UNDERSTANDING THE 16TH
CENTURY
Before we can examine Martin Luther and the following
Reformation, we need to fully understand the 16 th
century environment.
We’ve already started this by looking at the medieval
culture and medieval religion that served as the norm in
Luther’s time.
Now, let’s turn to 16th political climate.
European Politics
• Major Kings in the Period
• King Francis I (r. 1515-1547) of France
• King Henry VIII (r. 1509-1547) of England
• Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (r. 1519-1556) of Germany.
• Inherits a HUGE empire that stretches from Spain to the Holy
Roman Empire (see map).
• Mounting tensions lead to the Habsburg-Valois Wars (1521-1544)
• Principally between France and Germany over land in Italy
• Both Francis I and Charles V had dynastic claims to land there
Putting things into
Historical Context
Holy Roman Emperor Charles V
(r. 1519-1556) is the grandson
of famous Ferdinand and
Isabella of Spain, who financed
Christopher Columbus’ journey
across the Atlantic.
Charles V, Titian.
1533.
Charles V’s Empire
WARFARE TECHNOLOGY
Another major theme in this course is the
development of technology, especially wartime
technology.
War necessitates the development of wartime
technology.
As a result of these conflicts in Europe (from
the 100 Years War to the Hapsburg-Valois Wars),
we start to see an advancement in weapons.
Musket, dated c. 1588
New Warfare Techniques and
Technology
• Advancement in warfare technology and tactics
•
•
•
•
Infantry replacing heavy mounted knights
Cannons
Improved guns (Better range, accuracy)
Demand for larger navies and more ships
• Sizes of armies growing drastically. This introduces
complications.
• Begin to rely more on hired mercenaries.
• Move away from medieval reliance on knights (trained, have experience,
have necessary equipment).
• Begin to accept average people in army: conscripts and volunteers. Not
trained. Lack of discipline.
• Change in weapon technology leads to changes in military
strategy
The Effects of New Warfare
Technology
• MASSIVE armies.
• For example, the Battle of Pavia alone (24 Feb 1525) involved
approx. 50,000 soldiers and left over 15,000 wounded or killed.
• Hugely expensive! (War and maintaining an army are
EXPENSIVE things to do.)
• Large armies ($$), especially expensive for mercenary companies
• Need for forts and artillery ($$)
• New military tech and weapons ($$)
• Effects on non-combatants too
• Inflation
• Ruined crops
• Amputations and loss of limbs
The Habsburg-Valois Wars
(1521-1544)
• Fought off and on, in several stages
• Fought in Italy
• principally between Francis I (France) and Charles V (HRE)
• Devastated Italian city-states
• Unable to get a decisive victor or a permanent peace
• 1525 – Battle of Pavia
• 1526 – Treaty of Madrid
• Lasts a few months before war resumes
• 1538 – Truce of Nice
• 1542 – Fighting resumes…again.
• 1544 – Negotiate lasting peace with Treaty of Crepy
The Habsburg-Valois Wars
(1521-1544)
• Fought in Italy
• principally between Francis I (France)
and Charles V (HRE)
• Devastated Italian city-states
• Fought off and on, in several
stages
• Unable to get a decisive victor or a
permanent peace.
• By the end, Francis and Charles
hated each other so much, they
literally could not stand to be in the
same room as each other.
• The pope himself had to play
messenger and go back and forth
between the two to try to bring peace!
Portrait of Francis I by
Jean Clouet
What Do You Think?
Discussion
The Habsburg-Valois
Wars between France
and the Holy Roman
Empire greatly
devastated Italy.
Why do you think this
was particularly a
problem in Italy?
What Do You Think?
Discussion
1. Even though the war was between France and
Germany, Italy was where the war was principally
fought.
However, that’s not the only reason.
2. Unlike France or Germany, Italy did not have a
centralized power (such as a king). Italy was still a
collection of city-states. It was not united and did not
have the resources of a united kingdom. Which means,
logistically, they couldn’t raise the kind of massive army
or massive defense that their modern warfare
demanded.
Questions to Consider
1. So what does the Habsburg-Valois War have to do with
the Reformation?
2. And, if Francis I and Charles V hate each other so much
and have been willing to devote so much time, wealth,
and resources into this war, what could possibly make
them agree to stop fighting permanently and make
peace?
Let’s take a look…
Why is this War Significant to the
Reformation?
• Treaty of Crepy (1544)
• Ends war between Francis I and Charles V
• Both agree to relinquish claims in Italy
• Agree to go back to the status quo in Italy before the war
• Agree to assist each other in suppressing a new
threat…Protestantism
• So the significance? This was a huge, important war for
Europe. But the Catholic kings agreed to settle their issues
and turn attention to what they felt was an even bigger, even
more important threat: the Reformation.
NEW CRITICISM OF THE CHURCH
 We know the Refor mation was NOT the first time the
church had been critiqued
 But, as we’ve seen, this huge, disorganized religious crisis (papal
corruption, Avignon papacy, Great Schism) in the Late Middle
Ages leads to new criticism of the church.
 John Wycliffe (c. 1320-1384) – argued that there is no
scriptural basis for pope’s power, sug gested Bible be
only authority
 Jan Hus (c. 1373-1415) – preacher in Prague, Wycliffe
supporter; demanded refor m in church
 Convicted of heresy by the Council of Constance
 Burned at the stake
NEW CRITICISM OF THE CHURCH:
THE RENAISSANCE AND THE REFORMATION
 Christian humanism – develops in northern Europe, applies
humanist teachings to religious study, original textual studies
of Bible
 Renaissance emphasis on individualism/power of the
individual began to question teachings of medieval church,
including the need for a priest
 Need for priest to administer sacraments, offer absolution
 Renaissance Christians begin to wonder, given the power of the
individual, why can’t people seek God directly themselves through
prayer?
