OVERVIEW
During the early sixteenth century, while Europe was still in the midst of the sweeping cultural, intellectual, and political changes of the Renaissance, a new phenomenon was being born. The humanism of the Italian Renaissance spread across Europe and affected every aspect of life. One of the areas most affected by humanism was that of religion.
Humanists, especially those of northern Europe, were not anti- religious or even anti-Christian. However, there came with humanism a certain desire for a deeper understanding of things. Humanism empowered man to seek God and to seek spiritual truth without an intercessor, like the church. In other words, man no longer needed a priest to talk to God and man no longer needed the pope dictating the will of God. Man was a free being with the ability to ask questions, seek answers, and develop spiritually on his own. According to the church, these notions were heretical.
These ideas about religion sparked a century of turmoil and warfare between the Roman Catholic Church, headed by the pope, and the reformers, who sought a new and different approach to religion. Those reformers became known as Protestants, or those who protested against the church. Initially, the people at the heart of this religious revolution had no intentions other than to reform the existing church and change those things within the church that, in their opinions, had gone wrong over the years. This movement was known as the Reformation.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
The Reformation did not begin in the sixteenth century, nor did it arise out of humanist ideas alone. During the fourteenth century, when Europe found itself at the mercy of the bubonic plague, people’s faith in the church, and perhaps even in God, was shaken. Both clergy and laymen alike prayed for deliverance, yet one third of all Europeans died from the disease. As Europe began to recover from the plague, problems within the church began to arise. People began to question the practice of simony, or the selling of church positions. People also began to
Review Stategy
In the following text, the word “Church” will refer to the Catholic Church.
question whether or not clergymen should hold more than one church position. Neither of these practices, it was argued, seemed to benefit anyone other than the clergy. In addition, clerical positions tended to be quite lucrative in many cases, and people resented that. Not only were the clergy perceived as too wealthy, but the church itself also seemed to have entirely too much money at its disposal. Perhaps the laymen would not have minded so much if the money had been spent on the parishioners. Instead, though, the church spent exorbitant amounts of money on art, architecture, and the extravagant lifestyles of the popes.
Another major problem within the church was the uneducated priests. Many priests could hardly read or write in their native language, much less read or write in Latin, the language in which many theological works were written.
The tension had been building for some time when, in the fourteenth century, John Wycliffe (1329-1384) questioned some of the practices of the church. Among other things, Wycliffe argued against the wealth of the church and the selling of indulgences, or the practice of granting the buyer forgiveness for his sins. Wycliffe encouraged people to read the Bible themselves and interpret the Bible themselves, a practice that was unheard of in his day. To aid the people in doing so, Wycliffe translated the Bible into English. Wycliffe’s teachings influenced a Bohemian named Jan Hus (1369-1415). Hus spoke out against the abuses of the church, too, and was later burned at the stake. The execution of Jan Hus did not have the desired effect on Hus’s followers. Instead of squelching the voices that spoke out against the church, the execution incited a rebellion that took some time to put down.Wycliffe and Hus were both forerunners of the Reformation that was to follow in the next century.
MARTIN LUTHER
The issue that actually instigated the Reformation was that of indulgences. Individuals could purchase indulgences from the Catholic Church and in return receive remission of their sins. In 1517, Pope Leo X gave permission for Johann Tetzel (c. 1465-1519), a Dominican friar, to sell indulgences. The revenue generated from the sale of the indulgences, by order of the pope, was to be used to repay a loan that was secured by the Catholic Church to build St. Peter’s Church in Rome. A German Augustinian monk named Martin Luther (1483-1546) was outraged by the actions of the pope. According to tradition, Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the Castle Church at Wittenburg. Luther’s Theses condemned the sale of indulgences and invited debate on the issue.
A few years and several publications later, Luther had successfully infuriated the pope by attacking the sacraments, transubstantiation (the belief that the bread and wine of Communion actually become the body and blood of Christ after they are consumed during Communion), and the means of a persons salvation. A papal bull, or an official statement by the pope, demanded that Luther recant. In an act of defiance, Luther burned the papal bull along with a volume of canon law. Outraged, the pope excommunicated Luther and called for him to appear before the Diet of Worms, an official meeting of electors, princes, and nobles. At the meeting, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V asked Luther to recant. Luther, in eloquent fashion, refused. Luther was banned from the Empire and was forced to seek refuge with Frederick the Wise of Saxony.
