Chapter 3 - Early reformers and Humanists

Question 1

Lollardy

Reformers and Humanists

Answer 1

• Originally a term of abuse given to followers of John Wycliffe – suggested their tongues were too big for their mouths
• Underground movement and therefore hard to say how many there were
• Majority were craftsmen and merchants – literate
• Believed Christianity should be based on the Bible and not interpretations of priests – everyone should have access
• Emphasis on an individual relationship with God – no priest as a go between, no confessions
• Did not believe in transubstantiation
• Believed in predestination – God had already decided who was going to heaven but they had to reject the beliefs of the Catholic Church

Question 2

Impact of Lollardy on religious beliefs and practices

Early reformers and humanists

Answer 2

• Difficult to assess – considered heresy – punished by death
• Movement moved into secretive methods, very little physical evidence remains
• Small surviving groups identified by 16th Century
• Evidence of first English bibles – handwritten

Question 3

Lutheranism

Early reformers and humanists

Answer 3

• Followed Martin Luther
• Believed that you could reach heaven through faith alone, rather than good works.
• Earliest evidence of Lutheranism in England was the circulation of books around the ports
• Lutheran books were illegal and a public burning was held in Cambridge in 1520
• Views taken up by William Tyndale and Simon Fish
• Tyndale translated the Bible and printed it using the printing press

Question 4

The concept of Royal Supremacy

Early reformers and humanists

Answer 4

• Luther and Tyndale questioned the relationship between the Church and the monarch
• They wanted the King to be the head of the church so they could bring about religious change within the country
• Luther believed that power should come from the people and that a monarch knew their wishes better than the pope

Question 5

Humanism

Early reformers and humanists

Answer 5

• Development of the Renaissance of the late 14th/15th century
• Based on a rediscovery of Latin and Greek texts
• Basic principles of the Catholic faith, particularly free will
• Sought to purify ideas of religion from errors which have developed through translation
• Hope that a more direct knowledge of the original religious texts would cause more unity in the church
• Renaissance church authorities gave humanists lots of freedom of thought
• Did not challenge the Catholic beliefs but sought to reform from within
• Henry VII claimed to be humanist

Question 6

Erasmus

Early reformers and humanists

Answer 6

• Wrote a series of discourses on biblical texts to demonstrate how the word of God should be interpreted in Christian’s actions
• Desiderius Erasmus – both words for the same thing, one is Latin and one is Greek, mean the same thing
• “Erasmus laid an egg and Luther hatched it” - not accurate because E is humanist and L is Lutheran
• Post hoc ergo propter hoc

Question 7

More

Answer 7

• Wrote in defence of Henry VIII when Luther wrote treatise against the King and the church in England
• His ‘Reply to Luther’ was harsh and accused Luther of being a pervert and a heretic
• Saint Sir Thomas More
• Made a saint 400 years
• Utopia – novel by more about the perfect world
• Lord Chancellor of England – his death shocked Europe