Download The Transformation of the West 1450-1750

The Transformation of
the West 1450-1750
The Early Modern Period
The Intellectual Renaissance
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The wealthy who lived in Italy between
1350 – 1600 believed they were living in a
unique period, witnessing a rebirth of
classical antiquity –the world of the Greeks
and Romans.
To them, this marked a new age, which
historians later called the Renaissance
(French for “rebirth”).
This movement started in Italy and
eventually spread to the rest of Europe.
The Intellectual Renaissance
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A new view of humans emerged as those
affected by the Italian Renaissance began to
emphasize individual ability.
The Intellectual Renaissance
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This high regard for
human potential gave rise
to a new social ideal –
that of a well rounded (or
“universal”) person that
was capable of
achievements in many
fields (often known as a
“Renaissance Man” or
“Woman”).
The Intellectual Renaissance
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The most important intellectual movement
associated with the Renaissance was
humanism.
Humanism was based on the study of the
classics, the literary works of Greece and
Rome, to lead a moral and effective life.
Humanists studied the liberal arts – history,
grammar, rhetoric, poetry, and philosophy
(ethics). Today we call these the
Humanities.
The Intellectual Renaissance
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During the Renaissance, to become
wealthy and stay wealthy required a high
standard of education…one could not be
successful in commerce or industry without
knowing how to read and write and being
skillful with numbers.
Increased business meant more
partnership agreements, complicated wills,
etc…i.e. more law.
The Intellectual Renaissance
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Legal studies became the biggest draw at
European universities and professors of law
were paid the highest academic salaries.
As city-states grew and governments
became more complicated, there was a
greater demand for a well-educated
secretariat at home and for diplomats who
spoke with eloquence abroad.
The Intellectual Renaissance
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The influence of the past was strengthened
by the fact that the Renaissance had no
conception of progress…until the
Renaissance men did not believe that
society could steadily improve itself by
inventing new ways to exploit resources
and organize economies and governments.
It seemed to Renaissance thinkers that the
ancients had done nearly everything about
as well as it could be done.
The Intellectual Renaissance
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Early humanists (like Petrarch 1304-1374)
believed that the intellectual life should be
one of solitude and study.
Later humanists, especially in Florence,
believed that it was the duty of an
intellectual to live an active life for one’s
community and country.
They also believed that their study of the
humanities should be put to the service of
their community or country.
The Intellectual Renaissance
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Writers addressed more secular subjects like
love and lust, valor, individualism, and pride
in human achievement.
Humanist writers (like Dante) often criticized
the Church (usually by satirizing it) and
began writing in Italian.
The Artistic Renaissance
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Unlike their predecessors, Renaissance
artists tried to imitate nature and
persuade onlookers of the reality of the
object or event they were portraying.
Artistic standards also reflected a new
attitude…that humans became the focus
of attention, “the center and measure of
all things.” “God is supreme but life is
human.”
The Artistic Renaissance
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This focus was on more worldly subjects
or Greek/Roman classics—including
mythology, not just religion (which
reflected humanism).
Painting style became three dimensional
(unlike earlier styles that were flat/two
dimensional).
The Artistic Renaissance
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Artists wanted credit for their works and
wanted to be known (they sought prestige
- a new sign of individualism).
During the Middle Ages to praise man was
to praise God (for man was a creation of
God)…but Renaissance artists praised man
himself as a creator.
The Artistic Renaissance
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Each generation of artists was praised for
being “more modern” than the last…but
“more modern” during the Renaissance
really meant closer to the precepts laid
down by Classical Rome and Greece.
The Artistic Renaissance
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Medieval Art (typically two dimensional)
The Artistic Renaissance
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The major difference
between Medieval and
the Renaissance style of
painting was the use of
linear perspective and
light and shadow.
These elements gave
the figures in
Renaissance art form
and volume (three
dimensional qualities).
The Artistic Renaissance
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Many art historians credit the works of
Giotto (1266-1337) as being the first to
lead art back to what was the “classical
style.”
