The Decline of the Holy Roman Empire Essay

The Roman Empire was or could be one of the greatest empires to have ever existed to this day. Just like many empires the Roman Empire fell to betrayal, religion, and war. Lasting from 27BC to 1453 the Roman Empire to me is the most interesting empire to talk about. When you take any history class that explores times outside the US, you hear about the Roman Empire being involved some way or somehow. The Roman Empire history can go on for days. I will pack most of the history into a small 5 page essay and if you don’t know anything about the Roman Empire, You will have a better understanding and will more than likely see why I believe the Roman Empire was one of the greatest of all time.

A major 16th century movement initially aimed at reforming the beliefs and practices of the Roman Catholic Church, the Reformation was begun by a German monk named Martin Luther who challenge the Catholic Church’s doctrine by posting his 95 Theses on a church door. He did this because he was appalled that the church was selling indulgences, which were written letters that assured people’s salvation, in order to build a new Basilica in Rome under Pope Leo X. Martin Luther argued that the Bible, not the pope, was the central means to discern God’s word and was the only thing capable of giving salvation.

The protestant reformation was a significant turning point during the 16th century that completely revolutionized the Roman Catholic Church. The “reformation” was launched in 1517 when a German monk by the name of Martin Luther posted his “95 Theses” on the door of Castle Church in Wittenberg. The main ideas of this publication was that selling and buying indulgences was wrong and that the pope has no power over purgatory. These 95 revolutionary opinions formed the basis for the protestant reformation which revolutionized western civilization over the next three centuries. Although most people believe these reforms only affected religion, the reformation also impacted political life. Politics played an enormous role in the reformation due to the fact that political rulers wanted to extend their power and control using the church. Throughout the course of the protestant reformation, political authorities such as Emperor Charles V and Henry

Peter’s Basilica. Then on October 31, 1517 it is speculated that Martin Luther nailed the 95 Theses on the front doors of a university door. The reason for the massive spreading of the 95 Theses is because of the printing press. The printing press quickly spread the document throughout Germany. This was the start of what is known as the German Reformation. Martin Luther was eventually excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church. Luther would always refuse to take back what he has said in his documents against the Roman Catholic Church. At the Edict of Worms, Martin Luther was declared a heretic and made him a wanted man. Martin Luther is one of the most important figures of the medieval Europe. This may be another reason the 95 Theses and other doctrines spread so well throughout Europe. The Roman Catholic Church was ringing Martin Luther’s names all throughout the public’s ears. The old saying “any publicity is good publicity” applies in this situation. People could see that Martin Luther was onto something. The 95 Theses were put into vernacular so that anyone could read them for their selves. He gave a voice to many people that would never have a voice and spoke out against the corruptions of the Roman Catholic Church. He gave way to reform throughout the church. Martin Luther and the 95 Theses also gave way to his own form of religion called Lutheranism.

Martin Luther was already questioning his catholic fate and this became worse when the pope allowed John Tetzel to sell indulgences. Luther strongly believed that the Catholic Church was conning the people of Wittenberg into believing they could pay off their sins. Indulgences are a remission of the purgatorial punishment due for sins according to the Roman Church. In acknowledgement to Tetzel’s actions, Luther wrote the “95 Theses”. The 95 Theses was a criticism of indulgences and it had ninety five points attacking the churches practices selling indulgences.

Before the printing press, Europeans got their religious information from the Church, as most people were either illiterate or too poor to afford the expensive Bibles. However, the printing press made Bibles accessible to the public. This changed people’s opinions on religion, as they now educated themselves without relying on the Church. Martin Luther, a Catholic priest, was discontent with the Church’s practices, specifically their indulgences, where they accepted payments in return for salvation in the afterlife. Luther outlined his criticisms in the 95 Theses, sparking the Protestant Reformation movement. Luther’s 95 Theses spread throughout Europe, including 300,000 copies published in early 1500s Germany utilizing the printing press, thus introducing the new Protestant religion to more people. Religious reformation is an example of the Renaissance worldview that states “an individual’s dreams and achievements are given new emphasis”. For instance, Luther established the new Protestant religion because his dreams were possible, as people praised individualism. The group mentality was no longer significant, specifically for religion as people began to extend from

The Archbishop then turned to Pope Leo X for advice, in doing so Pope Leo X didn’t want to cause trouble in Wittenburg due to political and other reasons. Pope Leo X sent senior member of the official church to then try and persuade Luther to drop is protests and complaints quitley without fuss, but Luthers next actions brought in various Catholic scholars to join the debate about the sale of indulgences. Luthers actions consisted of the making of pamplets and books. The first inventions of the printing press had a huge impact on the production rates at which Luthers books and pamphlets were being created. Once the increasing numbers of Martin Luthers books and pamphlets were being made this allowed him to distrubute it throughout germany. As the years carried on after the publicised 95 Theses was then followed by Martin Luther making new accusations/criticisms of the Roman Catholic Church. Mainly criticising the curruption of several individual popes. To help enforce and encourage the church reformation Martin Luther called upon local German rulers. The actions of Luther became too much for Pope Leo X and his accompainies causing them to excommunicate Martin Luther giving him only 60 days to apologize for his opinion and also the withdrawl of all his books and pamphlets. Martin Luther refused,

