MIDDLE PART OF THE PERIOD Flashcards
What happened between the years 1492-1530?
Catholic Church is deeply corrupt with widespread abuses. The Papacy’s secular interests prevent reform on spiritual matters. Challenges from Luther (and others) create a split in the church.
What prompted greater internal reform from the 1530s onwards?
Sack of Rome – 1527. Charles V’s soldiers ‘sack’ (or destroy) Rome and hold Pope Clement VII hostage
Lutheranism growing to the extent that is can no longer be ignored. A new generation of reforming men appointed to key post – (many emerging from the Oratories) – eg Contarini
Pope Paul III – although in many ways a Renaissance Pope he begins to recognise the need for reform and convenes the Council of Trent
Julius III – Pontificate 1550 -55
- Some early attempts to reform
- Approves of the Jesuits and supports their presence in Germany.
- Involved in numerous scandals – including nepotism and adopted Nephew.
- Lived a live most devoted to personal pleasure (see next slide)
Pius IV– Pontificate 1555 -65
-Initial time spent dealing with ‘cardinal nephew’ affair left by his predecessor.
-Presided over and concluded council of Trent
- Main passion was for the creation of great building
works in Rome
- Bemoaned the austerity of the era
New Orders
What were they?
The practice of people working together to improve their spiritual lives through prayer and good works.
New Orders
Explain their contribution to reforming the Catholic Church?
The New Orders performed valuable social functions (in precise locations), that helped to renew confidence in the Church by setting a positive example through preaching and hard work within the community.
E.g. 1528 Capuchins, grew out of the Franciscan Order of monks. Famed for their simple style of preaching and for their work among the poor and plague-victims.
Jesuits
What were they?
Saw themselves as missionaries, well trained through rigorous prayer, contemplation and education to take the Catholic message wherever the Pope directed them.
Jesuits
Explain their contribution to reforming the Catholic Church?
- They demonstrated intense spiritual commitment
- They presented an inspiring image of unity and common purpose
- They won political influence as confessors and advisers to the rich and powerful
- They encouraged better education of priests, and were often outstanding academics themselves
- They took an uncompromising view of faith, believing utterly in papal supremacy and traditional Catholic doctrines. This made them ideal champions of the Counter-Reformation.
- Their numbers grew rapidly and they worked across Europe.
Council of Trent
What were they?
Paul III summoned a council to investigate abuses of the church. The council finally assembled in Trent northern Italy in December 1545 after long deliberation. It took 18 years for the Council to complete its deliberations about Church doctrine and discipline.
Council of Trent
Explain their contribution to reforming the Catholic Church?
Matters of Belief:
The decrees on doctrine restarted traditional Catholic thinking. They offered no compromises to Protestant ideas. Seen in a positive light, they set out a clear difference between Catholicism and the various Protestant sects and made defending the Catholic position easier. On the other hand, they disappointed moderate Catholics, including humanists and some members of New Orders. Innovation was stifled and the Protestant-Catholic split made permanent.
Matters of Organisation:
These decrees tackled abuses within the church and strengthened the grassroots organisation by playing up the importance of bishops and well-trained priests. Pluralism and absenteeism continued. Rulers were often slow to implement the decrees because they feared that a reviewed Church might try to recover the powers it had lost.
What is Anabaptism?
- A movement rather than a precise faith
- Tended to have these features:
- Belief that God communicated directly with the believer, so organised churches and the Bible were less important as aids to faith
- General acceptance of a nonviolent way of life
- Belief that baptism should be reserved for adults
- Attempts to establish utopian communities
- Belief that God was the only authority they should obey, so rejected princely government and everything it entailed
- Rejection of concepts of private property and luxury, so adopted simple lifestyles and shared goods
What is Zwinglianism?
- Ulrich Zwingli (in Switzerland) instituted a reformation of the Church in Zurich - Had similar ideas to Luther but there’s little to no evidence to show he was influenced by him, he actually had more extreme ideas than Luther.
- Zwingli believed that churches should be ‘purified’ of distracting pictures, ornament and music, so that the congregation could focus on the words and message of the sermon.
- He denied completely the notion that the bread and wine in the mass did anything other than symbolise Christ’s body and blood.
What is Calvinism?
-Calvin was a second generation reformer, he didn’t begin to develop his ideas until the mid 1530’s.
-Created a theology that was more daring than Luther’s moderate beliefs and backed it up with radical notions of a godly society and a sophisticated Church structure.
-Calvinism took root in Geneva in the 1540’s and from there spread (absorbing the Zwinglians) to France, Scotland, the Netherlands, some small German states, —Poland and Eastern Europe.
-In the C17th, it emigrated to the Americas
-The importance of Calvinism:
-It offered an alternative to the Lutheran vision of Protestantism
-It took mainstream religious thinking to new levels and welded it to radical ideas about secular lifestyles
-It was the most international of the Protestant churches, spreading much further afield than the essentially German Lutherans
-It brought a new dynamic to the Reformation at a time of a more aggressive Catholic revival
-It created serious divisions within and between countries that fuelled further wars in the late 16th and into the 17th centuries.
-Between 1541 and 1564, Calvin turned Geneva into a reformed city full of Calvinist ideas. It gave Geneva an international reputation and became the centre from which the reformed faith spread. However, there was hostility to the harsh discipline of the new Church and -
-Calvin was personally unpopular.
-Calvin tried to create the rules needed to encourage a moral society and an effective church.
This involved:
Persuading the city authorities to accept his ‘Institutes of the Christian Religion’ as the basis for religious practice.
Establishing clear moral regulations.
Creating a strong church structure
Setting up the Genevan Academy to train clergymen in the ideas of Calvinism and to encourage missionary activities abroad.
From this calvinism spread to become the most successful protestant faith.
