Bellwork

• How did the printing press affect Christianity?

World History

Section 5, Unit 2The Reformation

Objectives

• Describe the role of Martin Luther on the changes in the Church.

• Identify how secularism and the Renaissance affected Church authority.

• Connect the creation of the printing press to the rise of church reform movements.

• Discuss other major reformers, including John Calvin and Marguerite of Navarre.

• Describe how the reformation damaged the unity of Europe at this time.

Changes in Europe

• By 1500, due to the Renaissance, the spread of secular ideas because of the printing press, the plague, and various other problems, the Church began to weaken.

• Rulers, especially, became tired of the Pope trying to control them and merchants resented paying taxes to the Church.

• These feelings began to sweep across Europe.

Problems with the Catholic Church• Critics of the Church

(meaning Catholic Church for now) claimed that its leaders were corrupt.

• The popes who ruled during the Renaissance patronized the arts, spent extravagantly on luxury and funded wars.

• Many of these popes even pursued worldly affairs, such as having children.

Problems with the Catholic Church

• The lower clergy experienced its own problems, such as being poorly educated, getting married, drinking, or gambling.

Reform

• Influenced by reformers, people came to expect higher standards from the priests.

• Many of these reformers argued that the pope is not above the Bible or that church leaders should not be living in excess. –Many died for their beliefs, but their

calls for change lived on.

Martin Luther

• In 1505, Martin Luther- the son of a German miner- became a monk and from 1512 to his death in 1546, he taught scripture.

• He wanted to be a good Christian, but had not planned on his beliefs to cause a revolution.

Martin Luther

• In 1517, Luther decided to take a public stand against a friar named Johann Tetzel, who raised money by selling indulgences or pardon (releasing a sinner from having to repent).

• In response, Luther wrote The 95 Theses or formal statements attacking these “pardon-merchants”.

Martin Luther• He then posted his

theses on the door of the castle church in Wittenburg and invited scholars to debate him.

• However, someone copied his words and mass produced them.

• Martin Luther’s actions started what was known as the Protestant Reformation.

Protestant Reformation

• The Protestant Reformation was a movement of religious reform .

• It led to the founding of churches that did not accept the pope’s authority.

Protestant Reformation

• Soon, Luther went beyond criticizing indulgences. He wanted to reform the church entirely by teaching three basic things:1. People could win salvation only by faith in

God’s gift of forgiveness.2. All church teachings should be clearly based

on the words of the Bible, not the pope or church traditions.

3. All people of faith were equal and that people did not need priests to interpret the Bible.

Reformation Spreads

• Luther himself was surprised by how quickly his ideas spread.

• Many merchants and rulers were unhappy with the Church and took to his ideas quickly for political and economic reasons.

Reformation Spreads

• Initially, the Church officials just saw Luther as a rebellious monk who needed to be punished.

• However, when his ideas became more radical, the pope realized that Luther was a serious threat.

Reformation Spreads

• At one point, Luther was threatened with excommunication and, when Luther refused to take back his words, he was excommunicated. Luther and his students, however, were unfazed.

Question: Why might Martin Luther have not cared about being excommunicated?

Reformation Spreads

• As a devout Catholic, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V did not like to hear what Luther was saying.

• Because he has control of Germany, he summoned Luther to the town of Worms to stand trial in 1521.

• The trial ended with Luther having all his books burned and being told that no one in the empire was allowed to shelter or give food to him.

Reformation Spreads

• However, while Luther was named a heretic by the court, Prince Frederick the Wise of Saxony, who ruled the state where Luther lived, ignored the ruling.

• He provided Luther with shelter and time to translate the New Testament into German.

Reformation Spreads

• When Luther returned to Wittenberg in 1522, many of his ideas were put into place.

• Priests began dressing in normal clothes and called themselves ministers and they led services in German rather than Latin.

• Instead of continuing the reformation, Luther and his followers had become a separate religious group: Lutherans.

Response

• While many joined Lutheranism to oppose the Church, some German princes used Luther’s ideas for selfish reasons.

• They saw his teachings as a good opportunity to assert their independence from Charles V.

Response

• In 1529, German princes who remained loyal to the pope agreed to join forces against Luther’s ideas.

• Princes who supported Luther signed a protest against that agreement.

Response

• These protesting princes came to be known as Protestants: Christians who belong to non-Catholic churches (except Orthodox Christians).

Making Connections: What was the point of the Reformation? How did the reformation create Protestantism?

The Reformation simply existed to change the existing Catholic Church, not create an entirely new Church. Protestantism came from when the reformers protested.

Other Reformers

• While Martin Luther began the Reformation, he was not the only reformer of the time.

• Other reformers included John Calvin, who created the faith of Calvinism which pushed forth the idea of predestination: the idea that God already knows who is saved and who is not.

Other reformers

• Another reformer, John Knox, helped created the Presbyterian church in Scotland.

• However, religious changes in England may have been one of the most important consequences of the Protestant Reformation.

England

• The Catholic Church faced another great challenge to it’s authority in England.

• However, unlike Luther- who broke away from the Church for theological reasons- the man in England who did so did it because of personal reasons.

England• When Henry VIII became

king of England, he was a devout Catholic; however, his needs would test his loyalty.

• He needed a male heir to the throne to avoid a civil war for the crown.

