1456+-+1555

toc
 * 1456 - 1555 (Peace of Augsburg)**

**Machiavelli's //The Prince//**
In 1513, Niccolo __Machiavelli__, from Italy, wrote //__The Prince __//, a political work about how a prince should best gain and keep power. //The Prince// embodied the idea of a "means to an end"; every prince should use whatever technique and tactic regardless of morals in order to control his land and people. Machiavelli also stated that it would be better for for a leader to be feared than respected (if he could not be both) because it would make him safer and more in control. //The Prince// was one of the most important works of its time because it influenced many rulers in their quest for power, and it showed the secularization of society during the Renaissance.

**The Northern Renaissance**[[image:jan_van_eyck_001.jpg width="143" height="187" align="left"]]
In the late 15th century, the cultural changes of the Italian Renaissance began to **spread** through the **rest of Europe**. These new ideas **mel****ded** with the traditional values of Northern Europe, culminating in a **distinctly different Renaissance movement**. Rather than drawing its strength from the classicism, the Northern Renaissance instead looked toward a return to **ancient christian values** and **changes in the Church**, which had been weakened greatly by the Great Schism. The Northern Renaissance provided a **huge shift away** from the **pessimistic zeitgeist** of Black Death era Europe, bringing forth such famous artists as **Jan Van Eyck** (The Arnolfini Portrait pictured right) and **Hans Holbein**. In addition to art, new technologies emerged as well. Perhaps the most notable of these was the **caravel**, which would play a vital role in long distance trade and The Age of Discovery. Finally, **the wish to end Church corruption** would come to be a major factor in the rise of Martin Luther and the Reformation as a whole.

**Erasmus**[[image:423px-Holbein-erasmus.jpg width="163" height="228" align="right"]]
A **Dutch Theologian** cast from the ideals of the Northern Renaissance, Desiderius Erasmus dedicated his life to spreading humanism and preaching **changes in the Church**. Erasmus was a firm believer in intellectualism as well, believing that **the more educated path** was what Christ intended for his followers. His most important contributions were **his scathing works** on the **superstition** and **multitude of abuses** among the Clergy. Erasmus wished for the Church to be **an educator for the laity**, not a powerful political entity. When Martin Luther brought up the Roman Catholic Church's corrupt practices, Erasmus viewed him as a "mighty trumpet of gospel truth" but remained neutral during the Reformation. This following of the **'middle path'** would put him at odds with both the Protestant movements and the Catholic church.

**Christopher Columbus**
In March 1493 a Genoese man named Christopher Columbus led a fleet of Spanish ships to find a route to India. What he found was the new world, or the Americas. It helped Spain a huge amount because now they had more raw material such as gold that they could trade with the rest of Europe. He was supposed to be a very ruthless man and pillaged the Native American villages, but if the question is strictly did he help or hurt Spain it would be helped them for sure. It was after the fall of Constantinople so the Spanish needed someone to trade with and the Americas really helped them.

**Causes of European Exploration**
In 1455 the city of Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Empire, and it cut Europe out of the trade with Asia and the Middle East. So the Europeans where having a lot of problems trading their goods and getting comfort goods such as spices from the Middle East. So after a while they started to become restless because they had no one to trade with so they decided to find new trade routes to bypass the Ottomans. There were many new inventions that helped sea travel such as the caravel. The Spanish sent a man by the name of Christopher Columbus to India to find more routes but he found himself in a new world, the Americas. Where the Europeans found colonies to help their trade woes.

**New World Conquest**
 New World Conquest was the conquering of American territories by the Spanish in the early 1500s. The Spanish were attempting to take control of the gold mines after their source in the West Indies began to run out. Their expedition was led by Hernando Cortés and his six hundred men. They conquered the Aztec Empire and took control of the capital city in under two years. They then conquered the Incas, held the Incan king, Atauhualpa, for ransom in gold, and killed the king. After conquering over the indigenous people, the Spanish began to settle in the Americas in order to grow sugar and tobacco and mine silver, using the natives as slaves. The large scale production of cash crops, and the need for increased slave labor, led to the formation of the Columbian Exchange.

