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Mayer- World History - Protestant Reformation
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What? • The Protestant Reformation is a movement in Europe during Renaissance times to reform and fix the abuses and corruption in the Christian Church. • Where? • The Protestant Reformation takes place in Europe, and is centered around Germany and France. • When? • It begins in the late 1400’s and continues into the 1600’s. • Who? • Millions of Christians in Europe are involved in the Reformation. All Christians are forced to choose a side in the split.
Word Wall reform indulgences excommunication heretics indulgences Protestant schism infallible papal
Learning Goal • Students will be able to identify major problems and criticisms of the medieval Christian Church.
Problems with the Christian Church • During medieval times, the Christian Church is the largest, most powerful group in Europe. Almost 100% of Europeans are Christian, and the Church has more money, land, and power than any country. • Because of this power, and because there is no one to challenge their dominance, over time the Christian Church begins to become corrupt.
Papal Corruption • The leader of all Christians, the Pope, is the most powerful position in Europe and the office of Pope begins to be overrun by wealthy politicians who have no interest in religious matters. • From around 900 AD until 1500, the office of pope was often given to the Italian leaders who could pay the highest bribe. Several popes were murdered by rivals who wanted the position. Many popes had wives, mistresses, and illegitimate children. During this time the land around Rome was formed into a kingdom, ruled by the Pope, and several popes raised armies and went to war with other Italian cities for land and power.
The Inquisition • To help ensure their power and crush any resistance to the Christian Church, the Pope creates a council called the Inquisition to find and destroy any opposition. • The Inquisition is created to hunt down heretics; non-believers like Jews, Muslims, devil-worshippers, and witches. In reality, the Inquisition is used hunt down ANYONE who opposes the Church. The Inquisition was used to silence critics, scientists who went against Church teachings, writers who wrote about topics unsuitable to the church. • The Inquisition used extreme measures. People could be arrested with no proof, tortured until they confessed, and then executed with no trial. They could also be publically humiliated, jailed for any amount of time the Church decided, and excommunicated. Soon, the Inquisition becomes the Church’s own secret police force that answers only to the Pope.
The Great Schism • The Pope in Rome and many other powerful bishops had argued for many years over who was the true leaders of all Christians. In 1054, the Pope attempted to force the most powerful of his rivals, the Bishop of Constantinople, to sign documents accepting the Pope as the one, true leader of the Christian Church. • When the Bishop of Constantinople refuses, the Pope excommunicates him and declares him to be a heretic. In return, the Bishop declares independence from the Pope and forms a new Christian church which becomes the Eastern Orthodox Church. • This basically splits all Christians in half; with the European Christians remaining loyal to the new Catholic Church in Rome and the Byzantine, Russian, and Middle Eastern Christians swearing loyalty to the new Eastern Orthodox Church in Constantinople.
The Crusades • From 1096 to 1202, the Catholic Church raises armies of Christians to retake the Holy Land from the Muslims. Christian Crusaders slaughter hundreds of thousands of Muslims during their quest to retake the Holy Land. • Although they fail, the brutality they show to Muslims, Jews, and even other Christians in the Holy Land greatly damages the reputation of the Catholic Church and the Pope.
Painting of the Massacre of Acre, where Crusaders murdered 3,000 Muslim prisoners, including women and children.
The Western Schism • The Pope(Benedict VIII) and the King of France(Phillip VI) argue over whether the king has the right to collect taxes from Catholic Churches in France. The king needs money to pay for wars against his enemies, but the pope refuses to allow him to tax churches. • Phillip decides to tax the churches anyway, and in return the Pope excommunicates him. Enraged at the Pope’s interference Phillip marches an army to Rome to capture the Pope. Boniface goes into hiding and Phillip forces the remaining clergy to elect a new, French pope of his choosing. • Phillip and his new pope then return to France and set up a new Catholic Church in Avignon. Phillip declares his pope to be the new, true pope of the Church; although he takes orders from the King of France.
The Western Schism • However, once Phillip leaves Rome, the Church elects a new Italian pope and declares him to be the true Pope. The two popes immediately begin fighting each other: calling each other liars and the Anti-Christ, excommunicating each other, calling for their followers to ignore the other pope. This is one the most embarrassing times in the Catholic Church’s history, and causes many Catholics to lose faith in the Pope and his leadership. • According to the Catholic Church, the Pope is God’s voice on Earth and is infallible, but this exposes the Pope as just another corrupt Church official. • This two-pope mess continues until 1417, when both sides finally meet and elect a new pope which they both can agree on, but the damage to the Church’s reputation in done.
The Black Death • In 1347 The Black Death hits Europe. The Black Death, or the bubonic plague, is carried to Europe on fleas, carried by rats, from Asia that are carried on merchant ships to Italy. From there it spreads to all of Europe within 5 years. The population of Europe is cut in half, 38-40 million people die. There are so many dead the bodies are left in the street without being buried. • Most Christians see the plague as punishment from God. They turn to their church leaders for salvation. However, no matter what they order their followers to do, church leaders are unable to stop the plague. • Fearing for their own lives many priests and church officials actually abandon their people and go into hiding to save themselves from the plague. Being abandoned by the Church like this angers many people and people’s feelings towards the Catholic Church really begin to decline.
