Download The Roman Catholic Church (Background) I.The Early Church and

The Roman Catholic Church
(Background)
I.The Early Church and its evolution
A.Attracted followers because it provided “community”
1.Appealed to the poor, lonely, isolated, urban pop.
B.Persecuted by Nero and periodically after
1.Seen as a mystery cult
2.Disliked because viewed as subversive—would not
participate in state religion and sacrifice
a.By late 3rd C Romans used to them
II.Constantine one of the tetrarchy ruling empire—war between rulers
A.In 337 won battle of Mylvian Bridge supposedly because:
1.Had dream told paint sign cross on shields
a.Looked into the sun and saw a vision
“In this sign you shall win” (two versions)
b.Chi Rho
B.In 313 he issued the Edict of Milan legalizing Christianity,
declaring Sunday a holiday, and restoring property to Christians
A. In 324 Constantinople made religious center
1. Const. presided over Council Nicea where
“Nicean Creed” issued
a.Debate over Trinity/Arianism
2.Emperer Theodosius I made official religion in early
390s
a.De-paganized empire (temples, feasts etc.)
3Emperer Justinian banned pagans from education,
closed the Academy of Athens, education to be
Christian, not Greek
*B.As result of capital moving to the Constantinople (Byzantium)
the bishop of Rome gained influence in the West
1.Petrine Doctrine
“You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the jaws of death
shall not prevail against it. I will entrust to you the keys to the kingdom of
heaven. Whatever you declare bound on earth shall be bound in heaven;
whatever you declare loosed on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
III.The Spread of Christianity 300s-500)
A.In the west the bishops and church officials increasingly took on
secular responsibilities as power shifted to Constantinople
1.Fixing public works, defense, aid to the poor
B.Popes in 5th C. increasingly stressed their supremacy over the church
and sent out missionaries to northwestern Europe
1.Saint Martin of Tours (France) saw vision after gave cloak
to beggar, converted and became bishop 372.
2.Saint Patrick, Roman citizen in England. Captured by
Irish and enslaved. Returned to England and saw a vision;
went to Gaul to study and then (445-461) Christianized the Irish.
3.Augustine sent to England to Christianize
4.Brothers Cyril and Methodius sent to convert the Slavs (800s)
C. Increasing pagan king or chieftan converted—Clovis of the Franks,
Ethelbert of Kent.
1.Often saw it as a way to gain power
2.By 600 most Europe Christianized (North/East later)
3.Aristocracy became Christian and church officials
4.Persecuted Jews and Pagans
5.Gradually spread north and east
D.Not always and easy task to Christianize
1.Hard to get Germanic warriors to assimilate Christian values
a.Love thy enemy, do unto others etc.
2.Missionaries presented the lives of Jesus and the saints
to the newly baptized to teach them
a.Sometimes missionaries martyred (St. Denis 250)
3.The “penitential system” helped establish sorely needed order
*4.Kings wanted strongest god on their side
a.Kings wanted backing of the Church to rule over the people
5.Sophisitication of Latin culture appealing; bureaucratic structure
of the empire and the Church appealing
A Brief History of the Protestant Reformation
EQ: What role did the Roman Catholic Church play in lives of Europeans from
the Middle Ages through the 19th century?
EQ: What caused the Protestant Reformation?
EQ: What did the Protestants believe in that was different from Catholicism?
I. Medieval Europe: Christian practices and attitudes permeated all aspects of
everyday life
A. A major part of the cultural lenses through which they viewed
existence.