**Columbian Exchange**
The Columbian Exchange was a world-wide exchange of animals, plants, slaves, and disease.The Spanish and Portuguese immigrants to the New World desired the foods and animals of their homeland. They imported wheat, grapes, olives, and many other types of plants. They also brought over domesticated animals like horses, cows and chickens. In exchange for these goods they exported corn, white potatoes, and tomatoes. Slaves were also largely imported to the Americas from Africa. This large scale trade between nations throughout the world formed a global economy dominated by seaborne trade. 

**Vasco da Gama**
Vasco da Gama is a Portugese explorer, who rounded the Cape of Good Hope in 1497. King Manuel sent da Gama on this expedition so the portugese can find a sea route to the Indian Ocean trade. Even though Vasco da Gama didn't create any trading alliances with local powers, he proved that the Cape is a possible trade route with the East. By da Gama discovering the Cape of Good Hope trade route it allowed future explorers, like Pedro Alvares Cabral, to trade with India and gain large profits.

**Martin Luther**
__Martin Luther__, a German professor and Augustinian Friar, was most responsible for leading the Protestant Reformation in Germany during the 16th century. Luther's believed in a priesthood of all believers, and this idea can be summarized as "faith alone, grace alone, Scripture alone" (MK 447). He taught that salvation came through faith, not through following the traditions of the Church. Luther is also well known for his //95 Theses//, written in 1517, criticizing the sale of indulgences as the Church acting corrupt. Overall, Luther's religion of Protestantism attracted many followers because of it's appeal to the intelligence of people and equality under God; eventually, this break from the Catholic Church led to religious wars and divisions.

Check out this **wordle** of Luther's //Justification by Faith.// What does Luther find most important to his spirituality?

**The Ninety-five Theses**
The spark that ignited the **Reformation** was **Martin Luther's** **"Ninety-five Theses on on the power of Indulgences."** Luther wrote the document to **Archbishop Albert** to show that he believed that **Indulgences** "undermined the seriousness of the sacrament of penance, competed with the preaching of the Gospel, and downplayed the importance of charity in a Christian life." Luther also stated that Indulgences had **no Bibical basis** and that they were immoral. By early 1521, most of **Germany** was in an uproar about Luther's Theses. Due to Luther's use of the **vernacular** to spread his ideas, most of Germany had heard his Ninety-five Theses and had taken a side in the argument against Indulgences.

**Lutheranism**
Lutheranism was a religious movement during the time of the Reformation. Led by a German university professor, named Martin Luther, Lutheranism was a new form of Christianity for people who did not agree with the Catholic teachings. The people who followed Luther's ideas came to be called protestants, which would later turn into a universal word to describe all non-Catholic Christians. These people believed that salvation was achieved by faith alone, unlike the Catholics who believed that faith and good works were a necessity. This new idea of Martin Luther was a very innovative idea and was ushered in a new beginning of the Reformation. Not only was it a new way of worshiping God, it also led to radical rebellions like the German Peasants' Revolt of 1525, in which the peasants believed that their ideas followed the teachings of Luther.

**German Peasants' Revolt**
In 1525, German peasants felt that the nobles had been imposing unfair rents and that their economic situation had become worse that in the fifteenth century. So, the peasants decided to act out against the nobles and fight. Led with a belief that Luther and fellow Protestants were behind them, the peasants fought against the nobles but were soon defeated. An estimated "seventy-five thousand peasants were killed in 1525" (Mckay 455). So not only did the peasants lose the battle, but the revolt only strengthened the power of the lay rulers and nobles. It also lessened the appeal of Lutheranism, leading to a Counter-Reformation.

