REFORMATION 6-5.6 Explain the principal causes and key events of the Reformation, including conflicts....and figures……

Call for a change By the late Renaissance, people had begun to complain about problems in the Catholic Church. They called on its leaders to end corruption and focus on religion. Their calls led to a reform movement against the Roman Catholic Church called the Reformation.

Reformation: was born out of new thinking from the Renaissance Reformation: was born out of new thinking from the Renaissance. There was a call for the Roman Catholic Church to change. This was in 1517. It resulted in the creation of Protestant churches.

People felt that the clergy and the pope had become too political. The way the church raised money was also considered unfair. The sale of indulgences was unpopular. An indulgence was a document given by the pope that excused a person from penalties for sins he or she had committed. The idea that the church was letting people buy their way into heaven made Christians angry.

Martin Luther On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther added his name to list of people calling for reform. Luther nailed a list of complaints to the door of a church in Wittenberg. This list was called the Ninety-five Theses. The printing press allowed this list to be spread to neighboring states.

This upset many Catholics and Pope Leo X called him a heretic and had him excommunicated. Heretic : a church member who disagrees with official doctrine. He was ordered to appear before a diet, or council of nobles and church officials in the city of Worm. He was ordered to leave Germany and was helped into hiding. His ideas led to a split in the church.

Protestant : those who protested against the Roman Catholic Church The people who protested against the church became known as Protestants. Protestant : those who protested against the Roman Catholic Church

Luther’s Beliefs Luther thought that anyone could have a direct relationship with God. He did not believe that priests had to speak to God for the people. Beliefs should be based on the Bible, not interpreted by priests or the pope. Luther translated the Bible into German so that Europeans could read it for the first time.

John Calvin Predestination was one of Calvin’s main teachings. This was the idea that God knew who would be saved before they were even born. Nothing could change God’s plan, however it was important to live a good life and obey God’s laws.

Other Reformers William Tyndale believed everyone should be able to read and interpret the Bible. He translated the Bible into English, and the Catholic authorities had him executed. Henry VIII wanted to leave his marriage. The pope refused Henry’s request, so he left the Catholic Church and created his own church. The Church of England, or Anglican Church, was much like the Catholic Church, but it opened the door for other churches to form.

Catholic Reformation The effort to reform the Catholic Church from within is called the Catholic Reformation, or Counter-Reformation. In some parts of Europe, Catholic leaders responded to Protestant criticism by forming new religious orders, or communities. The first new order in Spain was created by Ignatius of Loyola. The order was called the Society of Jesus, or the Jesuits. The Jesuits were a religious order created to serve the pope and the church. Jesuits were trained to be as disciplined as soldiers in their religious duties. By teaching people about Catholic ideas, Jesuits hoped to turn people against Protestantism.

Catholic leaders met together to discuss more ways to reform the Catholic Church. This meeting was known as the Council of Trent. The council restated the importance of the clergy in interpreting the Bible. The council ordered the bishops to live in the areas where their churches were located. The council officially rejected the ideas of the Protestant leaders. The pope created religious courts to punish Protestants found in Italy.

Spanish Inquisition In 1492 the king and queen defeated the last Muslim forces in Spain. Muslims and Jews were forced to convert to Catholicism. The Spanish Inquisition was organized to seek out and punish Muslims and Jews who had converted but secretly kept their old beliefs. The Catholic Church was ruthless in carrying out the Inquisition and later sought out Protestants. The Catholics had very little opposition left in Spain.

Religious Conflicts In Spain nearly everyone was still Catholic. In northern countries people were mostly Protestant. The Holy Roman Empire was a patchwork of different kingdoms, some Protestant and some Catholic. These divisions led to political conflicts.

Protestants in France were called Huguenots. The Huguenots and the Catholics began a war when the Catholic king banned all Protestant religions. Violence began in 1562 and did not end until 1598. Fighting was ended by the Edict of Nantes, which granted religious freedom to the Protestants in France, except in Paris and a few other cities.

King of Bohemia forced everyone in the kingdom to become Catholic. Protestants rose up in revolt in 1618. This led to the Thirty Years’ War. The war grew, and both sides called on other countries to come to their aid. After 30 years of fighting, an agreement was reached—The Treaty of Westphalia. It allowed rulers to decide whether their countries would be Catholic or Protestant. The states of Germany became independent with no single rule, independent of the Holy Roman Empire.

Through the Protestant Church, people began to make decisions about their churches. Now that they had that power, they also wanted political power. Local towns began to govern themselves, and the national government had to share power. The sharing of power between local governments and a strong central government is called federalism. On an individual level, people began to think more for themselves and to investigate on their own.

Review Questions 1. What was a major criticism of the pope in the early 1500’s? 2. What were the Ninety-Five Theses? 3. Why was the Council of Trent important? 4. Who were the French Huguenots? 5. What was the Spanish Inquisition? 6. Why do you think more Protestants lived in northern Europe and not southern Europe?