• He and his wife Catherine of Aragon had only one child- Mary- but no woman had ever successfully claimed the English throne.

England• In 1527, Henry was

convinced that Catherine would have no more children, so he wanted to divorce her and marry another woman.

• However, the Church would not allow divorce, but could allow an annulment (setting aside) of his marriage.

England

• Henry went to the pope to request an annulment, but was turned down because Catherine was related to the current Holy Roman Emperor.

Question: How do you think Henry is going to react? What might he do?

England

• Without the Church, Henry decided to solve the problem himself.

• In 1529, he called Parliament into session and asked to pass laws to end the pope’s power in England.

• Following this, in 1533, Henry married Ann Boleyn, divorced Catherine, and in the following year, saw his break from the pope finalized.

England

• In 1534, Parliament passed the Act of Supremacy, making the English king head of the English Church.

• Afterwards, Henry closed all English monasteries and seized their wealth.– The monasteries had

about 20% of all English wealth, vastly increasing Henry’s power.

England

• However, once again, Henry did not get a son from Anne. He had her sent away and then later beheaded in 1536.

• Henry later married four more times. His third wife did provide him a son named Edward.

A Family Portrait: King Henry and his children

England

• After Henry died in 1547, all three of his children eventually ruled, creating religious turmoil.

• When Edward VI was king, he gave Protestants power. When his half-sister Mary ruled, she returned the Church back to the pope and had many Protestants killed (hence why she would later be called “Bloody Mary”).

• However, England would once again change under the rulership of Anne Boleyn's daughter, Elizabeth.

Elizabeth

• Inheriting the throne in 1558, Elizabeth I returned her kingdom to Protestantism.

• In 1559, Parliament allowed her to set up a national church in England.

• People were required to attend services or pay a fine.

• Parliament then declared Elizabeth the head of the Church of England, or Anglican Church.

Elizabeth• The Church of England

was designed to attract both Catholics and Protestants.

• Priests were allowed to marry and English was the main language of the church.

• However, the Church of England kept traditional services in place, such as having priests wear elaborate robes and golden crucifixes.

Problems• When Elizabeth created

the Anglican Church, she faced opposition from outsiders.

• Philip II of Spain planned to attack England for several reasons, among them was Elizabeth’s support of Protestants in his country and that England left the Catholic Church.

Problems

• Philip II attempted to attack England with the Spanish Armada– an invasion force of 130 ships- but the Armada was ultimately defeated due to a mix of bad weather and English naval forces.

Catholic Reformation

• While many were moving towards Protestantism, millions of people remained in the Catholic Church.

• To help spur people to stay, the Catholic Church attempted to reform itself.

• This period of change is known as the Catholic Reformation.

Catholic Reformation

• One great reformer of the Church was Ignatius of Loyola.

• In 1540, Ignatius and followers that he had gained from preaching from 18 years, became known as the Society of Jesus, or the Jesuits.

Catholic Reformation

• The Jesuits concentrated on three activities:1. They founded schools throughout

Europe and vigorously trained in both classical thought and theology.

2. Convert non-Christians to Catholicism.3. Stop Protestantism from spreading.

The zeal of the Jesuits helped overcome the growth of Protestantism in several areas.

Catholic Reformation

• Popes also helped to reform the Church.• In 1534, Pope Paul III took four

important steps towards reform:1. He had the council of cardinals

investigate abuses within the Church.2. Approved the Jesuit order3. Used the Inquisition to seek out and

punish heresy (anti-church rhetoric) 4. Called a council to meet in Trent, Italy

which created the Council of Trent.

Catholic Reformation

• The Council of Trent- between 1545 and 1563- agreed on several doctrines:1. Church’s interpretation of the Bible

was final. 2. Christians needed faith and good

works for salvation.3. Bible and Church traditions were

equally powerful forces. 4. Indulgences (pardons) were valid

expressions of faith– but one could not sell them.

Catholic Reformation• 1559, another

reforming pope came to power: Paul IV.

• He carried out the council’s decrees and had officials draw up a list of books dangerous to the Catholic faith.

• Catholic priests throughout Europe were to find these books and burn them.

The Reformation

• The Reformation had enduring effects.

• Protestant churches flourished, despite religious wars and persecutions. Question: What do you think happened to

the unity the Church provided in Europe?

The Reformation

• Unity under the Church was gone in Europe.

• As the Church’s powers declined, individual monarchs and states gained power and paved the way for modern nation-states.

• In addition, reformers who rejected the church laid the groundwork for rejection of Christian belief that would happen in later centuries, primarily during the Enlightenment.

Questions

• If you have any questions, please ask now.

Next Lesson

• In the next lesson, we are going to discuss European exploration.

Review1. Why do you think the Reformation spread throughout

Europe so quickly after the Renaissance and Financial Revolutions?

2. Did the early church reformers want to leave the church? Why or why not? Explain your answer.

3. Why are people who oppose the Catholic Church called “Protestant”? Where does the term come from?

4. Why did Martin Luther criticize the Church?5. Why did Henry VIII want to leave the Church?6. What were the purposes of the Catholic Reformation

and describe no less than three (3) changes that occurred during this time.

7. What was the long term impact of the Reformation on Europe? Describe at least two (2) impacts of the Reformation.