The Protestant Reformation was the 16th century religious, political, social, and economic upheaval which was an attempt to reform the Roman Catholic Church and resulted in the creation of the Protestant church. The Northern Christian Humanists of centuries before believed that the Christian faith had once been a simple religion that had been twisted and distorted through time by the incompetent papal authority. The Reformation completely changed the medieval way of life in Western Europe and introduced the era of modern history. Even though the movement dates from the early 16th century, when Martin Luther first challenged the authority of the church, the conditions had existed for hundreds of years. Religious and intellectual aspects were …show more content…
The Pope and the Priest were corrupt and brutal. They neglected their people and took an intense interest in politics. Many critiqued the church on its clerical immortality, clerical ignorance, and clerical pluralism with also the problem of absenteeism. This meant that the papacy stayed away from their duties without a good reason. King Henry VIII’s chancellor Thomas Wolsey didn’t step foot in his diocese until fifteen years after. There was a frequent amount of clerical drunkenness and gambling. The papacy tried to make as much money as possible and issued indulgences, which were granted by the pope of reduction of the punishment in purgatory even after committing a sin. An indulgence ensured someone that they would go to heaven. Martin Luther’s 95 Theses on the Power of Indulgences …show more content…
The rise new monarchs who were powerful and established their absolute rule, contributed to the Reformation. A number of monarchs including Henry VIII considered the presence of a powerful church as a check on their authority since in many ways outside the King's authority and the property of the church was excused from royal taxation. Bishops still directed justice in church in agreement with the Canon Law. The flow of enormous amounts of money from the revenues of the country to the Papal treasury was also opposed by them. There was a weakened ability of rulers to influence events or resist the Papal demands for money. Rulers wanted to master their own territory; rulers used their power to the form of religion that was to be followed. Socio-religious radicalism was reduced in areas that adopted Anglican, Lutheran, Calvinist, or Roman Catholic churches. They established Protestant churches in their country knowing that the new church would be dependent upon them and willing to accept their political
Question 2: In the 17th and 18th centuries, the absolute monarchy was all the rage throughout the European continent; to consolidate and increase their power, various absolute monarchs shared a bunch of similar methods. First, most of the absolute monarchs tried to control every aspect of his/her people's life, including social, political, and economic aspects. For instance, Elizabeth I of England had decided the religion of the country, and claimed that no law could be passed without her consent; she also executed her own cousin, due to his disloyalty to her. Second, the Church often played a pivotal role within the societies of the time, because the absolute monarchs usually used religion as a tool to control the people.
The Protestant Reformation was a cultural and political change that splintered the Catholic Church in Europe. Reformers like Martin Luther, John Calvin, and Henry VIII challenged papal authority and questioned the Catholic Church’s ability to define Christian practice. The person that had the most responsibility for this rebellion is Martin Luther. People agreed with his beliefs against the catholic church and they followed him. The Protestant Reformation affected people a lot by either unifying them or dividing them.
The religious reforms stirred up extreme religious thoughts and made people rely on their religion for answers. The religious leaders and reformers urged their followers to persecute witches and support the witch-hunt. One such leader was Pope Innocent VIII, the pope in 1484. Pope Innocent VIII said that people who do not believe in the Catholic faith are “giving themselves over to the devil” and that these “fallen souls” should be imprisoned and punished (Doc 3). As pope, he would mostly want to look good in front of his people especially to attract followers back to Catholicism.
In the years of 1509 through 1547 England was changing drastically due to their ruler King Henry VIII. There was dived in England between Protestant against Catholics. At this time in England the Catholic Church was the supreme religious authority meaning it controlled everything. Kings were only allowing to rule with the blessing from the Pope. Rulers were also not allowed to make drastic decisions without the counsel of the Church.
Religion was more powerful than the government in the time period 1000-1500 AD / CE because everything revolved around the church. From the people's income to the people who rule your country was based on if the church supports them. The political, economic, and religious aspects of the middle ages were mainly based on the church Religion was more powerful than the government in 1000-1500 AD / CE for a multitude of reasons but the political aspects are very interesting. The Catholic Church was the only church in Europe in the early middle ages. The Catholic Church is the largest Christian Church ever and has baptized over 1.3 billion people.
