Prior to the 16th century, England was a country based around Catholicism. During the reign of King Henry VIII (1509-1547) England experienced a drastic religious change. The English Reformation of the Church used Protestant ideas that began to gain momentum throughout England in which Henry VIII was able to used these new radical ideas to benefit his own personal agenda. Henry worked to decrease the Church’s power, beginning with the realization that his wife, Catherine of Aragon, was unable to bare a son, in which he worked to demand that the Pope, who had to sign off on their marriage originally, annul his marriage to Catherine. As Henry’s push to reform the Church continued, citizens began to support his new ideas which resembled the Lutheran …show more content…
Indulgences, and idolatrous’ were common ideas in Catholicism that the Lollards saw as wrong; people began worshiping common icons and items more than their God. The ideas the Lollards had became a foundation for Lutheranism and allowed for the Protestant Reformation to spread into England . Although John Wycliff had begun criticizing the Church long before Martin Luther, Luther made the largest impact in the collapse of the Catholic Church’s domination. On October 31, 1571, Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the Church of Wittenberg, which has been traditionally used as the mark for the commencement of the Protestant Reformation . This began the large attack on aspects of the Roman Catholic Church including the use of indulgences, clerical power, clerical celibacy, the use of Latin in mass’, the seven sacraments, transubstantiation, and the papal power. Other important doctrine changes included: solifidianism; communion in both bread and wine for laity; rejection of purgatory; and abolition of monasteries . These Protestant ideas agreed with many of the Lollards including the inappropriate praises of daily objects, and the general incapability to read Latin. Luther worked with the idea that faith was a individual activity and followers did not need a Priest to tell them what the Bible says; he became the first to print mass copies of the Bible in another language than Latin. Motivation for Protestantism was based on theological and doctrinal changes such as sola scriptura (“by scripture alone”) and sola fide (“by faith alone”) . The Protestant Reformation and Lutheran ideas quickly spread to the edges of Europe, and became the original backbone to Henry VIII’s reformation
There are so many causes from the Protestant Reformation. In the Protestant, there was three different sections that got affected more the the others. When the Protestant Reformation happened it affected the Sociality, Political, and Economic the most.
After many failed attempts to obtain a divorce from his first wife Catherine of Aragon, King Henry VIII took momentous steps that led to "The Reformation," a significant occurrence in the history of religion. Prior to the reformation, all of England's inhabitants including King Henry VIII prescribed to Catholicism. In fact, King Henry VIII was such a strong supporter that he was given the title "Defender of the Faith" by the pope for his efforts in protecting Catholicism against the Protestants. However, all these changed upon the pope's denial of Henry's request for a divorce.
Social and economic stresses of The Protestant Reformation age were just among few of the things that impacted the ordinary population of Europe. The Protestant Reformation was the 16th-century religious, political, and cultural disorder that divided Catholic Europe, setting in place the structures and beliefs that would define the continent in the ordinary population. In northern and central Europe, reformers like Martin Luther, John Calvin and Henry VIII challenged papal authority and questioned the Catholic Church’s ability to define Christian practice. In 1555 The Peace of Augsburg allowed for the coexistence of Catholicism and Lutheranism in Germany; and in 1648 Treaty of Westphalia, which ended the Thirty Years’ War. The key ideas of the Reformation, a call to purify the church and a belief that the Bible, should be the sole source of spiritual authority. However, Luther and the other reformers became the first to skillfully use the power of the printing press to give their ideas a wide audience.
The Church's Need for Reform in 1529 In 1529 Henry the 8th started to reform the Catholic Church in England, however there are different reasons and opinions as to why he decided to reform the church. There was a big anti-clerical feeling in 16th century England, the corrupt church was unpopular with the masses. However the main view claims that the reformation was actually due to politics at the time. Henry needed a male heir to the throne and therefore needed a divorce to his wife.
Born in Germany, in 1483, Martin Luther went on to become one of western history’s most significant figure. Luther spent his early life as a priest and a lawyer. He was also the professor of theology. Considering his background it was a total surprise that Luther protested and criticized the catholic church. Even more surprising since he was a priest. However, Martin Luther didn’t want to destroy the church after all he was a priest. He just wanted to reform some of the church’s perceived abuses. There are different reasons that sparked Martin Luther’s protestant reformation, namely. 1) salvation or getting to heaven, was won by faith alone, 2) the selling of indulgences, 3) the bible
After King of England, Henry VIII (1491 – 1547) separated the Church of England from the authority of the Pope, the Crown took control of the church in the country. As such, after the English Reformation in the 16th century, the Crown ordered...
The Protestant Reformation and European expansion have both left political, social and economic impacts throughout history. The Protestant Reformation which was started in the 1500’s, by a Catholic man named Martin Luther caused political instability and fragmented the Holy Roman Empire. It economically caused the church to go bankrupt and socially allowed for the rise of individualism among the people; Luther gave the people of Europe the long needed reason to break free of the church. The Protestant Reformation and the need for new converts lead to the rise of European expansion. European expansion into the west resulted in a political increase of power for Europe, the social increase in slavery, disease and racism, as well as the economic rise of inflation, mercantilism and capitalism. The political, social and economic effects of European expansion top those of the Protestant Reformation, making it more fundamentally influential on both western civilization and today’s world.
