European Reformation in World History

The European Reformation of the 16th century was a massive part of European history, it spread through everywhere in Europe and everybody got involved in it. It rooted back to the 1400’s when there was a huge struggle between the empire and the papacy. There were also huge problems and deep-rooted envy between the German king and the Roman Pope. “German Humanists of the 1470’s and 1480’s identified themselves as nationalists, opposed to Italy and the Pope. This was because of the discovery of ‘Germania’ of Tacltus and by medieval chronicles about the Hohenstaufen empires, this is what caused the sense of nationalist pride. Many patriotic Germans were anti-Church, and anti-Bohemian, this date back from 1420’s when Germans had been the main component in the various crusades which were smashed by the Bohemians” (Dickens, Elton, ‘European History’). Protestantism became prevalent due to people becoming more open minded, technology updates also had an influence as there was a lot of printers available so people could spread their ideologies and be more print aware. Many of the lower classes were anti-holy as they were struggling to find resources while priests had wealthy homes and resources. Nationalism, anti-Pope, anti-clericalism appears to have been prevalent throughout the populations, as they were sick of the mistreatment they received from the church.

A man named Albert of Hohenzollern, was granted immunity from the canon law, a collection of ecclesiastical law texts, that allowed him to be archbishop of Mainz, a lucrative and prestigious ecclesiastical. Normally, under the canon law, you cannot be an archbishop until you reach the age of thirty, Albert was under this age, but he made this possible by getting money from ecclesiastical posts, he got the money from the Fugger family, an affluent family at the time. But to reimburse the family and the Pope, he opened ‘the sale of St. Peters indulgences’, which would free sinners from punishment of their sins they committed in their lifetime. All the money earned from these indulgences were paid off to the Pope, Albert and the banking family. A Dominican friar who was in charge of the sales of these ‘papal indulgences’, was made spread the word of indulgences: “Tetzel emotionally depicted the wailing of dead parents in purgatory, pleading with their children to put coins in the box so they could be released from their suffering” (Merriman, p.85). The sale of indulgences received a lot of backlash and objection in German states as they knew this was unjust and corrupt. Indulgences abuse received the most censure. The Roman Papacy received more problems, as he tried to make German people pay for a war against the Turks, this was frowned upon, as the Pope appointed foreigners to many key ecclesiastical posts. But this would all soon change.

Indulgences were being used by the Catholic Church, there was two different sins: ‘Mortal sin’, which were the more severe sins that people committed, such as murder, you were sent straight to hell, ‘Venal Sin’ were the sins that were less severe, such as lying, you got time to prove yourself in purgatory. Many people used to purchase indulgences and they believed that it would lessen their time in purgatory, the place you go before between heaven and hell. Indulgences began when the papacy wanted to earn money for the community, such as hospitals and churches, many rich people were able to afford indulgences, unlike the poor peasants who were unable to. All they did was pay off money so they could suffer in peace, but didn’t realize that prayer was essential for gaining God’s forgiveness and entry into heaven. People thought if they paid this money, they would gain access to heaven straight away, but this wasn’t the case, it was just an insane ideology from the papacy for their own gain. People even used to buy indulgences for friends and family members. “The moment that money tinkles in the collecting box, a soul flies out of purgatory” (Merriman, p.96).

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A young German man named Martin Luther, born on November 10th, 1483 in a place called Eisleben in Germany, who came from a poor peasant background, became a prevalently popular figure to reform the Catholic Church. He studied at the University of Erfurt, one of the best universities of Germany of the time, and studied law, due to his father’s wishes, and philosophy, and received a master’s degree after. But one day while Luther was on his way to college, he caught stuck in a storm, when a bolt of lightning nearly hit him, he proclaimed “Help me, St. Anne, I will become a monk!” (Merriman, p.98). Luther’s father was extremely upset that Luther did not pursue his career in law and stated: “May it not prove an illusion and deception” (Britannica.com). He told his friends and family and then he went to the monastery where he constantly prayed. In 1507, Luther became a priest. He didn’t agree with what the Catholic Church were doing at the time, he was a very dedicated Catholic monk, he loved the church, but he knew what was happening was wrong. “He became to doubt his personal unworthiness. Was he not a sinner? He had been saved from the storm, but would he be saved from damnation on Judgment Day?” (Merriman, p.98). Luther believed that a strong faith alone, devotion and salvation saved you from hell, and there was no need for indulgences. Luther saw that idea of indulgences were totally against the church’s teachings: “If God really did send his only son Jesus to die on the cross for the sins of mankind, then why were indulgences even necessary?” (Vox, ‘The Protest Reformation). The Catholic Church was not only the most dominant spiritual power, but it also held a great deal over government power and hierarchy. On the 31st of October 1517, Luther nailed the 95 theses, to the church in Wittenberg, this was him complaining and opposing the Catholic Church. He claimed that the Bible reigned authority, and that humans would only reach salvation by their faith alone, and not their deeds or money. “Why does not the Pope, whose wealth today is greater than the wealth of the richest Crassus, build the basilica of St. Peter with his own money rather than the money of poor believers?” (Hillerbrand, 2019). Pope Leo X excommunicated Luther in 1521 for Hersey after multiple warnings. Until Luther got excommunicated, he regarded himself as a loyal Roman Catholic, and had appealed from a poorly informed Pope to a Pope who ought to be better informed, and then he was kidnapped by the prince Fredrick III to keep Luther safe, that was when he was able to translate the Bible to German. The Pope didn’t want to raise any issues with Fredrick III as he was a “strong candidate for the election as Holy Roman Emperor, instead of immediately summoning Luther to Rome, he therefore proposed that a papal legate warned Luther to desist or face the consequences” (Merriman, p.99).

Luther’s aim for reform wasn’t just random, it had been expected, his intention was to reform Catholicism, but instead he formed a new religion, where his followers were called ‘Lutherans’, and followed his teachings. The Bible was written in Latin, and at sermons it was preached in Latin, but when the printing press came around, it was easier to spread the word as it was translated to vernacular. Not many people spoke or understood Latin, especially the peasants, the Bible got translated to the native language, so people could actually understand what was being said. Therefore, elucidating the impression that the spread of printing was important in the Reformation, in the 1520’s, when cities turned Protestant, pamphlets with Protestantism ideas enormously outnumbered defensive catholic pamphlets, the ratio was 20 to 1. This way people were able to formulate their own beliefs, and ideas. The Reformation resulted in new branches of Christianity, such as Lutheranism, originating from Martin Luther, Calvinism from the Swiss Reformation, Anglicanism and the Anabaptists. “No Catholic priest had the means to besiege these cities, one after another, he couldn’t get rid of Protestantism from a powerful city” (‘European History’, p.34), eventually people began to realize what the Catholic Church was doing so corrupt and Protestantism almost seemed refreshing for them.

In conclusion, it’s clear that the citizens clearly had enough of the abuses of the church that were happening at the time, they began to realize how corrupt the church was and knew that wasn’t what the Catholic Church stood for. People began to realize their money wasn’t going towards their own salvation, and only God could judge your entry to heaven for your sins committed in the afterlife. People wanted to become more independent and to think for themselves, rather than the power of the church making them believe so.