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THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION

The reformation was a religious movement which began in the first half of the 16th century. it instigated the division of the Christian church and the founding of protestant churches.

1.1. causes

·the low clergy’s lack of training. The church hierarchy did not give much importance to the training of its priests and therefore, many of them did not behave appropriately.

·The bad example set by the high clergy. The majority of those at the top of the hierarchy occupied positions for their own gain. They did not respect the customs or morals that they preached.

·the church’s wealth. The high clergy lived a life of luxury. The church possessed extensive lands and taxed the ordinary people. It also obtained income by carrying out religious sacraments and from the veneration of holy relics, saints and the Virgin Mary.

·The  buying and selling of ecclesiastical positions: these positions provided an income and economic rights, and were therefore a way of getting rich.

·The sale of indulgences. When the church needed money, it sold indulgences, through which it helped believers to be forgiven for their sins.

1.2 Luther’s break from rome

the german priest martin luther was scandalised by the amount of corrption in the church. he publishedhis 95 theses in 1517, criticising the sale of indulgences and other bad practices carried out by the ecclesiastical hierarchy. this marked the beginning of the protestant reformation.

·free interpretation of the bible. priests should be abolished because anyone could read and interpret the bible in their own way. Thererfore, he initiated the translation of the holy book into various languages.

·forgiveness and salvation do not depend on the good deeds a person does in life, but on faith and god’s will.

·reflection of the veration of the virgin mary, saints and holyrelics. rejection of the sacraments, except for baptism and the eucharist.

·opposition to the church owning property and support for the nobles taking over the church’s possesions.

1.3 the spread of the reformation

· john calvin was a french theologian who spread a type of protestansim from geneva in switserland. his beliefs were based on preddestination, meaning that people were destined for salvation or damnation from birth. Calvinism spreadacross Switzerland and to englend, scotland, france and the north of the low countries.

·the people would not give his consent for king Henry VII to divorce catherine of aragón. therefore, in 1534 he broke with the catholic chruch an the act of supremacy was passed, under which he appointed himself head of the church of england, or anglican church.

2 religious wars and the counter-reformation

2.1 religiuos wars

in 1521, the chr¡urch excommunicatedluther and attempted to prosecute him for heresy. it wass unsuccessful because he received the protection of the german nobles. they saw an opportunity to increase their possessions and their autonomy from the emperor of the holy roman empire.

carlos I, the actholic monarch’s grandson and king of spain, was appointed emperor in 1519. he was a devout catholic and tried to mediate in this conflict to prevent the division of the church.

various meetings took place, such as the diet of worms, but no agreement was reached. the catholics considered the lutherans protestants, but they referred to themselves as the reformed.

the emperor supported the pope and the church, but the protestant german princes supported luther and formed an alliance called the schmalkadic league. a civil war broke out and the emperor and the catholic german prices defeated the league at the battle of Mühlberg in 1547. however, frence sided against the emperor, resulting in a greater balance of military power.

finally, the peace of ausburg was signed in 1555, under which the emperor granted the protestant princes religious freedom.

2.2 the counter- reformation

the counter-reformation was a religious, intellectual and political movement led by the catholic church against the protestant reformation.

the council of trent, which was held between 1545 and 1563, establisehd the catholic church’s course of action in three main areas: the clarification of their teachings, internal reform and the repression of protestansim.

·the clarification of their teachings. the dogmans and principles that the protestants had rejected were maintained.

·internal reform. measures were taken to resolve internal corruption. seminaries and universities were founded to improve the training priests received. bishops were more strictly controlled, the sale of indulgences was prohibited and the religious orders were reformed. the society of jesus also gained importance. the jesuits became the mein group responsible for spreading the teachings of the counter-reformation.

· the repression of protestantism, whose followers were considered hereticts. the inquisition was reinforced and an index of foorbidden books, which opposed the catholic faith, was published. 

the catholics maintained their power over southern and central europe.