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Protestant Reformation occurred at time of conflict between emerging nation-states wanting to control all areas in their realm, and the self-governing towns traditionally running their own affairs B. Social and Political Conflict a. Reformation broke out first in fee imperial cities of Germany and Switzerland i. About 65 free imperial cities, each their own small kingdom ii. Most had Protestant movements, not all were successful iii. Certain groups favored the Reformation more than others 1. Guilds were the forefront of the reformation a. Guilds with history of opposition to governmental authority also stood out among early Protestant supporters C. Popular Religious Movements and Criticism of the Church a. Protestant Reformation could not have occurred without challenges to medieval church i. Great Schism ii. Conciliar Period iii. Renaissance Papacy b. Growing of lay criticism of church i. Laypeople increasingly knowledgeable about world around them ii. New age of books and libraries raised literacy and heightened curiosity iii. From Albigensians, Waldensians, Beguines, and Beghards in 13 th century to the Lollards and Hussites in 15th century, lay religious movements shared the goal of religious simplicity 1. A simple religion of love and self-sacrifice like that of Jesus 2. Laity sought a more egalitarian church c. Brothers of Common life or Modern Devotion i. Kind of boarding school for reform-minded laity 1. The brothers fostered religious life outside church offices 2. Centered at Zwolle and Deventer in the Netherlands 3. Spread rapidly throughout northern Europe 4. Stressed individual piety and practical religion 5. Brothers were also educators, copyists, ran hospices, and conducted schools for the young a. Many famous Humanists such as Erasmus were looked after by these brothers ii. Modern Devotion has been seen as source of humanist, Protestant, and Catholic reform movements d. Lay Control over Religious Life i. Before the Reformation, Romes international network of church offices was falling apart 1. Collapse hurried along by growing sense of regional identity 2. Hurried by increasingly competent local secular administration ii. Communities protested financial and spiritual abuses of medieval church 1. Sale of indulgences 2. Selling of Church offices D. Martin Luther and German Reformation to 1525 a. Late medieval Germany lacked political unity to enforce national religious reforms, causing a limitation on pap jurisdiction in the area b. Luthers Early Life i. Was educated in Mansfeld Magdeburg here Brothers of Common Life had been his teachers ii. Attended University of Erfurt, and registered with law faculty in order to please his parents 1. Never actually studied law, instead entered Order of the Hermits of Saint Augustine in Erfurt iii. Traveled to Rome on business, finding that all criticisms of the church he had heard in Germany had been true iv. Moved to Wittenberg, and became leader within the monastery E. Justification by Faith Alone a. He concluded that all ho believe in and trust Jesus Christ could attain salvation, and that good deeds should be done out of the good of ones heart i. Medieval church had always taught that salvation was a combination of divine mercy and good works

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Attack on Indulgences a. Indulgences originally given to Crusaders who could not complete penances because they had fallen in battle b. By Luthers time, indulgences were regularly dispensed for a small cash payment c. When Luther posted his 95 theses against indulgences on the Castle Church of Wittenberg, he protested the idea that indulgences remitted sins and released unrepentant sinners from purgatory Election of Charles V a. Luthers 95 theses were embraced by Nuremberg humanists, who circulated them making Luther a central figure b. He was summoned before general of the Dominican order to answer for his criticism i. Emperor Maximilian I died 1. Shifted focus from Luther onto find the next emperor a. Charles successfully succeeded his grandfather Maximilian as the next emperor Luthers Excommunication and the Diet of Worms a. During a debate, Luther challenged the infallibility of the pope, and supported and defended the teachings of John Huss, who had been executed for heresy b. Luther began in his new direction with 3 famous pamphlets i. The address to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation, which urged German princes to force reforms on the Roman church, especially to curtail its political and economic power ii. The Babylonian Captivity of the Church, which attacked the traditional seven sacraments, arguing that only two of the sacraments, baptism and the Eucharist, were biblical iii. The Freedom of a Christian, which summarized the teaching of salvation by faith alone c. Luther was then condemned in1520 by the papal bull Exsurge Domine, and gave him sixty days to retract i. Luther presented his views about a year later before the Diet of Worms 1. They told him to recant, but he refused to do say, and was placed under imperial ban a. His friends hid him in Wartburg Castle where he spent a year translating the New Testament into German Imperial Distractions: War with France and the Turks a. Reformation benefited from the fact that the emperor was at war with France and had to deal with the advance of the Ottoman Turks into eastern Europe b. Because of the emperors being preoccupied, he agreed through his representatives at the German Diet of Speyer, that each German territory was free to enforce the Edict of Worms against Luther How the Reformation Spread a. By the late 1520s and 1530s the Reformation had fallen into the firm hands of magistrates and princes, where they quickly mandated new religious reforms b. German princes formed the Shmaldkaldic League, a defensive alliance of Protestant princes, who prepared for war with the Catholic Emperor The Peasants Revolt a. Revolt of peasants who saw Luthers teachings close to their own, and invoked Luthers name when they revolted b. The Protestants saw no hope for their movement if it was intertwined with a peasant revolt c. Luther condemned the peasants as un-Christian and urged the princes to crush the rebellion i. Estimated that 70,000-100,000 died by the time the revolt was suppressed The Reformation Elsewhere a. Switzerland and France had their own independent church reform movements Zwingli and the Swiss Reformation a. Switzerland was a loose confederacy of thirteen states b. Two main preconditions of Swiss Reformation i. The growth of national sentiment occasioned by popular opposition to foreign mercenary service ii. A desire for church reform that had persisted in Switzerland since the early 1400s c. Ulrich Zwingli was the leader of the Swiss reformation i. Was humanistically educated ii. Credited Erasmus over Luther iii. He was widely known for his opposition to the sale of indulgences by 1518

