Protestant Reformation - part 3
Setting
https://youtu.be/fp77mcJKsIk
Martin Luther was born to a middle class family. He was sent to school to study law but decided to become a monk instead.
One day he was sent on a mission to visit Rome. Initially excited to see the center of the western church, he was soon disappointed. What he expected to be the holiest city in existence was dirty, full of shameless prostitutes, theft and lazy, corrupt priests.
Martin Luther visited the confession booth incessantly and he was soon seen as a problem and sent to the town of Wittenberg.
While there he found solace in a writing of Paul the Apostle that said that salvation was earned through faith not works. Luther whole heartedly believed that this was the answer and the church had been corrupted for the last thousand years.
This disagreement came to a head when a priest travelled to wittenberg selling indulgences for half a years wages.
"As soon as the coin in the coffer rings,
The soul from purgatory springs."
--John Tetzel, Dominican indulgence vendor
"Hear ye not the voices of your parents and the other souls calling out: Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, for the hand of the Lord hath touched me. We are suffering the most dreadful pains and tortures, from which you can release us by a little alms . . . you can deliver us so easily, and you will not."
Luther hated to see his people pay so much money for something he didn't believe the priests had any right to promise. He didn't believe there was anything a man could do to earn forever in heaven and especially not by paying for it.
A fellow German, Johnnas Gutenberg had invented the printing press in 1455 which made it easier to produce many copies of the bible. This was 28 years before Luther was born but it allowed for everyday people to read the bible and come to their own conclusions. Luther believed that if everyone read the bible for themselves they would all return to the one true interpretation.
Luther was upset and wanted to tell everyone that this was wrong. He thought he could correct the church fathers and they'd understand and change the errors.
95 Theses - 1517
Doesn't believe priests have ability to forgive sin. Believes it's an ongoing issues and daily struggle.
The pope has no power over heaven or purgatory
Money cannot forgive sins. God doesn't take bribes. Who knows if they're genuinely repentant?
Doesn't believe priests and popes can guarantee salvation.
Indulgences aren't necessary for salvation
Indulgences make repenting unnecessary
Also complained about the mandatory celibacy of clergy as counter to God's wishes
"Why does the pope, whose wealth today is greater than the wealth of the richest Crassus, build the basilica of St. Peter with the money of poor believers rather than with his own money?"
Nailing to the church door?
Most depictions of Luther and his 95 theses show him hammering the paper it was written on into the front door of his local church. Some maintain this really did happen but most scholars believe it to be a symbolic depiction. Over the years the
Reaction
It's believed that Martin Luther's only aim was to correct the teachings of the catholic church. It would've been very hard to envision replacing such an institution.
The Pope demanded that Luther repeal his 95 theses. When Luther refused, the Pope excommunicated him. This was believed to bar you from heaven. Luther could now be arrested by anyone on behalf of the Pope.
However, with the help of the printing press and pamphlets, he was able to petition barons and those who resented the pope and it's taxation. He exaggerated the financial strain Rome put on Germany while pointing out the grandeur of the Pope's home at the Vatican and the excessive numbers of staff. In openly criticizing the Pope he gained a protective community in Germany. The struggle became good vs evil.
During a debate in Leipzig, close to the Bohemian border, Martin Luther said "Ja, ich bin ein Hussite." "Yes, I am a Hussite."
In 1450, Johannes Gutenberg had invented the printing press. Instead of hand copying every book, they could now be produced much quicker, spreading ideas more easily. The bible was first printed in traditional latin that only monks and the highly educated could read. In 1466, the bible was first printed in plain German and for the first time the masses could read it for themselves. Martin Luther was born into this world 17 years later.
Diet of Worms- 1521
A diet was a public debate and Worms is a town in modern day Germany.
Martin Luther was summoned to the Diet in order to renounce or reaffirm his views in response to a Papal bull of Pope Leo X. In answer to questioning, he defended these views and refused to recant them. At the end of the Diet, the Emperor issued the Edict of Worms, a decree which condemned Luther as "a notorious heretic" and banned citizens of the Empire from propagating his ideas.
"What is the use of a pope in Christendom, if the only use made of his power is to commit these supreme villainies under his protection and assistance? Oh noble princes and sirs, how long will you suffer your lands and your people to be the prey of these ravening wolves?"
However, many princes and barons sided with Luther and offered him protection.
The catholic church in Germany was shaken. Nuns and monks changed their lives. Some got married. Church idols were destroyed. Luther's followers became overzealous, protesting and vandalizing church property.
Peasants Revolt - 1525
The land barons and princes recanted the protesting masses of peasants. Luther was embarrassed by a reaction by the people more extreme than he ever intended it. The peasants saw a revolutionary opportunity to break free from those in power and a new idealized world could be created. This scared the barons and princes and they soon fought a war against the poor, badly organized and badly equipped peasants killing hundreds of thousands of them while taking only minimal losses. Luther supported the war against the peasants and the war was won in less than a year.
"For rebellion is not simple murder, but is like a great fire, which attacks and lays waste a whole land. Thus rebellion brings with it a land full of murder and bloodshed, makes widows and orphans, and turns everything upside down, like the greatest disaster. Therefore let everyone who can, smite, slay, and stab, secretly or openly, remembering that nothing can be more poisonous, hurtful, or devilish than a rebel. It is just as when one must kill a mad dog; if you do not strike him, he will strike you, and a whole land with you..." - Martin Luther
Affair of the placards - 1534
Protestant spread quickly in it's first 17 years.