The Masters
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Sandro Botticelli (1444-1510): The Birth of
Venus (1486)
The Masters
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Primavera (1482):
The Masters
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Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519):
The Masters
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Canon of Proportions
(1485-90)
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Machine Gun
The Masters
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Tank
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Helicopter
The Masters
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Michelangelo (1475-1564):
The Masters
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The Creation of Man (1508-12):
The Masters
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David (1501-04):
The Masters
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The Pieta (c. 1500)
The Masters
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The dome of St. Peter’s Basilica:
The Masters
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Raphael (1483-1520):
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Sistine Madonna
(1513)
The Masters
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Woman with a
Unicorn (1506)
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The Three Graces
(1501-05)
The Masters
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Titian (1485-1576):
Adam & Eve (1550) Diana & Actaeon (1559)
The Masters
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Venus with a mirror (1555)
Bacchus and Ariadne (1520-23)
The Masters
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Donatello (1386-1466):
David. This was the first
major work of
Renaissance sculpture
and the first freestanding nude created
since ancient Rome.
An Architectural Renaissance
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Renaissance rulers used art and
architecture to enhance the pomp and
ceremonial display of their courts as
symbols of their power.
Kings, nobles, and the wealthy
commissioned portraits of themselves (or
of their families) as expressions of their
stature and wealth.
An Architectural Renaissance
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Before the dawn of
the Renaissance
(i.e Late Medieval
period 12th-14th
centuries), Europe
was dominated by
asymmetrical and
ornate Gothic
architecture.
Gothic
Gothic
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Cathedral at Reims (France) and Duomo
(Milan).
Gothic
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Cathedral de Notre Dame (Paris):
Renaissance Architecture
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In the early 1400’s, architects reverted
back to the older styles of Romanesque
and Greek.
The architects of the Renaissance period
refined Greek and Roman architecture and
used new materials not usually associated
with Greece, like brick.
Arab influences are also evident (like the
curved arches).
Renaissance Architecture
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Cities were designed and planned with
order and harmony in mind. (Not the
haphazard Medieval way)
Plazas (open squares), market squares,
parks, play areas, and grounds for military
exercises were incorporated.
Arches and porticos (covered walkways)
became popular.
Renaissance Architecture
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The first major
example of
Renaissance
architecture was
the Church of San
Lorenzo (Florence),
created by Filippo
Brunelleschi (13771446).
Renaissance Architecture
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Among the first to break from the Medieval
Gothic style, Brunelleschi (and his close friend
Donatello) were inspired by classical Roman
models and ruins and created a more linear,
humanistic style.
The classical columns, rounded arches, and
coffered ceiling created a feeling that didn’t
overwhelm worshippers (like Gothic cathedrals).
The space was created to fit human proportions,
not divine ones. Renaissance architects sought
to reflect the human-centered world.
Renaissance Architecture
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Brunelleschi’s most famous work is the
cathedral of Florence Santa Maria del Fiore
(completed 1436).
Renaissance Architecture
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The Temple of St. Peter (marks where he
was put to death by the Romans).
Renaissance Architecture
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The Sistine Chapel (Cappella Sistina) is part
of the Pope’s official residence at the
Vatican.
It was designed to look like Solomon’s
Temple.
Renaissance Architecture
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The Vatican (Rome)
Renaissance Architecture
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Look Familiar?
Renaissance Architecture
Renaissance Architecture
The Protestant Reformation
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In the 15th century northern Europe was a
vast and doubtful place. The shape and
size of the earth was uncertain; the
Western Hemisphere was a blank; and the
continents of Africa and Asia were
practically uncharted except for the
recurrent warning “Here be dragons.”
The Protestant Reformation
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The ruler of the world was God, Creator of
a man-centered universe.
Nature was dark and mysterious. There
were few dependable scientific laws.
The divine scheme of life was the
redemption of sinful man to the heavenly
kingdom that Adam and Eve had lost, and
in the material world man was on trial
everyday.
The Protestant Reformation
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Europe before the Italian Renaissance had
fallen on hard times. Trading ships from
the East brought luxury goods and spices
as well as diseased rats which decimated
Europe’s population with the Black Death.
The Plague recurred again and again.
Trade sagged; fields went fallow; men who
didn’t die from the plague died from
hunger.
The Protestant Reformation
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The Europeans of the era shrank before the
mighty example of God who consigned His
own Son to the appalling death on the
cross; before the inscrutable will that had
caused millions to be carried off dead in an
inexplicable pestilence; before an angry
God who showed himself in the rustling of
dry leaves, in the howling of distant beasts
in the deep forest at night, in the flight of
birds across the moon.
