The
Protestant
Reformation
McKay Chapter
13
Section 2.9
The Reformation
Great Schism
Conciliar
Movement
ends
Calvin
rules
Geneva
Luther’s 95
Thesis
1309
1378
1417
Council of
Trent
Act of
Supremacy
1513
1517 1521 1525 1534
1536 1541 1545 1555
Italian Renaissance
Calvin’s Institutes
of Christian
Religion
Babylonian
Captivity
Erasmus’ In
Praise of Folly
Peasants’
War
Diet of Worms
Peace of
Augsburg
Long-term Causes of the Reformation
• Religious
– Corruption
• Simony, pluralism, nepotism,
moral decay
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– Babylonian Captivity
– Great Schism
Political
– Resentment of Church
interference in state affairs
Economic
– Tithe, usury laws
Intellectual
– Renaissance thought
encouraged many to
question Church’s teachings
Technological
– Guttenberg's printing press
Pope
Alexander VI
(1492-1503)
of the Borgia
Family
Martin Luther (1483-1546)
• Augustinian German monk and professor or
religion at Wittenberg
• Johann Tetzel (1465-1519)
– Authorized to sell indulgences by Pope Leo X
• “As soon as gold in the basin rings, the
souls in purgatory spring”
• 95 Theses (10/31/1517)
– Criticized sale of indulgences/papal
wealth/papal authority
– Common method to spark debate among
theologians
• Leipzig Debate (1520)
– Luther debated Johann Eck
• Denied Papal infallibility, criticized burning
of Hus
• Luther protected by Frederick III of Saxony (an
Luther’s Theology (1517-1520)
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Faith Alone
Bible ultimate authority
Priesthood of All Believers
Secular life can be just a holy
as monastic
Rejects celibacy
Baptism and communion only
sacraments
No purgatory
Transubstantiation by
presence
Secular rulers are supreme
authority in all matters except
theological
Diet of Worms (1521)
• Tribunal of the HRE
• Charles V promised
no subject
excommunicated
without a trial
• Luther placed on trial
at Diet of Worms
• HRE Charles V
ordered Luther to
recant his beliefs
• “to go against
conscience is neither
right nor safe”
• Pope Leo X
excommunicates him
in 1521
Protestantism
• Luther hid under protection of Frederick of
Saxony
– Translates Bible into German
• Democratizes religion
• Encourages literacy
• Northern German princes turned to
Lutheranism
– Way to stop Church authority
– Opportunity to seize lands
– Liked “Address to the Christian Nobility of
the German Nation” (1520)
• Diet of Speyer (1529) Charles V orders Luther
and his followers arrested
• Princes issue defiant protest
– Hence the term Protestant
– Form the League of Schmalkaden in 1531
• Allied with French King Francis I (who
ironically was Catholic)
Address the Christian Nobility of
the German Nation (1520)
. . Poor Germans that we are--we have been deceived! We were
born to be masters, and we have been compelled to bow the
head beneath the yoke of our tyrants, and to become slaves.
Name, title, outward signs of royalty, we possess all these;
force, power, right, liberty, all these have gone over to the
popes, who have robbed us of them. They get the kernel, we
get the husk . . . It is time the glorious Teutonic people should
cease to be the puppet of the Roman pontiff. Because the
pope crowns the emperor, it does not follow that the pope is
superior to the emperor. Samuel, who crowned Saul and
David, was not above these kings, nor Nathan above
Solomon, whom he consecrated . . . Let the emperor then be a
veritable emperor and no longer allow himself to be stripped of
his sword or of his scepter! . . .
The Swabian Peasant Uprising (1525)
• Peasant Revolts
– Twelve Articles (1525)
– Used Biblical scripture to justify
their rebellion
– Demanded social and economic
equality
• End to serfdom, tithes,
feudalism
• Inspired by Luther's theology
• “Against the Murdering Thieving
Hordes of Peasants”
(1525)
– Luther condemns the peasants
– Used scripture to repudiate Twelve
Articles
– Calls for their liquidation
The Twelve Articles of the Swabian
Peasants
(March 1525)
• The Seventh Article
• Seventh, we will not hereafter allow ourselves to be
farther oppressed by our lords, but will let them
demand only what is just and proper according to the
word of the agreement between the lord and the
peasant. The lord should no longer try to force more
services or other dues from the peasant without
payment, but permit the peasant to enjoy his holding
in peace and quiet. The peasant should, however,
help the lord when it is necessary, and at proper times
when it will not be disadvantageous to the peasant
and for a suitable payment.
“Against the Murdering Thieving Hordes of
Peasants”
(1525)
• With threefold horrible sins against God and men have these
peasants loaded themselves, for which they have deserved a
manifold death of body and soul.
• First they have sworn to their true and gracious rulers to be
submissive and obedient, in accord with God's command (Matt.
xxii. 21), "Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are
Caesar's," and (Rom. xiii. 1), "Let every soul be subject unto the
higher powers." But since they have deliberately an
sacrilegiously abandoned their obedience, and in addition have
dared to oppose their lords, they have thereby forfeited body an
soul, as perfidious, perjured, lying, disobedient wretches and
scoundrels are wont to do. Wherefore St. Paul judges them,
saying (Rom. xiii. 2.), "And they that resist shall receive to
themselves damnation." The peasants will incur this sentence,
sooner or later; for God wills that fidelity and allegiance shall be
sacredly kept.
