In the 16th century the church played a huge role in the lives of people in Europe, however, in some parts and Germany in particular, the Church was seen as not responding to the appetite for spiritual fulfillment and failing in some of its duties. The Church was involved not just spiritually but economically, politically and educationally; therefore, any corruption within the Church had consequences all over Christendom. The role of the Church was to perform the seven sacraments in order for Catholics to reach their goal – salvation. Firstly, the Church was resented because it was corrupt. This was resented in Germany because it seemed hard to obtain salvation and live a spiritual life when the representatives of Christianity were dishonest.
Another complaint was that King John angered the Roman Catholic Church, which led to every church service in England being banned and the Pope excommunicating him. With this the people and barons were scared. The Catholic Church taught that the people could only ascend into heave if the Catholic Church believed that the people
When someone broke the law or commited a crime the pope (the leader of the church) would bring them to the church court. This is where all the problems started. Henry wanting power did not like the fact that the pope had the power over the church and that the bishops had power aswell. Also when
“There is either obedience or the church will burn like Hell is burning!” (pg 30) Parris tried to defend himself with such passionate and heartfelt comments but Proctor would have none of it. To him Parris was not in his society. Also, his relationship with Abigail Williams was a strained one, plagued with affair, scandal, and betrayal. He did love her, but soon after seeing what she truly was he resented his connection to her and, like what his old true nature told him, he confessed, causing a resent to appear within the town that never gave him his old trust
Also, his high debts led to taxes which he imposed on the citizens of Spain. Philip II did nothing a leader should do, a leader should be able to allow there people to be secure, allow the people to allow them to grow financially, and allow them to follow their religion of choice. Since Phillip failed at leading his people his whole kingship can be considered a failure. If Phillip II changed his tactics then his kingship may have led to success and prosperity. But in the end Philip II will go down in the Books as a Catholic Zealot who was reckless with money, and the loser of the Spanish armada.
There were also reports that John severely punished his enemies and used the courts to help his friends. He was also accused of killing his own nephew Arthur because he was a rival to his throne. Most of these reports on John were written by monks and these were unreliable because John had quarrelled with their leader the Pope. This meant only a few monks were unbiased and wrote truthfully about John. For example another source this time written by a monk in Barnwell said that John was a good ruler and that his own men should not have deserted him.
This shows that he is highly unpopular with lawyers as he believes if they do not do their job properly they should be fined however lawyers are the only category which state that he is un-liked compared to the ‘whole people’. Sources 1 and 2 both agree that he had a lot of power over the nobility and they were not fond of that. Source 1 state’s ‘his hostility towards...nobles’ this shows that Wolsey was aggressive towards the nobles which created ‘great irritation’. Wolsey saw himself above the nobility so he did not give them any respect and believed they could not do their job properly. Source 2 agrees that he had a lot of power of the nobility as he ‘shakes them by the ear’ this quote show that Skelton was taking the mick out of the nobility for not standing up to Wolsey which shows the amount of power he had over them but also that the nobles did actually fear Wolsey.
Reformation of the Church Despite the similarities of scripture and the beliefs of followers during the Lutheran and Catholic reformation their differences kept the two sides apart as enemies. During the start of the sixteenth century, people were displeased with the corruption and specials favors the church offered to few individuals which started a great Reformation. People from all social classes began to resent the power behind the church and question their authority to decide who gets into heaven. While the starting point of the Lutheran Reformation was when Martin Luther posted his theses, that caused the beginning of a long needed Reformation across Europe. The ideas of the Reforms came from the side of Martin Luther and the common people of the Catholic church who had started to question the clergy of the Catholic Church such as the pope.
We see a variety of responses but it is the inability of the majority to understand the roots of the plague that prevents them from undergoing personal transformation. The religious dogma that is directed towards them leaves them ignorant and inflexible their own ideas about God and their place within society for themselves. This causes many to direct their devastation and fear to misunderstood characters that disagree with societal conventions. The crazed mob that accuses the Gowdies of witchcraft exemplifies the notion that faith blinds people to reality in ‘Year of Wonder’. Faith in God is easily converted into superstition amongst the ignorance of the uneducated.
Many of the accusers were men. Men who probably tried to put women in their places. Puritan society didn’t allow freedom of speech. It was within their society not to say anything bad about anything especially the church. Many of the witches who were accused were because of assaultive speeches against someone or church beliefs.