we. — RELIGION IN EUROPE BEFORE THE Saal ‘The events you have already looked at happened in England. Similar events were taking place all ove Western Europe. Although the Reformation affected the whole of Europe, at was religion in Europe lke before the Reformation? The pope ‘As we saw in Unit 1 the head of the Church was the pope. He claimed he was directly descended from Chist's follower, St Peter. The pope said God had chosen him to rule his Church on earth. As we have seen, the pope live in luxury and was very wealthy. The pope controlled the Church in each country through the people he appointed to the top jobs. In England, for example, the Church was organised like this Some people said the popes ‘bout their power and wealth than about leading t Roman Catholic Church and helpi of the popes were not ve ctually began in Germany. But REFORMATION Pope Alexander VI used his position as pope to help his family become more important (see Source 5) SOURCES He was a man of sn and sprit. But there was in ham... all | vices of flesh and spirit. . There was in him no no care for justice. ince his day was like a den of thieves and m levers his ‘SOURCE 6 Pope Le 1 Why was the pope so powerful? 2 Look carefully at Source 5 and at Source 6. Do ‘the sources prove or disprove these two ‘statements? Popes were very wealthy. b These two popes were very religious. —The local priest and church Every village and town had a church and itso” st. The priest was very important. Everybody in those days believed in Heaven and weu. (Source 7), The priest's job was to help people get to Heaven and save them from Hel Roman Catholics would go to the priest and confess their sins. He would give them a PENANCE and would then say that God tad forgiven their sins. Only then would they be pure enough to go to wass. During mass the priest would talk :0 God for the peopie in Latin (the language of the Church) During the service the priest's back was turned to his vcRecaTion. This was because he was talking to God and the people. The priest was the only person who could marry and bury people. He also sxpriseo babies. To allow him to concentrate on all these jobs, people paid him ni (one tenth oftheir income) and he was nat allowed t The village church was the centre of v would go there at least onc lage life, Everybody or twice a week. People warted their church to show their love and respect for God. They built beautiful and impressive churches lke St Petrock's at Lydford (Source 8), SOURCE 8 St 1428-87 Work in pars 1 Look at Source 7. Does it help you to understand why people went to church every week? 2 Why was the priest a very special person? Find as ‘many reasons as you can.aa LUTHER - THE FIRST PROTESTANT i Martin Luther (Source 9) was not the first person to believe there was a lot wrong with the Roman Catholic Church. Unlike other critics before him, however, he criticised the Church and survived. He even started a ‘ew faith called Protestantism SOURCE 9 Luther when he was an Augustinian fia. Engraved by Cranach, 1520. Why did Luther protest against the Roman Catholic Church? Luther took religion very seriously. He strongly believed that he was sinful and was terrified of Hell. He DDecame an Augustinian friar and worked very hard to make himself pure. But al the time he felt he was not doing enough. Slowly he came to feel that the Church was failing him. He began to think that the Roman Catholic Church {ot in the way of people talking directly to Goa Luther visited Rome in 1510 and did all the right things, such as praying to famous feuics. He climbed up 2 long fight of steps on his hands and knees to punish himself for hs sins, But he stil felt no purer. He started to wonder if, maybe all these things were Useless. While he was in Rome he saw lots of things he disapproved of. He went back to Germany and became a Professor of Divinity atthe University of Wittenberg in Saxony, While working hard there, he began to hear very bad reports about the new and ambitious Pope Leo X. It seemed that Pope Leo X was only really interested in making himself powerful, building wonderful new ‘churches and paying for beautiful paintings. In 1517, Pope Leo X needed money, so he sent Friar Tetzel to Germany. Tetzel’s job was to sell nouacences An indulgence was a piece of paper which promised to {get you or someone who had died into Heaven. It was Supposed to forgive your sins if you bought tt said When the coin in the coffer sings, Then the soul to Heaven springs. Luther was so angry about the sale of indulgences) that he wrote 95 arguments criticising them. He ‘thought it was making forgiveness just a matter of money. He nailed these arguments to Wittenberg Castle church door. His basic message was that only total faith in God could get people to Heaven. People should be able to talk directly to God and without priests and services in Latin getting in their way (Source 10). He said monks and nuns could nat help people get to Heaven by their prayers, ‘SOURCE 10 Sorteenth century painting ofthe pope ‘and priests In pairs discuss the following questions. 1 Look carefully at Source 10. What isthe artist ‘trying to say about the pope and his court in. ‘this picture? 5 2 Luther disapproved of many things he saw in ome. What evidence does Source 10 give us '3 Luther was furious with Tetzel and. ‘was tricking people for money. Why did he ‘think this?What effects did Luther's protests have? ‘The Roman Catholic Church wanted to keep Luther Quiet, but he was protected by his local prince, Frederick the Wise of Saxony. By protecting Luther, Frederick thought he could increase his own power and Independence at the expense of the pope. Luther said church wealth should belong to the local prince. Many ‘other German princes slowly came to find Luther's ideas very attractive for the same reasons. ‘When a prince decided he liked Lutheranism (what Luther believed and a form of protestantism) he would ‘make his people worship in the Lutheran way. In other countries ordinary people found Luther's ideas attractive SOURCE 11 Religious divisions in Europe, 1859 KeyTORELGWNS Romancstole Aaghezn (harchot Ergin), Prosar (Luteanisn) Grok rosLuther heavily criticised the pope and the Roman Catholic Church. He publised all his criticisms (Source 12). ‘SouRCE 12 Farewell unk tnhappy, hopes Rome. Leslee her thea tap she may become he dling place 0 dragons, specr mace 0 dragons, species and Lather Discuss in groups. 1 Why ae the pope and his followers drawn as animals in Source 137 2 Why were Protestants so rude about the Roman Catholic ‘churen? ‘ As people stopped supporting the Roman Catholic Church and the pope, Luther had to find a new way for them to worship. He wanted people to talk directly to God and to get to know Him better. He made alot of changes 1 Look atthe lst below and try to decide which ideas you ‘think Luther Believed in. | Ministers (priests) should not be allowed to marry. 'b- The minister should face the people and tak n the Peoples own language during the service. Noedy but he mister should beable to ea the ibe. Everybody should be allowed to read the Bible. Ministers shouldbe allowed to marry. ‘The minister should speak in Latin All monasteries and nunneres should be closed People should learn about the Bible fom pictures painted onthe church wall. {| The minister should teach the people about the Bible inhis own sermons. 4 All pictures on church walls and al statues should be * removed. 2 Now each writeup your findings as a short paragraph escibing how Protestant (Lutheran) worship was ‘ferent from Roman Catholic worship, Lscpapar, Down sihae Bower Len tinal Srgconens Censcng, Once the new Protestant faith got established, i began to develop in difere ways. Some people said Luther had not g far enough in cleansing the Church. A ma called John Calvin (Source 14) decided it his job to make an even holier and purer CChurch, He made his Church very strict s people coud lead better ives on earth. H ‘made his churches and services plainer, 8 there were no aistractions from listening the preacher. This new faith led to even t divisions in Europe. SOURCE ig attacking Cain, 1566. How has the st shown his dsike of Calvin?