**Charles V**
Charles V, also know as Charles I of spain, was a habsburg ruler over the Holy Roman Empire. He was a vigorous defender of Catholicism, and believed that it was his duty to maintain the political and religious unity of Western Christendom. As Holy Roman Emperor, he called Martin Luther to the diet of Worms, he dismissed Luther's idea of reformation, and later outlawed Luther and his follower in the country. But he was tied up with Turkish threat, Habsburg-Valois Wars, and Peasant Revolt, which prevented him from acting effectively against the Protestants. His inability to deal with Protestant eventually led to Peace of Augusburg in 1555.

**Diet of Worms**
The Diet of Worms was a general assembly of the estates of the Holy Roman Empire. The Diet of Worms took place from January through May 1521 in a town called Worms, which is now located in Germany. Emperor **Charles V** was presiding in the Diet of Worms. The reason it took place was because of the writings (95 Theses) of **Martin Luther.** Luther believed that the Pope and the Catholic Church was corrupt, and was against it. He was asked if they were his, and Luther acknowledged them as his works. He defended his own writings, and said he could not recant what he has written. The Emperor presented the final draft of the **Edict of Worms**, in May 1521, and declared Luther as an outlaw. He banned his literature, and required his arrest. He also made it a crime for anyone in Germany to provide Luther with food or shelter. And lastly, it permitted anyone to kill Martin Luther without legal consequence. The significance of the Diet of Worms to this era was that the Diet was one of many conflicts that occured between the Protestant Reformers and Catholics.

**Peace of Augsburg**
In 1555 Charles V agreed to the Peace of augsburg, which, in accepting the status quo, officially recognized Lutheranism.The famous quote "Cuius regio, eius religio" means "Whose realm, his religion", allowed German princes to select either Lutheranism or Cathlocism in his domain they controlled. Most of the northern and central Germany became Lutheran, while the south remained Roman Catholic. There were no freedom of religion individually. The Prince establish which religion all subjects of the area had to belong. Only Lutheran and Cathlicism were allowed, Calvinist and other Protestant branch weren't allowed until the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. Peace of Augsburg settled the religious conflict in Germany, but also disunified the German state in a way.

**John Calvin**
Born in **Nothern France** when Martin Luther was just finishing his university education in **Whittenburg**, Germany, **John Calvin** was heavily exposed to the religious crisis which was the early **Reformation**. In 1533 he converted to **Protestantism** and came to believe that God had specifically called on him to reform the Church and Clergy. In 1541, Calvin was called to **Geneva** to help reform it and there his brand of Protestantism came to rise. His book, "**The institutes of the Christian religion**," clearly shows his point of view on humanity. He believed that God was the ultimate power and authority and **humanity was completely weak beneath him.** He also believed in the concept of
 * Predestination**, where he stated that all people were already Predestined to either reach salvation in Heaven or to roast in Hell. This theory led all Calvinists to become confident in their slavation and in turn caused them to live moral and just lives. Calvin also **rejected many traditional Church practices** like Child baptism and he stated that they have no Bibical basis to them. Calvin's **Geneva became the symbol of Protestant beliefs** and many called it "The most perfect school of Christ since the days of the Apostles."

**Anabaptism**
During the Radical Revolution some individuals rejected the idea of the unification of the church and state, the idea of anabaptism came about. Anabaptism was the baptism of believers. Anabaptists rejected the idea of the baptism of infants because they only wanted members that "intentionally chosen to belong". Although Christian their believer's baptism was considered heresy by many other groups and anabaptists were pursecuted during the 16th century. There are also different types of anabaptists.

**Henry VIII**
King Henry VIII of England reigned from 1509-1547 as the second monarch of the Tudor Dynasty (following his father Henry VII). His most significant accomplishment to the era was the **English Reformation** (see below) but he also dissolved many English monasteries. Henry VIII wanted to end their wealth and redistribute the land, however this only strengthened the upper classes and dispersed the nuns and monks. After the Reformation King Henry VIII beheaded any dissenters of the English Church and stopped a multiclass rebellion in 1536, **The Pilgrimage of Grace**. His chief minister T**homas Cromwell** also issued many reforms under his reign in order to create a modern centralized bureaucratic state.

