Chapter 3 Tudor - Early reformers and Humanists Flashcards
To understand what new religious ideas were and how popular they were
Who were the Lollards?
A religious movement created by Wycliffe who wanted to translate the Bible and questioned the role of the priest
What aspects of Catholicism did the Lollards challenge?
-Rejected papal authority and felt that one could communicate by themselves. They didn’t believe a priest was needed to communicate
-Challenged the principles that a priest was needed to understand religious text
-Challenged the Catholic belief in transubstantiation
-Challenged the idea of salvation through good works
-Challenged the belief that salvation meant you went to heaven
What did the Lollards believe in?
-Emphasised the individual relation with God and for a person to confess their sins directly to God
-Believed Christianity should be based upon a persons own interpretation of the Bible and not by the priests so wanted to translate the Bible so one could interpret it for themselves
-Belief in predestination that meant the fate of a persons soul determined whether they went to heaven or not, not in salvation. They believed this had already been pre-determined by God
How popular was support for Lollardy by 1529?
The movement had become underground by 1529 and it was difficult to estimate how widespread the movement support was now.
Who were the Lollards main supporters?
Craftsmen and merchants - literate. They were regarded as heretics for their beliefs
Why was Lollardy less supported?
Many were fearful of the consequences in the involvement of such ideas as there was the threat of heresy for challenging the Church. This drove the group underground from intimidation by Church authority.
Once regarded as heresy, support melted from those in the nobility and gentry
What did Lollards do after regarded as heretics?
People who held these beliefs now showed outward obedience to prevent suspicion and attended Church services.
Who helped spread the idea of Lollardy?
The spread of reformism was aided by merchants in the woollen cloth trade as majority of Lollards were merchants. They transported cloth to the Netherlands where Protestant ideas had a strong foothold and therefore this influenced merchants.
Artisans who could read helped as their trade links gave access to idea growing round the world.
Views originated in London and East Anglia where trade was carried out
What were the challenges Lollardy faced?
-Impact of Lollardy on religious beliefs was difficult to assess because the threat of punishment deterred support for the movement. This faded support as no one wanted to be held accountable for it.
The high level of control the Church had meant the challenge to papacy was small.
Majority of supporters were merchants who had little political say and therefore didn’t want to share their views
Why did the Church try to stop Lollardy?
If people could read the Bible themselves and have own views, they would rely on priests less and therefore move away from the traditional papal Church causing instability in the Church
What did Lutherans believe in?
They believed that good works didn’t benefit the soul and only faith could. Lutheran argued faith was a gift from God
This was a new movement which challenged the religious, political and economic ideas and beliefs
Advocated for the translation of the Bible into a common language that everyone could understand and that one could interpret. They felt everyone could interpret the Bible and could read it.
Believed the King should become Head of Church to bring about religious change and argued power should come from the people. Luther personally wanted a monarch who would serve true religion
What aspects of Catholicism did they challenge?
Questioned the Catholic view that salvation could come from good works
Questioned the role of the priest since felt they didn’t priests to communicate to God and challenged only priests could read the Bible
Challenged Catholic practice or relying on priests interpretations of the Bible
Challenged authority of the Pope as Bible was only source of divinely revealed knowledge - challenge papacy
Challenged practice of selling indulgences
Asserted a view of individualism different to community based view in Catholicism
Questioned the relation between Church and monarch
Who supported the Lutherans?
Those in areas of trade, manufacture and those who could read and write and criticise the interpretations of scriptures.
How did Lutheran ideas spread?
Circulation of books - Bookseller in Oxford recorded sale of 12 books by Luther in 1520
Who took up Lutheran views?
Tyndale translated the Bible into English and challenged the laws against the owership of a vernacular Bible - challenged scriptural authority of the Pope. When he produced his Bible in secret, he was pursued by agents of More and executed in 1536
Tyndale was a key supporter of Royal Supremacy
Simon Fish
These supporters believed in Royal Supremacy and believed if the monarch was responsible for the Church in his land, religious change could occur.
How popular were Lutheran ideas?
Church remained an ally to the King to give legitimacy and to enforce law and order and to maintain his royal power. Henry was given the title Defender of the Faith when he defended the 7 sacraments under attack from religious ideas from Luther. The inter-dependence from the royal court to the Church meant those in the royal court like More also assisted Henry
None of the nobility were supporters of Lutheranism so few attracted to ideas.
However, there were some influential people in the royal court who were key advisers to Henry like Cranmer and Cromwell who were both influenced by ideas of Luther. Further, Luther’s views were taken up by others who acted upon them.
What is royal supremacy?
The idea the monarch is responsible for the Church in his own land rather than the Pope and would become the supreme Head of the Church reducing power of the Pope
Overall, how influential was reformism?
Limited support as no strong voice to air concerns
Fear of punishment and panic on where to be loyal to
No prominent figures at court so overpowered
Church actions - heresy
Some action like the translation of the Bible and big support base from merchants though
How did Humanism grow?
The growth of the printing press led to books being more freely available leading to support for Humanism
What was Humanism?
A movement based on returning to original Greek texts of the Bible
It was a development of the Renaissance to further the understanding of the scriptures by rediscovering Latin and Greek texts. The development of these ideas was based on published texts rather than beliefs.
There was a hope that more knowledge of the wisdom of antiquity like writings of early Church fathers would initiate an era of peace.
What did Humanists believe in?
They still believed in the principles of Catholic faith like free will and wanted to purify ideas of religion. They didn’t challenge Catholic beliefs and wanted to demystify primary texts, restore to original form and reform the Church within.
Was the Humanist movement supported?
Church authorities gave a remarkable degree of thought.
Key Humanists were More, Erasmus and Colet
Who was Erasmus
Wrote a series of Greek and Latin editions discourses on biblical texts to demonstrate how the word of God written in the Bible should be interpreted in actions. He was committed to papal authority
Who was Colet
A leading theologian who studied Greek and Latin texts and was critical of practices of the Church
