Unit 2 Review - Heimler

📜 The Great Schism (1054)

• The first major split of Christianity created the Roman Catholic Church (Western) and the Eastern Orthodox Church (Eastern).

• From this point onward, the Catholic Church dominated Western Europe.

✝ Corruption in the Late Medieval Catholic Church

• By the 1500s the Church was entangled in politics and had amassed massive wealth, leading to several abuses:

  • Simony – buying and selling of church offices.

  • Nepotism – appointments based on family or friendship rather than merit.

  • Indulgences – selling remission of punishment for sins, effectively a “buy‑out” of purgatory.

📖 Martin Luther & the 95 Theses (1517)

1. Theological grievances while studying Romans: salvation is by grace alone through faith (sola gratia, sola fide).

2. Rejected the Church’s claim that salvation required faith plus good works or purchase of indulgences.

3. Asserted sola scriptura – Scripture alone as the authority of Christians, not the Pope or Church tradition.

4. Promoted the priesthood of all believers, denying a sacred‑secular hierarchy.

• October 31 1517 – Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the Wittenberg church door. Intended for scholarly debate, the theses spread rapidly thanks to the printing press.

🏰 Luther's Trial, Excommunication, and Prince Protection

• Church officials declared Luther a heretic and summoned him to the Diet of Worms (1521).

• Luther refused to recant, leading to:

  • Excommunication from the Catholic Church.

  • Imperial ban (political outlawry).

• He found refuge under Frederick III, Elector of Saxony, who saw political advantage in weakening papal power.

🖨 Role of the Printing Press

• Luther leveraged three main formats: books, pamphlets, broadsides.

• By 1520, roughly 300,000 pamphlet copies circulated throughout Germany and reached England.

• The press enabled:

  • Wide distribution of Luther’s German‑language Bible (vernacular).

  • Rapid spread of Reformation ideas across Europe.

📚 The Vernacular Bible

• Luther translated the Bible into German, making Scripture accessible to ordinary people.

• This bolstered the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers, as anyone could read and interpret the text.

🌍 Spread of the Reformation: Switzerland & John Calvin

• John Calvin (1509‑1564) initially followed Luther but later diverged on salvation doctrine.

• Established a strong Reformation center in Geneva.

📜 Calvinist Doctrines: Predestination & the Elect

• Contrasted with Catholic teaching that faith plus works secure salvation.

🏛 Calvin's Theocratic Geneva

• Church and state merged: the Bible functioned as civil law.

• Citizens were required to attend church five days a week; non‑compliance could lead to excommunication or imprisonment.

• Social controls: bans on drinking, dancing, swearing to maintain a pious community.

📖 Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion

• Comprehensive systematic theology that codified Reformation doctrines.

• Printed widely, it provided doctrinal unity for emerging Protestant movements:

  • Presbyterians (Scotland)

  • Huguenots (France)

  • Puritans (England)

🧑‍🔬 Anabaptist Distinctives

• Shared core Reformation beliefs but differed on two key issues:

  1. Baptism – rejected infant baptism; insisted on believer’s baptism (adult confession of faith).

  2. Church‑State Relations – advocated complete separation; practiced pacifism, refusing military service.

⚔ Wars of Religion: France & the Huguenots

Chronology (selected events)

• Half of the French nobility converted to Calvinism, seeking political autonomy from the crown.

• Catherine de’ Medici aimed to purge Huguenots to consolidate royal authority.

Key Takeaways

• The Protestant Reformation erupted from theological disputes (grace vs. works) and institutional corruption (simony, nepotism, indulgences).

• Printing technology was the catalyst that transformed localized dissent into a continent‑wide movement.

• Luther sparked the split; Calvin systematized it; Anabaptists pushed further on baptism and pacifism.

• The religious upheaval directly fueled the European Wars of Religion, reshaping political power structures across the continent.## 🇫🇷 French Wars of Religion

• 1562 – Massacre of Vassy – Members of the Bourbon (Catholic) family attacked a Huguenot worship service, killing worshippers indiscriminately.

• 1572 – Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre – After the wedding of Charles IX’s sister to Henri of Navarre (a Huguenot), Catherine de Medici organized a city‑wide slaughter of Protestants.

  “Approximately 10–20 000 Protestants were killed in a single day.”

• 1587‑1590 – War of the Three Henrys – A succession crisis pitted three claimants for the French throne:

  Henry	Religion	Claim
  Henry III	Catholic (moderate)	Sitting king, supported by Catherine de Medici
  Henry of Navarre	Huguenot	Leader of the Bourbon family, married to the king’s sister
  Henry of Guise	Catholic (ultra)	Wanted an exclusively Catholic monarchy

• Assassinations of Henry III and Henry of Guise left Henri of Navarre as sole survivor; he became Henry IV (1590).