The Protestant Reformation
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Fear was everywhere. Hellfire rather than
paradise was the incentive to righteous
living.
Europe was still essentially agrarian, and
rural life went on in tune with the cycle of
the seasons. Grain was the staple food,
and not until harvest time was there an
abundance—and then only if fortune
smiled and the yield was good.
The Protestant Reformation
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Even so, much of the produce had to
be divided between storage to last
until the next harvest, and seed to be
sown for the next crop.
The Protestant Reformation
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Cattle and oxen, which
in summer provided
dairy products and
labor, could not be
kept alive on the scant
supply of hay that
remained in the winter,
and people could not
spare their own
meager rations to feed
the animals.
The Protestant Reformation
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Most of them therefore had to be slaughtered
in the fall for meat and their hides; their flesh
preserved by salting and smoking, and then
rationed out during the long, lean winter
ahead.
The autumn slaughtering was a time of
feasting and merrymaking before nature
closed down and confined men to their
cramped shuttered dwellings, where they
would mark the time until the new spring
weaving cloth, making or mending their
clothes, and making tools.
The Protestant Reformation
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During the Middle Ages up through the
Renaissance, all Christians in Western
Europe were Roman Catholics.
They were members of the (same) Church
and they followed the directions of the
Pope in Rome as handed down through
their bishops and local priests.
The Protestant Reformation
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The Church, up through 1500, was many
things…It was a government that taxed and
a court that administered justice.
It controlled the lives of everyone, from the
lowliest peasant to the most powerful king.
The Protestant Reformation
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But by the year 1500, the Church
was over 1000 years old, and as
such, it was the oldest and best
established institution in the Western
world.
With its growth had come such
wealth and power it was feared by
kings and commoners alike.
The Protestant Reformation
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But before (and during) the Renaissance
the Roman Catholic Church fell on hard
times.
Christians grew impatient with the
corruption of the clergy, the worldliness
excesses of the Church, the inability to
explain the Black Death, and the religious
in-fighting and bickering which for a time
resulted in there being three men who
claimed to be Pope.
The Protestant Reformation
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Between 1450 and 1520 there was a series
of popes—known as the Renaissance popes
–which failed to meet the needs of the
faithful.
The Protestant Reformation
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These popes were supposed to be spiritual
leaders but they were more often
concerned with Italian politics and worldly
things.
The Renaissance popes were also patrons
of the arts and went on massive building
sprees, especially around Rome.
The Protestant Reformation
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Because of the
constant need to
raise more and more
money, the popes
sold high offices and
the Church sold
indulgences, both of
which were the
subject of much
abuse.
The Protestant Reformation
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According to the Church, the forgiveness
of God was contingent upon confession
and a penance (or punishment).
Over the centuries, the indulgence
developed as a kind of substitute: the
payment of money replaced the
performance of the deed of penance.
But as money and indulgences became
intertwined, abuses greatly increased.
The Protestant Reformation
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These abuses called for two major
responses. On the one hand, there was a
general tendency toward anti-clericalism,
that is, a general but distinct distrust and
dislike of the clergy.
Some people began to argue that the
layperson was just as good as the priest
when it came to matters of faith.
The Protestant Reformation
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On the other hand, there were calls for
reform.
These two responses created fertile ground
for conflict of all kinds, and that conflict
would be both personal and social.
During the second half of the 15th
century, the Renaissance spread north of
the Alps and spawned a movement called
Christian Humanism, whose major goal
was to reform Christendom.
The Protestant Reformation
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The Christian humanists believed in the
ability of human beings to improve
themselves through education that would
instill an inward religious feeling that would
bring about a reform of Church and
society.
These humanists felt that to change
society, they must first change the men
and women who composed it.
The Protestant Reformation
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The most influential of
all Christian humanists
was Desiderius
Erasmus (1466-1536).
Erasmus popularized
the reform movement
of Christian humanism.
The Protestant Reformation
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He called his conception of religion “the
philosophy of Christ,” by which he meant
that Christianity should be a guiding
philosophy for the direction of daily life
instead of system of dogmatic beliefs and
practices that the medieval church seemed
to stress.
