Reformation Flashcards
PRE REFORMATION Chadwick’s ideas on the desire for reformation
Widewspread desire for reformation
‘At the beginning of the sixteenth century everyone that mattered was crying out for reformation
There was not a consensus about what reform might mean
Some practices seen as dishonest were seen as acceptable by others
Simony - selling offices or appropriate payment for legal fees?
PRE REFORMATION Evidence of Corruption, and conflict of opinion on what was corruption
There was not a consensus about what reform might mean
Some practices seen as dishonest were seen as acceptable by others
Simony - selling offices or appropriate payment for legal fees?
Diversity of issues
Cardinals and canons with too much power
Corruption and ill practice among preachers
Benefit of the Clergy?
French diplomat Antonie de Prat only entered his Cathedral when he died and had his funeral there
Henry VIII’s physicisan held many benefices before ordination as payment for his services as a physician
PRE REFORMATION Pre-reformation estimations of what reform would be
Nature of reformation was (hoped to be) administrative, not doctrinal
- Not concerned with encouraging dissenters, but suppressing them. Re-organisation, not anti-conformity
PRE REFORMATION Declining power of pope
Declining power of the Pope
Popes could still summon armies, but not of a crusading standard
Christendom looked to kings and states, not popes, for security
PRE REFORMATION Contrasting values of old and new worlds
Contrasting values of the old and new worlds
Religious men valued poverty, new intellectuals, humanists
Looked backwards for the model of reforming
PRE REFORMATION Chadwick quote on widespread desire for reformation
Widespread, popular, and unsatisfied demands for reform are usually, in the end, revolutionary.
PRE REFORMATION Reforming popes
Reforming popes, Gregory VII and Innocent III
Council of Constance 1414-1418, Council of Basle (1431-9)
PRE REFORMATION What caused the reformation? Chadwick Argues :
Needs to be asked ‘why did the Reformation happen when it did?’
Not due to a pronounced increase in corruption and abuses
Happened not due to irreligiousness, but religiousness
Holding to the standards of idealism, and fantasising about a golden age, had always happened; abuses had always been a problem
What changed wasn’t level of abuses, but awareness of them
PRE REFORMATION Evidence of continued religious practice in the EM Period
Evidence of religious practice
Burning of witches
Persecution of Jews
Henry VIII went to mass 5-6 times a day
PRE REFORMATION Cause of Reformation: Modernisation of Gvt
Modernisation of Government
True of King Henry VIII/Ferdinand and Isabella
New concept of nation
‘the reformation came because limitation of the power of the church was necessary to the further development of efficient government’
Changing nature of the Pope’s power
Bulls were powerful but negotiations took place behind the scenes
Diplomacy>decree
Only possible with cooperation with the state
Modernisation of government not entirely the case?
1478, inquisition, earlier state control of church affairs
PRE REFORMATION Cause of Reformation: New Learning
New Learning
Increase in learning and knowledge across the upper-classes with printing
Growth of humanism ie Erasmus better articulated the weaknesses of the church for educated Europeans at a time where print was increasing
A man might sooner find his way out of a labyrinth than the intellectual mases of the (theologians)’
Publishes Enchiridion Militis Christiani’ (Handbook for the Christian Warrior)
His translations enabled vernacular readings and some editions came with notes on how to
Profiling Luther
The mind of the reformer
‘Persevering mind’ rather than a sharp one
Subscribed to the nominalist school during his time at the University of Erfurt/convent of Austin Friars
Not a humanist: ‘Humanism was European, international, an intellectual aristocracy; Luther was a German, national, man of the people.’
Zealous: ‘I tried as hard as I could to keep to my rule’
Revelation whilst reading Epistle to the Romans: ‘The just shall live by faith’
‘I am quite sure that the Church will never be reformed unless we get rid of canon law, scholiastic theology, philosophy and logic as they are studied today, and put something else in their place.’