Note
In all of Luther’s writings, there are no accounts of nailing the 95 Theses to the door. Whether or not he actually did does not change the fact that Luther openly challenged the papacy and church tradition, thus initiating the Reformation.
While in Saxony, Luther began to organize a new church based on ideas that he had been considering for several years. He also translated the Bible into German, an action that had a profound effect both on religion and on language in Germany. During the 1520s, Lutheranism spread throughout Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland. Many people, especially in Germany, began to misinterpret Luther’s message as a call for social equality and freedom. A large number of German peasants revolted and demanded freedom, using Luther’s words as their battle cry. Luther published On the Murderous, Thieving Hordes in response to the peasant revolts. He condemned their actions and encouraged the princes to “exterminate the swine.” The peasants, who had misinterpreted Luther’s writings, felt betrayed by his condemnation of their actions.
ULRICH ZWINGLI AND JOHN CALVIN
About the same time Luther’s ideas were spreading, the teachings of Ulrich Zwingli (1484-1531) were taking hold in Zurich. Greatly influenced by humanism, specifically the work of Erasmus, Zwingli preached against all practices of the church that were not substantiated by Scripture. Zwingli went on to rule Zurich as a theocracy, or a government ruled by someone who claims to have divine authority. He did away with monasteries, religious icons, mass, and confession, and he preached that man did not need the pope or the church. In 1531, Zwingli, who was much more concerned with politics than was Luther, died in battle during a religious civil war.
A few years after Zwingli, a French humanist scholar and theologian named John Calvin (1509-1564) arrived in Geneva. After spending some time in Geneva assisting the reformation of the city, he was asked to leave. In 1541, Calvin was invited back to continue his reform of the church there. Although Calvin never became a citizen of Geneva, he drew up new ordinances for the city that governed both religious and secular aspects of life in the city. He imposed strict laws, and he saw that the laws were enforced. On occasion, Calvin was very harsh. For example, a man named Michael Servetus, who had managed to survive the Inquisition, wandered into Geneva. Calvin, along with others, burned Servetus at the stake for being a heretic. At any cost, Calvin was determined to hold Genevans to a high moral standard of living.
During the 1540s and 1550s, Calvinism spread throughout Europe and found extraordinary success in Scotland under the leadership of John Knox (c. 1513-1572), who founded the Presbyterian Church there. In England, the Calvinists were known as the Puritans, and in France, Calvin’s followers were known as the Huguenots.
Review Strategy
Don’t think that Henry VIII sought to reform the Catholic Church the way Luther originally did. Henry was only interested in resolving “the Kings Great Matter” at any cost. Henry VIII’s role in the Reformation was motivated by self-interest alone.
THE ENGLISH REFORMATION
In sixteenth-century England, nonreligious issues fueled the Reformation. Rather than a religious leader seeking religious reform, King Henry VIII (1491—1547, king 1509—1547) led the English Reformation for personal reasons. Henry, a supporter of the Catholic Church, married Catherine of Aragon (1485-1536) in 1509, but Catherine never produced a son for the king. In 1527, with no male heir, Henry announced his desire to divorce Catherine. Being Catholic, though, Henry was not able to get a divorce. Therefore, Henry sought an annulment on the grounds that the papal dispensation that allowed the marriage in the first place was invalid, thus making the marriage invalid. In the meantime, the king had fallen in love with Anne Boleyn (c. 1507-1536), a young favorite from his court, and wanted to marry her.