iv. Zwingli believed that anything that lacked literal support in the Scripture was to be neither believed nor practiced v. Landgrave Philip sought to unite Swiss and German Protestant, but Zwingli and Luther could not agree on the Eucharist 1. Zwingli believed in a spiritual interpretation 2. Luther believed in both spiritual and bodily interpretation d. Swiss states began to divide between Catholicism and Protestantism i. Led to civil war 1. First battle ended in a Protestant victory 2. Second battle was lost, and Zwingli was wounded, discovered, and then executed a. His protg, and later son-in-law would eventually become the new leader of the Swiss Reformation eventually merging it with Calvinism N. Anabaptists and Radical Protestants a. Several radical groups began to emerge, most of which were former discontented followers of Luther and Zwingli i. They accused the reform movements having only gone halfway 1. Anabaptists were one of these radical groups, and were distinguished by their rejection of infant baptism, and their insistence on only adult baptism a. The Anabaptists began with Conrad Grebel, who performed the first adult rebaptism i. Was a co-worker of Zwinglis b. The Schleitheim Confession distinguished Anabaptists not only by their practice of adult baptism, but also by their refusal to swear oaths, and non participation from the established society to form a perfect communion modeled on the first Christians c. The Anabaptists began to come into power in the city of Munster,, where they forced Lutherans and Catholics in the city to either convert or emigrate d. They were later crushed by the Protestant and Catholic armies, but have still survived to this day 2. Another group of radicals where the Spiritualists a. Believed the only religious authority was the Spirit of God, and spoke through the hearts and minds of every listening individual 3. Another group were the Antitrinitarians a. Were the strongest opponents of Calvinism, especially its belief in original sin and predestination O. John Calvin and the Genevan Reformation a. Calvinism replaced Lutheranism as dominant Protestant force in Europe by the second half of the 16 th century b. Calvinists believed strongly in both divine predestination and the individuals r esponsibility to reorder society according to Gods plan c. John Calvin was a son of the secretary of the bishop of Noyon, and received benefices to fund the best possible education i. He would later surrender the benefices and join the Reformation in Geneva d. The Genevans revolted against their prince-bishop, and the city council assumed his duties i. Two Protestant reformers were then sent to Geneva, and convinced the Genevans to officially adopt the reformation 1. Calvin would arrive shortly after, after being persuaded to stay 2. Calvin began making too many changes to quickly a. Their Protestant ally Bern requested that they restore traditional ceremonies that had been abolished by Calvin i. Calvin refused and was exiled 3. Calvin was invited back, and when he did, the Geneven Church organized itself into four offices; pastors, teachers/doctors, elders, and deacons 4. Predestination was the center of Calvinist teachings 5. Geneva soon became a home to thousands of exiled Protestants who had been driven out of France, England, and Scotland