**English Reformation**
The English Reformation was England's break from the Roman Caholic Church through the **Act in Restraint of Appeals** in 1533 and the **Supremacy Act** of 1534 issued by **Henry VIII**. The Act in Restraint of Appeals forbid the papacy from making any judicial appeals in England (in other words, established the Crown as the highest government authority) and the Supremacy Act declared Henry VIII as the head of the **Church of England**. Henry VIII was compelled to issue these acts mainly because of social reasons and his yearning for a male heir to the throne. It started when Henry VIII married Catherine of Aragon, who failed to produce a son. Angered, the king sought an annulment from the pope, however, Pope Clement VII was kept prisoner by Emperor Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire who happened to be Catherine of Aragon's nephew. The pope refused to annul the king and his wife in fear of angering the Holy Roman Emperor. Frustrated, Henry VIII gained the support of Parliament for the Reformation in order to annul his marriage. Henry's actions not only had lasting impacts on the political and religious course of England, but his marriage to Anne Boleyn after his annulment with Catherine produced one of the greatest rulers of all time **Queen Elizabeth I** who would change the way the world percieved females and female rulers.

**Catholic Reformation**
Because of a plethora of advances in Protestantism the Catholic Church retaliated with their own reformation after 1540. A reformed papacy began with Pope Paul III. He made it so "the papal court became the center of the reform movememnt rather than the chief opponent"(MK467) The pope appointed new cardinals, abbots, and bishops with the reformation in mind. His new employment improved the education for clergy, and helped to enforce the moral standard inside the church. In 1542 Pope Paul III established the Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office. The Holy Offie had power over the Roman Inquisition. The Inquisition had power ove all catholics, and the power to arrest, imprison, and execute. Pope Paul III also called the Council of Trent. The Council did not meet anyones expectations catholics were still not on good terms with protestants and reform was not immediate. During the Reformation education also became a major goal as new religious groups emerged withing the church. There was a women religious group, the Ursuline, which focused on teaching young girls. Perhaps the most famous group was the Jesuits.found by Ignatius Loyola. The Jesuits goal was to "help souls" and eventually this group "developed into a hghly centralized, tightlyknit organization"(MK 470).gerberapeuro » 1456 - 1555

**Jesuits**
The Society of Jesus, or **Jesuits**, was founded by Spaniard **Ignatius Loyola** during the middle of the 15th century, right around when the Counter-Reformation began. The Jesuits were a group of Catholics whose purposes were to reform the Catholic Church, and counter the Protestant Reformers, such as the followers of **Martin Luther.** The early Jesuits saw the Reformation as a pastoral problem, its causes and cures related not to doctrinal issues but to people's spiritual conditions (MK 470). The most defining characteristic of the Jesuit was the commitment to go anywhere for the help of saving (converting) souls. The significance to this era was that the Jesuits carried Christianity to Asia, North America, South America, and Africa before and after 1550. Throughout Europe itself, the Jesuits recruited many members, and Southern Germany and much of eastern Europe converted back to Catholicism from Protestantism.

**Council of Trent**
The Council of Trent was a meeting of Catholic rulers that met several times between 1545-1563. The goal of the Council was to reform the Catholic Church ad make peace with the Protestants. The Council focused on addressing the problems of the Church and forbade the sale of indulgences, confirmed the seven sacraments, and kept greater control of Priests and other Holy Officials. Some of the reinforced rules made education a priority for Priests and forbade secret marriages. The goal of reconciling with the Protestants was never realized and much of this reform was slow.

**Women in the Reformation**
As Martin Luther began preaching a "priesthood of all believers", women were included more and more. This has significance as a growth in women's rights, although they were still far below that of men's. This can be sited as the biggest push towards the feminist movement.