Catholic Church Loses Power In 16th Century Europe

Then, during the onset of the sixteenth century, the Catholic Church began to fracture as reformers, such as Martin Luther, John Calvin, and Henry VIII sought to purge the church of corruption. These individuals also gave rise to new religious ideologies, resulting in a more diversified Europe. Martin Luther (1483 – 1454), for example, criticized the sale of indulgences, which, at the time, were believed to lessen penance, in his Ninety-Five Theses. Luther drew attention to the corruption of the church administration. He “advocated a simper personal religion based on faith, a return to the script of the early church, the centrality of the Scriptures in the liturgy and in Christian life, and abolition of elaborate ceremonies.” Luther, along

During the Protestant Reformation, the clergy and the papacy faced the difficult task of negating all heretical ideas. The most influential of all heretics to the Catholic Church was Martin Luther,

While these were the main causes of Reformation in continental Europe, in England, King Henry VIII initiated the Reformation. Henry VIII wanted to divorce his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, after she had failed to produce a male heir to the throne. However, a divorce was not a simple issue. Henry VIII was a Roman Catholic and the Roman Catholic faith believed in marriage for life. It did not recognise, let alone support, divorce. He also wanted to prevent the interference of foreign powers in the national and international affairs of the country.

Through different inspirations, the Protestant Reformation and Age of Enlightenment sought to change the stagnant traditions of European thinking in the 15th and 16th centuries. Began by German priest named Martin Luther in 1517, he was one of the first people to publicly call out the Catholic Church and their bargaining of indulgences by pasting the 95 Theses on the door of the Wittenberg church for everyone to see. The 95 Theses was a short list of the 95 flaws of the Catholic Church revolving around the use of their indulgences. Luther believed that people should not be scammed by the church and pay for fake indulgences for salvation, but rather come to a new understanding of salvation that came through faith alone. The other change of tradition was not getting your source of beliefs from the Catholic Church, but solely the Bible, which was a

The Catholic Reformation was the response of the Protestant movement in the sixteenth century. By the sixteenth century, many people lost the trust for the Catholic Church because it was corrupt. Popes and Cardinals became involved in politics and were more like kings than spiritual leaders and Nepotism was rampant. This loss of trust led people to moved on into other branches of Christianity which includes, Lutheranism, Calvinism, and Anabaptism. Catholic Church’s realized it needed to re-establish itself, thus beginning the Catholic Reformation. The Catholic Reformation was successful because it triggered the start of The Society of Jesus and The Council of Trent which helped resolve the church’s corruption through education,

To begin, the Protestant Reformation began in reaction to the Catholic Church’s rather corrupt practices. Prior to the Reformation, the only major Christian denomination in Western Europe at the time was Catholicism, headed by the Pope in Rome. Through many acts of violence such as the formation of the Spanish Inquisition and the slaughter of the Cathars, amongst others, Europe’s Monarchs had wiped out and suppressed any form of religious competition. With the Catholic Church holding a tight stranglehold over Europe, Catholicism was the only option. This allowed

The arrival of the Inquisition was swift and powerful, the decline of the Inquisition was drawn out and pathetic. Laws slowly began to be abolished around the eighteenth century. The distinction between Old and New Christians was no longer legally binding, the Moriscos had all but been erased from Spain, and Judaism had no influence. The job was done. Over hundreds of years and a multitude of rulers hellbent on eradicating religious diversity, a mild amount of success had been achieved. As the decades rolled on, however, rulers became more and more disinterested with the inquisitorial rule. The looming French Revolution severely hurt the seemingly dormant Inquisition. The Revolution brought new condemnation for the movement, and more specifically, condemnation for the unnecessarily violent actions of the church. The Inquisition was truly crippled early in the nineteenth century as a Constitution was being constructed by Rafael Riego, an Asturian battalion commander. Through this, and various civil wars and revolts within the nineteenth century, the Spanish Inquisition was officially demolished. The movement that had thousands tortured, imprisoned, and murdered had finally

Towards the end of the Middle Ages and into the duration of the Renaissance, the Medieval Church’s social and political power dwindled. Centuries prior the Catholic Church gained a surplus of control, largely due to the stability it maintained during the chaotic breakdown of the Western Roman Empire . Yet toward the end of the Middle Ages the Church set in motion factors that would ultimately lead to its downfall as the definitive figure of authority. However, despite political and social controversy surrounding the church, the institutions it established cleared a path for a new way of thinking, shaping society in an enduring way.

The religious reformation took place in king Henry's reign. He took away the roman Catholicism from England, and replaced it with the

Isabella of Castille got married kicked out all of the Muslim out of Spain. They embarked the Spanish Inquisition, in which, started torture/public torture. Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile in Valladolid, thus beginning a cooperative reign that would reign all the dominions of Spain and elevate the nation to a dominant world power. Ferdinand and Isbella incorporated a number of independent Spanish dominions into their Kingdom, and in 1478 introduced the Spanish Inquisition, a powerful and brutal force of homogenization in Spanish society. **Spanish Inquisition, the Tribunal of the Holy office of the inquisition, commonly known as the Spanish Inquisition, was established in 1478 by Catholic Monarch Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella

Requirement of Reform of the Church in Europe During 15th and 16th Centuries The Church in Europe required reform at the end of the fifteenth century and the beginning of the sixteenth century for a number of reasons. The main reason being the behaviour of the papacy and their priorities which were no longer the welfare of the Church. There were other factors which contributed to the development of the Reformation in Europe other than the state of the Church and Christian Humanism, however these were the main factors.

One of the most prominent of these reformists was Martin Luther a former catholic came to reject the teachings of the Catholic Church instead stating that salvation through faith instead of salvation through deeds. As Luther began to spread his radicalized ideas opposition grew within the Catholic Church. The 95 Theses authored by Luther himself were not written in Latin so those only of the church could read it but in the vernacular tongue of German so the common people could read and understand as well. Which at the time was uncommon for anything much less religious documents to not be written in Latin. Eventually Luther was called to defend his 95 Theses in front of the 1518 Diet of Augsburg where he debated for three days with Cardinal Thomas Cajetan without reaching agreement. Martin Luther was eventually excommunicated on January 3rd 1521 after refusing to recant after being given 120 days to

The period immediately following the Protestant reformation and the Catholic counter reformation, was full of conflict and war. The entire continent of Europe and all of it's classes of society were affected by the destruction and flaring tempers of the period. In the Netherlands, the Protestants and the Catholics were at eachother’s throats. In France it was the Guise family versus the Bourbons. In Bohemia, the religious and political structures caused total havoc for over thirty years; and in England, the Presbyterians thought that the English Anglican Church too closely resembled the Roman Catholic Church. Religion was the major cause of the widespread

The Protestant Reformation and European expansion have both left political, social and economic impacts throughout history. The Protestant Reformation which was started in the 1500’s, by a Catholic man named Martin Luther caused political instability and fragmented the Holy Roman Empire. It economically caused the church to go bankrupt and socially allowed for the rise of individualism among the people; Luther gave the people of Europe the long needed reason to break free of the church. The Protestant Reformation and the need for new converts lead to the rise of European expansion. European expansion into the west resulted in a political increase of power for Europe, the social increase in slavery, disease and racism, as well as the

During sixteenth century Europe a wave of religious dissatisfaction swept the European continent. There were cries for the restructuring of the Catholic Church. These cries grew into more than just a simple remodeling of the Catholic faith they grew into the Protestant Reformation. Martin Luther is credited for the reformation movement against the Catholic Church that began in 1517.