Events Of The Middle Ages: The Protestant Reformation

After the Middle Ages, a religious reformation that traveled through Europe occurred. This religious reformation is known as the Protestant Reformation. Many events happened during the Middle Ages that led to the Protestant Reformation. Some of these events were the Catholic church, Martin Luther, and the printing press. These three events had a large enough effect that they were a big cause of the reformation. Many people dislike the Catholic Church’s traditions. A big reason for this was because people were skeptical of the church and all the authority it had gained. After all, the church had gained a suffocating amount of authority after the Great Schism and the Black Death. Corruption quickly followed after the authority gained control.
A big step that led toward the Protestant Reformation was the Catholic Church. The Augustinian monk, Martin Luther, had strong beliefs toward the priests and pope. He believed he "had special powers"(ck-12), referring to the indulgences the pope and priests offered. Indulgences are "pardons from punishment for committing a sin, allowing the sinner to enter Heaven"(cf. 12). The church used indulgences for a large income which they used to build St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. Since he didn't believe in the indulgences, to put it to a stop he posted the Ninety-Five Theses, not on Instagram, but onto a church door. The thesis was basically "[Challenging] the [Pope's] right to sell indulgences"(ck-12). The thesis was made to reform the church into a better, equal place. The three main ideas his thesis relied upon were the fact people should be saved only by God's forgiveness, Church teachings were not to be taught by 'traditions' and instead by the bible, and the bible should be interpreted and read within people themselves and not just the priest. This angered the Pope and he was declared an outlaw, he then was sheltered by a prince who supported him and his