The Reformation
A Need For Reform
The Italian and Christian humanists
denounced the corruption of the Church
a) clerical immorality
b) clerical ignorance
c) clerical pluralism
At the village level priests were not much
better off than peasants
Government officials were often rewarded
with clerical positions
Popes were just as corrupt:
Innocent VIII made the papal court
the gossip of Europe
Alexander VI publicly acknowledged
his mistress and children
Julius II led an army against France
Many priest had concubines, drunkenness,
gambling, and elaborate dress were
common
Many priest could barely read or write
Christian humanists condemned the
ignorance of the Church
The Church held a large portion of
European wealth
Europe was still deeply religious and
many groups i.e. “The Brethern of
Common Life” wanted reform
The Lateran Council did recommend
changes - but there were many
obstacles
Martin Luther would force the issue
• Born in East Germany from peasant stock
• Almost hit by lightning became religious
• Entered the strict Augustinian monastery
against his father’s wishes
• Disillusioned with the Church questioned
good works: prayers, fasting, etc.
• The Tower
Experience read
Apostle Paul’s
letter to the
Romans
• “The just shall live
by his faith” if
people had faith
God will save
them
• Archbishop Albert of Magdeburg hired John
Tetzel to oversee the collection of funds
• Luther openly criticized the abuses of
Indulgences
• October 31, 1517, he posted his 95 theses on the
Castle Church in Wittenberg
• Spread without Luther’s knowledge.
• Reasons for success:
a) Germany resented papal power
b) Distance from Rome
c) Lack of central authority to mediate the
dispute
• Pope Leo X did not take the threat
seriously he thought Luther would
disappear
• The Augustinians championed reform
and supported Luther, the Dominican
attacked Luther’s views.
• Church opinion was espoused by Tetzel
• Diet of Ausburg demanded that Luther
recant.
• Luther refused and even criticized the
pope
• The church wanted to banish Luther but he
was protected by Frederick the Wise
• Under increasing pressure Luther’s views
became more critical
• Luther: a) defended the radical matyr Hus
b) Proclaimed the Bible was the supreme
authority
c) Appealed to the German nobles to stop the
abuses of the church
d) Recognized good work but emphasized faith
• The pope gave Luther 60 days to recant
Luther burned the papal bull
• Luther appealed to the Holy Roman Emperor
to hear the argument at the Diet of Worms
• Luther refused to modify his views and said
“Here I stand. I cannot do otherwise”
• Luther was abducted an placed in Wartburg
Castle for his own protection
• Philip Melanchthon implemented Luther’s
ideas
• Abandoned the cloth and married
and had six children
• Luther was not a revolutionary
• Knew the Church would not change
• Concerned with issues of the soul
• Equality of all people before God
Luther believed:
• salvation comes by faith alone
• religious authority resides in the Bible and is
open to interpretation
• the church is a community of believers
• all vocations are equal in the eyes of God
• there are only 2 sacraments: baptism and the
Lord’s Supper
• the importance of marriage
• a women’s place was in the home
Luther gained wide support among the peasants
but they misunderstood him
Business people envied the church and
disapproved of the clergy’s lifestyle
But Luther meant independence from the Roman
Catholic Church not simply freedom
Still religion was a public matter
Very few believed in religious liberty
Humanists validated Luther’s words
While Luther’s translation of the Bible into
German made it an issue of nationalism
• In the Habsburg-Valois War, Catholic France
supported Protestant Germany against Catholic
Spain
• The Peace of Augsburg (1555) officially
recognized Lutheranism and each prince could
decide the religion of his territory
• cuius regio eius religio
• Northern Germany -Protestant
Southern Germany - Catholic
• The Protestant movement proved a disaster for
Germany
Calvinism
• John Calvin was the
person most responsible
for the spread of
Protestantism
• About 20 years younger
than Luther
• Started in Geneva – a
theocracy
• Absolute rule by Calvin
and the Consistory
• Institutes of Christian
Religion
• Did not believe in free will
•
•
•
•
Predestination
The Calling – Protestant work ethic
Michael Servetus burnt at the stake
Spread to Scotland, France, England
and America
ENGLISH
REFORMATION
The King’s Great Matter
• English humanists had been wanting reform
• 1509 Henry VIII became the king aged 18
• Henry was strongly Catholic and had been
trained as a priest
• The pope gave him the title Defender of the
Faith
• Luther called him a “lubberly ass”
Henry VIII
• Was given special
permission from Pope
Julius II to marry
Catherine of Aragon
• Deutoronomy
• Catherine had been
his brother’s wife
Catherine of Aragon
• Daughter of King
Ferdinand and Queen
Isabella
• Catholic
• She had five daughters, only
Mary survived
• Henry asked Pope Clement
VII to grant a divorce
•
1.
2.
3.
4.
Charles V was Catherine’s nephew
Leviticus
Charles V was in Rome
Lutheranism
Papal infallibility
The “matter” took six years
• Denied an annulment of marriage
• Henry issued The Act in Restraint of Appeals (1533),
which made the king supreme head of England
• The Act of Submission of the Clergy (1534), clergy
must submit to the monarch
• The Supremacy Act, (1534) made the king head of the
Church of England
• Separated Church of England from the Roman
Catholic Church
• Thomas More and John Fisher refused and
were beheaded
• Catherine still remained loyal to him and the
Catholic faith
• The king could now remarry
Anne Boleyn
• Maid of honor to Catherine
• 2nd wife and most famous
wife
• Bore him a daughter
• Elizabeth I
• In 1536, charged Anne of
adultery
• Beheaded on May 19, 1536
Jane Seymour
• Third wife
• Protestant
• King Edward VI
• Henry dissolved the monastaries and kept the
wealth
• Sold the land to his friends
• The Pilgrimage of Grace proved the whole
country was not willing to change
Edward VI
• Only son of Henry
• His mother died of child
bed fever
• Became king at nine
• Had been tutored by
Protestants
• Died from several
sicknesses in 1553
Mary Tudor
• Became queen after
Edward died
• Devoted Catholic
• Nicknamed “Bloody
Mary”
• Married her cousin
Philip II of Spain
• Very unpopular
Elizabeth of York
• Became queen of England
in 1558
• Protestant, but tolerant
• “Elizabethan Settlement”
required conformity
• Thirty Nine Articles
became the basis of the
Anglican Church
SCOTLAND
• Did not follow the English model
• Mary Queen of Scots allied with the French
• Scottish nobles supported the Protestants and
John Knox
• Knox persuaded Parliament to end papal
supremacy in Scotland
• Established the Presbyterian Church of
Scotland
The Catholic Reformation
• Also, known as the Counter-Reformation
• Began in 1517 in response to calls for
reform
• Didn’t really have an affect until the 1540s
• Catholic Church wanted to persuade
dissidents to return to the church
• The Lateran Council (1512) had told Julius
II to reform the church
• Adrian VI wanted reform but he was Dutch
• Popes resisted reform because they feared a
loss of power and revenue
• Pope Paul III Council
of Trent in 1545
• The council met sporadically until 1563
• Decided:
a) 7 sacraments
b) Bishops had to reside in their dioceses
c) Suppressed pluralism and simony
d) Churches had to establish seminaries
e) The Index of Prohibited Books
• Great emphasis was placed on discipline
• The Council did not meet expectations but it did correct
the church
• New religious orders appeared, such as the
Jesuits and the Ursuline nuns
• These orders emphasized strict Catholic dogma
to lift up the spiritual condition of the clergy
and laity
• The Jesuits (The Society of Jesus) was founded
by Ignatius Loyola and emphasized education
• The Ursuline order was only for women