The Protestant Reformation
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He emphasized inner piety (devoutness)
and deemphasized the external forms of
religion (like the sacraments, pilgrimages,
fasting, worshipping relics, celibacy,
confession, and the burning of heretics).
To Erasmus, the reform of the Church
meant spreading an understanding of
Christian philosophy, providing enlightened
education in the sources of early
Christianity, and criticizing the abuses of
the Church.
The Protestant Reformation
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On October 31, 1517—the date was
significant because it was the eve of “All
Saints Day” and the town would be
crowded with peasants and pilgrims—a
monk and theology professor named
Martin Luther, tacked up his 95 theses
(or ideas) for debate on the great doors of
Wittenberg (Germany) Castle Cathedral.
The Protestant Reformation
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Luther was disgusted
with a Dominican monk
named Tetzel taking
advantage of the poor
with his favorite
slogan: “As soon as the
coin in the coffer sings,
the soul from purgatory
springs.”
The Protestant Reformation
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Tetzel's sales pitch implied that the buyer
was freed from the sin as well as the
penance attached to it.
Luther believed that anyone truly penitent
would not whine to have punishment for
their sins lifted, but would welcome the
punishment as Christ had.
The Protestant Reformation
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When Tetzel (d. 1519) read Luther’s theses
he crowed: “Within three weeks I will have
the heretic thrown into the fire.”
Luther, unwavering in the face of the rising
furor, wanted to make sure everyone knew
exactly what he said in his 95 theses (to
clear up any misunderstandings among the
people) so he wrote a simplified version of
his views in German (it was originally
written in Latin).
The Protestant Reformation
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Catholic doctrine emphasized that both faith
and good works (prayer + honoring the seven
sacraments) were required of a Christian to
achieve personal salvation.
The seven sacraments are:
Baptism
Eucharist (Communion)
Reconciliation (Penance)
Confirmation
Marriage
Holy Orders (Ordination for Priests)
Anointing the Sick
The Protestant Reformation
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In Luther’s eyes, humans were weak and
powerless in the sight of God and could
never do enough good works to merit
salvation.
Luther believed that humans were not
saved by their good works but through
faith alone.
The Protestant Reformation
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This doctrine of salvation, or justification
by grace through faith alone, became the
primary doctrine of the Protestant
Reformation.
Because Luther had arrived at this
conclusion from studying the Bible, the
Bible became for Luther (and other
Protestants) the chief guide to religious
truth.
The Protestant Reformation
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In 1518 he was summoned to a meeting with
a Cardinal representing the pope and he was
told to recant; Luther quoted scripture in
support of his belief that men were
redeemed by faith and not by the purchase
of indulgences.
When the Cardinal said indulgences were a
matter of Church doctrine, Luther denied it
and became more radical.
For Luther, the Bible, not the Church, was
the sole source of religious truth.
The Protestant Reformation
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Up to this point, Luther was willing to believe
that the abuses in the Church existed without
the Pope’s knowledge.
But because of his meeting with the
Pope’s representative, Luther became
convinced that papal authority was a
man-made fabrication, that the Pope was
a human invention (not a divine one),
and that this was the root of a viscous
perversion of the Christian faith.
The Protestant Reformation
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In 1520, Luther wrote a series of pamphlets
which got progressively more “radical.”
He suggested that the Church and
Pope were negligent in their duty and
should be taken to task by state
authorities (this was revolutionary).
He then argued that in 1,000 years of
captivity under Rome, Christianity had been
corrupted in faith, morals, and ritual.
The Protestant Reformation
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Luther also condemned papal
authority (the Pope) as a human
invention, not a divine one (because
it’s nowhere in the Bible), going so
far as to claim the Pope was the
Antichrist.
Then he wrote that faith, not good works,
led to salvation.
The Protestant Reformation
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Responding to Luther’s works (which
spread throughout Germany), the Pope
gave him 60 days to recant or be
excommunicated.
When Luther’s response was continued
defiance, the Pope ordered Luther to
appear before the Diet of Worms
(assembly) to face charges of heresy.
The Protestant Reformation
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Luther was advised to deny his teachings
and beg forgiveness (to spare his life) but
he refused.
The Protestant Reformation
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A month later Charles V issued the Edict of
Worms declaring Luther excommunicated
and an outlaw to be killed on sight and his
writings were to be burned. It was a
crime to shelter Luther or read or print his
writings.
