How Far Was the Reformation Caused by Hostility Towards the Clergy in German States

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How far was the Reformation caused by hostility towards the clergy in the German states? Years of hostility prior to the Reformation encouraged Luther to accelerate his ideas of reforming the Catholic Church. Many factors played crucial roles in developing this idea that the Church was a corrupt organisation who was in dire need of reform. To an extent, anti-clericalism, resentment towards the Clergy, was one of the main causes of hostility and fundamentally convinced people that spiritual duties were put beneath money and power. Despite this, several other factors also caused the growing feeling of hatred towards the Church within the German states. Loathing of the Catholic Clergy convinced many living within the Empire that the Church was unscrupulous. The expectation of the Clergymen was that they would act in a loving and holy manner, responding appropriately to their spiritual duties. However, most of the time, this failed to be the case. Many Clergymen acted in a disobedient way and were crass to their most loyal of followers. Often, they were uneducated or even illiterate and as a result, they failed to administer the sacraments as what was expected of them. Priests having wives and children were not uncommon, despite this going against their vows of celibacy. Clerical marriage was a controversial issue that proved to be an important aspect for Luther in is argument for the corruption of the Church. The problem amounted and became so worse that in 1512, the Council of Seville requested that all their wives should leave their children. Priests took a vow of Poverty, yet in reality; many lived wealthy lives which went against the ideal that Clergymen lived simply. They enjoyed certain privileges, such as exemption from the tithe and papal taxation. Throughout Germany, as clergymen were immune from such hard-hitting taxes that had caused many Germans to
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