1.Death—the Four Horsemen
2.Superstitious
3.Anxiety
B.Early Middle Ages—fusion of pagan, Roman, Jewish and Christian
practices
1.By high Middle Ages religion integrated into daily life
a.Church at center of community
b.Also had social, political, and economic function
2.Prayed to the BVM and saints (including local) for almost
everything
a.Relics and pilgrimages
3.Many rituals
a.Tapped sign cross on bread, sprinkled water on fields,
a few grains of salt in babies mouth at baptism (Jewish)
C. Sacraments:
1.Baptism
2.Confirmation
3.Penance
4.Eurcharist
5.Mariage
6. Extreme Unction
7. Orders—anointing head by bishop to serve people
D.Peasants had a strong sense of the presence of God
1.Health, prosperity were rewards
2.Sickness, poor harvests, war, were punishments
3.Satin was everywhere and tempting you to sin—esp. flesh
4.Penance, pilgrimages, indulgences, gifts to Church
II. Monasteries and abbeys—religious centers
A. Also centers learning, crafts, agriculture
1.Sometimes incredibly wealthy
2.Provided social services and education
3.Provided services to kings
III.Heresy and Politics
A. “Heresy”—belief outside of Christian doctrine
1.Could be a variation of Christian belief
2.Believed threatened the Church and community
a.Ex. Albigensians in southern France—rejected
hierarchical Roman Catholic Church early 1200s
b.Crusades against
B.Sometimes used as a struggle between kings (and nobles)
1.Ex. Philip the Fair (Fr) and Edward I (Eng) levied taxes
on clergy to support war (1290)
a.Pope said no; all Christians were subjects of Church, even
kings
b.Philip declared Pope a heretic and sent French mercenaries
to arrest him…let him (Boniface VIII) go but he died shortly
IV. The “Babylonian Captivity”
A.From 1309 to 1376 popes lived in Avignon (S. Fr)
1.Philip the Fair pressured Clement V
a.Clement V ill…couldn’t resist
b.Called B. Capt. after biblical story
*2.Badly damaged papal prestige
a.Seven popes concentrated on bureaucratic and financial
matters
b.Palace of Avignon incredible and incredibly rich
**3.Lavish court
a.Popes, archbishops, bishops were really Renaissance
princes
V.The Great Schism
A.In 1377 Pope Gregory XI brought back to Rome
1.Died shortly after
a.Romans demanded Italian pope (Roman economy)
2.Italian Urban VI chosen
a.Wanted reform—simony (selling church offices), pluralism
absenteeism, extravagance, immorality, corruption
b.Bullheaded and forceful
3.Cardinals slipped away and declared Urban’s election invalid
and excommunicated him
4.Elected Robert of Geneva as Clement VII (Fr)
a.Now two popes
*b.People confused and disillusioned
B. Powers of Europe allied along political lines
1.Fr, Scotland, Aragon, Castile, Portugal--Clement
2.HRE, England--Urban
a.Italian city-states: Urban then Clement
***3.Politics and religion always intertwined
VI. In response to calls throughout Europe, cardinals at Avignon and Rome
called the Council of Pisa (1409)
A.Deposed both popes
1.Neither would resign
a.Now three popes
B.Council of Constance (1414-1418)
1.Goals: end schism, reform Church and root out heresy
2.Council deposed Roman pope and successor and isolated
pope in Avignon
*a.Martin V elected—did nothing about reform
VII. While the Church in turmoil—movements to reform
A. Conciliar Movement—meet periodically in councils
1.To reform church
**B.Turmoil opened door to new interpretations
VIII.Radical ideas circulated through Europe
A.Marsiglio of Padua (rector of Univ. of Paris) wrote a tract
called: Defensor Pacis (1324)
1.State was great unifying power in society and the
church should be subordinate
a.Authority of church should rest with a council
of laymen and priests
b.Excommunicated
B. John Wyclif (ca 1330-1384) went even further
1.Papal claims of power had no basis in scripture
a.People should read the Bible for themselves
b.Should abolish saints and pilgrimages
c. First English version Bible
d.Wanted to strip Church of property
2.Precursor to Reformation
a.Followers called “Lollards”
b.Allowed women to preach and deliver Eucharist
--women quite significant in the movement
C.After Anne, sister of King Wenceslaus of Bohemia/Ger, married
Richard II (Eng) members of her entourage carried these ideas back
to Bohemia
1.At Charles University in Prague, Jan Hus argued for academic
freedom and the right to read and preach these new ideas
2.German/Czech split—political ramifications
a.Czech nobles and peasants became “Hussites”
b.Hus burned at the stake at the Council of Constance
after being guaranteed safety
IX.The papal conflicts with the HRE Frederick II, and other kings, the
Babylonian Captivity and the Great Schism, badly damaged the prestige of the
Roman Catholic Church.