When it became apparent that the pope would not grant an annulment, Henry began the Reformation Parliament. During the years of the Reformation Parliament, Henry initiated legislation that would no longer recognize the pope as the supreme authority in religious matters in England. This act was the Act in Restraint of Appeals. By 1533, Henry had managed to convince Anne Boleyn to share his bed, and she became pregnant. Henry and Anne were married in secret even though Henry and Catherine were still legally married. Conveniently, a tribunal led by Thomas Cranmer (who was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury by Henry!) declared Henry’s marriage to Catherine null and void. Henry and Anne were married, and Anne’s offspring were established as the heirs to the English throne. Unfortunately for Henry and for Anne, Anne’s child was a girl, Elizabeth, who would grow up to be Elizabeth I (1533-1603, queen 1558-1603), the long-ruling Queen of England. In an attempt to secure a male heir, Henry married four more times.
In 1534, parliament passed the Act of Supremacy, which made Henry the official head of the Church of England. The Church of England, a Protestant church, was very similar to the Catholic Church in both theology and liturgy. Henry sought to keep the Church of England very Catholic in nature without being Catholic. However, Henry closed all the monasteries in England, which were Catholic, and he confiscated their lands so that their wealth became England’s. After experiencing several doctrinal changes during the reigns of Henry’s children, Edward VI (1537— 1553, king 1547-1553) and Mary I (1516-1558, queen 1553-1558), the Church of England settled into a very moderate Protestant identity during the reign of Elizabeth I. Thus, the once-Catholic kingdom of England, through the political maneuverings of Henry VIII, broke away from the papacy and the Catholic Church and formed its own church.
THE CATHOLIC REFORMATION
The Protestant Reformation brought many people into the Protestant fold and caused a noticeable decrease in the number of European Catholics. After several decades of Protestantism, the Catholic Church officially responded with its own reformation known as the Catholic Reformation or Counter Reformation. The Catholic Church, beginning with leadership of Pope Paul III, developed groups such as the Ursuline Order and the Jesuits to counter the actions of the Protestants and to bring souls back to the Catholic Church. The Church issued the Index of Prohibited Books that listed those books the Church deemed inappropriate and dangerous. This index included many writers such as Desiderius Erasmus. The Church revived the Inquisition and ruthlessly sought out and burned heretics. The most influential instrument of the Catholic Reformation, though, was the Council of Trent.
The Council of Trent (1545-1563) sought to answer the theological and philosophical questions raised by the Protestant Reformation. The Council affirmed that Church doctrine concerning the sacraments, the priesthood, and salvation were firmly rooted in both the Scriptures and in Church tradition. The Council determined that the sacraments and tran- substantiation were valid, salvation was attained by both faith and by good works, and that monasticism and clerical celibacy were justified. The Council also addressed simony, indulgences, and issues relating to the clergy. Ultimately, the Council of Trent limited the sales of church positions and indulgences and decided that members of the clergy should receive a seminary education. The Council also called for more religious art to be produced. Modern historians have debated over the significance of the Council of Trent as it relates to the overall success of the Counter Reformation. However, most historians agree that the Council did increase the power and influence of the papacy.
RESULTS OF THE REFORMATION
First and foremost, the power and prestige of the Catholic Church in Europe suffered heavy blows by the Protestant movement. England, Scotland, Switzerland, Scandinavia, and parts of France and Germany all became Protestant. This resulted in a major split in Christendom. In effect, a new antagonistic element had been introduced into European politics and culture; this element was the Protestant-versus-Catholic mentality that, to this day, survives in many parts of Europe. Wars of religion erupted in Europe for nearly a century. Social and political interpretations of Protestantism led to nationalistic movements because of the idea that the state was superior to the church in all matters other than the spiritual.
WARS OF RELIGION
Note
Mary I sought to reinstitute Catholicism in England during her reign. However, many Protestants remained and refused to convert to Catholicism. As a result, Mary burned these heretics at the stake and earned the nickname “Bloody Mary. ”
Note
King Philip II of Spain (1527- 1598, king 1556-1598) sent the Spanish Armada to England in an attempt to make England Catholic. However, aided by poor weather conditions, a craftier English fleet crushed the Armada.
