History revision

LIV Revision Sheet 1– The Reformation and the Tudors

See also p 8 of Reformation booklet for table of Catholic & Protestant ideas

The Church in 1500

(Use the glossary to remind yourself what the terms mean)

The Church was very powerful. Everyone paid  a Tithe to the Church.

People believed that souls went to Purgatory to be punished after death.  The length of time spent in Purgatory could be reduced by doing “good works”

·         taking the sacraments

·         donating money to the Church

·         going on pilgrimages.

·         Buying Indulgences.

Clergy (Pope, Archbishops, Bishops, Priests) took a vow of chastity

Those who challenged the teaching of the church were called heretics and their beliefs were Heresy.  They could be burnt at the stake.

Why were some people critical of the Church by 1500?

·         some Bishops had bought their jobs

·         some Bishops kept the Tithes to spend on luxuries;

·         some Bishops had more than one Diocese

·         Clergy were not always well-educated or Godly men, for example some had illegitimate children

·         some relics were not what they were claimed to be

Martin Luther

Luther was furious when he saw Tetzel selling indulgences

Luther wrote 95 Theses which he nailed to the Church door in Wittenburg

His ideas were spread by the printing press and many Germans liked them as he argued that the Bible and services should be in the language of the people.  Many Germans thought the clergy were corrupt and resented sending taxes to Rome.

German Princes also supported him as they could then takeover the power and wealth of the Church in their state.

Luther burnt the Papal Bull which excommunicated him

Luther refused to take back his views at the Diet of Wörms

He was kidnapped by his friends and hidden in Wartburg Castle

Charles V was unable to stop the reformation as the Protestant princes formed an army which he could not defeat.

Calvinists

Followed the more extreme Protestant ideas of John Calvin  who wrote all his ideas very clearly in one book; his teachings spread to many countries.

Calvinists were called Puritans in England and Presbyterians in Scotland

Each congregation would elect their own ministers e.g. elders, teachers,…