A.Humanists denounced corruption
1. “We Italians are irreligious and corrupt above others because the
Church and her representatives set us the worst example”
Nicolo Machiavelli
2.Examples: Erasmus of Rotterdam In Praise of Folly, Chaucer’s
Canterbury Tails, and Bocaccio’s Decameron
3.Much later their satires and critiques would feed into the
Enlightenment
B.Most religious life took place at the village level
1.Priests were usually peasants—poor and frequently
not educated or of the highest spiritual quality
a.Ignorance—mumbled Latin
b.Fornication—kept mistresses/concubines
c.Drunk
d.Absenteeism
2.Improvement in quality in northern Europe in 16th C.
a.Esp England
***3. At higher levels—pluralism and absenteeism
a.Henry VIII’s Cardinal Wolsey was Archbishop of York
for 15yrs before he ever went there
b.Louis XIII’s diplomat Antoine de Prat didn’t enter
his bishopric of Sens until he was buried there in the Cathedral
X.Church served as a large bureaucracy for kings
A.Abbeys, monasteries, dioceses, possessed a large part of the country’s
wealth
1.Govt officials usually clerics
2.Royal councilors, diplomats, treasury officials, chancellors,
judges etc.
2.Bishops paid by the Church for services to the state
**B.In most countries (except England) members of the nobility
occupied the highest church positions
1.Popes and high church officials lived like Renaissance princes
a.Used church to advance interest of their families, patronize
the arts, build palaces
b.Pope Alexander VI publicly acknowledged his mistress
and children; Sixtus IV fought in battle
c.The Church was full of intrigue, murder, sexual
promiscuity, and corruption
**C.There were pious priests, friars, bishops, and popes
1.Helped feed the poor
2.Orphanages
3.Tried to mediate during wars
4.Monks often very pious
D.Overall, Europeans remained very religious and loyal to Rome
1.Religion shaped life and comforted them
XI. During the 16th century the German Augustinian friar Martin Luther (14831546) launched the Protestant Reformation.
A.Unusual—son of a miner who sent him to school and then university
1.MA at 21yo
2.Instead of studying law as father had wanted he, after being badly
frightened by a thunder storm, vowed to become a friar
a.Joined Augustinian friars at Erfurt in 1505
b.Priest in 1507
c.Professor of Scripture at the Univ. of Wittenberg (1512/26)
**3.Terribly anxious man—terrified he would not be saved
***B.His confessor John Staupitz directed him to study St. Paul’s letters
1.Developed new understanding of Christian doctrine
a.Salvation from simple faith in Christ and not outward
religious observances and good works
*b.Believed faith was means by which God sends humanity
“grace”
c.Faith and grace were gifts, not something to earn
***2.The centrality of faith was crucial to understanding Christ’s
message
C.The Ninety-five Theses
A.Fugger Loan
1.Pope LeoX needed cash to continue the construction of St. Peter’s
basilica in Rome
2.Twenty-seven year old archbishop of Magdeburg, also admin.
of see of Halberstadt, and archbishop of Mainz needed a papal
dispensation to do all three
3.Borrowed from the Fuggers—banking family of Augsburg to
pay pope
a.Then sold “indulgences” to pay loan
b.Hired friar John Tetzel to sell indulgences from God’s
treasury of merits—“As soon as a coin in the coffer rings,
the soul from purgatory springs.”
B.Luther severely troubled by this wrote a letter to archbishop Albert-Ninety-five Theses on the Power of Indulgences”
1.Argued they undermined true faith, seriousness of the
sacrament of penance, downplayed charity etc.
a.Supposedly nailed to the door of the Wittenberg Cathedral
Oct 31, 1517
b.Said there was no biblical basis for indulgences
2.Intended to launch an academic debate, not split the Church
a.Read throughout the Empire
**C.Big question was where did authority lie in the Christian church?
1.Luther studied like mad and had a debate with John Eck at
Liepzig in 1519
****a. Denied authority of pope and infallibility of pope
b.Said Council of Constance had erred when
it had burned Hus
2.Given two months to recant
a.Luther burned the letter
XI. More than religious views at play—many German princes were sick of
Rome’s authority and money being drained from their lands
A.Peasant also disliked social structure
1.Rejection of Rome was appealing
B.HRE Charles V held the “Diet of Worms” ordering Luther to recant
1.Luther’s response:
Unless I am convinced by the evidence of scripture or by plain reason—for I do
not accept the authority of the Pope or the councils alone, since it is established
that they have often erred and contradicted themselves—I am bound by the
Scriptures I have cited and my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I
cannot and will not recant anything, for it is neither safe nor right to go against
conscience. God help me. Amen.