Martin Luther, a prominent figure in the protestant reformation, who would eventually go on to found his own church and version of Christianity, would most likely not have gained nearly the traction he did if not for the invention of the printing press. The printing press was an unbiased and efficient method to mass produce information, ideas, tales and literature. When Martin Luther posted his 95 Thesis on the door of the church he could not possibly have expected someone to come along and copy his writing to later be printed out infinitely more people to see, his demands becoming a staple of the Protestant Reformation, starting with the denouncement of selling indulgences. Drawing information from document D of our Printing Press DBQ, a viable and useful source because it shows Martin Luther's views on indulgences, this source is credible because Martin was well informed (seeing as he presided as a monk in the Catholic Church for a time) and he was somewhat of an expert on the bible, observing that he studied the bible very thoroughly as a monk in the Catholic Church. The second part of the source is credible, seeing as it is a purely historical recording and the author does not have any clear vested interest in the recanting of the article. The document itself lists four of Luther's 95 thesis, which

Martin Luther’s 95 Theses’ were posted on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. “Because of the printing press, the 95 theses were known throughout Germany in two weeks and throughout Europe in a month.” (Document B). In harmony the printing press allowed many religious differences to spread causing the religious mix of Catholic and Protestant. “Luther’s protest triggered a movement called the Protestant Reformation and led to the Lutheran religion” (Document B). Between 1500 and 1560 England, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, most of Scotland and many small German states became mainly Protestant. The printing press made it possible for many religious beliefs to spread allowing for people to become more educated and form better opinions on

This fundamental difference from the Catholic dogma that one could buy salvation to Luther’s new ideas as way to Heaven began to transform many people’s beliefs. Supporters of Luther adopted the concept of faith and knowledge of God as a way to repent their sins, and eventually, it reshaped the Christian culture. As Luther personally struggled to be a “perfect” monk, he discovered that faith in the gospel was the only way to be “made righteous by God”(roper 78). In response to his distress for his laity’s desire to buy indulgences, Luther wrote the “95 Theses on the Power of Indulgences.” He knew he was attacking the pope and the values of the church, but records show that he felt “...not fully in control of his actions, but handed over responsibility to a higher power”(84 roper). Cleary, Luther felt a spiritual connection with God and indulgences were in direct opposition to faith. His revolutionary claims in the “95 Theses on the Power of Indulgences” caused a conflict that would eventually be known as the Protestant Reformation.

Martin Luther life & accomplishments have had the greatest impact on our modern world. Martin Luther began protestant reformation for religion. Martin Luther impact our modern world when he wrote his ninety-five theses to protestant agents the church selling pieces of paper saying the god forgive your sins and you are free of them. The textbook states that on October 31, 1517 Luther who was greatly angered by the church’s practices sent a list of ninety-five these to his church superior especially the local bishop.The theses were a stunning attack on abuses in the sale of indulgences.This show that Martin Luther had the greatest impact on our modern word

Written in his theses was the debate and criticism of the Roman Catholic Church and the Pope. Luther concentrated upon the selling of indulgences, which are extra-sacrament remission of the temporal punishment due in God’s justice, to sin that has been forgiven, which remission is granted by the Church in the exercise of the power of the keys (Knight 1993, 2009) the indulgences replaced the severe penances of the early church. The theses also included the debate of doctrine policies about purgatory, judgment, devotion to Mary the Mother of Jesus, the intercession of and devotion to the saints and the authority of the Pope there are others that were not mention in this paper.

Archbishop Albert needed someone to sell indulgences for him, so he hired Dominican friar John Tetzel. Tetzel made this into a business and even began to heavily advertise the sale of indulgences. He came up with catchy slogans to lure people into buying them. He even came up with a chart price to persuade people to buy the "best" or most expensive indulgences. Luther did not agree with this because people no longer saw the need for repentance and felt they could buy away their sins. He was greatly troubled that people were buying into these advertising gimmicks. Since, at the time, the church did not have an official doctrine on indulgences, Luther decided this entitled him to discuss the subject critically. In doing so Luther wrote Archbishop Albert a letter on the subject and enclosed in Latin "Ninety-five Theses on the Power of Indulgences." He argued indulgences made people believe repentance was not important, it downplayed the importance of charity in Christian life, and it competed with the preaching of the Gospel. (Boehmer, 198) Once Luther died, his disciple Philipp Melanchthon reported that the theses were also posted on the door of the church at Wittenberg Castle on October 31, 1517, although not all modern scholars are completely convinced this ever took place. (Erikson, 142) By December of 1517, the theses had all been translated to German and were read throughout the empire.

On Christmas day of 800 A.D., Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne the Holy Roman Emperor. This pivotal, but not necessarily wanted, moment in the history of the Catholic Church set up a precedent for very strong relations between the Holy Roman Emperor and the papacy. During the eleventh century, with the Holy Roman Emperor ruled by Henry IV, relations with the papacy came to a front over several disagreement between Henry IV and Pope Gregory VII. Their arguments mainly focused on the power that each institution should hold. Gregory felt that the papacy should play a larger political role in the western church and that lay investiture was against the will of God. Henry was conservative and did not want Rome intruding any more on his rule of the Holy Roman Emperor and accused Gregory of being a usurper and a fraud. In the midst of this argument, Gregory released various decrees, known as the Dictatus Papae, which greatly increased the power of the Papacy while reducing that of the Holy Roman Empire. The mere fact that Gregory felt the need to issue these decrees, in combination with the harsh reaction of Henry IV and the Bishops of Germany, prove that the papacy did not have “effective authority” over the Western church and institution.