Reformation

By 1300…

  • The Catholic Church has become corrupt

  • It was seen as “out of touch” w/ people

  • Became bureaucratic

  • Seemed unwilling to reform itself

Backlash

  • Some clergy challenged the pope

  • Laypeople challenged church

  • Neither had enough power to make a change

The Babylonian Captivity

  • Began as a conflict between King of France and the Pope

  • Pope moved to Avignon, France

  • 7 Popes resided there

  • People demanded a new pope

The Great Schism

  • Italian Pope Urban VI elected under mob threat

  • Cardinals elected another Pope Clement VII

  • Catholic church divided until 1417

Lack of Leadership

  • The Clergy were interested in wealth and advancement

  • Due to lack of education, many clergy could not give sound religious advice

Abuses of the Church

  • Simony: The selling of church positions to make money

  • Nepotism: Granting church positions to friends and family even though they may not be qualified

  • Moral Issues: Priests w/ mistresses, illegitimate children, selling fake holy relics

  • Indulgences: Sold by catholic church, shortened time your soul would be in Purgatory, sold to generate income

Critics

  • John Wyclif

    • English scholar and theologian

    • Ideas spread across europe

    • some persecution

      • Ideas: Believed church didn’t need to spend on elaborate possesions, organized church not needed for salvation, people should read bible themselves, scripture should be the sole basis of religion, pope has no secular power, translate bible into english

  • Jan Hus

    • Czech theologian in Bohemia

    • Denied papal authority

    • declared indulgences useless

    • wanted to end corruption of the clergy

    • limit power of the papacy

Church Reaction

  • Council of Pisa (1409)

    • Council deposed the two popes (refused to step down)

    • Elected another pope (3 popes = 3 fold schism)

  • The Conciliar Movement

    • Goals of the Council of Constance:

      • End 3 fold schism (achieved)

      • Discourage hersey

        • Executed Jan Hus for hersey

        • Wyclif was declared a heretic after already dead

        • Dug up Wyclif and burned him

      • Reform the church (failed)

        • Pope saw reformation as a threat to power

Europe at the time of Luther

  • On the verge of religious revolution

  • Pope Julius II - Fighting military campaigns all over Europe - funding large building projects

  • The Pope was the political and religious power in Europe

Religious Discontent

  • People wanted to manage their own religious affairs

  • Catholic church was outdated

  • Mysticism and the ideas of Wyclif and Hus

  • Various abuses

Social Discontent

  • Peasants saw church leaders as part of the wealthy oppressive class

  • most visible in German peasant revolt

Political Discontent

  • Kings and princes disputed land ownership, taxes, and legeal jurisdiction with the church

  • Kings and princes saw control of religion as a way to increase authority

  • German princes sought to weaken the Holy Roman Emperor

Martin Luther

Background

  • Came from middle class family

  • Religious conversion

    • Ordained as priest in 1507

  • Became an Augustinian Friar (monk)

  • Martin Luther was extremely religious, worries about sin 24/7

Luther

  • Sent to Rome on monastic business

  • Buys an indulgence (Papal pardon)

  • Experiences corruption with Roman Church

  • Questions the church

Sent to Wittenberg

  • Doctorate of theology

  • Professor of scriptures at University of Wittenberg

Beliefs

  • Justification (salvation) by faith alone

  • clergy not seperate from laity

  • people should be able to read the bible

  • rejected the idea of purgatory

  • 2 sacraments: baptism and communion

  • Rejected transubstantiation, but felt christ was present

  • eliminate monasticism

Selling Indulgences

Johann Tetzel

  • Dominican Friar; Advertised that indulgences could bring full forgiveness for sins and release others from Purgatory

  • Luther sends a list of 95 theses to Catholic church to state what’s wrong with it

Pope Leo X

  • Luther appeals to Leo X to correct abuses, but Leo refuses

  • Luther calls on German Princes to break with Rome in 1520

  • People excommunicated Luther in 1521

Frederick the Wise

  • Believed in Luther

  • Protected Luther during his trial

  • Head of Wittenberg College

  • Prince of Saxony

  • Persuaded Charles V to have Luther charged in Germany (Worms)

Diet of Worms (1521)

  • Presided by Charles V

  • Luther refuses to recant

  • diet allows luther’s message to reach a wider audience

  • declared an outlaw in 1522, legal to kill him

Peasant Revolt of 1524

  • Goal:

    • Would abolish rights and privileges of the clergy and nobles

    • rulers became enemy of peasants, townspeople, and miners

    • Also known as German Peasant’s War

      • Over 100k Peasants killed

Luther’s Contributions

  • 1st Bible translated into vernacular

  • Individual interpretations become a reality

  • Sparks many reformation movements

  • authority of the catholic church questioned

Protestantism

Ulrich Zwingli

  • Priest

  • Began Protestant movement in Zurich, Switzerland

  • Sought an alliance with Luther but fails

  • killed in battle with catholics

Zwingli’s Reformation

  • Beliefs:

