Luther+Leads+the+Reformation

Luther Leads the Reformation

Bold: I ndulgence- W as a pardon. It released a sinner from performing the penalty that a priest imposed for sins. Indulgences were not supposed to affect God’s right to judge.

Reformation- A movement for religious reform.

Lutherans- Luther and his followers had become a separate religious group, called Lutherans.

Protestant- In 1529, German princes who remained loyal to the pope agreed to join forces against Luther’s ideas. Those princes who supported Luther signed a protest against that agreement. These protesting princes came to be known as Protestants. Eventually, the term Protestant was applied to **Christians who belonged to non-Catholic churches.**

Peace of Augsburg- In 1555, Charles, weary of fighting, ordered all German princes, both Protestant and Catholic, to assemble in the city of Augsburg. There the princes agreed that each ruler would decide the religion of his state. This famous religious settlement was known as the Peace of Augsburg.

Annul- Church law did not allow divorce. However, the pope could annul, or set aside, Henry’s marriage if proof could be found that it had never been legal in the first place.

Anglican Church- In 1559, Parliament followed Elizabeth’s wishes and set up the Church of England, or Anglican Church, with Elizabeth as its head. This was to be the only legal church in England.


 * Key People:**

Pope Alexander VI- Admitted that he had fathered several children.

Martin Luther- His parents wanted him to be a lawyer. Instead, he became a monk and a teacher. From 1512 until his death, he taught scripture at the University of Wittenberg in the German state of Saxony. All he wanted was to be a good Christian, not to lead a religious revolution.

Pope Leo X- Issued a decree threatening Luther with excommunication unless he took back his statements. Luther did not take back a word. Instead, his students at Wittenberg gathered around a bonfire and cheered as he threw the pope’s decree into the flames. Leo excommunicated Luther.

Charles V- A devout Catholic, also opposed Luther’s teaching. Charles controlled a vast empire, including the German states. He summoned Luther to the town of Worms (vawrmz) in 1521 to stand trial. Told to recant, or take back his statements, Luther refused. Charles issued an imperial order, the Edict of Worms. It declared Luther an outlaw and a heretic. According to this edict, no one in the empire was to give Luther food or shelter. Charles went to war against the Protestant princes. Even though he defeated them in 1547, he failed to force them back into the Catholic Church.

Prince Frederick the Wise of Saxony- Disobeyed the emperor. For almost a year after the trial, he sheltered Luther in one of his castles. While there, Luther translated the New Testament into German.

Henry VIII- Became king of England in 1509, he was a devout Catholic. Indeed, in 1521, Henry wrote a stinging attack on Luther’s ideas. In recognition of Henry’s support, the pope gave him the title “Defender of the Faith.” Political needs, however, soon tested his religious loyalty. He needed a male heir. Henry’s father had become king after a long civil war. Henry feared that a similar war would start if he died without a son as his heir. Henry asked the pope to annul his marriage, but the pope turned him down. The pope did not want to offend Catherine’s powerful nephew, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. In 1533, Henry secretly married Anne Boleyn, who was in her twenties. Shortly after, Parliament legalized Henry’s divorce from Catherine. In 1534, Henry’s break with the pope was completed when Parliament voted to approve**the Act of Supremacy. This called on people to take an oath recognizing the divorce and accepting Henry, not the pope, as the official head of England’s Church.** Henry took a third wife, Jane Seymour. In 1537, she gave him a son named Edward. Henry’s happiness was tempered by his wife’s death just two weeks later. Henry married three more times. None of these marriages, how- ever, produced children.

Elizabeth- Daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. In 1558, Elizabeth, Anne Boleyn’s daughter, inherited the throne. Elizabeth I was deter- mined to return her kingdom to Protestantism. In 1559, Parliament followed Elizabeth’s wishes and set up the Church of England, or Anglican Church, with Elizabeth as its head. This was to be the only legal church in England. Eventually, she was charged with treason. Like Thomas More, she was imprisoned in the Tower of London. She was found guilty and beheaded in 1536.

