Created by María Jesús Campos Fernández, teacher of Geography and History at a bilingual section in Madrid. learningfromhistory.wikispaces.com learningfromgeography.wikispaces.com

1. THE EARLY MODERN AGE: THE
REFORMATION
María Jesús Campos
learningfromhistory.wikispaces.com

2.  In the year 1500, all Christians
belonged to one Church, the
Catholic Church, led by the
Pope.
 The Catholic Church was
extremely wealthy thanks to:
 The tithe: a tax paid annually
by every worker. It
represented 10% of their
income.
 Donations were made by
nobles and royal members in
their testaments so they were
forgiven for their sins.

3. CORRUPTION AND ABUSES
 Nepotism
 Simony
 Absenteeism:
 Pluralism
 Sale of Indulgences
 Luxury and lovers
 Illiteracy

4.  Nepotism: the hierarchy (cardinals, bishops,
abbots…) often appointed family members as
priests or monks even if they were not qualified
or trained.
 Simony: to buy and sell Church positions.
 Absenteeism: the priest or bishop does not live
in the place they are appointed to serve.
 Pluralism: some priests controlled more than
one parish or diocese at the same time.

5.  The Sale of Indulgences:
 Christians believed that God sent sinners
straight to hell and virtuous people straight to
heaven. But they also believed that regular
people, sinners but not wicked enough to be
sent to hell, were sent to the purgatory to pay
for their sins until they were ready to go to
heaven.
 Going to purgatory was terrifying.

6.  The Church said that
Christians could reduce the
amount of time they or their
loved ones spent in purgatory
by buying an indulgence.
 Indulgences = tickets to
heaven
 This meant that the Church
accepted money in return for
the forigiveness of sin and a
way out of purgatory.

7.  Luxury and lovers:
 Popes, cardinals and bishops lived in luxury,
spending vast fortunes on the construction of
palaces and hiring artists to decorate them.
 Often fighting with other lords to conquer or
control more territories.
 Having lovers and children with their lovers.
Appointing their own children for the Church’s
positions.

8.  These shocked Christians who wondered
if the clergy’s hyerarchy were forgetting
their role as spiritual leaders of the
Church.
 In the 16th century, as education spread,
some Christians wanted to reform or
improve the Church, but the Popes
refused to listen.

9. MARTIN LUTHER: THE MAN WHO PROTESTED
 Born in Germany in 1483
 Son of a wealthy copper
miner who wanted him to
study law.
 But he became an
Augustinian monk.
 He saw himself as a sinner
so he studied the Bible in
depth to find a way for
sinners to go to heaven.

10.  In 1510 he visited Rome and
was shocked by the
luxurious lifestyles of many
of the clergy there.
 Reading the Bible he found
the following line in St. Paul’s
letter to the Romans: “the
just man shall live by his
faith”.
 Justification by faith alone:
God would save him so long
as he had faith. Good works
were not needed; he just had
to believe in Jesus Christ.
 Forgiveness of sins
is not something
which we earn for
ourselves by our
own good deeds.
Rather, it is a free
gift, which God
gives to us as a
result of all that
Jesus did for us as
our Saviour.
Salvation,
therefore, is
completely and
only by faith in
Jesus Christ

11.  Needing money to rebuild
St. Peter’s Basilica, Pope
Leo X promised an
indulgence to anyone who
contributed money to his
cause.
 Luther produced the 95
theses and nailed them to
the door of the Church in
Wittenberg.
 There he objected to the
idea of buying your way to
heaven, and the building of
great luxurious churches.

12.  At first, Pope Leo X did little, especially since
Luther was supported by his ruler, Prince
Frederick the Wise. But the debate continued to
grow.
 Luther was instructed to recant but he refused.
 Pope Leo X excommunicated Luther.

14.  Luther began to write
pamphlets outlining his
beliefs and translated the
Bible into German.
 Many Germans
supported him. They
began to call themselves
protestants or
lutherans.
 Some supported Luther
for spiritual reasons,
others for political and
economic reasons.

15. MARTIN LUTHER’S IDEAS
 Justification by faith alone
 The priesthood of all
believers
 Only two sacraments.
Baptism and Eucharist
 The person in charge of
the Church should be the
local prince, not the Pope
in distant Rome.

17. THE LUTHERAN’S REVOLT
 Luther’s disagreement with the
Pope was not just a personal
and spiritual matter.
 It was a serious political and
economic (tithe) matter.
 Emperor Charles V supported
the Pope.
 The German Princes (Holy
Roman Empire) decided to
support Luther as a way to
weaken the Emperor and the
Pope.

18.  Trying to solve the
situation, Emperor
Charles V called the
Diet of Worms. A
meeting with all
German princes in
which Luther refused to
recant.
 Charles V declared
Luther an outlaw, which
meant that anyone
could kill him without
punishment.
 Edict of Worms, 1521
“For this reason we forbid
anyone from this time forward
to dare, either by words or by
deeds, to receive, defend,
sustain, or favour the said
Martin luther. On the contrary,
we want him to be apprehended
and punished as a notorious
heretic, as he deserves, to be
brought personally before us, or
to be securely guarded until
those who have captured him
inform us, where upon we will
order the appropriate manner of
proceeding against the said
Luther. Those who will help in
his capture will be rewarded
generously for their good work.
“

19.  But some German
princes supported Luther
in the hopes that doing so
would weaken the
emperor’s power.
 The Holy Roman Empire
and mainly the territories
of current Germany were
plunged into a terrible
War of Religion.

20.  Although Emperor
Charles V won the war,
the protestants or
Lutherans adhered to
their ideas.
 Finally, in 1555 both
sides signed the Peace
of Augsburg.
 It established that each
prince would have the
right to decide which
religion he and his
people would follow.

21. CONSEQUENCES
 The religious revolution that
Lugher began is known as the
Reformation.
 Others in other parts of Europe
started questioning the Church
teachings as well:
 Switzerland: John Calvin created
calvinisim or presbyterianism
based on the idea of Predestination
 England: King Henry VIII personal
and political interests led to a
reformation in England

23. THE COUNTER-REFORMATION WITHIN THE
CATHOLIC CHURC
 Taken by surprise by the
force of the Protestant
reformation the Catholic
Church was slow in its
response.
 1545 the Pope called the
Council of Trent
 Protestants were also
invited but no agreement
was reached.
 Nevertheles, the Catholic
Church was to be reformed:

24.  Simony, nepotism, pluralism and the rest of
the abuses were to be banned.
 Bishops were obliged to live in their
dioceses.
 All priests were to be fully and properly
trained in seminaries.
 Protestants book were banned.
 Priests were not allowed to marry or have
lovers.
 Only the Pope and the clergy could explain
the Bible and the doctrine to the Catholic.

25.  Both faith and good works are needed to
save a person’s soul.
 There are seven sacraments
 An index, list of forbidden books, would be
created.
 A Tribunal of Inquisition was to be placed
in each catholic country to prosecute
heretics.

26. CONSEQUENCES OF THE REFORMATION AND
THE COUNTER-REFORMATION
 Division among
Catholic and
Protestants
 Wars of Religion and
persecution: by the end
of the 17th century, 10
millions Christians
(catholic and
protestants) had died
as a result of
arguments about how
to serve God.

27.  Europe was divided into
those nations, largely in
the south, who
remained loyal to the
Pope, and those,
largely in the north, who
broke with Rome and
became Protestant.

28.  By 1570, 2 out of every 5 Europeans were
Protestants. But after the Counter-Reformation, by
1650, only 1 in 5 Europeans were Protestants.

29. Developed by María Jesús Campos
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