Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Reformation in western europe
The Effects of the Reformation on European Life
Reformation in western europe
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Reformation in western europe
Revival of Monarchy in Northern Europe
- Shift from divided feudal to unified national monarchies
- 100 years war & schism declined the nobility and clergy
- Towns allied with kings, which broke feudalism
- As monarchs acted more independently, assemblies and representatives lost power
- Regional became national and pledged to the state
- Standing national armies brought strength to the monarchs
Downsides
- Nobles and high-class citizens resisted taxation
- Commercial taxes on the poor was the only way to gain money
- Kings borrowed money from nobles which made them on the same level
France
- Charles VII drove the English out of France and built a strong economy
- France squandered its resources and became weak once they were in debt
Spain
- Spain was unified when Isabella and Ferdinand married
- The Hermandad, a powerful league of cities and towns, allied themselves with the crown
- Religion was centered on Christianity as the state was
- Oversea explorations were promoted (Christopher Columbus)
Downsides
- The Inquisition run by Tomas de Torquemada persecuted other religions and was a base of counter-reformation
- French marriages were forbidden
England
- The War of the Roses kept England in turmoil
- Henry VII created the Court of Star Chamber (this was suppose to solve problems with equality)
- Henry stole noble lands and came to a strong rule
The Holy Roman Empire
- Germany divided into 300 smaller kingdoms became weak
- The princes worked together and reached an agreement in 1356, the Golden Bull (this was a 7 member electoral college which functioned as an administration)
- A supreme court was created to solve internal problems
- Later, it was disbanded because it gave princes a share in executive power
- Unification failed because princes were sovereign rulers
- However, it was out of the small feudal places where reformation started
The Northern Renaissance
- Reformation began in the Netherlands where it permitted men and women to live a shared religious life
- Northern humanists had a more diverse culture
The Printing Press
- Books became more widespread and longer
- Literacy grew and communication improved
Erasmus
- Desiderius Erasmus was the most famous of the northern humanists
- He wrote Latin dialogs, Colloquies, when finished was under the title Adages
- His criticism of scholastism was fostered in his Greek edition of the New Testament
Absolute monarchs ruled though the policy of absolutism. Absolutism declared that the king ruled though divine right with a legitimate claim to sole and uncontested authority (French State Building and Louis XIV). On this basis, Louis XIV of France and Suleiman I of the Ottoman Empire were both absolute monarchs. Each ruler believed that his power belonged to him and him alone due to divine right. They showed their absolute power by living lavishly, increased their power by waging wars, and kept their power by ensuring complete loyalty of their subjects.
The first problem they tried to deal with during the Inquisition was the Moors. At first, they tried preaching to the people, and not forcing them to convert to Catholicism. However, the plans quickly changed and they decided that it was more efficient for forced conversion or expulsion to be used against the Moors (Reston). This did not please the Moors. They fought back against Ferdinand and Isabella. The fighting between the Christians and the Moors went on for almost ten ...
Social and economic stresses of The Protestant Reformation age were just among few of the things that impacted the ordinary population of Europe. The Protestant Reformation was the 16th-century religious, political, and cultural disorder that divided Catholic Europe, setting in place the structures and beliefs that would define the continent in the ordinary population. In northern and central Europe, reformers like Martin Luther, John Calvin and Henry VIII challenged papal authority and questioned the Catholic Church’s ability to define Christian practice. In 1555 The Peace of Augsburg allowed for the coexistence of Catholicism and Lutheranism in Germany; and in 1648 Treaty of Westphalia, which ended the Thirty Years’ War. The key ideas of the Reformation, a call to purify the church and a belief that the Bible, should be the sole source of spiritual authority. However, Luther and the other reformers became the first to skillfully use the power of the printing press to give their ideas a wide audience.
The Reformation occurred all over Western Europe. It was mostly set in Germany where various parts of corruption in the Church happened. Martin Luther started the process of the Reformation, he was German so he understood how the Catholic Church took advantage and didn't think this was fair. The Catholic Reformation took place between 1450-1650 which was the biggest revolution in Germany, although the understanding of Luther's actions weren't taken notice of until he put the 95 Theses on the Church's door. Luther felt that Bishops and Priests didn't understand the bible correctly. Luther wanted the Reformation to help fix this by helping the uneducated and powerless. Some of the movement of this was
Protestant England also did the same and started persecuting Catholic families and fines them for not attending a Protestant Service. The rival persecutions continued throughout the surrounding countries.
