The Reformation & Religious Wars. Flashcards
Problems with the Catholic Church in the 16th century
- Priests had low conduct. They gambled, got drunk, and had many concubines.
- Many priests were illiterate. They barely knew how to read and write and had very poor sermons. And the bishops barely enforced the regulations to be a priest.
- absenteeism: priests or clerics wouldn’t show up to any meetings or not be present in the offices they held.
- Priests held many offices, or “benefices”simultaneously and seldom visited said offices. They also didn’t perform the spiritual responsibilities those offices entailed.
- Priests, nuns, and monks were exempt from civic duties such as defending the city, and taxes. Yet religious orders held massive plots of land.
Martin Luther
Augustinian friar who criticized the Catholic Church on many things. He’s known for his criticism of indulgences, belief of priesthood of all believers, and salvation by faith alone. He posted his “95 Theses” (about the bad things of the Catholic Church) on the door of the Church at Wittenberg castle in 1517. He also translated the Bible into the vernacular. (German)
In response, the pope (Pope Leo X) burned Luther’s books and denied his propositions in a letter. Luther responded by burning the letter. He was excommunicated on January 3rd, 1521. Germany was in a state of revolt (German peasants revolt) Luther argued that only 2sacrements were valid. Baptism and Communion. At the Diet of Worms, Luther did not recant his criticism and arrested. He broke out of prison for 3 days.
Causes of the Reformation
- Crises of the 14th-15th centuries hurt churches reputation
- Western Schism
- Babylonian Captivity
- Conciliar movement
Impact of the Reformation on women
Luther believed that a woman’s role was at home raising the kids. Protestant churches had greater control over marriage. Marriage became more passionate. There was also increased emphasis on teaching people to read and write.
Angela Merici
Ulrich Zwingli
Teresa de Avila
- Major nun. Taught that women should be more involved in the Church. Created the Ursuline order.
- Swiss humanist, priest, and admirer of Erasmus. Relied on Erasmus’s New Testament, preaching “from A to Z”. He was convinced that Christian life rested on scriptures. And they were the sole basis of religious truth.
- Spanish, believed that a person should a have a personal relationship with God. She had a scandalist vision, helped her reform.
German peasants war of 1525
Economic situations of the peasants were declining, there were many crop failures in 1523. Luther initially sided with the peasants, but realized that he didn’t want rebellion. The revolt died down after Luther discredited it. Luther wanted freedom froth the Catholic Churches authority, not opposition to it via revolt. 75,000 peasants were killed in the revolt.
Marriages
Luther married former nun Katerina von Bora, and Zwingli married Anna Reinhardt. Both women had several children. They created a new and respectable role for themselves. Instead of just a “priests concubine”, they called themselves “pastors wives”
Catholics views marriage as a sacramental union that, if validly entered into, cannot be undone. Protestants saw marriage as a contract where the partners promised each other support, companionship, and the mutual sharing of goods. In Protestants eyes, marriage was created by God as a remedy for human weakness.
King Henry the 8th Of England
Married to Catherine of Aragon who used to be married to Henry’s brother, but died as a youth. Henry had to get special permission from the pope to marry Catherine. When Catherine only provided a daughter, Mary, he got the marriage annulled.
Henry thought that the pope was thwarting his marital requests, but in reality, Charles V had his troops in Rome, and he essentially held Pope Clement VII captive, so he stalled. Charles V was the nephew of Catherine, so he opposed the annulment. Henry married Anne Boleyn.
A fed up Henry VIII passed through parliament the Act Of Supremacy where it granted the king head of the Church of England (Protestant Church created by Henry) and the king had the highest legal authority in the land. Henry beheaded Anne when she didn’t provide the son he wanted, he married Jane Seymour and she gave him a son, but he died in birth. He went through two more wives before relegitimizing Mary and Elizabeth.
Mary Tudor
Also known as “Bloody Mary”, Mary Tudor had a brief reign, but a sharp movement back to Catholicism. She resigned the reformation legislation of her father and moved back to Catholicism.
Under her reign, many Protestants were persecuted and outraged because she married King Phillip of Spain. This all caused many Protestants to flee to the countryside.
Elizabeth I
After Mary, Elizabeth stabilized the religious situation in England by finding middle ground with Protestants and Catholics. She required that everyone go to church or pay a fine, but she didn’t care what anyone believed. She then required conformity to the Church of England (which became more Protestant) in the Elizabethan Settlement.
John Calvin
Calvin influenced many people around the world with his beliefs and teachings. He believed that God calls on certain people to do his work, and he was one of them. In his book “Institutes Of Christian Religion” Calvin believed in the sole omnipotence of God and the weakness of humanity. He beIieved in predestination where God Decided at the beginning of time who was damned and who would go to heaven.
Calvin influenced John Knox of Scotland and Knox was able to end papal authority in Scotland. The Church of Scotland was now strictly Calvinist in doctrine.
Catholic Reformation
Pope Paul III created the Holy Office, which consisted of cardinals and priests that had jurisdiction over all Catholics, and would arrest, imprison, and execute. Under cardinal Caraffa, it viciously attacked heresy.
Council of Trent: reaffirmed catholic beliefs (7 sacraments, validity of scripture, corrected indulgences) Lutheranism and Calvinism rejected.
Ursulines: attained enormous prestige for education of women. She wanted to combat heresy through Christian education (Angela Merici) Council Of Trent placed strict enclosure on religious women, but Merici got papal approval for the expansion of her education for women.
Jesuits: founded by Ignatius Loyola. Their whole goal was “to help souls”
Latin vulgate: bible was only printed in Latin
Index of forbidden books created. Certain books weren’t allowed or they would be burned.
What were Huguenots?
French Calvinist who lived in major cities. When Henry the 2nd died, one tenth of France were Huguenots.
Causes of religious warfare
1: Protestant teachings called the power of sacred images into question. Mobs smashed statues, stained glass windows, and paintings.
Catholic mobs responded by defending images, and crowds on both sides brutally murdered each other.
Saint Bartholomews Day Massacre
Margret of Valois was to marry Henry of Navarre (a Protestant). Tried to reconcile with Catholics and Huguenots, but it ended up in the murder of Huguenot guests and a mass murder of Protestants by Catholics in Paris.
