to what extent did political authorities influence the course of the protestant reformation

by Ciara Conn Jr. 6 min read

Throughout Europe, political impact of Protestant Reformation

Reformation

The Reformation was a movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Roman Catholic Church—and papal authority in particular. Although the Reformation is usually considered to have started with the publication of the Ninety-five Theses by Martin Luther in 1517, there was no schism between the Catholics and the nascent Lutheran bra…

had been so deep that it even led to the exile of Catholic Queen Mary of England. T.A. Morris said, “Knox preaching in Edinburgh in 1559 was so forceful that the French regent was force to flee her capital” (p. 83).

Full Answer

What impact did the Protestant Reformation have on the political system?

The Protestant Reformation had its impact in the political system of Europe and the many countries of the world. It basically paved the way to the onset of Democracy.

How did the Protestant Reformation lead to the age of youth?

Huntington explained that upon the advent of Protestant Reformation, “a notable expansion of the proportion of youth in western countries coincides with the Age of Democratic Revolution in the last decades of the 18 th century (as cited by Wiggin and Bonner, p. 196).

How did the Calvinist phase of the Reformation differ from the Counterreformation?

The new Calvinist phase had to operate against a backdrop of much stronger political resistance from the Counterreformation, and tended to be organized on a more grass-roots, decentralized basis.

How did the Lutheran Reformation contribute to the development of State-Building?

T he most obvious way in which the Lutheran phase of the Reformation aided in modern state-building was the way in which it added to state resources through the simple expropriation of the resources and taxing authority of the Catholic Church.

What role did politics play in the Protestant Reformation?

The political effects of the reformation resulted in the decline of the Catholic Church's moral and political authority and gave monarchs and states more power.

What influenced the Protestant Reformation?

The Protestant Reformation began in Wittenberg, Germany, on October 31, 1517, when Martin Luther, a teacher and a monk, published a document he called Disputation on the Power of Indulgences, or 95 Theses. The document was a series of 95 ideas about Christianity that he invited people to debate with him.

What were the political causes of the Reformation?

Political Causes Powerful monarchs challenged the Church as the supreme power of Europe. Many leaders viewed the Pope as a foreign ruler and challenged his authority.

What were three political concerns of the Reformation?

These included the freedom to choose their own ministers, abolition of serfdom, relief from the lesser tithes, the ability to fish and hunt, restoration of common lands, impartiality of the courts, abolition of death duties and preventing landlords from collecting feudal dues.

What are 3 causes of the Reformation?

These things contributed to the start of the Reformation, but the main causes were the problems with indulgences, the Pope being power hungry, and the Church becoming corrupt.

Which was the most significant social and political impact of Reformation ideas on Europe?

Which was the most significant social and political impact of Reformation ideas on Europe? Explanation: In the 16th-century the Protestant Reformation prompted people to challenge Church doctrine leading to the development of secular movements that challenged the Roman Catholic Church and the papal authority.

What was the political and social effect of the Reformation?

The fundamental doctrine of the Reformation movement led to the growth of marked individualism which resulted in grave social, political, and economic conflicts. It led ultimately to the growth of individual liberty and democracy.

What were the social political economic and religious causes of the Reformation?

The religious causes involve problems with church authority and a monks views driven by his anger towards the church. Economic and social causes: technological advances and the ways the church were collecting revenue, Political: distractions with foreign affairs, problems with marriage, challenges to authority.

What was one political effect of the Protestant Reformation in England?

b) One political consequence of the English Reformation was the Elizabethan Religious Settlement, which re-established the Church of England after Bloody Mary had abolished it.

What political effect did the Reformation have on Europe quizlet?

The political effects of the reformation resulted in the decline of the Catholic Church's moral and political authority and gave monarchs and states more power.

What were the effects of the Protestant Reformation?

The effects of the Protestant Reformation were profound on every level. Literacy rates improved dramatically as Protestants were encouraged to read the Bible for themselves, and education became a higher priority. The concept of propaganda was established and used to advance personal or group agendas.

What was the most important political consequence of the Protestant Reformation?

4 Thirty Years' War. The most prominent political consequence of the Protestant Reformation was the Thirty Years' War between Catholics and Protestants, from 1618 to 1648. Involving nearly all major European countries, the war was the worst Europe had seen, with over 8 million dead.

What were the political changes during the Protestant Reformation?

The Protestant Reformation was a religious movement that began in 1517 with Martin Luther, a German monk who sought to reform the corruption in the Catholic Church. Though the movement was primarily spiritual, the ethos of individuality promoted by Protestantism led many to rebel against ...

What did Mary do to reestablish Catholicism?

Mary sought to reestablish Catholicism through the executions of many Protestants, giving her the infamous title of "Bloody Mary.". In 1558 her Protestant sister Elizabeth would succeed her, and Protestantism and stability would return to England.

How long did the Reformation last in France?

France experienced a more complex political upheaval in the wake of the Reformation, with a long series of religious wars lasting from the 1560s until 1598.

What was the result of the Reformation?

The reformation significantly changed the political landscape in Germany, France and England, and culminated in the Thirty Years' War of the 17th century.

Which country was not one country during the Reformation?

1 Germany. Germany at the time of the reformation was not one country but a collection of principalities unified under the Holy Roman Emperor, who maintained limited authority. Soon after Luther's call for reformation, many German princes converted to Protestantism, and in 1531 formed the Schmalkaldic League in opposition to ...

Which peace did Germany sign in 1555?