While numerous theological issues had been brewing for some time, the Reformation was officially began in 1517 by a man named Martin Luther. Martin Luther was a professor of biblical theology who had several issues with the Catholic Church. His complaints or disputes with the Catholic Church are known as his 95 Theses. In his 95 Theses, Martin Luther argued that God offers salvation through faith alone and that religious authority comes from the Bible alone which posed a challenge to the authority of the Catholic Church. After sparking the Reformation, Martin Luther made it his goal to incorporate the church congregation in the praise and worship part of church service. A detrimental and vital aspect of Christianity, Martin Luther believed this needed to be done. Along with his followers, Martin Luther made continuous...
He tacked onto the door of every church in his country and this brought about anger from the friars and priests who read them. This, however, gave rise to the second of Luther's important changes; social in nature: the Protestant Reformation. Because the theses were made public, peasants, farmers, and even land-owners would be able to see what Luther took issue with. The Church argued that these people were not well-read enough to even begin to understand what was written; that they were all also quite illiterate and lacked the "training" required to be able to interpret God's word. Luther's reformation saw once illiterate people learning how to read the bible, which brought on independent thinking,
The Henrician Reformation The Henrician Reformation had much more political purpose than religious principles and to understand this much of the motives and changes of the reformation need to be considered. Reformation itself suggests that the events were all clearly linked together as a part of religious reform however, according to C. Davies "most of those involved in bringing about the reformation, included the King himself, had little understanding of the implications of what they were doing." Both Cromwell and Cramner also had a great influence on the changes within Englandbetween 1534 and 1546 and they themselves inclined the religious decisions which revolved around the Kings principles. Those principles were mostly political with power, money and an heir being best at the heart of Henry. One must remember the beginning of the reformation in England was King Henry VIII's desire to have a male heir.
After entering monastery he sought to be acceptable to God but as it may be for anyone, it was hard because what he saw in himself was sin. After reading from St. Paul, St. Augustine, and the gospels, he discovered that God was filled with mercy and compassion. Luther was exceptionally upset because the Church, at the time, was engaged in the practice of indulgences. This practice was very prevalent and frequent in the Church. Martin Luther ignited many people who believed that the Church had fallen away from the teachings of Jesus and the original meanings. They also believed that the Church was overly obsessed with money. With these beliefs, it compelled Luther to take action. In 1517, on the eve of All Saint's Day, Luther posted up on the doors of Wittenberg Cathedral, ninety-five problems with the Church. They are more popularly known as the Ninety-five
The Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century is one of the most complex movements in European history since the fall of the Roman Empire. The Reformation truly ends the Middle Ages and begins a new era in the history of Western Civilization. The Reformation ended the religious unity of Europe and ushered in 150 years of religious warfare. By the time the conflicts had ended, the political and social geography in the west had fundamentally changed. The Reformation would have been revolutionary enough of itself, but it coincided in time with the opening of the Western Hemisphere to the Europeans and the development of firearms as effective field weapons. It coincided, too, with the spread of Renaissance ideals from Italy and the first stirrings of the Scientific Revolution. Taken together, these developments transformed Europe.
Martin Luther was a friar very devoted to the Church but after analyzing all these aspects he decided to do something about it. On October 31, 1517 he attached to the door of Wittenberg Castle a list of 95 theses or propositions on indulgences. These theses criticized papal policies and were objections about he church put on hold for discussion.
Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth I may have been the English Reformation’s greatest benefactors, all because of self interest. Henry VIII was not originally Protestant, but after the pope denied him of his divorce, Henry VIII took things into his own hands. Due to the power kings had in the Middle Ages, Henry VIII was able to control Parliament and force it to do whatever he wanted. So in 1534, Henry VIII forced Parliament to pass a law he made known as the Act of Supremacy. The Act of Supremacy stated that the king ought to be the head of the Church of England. This law gave the king complete power over the Church of England, instead of the pope. However, the type of church and state relationship did not change. Rather all the Act of Supremacy did was take power from the pope and give it to the king. Surprisingly, the Catholics did not retaliate against this strong change. The pope had always been the head of the church, but now the king had taken his position. This serves as an example of nationalism. The Catholics did not think about how removing the pope could harm their religion in any way. However, instead the people blindly followed Henry VIII because he was the leader of the nation and they assumed he was right. Also, by imposing other laws that punished Protestants, Henry VIII did not give the people much of a choice. Fortunately, for Henry VII, nationalis...
Protestantism became the official religious view of England under the rule of Henry VIII. The king imposed Protestantism so he would be free to divorce Catherine of Aragon. At first, England was not sure how to handle the religious change, as most of them were still Catholic. Later on, they developed a strong sense of being Protestant, but this did not come without struggles from the people of England. Henry VIII passed the Act of Supremacy, allowing himself to become the ultimate head of the church.