Dani's History 2nd Exam Notes (PDF)

The invention of the printing press helped spread these secular ideas. Critics of the Church claimed that its leaders were corrupt. The popes who ruled during the Renaissance patronized the arts, spent extravagantly on personal pleasure, and fought wars. Pope Alexander VI, for example, admitted that...

The invention of the printing press helped spread these secular ideas. Critics of the Church claimed that its leaders were corrupt. The popes who ruled during the Renaissance patronized the arts, spent extravagantly on personal pleasure, and fought wars. Pope Alexander VI, for example, admitted that he had fathered several children. Many priests and monks were so poorly educated that they could scarcely read, let alone teach people. Others broke their priestly vows by \--marrying, and some drank to excess or gambled. Causes of reformation: - Social Some social changes included: - The Renaissance values of humanism and secularism led people to question the Church. - The printing press helped to spread ideas critical of the Church. - Political Some political changes included: - Powerful monarchs challenged the Church as the supreme power in Europe. - Many leaders viewed the pope as a foreign ruler and challenged his authority. - Economic Some economic changes included: - European princes and kings were jealous of the Church's wealth. - Merchants and others resented having to pay taxes to the Church. - Religious Some religious changes included: - Some Church leaders had become worldly and corrupt. - Many people found Church practices such as the sale of indulgences unacceptable Early call for reform: In the early 1500s, calls for Church reform intensified as reformers like Wycliffe, Hus, Erasmus, and More criticized Church practices and authority, emphasizing the Bible\'s importance. Increased access to religious texts also led Europeans to question Church teachings, setting the stage for major reform movements. Marthin Luther's parents wanted him to become lawyer, but instead he became a monk 95 Theses: In 1517, Martin Luther opposed friar Johann Tetzel\'s practice of selling indulgences, which falsely suggested people could buy their way into heaven. Troubled by this, Luther wrote his 95 Theses criticizing such practices and posted them on the Wittenberg church door, inviting debate on October 31st, 1517. The printing press quickly spread his ideas across Germany, sparking the Reformation---a movement for religious reform that led to the creation of Christian churches rejecting the pope\'s authority. Luther\' s teachings: Soon Luther went beyond criticizing indulgences. He wanted full reform of the Church. His teachings rested on three main ideas: - People could receive salvation only by faith in God's gift of forgiveness. The Church taught that faith and "good works" were needed for salvation. - All Church teachings should be clearly based on the words of the Bible. Both the pope and Church traditions were false authorities. - All people with faith were equal. Therefore, people did not need priests to interpret the Bible for them. Pope\'s threat: Church official in Rome saw Luther as a rebellious monk. Initially, Luther\'s ideas became so popular that pope realized he was a serious threat. In 1520 Pope Leo X issues a decree threatening Luther with EXCOMMUNICATION. Holy Roman emperor Charles V also declared Luther as an outlaw and HERETIC. However, Prince Frederick the Wise of Saxony disobeyed the emperor. For almost a year after the trial, he sheltered Luther in one of his castles. In 1529, German princes who remained loyal to the pope agreed to join forces against Luther's ideas. The princes who supported Luther signed a protest against that agreement. England becomes Protestant: When Henry VIII became king of England in 1509, he was a devout Catholic and even earned the title \"Defender of the Faith\" for opposing Luther\'s ideas. However, his need for a male heir tested his loyalty to the Church. Fearing civil unrest if he died without a son, Henry sought to divorce his wife, Catherine of Aragon, as she had only borne a daughter, Mary, and was unlikely to have more children. In 1527, he asked the pope to annul his marriage, but the pope refused, not wanting to anger Catherine\'s nephew, the powerful Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. In 1529, he called Parliament into session and asked it to pass a set of laws that ended the pope's power in England. This Parliament is known as the Reformation Parliament. In 1533, Henry VIII secretly married Anne Boleyn, and shortly after, Parliament legalized his divorce from Catherine. In 1534, the Act of Supremacy formalized Henry\'s break from the pope, declaring him the head of the Church of England. While many complied, Thomas More, a devout Catholic, refused to accept the act. His refusal led to his arrest, and in 1535, he was executed for high treason. In 1559, Elizabeth I established the Anglican Church as the only legal church in England, aiming to unify her kingdom under Protestantism. She sought a compromise to appeal to both moderate Protestants and Catholics. Protestant reforms included allowing priests to marry and conduct services in English. To appease Catholics, the church retained some traditional elements, like ornate robes, and revised services to be more acceptable to them. Elizabeth I\'s moderate religious policies brought some peace to England, but challenges persisted. Radical Protestants demanded further reforms, while Catholics sought to overthrow her in favor of Mary, Queen of Scots. Elizabeth also faced threats from Spain\'s Catholic king, Philip II. Financial issues added to her difficulties, as England\'s attempts to establish American colonies boosted the economy but did not directly enrich the queen. These monetary struggles would later lead to conflicts between the monarchy and Parliament, as the Reformation continued to spread across Europe.