But he was neither captured nor killed
mainly because several German princes,
many knights, and thousands of peasants
threatened rebellion if Luther was harmed.
The Protestant Reformation
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Luther was secretly taken to a mountain
fortress (the Castle of Wartburg) where he
remained in hiding for almost a year.
He spent that year translating the Vulgate
(Latin) Bible into German (Why was that
important?)
The Protestant Reformation
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But neither the Edict of Worms nor
Luther’s seclusion could stem the tide that
now swept over Germany.
The Reformation was under way and no
one could stop it.
Luther had precipitated reform where
other men had tried and failed for more
than a century.
The Protestant Reformation
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Luther’s Germany, more than any other
country in Europe, wanted to detach itself
from Rome.
Luther spoke to the people in a language
they understood, not the intellectual elite
like Erasmus.
Thanks to the fortune of Luther’s timing
and to his remarkable facility with
language, Germany became the theater of
religious conflict that was to sweep through
Europe in less than fifty years.
The Protestant Reformation
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As the Protestant Reformation grew, the
Catholic Church began to reform itself.
The Church had been battling opposition
for several hundred years before Luther,
and so in reaction, it developed a series of
reforms to try to keep Protestantism in
check.
However, these measures ended up being
too little, too late.
The Protestant Reformation
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In 1545, and for the next 20 years, the
Council(s) of Trent met to set the course
of Catholicism.
The Councils decided to emphasize church
pageantry and ritual and the decoration of
churches (as opposed to Protestant
austerity).
The Councils said that salvation came from
faith and good works, not faith alone.
The Protestant Reformation
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The Councils reaffirmed that the bread of
communion became the body of Christ.
The Councils rejected divorce, permitted
by Protestants, and it legitimized the sale
of indulgences.
But Bishops were now forced to live in the
region where they presided over their
churches and Rome stopped the sale of
Church offices.
The Protestant Reformation
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But perhaps the most important thing that
came out of the Councils of Trent was the
schism between Catholic and Protestant
became permanent.
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The increased religious zeal, however, led
to widespread intolerance and persecution
on both sides.
The Protestant Reformation
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In the Holy Roman Empire, an aging
Emperor Charles V in 1555 compromised
with the followers of Luther and agreed to
the Peace of Augsburg.
This allowed each German prince to
determine the religion of his own
territory…but it excluded Calvinists,
Anabaptists, or any other dissenting group
(Catholic or Lutheran only).
The Protestant Reformation
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With the Peace of Augsburg, the division
in Christianity was formally acknowledged
in Germany; Lutheran states were to have
the same legal rights as Catholic states.
Although the German states were now free
to choose between Catholicism or
Lutheranism, the Peace of Augsburg did not
recognize the principle of religious
toleration for individuals.
The Protestant Reformation
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Not long after Luther’s success in Germany,
two major Reformation movements formed
in Switzerland—Zwinglianism and Calvinism.
The Swiss were kindred to the Germans
through language, but they were distinct in
terms of temperament and politics.
Throughout history foreigners had tried to
subdue the Swiss (to no avail) which created
an independent, very patriotic Swiss national
character.
The Protestant Reformation
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The first Swiss
reformer was Ulrich
Zwingli (14841531) who was two
months younger
than Luther.
The Protestant Reformation
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Zwingli got rid of all pageantry, and
following the Second Commandment
literally (“Thou shalt not make unto thee
any graven image”), he eliminated all the
implements of Catholic ritual: all relics,
images, crucifixes, statues, censers and
clerical vestments were abolished.
All paintings and decorations were
removed from churches and replaced with
plain, whitewashed walls.
The Protestant Reformation
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Like Luther, Zwingli rejected the
authority of the Pope and held to the
authority of Scripture alone.
Luther believed that the body and blood
of Christ were miraculously present in
the bread and wine served at
Communion; Zwingli (a humanist) tried
to interpret the Bible through reason
and believed it to be symbolic of the
Last Supper.
The Protestant Reformation
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When Zwingli was
killed in a battle
between Protestants
and Catholics, the
Protestant torch was
passed onto John
Calvin of Geneva
(1509-1564).
