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The Protestant Reformation

1300 – 1570 CE

Martin Luther: The Protestant Reformation

Martin Luther

Who was Martin Luther?

• Born in Germany in 1483.

• After surviving a violent storm, he vowed to become a monk.

• Lived in the city of Wittenberg.

• Died in 1546.

Definitions

ProtestTo express strong

objection

ReformTo improve by correcting errors

Problems in the Church

•Corruption

•Political Conflicts

Corruption

•The Church raised money through practices like simony and selling indulgences.

Simony:the act of selling church offices and roles.

•Pope Leo X needs money to build St. Peter’s Basilica…so he sells indulgences!

Vatican City

What happens to spark the Reformation?

Advantages of Buying Indulgences

Go Directly to Heaven!

•Do not go to Hell!

•Do not go to Purgatory!

•Get through Purgatory faster!

•Do not pass Go!

Political Conflict

KINGS AND QUEENS

POPES

Papal Schism

• In 1301, the king tried to tax the French clergy.

• The pope threatened to excommunicate the king and so was arrested. He was later released.

• The next pope, Clement V, moved the headquarters of the Church from Rome to Avignon in southern France.

• Many people felt that the French kings controlled the Church.

Rome Avignon

Three Popes!

• The next six popes lived in Avignon. Pope Gregory then moved the papacy back to Rome in 1377.

• When Gregory died, the French cardinals did not like the new pope in Rome, so they elected a different pope in Avignon.

• Later, a Church council elected a third pope.

Calls for Reform

• John Wycliffe (1330-1384)

– Questioned the authority of the pope

• Jan Hus (1370-1415)

– Criticized the vast wealth of the Church

• Desiderius Erasmus (1469-1536)

– Attacked corruption in the Church

Luther Looks for Reforms

• Luther criticized Church practices, like selling indulgences.

• He wanted to begin a discussion within the Church about the true path to salvation.

• He nailed his Ninety-Five Theses, or arguments, to the door of Wittenberg cathedral for all to see.

Protestant Teaching:Justification by Faith Alone

• The Bible is the only source of truth.

• People can read and understand the Bible themselves.

• Salvation comes only through faith in Christ.

Luther’s Bible

Excommunication

• Pope Leo X demanded that Luther recant 41 of his Ninety-Five Theses.

• Luther was brought before the Diet of Worms.

• In January 1521, Luther was excommunicated from the Church.

The Printing Press

• Luther’s ideas spread quickly with the help of the printing press.

• Luther’s supporters distributed copies of his speeches and essays far and wide.

• Millions of people sided with Luther against the Roman Catholic Church.

Language Barriers

• Most uneducated people didn’t understand Latin, but knew the local common language or “vernacular”.

–Almost all Bibles were written in LATIN before the Reformation.

• It was the job of the church clergy to translate the Bible to lay people.

A New Church

• Luther soon had many followers.

• His supporters began to organize a new Christian denomination.

• Several German princes supported Luther.

• Lutherans and Catholics fought each other.

• The first wars ended with the Treaty of Augsburg, but fighting in Europe over religion continued to the mid-seventeenth century.

Saint Bartholomew’s

Day massacre

in 1572 was a targeted group of assassinations and a wave of Catholic mob violence,

directed against the Huguenots (French Calvinist Protestants) during the French Wars of

Religion.

Lutheranism

• Luther’s followers disagreed with many of the teachings of the Catholic Church.

• They rejected the authority of Church councils and the pope.

• Reading the Bible was the only way to learn how to lead a good life.

Luther translated

the Bible into

German

The Reformation spread to other countries.

• France and Switzerland:

John Calvin preached the idea of “predestination” and that some people had been chosen by God for salvation.

• England:

King Henry VIII refused to recognize the Roman Catholic Church and started a new church, the Church of England.

In England, the Reformation began with the

King!

•King Henry VIII

–The king who had six wives…

•He wants a SON!

Lines provided in notes to write down story of King Henry VIII.

The Reformation Parliament

• Was a gathering that led to the decision that England was no longer under the authority of the pope.

• Act of Supremacy

– Subjects were required to take an oath declaring Henry VIII to be “Supreme Head of the Church of England”

Longstanding Effects of Henry VIII

• His legitimate children: Mary, Elizabeth, and Edward (dies).

– Queen Mary I or “Bloody Mary”

•Raised Catholic like her mother Catherine of Aragon; she reestablished the Catholic Church in England. She killed many protestants and had approximately 300 heretics burned at the stake.

– Queen Elizabeth I (Ends the House of Tudor)

•Raised Protestant and ruled England for 44 years. Ruled during the Spanish Armada, and never married…known as the Virgin Queen.

New Sects Spread

The Effects of the

Reformation

Catholic Reformation

• Ignatius of Loyola -> Started the Jesuits

• Goals: Education, spread Catholicism, stop Protestantism

• Pope Paul III (1534-1549)

• 1. Investigated abuses

• 2. Approved Jesuits

• 3. Inquisition

• 4. Called for Council of Trent

The Inquisition - a Catholic judicial system

designed to prosecute heretics

Council of Trent

• 1545-1563 - when church officials agreed on reforms/doctrines

• 1. Church interpretation of bible was final

• 2. Faith and good works for salvation

• 3. Bible and Church tradition equally important

• 4. Indulgences were valid but false selling was banned

Council of Trent

• Index of Forbidden books

• 10,000 books burned in one day in Venice a

The six wives of Henry VIII

1. Catherine of Aragon - Divorced - Child: Mary

2. Anne Bolyen - Beheaded - Child: Elizabeth

3. Jane Seymour - Died - Child: Edward VI

4.Anne of Cleves - Divorced - Child: None

5. Catherine Howard - Beheaded - Child: None

6.Catherine Parr - Survived (Henry died first) - Child:None

England During and After Henry VIII• Religious turmoil during reign of

Edward VI (Protestant) and Mary I (Catholic)

• Elizabeth I inherited throne in 1558

• Re-established Anglican church

• Compromised between Catholics and Protestants

Long Live the Queen!

Spanish Armada• Philip II of Spain to attack England on

July 29, 1558

• Spanish Armada - 130 ships, 8,000 sailors, 19,000 soldiers

• England defeated Spain

• “Protestant winds”

Effects of the Reformation

France

St. Bartholomew Day Massacre

French calvinists called Huguenots were killed for their beliefs

Edict of Nantes

Huguenots were granted rights by Henry IV

Legacy of The Reformation: Big ideas

1. Religion no longer united Europe

2. Growth of monarchs and modern nation states over the Church

3. Groundwork for the rejection of Christian beliefs and continued questioning of the world around us

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The End