Protestant Reformation- Part 1

Catholic Status Quo 

Churches at the time were essential to every day life in the middle ages. They almost exclusively provided charity, food banks, social welfare, orphanages and education. The church owned about one third of the land in Western Europe. Because the church was considered independent, they did not have to pay the king any tax for their land. Local priests decided whose weddings were lawful and whose births were legitimate. They performed christenings, baptisms, weddings and last rights. They were a central figure of the community and the only person many people knew who could read and read the bible, which was in latin. The church liked it this way and it wasn't until 1466 that it was translated into any other language than latin. An authorized English translation wasn't approved until Henry VIII broke away from the catholic church in 1535. .

People lived in a confusing and upsetting world. Plagues could wipe out entire villages and two-thirds of children died before the age of 1. The church because super rich, more powerful than kings, they embodied a supreme god but were infact fallible humans. Corruption proliferated. With so much money and power, the teachings of Jesus fell to the wayside.

Thomas Paine made the comparison “It has set up a religion of pomp and revenue, in pretended imitation of a person whose life was humility and poverty.”

Self-flagellation
Left handedness
Baptizing people without permission. Ill people and children. 
Declaring war 
Denying the divine right of rebellious kings

Joke- "My body isn't a temple, it's a catholic church: full of wine, bread and guilt."

https://youtu.be/9sfdAcxRrq8

Most people had no time to read and learn. Many worked all day while the sun was up and toiled hard to keep their family fed and healthy. Only priests and monks had time to learn to read and therefore dictated to everyone else the truth about the world.

John Wycliffe

John Wycliffe was a priest, professor and scholar.

Wycliffe questioned the privileged status of the clergy which had bolstered their powerful role in England and the luxury and pomp of local parishes and their ceremonies. He questioned everything the catholic church had become that wasn't in the bible. He questioned the need for a Pope.

John Wycliffe is credited with producing the first complete translation of the Bible into English in the year 1382. He believed that if more people could read the bible they would realize how far the churches teachings had strayed from Jesus.

The Catholic church never officially recognized the English translation of the bible. Seeing it instead as a threat to their power over the people. If only they can read it, only they can preach it.

Wycliffe and his supporters wrote up 12 points that they believed. 1. The church is too involved with politics. 2. Too many ceremonies with no basis in the bible. 3. Priests cannot marry 4. Against transubstantiation 5. Against Exorcism 6. Priests in secular office. 7. Indulgences 8. Against pilgrimage and relics 9. Against confession 10. Against the Crusades 11. Against Nuns 12. Too much pomp

Wycliffe gained a decent following of people who agreed with him. Some from genuinely concerned citizens and some support from opportunist nobles with a dislike for the Pope. However, the King supported the Catholic church and tried to oppress and punish the Pope's critics. In response, those critics fought back and soon a few hundred gathered in London. The King of England sent out his troops killed 79 and arrested 100. 

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