One of the major events that assisted the fall of the Holy Roman Empire was Thirty Years’ War. The event that started the Thirty Years’ War was “defenestration of Prague.” Two of Ferdinand’s officials were thrown out a window. The Lutherans violated the Peace of Augsburg by acquiring German Bishops, Calvinists converting princes, and Jesuits reconverting princes to Catholicism. The Calvinists and Catholics had many advantages because of that which made the Lutherans fear the Peace of Augsburg would be negatively impaired. The Lutheran Princes felt it necessary to create the Protestant Union and in retaliation the Catholics formed to Catholic League.
They had used several immoral practices such as simony, the buying and selling of church offices. And as author Dan Petty put it, “pluralism (holding multiple offices simultaneously) and absenteeism (failure to reside in the parish where they were supposed to minister),”(Petty). Several situations in which the church displayed its power included taxations and practicing celibacy (Petty). Due to the church’s immense power, many expressed fear and became discouraged to contest its actions. One of the main leaders in the act to resist the Roman Catholic Church’s authority and change the ideas of Christianity in the Protestant Reformation was Martin Luther.
Bismarck did not help to make the Catholics feel welcome in the Confederation. Pope Pius IX that the Church was slowly losing its traditional power, so he announced that any statement he made was to be accepted everywhere by Catholics, therefore German bishops would have to obey. Bismarck similarly wanted his new government to be obeyed. The Centre party (Catholic party) began to win more seats in the Reichstag, causing concern for Bismarck as there loyalty may be to the Pope. Bismarck began to fight back, he banned the most active order of Catholic priests and introduced a law that the government had a right to inspect all schools, including Catholic ones.
Was the Reformation Politically or Religiously Motivated? The Reformation begun by Martin Luther was a 16th century conflict in Europe that would shape the future of the world. Certainly the Catholic church was political, even in the 1500's, however it was religion that powered the Reformation. For centuries, the Roman Catholic Church had oppressed the uneducated and poor peasants for an unjust hierarchical structure. Peasants were captive to their lords, essentially forced into servitude without wages.
Source 1, would strongly support the statement, as it aggressively attacks the church and its actions. It describes how the church uses their influence over its devout followers, for its own gain. For example it describes its rigidness and strictness over its followers “poor wives must be accountable for every tenth egg or be taken as a heretic” and how it exploits and finances followers may have “What money they pull in by their fees, for wills and testaments pilgrimages and first masses!” This would imply that the church is indeed exploiting the faith of its followers to increase its own wealth, as it shows, especially in the second quote, how the church used its influence and power to persuade its followers to give money at every opportunity. We know that at the time, many followers of the church were uneducated, and unable to read or write, so often relied on the church for guidance, and could be easily pushed into doing something by a supposedly “more educated” and “morally superior” member of the clergy. This would contradict source 2, which gives a much rosier account of the church, its actions, and the clergy during the same period.
The main motivation for the reformation in England was Henry V111 religious convictions how far do you agree with this statement? The reformation in England was the change from Catholicism to Protestantism. Henry V111 played a huge role in the reformation for example he stopped the amount of taxes that were being payed to Rome and he later ordered the dissolution of the monasteries however there are many other reasons to why the reformation in England took place for example for many years Protestants had argued over the beliefs and laws of the catholic religion as they believed some of their beliefs were corrupt. For example the Catholics had a strong belief in purgatory this is a seen as being like a waiting room were your soul is weighed on all of the sins you have committed compared to all of the positives that you have done throughout your life. The church said that the only way you could get time out of purgatory or save a family member from purgatory was to buy indulgences this means that the monks will pray for you and your family.
This Theses was addressed to Pope Leo X, who was building St Peter’s. Luther was angered about this and made his opinion in the Theses that if the pope could open the doors of purgatory for people who paid, why could he not open them for all people.Luther published other scriptures against the sale of indulgences, his letter to Albrecht of Mainz and the explanation of the 95 Theses. His initial writings were catalysts in the course of the reformation, it was Luther’s anger and bravery that began the Reformation. Luther continued to publish impactful works, in 1520 he released To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation, where Luther outlined the doctrine of the Priesthood of all believers and denied the authority of the Pope to interpret, or confirm interpretation of the Bible, On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church, and On the Freedom of a Christian. These publications all became influential as they were able to spread around Germany through the German printing press and were allowing people to form their own opinions of the church rather than being told by the church what to believe.
In the early 16th century, the Protestant Reformation divided the unity of the Roman Catholic Church. The Reformation movement began in Germany led by Martin Luther. His speeches and writings were passed on all over Europe with the help of the printing press. It started in response to the rising sense of corruption in the church. For instance, “the sale of indulgences for the benefit of the church of Rome specifically for the rebuilding of St. Peters Cathedral provoked harsh criticism, especially by those who saw the luxuries of the papacy as a betrayal of apostolic ideals ” (Fiero 119).
They raised calls to reform institutions, improve clerical education, and change basic doctrines. During the sixteenth century, the great humanist Erasmus published The Praise of Folly in order to “criticize abuses in the church and in society and to promote greater inwardness and purer spirituality in religion” (I, 1) in a satirical way by ridiculing the nobles and the pedants. In the early 16th century, Pope Leo X authorized the sale of indulgences in order to finance the building of Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Erasmus didn’t agree with the sale of indulgences. In The Praise of Folly, he expressed his opinion of the sale of indulgences when he says “by this easy way of purchasing pardons, any notorious highwayman, any plundering soldier, or any bribe-taking judge shall disburse some part of their unjust gains, and so think all their grossest impieties sufficiently atoned for” (I, 1).
The Dutch Republic, where Locke spent time, had been founded as a secular state which would allow religious differences. This was a reaction to Catholic persecution of Protestants. Once the Calvinist Church gained power, however, they began persecuting other sects. In France, religious conflict had been temporarily quieted by the edict of Nantes. But in 1685, the year in which Locke wrote the First Letter concerning religious toleration, Louis XIV had revoked the Edict of Nantes, and the Huguenots were being persecuted and forced to emigrate on mass.