The Protestant Reformation
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When Calvin arrived in Geneva (from
France), the people were boisterous
and undisciplined, and the town
council was ready for the austerity
Calvin supported.
The city adopted Calvin’s reforms
like monasteries being dissolved,
mass being abolished, and papal
authority was renounced.
The Protestant Reformation
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Calvin was a strong
believer in
behaving as God
wished.
There was to be no
work or pleasure
on Sundays.
In Geneva, every
sin was made a
crime.
The Protestant Reformation
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Calvin and his followers frowned on luxury
and idleness and games and dancing.
Calvin stopped all gambling, drinking, and
singing…transgressors were exiled.
Singing lewd songs could get your tongue
pierced.
You would be punished for drunkenness,
swearing, or playing cards.
Blasphemy could be punished by death.
The Protestant Reformation
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Everyone was expected to work hard
because the “devil waits for idle hands.”
Calvin created a theocracy (rule by religious,
not secular, leaders) in Geneva where the
law was the Bible, the pastors were the
interpreters of the law, and the civil
government was obliged to enforce that law
as the pastors interpreted it.
The Protestant Reformation
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Calvin believed that man was corrupt and
that God had chosen who would be saved
before the world began.
Known as predestination, God had
predetermined who would achieve eternal
salvation (known as the elect) and the
others that were to be damned (known as
the reprobate): neither good works nor
faith would change God’s plan for men.
The Protestant Reformation
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Calvin taught that followers must lead a
God-fearing life daily, since one did not
know whether or not they would be saved
or doomed.
You might have led what you considered a
perfectly good life that was true to God
but if you were a reprobate, you remained
one because for all your good qualities,
you were inherently corrupt and God
would know it even if you didn’t.
The Protestant Reformation
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The elect could never fall from grace.
Calvinists had the firm conviction that they
were doing God’s work on Earth and living
a righteous life might be the sign of a
person who has been chosen for salvation.
This idea of predestination became the
cornerstone of Calvinistic belief.
Because of Calvin, Geneva became the
most influential city in the Protestant
movement.
The Protestant Reformation
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Calvin’s Geneva had a large impact on
Europe for the following reasons:
Calvin sought the participation of all
believers in local church administration,
which promoted the idea of wider access
to government.
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This spreading of
Calvinism was to be the
result of a new
educational system
based in Geneva: both
primary and secondary
schools were created (so
more people could read
the Bible), and in 1559
Calvin established the
University of Geneva.
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Calvin introduced
sanitary regulations
that gave Geneva a
cleanliness
(“Cleanliness is next to
Godliness”) and
neatness for which it is
still noted for today.
He also persuaded the
city council to finance
new industry.
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Despite Calvin’s stern ideas, during the
late 1500’s Calvinism spread to France,
England, Holland, and Scotland.
In France, followers were known as
Huguenots, and in England they were
known as the English Calvinists or
Puritans (the exiles who will bring his
ideas to America).
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In France during the 16th century, the
Reformation led to a series of bitter wars
between those who followed Calvin (the
Huguenot minority) and Catholics.
The disputes (actually a civil war) didn’t
end until the French king Henry IV
proclaimed the Edict of Nantes (1598)
which granted a (limited) tolerance of
Protestantism.
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In Germany, the Thirty Years War would
break out in 1618, pitting German
Protestants and allies such as Lutheran
Sweden against the Holy Roman Emperor,
backed by Spain.
This war was so devastating that it reduced
German power and prosperity for a full
century, cutting populations in some areas
as much as 60%.
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In England, the Reformation became more
of a revolt.
Here, politics played a bigger role than
beliefs.
Ill feelings had developed between the
people of England and the Pope.
The English government was tired of the
Pope’s interference in national affairs.
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The government had
to pay heavily to the
Church and the
English didn’t like
foreigners occupying
church offices in
England.
But the real push
came from King
Henry VIII in 1533.
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His wife (and former
sister-in-law) was
Catherine of Aragon, the
daughter of Ferdinand
and Isabella of Spain
(and the aunt of the
Emperor Charles V).
The marriage was purely
political: to reinforce an
alliance with Spain
against France.
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Henry’s marriage to Catherine had been
questioned from the beginning: he needed
papal dispensation for marrying his sister-inlaw—dispensation the pope granted as a favor
to Ferdinand and Isabella.
