The Catholic Reformation Essay

Among the many religious changes that occurred throughout Europe in the sixteenth century, few were as widely influential as the Reformation. There were three streams of the Reformation: the common class, the educated middle class, and the monarchs and princes. All three streams wanted the church to be fixed and hoped it could combine old ideas and new ones. The Reformation was influenced by many different people, yet the most important was John Wyclif, who stated that the church did not need possession in order to be powerful. Different ideologies came from the influences of Wyclif, and many others. Lutheranism began in the mid 1500’s by Martin Luther, and he developed a doctrine of Justification by Faith where he wrote of how people stay in the church and get to heaven from faith

The members of the Council of Trent realized the unfair abuses of the church, and called for reform. In this way, they were protecting themselves against criticism from Protestant reformers. A drastic reform of monastic orders was launched. The council acted against the abuse of indulgences while still upholding the principle. This meant that indulgences could not just be sold; indulgences were granted when an individual did something truly good. Also, bishops were to reside in their respective dioceses and attend more carefully to their duties, exercising more control over clergy. Pluralism was checked and steps were taken to make sure church officials were eligible for the job. In order to have an educated clergy, the council ordered that a seminary be set up in each diocese for priest training. More careful steps were to be taken to ensure the celibacy of clergy. The Council of Trent was able to eliminate many abuses of the

The Protestant Reformation was a major 16th century European movement aimed initially at reforming the beliefs and practices of the Roman Catholic Church. The Reformation in western and central Europe officially began in 1517 with Martin Luther and his 95 Theses. This was a debate over the Christian religion. At the time there was a difference in power. Roman Catholicism stands with the Pope as central and appointed by God. Luther’s arguments referred to a direct relationship with God and using the local vernacular to speak to the people. Luther’s arguments remove the absolute power from the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church in general. The revenue from the taxes paid to the Church would be reduced with Luther’s ideas, in part because of

In the Medieval times, the Roman Catholic Church played a great role in the development of England and had much more power than the Church of today does. In Medieval England, the Roman Catholic Church dominated everyday life and controlled everyone whether it is knights, peasants or kings. The Church was one of the most influential institutions in all of Medieval England and played a large role in education and religion. The Church's power was so great that they could order and control knights and sends them to battle whenever they wished to. The Church also had the power to influence the decision of Kings and could stop or pass laws which benefited them in the long run, adding to this, the Church had most of the wealth in Europe as the

The earliest most famous Protestant reformer, Martin Luther went to the school of Erfurt to study law in 1501, but he quickly became more interested in theology. Luther was exposed to recent humanist writings and read extensively in classical Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. In 1505, he enrolled in an Augustinian monastery. He spent a decade educating and preaching and visited Rome. The Reformation was a religious uprising in Europe in the 16th century, prompted by dissatisfaction with the set Roman Catholic Church, which directed to the formulation of the Protestant branch of Christianity.

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 protestant reformation happened at the moment that it did because the Catholic Church was very a powerful force in Europe. It controlled people lives both spiritually and temporally. The church had so much power that it maintained political control over a large portion of Italy. The fact that the church held so much control over countries and governments became a point of contention among European countries such as the Holy Roman Empire, Italian city-states outside of Rome, England, France and Spain. The power of the rulers of these areas had greatly increased in the 14th century and they were eager to take the chances offered by a Reformation to weaken the grip of the Catholic Church in Europe and also to develop their own powers across the European continent. For quite some time the Catholic Church had been an institution rampant with internal struggles. Such as the Avignon Papacy from 1309 to 1377 when seven popes opted to live in Avignon, France and not reside in Rome which was and is the traditional home of the Papacy. The Pope and other high ranking church officials often lived opulent lifestyles rather than a more austere lifestyle that should befit a spiritual leader. Many church leaders and Popes maintained political powers. They led armies, waged wars and made many political decisions. Church offices were sold, and many Popes and bishops practiced nepotism to fill church offices. With all of these worldly issues for the Pope

The Effects of the Reformation on European Life European society was divided from the word go, people all around Europe were dominantly Catholic before the reformation. This time was bringing change throughout Europe with a heavy influence on art and culture because the Renaissance was occurring; a religious revolution was also beginning, which was known as the Protestant Reformation. The Protestant Reformation was the voicing of disagreements by a German Catholic priest about the Catholic Church; this priest was Martin Luther and was excommunicated from the church for his actions. The Protestant Reformation helped to influence and strengthen the Renaissance that was just arising in England.

Long before the reformation period,people within the church, both clergy and lay were keen for the church to eliminate all corrupt practices and for a reform,which would bring everyone closer to God. Those high up in church authority had ignored the concerns made by these reformers because they were personally gaining from practices like indulgences. However the sixteenth century split of protestant from the Catholic church became obvious and brought about bad publicity towards the church as the loss of members was a large concern, putting them under pressure to reform itself properly. The church responded in a very serious matter which resulted in the church starting

By The Middle Ages, one understands a relatively long historical period extending from the end of the Roman Empire to the 1500's. The conquest of The Roman Empire by Germanic tribes, and synthesis of Germanic and Roman ways of life formed the civilization which we call medieval (medieval-from Latin words; medium (middle) and aevum (age)). Medieval civilization was greatly influenced by the Muslims in Spain and The Middle East, and by Byzantine Empire and Christians in Southeast Europe.

Reformation Summative Britany Many methods were used to promote change in the church. In 1834 the bible was translated from Hebrew so that everyday people could read it. This promoted change because people no longer had to rely on the church officials to know what God says. They could now read the word for themselves.

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

Martin Luther became one of the most influential figures in Christian history. He began the protestant reformation in the 16th century. He also called into question some of the basic tenets of Roman Catholicism and eventually his followers soon split from the Roman Catholic Church to become protestant. He was known to be a very controversial man not just for his writing of the ninety five thesis but for others and in his later years his feeling about the Jews. His teaching of the bible is what lead to the reformation of the Protestantism.

The Middle Ages were a period in Europe dating from the collapse of the Roman Empire in the West, around the 5th century. However, the fixing of dates for the beginning and end of the Middle Ages is arbitrary. According to the Norton Anthology, "Medieval social theory held that society was made up of three 'estates': the nobility, composed of a small hereditary aristocracy,...,the church, whose duty was to look after the spiritual welfare of that body, and everyone else..."( Norton 76).

Most common historical writers would mark the date, October thirty-first, 1517, as the initial rise of early reform movements. It was the day Martin Luther had encrypted his floating thoughts of early reformation onto paper, with the help of the printing press. Many others before Martin had speculation of somewhat of a reform, but didn’t have the courage to go up against the authoritative Church. Martin and his actions had officially sparked the revolution, and the start of European Reformation. But Martins actions would end up transforming the world indefinitely. Successors of the Roman Church would end up finding themselves on a boat destine for the new world. He galvanized the migration of many Europeans, hoping to evade harsh persecution. Not only did Martin set the stage for early reform of religion, he also opened the doors of westward expansion and economic growth.