Indulgences • One of the worst forms of corruption in the Catholic Church was the selling of indulgences. Indulgences began in the 500’s. Christians could receive forgiveness for some or all of their sins for providing good deeds towards the church; such as converting others to Christianity, taking care of the sick or poor, or contributing to the Church. • However, around the year 800, the Catholic Church began to use indulgences as a way to raise money for Church projects, such as wars and building churches. Catholic priests would travel the countryside offering to sign indulgences to anyone who would pay. Their more money you had, the more forgiveness you could buy. Some wealthy kings during medieval times were known to have piled up over 40,000 years worth of forgiveness. The Church even used indulgences to pay workers and artists who did work for the Church, instead of money.
“As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, from damnation the soul springs….” - John Tetzel (Famous sales pitch for selling indulgences)
Learning Scale 4 – I can identify all of the major problems and criticisms of the medieval Christian Church and can go into full detail regarding at least one of those issues. 3 – I can identify all of the major problems and criticisms of the medieval Christian Church. 2 – I can identify some of the major problems and criticisms of the medieval Christian Church. 1 – I can’t identify any of the major problems and criticisms of the medieval Christian Church.
The Reformation Begins • All of the abuses and corruption of the Church begins to boil over in the 1400’s. The philosophy of Humanism that begins in Italy in the 1300’s spreads north to the rest of Europe in the 14 and 1500’s. It’s influence inspires people to attempt to reform the Catholic Church. • Thousands of people protest the Church and it’s corruption. They refuse to pay their tithes, begin reading and preaching the bible to each other instead of attending church, and protest against Catholic practices. The Church responds by arresting and executing thousands through the Inquisition. • One of the most important men in this movement is an Dutch priest named Erasmus. Erasmus develops a philosophy called Christian Humanism. He believes that people are intelligent and reasonable, and that they do not need to follow strict church rituals to reach heaven.
The Reformation Begins • Erasmus preaches that belief in Jesus, a good Christian life, and faith in God are that people need to reach salvation. He writes letters asking the Pope to replace existing Church leaders and change the way the church operates. He believes the church should get rid of its old rituals and focus on preaching the proper way to live and provide an example of a good Christian life. • However, Erasmus does not believe that people should leave the Catholic Church or disobey the Pope. He preaches that the Church should be fixed from the inside. • The more the Church resists these reform movements and attacks them through the Inquisition, the more people join the movements. Rather than just address the problems, the Church tries to destroy it enemies, and simply creates more enemies. • By 1500, there is an open rebellion against the Catholic Church in many parts of Europe. People attack churches, arrest and execute corrupt priests, and loot and burn down Catholic Churches.
The Reformers • Many people attempt to reform the Catholic Church, but are unsuccessful. Instead, they are forced to break away from the Catholic Church and form new Christian churches, called Protestant churches. This causes another huge split in Christianity as people begin to leave the Catholic Church and form their own new churches.
Martin Luther • Martin Luther is a German monk and professor at the University of Wittenberg, in Germany. Through studying and teaching the Bible, Luther became concerned that the Catholic Church was misleading people and abusing their power to become wealthy. He was especially upset about the selling of indulgences. • Luther believed that people only needed faith in Jesus and to follow his teaching to reach heaven and salvation. In 1517, he posts this new idea along with his criticisms of the church to the door of his university in a letter called the “95 Theses”. Because he writes the letter in German common people are able to read it, and because of the spread of the printing press his ideas move quickly through Germany. • The pope and other Church leaders do not take Luther seriously, and ignore his requests, causing more and more people to flock to his teachings. This angers Luther and he finally decides the break away and form his own church, the Lutheran Church.
The Lutheran Church spreads quickly through Germany and is extremely popular because the churches are less strict, had less ceremonies and rituals, and focused more on preaching, reading the Bible for yourself, and community activities. By the 1540’s Luther has 2 – 3 million followers in Germany. • Eventually the Catholic Church realizes its mistake, but rather than try to make peace with Luther and his followers and bring them back into the Catholic Church by fixing their problems, the pope orders Luther to be arrested and executed. Luther is forced to go into hiding for the rest of his life and becomes a symbol of Catholic cruelty and oppression. This is the official beginning of what we call Protestantism. • Protestantism is any Christian Church that splits off from the Catholic Church in protest of Catholic Church abuses.
John Calvin • John Calvin is a French philosopher who admires and follows Martin Luther. He believes in Luther’s ideas and is even more extreme. Calvin preaches pre-destination; the belief that God has already chosen what will happen in your life and afterlife. • So, if your fate is already determined paying tithes and swearing loyalty to a church will not change that. Calvin preaches that Christians should focus on reading their Bible themselves to understand God, living a good life, and doing the most good possible while on Earth. • He soon publishes a book about his beliefs and breaks away from the Catholic Church to form his own church, the Calvinist Church. • After Martin Luther goes into hiding, Calvin becomes the most popular reformer. He sends out missionaries to preach his message and it becomes the official religion in Scotland, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and parts of France.
Henry VIII • Henry VIII is the King of England from 1509 – 1547. To form an alliance with Spain, Henry is forced to marry Catherine of Aragon, a Spanish princess. He cannot stand her and wants a divorce so he can marry one of his servant girls. But when he asks the Pope for a divorce, the pope refuses because the King of Spain is a major ally and gives lots of money to the Church. • Henry is outraged and takes advantage of the Protestant movement. In 1534 he outlaws the Catholic Church in England and creates a new church called the Church of England; or the Anglican Church. He confiscates Catholic Church land and money, kicks all Catholic Church leaders out of England, and persecutes Catholics who refuse to convert to his new church.
