As with most major changes in history, Reformation started as an outcry against something that was considered wrong. The Catholic Church had gained wealth and influence from the feudal system of the previous era. Kings of various European countries often quarreled with the pope in matters of state, such as appointing religious clergy and the use of church property. Political scandals further tarnished the Roman Catholic church in the eyes of the common folk. In 1309, French Pope Clement V moved Papacy (position of pope) headquarters to Avignon, France. Sixty-eight years and 22 popes later, the papacy was moved back to Rome, against the demands of French clergy. Some of the clergy moved back to France and elected a rival pope. At the same me, a third pope was elected by a church council. That meant that there were three popes dividing the Church.
Eventually things were resolved, and a single pope was placed as head of the church, but the damage was done. The involvement of the pope in political affairs made the position a target for criticism, and Reformists claimed that if the pope was busy with such things, he couldn’t properly perform his religious dues to the people.
In addition to its lack of commitment to spiritual things, the Catholic Church also began to sell indulgences to anyone with the right amount of money. Roman Catholics believed that only through confession and the blessing of the clergy could they reduce their punishment in purgatory, or the holding place before heaven. If they did wrong, but paid the Catholic priests, the indulgences guaranteed that they would still be saved after death.
Desiderius Erasmus is perhaps the most influential early reformist. He called for a church transformation from the inner workings, encouraging and later insisting that lazy clergy should be doing their dues with good intentions and righteous fervor. (Eventually, the church did try to change itself from the inside, during the counter- reformation). In 1509, Erasmus published a book called The Praise of Folly. (Folly means “foolishness”). In this book, he used sare, or exaggerated mockery, to paint a picture of the then-modern society and especially the Roman Catholic church’s way of doing things. Though a devout Catholic, Erasmus was eventually charged as a heretic, or a person who is not living by a certain belief or religion. His book and outspoken ways against the church led many Catholics to question the church and paved the way for Protestanism.
Another person who helped usher in the Reformation was William Tyndale. He believed in the people’s right to read and interpret the holy scripts, though the Catholic Church did not allow it. Tyndale actually traveled to Germany to meet Martin Luther, and upon his return to England, began to translate the Bible into English, and distributed it through England. This angered the English clergy, who had him arrested and executed by being burned at the stake!
Despite early calls for change in the church, the papal hierarchy (or structure of people within a system) continued their political influence and wealthy lifestyles. Pope Leo X encouraged bishops all over Europe to sell indulgences, or pardons for sins, in order to collect funds to build a Roman cathedral. A German priest by the name of Marn Luther saw this firsthand and became angry. He became determined to give the uneducated people the truth within the Bible. He’d studied it for years and felt that many of the sacraments and traditions of the Roman Catholic church weren’t biblical. He especially felt that people should read the Bible and live by its messages for themselves, rather than do as the Pope and Catholic church clergy told them to. Such arguments and more were a part of the 95 theses document he nailed to the door of a church in Wittenberg, in Saxony of Germany. He also used the recently developed prinng press to make copies of his arguments and send them to church leaders. The Pope was outraged, and insisted that Luther appear before a diet, or council of leaders, in the city of Worms. The diet demanded that he denounce his arguments, but he wouldn’t. So the emperor excommunicated, or kicked Luther out of the church, and made reading his teachings and pamphlets illegal. Luther went into hiding, but continued to teach and develop his own denomination (type of Christanity), Lutheranism. Luther’s influence completely divided the church, with some church leaders who agreed with Luther becoming known as Protestants. Not all the Protestants followed Lutheranism, but they disagreed with the way the Catholic Church was running things.
While most of the other reformists called for change for spiritual reasons, one did not. King Henry VIII is perhaps one of England’s most famous Kings due to the scandal he caused when he created the Church of England, or the Anglican Church, in 1534. Before that me, he was a devout Catholic. His first wife Katherine of Aragon only gave him a daughter, Mary I, so he asked the Pope to grant him a divorce in the hopes of marrying Anne Boleyn and producing a male heir. When the Pope refused, King Henry VIII declared himself the leader of the church of England. By this me, Protestant teachings were trickling through England via Tyndale’s English Bible translations. The Anglican church combined Catholic and Protestant beliefs. Anglicans believed that people should be free to worship and study the Bible according to their own conscience. Heresy became non-existent in England, but it was unlawful to be disloyal to the king and queen, the heads of the church respectively.
Divorce, Scandal, and Beheadings!
Unfortunately, King Henry’s control of the church meant that he could divorce and remarry as he liked. This bit of power led to a total of six wives for the king. Anne Boleyn was beheaded for treason aer giving him a daughter, Elizabeth I. He then married Jane Seymour, who died giving birth to his only son Edward VI. Next, Henry married a German Princess Anne of Cleves, but her betrothal to Francis I, the Duke of Lorraine was reason for Henry to annul, or cancel, the marriage aer only four months of marriage. Catherine Howard became his fifth bride, but she was executed for having a secret relationship with one of King Henry’s friends, Thomas Culpepper. Lastly, King Henry married his final wife Catherine Parr, who managed to return Henry’s family back together and re-legitimize, or make lawful again, his daughters to the royal line. She outlived King Henry and married again after his death.
Even as Catholic leadership baled physically and mentally with the force of Protestantism taking hold in Europe, some of them felt the best way to do so was to spread Catholic influence and convert as many people as possible back to their belief system. Missionaries, or traveling bishops and priests, went out in large groups to all parts of the known world to convert other cultures and win back Protestants for the Roman Catholic church. Most of these missionaries were Jesuits, members of a religious order funded by the Catholic Church. Some went back along the Silk Road to India and Asia, while others traveled sea voyages down the African coasts and across to the New World (Americas) with explorers from the biggest and boldest countries in Europe. Saint Francis Xavier was one of the former, known in Japan and India as the “bringer of truth.” The Jesuits also funded colleges and churches across Europe. This attempt to counteract the effects of the Protestant Reformation helped to bring nearly one million people to the religion between 1550 and 1630! Protestants also sent out missionaries at this me, but their numbers were overwhelmed by their Catholic counterparts.