As was mentioned previously, the Reformation resulted in an antagonistic, often hateful, relationship between Catholics and Protestants. In addition, the conflict between the two religious groups often strained and complicated international politics and diplomacy. In France, because of the Concordat of Bologna (an agreement between France and the pope that allowed the French crown to appoint church officials in France if the first year’s income of the appointed officials went to the pope), the French government held close ties to Rome and the Catholic Church, and as a result, most Frenchmen were Catholic. Because of the influence of Calvin in France, though, growing numbers of Frenchmen became Calvinists, known as Huguenots. In the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre in 1572, paranoid Parisian Catholics killed 20,000 Huguenots to prevent the possibility of a Protestant coup. This threw France into a bitter civil war between Catholics and Protestants. In 1589, Henry of Navarre, a Protestant, (1553-1610, king 1589-1610) became King Henry IV when the Catholic Henry III was assassinated. A Calvinist who was more interested in political than religious unity, Henry IV could not sway Paris away from Catholicism. Saying, “Paris is worth a mass,” Henry became Catholic. However, he issued the Edict of Nantes that allowed the Huguenots to worship freely in France.
In England, Mary I, who was the daughter of the Catholic Catherine of Aragon, attempted to return England to Catholicism. She met with some resistance due to the large numbers of people who held on to the Protestant beliefs. Mary dealt with the resistance by executing many Protestants during her reign and consequently submitted England to the papacy.
This changed with Mary’s successor, Elizabeth I. Elizabeth returned England to Protestantism, though only moderate Protestantism, and was not concerned when she was officially excommunicated. Elizabeth sought to compromise and reduce the tensions between Catholics and Protestants. However, in matters of international politics, Elizabeth openly supported Protestants. For example, Elizabeth supplied many troops to help support the efforts of the rebels in the Netherlands. As a result, England and Spain remained at odds for years.
The revolt in the Netherlands occurred for both political and religious reasons. Philip II of Spain wanted to exert more political control in the Netherlands. He also wanted to strengthen Catholicism in the Netherlands in response to the growing number of Calvinists there. Philip sent 20,000 troops to the Netherlands and ordered the Duke of Alva to establish the Council of Troubles to deal with the Calvinists there. Better known as the Council of Blood, the Council of Troubles executed thousands for heresy. The northern and southern provinces united in 1576 but ultimately separated into two sections. These two sections became modern-day Netherlands, which was Calvinist, in the north and modern-day Belgium, which was Catholic, in the south. In 1585, England sent troops and money to aid the rebels there. At the end of the sixteenth century, the Spanish were driven from the northern Netherlands, and the war came to an end in 1609. In 1648, the northern Netherlands won their independence from Spain and became known as the United Provinces. As the Spanish Netherlands, the southern provinces remained under the control of Spain.
The Thirty Years' War
Note
Many historians believe that the conflict between the Bourbons (of France) and the Habsburgs (of Spain and the Holy Roman Empire) also contributed to the outbreak of war.
The final and most devastating war of religion was the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648). Although the war did not begin until 1618, the tensions that led to it date back to the Peace of Augsburg (1555), an agreement that allowed German princes to choose the religion of their territories. The only two religions that were recognized, though, were Catholicism and Lutheranism. In the early seventeenth century, Germany was divided into two main groups, the Protestant Union and the Catholic League of German States. The English, French, and Dutch supported the Protestant Union, while Spain and the Holy Roman Empire supported the Catholic League. The foundation was laid for the first continental war.
Generally, historians divide the Thirty Years’ War into four phases. The first phase was the Bohemian Phase (1618-1625). The Bohemians, most of whom were Calvinists, distrusted their Catholic king, Matthias. After appeals to the king for intervention in the harsh acts of the Catholic Church in Bohemia went unanswered, the Protestants in Prague threw two of the king’s officials out of a window. This act, known as the Defenestration of Prague, signaled the beginning of a national conflict. The following year, the Catholic king died and Ferdinand, the Holy Roman Emperor’s Catholic cousin, became King of Bohemia. The Protestants rejected Ferdinand and chose as their king Frederick Elector of the Palatinate, a Calvinist. In 1620, Bavarian forces fighting for Ferdinand crushed Frederick at the Battle of White Mountain. Spanish forces then conquered the Palatinate in 1622, thus ending Frederick’s political career. Ferdinand confiscated the land of the Bohemian Protestant nobles and declared Catholicism the religion of Bohemia.
