The Protestant reformation (1517-1648)

 Protestant: Originally the term for

Luther’s supporters who “protested”
against Catholic loyalists in Germany

 Reformation: A movement begun in the

1500s to make corrective changes
(reforms) to the Catholic Church.

Protestant Reformation- a religious

movement in the 1500’s that split the
Christian church in western Europe and led
to the establishment of a number of new
churches.

People grew displeased with the churches…

 Financial Corruption
 Abuse of Power
 Immorality

corruptions:  Popes used excommunication to force monarchs obey the rules

 Many priests were illiterate
 Many clergy broke their vows of chastity
 Some officials lead lives of luxury and leisure

Some clergy:  Charged repentant Christians to see holy remains and objects
 Sold church offices to the highest bidder (simony)
 Sold indulgences (pardons issued by the Pope, that people could by to
reduce a soul’s time in purgatory=people could buy forgiveness)(purgatory-
a place where souls too impure to enter heaven atoned for sins committed
during their lifetime)
 Nepotism (the practice among those with power or influence of
favouring relatives or friends especially by giving them jobs)
There were also Sacraments, Communion, Penance, Confirmation, Marriage, Holy Orders
and Anointing of the sick
The power of the papacy was weakened  captivity
the great Schism
1. Captivity (1305-1375)
- Philip IV. (France) quarreled with pope over his power to tax the clergy
- Pope Boniface was kidnapped in 1296 and replaced with French pope, Clement V.
- Seven popes ruled the church from Avignon, France
- Many Christians thought these popes were only puppets of the French king

2. The Great Schism (1378-1417)

- Papacy moved back to Rome in 1376
- French cardinals elected a new pope, Clement VII.
- Both Urban VI. and Clement VII. claimed to be the rightful pope
- Many Christians questioned the authority of the papacy
There were some people who spoke out against the church:
- John Wycliffe of England
- people didn’t need Church or sacraments to achieve salvation
- Regarded Bible as most important source of religious authority
- Completed first translation of the Bible to English
- Outcome: the Church persecuted his followers
- Jan Huss of Bohemia
- Criticized the wealth of the Church
- Wanted religious services
- Conducted in the language of the worshippers
- Opposed the sale of indulgences
- Outcome: he was burned at stake for refusing to accept importance of Church
rituals
- Ulrich Zwingli in Switzerland
- Theocracy:
- A government in which church and state are joined and in which officials are
considered to be divinely inspired.
- Catharine of Sienna
- Believed people could experience God through intense prayer
- Outcome: maintained that Christiansdidn’t need priests, rituals, or sacraments.
- Girolamo Savonarola of Florence
- Launched crusade against immoral society
- Encouraged book burning
- Claimed Vatican was filled with sin and corruption
- Outcome: was burned at stake by angry citizens of Florence.
- ERASMUS
- Erasmus remained committed to reforming the Church from within.
- He also held to Catholic doctrines such as that of free will.
 - Which some Protestant Reformers rejected in favor of the doctrine of
predestination. (the doctrine that God ordained all that will happen)

In England, the Reformation began with the King!

 King Henry VIII
 had six wives
 He wanted a son
 His legitimate children: Mary, Elizabeth, and Edward (dies).
 Queen Mary I or “Bloody Mary”
 Raised Catholic like her mother Catherine of Aragon; she reestablished the
Catholic Church in England.
 She killed many protestants and had approximately 300 heretics burned
at the stake.
 Queen Elizabeth I (Ends the House of Tudor)
 Raised Protestant and ruled England for 44 years.
 Ruled during the Spanish Armada, and never married…known as the Virgin
Queen.

- In 1500, the Holy Roman Empire is located in modern day Germany

- a patchwork of independent states
- each state had its own Prince
- The Ruler of the Holy Roman Empire was Charles V (Catholic)
- Pope Leo X needs money to build St. Peter’s Basilica…so he sells indulgences
(According to Luther, indulgences had no basis in the Bible and the Pope had no
authority to release souls from purgatory)

Language Barriers
 Most uneducated people didn’t understand Latin, but knew the local common
language or “vernacular”.  National language, that everybody speaks
 Almost all Bibles were written in LATIN before the Reformation.

MARTIN LUTHER
 Luther was a German monk and professor of theology (religion) at the University of
Wittenberg.
 One of the many leaders of the Protestant Reformation.

LUTHER’S 95 THESES
 IN 1517, THE 95 THESES WERE NAILED TO A CHURCH DOOR. THEY WERE WRITTEN IN LATIN.
 LUTHER’S INTENTION: NOT TO BREAK WITH CHURCH, BUT REFORM IT!
  CRITICIZED:  INDULGENCES
 POWER OF POPE
 WEALTH OF CHURCH

 GOD’S GRACE WON BY FAITH ALONE!

