DBQ2013REFORMATION

Wren Palmer
Mr. Bankert
AP European History
DBQ: Reformation 2013 #1
In early Europe, majority of the states had a system in which a ruler supported an established church. Somewhere along the way, few states began to wander from the Catholic Church. As a result, the Protestant Reformation began. Soon enough, beliefs were changing and the Catholic Church grew weaker. At this point in time, there were those that tolerated religions and those that didn’t.
As pre-determined, any religious principles in the Reformation were to be tolerated. As written in (Doc1) this piece of writing Concerning Heretics presents the religious anarchy ad chaos to destroy religions. Also, (Doc4) presents the contract between the Catholic Church and the municipal council in Saxon. It describes the struggles of the Lutherans in their ways of singing and being present in sermons. It goes into further detail to proclaim that the Catholic Church schedule must not be interfered with or pushed back whatsoever. In (Doc9), the contract between Franciscan Friar Egidius de Glabbais and the Committee of Regents of the city of Amsterdam authorized the opening of a new Catholic Church in 1691. In further detail, it describes how the entrance must for church sermons and such must be moved from the main street to an alleyway so it is less offensive. All objects, like a rosary, must not be apparent, otherwise offense is taken. This was meant to ensure Parliament would not take offense to the Catholic Church.
In (Doc11), Voltaire’s piece of writing, Letters Concerning the English Nation uses the representatives of nations to focus on religious aspects where the Presbyterian Church was presented as excessively strict and sour. Voltaire suggests different outcomes of a society regarding the number of religions tolerated. The only one to be considered extreme dystopia contains only one religion. On the other hand, the utopia contains multiple religions for peace and harmony.
Those against religious toleration are as follows. (Doc3) regards Christian love from Synod of Middleburg, in a Calvinist Church Council in the Netherlands. It states that God doesn’t have to tolerate every individual in his disbelief without speaking against it. Then, in (Doc7), Paul Hay du Chastelet, a French Catholic aristocrat and political writer, presented that unity of belief binds men together; thus against the religious toleration and diversity. Also, in (Doc8), King Louis XIV provides the forbidding his subjects of the Protestant Religion. Those who chose not to convert to Catholicism had a two week period to show themselves out of the kingdom. Despite potential endangerment of his kingdom’s economy, King Louis XIV was sure of the decision to shun those non-Catholic.
As presented, majority of the states were led by a ruler that supported a religion. As states began to drift from the Catholic Church the reformation sparked. Then, beliefs all over were changing and the Catholic Church weakened greatly. In conclusion, the reformation brought on two types of living conditions, one where religions were tolerated and the other where it wasn’t.