 Brethren of the Common Life – Promote the devotio moder na
(“modern devotion”), stressed a personal relationship between
individuals and Christ
How to you fit your growing sense
of individualism with the need for a
priest to connect with God?
NEW CRITICISM OF THE CHURCH:
DESIDERIUS ERASMUS (D. 1536)
 Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536), the
Father of Northern Humanism
 Very aware of problems and corruption
in church
 He was the illegitimate son of a priest!
 Grew up with knowledge of the Brethren
of Common Life’s teachings about an
individual relationship with God
 1511 – wrote Praise of Folly
 Critiqued popular religious belief of his
generation, including worship of the Virgin
Mary
NEW CRITICISM OF THE CHURCH:
DESIDERIUS ERASMUS (D. 1536)
 Studied theology at the University of
Paris
 Traveled around, studying humanism
 Helps develop Christian humanism
 Wrote critical edition of the New
Testament
 Returned to original Greek and Hebrew sources!
Like humanists stressed!
 Sug gested and advised that Christians
read the Bible themselves, not have it
read to them by priests
 Wanted people to get involved in their religious
experience
NEW CRITICISM OF THE CHURCH
Impor tant to Remember: Even with all this
criticism of the church, most Christian dissenters
(even Luther at first!) never wanted to separate from
the church but instead to refor m from within.
THE REFORMATION
All of this sets the stage for the Reformation and Martin Luther…
Martin Luther
(1483-1546)
• Son of a affluent Germany family, studied to be a
lawyer
• 1505 –Has religious “conversion,” becomes
monk
• Still, has anxiety about his vocation, something
not right
– One day, flips to random Bible verse: “For the justice
of God is revealed from faith to faith in that it is
written, for the just shall live by faith." (Romans 1:17)
– Takes this to mean justification by faith alone…
• 1508 – Luther assigned to Wittenberg (Germany)
• Becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the
church, especially over the abuse of indulgences
Portrait of Martin Luther,
Lucas Cranach the elder. 1529
Indulgences
• Throughout Middle Ages, the church taught that, to be
forgiven for sins completely, Christians needed to go to
confession and then do “good works” as penance.
• Prayers
• Fasting
• Pilgrimage, etc.
• Souls of people who did not receive full absolution from
sins go to Purgatory before being allowed to enter
heaven.
• To shorten a person’s potential time in Purgatory, you can
buy indulgences for yourself or loved ones
Indulgences
• Pope claimed to have access to a “Treasury of Merit”
• A storehouse of all the extra good works that had been done by
the saints
• Essentially make withdrawals from this “treasury” and give them
to people on earth who needed them
• These remissions from Purgatory called indulgences
• Sale of indulgences turned into a very lucrative business
for the ones selling them
• Often times, sellers would exaggerate, lie, cheat to swindle good
Christians into buying indulgences
Martin Luther
(1483-1546)
• 1517 – Pope Leo X issues special new indulgences to
finance construction of church in Rome
• Dominican friar Johann Tetzel starts selling these
indulgences in Germany
– Reportedly said, “As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul
from Purgatory springs!”
– Luther horrified
• 1517 – Luther writes, posts copy of his 95 Theses to the door
of the church in Wittenberg
– Mainly a critique of indulgences
– “It is foolish to think that papal indulgences…can absolve a man.”
• Text rapidly copied, translated, and printed
– Spreads across Germany…and starts the Protestant Reformation
THE REFORMATION BEGINS
Soon, out Luther’s initial criticism, a full-blown critique of the church (which
we know as the Protestant Reformation) began. Initially, it is important to
remember, Luther did not want to break away from and fracture the church.
A long Reformation process makes that, for him, a necessity.
It is also important to remember that Luther will not be the only Reformer
and Lutheranism the only Protestant faith. Soon we will meet others with
different ideas who also challenge the existing church.
On the next few slides, I’ve detailed some major Protestant ideas we’ll see
develop next class. Keep these in mind as we move forward in Unit 1.
The Main Tenets of Protestantism
• Begins with a major critique of indulgences
• Justification by faith alone
• “For the justice of God is revealed from faith to faith in that it is written, for the just
shall live by faith." (Romans 1:17)
• No need for good works for salvation, only faith
• Individual conscience > blind institutional obedience
• Stress Bible as only authority, not what the pope reveals as doctrinal truth.
• Read the Bible yourself
• Translated Bible into German to make it more accessible to all Christians
• Priesthood of all believers – all Christian individuals responsible for their
own salvation
• An individual has the ability to communicate directly with God!
• No need for an ordained priesthood to serve as gatekeepers to God (ex, sacraments)
• Instead Protestant religious leaders preach, guide, aid but cannot hand-deliver
salvation itself
The Main Tenets of Protestantism
• No more veneration of saints or the Virgin Mary
• Only believed in 2 (not 7) sacraments
• Baptism
• The Eucharist
Sacraments: Special events
in Christian life that convey
sacred meaning with a visual
sign. For example: baptism,
Eucharist, confession,
marriage, anointing of the
sick, etc.
• Often rejected transubstantiation
• The belief that the bread and wine of the Eucharist became
the body and blood of Christ
• However, still believed Christ was present symbolically in
Eucharist so that any believer could take part in the “Last
Supper”
• SOME, not all, Protestants practiced iconoclasm
• The destroying of sacred images, relics, art etc. in churches
Spread of Protestantism
• Spread of Protestant ideas greatly aided by printing press
• (Thank God for that recently invented printing press!)
• Pamphlets (short, easy to print, easy to read, easy to pass around)
• Renaissance people, shaped by their humanism and intellectualism
and individualism, were ready for a critique of a church that
clashed with their fundamental principles
• Critique of church abuses