Reformation

• Protestant Reformation


  Political and social discontent (class differences) lead to a religious upheaval in the 16th century
• Groups contributing to discontent with the Church


  • Bishops and Abbots who had become part of the wealthy ruling class
  • Middle classes of European cities wanting more control over religious affairs
  • Kings and ruling princes disputing with the Church over property, taxes, legal jurisdiction, and political influence
• The discontent of the people


  Became focused on the principles of the Church
• Most people wanted to reform the Church, rather than fully breaking away from it, but when it came time they felt they had to choose
• Lutheranism


  The Protestant movement found a leader in the form of a German monk named Martin Luther
• Martin Luther's doctrine of justification


  People did not earn grace by doing good, they did good because they possessed the grace of God
• The Church needed money to fund the building of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome


  They stepped up the selling of indulgences, and sent John Tetzel out to talk up the indulgences
• Luther was enraged by the blatant selling of absolution, as well as other issues


  He posted his grievances on the church door
• Luther appealed to Pope Leo X to stop the practice of indulgences and when the pope refused, Luther requested a Church Council
• Luther's doctrine


  Individuals could read and interpret the Bible for themselves
• What Luther denounced


  • Fasts
  • Pilgrimages
  • Saints
  • Purgatory
• Luther's reforms


  • Reduced the seven sacraments to two: baptism & communion
  • Repudiated new doctrine of transubstantiation
  • Declared that the clergy should marry
  • Called upon the princes to create these reforms
• In a papal bull, Leo X threatened excommunication unless Luther recanted
• Luther burned the papal bull, and was ordered to Worms
• At the Diet of Worms, Luther declared that he would only recant anything that he'd said against the Scriptures
• Luther was placed under the ban of the empire

  The Electors of Saxony and other German princes took him under their protection
• While they hid him he translated the Bible into German
• Riots broke out throughout Germany


  These were only sparked by Luther, but were largely social and political protests
• The people wanted more rights and rent regulation
• Luther denounced the riots and the peasants, calling them swine, and supported the princes in using force against them
• Because of this Luther believed strongly in supporting the govt
• In 1534, as Lutheranism took hold, zealots traveled to Germany, particularly Munster
• Luther denounced them
• Luther's view on "Christian liberty"


  It came from internal freedom, and that good Christians are obedient to the state
• Charles V upheld Catholicism in order to maintain his position


  The states saw this as a threat to their independence
• States insisted on the right to decide the religion within their borders
• The bishoprics and Abbacies tended to become Catholic, while the princedoms, which benefited from the confiscation of Church properties, tended to become Lutheran
• France, a staunchly Catholic country, under Francois I


  Allied with the Lutherans against the strength of the Habsburgs
• It became a French policy to maintain the division of Germany
• Charles appealed to the pope to call a Church Council to mend the disputes and reunite the country, but Francois I went to Rome to prevent the pope from doing so
• Realistically, the pope (and future popes) was fearful of a council, as there were many Catholics who still wanted reform
• Germany lapsed in to "civil struggle," aided by France, and did not find peace until the Peace at Augsburg, in 1555
• Peace at Augsburg, 1555


  • Each state given the right to determine their religion. Once they decided, all within the border had to follow that religion
  • No more Church lands could be confiscated
  • The North largely became Lutheran, and the South Catholic
• Denmark, Norway, Finland, and the Baltics became Lutheran
• Calvinism


  Founded by John Calvin (Jean Cauvin), a French man trained as a Lawyer and a priest
• Calvin wrote Institutes of the Christian Religion, which was not addressed to the country, but rather to the world
• Calvin agreed on justification by faith rather than works, and on maintaining the communion
• Calvin's view on transubstantiation

  He saw it as only symbolic, unlike Luther who believed God was somehow present in the bread and wine
• Calvin's belief in predestination


  • There were only a very few, an "elect few" who would receive the grace of God
  • People could know in their own minds if they were chosen if they continued toward a saintly life even in the worst of times
• Calvinism


  • Refused to recognize the authority of the state over that of the Church
  • Wanted to remake society in the image of the religious community