• 1598 – Edict of Nantes (issued by Henry IV)

  “Established Catholicism as the state religion while granting Huguenots the right to worship openly and hold protected towns.”

🇩🇪 Holy Roman Empire & the Thirty Years’ War

• 1555 – Peace of Augsburg

  “Each prince could choose Lutheranism or Catholicism for his territory (the cuius regio, eius religio principle).”
  Note: Calvinism was not recognized.

• 1618 – Defenestration of Prague

  “Protestant nobles threw Imperial officials out of a castle window, igniting the war.”

Phases of the Thirty Years’ War

• 1648 – Peace of Westphalia

  “Ended the Thirty Years’ War, recognized Calvinism alongside Lutheranism and Catholicism, and cemented the sovereignty of individual German princes, weakening the Holy Roman Emperor.”

✝ Catholic (Counter‑) Reformation

• Council of Trent (1545‑1563) – Intermittent ecumenical council that:

  • Abolished simony and the sale of indulgences.

  • Reaffirmed clerical celibacy, transubstantiation, papal authority, and the seven sacraments.

  • Standardized the Roman Missal and Catechism.

• Roman Inquisition (established by Pope Paul III) – Judicial body empowered to arrest and punish heretics.

• Index Librorum Prohibitorum – List of prohibited books, targeting works by Erasmus, Luther, Calvin, and other reformers.

• New Religious Orders

  Order	Founder	Focus
  Carmelites	St. Theresa of Ávila	Strict asceticism, contemplative prayer
  Jesuits (Society of Jesus)	Ignatius of Loyola	Education, missionary work, loyalty to the Pope

• Jesuit missions spread Catholicism to India, Japan, Brazil, North America, and Africa, while also reinforcing Catholic revival in the southern Holy Roman Empire.

👥 Social Hierarchy & Mobility

• Traditional status determined by birth, wealth, and family lineage.

• Rise of a wealthy merchant elite created new avenues for social upward mobility.

• Religious affiliation increasingly influenced legal rights and economic opportunities (e.g., Huguenot protections under the Edict of Nantes).

• The weakening of feudal structures and the growth of urban centers shifted power toward bourgeois and professional classes. ## 🏰 Social Hierarchy & Land Ownership

• Upper House (House of Lords) – reserved for landed citizens in the English Parliament.

• Lower House (House of Commons) – for those without land, even if they were wealthy.

• Land ownership retained prestige despite the weakening link between class status and family of origin.

✝ Religion & Social Standing

• Catholic Church: Women could become nuns, using artistic, medical, or leadership talents within convents.

• Protestant Reformers (Luther, Calvin): Advocated that wives be subservient and embody obedience & charity.

• Anabaptists: Allowed women leadership roles; ~⅓ of Anabaptist martyrs were women.

👩‍⚖ Gender & Patriarchy

• Society was fundamentally male‑dominated; women’s earnings belonged to husbands or fathers.

• Urban elite families: Rigid family hierarchy reinforced male authority.

• Rural households: Slightly more gender‑balanced, though work remained gender‑segregated.

• Both urban and rural settings centered around the nuclear family, not the extended clan.

Querelle de Femme (The “Woman Question”)

1. Anti‑education argument – Women deemed naturally inferior (e.g., “Eve deceived by the serpent”).

2. Pro‑education argument – Inferiority stemmed from lack of access; cite Queen Elizabeth I as an educated, effective ruler.

🏛 Civic Authority & Public Morality

• Reformation shifted moral regulation from the church to secular city governments.

Legal Actions on Public Morality

1. Outlaw prostitution – Municipal bans on brothels.

2. Restrict carnival excesses – Attempts to curb drunken, role‑reversing festivities preceding Lent.

Punishments & Public Humiliation

🎭 Leisure, Festivals & Beliefs

• Rise of capitalism → New leisure culture: increased attendance at blood sports (boxing, bull‑fighting, jousting).

• Saints’ days (e.g., All Saints’ Day) drew massive crowds per the church calendar.

🧙‍♀ Witchcraft Craze (16th–17th c.)

• Witchcraft viewed as a pact with the devil, especially by Catholic and Protestant leaders.

• Prior to scientific explanations, illnesses and misfortunes were blamed on witches.

• Contributing factors: Protestant Reformation, Thirty Years’ War, and societal upheaval leading to scapegoating of women.

🎨 Art Movements

Mannerism (Renaissance offshoot)

• Characteristics: Distorted figures, exaggerated musculature, vibrant colors to convey emotion & drama.

• Example: Michelangelo’s The Last Judgment (Sistine Chapel) – stark contrast of damned and blessed.

Baroque (Catholic Reformation)

• Key Artist: Peter Paul Rubens – The Elevation of the Cross showcases dynamic action and deep feeling.