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The Catholic (Counter) Reformation
The Catholic (Counter) Reformation
The Catholic (Counter) Reformation
The Catholic (Counter) Reformation
1. Introduction
The Counter Reformation arose largely in answer to the Protestant Reformation.
• Beginning – Council of Trent, 1545-1563
• Ending – the close of the Thirty Years' War, 1648
A Strong Sense of Crisis
Politically
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England and the Scandinavian kingdoms had broken with Rome
Protestantism was strong in France and the Netherlands
Poland, Austria and Hungary were widely influenced by the Protestant movement
Even Spain and Italy, the Catholic heartlands, seemed under threat
In Germany only Bavaria was still a significant Catholic state
Religiously
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stagnation because of worldliness and negligence of the prelates
allegiance between bishops and kings and princes
ran churches for personal gain
Pope Paul IV, as he lay dying in August 1559: "From the time of St. Peter there has not been
a pontificate so unfortunate as mine. How I regret the past! Pray for me."
The Catholic (Counter) Reformation
1. Introduction
A Strong Sense of Crisis
A need for a General Council
A double aim
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to reform the church
to secure its traditions against the innovations of Protestant theology and against the
liberalizing effects of the Renaissance.
The Catholic reformers
• shared the Protestants' revulsion at many corrupt conditions in the church.
• differed in their determination to preserve the tradition and retain allegiance to the ONE
church.
Five major elements of reform
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A Counter Reform movement was initiated around the following five major elements:
Doctrine
Ecclesiastical or structural reconfiguration
Religious orders
Spiritual movements
Political dimensions
The Catholic (Counter) Reformation
1. Introduction
2. Council of Trent
1545–47, 1551–52, 1562–63
Popes of the council: Paul III, Julius III, and Pius IV
Countering Protestant doctrine
The early sessions of Trent were largely concerned with countering Protestant doctrine and
providing definitive statements of Catholic faith on matters such as:
• Justification
• The importance of good works
• The number of sacraments
• The equal authority of church tradition with scripture
Reaffirmation of the basic structure and faith of the Church
• Salvation by grace through faith and works of that faith
• transubstantiation, i.e. the consecrated bread and wine - transformed wholly and substantially
into the body, blood, soul and divinity of Christ.
• pilgrimages, the veneration of saints and relics, and the veneration of the Virgin Mary
• Vulgate listing of the Old Testament Bible
The Catholic (Counter) Reformation
1. Introduction
2. Council of Trent
Countering Protestant doctrine
Reaffirmation of the basic structure and faith of the Church
Recognition of a need of changes
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growing divide between the clerics and the laity
the poor education of many members of the clergy
discipline and administration of the Church need improvement
appointment of bishops for political reasons was no longer tolerated
Implemented reforms
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Education for parish priests, diocesan seminaries, moral teachings
New spiritual movements focusing on devotional life and a personal relationship with Christ
Reform of religious orders, worship, the law of the church and the government of the Holy See
Simony, including the preaching of some indulgences, was uprooted
Purge of the papal court by Paul IV, quasi-monastic air in the Vatican
A new enthusiasm
• offensive in Europe, Jesuits and Capuchins win Austria, Poland, the S Netherlands, and parts of
Germany, Hungary, and Bohemia back to the Roman Catholic Church.
• foreign missions, the Jesuits to America
• Spanish religiosity , Carmelite reforms by Theresa of Ávila and John of the Cross
• Revival of Marian piety
The Thirty Years’ War
The Thirty Years’ War
1. Origins of the war
The Peace of Augsburg
The Peace of Augsburg (1555), signed by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, ended war between
German Lutherans and Catholics. It stated:
• Rulers of the 225 German states could choose the religion (Lutheranism or Catholicism) of their
realms according to their consciences, and compel their subjects to follow that faith (the
principle of cuius regio, eius religio).
• Lutherans living in a prince-bishopric (a state ruled by a Catholic bishop) could continue to
practice their faith.
• Lutherans could keep the territory that they had captured from the Catholic Church since the
Peace of Passau in 1552.
• Those prince-bishops who had converted to Lutheranism were required to give up their
territories (the principle called reservatum ecclesiasticum).
The Peace of Augsburg created a temporary end to hostilities, but it did not solve the underlying
religious conflict.
In addition, Calvinism spread quickly throughout Germany in the years that followed, but its position
was not recognized in any way by the Augsburg terms.
The Thirty Years’ War
1. Origins of the war
The Peace of Augsburg
The European neighbors
The rulers of the nations neighboring the Holy Roman Empire also contributed to the outbreak of
the Thirty Years' War:
• Spain held part of the Netherlands and Italy and was interested in the German states
• The Dutch revolted against the Spanish domination during the 1560s, leading to a protracted
war of independence that led to a truce only in 1609.
• France was nearly surrounded by territory controlled by the two Habsburg states (Spain and
the Holy Roman Empire), and wanted to exert its power against the weaker German states;
Thus, Catholic France participated on the otherwise Protestant side of the war.
• Sweden and Denmark were interested in gaining control over the northern German states
bordering the Baltic Sea.
2. Casualties and disease
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Reduction of population in the German states at about 15% to 30%, male 50%; Württemberg lost
three-quarters, Brandenburg half, some other areas two-thirds of the population.
Czech lands declined by a third due to war, disease, famine and the expulsion of Protestant Czechs
The Swedish armies alone destroyed up to 2,000 castles, 18,000 villages and 1,500 towns in
Germany, one-third of all German towns
Pestilence of several kinds raged among combatants and civilians
Displacement of civilian populations and the overcrowding of refugees into cities led to both
disease and famine
In the last decades of the war, both typhus and dysentery had become endemic in Germany
The Thirty Years’ War
1. Origins of the war
2. Casualties and disease
3. Peace of Westphalia
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French General Louis II de Bourbon defeated the Spanish at the Battle of Rocroi in 1643, which
led to negotiations
Over a four year period, the parties were actively negotiating at Osnabrück and Münster in
Westphalia.
The end of the war was brought about by a group of treaties such as the Treaty of Hamburg
and the Treaty of Osnabrück and the Treaty of Münster, thus ending both the Thirty Years' War
and the Eighty Years' War (between Spain and the Netherlands)
4. Political consequences
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The balkanization of Germany into many territories — all of which won de facto sovereignty,
which limited the power of the Holy Roman Empire and decentralized German power.
Spain's military and political power declined visible.
While Spain was fighting in France, Portugal attained independence.
Also, Spain was forced to accept the independence of the Dutch Republic in 1648, ending the
Eighty Years' War.
France started to replace Spain as the dominant European power, an outcome confirmed by its
victories By the late 1600s. Thus France, under the leadership of Louis XIV, had surpassed
Habsburg-Spain in influence
The Thirty Years’ War