2. Protected by Duke Frederick of Saxony
**3.Germany plunging into turmoil
XII.Between 1520-1530 Luther worked out basic theology of new religion—
articles of faith
******A.Articles: salvation by faith alone, authority rests in Bible alone
interpreted by individual conscience (each person read), the “Church”
was a community of believers, all vocations having equal merit
1.Only three sacraments—baptism, penance, Eucharist
2.Many princes and burghers (bourgeois) liked his message
a.Sick of corruption and clerical privileges
b.Example: religious orders of Zurich held 1/3 taxable
property in 1467, but exempt
3.Educated townspeople objected to poor quality sermons
a.Established “preacherships” to select and train
men of superior education
b.Became sermon-centered instead of Eucharist-centered
*****B.Social impact—peasants loved it
1.Peasant rebellions of 15th c
2.Message seemed egalitarian
3.At first Luther sided with them but added that nothing justifies
armed rebellion
4.Bad harvests in 1523,1524 along with increased rents, death
duties, seizures of livestock
We have no one on earth to thank for this mischievous rebellion, except you
lords and princes, especially you blind bishops and mad priests and monks…In
your government you do nothing but flay and rob your subjects in order that you
may lead a life of splendor and pride, until the poor common folk can bear it no
longer. Marti Luther 1525 in “An Admonition to Peace”
C.Massive revolts hit near the Swiss frontier and then Swabia, Thuringia,
the Rhineland and Saxony
1.Peasants used slogans from Luther’s writings
************But, freedom for Luther meant freedom from the Roman church,
not opposition to legally established secular powers
Let everyone who can smite, slay, and stab [the peasants], secretly and openly,
remembering that nothing can be more poisonous , hurtful or devilish than a
rebel. Martin Luther in “Against the Murderous, Thieving Hordes of the
Peasants”
2.Historians estimate nobility slaughtered 75,000
D.Luther took this from St. Paul’s letter to the Romans
Let every soul be subject to the higher powers. For there is no power but of
God: the powers be are established by God. Whosoever resists the power,
resists the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves
damnation.”
XIII.Luther changed Europe forever with his message
A.Spread by printing press (Guttenberg 1447/China 1040s)
1.Made books much less costly (still expensive)
a.Circulated
*2.Printed Bible in German in 1523
B.Luther also very gifted with language
1.Appealed to the educated
****C.Overall, he advocated a simpler, personal religion based upon faith
and a return to the spirit of the early Church, centrality of the
Scriptures in the liturgy, and Christian life
1.Abolished elaborate ceremonies
2.Abolished clerical celibacy
D.Appealed to women because they became a more valued part
of society (all vocations equal merit)
1.Stress was on the home as central
a.Home was domain of women
E.Enlightened views on sex—believed God took delight in sex
a.Perfectly natural
Dear lad, be not ashamed that you desire a girl, nor you my maid the boy. Just
let it lead you into matrimony and not promiscuity, and it is no more cause for
shame than eating or drinking.
!!!!!!Caution: women still subject to men and seen as lustful.
The Protestant Reformation and Politics
EQ: How was the Protestant Ref. fused to politics in the different regions of
Europe
EQ: What effect did the increasing independence of German principalities have
on the HRE?
I. Unlike Fr, Sp, and Eng, the German Empire lacked strong central power
A.Rule of an aristocratic federation legitimized by the Golden Bull of
1356 (Papal proclamation)
1.Seven electors: archbishops of Mainz, Trier, and Cologne, the
Margrave of Brandenburg, the Duke of Saxony, the Count Palatine
of the Rhine, and the king of Bohemia
a.They chose the Holy Roman Emperor
b.Territories had virtual sovereignty within borders
c.Reduced emperors power
2.Some princes genuinely attracted to Lutheranism
B.Many princes responded to Luther’s message for political and economic
reasons
how comes it that we Germans must put up with such robbery and such extortion
of our property at the hands of the pope? If the Kingdom of France has
prevented it, why do we Germans let them make such fools and apes of us? It
would all be more bearable if in this way they only stole our property; but they
lay waste the churches and rob Christ’s sheep of their pious shepherds, and
destroy the worship and the Word of God. As it is they do nothing for the good
of Christendom; they only wrangle about the incomes of bishoprics and
prelacies, and that any robber could do. Martin Luther
1.Increased sovereignty
2.Freedom from Rome’s political and economic control
3.Could confiscate the rich lands and monasteries of the Church
II. The Rise of the Habsburg Dynasty
A.In 1477, Maximilian I of the House of Habsburg (Austria) married
Mary of Burgundy—decisive event in European hist
1.French angry—coveted Burgundian lands
a.French duchy of Burgundy w/capital Dijon
b.Burgundian Netherlands w/capital at Brussels
2.Very rich and powerful—led to war
a.Treaty of Arras (1482) Maximilian forced to recognize
Burgundy as part of Kingdom of France
b.Habsburgs never really gave it up—intermittent war
for centuries
B.Within the German empire, principalities resented Austria’s growing
power and position
1.Shared interest with France
a.Even when religions dif.
