Reformation Flashcards
Reformations:
Complex effort of reform, fragmentation in church, attempt to return to traditional Christian values, seen as traditionally started by Martin Luther
What were the 95 Thesis about:
Attack on: church practices, transubstantiation, purgatory, worship of Saints, authority to grant salvation, authority to interpret God’s word, separation between the lay and the clergy
Who was responsible for the 95 thesis?
Martin Luther
Politics of the Reformation:
Strong anti-clericism in Germany (which was then the Holy Roman Empire).
Evident in the German Peasants’ War of 1524-25, the Peace of Augsburg (1555).
Politics and religion heavily linked as Civius Regio, euis religio meaning whose realm, whose religion.
Ultimately, religion goes along with political and economic needs. For example, Henry VIII created own religion as Pope wouldn’t grant an annulment for his marriage to Catherine of Aragon
Zwingli:
Simpler church (removal of liturgy, decorations, music)
Denial of the ‘real presence’ of the Eucharist. Argues real presence in the congregation.
‘Reformed’ (as opposed to evangelical)
Switzerland + South Germany
Calvin:
French, converted to a Protestant and moved to Geneva in 1533
Opposed to idolatry and pictorial, worship of idols and images, and pictorial, worship of divine
Calvinism = does emphasise good conduct but not as a means of salvation
Calvinism appealed to merchants, professionals and artisans – urban classes
Calvinism leads to ideas about moral discipling
Calvinist ideas spread to France, Netherlands, England and Scotland
Rise of Calvinism in many ways led to the French Wars of Religion in 1572
French Wars of Religion 1572:
Series of religious riots, based on ideas of contamination: different religions will infect others and spread.
The wars were supported by nobles who wanted to oppose powers of Catholic gentry
Violence spread to many cities across the country
Violence culminated in the massacre of Protestants on St Bartholomew’s Day in 1572
Important political factors – violence often supported by nobles who wanted to prevent the power of the Catholic monarchy
Wars fought by Huguenots and Protestants against Catholics – spreading violence across France
Armed citizens encountering each other yet violence supported by politically powerful people such as the Medici
Henry of Navarre (Henry IV) = converts to Catholicism – was one of the leaders of the Huguenots yet once he becomes king converts to Catholicism in order to keep the peace
Henry of Navarre – does pass the Edict of Nantes which gives Huguenots the right to practice their religion in select areas of Northern France
Limited toleration continued in France until it was revoked by Louis the 14th in 1555
Counter (or Catholic) Reformation:
Began in 1530s, debate over whether a reaction or reformation in own right,
Debate over whether a reaction or reformation in own right
Emerges in an institutional context in the Council of Trent
Council of Trent (1545-1563) – introduced confessional box
Number of similarities between the two movements
Reformed programme paralleled the Protestant Reformation
Similarities with Protestant Reformation:
Attack on superstitious practices
Education
Reform of behaviour
Monitoring of the clergy
Use of print
Preaching
Parish administrative efficiency
Increased record beeping
Individual self-control
Thirty Years War (1618-1648):
- Begins 1617 when Catholic king elected in Protestant country of 100 years
- Included the whole of Europe
- Deadly war – especially in the Holy Roman Empire
- Peace talks began in 1645 but did not conclude until 1648 with the Peace of Westphalia
- Confetionaliation – deciding what political ideas adopted in countries
- Peace of Westphalia: recognised the united provinces of the Netherlands and Switzerland independent, implies whose realm whose religion throughout the whole of Europe
- Religious divides across Europe were largely fixed after the Peace of Westphalia – seen as the start of the modern states
Religious Minorities:
Various responses to the issues of religious minorities:
- Violence e.g. St Bartholomew’s Day Massacre
- persecution, e.g. Catholic institutions common in England, Spain and Portugal
- Confessionalism, e.g. one religion
- Limited toleration, e.g. tolerate minorities in certain areas such as in the Edict of Nantes
- Full toleration, e.g. England did allow for Protestant radicals
- Atheism not acceptable but by the end of the 18th century religious pluralism was leading that way
Protestants approach to gender:
Protestants view on marriage: “denied (marriages) sacramental nature, many Protestant reformers praised marriage in formal treaties, commentaries in the Book of Genesis, household guide, and most importantly wedding sermons”
Protestants approach to marriage:
“denied (marriages) sacramental nature, many Protestant reformers praised marriage in formal treaties, commentaries in the Book of Genesis, household guide, and most importantly wedding sermons”
“they stressed that it had been ordained by God when he presented Eve to Adam, served as a remedy for the unavoidable sin of lust, and offered husbands and wives companionship and consolation”
Catholic view of marriage:
“Catholic canon law had allowed only separation from bed and board with no remarriage”
Protestants view on men and women:
“did not break with medieval scholastic theologians in their idea that women were to be subject to men”
