Major Causes And Consequences Of The Protestant Reformation

Identify and account for the major causes and consequences of the Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation of 15171 was the schism within Western Christianity initiated by the actions of a group of reformers; John Wycliffe, Jan Hus, John Calvin and Martin Luther. Martin Luther is one of the most well-known reformers as he nailed 95 Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany to bring attention to the fact that the Roman Catholic Church was corrupt. Many controversies arose because the theses were highly critical of the Roman Catholic Church and the Pope. The main focuses of the theses were on; the selling of indulgences. Martin Luther’s book To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation was also another cause
Years prior to the beginning of the Reformation there had been numerous attempts to reform the Roman Catholic Church however their efforts were diminished by the Inquisition but the writings in this book bought more attention to the deceit and corrupt world of the Roman Catholics. The Christians in Germany “are now oppressed by distress and affliction”4. Martin also criticised and attacked what he regarded as the “three walls” of the Romanists. These are; 1. That the secular force, which Martin writes are the princes, lords, artisans and farm-workers have no jurisdiction over the Romanists 2. No one but the Pope was competent to expound scripture and that Romanists can be the only interpreters of the Scripture 3. When the Romanists were threatened with a council they pretended that no one but the Pope could summon a council “proposals have often been made at councils, but have been cunningly deferred by the guile of certain men” and “matters have gone from bad to worse.”5 From these “three walls” Luther criticises the Romanists for being superficial and weak “they cannot quote a single letter of Scripture to support their claim.”6 and he proposes to expose them for who they really are. He criticises them for turning a blind eye and being
This set in motion events that would have great effect in future years. The Protestants established a religion called Protestantism and as a result of this many other factions were formed such as Calvinism, after John Calvin, Lutheranism, after Martin Luther and many more smaller religions were formed. Although the Reformation began in Germany it became such a worldwide movement in countries such as England, Spain and Italy which affected all those who lived there in one way or another. Many questioned their faith and the authority of the Roman Catholic Church which made the divide between the Catholic Church and Protestants more prominent leading to numerous conversions from Catholicism to Protestantism. This split mainly affected England as in the reign of the Tudors from Henry VIII to James IV there would be complications on which religion would dominate the country and this would lead to many feuds and deaths over two religions. Queen Mary I of England, also known as ‘Bloody Mary’ was a devout Catholic and she sought to punish all those who were Protestants. Great strife was struck amongst those who were Protestants and she instilled fear among all citizens in England. However this is in great contrast to Queen Elizabeth I of England, who opposed the Catholic religion and made the main religion in England Protestantism. During the reign of the