The influence of religion during the Reformation was a manifestation of the conflict of criticism toward the Catholic Church that shaped the events of the age. Although the peasants were primarily motivated towards economic and political justice, the Reformation introduced the German peasants to independent ideas and generated a movement against the nobility, as well as tying into the countermovement of the German peasant revolts of 1524 and 1525. Instead of seeking refuge in feudal authority, the peasants of Germany reflected religious ideas in their revolution by appealing to God’s authority. As the hold of the church's influence over society declined from the conflict of the Reformation, the leaders of the revolts optimized the growing animosity to generate support for the revolts. Correspondingly, religion expressed the
Starting in 1517, there was a schism between people and their minds. These people fought for what they believed no matter how similar or how different, however, the battles fought between the factions were justified by any means necessary. The battles took great tolls on both sides, over fifty million people were killed. This discrepancy in belief was called the Protestant Reformation, started by Martin Luther. The main two factions of the Reformation were the Protestants and the Papacy; the Papacy having the backing of Spain and all of the corrupt rulers that wanted power and Martin Luther and his Protestants having the backing of princes and rulers looking for opportunity in political and financial front, though some of Luther’s backers did
Jeramie Jones Dr. Hermann History 101 Right before the 16th century, there were huge changes in the way people started to think. One major movement that influenced this was the wave of humanist thought, which understood the importance of the study of classical text to emphasize a larger value of the individual, to which the Protestant Reformation owed a lot to. This basis of thought is a huge reason people began to critique the teachings of, and even question the theological foundation of the Catholic Church. The main reason for which religion was so divisive in the 16th century was that people finally began to think for themselves. Despite Roman Catholicism being the dominant in Europe all before the 16th century, a new wave of Protestantism
Historians argue that there were many causes of the Protestant Reformation, but there was one main issue that instigated its formation. Economically, resentment of the Church’s wealth and taxes influenced the drive for reformation and particularly, other European leaders. In the same respect, the Church’s growing political authority and push for power troubled such leaders. Despite the perceived supreme power of the Church in Europe, the religious affairs and corruption amongst the Church’s leaders were more important causes of the reformation. An increased disdain and mistrust of the Church dominated the opinion of the public and further supported the idea of reformation.
During the late 15th and early 16th centuries, the countries of Europe began to develop a rift. This was caused by a movement known as the Reformation. The Reformation was jump-started by the posting of Martin Luther’s 95 Theses. Luther urged for the reform of the Catholic Church and its ideas. The proponents of his reform convinced many of the common people to reconsider the foundations of their religious beliefs, as well as the structures of their communities.
The Protestant Reformation had a huge impact in all Europe in the sixteen century, but which ones were the factors that lead to it? It is very important to highlight that the European Christianity was falling into a noticeable corruption of its popes and some other high position members. Robbery, and even warriors were among of some factors that took the Cristian Church to a declining path. One of these examples was the Pope Julius II, which one won the nickname “the warrior pope” because he led armies against people. Furthermore, the church was not the only factor promoting this reformation, some other social changes were occurring with the masses in Europe; many of the peasants were being free especially in the western Europe.
Protestant Reformation Protestant Reformation was a European Christian movement. This movement, led by Martin Luther reformed the Roman Catholic Church practices and begin Protestantism. The reformation started because of the corruption of Roman Catholic Church. The corruption that begin the protestant reformation was phony relics and indulgences. The church priests would sell these relics to poor people knowing that they were fake and build on lies only to make money for the church.
The Protestant Reformation began with a movement made by a monk simply to criticize and challenge the actions of the Church. From the disapproval of selling indulgence to the demand of equality, multiple forces have sparked the inception of the Protestant Revolution. Martin Luther’s decision to take public stand against the Church was revolutionary to the society. A movement for religious reforms, known as the Protestant Reformation, was born. Luther’s beliefs were soon adopted by and appealed to every levels of society.
Further, some of these radicals wanted a totally self-governing church, free of government interference.” Also they believed that the decisions of the church should be solely with the Church and eliminate the hierarchical system, and because of these things and many more helped the spread this religion and why it gained such a following so quickly. The many reasons that led to the Protestant Reformation. Some of the main reasons were of a political, economic and social.
he Catholic church had major authority in England during the reformation. The Pope had more power than a spiritual leader would normally have, but the people were accustomed to this. No one questioned the authority, practices, or teachings of the church. Things had been like this for a long time and the people had fallen into a routine.