Indulgences During The Reformation

The Reformation was an uprising to restore and reform the Roman Catholic Church in order to become aligned with scripture instead of tradition. During this time, the Catholic Church was full of scandals and power-hungry clergy looking to gain wealth by exploiting the people. One of these methods is in the form of indulgences. Our history book defines indulgences as “a way to reduce or even cancel the time after death during which people need to suffer in purgatory to atone for their sins before reaching heaven” (page 158). However, in order to receive one of these indulgences, the people had to buy it from the Church. In 1517, Martin Luther realized the fraud of indulgences, wrote the 95 Theses, and then nailed it to the church in Wittenburg.
The kings of nations used this fracture in religious ideas to break away from the Catholic Church. The English Parliament passed the Act of Supremacy in 1534. This established the Church of England. There were many wars about which religion should be the dominant religion. Like in France in 1572, there was bloodshed between Huguenots and Catholics. It eventually ended because of assassinations, killing many high-ranking Huhuenots. The slave trade was one of the most devastating events to occur in history. According to our book, about “12 million Africans” crossed the Atlantic and around “2 million people died on the voyages” (page 187). The trade was done in a triangular shape, thus naming the slave trade the triangular trade. Europeans would bring goods like sugar and guns to sell to the African slave traders in exchange for slaves to send across to the Americas. This section of travel is called the Middle Passage and it is the most dangerous. Then the slaves would get dropped off and work at tobacco plantations, sugar cane plantations, and so many other farms. The product would be refined and sent back to Europe where they would sell it domestically and to other