggle in Germany over Lutheranism, allowed princes to chose whether their state was Lutheran or Catholic, DIVISION OF GERMANY

Institutes of the Christian Religion

A book by Calvin which served as the foundation for Calvinism

Act of Supremacy

Made by Henry VIII, king was made head of the church and given more authority than the clergy

Act of Succession

Also made by Henry VIII, all king's subjects had to take an oath of loyalty and proclaim that Henry was head of the church (Thomas More was beheaded for not doing so)

(Statue of) Six Articles

Reaffirmed the doctrines which were supported under the English Church (most Catholic doctrines were still followed)

Elizabethan Settlement

Made by Queen Elizabeth I, required people of England to conform to the Church of England but allowed them to worship their own religion privately

Thirty-Nine Articles

Defined the values of the Anglican Church, accommodated most of the English and their own religious beliefs