When there was no male heir after a decade,
people quoted from the Book of Leviticus: “if a
man shall take his brother’s wife…they shall be
childless.”
This was a religious and superstitious age, and
everyone wondered if Henry was being
punished by God.
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Henry had become
infatuated with one of
Catherine’s ladies-inwaiting, so he wanted
to divorce his wife of
20 years.
Catherine had not
provided a male heir to
the throne (only a pale,
thin girl, Mary Tudor).
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Old (and very chubby)
Henry wanted to marry
the young (and very
pregnant) Anne
Boleyn, but the Pope
refused to grant Henry
a divorce (the pope
was dependent on the
Holy Roman Emperor,
Charles V.
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Henry was determined to marry Anne Boleyn
(he was tired of Catherine and it was said she
had grown withered and unattractive) so with
the help of Parliament and the Archbishop of
Canterbury, Henry broke with the Church and
the Pope.
First he married Anne Boleyn in secret.
Henry’s marriage to Catherine was declared
“null and void” on the grounds that it had been
illegal to begin with.
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Anne was crowned Queen and three
months later she gave birth to the future
queen Elizabeth I.
The Pope (Clement VII) excommunicated
Henry and declared his marriage to Anne
invalid.
The English overwhelmingly supported
their King over the Pope.
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Henry had the Catholic Church in England
abolished and the Church of England was
established, with Henry, not the Pope, as
the head.
Henry confiscated monasteries and their
wealth, appointed the clergy, and the
clergy now had to swear loyalty to him,
not the Pope.
But Henry had no Luther-like quarrel with
dogma…he wanted a divorce and he
wanted power.
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Henry made few changes to matters of
doctrine, theology or ceremony.
Today the followers are known as the
Anglicans or Episcopalians and their
services, in many ways, are very similar to
Roman Catholic services.
When Henry died (1547), his sickly nineyear old son Edward VI continued the split
with the Catholic Church.
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When Edward VI died (at
age 15), he was
succeeded by his much
older half sister, Mary
Tudor.
She was dour and not well
liked, especially after she
disregarded national
sentiment against Spain
and married her cousin,
King Philip II.
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Mary tried to restore Catholicism as the
faith of the land by reversing any religious
acts her father or Edward passed.
She became intolerant and harsh of
Protestants (she became known as “Bloody
Mary” after having 300 burned at the
stake).
This made people want Protestantism
more—not for its dogma, but because it
seemed to represent freedom from tyranny.
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When Mary died in 1558 (she ruled for
five years), her half-sister Elizabeth I
became queen.
Elizabeth proved to be a masterly ruler, in
character and in politics she was the very
opposite of her half-sister.
Having no strong faith herself, she was
careful not to offend her subjects.
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Elizabeth was pragmatic
enough to know that
England had many
Catholics, but the
influential classes were
Protestant.
She would rule for 45
years and would be the
English monarch that
put Protestantism on a
firm footing.
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There were several major results of the
Reformation:
1). Europeans disagreed about which form
of Christianity was acceptable and this
caused the deaths of countless thousands
through religious wars (however they
almost all agree that Jews, Muslims and
others need to be isolated and
persecuted).
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2). This helped create relative intellectual,
political, and military pluralism throughout
Europe. In contrast to the empires of the
Orient or Middle East, no single power
dominated Europe. European states were
never allowed to get fat and happy but
rather always searched for more efficient
ways to kill each other.
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3). The all-embracing influence of religion
in people’s lives was reduced. A more
worldly point of view developed. People
didn’t believe as much in superstitions,
magic, or miracles. And religion was
brought more into step with the new
economic system taking hold in Europe—
Capitalism.
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4). The Protestant Reformation encouraged
more people to read the Bible, and by
doing so helped create a larger reading
public. And by opposing the religious
hegemony of Rome, the Reformation also
provided people with a powerful example
of challenging established authority.
Copernicus (1473-1543)
Brahe and Kepler
(1546-1601) (1571-1630)
Galileo (1564-1642)
Bacon and Descartes
(1561-1626) (1596-1650)
Newton (1642-1727)
John Locke (1632-1704)
Voltaire (1694-1778)
Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755)
Denis Diderot (1713-1784)
Adam Smith (1723-1790)
Cesare Beccaria (1738-1794)
Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1788)
Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797)