Requirement of Reform of the Church in Europe During 15th and 16th Centuries

Requirement of Reform of the Church in Europe During 15th and 16th Centuries

The Church in Europe required reform at the end of the fifteenth

century and the beginning of the sixteenth century for a number of

reasons. The main reason being the behaviour of the papacy and their

priorities which were no longer the welfare of the Church. There were

other factors which contributed to the development of the Reformation

in Europe other than the state of the Church and Christian Humanism,

however these were the main factors.

The first reason why the Church in Europe needed reform was the papacy

who became more interested in wealth than in spiritual welfare. It was

normal for priests and bishops to charge a small amount for baptism,

weddings and burials as well as taking a tithe of everyman’s produce.

This was acceptable because it was the only way for them to survive,

however the situation became unacceptable when the papacy started

charging more for these services. This is an important factor, as

taking money away for holy ceremonies would bring resentment towards

the church from the common man who would definitely look to a

reformation to eliminate these charges.

Sales of Indulgences, which ‘were portrayed as a convenient way of

absolving one’s sins… preachers were encouraged to associate the coin

falling into the money chest with the soul moving from purgatory into

heaven,’ (Armstrong) angered many, including the German reformer

Martin Luther. The clergy who were profiting from this shows one of

the reasons why reform was needed and why profiting from the

impoverished is an important factor leading up to this reform.

Another e...

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Reformation Treaties,’ Luther said ‘Reform is impossible unless the

Pope’s power in Germany is destroyed’ (Chadwick) This is important as

it is an example of Luther being concerned with the abuse of power

rather than other factors.

To conclude, there are other factors which contributed to the

development of the Reformation in Europe other that the state of the

Church and Christian Humanism. However the most important factors and

the factors which had the most impact on the reformation have to be

the state of the Church and Christian Humanism. Some would argue that

these are the only factors, however it is clear that the increase of

books due to the printing press and the Renaissance helped the

Reformation and therefore there were other factors which contributed

to the development of the Reformation in Europe.