The Protestant Reformation Outline

The Protestant Reformation
(1450-1565)

(1) England
 Notion of the

Renaissance Prince
 Recent War of the
Roses created a sense of political instability for the
Tudor dynasty
--Henry VIII
 The significance of a male heir to the
Tudors

B. England
 Henry VIII’s marriage to

Catherine of Aragon
 Henry seeks an annulment  Henry creates the Church of England and establishes his own supremacy over it
 A “political reformation” only at first

John Calvin (1509-1564)
 More of a scholar

than Luther
 More of a systematic thinker than Luther
 Calvin’s Institutes
(1536)
 Early legal training
 Clear-cut moral directives for living
 Relied on Scripture and Augustine primarily for his ideas

(2) Teaching
 Predestination
 The right of
rebellion

--English Civil War
 More of a stress on works than Luther
 Divine calling to all sorts of vocations
 The “invisibility” of the
True Church
 Government serves the
Church
--Michael Servetus
 Just war position
 Calvin’s positions on communion and baptism

E. Other Parts of Western Europe
 No Protestant inroads

into Spain or Italy
 Protestantism succeeded only where it was urban and supported initially by the nobility
 After 1540, no new
Protestant territories outside of the
Netherlands
 Most powerful European nations were Catholic
 Protestants were feuding with each other

The Counter Reformation
The Church had two tactics:
 Reform the Church from
Within

 Stop the Spread of

Protestantism

Council of Trent

Water Torture during the Inquisition

Early Reformers
 Girolamo Savonarola


Monk who tried to change the church from within. “Bonfire of the Vanities”


Excommunicated and
Executed in Florence.

Reform Within the Church
 The Council of Trent (1545-1563)




Purpose: The Church held three meetings to discuss reform AND define dogma (official teachings)
Some areas were actually reformed






Called for the education of priests
Improved discipline and administration among the clergy
Indulgences got banned after the Council finished its meetings

But many teachings were not changed, and were instead reinforced; the ideas of the Protestants were rejected






You need faith AND good works to achieve salvation
7 sacraments, not just 2
Bible is written in Latin, not the vernacular language
Pope is supreme leader
Man has free will (your fate is NOT predestined)

Reform Within the Church
 The Council helped revitalize the Catholic Church, as

did the creation of new Catholic groups
 These new religious orders were created to focus on performing charity and good works
 This reaffirmed the Catholic tradition that one needed more than just faith to be saved




Lived among the poor and sick
Strengthened rural parishes
Encouraged pious and simple living

Stopping the Spread of Protestantism
 The Church also tried to prove that it was still a

powerful institution, just like it had been in the Middle
Ages
 It continued to stress its orthodox teachings during the Counter-Reformation, and was usually very intolerant of different ways of thinking.
 The Church also took measures to reassert its authority in the following ways:




The Jesuits
The Inquisition
The Index of Prohibited Books

Stopping the Spread of Protestantism
 The Society of Jesus: The Jesuits

A religious group founded by Ignatius Loyola in 1540
 Promoted education
 Famous for missionary work
 Strived to gain political influence


Countered the populist Protestant
Reformation by working top-down and counseling kings and princes




Also a bit fanatical in their devotion…

Stopping the Spread of Protestantism
 Index (List) of Banned Books

Created in 1559 by the Pope
 Purpose was to prevent heresy (make sure you know what this word means) and ensure books were morally correct
 Banned both Protestant literature and texts by some intellectuals, like Erasmus


Stopping the Spread of Protestantism
 The Inquisition


Why?




When?




General purpose was to discover heretics (mostly Jews and Muslims, but also Protestants), reinforce Catholic doctrine, and prove the power of the
Church
1400s-1800s

Where?
Mostly Spain and Italy
 Different variations took place across Europe, but it was most notorious in Spain




How?
The accused were put on trial and were guilty until proven innocent…
 Torture was used to elicit confessions 

Stopping the Spread of Protestantism
The Inquisition often used the Auto-dafe: “Act of Faith”, a public trial that was usually followed by torture or execution

VI. Results of the Reformation
 Germany was politically

weakened and fragmented  Christian Church was splintered in the West
 100 Years of Religious
Warfare
 Right of Rebellion introduced by both
Jesuits and Calvinists
 Pope’s power increased
 Furthered societal individualism and secularism  Growing doubt and religious skepticism

VI. Results of Reformation (cont)
 Political stability valued

over religious truth
 Calvinism boosted the commercial revolution
 Witch craze swept
Europe in the 1600’s
--Between 1561-1670,
3000 people in
Germany, 9000 people in Switzerland and
1000 people in England were executed as witches  Possible reasons for this witchcraft craze