After a long war, the two sides signed the Peace of Augsburg in 1555, which allowed each principality within Germany to determine on its own whether it would be Catholic or Protestant, greatly reducing the authority of the emperor.

How did the Lutheran Reformation help modern state building?

T he most obvious way in which the Lutheran phase of the Reformation aided in modern state-building was the way in which it added to state resources through the simple expropriation of the resources and taxing authority of the Catholic Church.

Where were patrimonial states at the beginning of the Reformation?

Patrimonial states were ubiquitous at the beginning of the Reformation; by the time it had established itself at the time of the Peace of Westphalia that ended the Thirty Years War, modern states had begun to appear in England, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Denmark.

What was the Lutheran phase?

The Lutheran phase began with Martin Luther’s ninety-five theses in 1517, and his subsequent struggles with both the Papacy and the Empire that culminated in his confrontation with the Emperor Charles V at the Diet of Worms in 1521. Luther’s doctrines, helped enormously by the recent invention of the printing press, ...

What was the new Calvinist phase?

The new Calvinist phase had to operate against a backdrop of much stronger political resistance from the Counterreformation, and tended to be organized on a more grass-roots, decentralized basis.

What was the first place that sovereignty was divided?

In the first place, sovereignty was divided under the theory of the “two crowns .”. Princes were not sovereign; God was sovereign, and the prince shared political power with God’s representative on earth, the universal church of Rome.

How did feudalism affect the political system?

Feudalism further fragmented political power. Kings did not have the authority to directly tax the subjects of their vassals; the latter were independently powerful lords who exercised territorial authority and maintained their own armies, judiciaries, and bureaucracies.

What were the two wings of the Reformation?

Before beginning this discussion, it will be helpful to distinguish between the two wings of the Reformation, the Lutheran/evangelical and Calvinist/reformed movements that had emerged by the middle of the 16th century. Whatever their theological differences, the two had distinct political effects in the long run.

The Catholic Church

By the end of the Early Middle Ages, the Catholic Church had more or less pushed out all competing forms of Christianity within Europe and established itself as the most important Christian denomination. While some heretical sects appeared every now and then, the church was successfully able to crush them.

The Renaissance

The Protestant Reformation took place at the same time as another major movement in European history: the Renaissance. During the Renaissance, new ideas and technologies circulated throughout Europe. One reason for this was the invention of the printing press. For the first time, written materials could be mass-produced and read by large audiences.

Martin Luther

Martin Luther (1483-1546) was a German priest and theologian. (At this time in history, Germany was part of the Holy Roman Empire.) Luther was a professor at the University of Wittenberg. During his time there, Luther came to believe that much of the theology and worldly practices of the Catholic Church were not based on biblical truths.

John Calvin

John Calvin (1509-1564) developed an alternate Protestant theology that also presented a major challenge for the Catholic Church. Calvin was French, and his theology rested on the concept of predestination, the theory that God predetermines who will go to heaven and hell.

Henry VIII

King Henry VIII of England (1491-1547) broke from the Catholic Church over the church's refusal to grant him a divorce from his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. Henry subsequently created a Protestant faith known as Anglicanism. Anglicanism in America is known as the Episcopal Church.

Results of the Protestant Reformation

What were some of the most important effects of the Reformation? The most immediate impact of the Protestant Reformation was that millions of Europeans left the Catholic Church. Protestantism was most successful in Northern Europe, but initially, had also found converts in what is now Austria, the Czech Republic, and France.

What was the Protestant Reformation?

The Protestant Reformation was not a starting point for the development of Western concepts of individual liberty, but it was an important moment. Events and philosophers before 1517 played a role as did those that followed. Martin Luther injected an expanded view of natural law into the religious and political debates in Europe which brought about a new Humanist egalitarianism between all Christians that evolved into political rights enshrined in the US Constitution. Given the historical implications of Luther’s arguments, I think we can conclude third was actually too low.

What did Martin Luther's beliefs and beliefs lead to?

Just as Luther developed his ideas from previous philosophers, American founders built on Luther’s beliefs (and other philosophers and thinkers) expanding the right of religious self-determination to the political sphere. We recognize all of these principles in American political philosophy which took form in the Constitution. Essentially, the Constitution is a contract between the people and the government where the people surrender some of their liberty granting powers to the government to promote and protect individual rights.

What were the criticisms of Martin Luther?

Luther made several criticisms that became the basis of future Protestant denominations. First, he challenged the Catholic Church’s claim over individual souls. The Church had long maintained its prerogative as the sole interpreter of the Bible. To determine the Word of God was to define the path to salvation and entry into Heaven. With this monopoly, the Church asserted dominion over every person, high and low. This power extended beyond differentiation between righteousness, sin and the heretical. The Church claimed authority to forgive sins through the sacrament of confession and issuance of indulgences.

What did Luther say about natural law?

Luther invoked natural law to support his views: “ [i]f the Ten Commandments are to be regarded as Moses’ law, then Moses came too late, . . . Moses agrees exactly with nature.” According to Luther, Moses had not written new laws, only identified those God had created and infused into the natural world. Natural law did not begin with Luther. He read philosophers such as Aristotle, the Apostle Paul, and Augustine. By employing reason and conscience (one’s internal sense of right and wrong) to observe Nature, an individual could discover divinely created universal laws. Providence endowed every person with a conscience. Therefore it was essential to understanding God’s Will so following one’s conscience was the first natural right. Luther refined the concept of conscience by applying Humanist standards (the primacy of the individual) and creating specific rights that flowed out of keeping one’s conscience.