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
