Unit 1: The Renaissance and Reformation (1300 – 1600)

Martin Luther Leads the Reformation!

• Explain causes to the Reformation• Can use a reading strategy (Margin Magnets)

to enhance my reading

ObjectiveTo explain how corruption in the Church led

people to begin to question the teachings of the church.

Vocabulary

• Corruption (Vocab)• Illiterate (Vocab)• Simony (Concept)• Indulgence (Concept)• Chastity (Vocab)• Alexander VI (Person)

Margin Magnets

• 5 W’s: Who, What, Where, When, Why?• DEF – Underlined and Draw a line to it

The Reformation – a movement that led to the founding of Protestant, Christian churches that did not accept the authority of the Pope.

Social Causes Political Causes Economic Causes Religious Causes

•Renaissance Values of humanism and secularism led people to question the Church.

•Printing Press helped spread ideas critical of the Church.

•Powerful monarchs challenged the Church’s power in Europe.

•Many monarchs viewed the Pope as a foreign ruler and challenged his authority.

•European princes and kings were jealous of the Church’s wealth.

•Merchants and others resented having to pay taxes to support the Church.

•Some church leaders had become worldly and corrupt.

•Many people found Church practices such as the sale of indulgences unacceptable.

Criticisms of the Catholic Church

• Popes spent lots of $$$ on art and pleasure and even fought wars!

• Pope Alexander IV admitted he had several children!

• Some lower clergy were illiterate, drank in excess, married, and gambled!

• People began to expect more from priests and church leaders.

• Early 1400s, John Wycliffe of England denied Pope’s right to pleasure & said Bible was ultimate authority.

• Christian Humanists (i.e. Thomas More) formed their opinions in 1500s.

Martin Luther Challenges the Church

• Martin Luther (1483-1546) – Bible teacher at U of Wittenberg (Saxony, Germany).

• 1517 he took a stand against Johann Tetzel, a friar who was raising $$$ to rebuild St. Peter’s Cathedral by selling indulgences – a pardon for sin.

The 95 Theses and Luther’s Teachings

• The 95 Theses – formal statements attacking the church’s “pardon merchants”

• Oct. 31, 1517 he nailed them to the door of the castle church in Wittenberg (modern Germany).

• The theses went to the printing press and spread all over Germany.

• This began the Protestant Reformation – a movement for religious reform and led the founding of churches that did not accept the pope’s authority. Luther taught:

1. Salvation by faith alone!2. Bible is the only

authority!3. All people are equal in

faith and priests not needed to interpret Bible!

Luther is Excommunicated

• 1520 – Pope Leo X excommunicated Luther from the Church because Luther wouldn’t take back his theses.

• Luther’s students cheered in Wittenberg as he threw the pope’s decree into a bonfire.

Emperor Charles V Opposes Luther

• Holy Roman Empire (present day Germany) issued the Edict of Worms (1521) when Luther wouldn’t go back on his word.

• He was declared an outlaw and no one in the empire was to give him food or shelter because he was a heretic and all of his books were to be burned.

Lutheranism is Born• Prince Frederick the Wise

of Saxony disobeyed Charles V and sheltered Luther in a castle.

• Luther translated the New Testament into German.

• By 1522, instead of continuing to protest against the Church, Luther and his followers formed their own church – The Lutheran Church.

The Peasants Revolt (1524-1526)• German peasants, excited

by talk of religious freedom, demanded an end to serfdom.

• Angry peasants attacked monasteries pillaging and burning.

• Luther was horrified and urged princes to show them no mercy.

• Nearly 100,000 were killed; many felt betrayed and rejected Luther’s leadership

Germany Goes to War• 1529 – German princes who

remained loyal to the pope joined forces against Luther’s ideas.

• The protesting princes who supported Luther became known as Protestants.

• Charles V went to war against the Protestant princes and beat them in 1547, but failed to force them back into the Catholic Church.

• In 1555, tired of war, Charles V ordered all German princes to Augsburg, Germany.

• Peace of Augsburg said that each ruler could decide the religion for that state.

Luther Leads the ReformationExit Slip

1. How many theses did Luther issue against the Catholic Church?a. 21 b. 50 c. 95 d. 112

2. Luther was angry over the sale of _______, or pardons for sin issued by priests.a. Treaties b. Indulgences c. Edicts d. Credits

3. The emperor who condemned Luther by issuing the Edict of Worms was _________.a. Charles V b. Henry VIII c. Elizabeth I d. Leo X

4. Today, Christians who belong to non-Catholic churches are called _________.a. Missionaries b. Heretics c. Protestants d. Pagans