The English Reformation and Catholic Counter Reformation
Chapter 1 section 4
English Reformation
a. Henry VIIIi. “Defender of the
Faith”- resisted the Protestant revolt
ii. 1527 wanted his marriage annulled and the pope refused.
• 1. Took over the English church through the Act of Supremacy – iii. 1536-1540:
Henry VIII seized the lands and the wealth of English convents & monasteries.
• 1. granted some to nobles and high-ranking citizens securing their support for the Anglican Church.
II. Catholic Counter Reformation • a. Leader- Pope Paul III
i. Calls the Council of Trent in 15451. Reaffirmed traditional Catholic viewsa. Salvation comes through faith and good works. b. The Bible is a major source of religious truth, but not the only source.
2. Ended abuses in the Church.
a. Stiff penalties for worldliness and corruption among clergy.
3. Established schools to create a better-educate clergy who challenged Protestant teachings.
ii. The Inquisition
1. Church court set up during the Middle Ages.
2. Goal: bring people back to the faith
3. Used secret testimony, torture, and execution to root out heresy.
4. Prepared the Index of Forbidden Books.
• a. too immoral or irreligious for Catholics
• b. Books by Luther & Calvin.
• iii. Society of Jesus (Jesuits) – 1. brought back
the Catholic faith to Africa and the Americas
– 2. educated natives
• Iv. Did it succeed?– Reforms slowed
the Protestants– Returned some
areas to Catholic Church
– Europe remained divided into Protestant North and Catholic South.
III. Persecution • Catholics and Protestants
intolerant of one another• Witch hunts
– 1450-1750 thousands of women and men died.
– Why?• People saw link between
magic and heresy.• Scapegoats- ex. Midwife
blamed for an infant death• Where? German states,
Switzerland, France, and all centers of religious conflict.
– Jews• 1516 Venice ordered Jews
to live in the ghetto• refused to convert; Luther
calls for their expulsion from Christian Lands & synagogues and books to be burned– some German princes did
expel Jews; others forced them to live in ghettos and wear a yellow badge when traveling
– 1550s many Jews migrated to Poland-Lithuania and parts of the Ottoman Empire