Revival of Monarchy in Northern Europe
- Shift from divided feudal to unified national monarchies
- 100 years war & schism declined the nobility and clergy
- Towns allied with kings, which broke feudalism
- As monarchs acted more independently, assemblies and representatives lost power
- Regional became national and pledged to the state
- Standing national armies brought strength to the monarchs
Downsides
- Nobles and high-class citizens resisted taxation
- Commercial taxes on the poor was the only way to gain money
- Kings borrowed money from nobles which made them on the same level
France
- Charles VII drove the English out of France and built a strong economy
- France squandered its resources and became weak once they were in debt
Spain
- Spain was unified when Isabella and Ferdinand married
- The Hermandad, a powerful league of cities and towns, allied themselves with the crown
- Religion was centered on Christianity as the state was
- Oversea explorations were promoted (Christopher Columbus)
Downsides
- The Inquisition run by Tomas de Torquemada persecuted other religions and was a base of counter-reformation
- French marriages were forbidden
England
- The War of the Roses kept England in turmoil
- Henry VII created the Court of Star Chamber (this was suppose to solve problems with equality)
- Henry stole noble lands and came to a strong rule
The Holy Roman Empire
- Germany divided into 300 smaller kingdoms became weak
- The princes worked together and reached an agreement in 1356, the Golden Bull (this was a 7 member electoral college which functioned as an administration)
- A supreme court was created to solve internal problems
- Later, it was disbanded because it gave princes a share in executive power
- Unification failed because princes were sovereign rulers
- However, it was out of the small feudal places where reformation started
The Northern Renaissance
- Reformation began in the Netherlands where it permitted men and women to live a shared religious life
- Northern humanists had a more diverse culture
The Printing Press
- Books became more widespread and longer
- Literacy grew and communication improved
Erasmus
- Desiderius Erasmus was the most famous of the northern humanists
- He wrote Latin dialogs, Colloquies, when finished was under the title Adages
- His criticism of scholastism was fostered in his Greek edition of the New Testament
As demonstrated by scholars such as Kagan and Dyer, Homza, and Kamen, The Spanish Inquisition was a highly organized and secretive institution used to police religious and social order. The trials of María Gonzalez and Pedro de Villegas demonstrate the dedication with which Inquisitors sought to persecute those who were outsiders in society and manipulate them into confessing their religious offenses. However, they also show that the Inquisition was not completely unmerciful- it operated with a legal process that afforded the accused an opportunity to provide evidence that would prove they were not guilty. Using these two cases, I will demonstrate these polarities and argue that the Spanish Inquisition was not as cruel as it is made out to be. Although victims were often falsely accused, they were provided the opportunity to defend themselves and community testimony was allowed to confirm their case. Although it’s methods weren't always ideal, the Inquisition was "something less than the faceless, monolithic machine that it is commonly conceived to have been."1
The reformation was a religious and political movement that took place in the year 1517. This movement was spread by the Cristian humanist Martin Luther, when he posted his “Ninety Five Theses”. The reformation itself is one of those things everybody has heard about but no one quite understands, even nowadays, 500 years after this movement occurred.
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 Reformation occurred all over Western Europe. It was mostly set in Germany where various parts of corruption in the Church happened. Martin Luther started the process of the Reformation, he was German so he understood how the Catholic Church took advantage and didn't think this was fair. The Catholic Reformation took place between 1450-1650 which was the biggest revolution in Germany, although the understanding of Luther's actions weren't taken notice of until he put the 95 Theses on the Church's door. Luther felt that Bishops and Priests didn't understand the bible correctly. Luther wanted the Reformation to help fix this by helping the uneducated and powerless. Some of the movement of this was
Political greed and desire for land by the German princes and the education of Free Cities resulted in immense support from vast crowds which allowed for the Protestant Reformation to occur. As did the social developments included in Martin Luther’s, author of the 95 Theses, ideas of women rights, bibles/masses, and availability of literature. This developments resulted in certain groups, genders, and classes converting to Protestantism, which allowed the Protestant Reformation to establish.