LUTHER’S TEACHINGS
 “SOLA FIDEI” (SALVATION BY FAITH ALONE)
 “SOLA SCRIPTURA”
 (AUTHORITY OF THE SCRIPTURES ALONE) --LUTHER’S GERMAN TRANSLATION OF THE NEW
TESTAMENT
 THE PRIESTHOOD OF ALL BELIEVERS --PEASANT REVOLT OF 1525
 ALL VOCATIONS ARE PLEASING TO GOD

Important developments that aid the process to Reformation:

 PRINTING PRESS books are now available tot he masses not just the rich
 Printing Press = 3,600 pages per workday
 Hand Printing = 40 pages per workday

- In 1520 Pope Leo X excommunicated Luther. (expelled him from the church)
- Holy Roman Emperor Charles V passed measures to suppress Luther’s writings.
- Lutheran princes in Germany issued a protestatio or protest.  Hence the term
Protestant!

The Diet of Worms- April 1521

- Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, summoned Luther to a diet in the city of Worms
- Diet = assembly or meeting of German princes
- Luther was asked again to recant – he still refused
- Charles V issued the Edict of Worms

The Edict of Worms

- Declared Luther an outlaw
- Frederick the Wise, Elector of Saxony hid Luther in his castle
- Spent his time translating the New Testament into German (Vernacular!)
- This spread his beliefs even further

The peace of Augsburg- 1555

- Recognized Lutheranism as a legal religion
- A Prince could decide if his realm was to be Lutheran of Catholic
There were other groups that separated from the Catholic Church and formed
new religions:
 ANABAPTISTS : THOUGHT CHRISTIANS SHOULD NOT BE BAPTIZED UNTIL ADULTHOOD
 ANGLICANS: FOUNDED BY KING HENRY VIII OF ENGLAND (KING HENRY ENRAGED BY POPE’S
DECISION NOT TO GRANT HIM DIVORCE); BELIEVED THE MONARCH, NOT THE POPE, WAS SUPREME
RELIGIOUS AUTHORITY OF ENGLAND

Act of Supremacy- 1534

- parliament passed that
- Made Henry “the only supreme head on Earth of the Church of England”

 ANTITRINITARIANS: THEY DENIED THE EXISTENCE OF THE HOLY TRINITY

 CALVINISTS: FOUNDED BY JOHN CALVIN

John Calvin
- John Calvin was born in France
- Believed in predestination (God had predetermined who would obtain salvation)
- Thought a disciplined, strict life would prove who had been chosen
- Government should be in the hands of religious leaders (a theocracy) and society
should be governed by strict laws of morality.
-
Teachings:

 Predestination
 The right of rebellion--English Civil War
 Government serves the Church

Protestants: In France: Huguenots

 In England: Puritans
 In Scotland: Presbytarians

- King Francis I. was initially sympathetic to Luther as long as his ideas stayed in
Germany
- Protestantism made illegal in France in 1534
- Persecution of the Huguenots
 The Catholic Counter-Reformation(16th century)

- The Catholic Church wanted to stop the spread of Protestantism

- It was losing followers which meant it was losing money
- The Counter-Reformation was the period of Catholic revival initiated in response to
the Protestant Reformation, beginning with The Council of Trent and introducing
significant reforms tot he Roman Catholic Church

The Council of Trent

- The Council of Trent met between 1545 and 1563 to make reforms
- The Council of Trent reaffirmed most Church doctrine and practices:
 Salvation comes through faith AND good works
 The Bible is not the only source of truth
- Council took steps to end Church abuses

- In the 1500s Catholics had their own religious reformers, just like Ignatius of Loyola
(Spanish 1491-1556)
- In 1540, he established a new monastic order, the society of Jesus, or Jesuit Order
- He wrote spiritual exercises: day by day plan of meditation, prayers, studies
- In 1540, the Pope made Jesuits an official religious order
Jesuits concentrated on 3 primary activities:
They founded schools, Jesuit seminaries, in Europe to educate Catholics. They
educated children of rulers to assure a loyal Catholic future ruler, but they taught
commoners too.
Missionary work around the world, converting non-Christians. Jesuit missionaries
preached in the new colonies in the Americas, Africa and Asia.
Stopping the spread of Protestantism in Europe. The diplomatic representatives of
the Catholic Church were all Jesuits.

- The Catholic Church was led by reforming popes in the 1500s

- Pope Paul III. called together the Council of Trent (sinod) 1545, the most important
measures of which were:
 The sale of indulgences were prohibites
 Nobody was allowed to hold two or more church offices simultaneously
 Bishops were to stay in their dioceses to supervise its morals and to prevent
corruption
- Pope Paul IV. drew up The Index of Forbidden Books- burned books that were
considered „dangerous” to Catholics
- He organized the Inquisition under the name of Sanctum Officiom (Holy Office)  it
was reorganized to stop the spread of Protestantism

The Baroque style

- A period of artistic style exaggerated motion and over-decoration to produce drama,

tension and grandeur in art
- The style began around 1600 in Rome and Italy as the artistic style of the Catholic
revival
- In response to the Protestant Reformation, the Council of Trent decided that the
arts should communicate religious themes emotionally involving the viewers and
emphasising the grandeur of biblical scenes
- The Catholic Church encouraged the Baroque style as it was a visible statement of
the wealth and power of the Church

 Architecture: churches, palaces, operha houses were built e.g. Winter Palace in St.
Petersburg
 Painting: Rembrant and Rubens were outstanding Baroque painters
 Literature: e.g. Milton (England), Miklós Zrínyi and Péter Pázmány (Hungary)
 Music: e.g. Bach, Handel (Germany), Monteverdi, Vivaldi (Italy)