The second phase, or Danish Phase (1625-1629), began when the Lutheran King of Denmark, Christian IV (1577-1648, king 1588-1648), led an army into northern Germany in an attempt to aid the Protestants.
Note
Unfortunately, military tactics and weaponry improved throughout the fifteenth and sixteenth century. The improved, more efficient ways in which armies could kill each other and civilians led to greater numbers of casualties of war than Europe had ever seen.
Ferdinand responded by sending Albert of Wallenstein and his army of mercenaries to Germany. Wallenstein’s army ravaged Germany and defeated Christian’s army in 1626. In 1629, the emperor issued the Edict of Restitution, an act that outlawed Calvinism within the Holy Roman Empire and ordered Lutherans to turn over all property that they had gained since 1552.
In the third phase, or Swedish Phase (1629-1635), the French became disturbed by the resurgence of Habsburg power and offered monetary support to Gustavus Adolphus (1594-1632, king 1611-1632) for his help in Germany. The Swedish king was a great military mind who commanded an outstanding army. He was also Protestant. Persuaded to involve himself and his troops in the war, Gustavus Adolphus moved into Germany and met with much success against the anti-Protestant forces until he was killed in 1632. The Swedes lost their effectiveness after his death and were eventually defeated, thus guaranteeing that southern Germany would remain Catholic. The Protestant states signed an agreement with the emperor that revoked the Edict of Resolution. The Swedes insisted on continuing the war effort, and France entered the war on the side of the Swedes.
The fourth and final phase of the war, the French-Swedish Phase (1635— 1648), proved to be the most destructive. The French and Swedish forces fought against the Habsburgs and the Spanish. Both sides won several battles, but none were decisive. Finally, after the French defeated the Spanish at Rocroi, the war-weary participants wanted peace. Negotiations began at Westphalia, and after several years of peace talks, the countries signed the Peace of Westphalia (1648).
The Peace of Westphalia reinstated the Peace of Augsburg, except that Calvinists were given consideration, and the Edict of Restitution was revoked. Switzerland and Holland both gained independence. France and Sweden both received territories. Finally, German princes were granted sovereignty. As a result of the Peace, the Habsburgs and the Holy Roman Empire were severely weakened. Germany was devastated. Its agriculture took heavy losses, and its population was decimated. Entire towns were destroyed, and much of its culture was lost. In regards to the Reformation, Protestantism had established itself in Europe for good.
THEOLOGY OF THE REFORMATION
Although the Reformation often appeared to be political in nature, the heart of the movement was theological. To better understand the Reformation, it is important to understand the theological beliefs of those involved. One of the greatest theologians of the Reformation was Martin Luther. Although Luther never compiled a systematic theology, Luther explained his beliefs in his many writings. One area in which Luther
Note
Zwingli denied being heavily influenced by Luther, and he claimed that he was preaching his beliefs long before anyone had heard of Luther. Many historians, however, believe that Zwingli took many of his ideas from the theology of Luther.
differed from the Church was salvation. Whereas the Church argued that salvation required both faith and good works, Luther contended that salvation was possible through faith alone. In addition, Luther maintained that the weakness and utter helplessness of man required the grace of God for salvation. Luther also differed from the Church regarding the sacraments. The Church maintained seven sacraments were valid, while Luther reduced the sacraments to three—pennance, baptism, and the Eucharist, or the Lord’s Supper. Luther also disagreed with the Church on the issue of transubstantiation, the idea that the bread and wine of the Eucharist are transformed into the body and blood of Christ. Luther’s idea, later called consubstantiation, said that Christ was present in the bread and wine but the bread and wine did not change. He likened the process to putting an iron in a fire. The iron and fire are seemingly merged in the red-hot iron, but both the iron and the fire remain. Another point of contention between Luther and the Church was the role that Scripture and Church tradition played in the development of theology. Contrary to the theology of the Church, Luther claimed that the Scriptures alone were sufficient to determine theology and practice. Again contrary to the theology of the Church, Luther upheld the doctrine of the “priesthood of all believers.” In other words, humanity no longer needed a mediator between themselves and God; man was sufficient to stand alone before Christ. This effectively reduced the need for a Church. Finally, Luther denounced the Church’s policy of clerical celibacy. In fact, Luther married and had a seemingly happy marriage.