C.Heir of Mary and Max—Philip of Burgundy, married Joanna of
Castile (daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella)
1.Their son was Charles V (1500-1558)
***a.Through a series of unexpected deaths, Charles inherited
Spain and New World possessions, Spanish dominions in Italy
(Sardinia and Sicily), Habsburg Austrian lands, part of southern
Germany, the Low Countries, and Franche-Comte (east central Fr)
Other nations wage war; you, Austria, marry” Contemporary saying
2.Charles believed his Italian advisor chancellor Gattinara when he
said, “God has set you on a path toward world monarchy,”
a.Believed in maintaining political and religious unity
of Western Christendom
2.Germans elected him emperor in 1519, but pressed him for an
imperial council and political, military, and economic reforms
a.Charles saw German needs as subordinate to HabsburgBurgundian international interests
*b.At the Diet of Worms (council) in 1521 he condemned
Luther, but German Protestant princes refused to enforce
3.Charles constantly at war over his Flemish, Italian and American
territories
a.Didn’t have the resources for a full opposition to Prot.
*b.Also, needed help fighting the Ottoman Turks who were
gaining territories in Europe, eventually besieging Vienna
in 1529
*4.Cornerstone of French policy during the 16th/17th centuries was to keep
German states divided (CXN)
a.Five wars with Charles over Burgundy (1521-1555), often fought
in Germany
5.Strange situation—Catholic king of France supporting Lutheran princes
in struggles with Catholic Charles
*a.Habsburg-Valois struggles furthered Protestantism and
promoted political fragmentation of HRE
“The Holy Roman Empire was neither holy, nor German, nor an empire.”
D.Finallly, in 1555 Charles agreed to the Peace of Augsburg, recognizing
Lutheranism
1.Each prince was to determine the religion of his territory
a.Most northern and central Germany Lutheran
b.Most of southern Germany Catholic
c.Convert or leave
III. The Netherlands
A.Movement for reformation became Dutch struggle for independence
1.Wealthy—exchanged products from Baltic to Italy
a.City of Antwerp on the Scheldt River
1.English woolens; Baltic wheat, fur and timber;
German iron and copper; Spanish fruit; Portuguese
spices; French wines and dysestuffs; Italian silks
spices etc.
2.Could dock 2,500 ships at once
3.5,000 merchants gathered daily at the “Bourse”
--stock exchange
4. Bruges, Ghent, Amsterdam, Brussels rich as
well from commerce and industry
2.Each of 17 provinces possessed historical liberties—selfgoverning, taxes, laws
a.Charles V was recognized as their common ruler
b.Type of limited federation
*3.Charles had been born in Ghent and identified with the
Flemish, and they with him
a.1556 Charles abdicated and split empire
1.Brother Ferdinand—Austria and HRE
2.Philip II—Spain, Low Countires, Sicily,
and American possessions
B.Netherlands had considered Charles one of their own—not Philip
of Spain
1.Lutheranism was no serious threat (disliked but…), but
Calvinism took hold especially amongst the merchant classes
a.Serious, intellectual, moral, work oriented
2.Combination of increased taxes and attempt of Philip’s half-sister
Margaret (who was acting as regent) to wipe out Protestantism led
to riots and burning of churches and the cathedral of Antwerp
a.Rioting spread to other provinces
3.Philip sent 20,000 Spanish troops
a.Created an inquisition—“The Council of Blood”
a.1568, 1,500 executed (even Margaret sickened)
*4.Civil war in the Netherlands between Catholics and Protestants
(1576-1578)
a.1576 17 provinces united under William of Orange
b.German mercenaries sent in—cities began to fall
c.Dutch struck back by breaking the dykes; halted advance
in Belgium
*5. In the end, ten southern provinces remained Catholic and part
Habsburg territories; seven northern provinces led by Holland
formed the Union of Utrecht declared independence
a.Dutch cause became intertwined with England’s
1.Eliz. sent 2,000 troops and 250,000 pounds
6.Intermittent war after that