    • Salvation by faith

    • Bible is sole basis for religion

    • Tithes used to aid the poor

    • Communion is purely symbolic

John Calvin

  • French priest and lawyer

  • exiled in switzerland

  • Assumed leadership after Zwingli’s death

  • View of Society:

    • Living in a time of moral crisis

    • sense of community was dissolving

  • Beliefs:

    • Salvation by faith

    • Rejected human-like images of Christ

    • Communion is symbolic only

  • Predestination

    • God is all knowing

    • God determines in advance who is saved and who is damned

    • Those destined for heaven are elect

  • Church Services

    • Services should be plain

    • no visuals, music, or incense

    • very long sermons

Geneva

  • Established a religious state there

  • laws enforced religious and moral principles

  • government run by church and lay elders

  • known as protestant rome

  • missionaries trained to convert people to calvinists

  • was to be the model christian society

Spread of Calvinists

  • Was the most aggressive and expansionist protestant movement

  • Knows as Huguenots in france/netherlands

  • known as the presbyterians in scotland

  • puritans in england

Anabaptists

  • Radical Reformers:

    • Wanted to live a communal life

    • believed in equality

    • felt any man could be minister

  • Wants:

    • Seperation of church and state

    • refused to hold political office, take oaths, or bear arms

  • Radical Reformers Who:

    • Rejected infant baptism in favor of adult baptism

  • Persecuted People

    • Anabaptists were a minority group persecuted by other Protestants and Catholics

  • Plain People

    • Amish

    • Mennonites

    • Quakers

Reformation in England

Henry VIII

  • Defender of the church

  • conservative catholic king

  • had power to appoint his own bishops

  • wrote a defense against Luther’s ideas

The King’s Great Matter

  • Henry married Catherine of Aragon, had one daughter

  • Henry requests an annulment, pope refused

    Divorce:

    • Archbishop Cranmer annuls the marriage

    • cut ties with rome

  • Anne Boelyn

    • Henry marries her

    • gives birth to one daughter

    • executed for cheating

Act of Supremacy (1534)

  • Declares king head of new church of england

  • thomas more opposed king and was executed

Break with Rome

  • Henry was successful because:

    • English monarchy was strong

    • pope was unpopular

  • Henry dissolves monasteries, seized church property (25% of english

Church Evolution

  • Under Henry, church was almost catholic

  • Under Edward, church was calvinist

  • Under Mary, church was recatholicized

    • 300 protestants burned alive

  • Under Elizabeth, church became blend of catholic and protestant

Church Beliefs

  • Salvation by faith

  • No saints

  • No purgatory

  • transubstantiation

  • 2 sacraments: Baptism and communion

Catholic Reformation

The Jesuits

  • Known as society of Jesus

  • Founed by Ignatius of Loyola

Jesuit Priests

  • monks who took an active role in the world

  • took an oath of obedience to the Pope

  • Used education to promote catholicism

Jesuit Success

  • Partially restored catholicism in Europe

  • Spread catholicism to other parts of the world

Reforming Papacy

  • Church recognized Popes were to blame for corrupt policies

  • future popes avoid finacial, political, and military affairs

Council of Trent

  • Meeting of Cardinals, bishops, abbots, and theologians

  • Met on and off for 18 years

  • Goal 1: Establish clear catholic doctrine

  • Goal 2: Reform church abuses

Council Decrees

  • Salvation by works and faith

  • defended: 7 sacraments, transubstantiation, clerical celibacy

  • strengthened purgatory and indulgences

Baroque Art

  • 1500s-1700s

  • Catholic church used art to reinforce correct doctrine and evoke emotion

  • deeper, darker, biblical story in modern setting

Crusades of Spain

Philip II of Spain

  • Believed Spain was chosen by God to save catholicism

  • Made Catholicism the state religion of Spain

  • Eliminated Jews and Muslims from the country

  • Used spanish inquisition to root out non-believers

  • Bankrupt the country trying to eliminate protestantism

The Dutch Revolt

  • Cause:

    • Philip attempted to politically control Netherlands

    • The Inquisition tried to crush Huguenots

    • Dutch were led by William of Orange (the silent)

  • Outcome:

    • Netherlands split into Dutch Republic and Belgium

    • A truce established after Philip’s death

The Spanish Armada (1588)

  • Cause:

    • England defended the Dutch

    • England became “Protestant Champion” of Europe

  • Goals:

    • Philip wished to overthrow Elizabeth I of England and replace her with a Catholic Queen

  • Outcome:

    • Armada defeated

    • Majority of ships destroyed by “Protestant wind”

    • Spain no longer a world power