Another leading figure of the Reformation, Ulrich Zwingli, agreed with Luther on most issues. However, Zwingli disagreed with Luther on the issue of the “body and blood of Christ.” Zwingli maintained that the Scripture should be taken figuratively and not literally when it spoke of the “body and blood of Christ” during the Last Supper. John Calvin, too, agreed with Luther on more points than most people realize.
Unlike Luther, Calvin developed a systematic theology that he outlined in his work, Institutes of the Christian Religion (translated 1561). Calvin, like Luther, believed in salvation by faith alone, but Calvin placed a great deal of emphasis on the sovereignty of God. Calvin’s belief in the sovereignty of God led him to develop the concept of predestination. Calvin believed that God had predetermined who was to be saved (the elect) and who was to be damned (the reprobate). Also stemming from the sovereignty of God was the idea that believers could not be certain of their salvation; to be certain meant infringement upon God’s sovereignty. Calvin reduced the sacraments to baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Also, like Luther, Calvin argued that man had no free will.
Calvin’s theology is generally outlined in the acrostic TULIP. T represents the total depravity of man. In other words, according to Calvin, man was totally corrupt. U represents unconditional predestination. This concept was explained in the preceding paragraph. L represents limited atonement, or the idea that Christ died only for the elect. I represents irresistible grace. Calvin believed that the elect were to be saved, and they had no choice in the matter. Finally, Prepresents perseverance of the saints. This concept is often summarized by the phrase “once saved, always saved.” Calvin maintained that the elect always would be saved and never condemned.
Study Strategy
Do not make the mistake of referring to the Anabaptists as Baptists on the exam. The two groups are quite different. Your credibility would be damaged if you were to mention the “role of the Baptists during the Reformation.”
Some of the more radical ideas that arose during the Reformation grew out of what is commonly called, believe it or not, the Radical Reformation. Among the leaders of the Radical Reformation were the Anabaptists. Anabaptism appealed particularly to the peasants, workers, and lower classes, although there were some middle-class people devoted to Anabaptism. The Anabaptists believed that the true church was a voluntarily organized body of believers in which all believers were equal. The Anabaptists advocated adult baptism, or believer’s baptism. Contrary to the teachings of the Church, they believed that the Lord’s Supper was purely symbolic and was observed simply as a remembrance. What made the Anabaptists part of the Radical Reformation was their belief in the total separation of church and state. The Anabaptists were perceived as a threat to both religious and secular authority. Although most Anabaptists advocated peace, several Anabaptist groups turned to violence later in the Reformation.
THE MAJOR PLAYERS
Martin Luther (1483-1546)—Martin Luther was born to a successful miner who provided his son with a good education and wished for his son to become a lawyer. Martin Luther took advantage of his education and eventually enrolled to study law. However, during a terrible storm, Luther had a life-changing experience. In a desperate appeal to St. Anne, the patron saint of travelers in need of help, Luther promised to enter a monastery if he survived the storm. In 1505, he became an Augustinian monk, and after 1508, he spent time teaching in the University of Wittenburg. In 1510, he journeyed to Rome where he was appalled at the behavior of the clergy there. He returned to Germany and received his doctorate in theology in 1512. Luther preached and taught despite being troubled by questions of his own salvation. Through his studies, he came to believe that salvation was earned not through good works but by faith and by the grace of God.
After he posted his 95 Theses, Luther became one of the leaders of the Protestant Reformation, especially in Germany. As has been discussed already in this chapter, Luther forever changed religion in Europe and, consequently, in the rest of the modern world. Luther’s contributions to European history were more than just his theology, though. He published a number of works, including On Christian Liberty (1519), The Babylonian Captivity of the Church (1520), and the Small Catechism (1529). One of his most famous writings was Against the Murderous, Thieving Hordes, which denounced the peasants’ revolt against the nobles in Germany. In 1532, he translated the Old Testament into German from the original Hebrew. Luther affected Europe not only through his religious teachings but also through his extensive writings. Because of the printing press, his writings were spread throughout Germany very quickly and had a profound effect on the German language.