6. Geneva also gained reputation as womans paradise P. Political Consolidation of the Lutheran Reformation a. The Reformation by 1530 had gained a powerful foothold, and had huge influence Q. Diet of Ausburg a. Charles V would return to the empire to direct the Diet of Augsburg i. It ended with an order for all Lutherans to revert back 1. The reformation was too firmly established for this to occur 2. The Lutherans responded with the Shmalkaldic Leauge, using the Augsburg Confession as their banner a. Luther would then write a more strongly worded Protestant confession known as the Schmalkaldic Articles b. They were able to achieve a stalemate with the emperor who was again disctracted by the French and the Turks R. Reaction Against Protestants a. Charles made efforts to enforce a compromise, and turned to a military solution i. The protestants were defeated, but they were granted clerical marriage and communion of bread and wine ii. Many Protestant Leaders went into exile S. The Peace of Augsburg a. The reformation was too influential to be ended even with force b. Charles was confronted with fierce resistance, and the emperor was forced to relent c. The Peace of Augsburg in September 1555 allowed the ruler of a land to determine its relgigion T. The English Reformation to 1553 U. The Preconditions of Reform a. Future reformers met in Cambridge to disscuss Lutheran writings smuggled into England i. William Tyndale: Translated the New Testament into English ii. Thomas Wolsey: Chief minister of King Henry VIII V. The Kings Affair a. He married his brothers wife after his death, and had to be approved by the pope b. His wife gave him no sons and believed him to be cursed c. The pope refused to anull the marriage, and Henry was advised not to declare the king supreme in English spiritual affairs W. The Reformation Parliament a. Henry is recognized as head of the church in England in 1532 b. Parliament passed the Submission of the Clergy, placing canon law under royal control and thereby the clergy under royal jurisdiction c. Henry then wed Anne Boleyn d. Act of Succession made Anne Boleyns children legitimate heirs to the throne e. Act of Supremacy made Henry the only supreme head in earth of the Church of England i. Thomas More and John Fisher refused to accept the Acts, and were executed X. Wives of Henry VIII a. Anne Boleyn was executed for alleged treason and adultery b. Jane Seymour his third wife died after giving birth to Edward VI c. Henry was then to wed Anne of Cleves (blind date), the marriage was annulled, and Cromwell executed d. His fifth wife Catherine Howard was beheaded for adultery e. Catherine Parr was his last wife Y. The Kings Religious Conservatism a. Henry remained conservative in his religious beliefs b. The Ten Articles of 1536 had only mild concessions the Protestants tenets c. Catholic doctrine was maintained d. Clergy was forbidden to marry

The Six Articles of 1539 reaffirmed transubstantiation, denied the Eucharist cup to the laity, declared celibate vows inviolable, provided for private Masses, and ordered continuation of oral confession Z. Protestant Reformation Under Edward VI a. More Protestant influences b. Laws against Protestant heresy repealed, clerical marriage and communion with cup were sanctioned c. However these changes were short-lived as Mary I succeeded Edward, and restored Catholic doctrine and practice AA. Catholic Reform and Counter-Reformation a. Counter-Reformation was in reaction to Protestant successes BB. Sources of Catholic Reform a. Many new religious orders in the 16th century i. Theatines: to groom devout and reform-minded leaders at the higher levels of the church hierarchy ii. Capuchins: Sought to return to original ideals of Saint Francis and became popular among the ordinary people iii. Somaschi: Became active mid-1520s iv. Barnabites: Worked to repair moral, spiritual, and physical damage done to people in the war-torn Italy v. Ursulines: Established convents in Italy and France for the religious education of girls from all social classes vi. Oratorians: Elite group of clerics devoted to promotion of religious literature and church music CC. Ignatius of Loyola and the Jesuits a. Founder was Ignatius Loyola, was a soldier, and was so inspired by the heroic deeds of the saints he too wanted to serve as a soldier of Christ i. Wrote the Spiritual Exercises, which was a devotional guide containing mental and emotional exercises designed to teach absolute spiritual self-mastery over ones feelings, and was to be carried out over a 24-30 day period b. Jesuits saw Protestants as disobedient by distinguishing themselves c. Loyola taught to completely submit to the higher church authority DD. Council of Trent a. The success of the Reformation forced Pope Paul III to call a council of the church to reassert church doctrine b. They met in 1545 in Trent in northern Italy i. There were 3 sessions over 18 years c. The most important reforms were to stop the selling of indulgences, the selling of church offices, to force the bishops to move to the areas of their jurisdiction, local bishops were given more authority, and better education for the clergy d. The seven sacraments did not change; neither did the withholding of the Eucharist cup from laity, clerical celibacy, and purgatory, the veneration of saints, relics, and sacred images. Also the Catholic Church had the final say on all interpretation on scriptures

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