The Spanish Inquisition: A Historical Revision by Henry Kamen, was released in 1997 and is the third edition of the acclaimed book centered around the infamous tribunal. The years following the first publication saw increases in the quality of scholarship and an influx of research. New historical interpretations subsequently began to demonstrate an enhanced insight, as works like Benzion Netanyahu’s The Origins of the Inquisition presented original perspectives. Kamen was consequentially compelled to reevaluate the evidence surrounding the Inquisition, ultimately causing him to divert from his previous conclusions and adopt a revisionist perspective exploring historical causation. The Spanish Inquisition has been repeatedly studied for many years, and the Tribunal instituted by the Catholic monarchy typically elicits negative characterizations as absolutist, oppressive, violent, invasive and intolerant. Kamen, however, aims to discover the true nature and significance of the Spanish Inquisition and shield the readers from any unknowledgeable stereotypes or misinformed notions. He investigates the ideological and social environment of the tribunal, as he attempts to determine whether the Spanish Inquisition was a product of its attendant society by additionally assessing its impact, functionality, organization and global reception. Events of the eighteenth and nineteenth century are disparately mentioned, as they proceed the more significant developments and undertakings that occurred towards earlier stages of the Inquisition. Kamen intermittently justifies and condones Inquisitional activity in an attempt to systematically eradicate popular misconceptions; he marginalizes the cruelty and power often accredited to the institution...
Few, if any, religious conquests were as gruesome and devastating as the Inquisition. Starting in the 13th century, monarchs from all around Europe, with approval from the Popes during their reigns, anointed inquisitors to track down a certain group of he...
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...
The Spanish Inquisition was used for both political and religious reasons and founded by the Catholic Kings in 1478 . Spain at the time was a nation-state that was born out of religious struggle between numerous different belief systems including Catholicism, Islam, Protestant and Judaism. Following the Crusades and the Reconquest of Spain by the Christian Spaniards the leaders of Spain needed a way to unify the country into a strong nation.
Before the Spanish Inquisition took place, several other inquisition movements appeared, but none quite so barbaric and brutal as the Spaniard’s did. Waves of opposition towards the church swept Europe in the Middle Ages. In the 12th century, it was a modern belief that a peaceful, utopian government could be obtained if all of the population of the society were “pure” and Catholic The Medieval Inquisition started in France and Italy. During this time a group of people called the Albigensies lived in northern Italy and southern France. They had established a religion called Manichaeanism, which was the belief in two gods, one for good and one for evil. Pop...
The inquisition was a religious institution that policed the new Christians in the Iberian Peninsula. The inquisition was a by-product of hundreds of years of negative relations towards non-catholic people in Europe. It began around 1478 and in ended in 1834; during the three hundred and fifty-six years responses to the inquisition change immensely. This was partly due to many laypeople being indoctrinated by anti-Semitic and pro- Catholic propaganda. The pre-existing anti-Semitic feeling in Europe along with previous medieval inquisitions, helped to allow the Iberian inquisition to become a part of the Spanish and Portuguese way of life. This acceptance changed later in Iberian history because of the many factors lead to the abolishment of the Inquisition.
The Protestant Reformation, also known as the Reformation, was the 16th-century religious, governmental, scholarly and cultural upheaval that disintegrated Catholic Europe, setting in place the structures and beliefs that would define the continent in the modern era (Staff, 2009). The Catholic Church begun to dominate local law and practice almost everywhere starting in the late fourteenth century. The Catholic Church held a tight hold on the daily lives of the people invading just about every part of it. Some people of this time would decide to stand up to the church and attempt to change the way it operated and make it release some of its control. These people who spoke out against the church came to be known as Protestants. The Protestants
According to Jordi- Vidal Robert, the Spanish Inquisition led to 0.11% decrease in population growth in Spain. The Spanish Inquisition kept the Protestant Reformation from taking root in Spain and made Spain remain very Roman Catholic. There is not much of any other religion there. The Spanish Inquisition also gave influence to Hitler, a Christian leader, to start the Holocaust which practiced Anti- Semitism and sought to suppress the Jews and other non-Christians. Though the Spanish Inquisition is associated with the papacy being corrupt, many sources associated the Spanish Inquisition with the secular rulings, but this is highly debated. “To thousands of other lesser Jews forced into choosing a new religion, the result was a bitter hatred for the Spanish Church (Kamen 21)” and this resentment from Jews and Muslims still exists today. Pope John Paul II has even apologized to these religious groups for the horrible acts committed during the medieval times. This was not enough to cure the bitter hostility caused during the medieval times, but what
4. The Spanish Inquisition was established in 1478. King Ferdinand V and Queen Isabella I requested the Inquisition. At first, The concern of the Inquisition in Spain was over the conversion of Marranos:
The first problem they tried to deal with during the Inquisition was the Moors. At first, they tried preaching to the people, and not forcing them to convert to Catholicism. However, the plans quickly changed and they decided that it was more efficient for forced conversion or expulsion to be used against the Moors (Reston). This did not please the Moors. They fought back against Ferdinand and Isabella. The fighting between the Christians and the Moors went on for almost ten ...