Philip and Religion (1) Flashcards
What was the state of the clergy in 1556?
- tended to be uneducated
- poorly paid
- many of them absented themselves from religious duties and hold a number of positions
What was the state of the bishops/ archbishops in 1556?
- varied
- appointments were usually held by members of greatest noble families
- bishops were often non-residents employed in service of the king (eg. Valdes - AB of Seville) rarely visited see during office
What was the state of the organisation of the church in 1556?
- some areas had too many parishes, some too few
- parishes were very uneven in size/ wealth, poor northern parishes had difficulty attracting quality priests
Who was there overlap of jurisdiction between?
- churches, religious/ monastic orders, lords, bishops, inquisitors, town authorities
- further difficulty that laymen had the right to appoint parish priests
What did the lack of clergy education mean for the laity?
- usually had poor knowledge of Christian beliefs and practice
- many people’s faith rooted in pagan festivals and local rituals
Give an example of absenteeism
- Cardinal Mendoza had the AB of Burgos but only took residence after 14 years
There had been some improvements by 1556, what was achieved by the Jesuits?
- undertook missionary work among ordinary people
- Duke of Gandia became their third general and was important in establishing the education arm of the Jesuits
Name the two other individual reforms and what they did
- Luis de Granada
- had great influence among all levels of society in both Spain and Portugal for the education of the laity
- 1540: Bishop of Pomplona
- tried to introduce a number of reforms
- included ordering priests to preach a sermon every Sunday
IQ General Valdes actively looked for any signs of heresy and took action against anyone suspected of Protestant views. Resultantly, what was found?
- 1557
- group of 130 Protestants found in Seville (including members of the religious orders)
- another ‘active’ cell found in Valladolid (including the former chaplain to Charles) - 120 reformers of Calvinist orientation - exposed from within the Jeronimite communities of San Isidro del Campo and Santa Paula
How were the Protestant cells dealt with?
- number of arrests made
- by 1562: both groups eliminated
When the “Index of Forbidden Books” was first published in 1559 - what did it contain?
- around 700 works (mainly foreign)
- banned works of Protestant reformers
- banned vernacular translations of Bible
By 1583, what did the Index contain and how?
- Index had been regularly revised and updates and by this time it included works of all known heretics
- including the names of many important figures in the Catholic Church eg. Luis de Granada and Juan de Avila
How was the index implemented?
- all books needed a license before being published
- all bookshops/ libraries were liable to being searched
- local tribunals made responsible for the collection and public burning
How successful was the 1559 decree that forbade Spanish students from going abroad to study?
- not really successful at all
- Spaniards are still found in various universities in Italy and the Netherlands eg. Boulogne, Naples, Rome
Historians (eg. Elliott) for many years have argued that censorship had some negative effect on the intellectual life of Spain. What are their arguments?
- believed it contributed to cultural isolation of Spain from the rest of Europe
- freedom of speech/ thought = stifled
- writers = forced to conform or face penalties
How does Kamen challenge the view that censorship had some negative effect on the intellectual life of Spain?
- says Spaniards were still able to have access to a wide range of material
- maintains that it also didn’t prevent the development of Spanish culture
- censorship laws were specifically Castilian in their sphere of influence
- of the 670 texts on Valdes’ Index, less than 15% were Castilian (mainly focused on European literature)
Who could still access heretical ideas/ thoughts?
- Spaniards who went to the New World
- engaged in trade with Europe
- went on political missions to other parts of Europe
- contacts with secretive book importers
When the Council of Trent finally met in 1545, what were their main concerns?
- condemning Protestantism
- clarifying doctrines of the Catholic Church
- dealing with corruption in Church
- introducing reforms to improve the quality of clergy
How did the Council of Trent reinforce the foundations of the Catholic doctrine?
- Latin Vulgate edition of the Bible = to be official version of scripture
- mass to become most important aspect of Catholic worship
- variations in liturgy were abolished
- new missal to be used by all
How did the Council of Trent strengthen the authority and ability of bishops?
- live in their benefices (except when an official leave of absence was granted)
- hold meetings of the clergy in their areas
- visit dioceses regularly
- preach regularly
- be responsible for ensuring quality of those admitted to the holy orders
- see that religious communities kept observances of their rule of life
How did the Council of Trent improve the priests?
- receive more education (seminaries to be set up to improve training)
- preach every Sunday
- provide for the Christian education of the laity
- keep parish records of baptisms, marriages, deaths
- remain in parishes
- stop holding a number of parishes
Though Philip approved the changes, what did he make clear?
- as leader of the Spanish Church he would be responsible for overseeing their implementation in Spain
In what way were the disputes between the Pope and king an obstacle to the successful introduction of the Tridentine reforms?
- undermined the leadership necessary to ensure that the reforms could be fully implemented
- Philip wouldn’t allow any of his rights over the Church to be affected
- ie. case of Jesuits, because they were not trusted because it was thought that they were papal spies, their reforms were limited in some respects
In what way was there opposition among the clergy and the laity to the reforms?
- powerful Cathedral Chapters were used to a great deal of independence and resented the new powers that bishops had over them
- ordinary clergy were reluctant to commit to reform - few seminaries were set up, regular meetings of Church councils and synods didn’t take place
