Looking back it is clear there was evidence supporting & opposing the decision to close the monasteries. In many ways Henry was right to close the monasteries. Many religious houses were breaking the Benedictine rules and abusing their power & wealth. The monks were turning beggars away, leaving the monasteries, gambling, wearing finery, & the relics were broken, they also ignored the poor. On the other hand, many people question Henrys decision.
This was resented in Germany because it seemed hard to obtain salvation and live a spiritual life when the representatives of Christianity were dishonest. The problems with the papacy were numerous; the Popes did not set a good example. To become Pope technically you have to be elected but wealthy Italian families, such as the Borgias and Medicis, gained the position through bribery. They were politicians who wanted to increase their family fortunes and not be a spiritual leader. For example, Alexander VI was a Borgia who gained his position by bribing of the College of Cardinals.
Wealthy pilgrims often gave expensive jewels and ornaments to the monks that looked after these shrines. Henry VIII decided that the shrines should be closed down and the wealth that they had created given to the crown. The Pope and the Catholic church in Rome were horrified when they heard the news that
They are corrupt because they have social status but then they abused this power. Furthermore, the villains in both The Duchess of Malfi and Measure for Measure have the characteristics of Machiavellian villains. Per contra, Angelo is not like the villains in The Duchess of Malfi because he does not have an assistant to help him and does not have a personal vendetta against another in the play. He just wants to eliminate crime but, eventually, contradicts his own laws he is enforcing by asking Isabella to give her body to him sexually to save her brother: ‘You must lay down the treasures of your body To this supposed, or else to let him suffer: What would you do?’ (Act 2 Scene iv) This quotation tells us that; females of that day and age would have done exactly what they were told to do, on command if told to. We can see this by looking at the language of this quotation.
In The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer illuminates the corruption and hypocrisy in Catholic clergymen through several of the religious pilgrims like the Friar, and the Summoner. The Friar is supposed to be in servitude to the community, however he indulges in gluttony, avarice, and lust. In the
He required that his subjects “loan him the equivalent of five subsidies” and although it was “opposed by significant numbers in the localities,” the taxation still occurred as the government had “employed all its powers to eliminate resistance”. Moreover, the Forced Loan only happened as a result of Charles dismissing the 1626 Parliament, forfeiting his opportunity of obtaining further grants for his wartime expenditure. Parliament had already been antagonised by Charles’ decision to dismiss them and now that Charles was forcing taxation on others in order to fund his wartime expenditure, due to disastrous foreign policy which Parliament largely disagreed with, it is clear that the Forced Loan had worsened relations greatly. In addition to this, the financing of foreign policy also affected the relationship between Crown and Parliament. As stated previously, the Forced Loan existed to fund England’s wars considering that Parliament was reluctant to grant Charles further subsidies.
The cultural impact on England of the dissolution was seen as cultural vandalism to the Catholic. Architectural treasures were lost forever, only the ruins remained. Monastic libraries, religious arts and relics were sold for the profit of the crown. Because monasteries were a great deal for the Catholics the dissolution was one of the worst things that could have happed to them, their religious houses of worship and virtue was gone, there was thought to be no hope for the Catholic Church in England. Even though this is portrayed to be terrible some good came from it the monastic buildings that remained such as Tewkesbury were brought by local communities and served the lay population as parish churches, the abbeys that survived became cathedrals such as the one in Westminster, this was a great advantage to the Catholics since there was more places they could worship.
Corruption in the Government (Point) A political challenge that Venice had faced is its corruption in the government. (Example) An example of corruption in the government is that the Venetian Government suspended the salaries of civil servants to finance wars, resulting in some nobles being poor. Poorer nobles sold their votes to richer nobles who wanted to be elected to government. (Explanation) This resulted in incompetent men gaining important leadership posts, which meant that Venice began to have inefficient governments with leaders who were concerned with only their own interests and not Venice, and hence made decisions which were for their own and not Venice. This lead to Venice’s downfall as the policies made were not suitable for the country’s needs.
"It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven" Such ideas in the bible create a false consciousness: creates a distorted view of reality which prevents the poor from acting to change their situation. Lenin (1870-1924) labels religion as spiritual gin: it is an intoxicant given to the masses by their ruling class to confuse them into keeping their place at the bottom of society. For Lenin, the ruling class use religion to manipulate the masses and keep them from attempting to overthrow the ruling class by creating a smoke screen, or a "mystical fog" (sounds a bit fruity), that obscures reality. Religion justifies the power and privilege of the dominant class by making their position appear to be dive lay ordained- this is shown through the pamphlet Patriarcha, honestly read that thing it's stupidly interesting and it's
In the prolog his is described as being a deceitful, manipulative, and a persuasive who preaches against sin and avarice by quoting that greed is the root of evil, when in reality he admits his greed and sin when he admits proudly in his ability of selling these relics, in which are usually remains of his meal to make a living. He is a processional liar who cheats people for their money. He uses people’s desire for salvation to cheat them into paying his