Edward VI- Became king when he was just nine years old. Too young to rule alone, Edward VI was guided by adult advisers. These men were devout Protestants, and they introduced Protestant reforms to the English Church. Almost constantly in ill health, Edward reigned for just six years.

Mary- The daughter of Catherine of Aragon, took the throne in 1553. She was a Catholic who returned the English Church to the rule of the pope. Her efforts met with considerable resistance, and she had many Protestants executed. When Mary died in 1558

Johann Tetzel- Was raising money to rebuild St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome. He did this by selling indulgences. Indulgences were not supposed to affect God’s right to judge. Unfortunately, Tetzel gave people the impression that by buying indulgences, they could buy their way into heaven.


 * Ideas/Events**


 * CAUSE OF THE REFORMATION:**
 * In addition, some rulers began to challenge the Church’s political power. In Germany, which was divided into many competing states, it was difficult for the pope or the emperor to impose central authority.
 * The lower clergy had problems as well. Many priests and monks were so poorly educated that they could scarcely read, let alone teach people. Others broke their priestly vows by marrying, and some drank to excess or gambled.
 * Influenced by reformers, people had come to expect higher standards of conduct from priests and church leaders.

Soon Luther went beyond criticizing indulgences. He wanted full reform of the Church. His teachings rested on three main ideas: • People could win salvation only by faith in God’s gift of forgiveness. The Church taught that faith and “good works” were needed for salvation. • All Church teachings should be clearly based on the words of the Bible. Both the pope and Church traditions were false authorities. • All people with faith were equal. Therefore, people did not need priests to interpret the Bible for them.
 * LUTHER CHALLENGES THE CHURCH:**
 * Luther was troubled by Tetzel’s tactics. In response, he wrote 95 Theses, or formal statements, attacking the “pardon-merchants.” On October 31, 1517, he posted these statements on the door of the castle church in Wittenberg and invited other scholars to debate him.
 * ** Luther’s Teachings: **


 * THE RESPONSE TO LUTHER:**
 * Luther was astonished at how rapidly his ideas spread and attracted followers. Many people had been unhappy with the Church for political and economic rea- sons. They saw Luther’s protests as a way to challenge Church control.
 * As Luther’s ideas became more popular, the pope realized that this monk was a serious threat. In one angry reply to Church criticism, Luther actually suggested that Christians drive the pope from the Church by force.
 * Some people began to apply Luther’s revolutionary ideas to society. In 1524, German peasants, excited by reformers’ talk of Christian freedom, demanded an end to serfdom. Bands of angry peasants went about the countryside raiding monasteries, pillaging, and burning. The revolt horrified Luther. He wrote a pamphlet urging the German princes to show the peasants no mercy.
 * The princes’ armies crushed the revolt, killing as many as 100,000 people. Feeling betrayed, many peasants rejected Luther’s religious leadership.
 * In contrast to the bitter peasants, many northern German princes supported Lutheranism. While some princes genuinely shared Luther’s beliefs, others liked Luther’s ideas for selfish reasons. They saw his teachings as a good excuse to seize Church property and to assert their independencE.


 * ENGLAND BECOMES PROTESTANT:**
 * By 1527, Henry was convinced that the 42-year-old Catherine would have no more children. He wanted to divorce her and take a younger queen. Church law did not allow divorce.
 * In 1529, Henry called Parliament into session and asked it to pass a set of laws that ended the pope’s power in England. This Parliament is known as the Reformation Parliament.
 * Elizabeth decided to establish a state church that moder- ate Catholics and moderate Protestants might both accept. To please Protestants, priests in the Church of England were allowed to marry. They could deliver sermons in English, not Latin. To please Catholics, the Church of England kept some of the trappings of the Catholic service such as rich robes. In addition, church services were revised to be some- what more acceptable to Catholics.
 * While colonies strengthened England economically, they did not enrich the queen directly. Elizabeth’s constant need for money would carry over into the next reign and lead to bitter conflict between the monarch and Parliament.