Thomas Cranmer (1489-1556)—Both a lecturer and public examiner in divinity, Thomas Cranmer won the royal favor of Henry VIII in 1529. He suggested to the king that he not wait for an annulment order, but rather, refer the question of the legality of the marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) to legal scholars. Within three years, Cranmer had been appointed as the ambassador to the Holy Roman Empire. One year after that, in 1533, Henry VIII appointed Cranmer as the Archbishop of Canterbury, the highest religious position in the land other than that of the king. Less than two months after being named Archbishop, Cranmer declared Henry’s marriage to Catherine null and void, and Henry’s marriage to Anne Boleyn legal.
During the Reformation, Cranmer played the role of perhaps the greatest reformer in England. Cranmer renounced his allegiance to the pope and removed the pope’s name from the prayer book. He created the new liturgy for the new Church of England. When Henry VIII died, Cranmer became one of the regents of Edward VI, the new king. During the reign of Edward VI, Cranmer wrote two prayer books and the Thirty-Nine Articles (originally forty-two articles). When Edward died, Cranmer carried out the wishes of the dying king and helped Lady Jane Grey ascend to the throne where she sat for only nine days. When Mary Tudor overthrew Jane Grey, Cranmer was charged with treason, sentenced to death, spared, and then thrown in the Tower of London. Later, Cranmer was removed and taken to another prison. There he was forced to recant, only to be excommunicated and sentenced to death anyway. Upon the day of his execution, Cranmer recanted his recantations.
John Calvin (1509-1564)—Born in France in 1509, John Calvin was educated to become a priest. However, Calvin had some additional education because his father wanted him to pursue a career in law. Calvin became fascinated with the humanists and began studying Greek. In 1532, he published a commentary on De Clementia, a work by Seneca. In 1536, Calvin published the first of his Institutes on the Christian Religion, in which he began to lay out his systematic theology. Calvin also published a number of hymns and many commentaries on books of the Bible.
Aside from his theology, Calvin made a mark on European history because of the government he established in Geneva. Calvin helped adopt a new constitution for Geneva. He instituted a school system for the children of Geneva with a special academy for the best students. He sought good hospitals and care for the sick in Geneva. He encouraged new industries and hard work. The “Protestant work ethic” can be traced to Calvin and his ideals.
John Knox (c. 1513-1572)—A Scottish religious reformer with a varied religious background, John Knox is remembered most for founding Presbyterianism in Scotland in the sixteenth century. Educated in Glasgow, Knox became a Catholic priest. However, after being exposed to Protestantism, Knox converted to Protestantism and began preaching the Protestant message. After serving with the Church of England under Edward VI, Knox found himself in danger when the Catholic “Bloody” Mary Tudor ascended to the English throne in 1553. He fled to Geneva where he was influenced by John Calvin. Knox later returned to Scotland where he helped the Protestants gain power. The Scottish Parliament eventually adopted Knox’s ideology, which was similar to that of Calvin’s, and it remained prominent in Scotland for nearly two hundred years. When the Catholic Mary, Queen of Scots, returned to Scotland in 1561, Knox spoke out against Mary and against Catholicism in general. Knox became even more influential in Scotland when he delivered sermons at the coronation of James VI of Scotland (who later became James I of England), a Protestant.
Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556)—Ignatius of Loyola was born in Spain and grew up as a page to Ferdinand V of Castile. When he was old enough, Loyola entered the military. While recovering from being wounded in battle, he spent his time reading about the lives of saints. Deeply affected by the reading, Loyola decided to live the rest of his life as one of piety. He lived in a cave for several months and then journeyed to Jerusalem. After some study, Loyola founded the Society of Jesus, or the Jesuits. They were committed to pious living and education. The Jesuits played a major role in the Counter Reformation. Loyola wrote Constitutions of the Order concerning the Society of Jesus, and he wrote Spiritual Exercises, a manual on spiritual meditation. Loyola was canonized, or made a saint, in 1622.