Indulgences and the 99 Theses
Need for finances was an important reason for new doctrine
Indulgences
Money needed for a) Building St Peter’s Cathedral, Rome b) for paying off the debt of Albert of Mainz, Archbishop of Magdeburg
Purchasing an indulgence had the effect of for atoning for a person’s sins, reducing or neutralising their debt to be paid in time spent in purgatory
Luther’s reaction
31st Oct 1517, nails indulgences to the door of Wittenberg church
—> Decline in indulgence sales there
Nature of the 99 Theses
Nature of the Theses
Not inherently anti-papal, claimed that the pope wouldn’t condone such practice
Not inherently ‘Lutheran’ but did add to the desire for reform/create the right atmosphere
How did church initially respond to 99 Theses
How did the church respond?
Pope instructs head of Austin Friars to ‘keep his men quiet’ (Chadwick)
Challenging authority of pope therefore heretical?
Spread of support for Luther after 99 Theses 1517
Not Luther’s intention but support spread
Supported by Elector Frederick of Saxony
Diet at Augsburg in 1518
Ordered by Cajetan, Papal Legate, to recant
Luther refuses
Charles Von Militz meets Luther Jan 1519, sees that it would be impossible for Luther to be removed by force
Luther writes to Rome in March 1519, submissive in tone but retracts nothing (near direct quote)
Lutheran Theology (Basic)
Development of Luther’s Theology
- *Justification by Faith Alone, Priesthood of All Believers’ ; sola fidi, sola gratia, sola scriptura
Luther’s challenges to the supremacy of the Pope and debate with Eck of Ingolstadt, July 1519
Challenges the supremacy of the Pope
Indulgences rest on power of Pope. If Pope’s authority is challenged, indulgences are baseless
Argues that Pope should be subordinate to the General Council of the Christian Church
July 1519, public debate against Eck of Ingolstadt, rejects the idea that Huss was a heretic and contradicts the ruling of the Council of Constance
Now officially at ends with Rome
Reformation Treaties
Publishes three treaties - ‘reformation treatises - in 1520
Critiques sacrements and reaffirms justifcation by faith alone
Tackle the worldliness of the church, end practice of excommunication, educational reform to allow for better understanding of the bible
Priesthood of all believers: no intecessionary power of the church
Exsurge Domine, 1520
Breaking point
Exsurge Domine, 15th June 1520
Terms
Luther must recant within 2 months or be excommunicated
41 of his propositions found to be heretical
People ordered to burn his books
Dec 10th 1520, burns the Bull, books of canon law
Excommunicated Jan 3rd 1521
Charles V’s position on Luther
Charles V’s position
Power was centred in Spain, not Germany
If he was to lead Germany in seperation from Rome it would fragment his realm (Chadwick)
Diet of Worms in April 1521, Luther asked again to recant and refuses. Later outlawed by a Ban o
f Empire
Elector Frederick of Saxony’s position
Didn’t want to condemn Luther but too dangerous to openly support him
‘Kidnapped’ him on the way back from the Diet of Worms and took him to Wartburg
Popular support for Luther
Popular support
Papal Legate: ‘All of Germany is in revolution, Nine tenths shout “Luther” as their war cry…’
Priests carried Bible>Host in services
Sep 1521, Philip Melanchthon and friends receive both bread and wine at communion
Riots
4th Dec 1521, Altar destroyed in the church of the Franciscans
The Peasants’ War 1524-5
The Peasants’ War 1524-5
Made possible by weak imperial control and dependence on strength of local forces for enforcing law and putting down rebellion
Peasant risings across the country
Demands:
Restoration of common land
Right to choose their pastor
Conflicts
Peasant army defeated at Frankenhausen
Radical preacher Thomas Munzer is executed
Consequences for Luther
Though he sympathised with the peasants, armed risings were
‘Against the Murdering Thieving Hoardes of Peasants’
Luther became magnet for those who disliked Rome, but not all for the same reasons as his
Formation of Protestant League
Protestant League
Diet of Speyer, 1529 - Protestant princes identify themselves
1531, form Schmalkaldic League (Protestant League)