...17 “Martin Luther” confronted the Catholic Church’s practice of selling indulgences. He placed notices on church doors exposing the corrupted practices. He lived believed good works alone could not earn salvation. The Reformation spread throughout northern Europe. The Catholic Church had no choice but to respond to the Protestant Reformation and they did so in the late 1530s through Spanish reformer “Loyola.” He formed a new religion order, he was the founder of the Society of Jesus, known as the Jesuits, and they became the strength of the Catholic Church. This was known as the Counter Reformation.
As the Byzantine empire’s power began to lessen, ecclesiastical law flourished (Rautman). The Inquisition was entirely based around Roman Catholicism, and was commonly seen as needed in order to protect and defend the church from protestantism and sinners. It’s courts had judges called “inquisitors.” Inquisitors served lifelong terms and made decisions solely in the name of the Pope. While the only type of crime pursued and prosecuted by the Inquisition were crimes against the church, it was often accused of being a very biased institution, as all verdicts were made according to Catholic beliefs, regardless of the circumstance
Medieval rulers restored order and centralized political powers by creating their own form of government. These leaders expanded their territory and spread their authority by creating many micro-managed systems. They developed large bureaucracies, armies, judicial systems and created taxes in order to cause the common-folk pay for all of it.
The word “inquisition” means to examine. Inquisitors would “examine” suspected Heretics, people whose ideas do not match those of the Roman Catholic Church, and punish them accordingly. This included torture and burning. The great inquisition movement that took place in Spain, or Hispania as it was called before Spain united. It was called The Spanish Inquisition. It took place for approximately five hundred years, from the late 15th century to mid 19th century. Many ironic elements were involved in the history of the Inquisition. The Spanish Inquisition lasted longer than any other preceding it, and was the most cruel, bloodthirsty, and festive of all. The objective of the inquisition, in its early state, was to convert all Jews into Christians, but later it mutated into an ugly machine who’s new objective was to rid the country of the newly converted Christians.
Netherlands in the 17th and 18th century, as opposed to the decline of Spain and Italy, to their Protestant faith. This is the essence of the Reformation: Man is in his very nature destined to be free. In fact, the weightiest import that the bible has become the basis of the Christian Church: henceforth each individual enjoys the right of deriving instruction for himself from it. and of directing his conscience in accordance with it. These results are robust to a wide array of alternate specifications, and are confirmed by an instrumental variables strategy.
In the first half of the sixteenth century Western Europe experienced a wide range of social, artistic, political changes as the result of a conflict within the Catholic church. This conflict is called the Protestant Reformation, and the Catholic response to it is called the Counter-Reformation.
Arguably ministers were more responsible than monarchs for the government in England within the context of 1529-1629. There is evidence that they controlled most of the decisions and changes made to the government during this time. Thomas Cromwell made the change of medieval to modern government under the monarch Henry VIII and “…in ten years he changed the face of England” . Also, ministers such as William Cecil, Northumberland and Somerset, all closely advised their monarchs in government decisions as they were young. However, there are also examples of how the monarchs have the responsibility for government, as during Edward IV’s reign, who became more involved in government as he got older, much like Elizabeth I. Also, Mary I took advice
These types of decisions define why Louis XIII is an important example of the primacy of the king over all other sources of political and governmental power in the 17th century. Certainly, Louis XIII’s rise to power defines the lack of checks and balances that would typically be a part of a lesser monarchy in which the aristocracy could have an influence on governmental decisions. However, this was not the case with Louis XIII, since he had gained complete control over the government through military might and the wealth of the royal family. This historical example defines the primacy of the absolute monarch within the context of the king’s role in governing in 17th century
In the late 1800’s, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of spain issued an edict of expulsion of the Jews. This meant that any Jew had two options, convert or leave your home. A converso was a Jew which said to have converted to Christianity but continued to perform Jewish rituals. Along with this edict of expulsion, the inquisition begun in Spain. “The Inquisition” was a method of finding and punishing people who did not conform to the religious rules and restrictions that the Spanish government had put into place, such as conversos.
This sparked the counter-reformation. The Catholic Leaders wanted to revive religious piety and disallow clergy to marry. These new orders were intended to reconvert Catholics who had become Protestant. With this, they gave greater power to the Inquisition, and ability to ban certain books. This was established in 1557, and not abolished until 1966 with Vatican II. The central doctrines of Protestantism were condemned by The Council of Trent. With this, the schism between Protestant and Catholics remained