CHRONOLOGY OF THE REFORMATION
1517—Johann Tetzel was authorized to sell indulgences to finance construction on St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.
1517—Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses on the church door at Wittenburg castle in Germany.
1519—Luther debated John Eck and questioned the authority of the pope and church councils. In response, the papacy condemned Luther’s propositions and ordered many of his books to be burned.
1519— Ulrich Zwingli began his teachings, thus spreading the Reformation to Switzerland.
1520— Thomas Munzer began the Anabaptist movement.
1520— Pope Leo X excommunicated Luther.
1521— Charles V and the Diet of Worms outlawed Martin Luther and forced him to seek refuge with Frederick the Wise.
1525—German peasants revolted in response to Luther’s writings. Luther condemned the actions of the peasants but was later troubled by the behavior of the nobles.
1527—Ring Henry VIII first petitioned for a divorce from Catherine of Aragon.
1529— The term Protestant is coined at the Diet of Speyer, a meeting of the German princes.
1530— Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer annulled the marriage of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon.
1531— Ulrich Zwingli was killed in battle.
1534—Henry VIII was recognized as the official head of the Church of England under the Act of Supremacy.
1536—John Calvin published the Institutes of the Christian Religion in Geneva.
1539— Parliament passed the Six Articles and affirmed many of the sacraments.
1540— The Jesuits were officially recognized and encouraged by Rome.
1541— John Knox began the Calvinist reform movement in Scotland.
1549—Thomas Cranmer published the Book of Common Prayer, which was used as a model for services in the Church of England.
1555—The Peace of Augsburg allowed German princes the right to choose the religion of their subjects.
1558—Elizabeth was crowned Queen of England and began a forty-five- year reign as a Protestant queen.
1568—Led by William of Orange, the Netherlands revolted against Spanish rule.
1588—The English fleet defeated the Spanish Armada.
1590s—William Shakespeare began some of his most famous works.
1603—Elizabeth I died, and James VI of Scotland ascended to the English throne as James I.
1618—Two of the Bohemian kings men were thrown out of a window in the Defenestration of Prague. Amazingly, the men survived because they landed in a pile of manure. This marked the beginning of the Thirty Years’ War.
1620—Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II defeated the Bohemians at the Battle of White Mountain.
1632—Swedish King Gustavus Adolphus was killed in battle while fighting on the side of the Protestants during the Thirty Years’ War.
1648—The Peace of Westphalia marked the end of the Thirty Years’ War.
SAMPLE ESSAY QUESTIONS
Note
These questions are for review purposes only, not to predict the questions that will be on the AP exam.
Test-Taking Strategy
When writing essays about religion, be objective and write as a historian. Avoid making judgments of religions or religious leaders in your essays. The readers do not want to know whether or not you believe what these people believed; the readers want to know if you understand what these people believed.
Now that you have reviewed the information about the Reformation, take a few moments to read through the following sample essay questions. The questions are intended to get you thinking about some of the ways the AP exam may test your knowledge of the Reformation. To completely answer the questions, you will need to draw upon the knowledge you gained during your own course of study in addition to your review with this book.
1. Compare and contrast the attitudes of the leaders of the Reformation toward political authority. Use specific examples to support your answer.
2. Analyze and discuss the social, economic, and political conditions that paved the way for the Reformation movement.
3. “The Counter Reformation had only moderate success in Europe in stopping the spread of Protestantism.” Assess the validity of this statement using specific examples to support your argument.
4. Analyze and discuss the political, social, and geographic consequences of the Peace of Westphalia.
5. To what extent and in what ways did the Protestant Reformation change the society, politics, and economy of sixteenth-century Europe as well as the centuries that followed?
6. To what extent and in what ways did the Thirty Years’ War affect the society, politics, and culture of Europe?
7. Contrast the English Reformation and the Lutheran Reformation. Use specific examples to support your answer.
8. Discuss the political and religious conditions that led to the outbreak of the Thirty Years’ War.