Luther

• Holy Roman Emperor


  On the same level as the Pope in terms of hierarchy but was a secular power whereas the Pope was ecclesiastical
• Charles V became Holy Roman Emperor in 1519 following his Grandfather Maximillian having bribed the electors
• Charles V signed the 'Electoral Capitulation' in which he agreed to respect the rights of the princes in return for their vote
• Charles V's dominion


  • The Netherlands
  • Germany
  • Luxembourg
  • Artois
  • Navarre
  • Naples
  • Sicily
• Ecclesiastical electors (archbishops)


  • MAINZ
  • TRIER
  • COLOGNE
• Secular electors (temporal electors)

  • King of Bohemia
  • Count of Rhine
  • Duke of Saxony
  • Margrave of Brandenburg
• Imperial Diet


  The deliberative body of the HRE
• The role of the diet was to: Pass laws, Levy taxes, make military decisions
• The most significant diet was the Diet of Worms which was called by Charles and addressed the protestant reformation
• The organisation of the HRE was complicated and chaotic
• The power of the diet is limited because of internal power struggles
• In 1500, Germany still lacked a centralised government
• France, Spain and England had agreed taxation rates with the Catholic church whereas Germany did not
• As it was not centralised, the rates were higher in Germany causing dissatisfaction
• Towns in the HRE

  Usually between 5,000-30,000 inhabitants
• Ideas spread faster in cities because of the concentration of people and because the education establishments like Universities and Cathedrals
• Population movement meant that land was more scarce in the countryside and there was lots of poverty in towns
• The price of grain increased 250% in the 16th Century
• With the increase in trade, communication grew also because ideas could spread quickly through word of mouth as well as: ships, merchants on rivers and postal services
• The princes relied on revenues of taxation
• Cities with rivers could also impose a river tax for traders which increased revenue
• The higher the rate of trade, the higher the rate of communication between towns
• Augsburg and Nuremberg were two areas which grew particularly in the 16th Century
• The innovation of the printing press was developed in Mainz in the Rhine Valley around the 1450s
• Nuremberg quickly became the centre for printing and 20 years after the invention there were presses in 30 cities
• Hand written books had been limited in number, expensive and slow to produce
• As well as this they were solely available to the wealthy and therefore ideas spread slowly
• Humanism


  A philosophical movement which focused on the betterment of the self and relied heavily on literature. They rejected the idea that life on earth was a penance and instead suggested that people should strive to reach their potential
• Literacy rates in the cities were about 30% whereas over the whole empire they were 5%
• Illiterate people often used wood cuts to learn
• Pope


  God's Vicar on Earth, the successor of Peter, elected by the Cardinals, has political power as the ruler of the papal states
• The Pope was often corrupt, for example Pope Alexander VI who fathered several of the 'Borgia' Children and gave them all important jobs
• Pope Julius II earned the nickname 'The Warrior Pope' because he rode into battle with his own army
• In every region there were a few Archbishops because Papal regions and country borders were not the same
• Bishops were senior churchmen and were great landowners. They were educated, powerful and rich and often held positions in government
• Monks belonged to different orders (Benedictine, Augustinian, Carthusian) and lived separately from the control of Papal authority
• Most monasteries had rules of poverty but in practice were landowners, employers and had a large impact on the local communities
• The Parish clergy was the only member of the church that the average person would come into contact with
• They carried out religious ceremonies and were central to Christian living
• Heretics


  People who criticised the Catholic Church, such as Desidius Erasmus and Jan Huss