Hapsburg-Valois Wars
• Series of 5 wars between France
and HRE (1521-1555)
• France allied with League of
Schmalkaden 1531
– Alliance of Protestant rulers (and
Catholic France) formed against
Charles V (HRE)
– Pope refuses to help Charles
(resents Hapsburg power)
• France policy is to keep Germany
divided
• Charles defeated the League in
1547 but never restored
Catholicism
• Peace of Augsburg 1555
– permanent division of Germany
into Lutheran and Catholic areas
– Cius regio eius religio
Charles V
Anabaptist
• Rejected idea of infant baptism
• Only adults can make that choice
• Reactionary
– sought early Christianity of voluntary
association
• Only a few received inner light
– Believed in religious toleration
• Rejected idea of state established church
• Allowed women into ministry
• Egalitarian with all goods
• Refused to serve in public office & military
– Intensely pacifist
• Attracted poor, uneducated urban
• Believed in separation of Church and State
• Civil Authorities were terrified
– Would lead to secularization and civil war
• Banished or executed throughout Europe
• Impact
– Quakers, Congregationalists and US
Anabaptist Cages of Munster
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John Calvin
Priest and lawyer
Institutes of Christian Religion (1536)
Bible final authority
faith alone affirmed
Viewed man as sinful, corrupted
Predestination
– God already determined who will be
saved
– Fatalist
• Geneva Consistory
– ruled city as a theocracy
– Michael Servetus burned at stake for
denying Trinity and Baptism
• Women
• Obedient to husbands
• Impact
– Spreads in form of Huguenots,
Presbyterianism, Puritanism,
Congregationalism
Henry VIII
• Ascended to throne in 1509 (17 yrs. Old)
• Married his brother’s widow (Catherine of
Aragon)
• Extremely Catholic
• Heard up to 5 masses a day (except during
hunting season)
• Penned (with More’s help) The Defence of
the Seven Sacraments
– awarded the title "Defender of the Faith"
(Fidei Defensor) by Pope Leo X.
• Lacked male heir to throne
• Thomas Cromwell
– Henry’s chief minister 1532–1540
– Steered a series of acts through
Parliament which gradually made Church
in England subservient to Henry
• Asked Pope to annul marriage to Catherine
of Aragon (Charles V’s aunt)
– Based on Leviticus passage
Henry VIII
Catherine of Aragon
Anglican Reformation
• Pope Clement VII (1523-1534)
– remained silent
– Charles V’s soldiers are stationed in Rome
• Henry
– Married Anne Boleyn Jan. 1533 (6 months
pregnant)
• Act of Supremacy 1534
– "supreme head in earth of the Church of
England" and disregarded any "usage, custom,
foreign laws, foreign authority [or] prescription"
– Parliament says monarchy head of Church of
England
• Six Articles (1539)
– Retained Catholic practices
– Transubstantiation, confession, celibacy, etc.
– Restricted Bible reading to Nobility, clergy
Anne Boleyn
Resistance
• Dissolution of the
Monasteries (1534)
– Closed monasteries, seized
church lands (gives to
nobles)
– Catholic Church owned
33% of land
– Pilgrimage of Grace
• Uprising in N. England
crushed
• Treason Act of 1534
– Thomas More executed
– Anne executed for adultery
and incest in 1536
Edward VI Reformation
• Edward VI (1547-1553)
– 9 years old son of
Jane Seymour
– Duke of Somerset
(Seymour) appointed
Regent
– Devout protestant
– Iconoclastic,
processions, banned,
celibacy banned, Six
Articles repealed
– Dies shortly after
taking throne
Bloody Mary (1553-1558)
• Mary Tudor
– Daughter of Henry and Catherine
of Aragon
– Devout Catholic
– Marries Philip of Spain
• Philip not coroneted King of England
– Burned 300 Protestants at the
state
• Including Thomas Cramner whose
recantation would have been a
political victory for Mary
– Set people against her rule
– Believed she was pregnant
– Died (of cancer) in 1558
Elizabethan Settlement
• Elizabeth Tudor (1558-1603)
• Moderate Protestant
• Can’t be Catholic
– A bastard in eyes of Catholic Church
• Made concessions to both Catholics and
Protestants
– Priests allowed to marry
– Catholic ritual (golden crucifix, robes,
etc.) retained
• Act of Supremacy
– Elizabeth head of Church
• Act of Uniformity (1558)
– Forced people to attend Anglican
church
– Revoked harsh laws against Catholics
• Gives rise to Puritan Movement
Protestant Beliefs consolidated
• Reject papal authority
• Reject special character of
priesthood
• Accept clerical marriage
• Reject monastic life
• Vernacular over Latin
• Sacraments reduced (2 or 3)
• Deny transubstantiation
• Deny priestly absolution of sin
• Deny purgatory
• Reject cult of saints and Virgin
• Emphasize Bible as supreme
authority
• Allow for private judgment
• Parenthood praised