Anti- catholic sentiment reached France. Anti-Catholic posters appeared in public places in Paris and in four major provincial cities, Blois, Rouen, Tours and Orléans, in the night of the 17 to 18 October 1534. One of the posters was posted on the bedchamber door of King Francis I at Amboise, an affront and a breach of security that left him shaken. The Affaire des Placards brought an end to the conciliatory policies of Francis, who had formerly attempted to protect the Protestants from the more extreme measures of the Parlement de Paris.
The placards held the title, "Genuine articles on the horrific, great and unbearable abuses of the papal mass, invented directly contrary to the Holy Supper of our Lord, sole mediator and sole savior Jesus Christ" and attacked catholic views of transubstantiation.
A reward of a hundred écus was advertised for information leading to the arrest of the perpetrator or perpetrators, who were to be burned at the stake. Protestant sympathizers were soon identified and sent to the Châtelet. The first condemnations were pronounced 10 November; the first of those burned at the stake, on 13 November, was a cripple named Barthélemi Milon.
After the accused perpetrators were executed more pamphlets were found in several public doorways again criticizing the Catholic church. On January 13, 1535, an extreme statute was enacted forbidding all printing under threat of hanging and closing all bookshops. This law was quickly abandoned for it's impracticality but Parlement formed a commission to review printing activities in France.
This all created a lot of tension between the Catholics and protestants.
French Wars of Religion- 1562-1598
Protestantism became popular in France. However, catholics and protestants didn't get along. The catholics believed the Pope to be the holiest man on earth, the protestants believed him to be the antichrist from revelation.
Massacre of Merindol- 1545
Massacre of Vassy in 1562
"The Protestants were engaged in prayer outside the walls, in conformity with the king's edict, when the Duke of Guise approached. Some of his suite insulted the worshippers, and from insults they proceeded to blows, and the Duke himself was accidentally wounded in the cheek. The sight of his blood enraged his followers, and a general massacre of the inhabitants of Vassy ensued."
St Bartholomew Day's Massacre- 1572
A protestant was hired by the King's court. Catholics were angry. The queen attempted to fix things by having her daughter marry a protestant but nobody accepted it. They got married anyway and people were horrified. An assassination attempt was made on the protestant hired by the king's court. He man survived being shot from an upstairs window while he was walking down the street. The Catholics were worried about protestants seeking revenge so they preemptively defeating the protestants. The king himself gave out weapons and ordered the killing of key protestant figures. They dragged out of bed the wounded man who was injured from the assassination and killed him.
The tension that had been building now exploded in a wave of popular violence. The common people began to hunt Protestants throughout the city. Chains were used to block streets so that Protestants could not escape from their houses. The bodies of the dead were collected in carts and thrown into the Seine. The massacre in Paris lasted three days. Some were spared when they were forced to convert to Catholicism. The Massacre was celebrated as a success defense against a plot by the protestants to overthrow the king. It was a lie.
Catholic scholars believe the total murdered to be only 2,000. Whereas protestants of the time claim 70,000 murdered.
In the turbulent years after there would be several battles with armies supported by countries favoring their form of christianity. Several assassinations took place and the country was full of violence.
Edict of Nantes - 1598
After 36 years of fighting the protestants and an estimated three million dead. The king decided enough was enough and begrudgingly signed the Edict of Nantes promising rights to the protestants.
Thirty Years War - 1618-1648
20 years later, Germany began having it's own problems. Protestants and Catholics hated one another and viewed the other as dangerous heretics.
Initially they decided it could be solved by each prince choosing the religion of his region but with the awkward conglomeration of regions. Princes would die and regions would get a new prince and the official religion of that region would change. This resulted with people having to move or convert. Needless to say, people got sick of this and fighting broke out. Looting and burning against rival religions began what is known as the thirty years war. In that time
30-40% of people in present day Germany were killed, starved and ran away. It's believed that somewhere between 4.5 million to 8 million people died in those 30 years from either war, starvation or disease caused by the war.
Thirty years war - 8 million
French wars - 3 million
Who is to blame? Luther?
Treaty of Westphalia- 1648
Peace, who rules, whose religion. Same as ausberg. Indroducion of secular powers as mediators. Non-religon best mediators of religion. One of America's founding principles. Seperation of church and state. Doesnt mean the powers that be in 1648 didn't believe in God. Doesn't mean government employees don't believe in God. Only means that religious opinions and interpretations are best kept out of the ruling government.
To this day, never sect or denomination believes that they alone have the one true interpretation of the bible.
Calvinism, Lutheran, Baptist, Shakers, Quakers, Mormon, Amish, Methodist, Pentecostal,Evangelical,Mennonites, Utrinitarian, Universalist, Anglican, Congregationalist, Episcopal, Presbyterian and so on.
Rebellion- page 105- last paragraph
Today there are thousands of Christian denominations and sects.
Martin Luther encouraged the German people to turn to German values to unite them against Catholicism. Because of this he later became known as the Father of German nationalism.
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