THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION IN EUROPE IT TOOK PLACE BETWEEN 1510-1550. MEN BEGAN TO QUESTION THE PRACTICES & ADMINISTRATION OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. THIS LED TO A BREAK UP OF THE CHURCH INTO 2 GROUPS ROMAN CATHOLICS AND PROTESTANTS. THE PROTESTANTS CAME UP WITH THEIR OWN TEACHINGS AND PRACTICES. CONTI THERE WERE 3 GROUPS OF PEOPLE WHO WERE AGAINST THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. (1) THE ORDINARY PEOPLE WHO WERE DISSATISFIED WITH THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE CHURCH AND WHO SAW THE BISHOPS AND ABBOTS AS PART OF A WEALTHY OPPRESSIVE RULING CLASS. (2) THE EDUCATED MIDDLE CLASS IN VARIOUS EUROPEAN CITIES WHO FELT THAT THE CHURCH HIERARCHY WAS FEUDAL AND THAT THEY COULD MANAGE THE AFFAIRS OF THEIR CITIES. CONTI (3) KINGS AND PRINCES WHO HAD LONG DISPUTED THE POWERS OF THE CHURCH ON MATTERS OF PROPERTY, TAXES, LEGAL JURISDICTION AND POLITICAL INFLUENCE. THESE RULERS WANTED TO BE MASTERS OF THEIR OWN LAND AND BE FREE FROM ANY INTERFERENCE FROM THE CHURCH. MARTIN LUTHER REFORMATION MOVEMENT WAS STARTED BY MARTIN LUTHER, A PRIEST AND PROFESSOR FROM WITTENBERG UNIVERSITY, GERMANY. HE ASKED CHRISTIANS TO FOLLOW THE TEACHINGS OF CHRIST AS FOUND IN THE BIBLE AND NOT FOLLOW BLINDLY THE INSTRUCTIONS OF THE CHURCH. HE BELIEVED THAT EVERY MAN SHOULD DECIDE FOR HIMSELF WHAT WAS RIGHT AND WHAT WAS WRONG. THAT THE POPE HAD NO RIGHT TO BE HEAD OF THE CHURCH. HE ASKED HIS FOLLOWERS TO CHALLENGE THE EXCESSES OF THE CHURCH ESP. ON INDULGENCES. CONTI LUTHER POSTED 95 THESES (ABUSES) AT THE CHURCH AT WITTENBERG. LUTHER WAS BRANDED AN HERETIC AND EXCOMMUNICATED IN 1521. THE HOLY ROMAN EMPEROR, CHARLES V (1519 1556) WAS AFRAID THAT IF LUTHER UPSET THE ROMAN CHURCH, HE WOULD ALSO UPSET THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE. BUT LUTHER WON THE SUPPORT OF THE PEOPLE IN GERMANY. BY THE TIME OF HIS DEATH IN 1546, MANY STATES IN GERMANY HAD TURNED PROTESTANT. CONTI HIS IDEAS SPREAD ALL OVER EUROPE. (SWITZERLAND,DENMARK, NORMAY, SWEDEN). HIS BREAK AWAY GROUP CAME TO BE KNOWN AS THE LUTHERANS. LUTHERS CHURCH WAS GOVERNED BY BISHOPS, EACH LOOKING AFTER A DIOCESE. (TERRITORIAL DIVISION OF A CHURCH) JOHN CALVIN JOHN CALVIN WAS A FRENCHMEN, A TRAINED PRIEST AND LAWYER. HE FLED TO SWITZERLAND TO PRACTICE HIS TEACHINGS. CALVIN LIKE LUTHER INSISTED THAT TRUE CHRISTIANS SHOULD FOLLOW THE BIBLE. HE URGED HIS FOLLOWERS TO WORK HARD AND EARN THEIR LIVING THROUGH HONEST WAYS. CALVIN REJECTED THE INSTITUTION OF THE BISHOPS/PRIESTS AS PRACTICED BY THE CATHOLICS, LUTHERANS OR ANGLICANS. CONTI HE INSISTED THAT THEIR CHURCH BE ADMINISTERED BY PRESBYTERS (ELDERS) THEIR CHURCH CAME TO BE KNOWN AS THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. HIS IDEAS SPREAD TO HUNGARY, POLAND AND BOHEMIA AND SCOTLAND. REFORMATION IN ENGLAND IN ENGLAND, THE KING TOOK ADVANTAGE OF THE REFORMATION MOVEMENT TO FREE HIS COUNTRY FROM CONTROL OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. KING HENRY VIII (1509-1547) WANTED TO DIVORCE HIS WIFE CATHERINE (AS HE HAD NO MALE HEIR). WHEN THE POPE REFUSED HIM PERMISSION HE CALLED THE PARLIAMENT TO PASS THE ACT OF SUPREMACY WHICH DECLARED HIM AS HEAD OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. CONTI ALL HIS SUBJECTS WERE ASKED TO ACKNOWLEDGE THE KING AS HEAD OF THE CHURCH AND NOT THE POPE. HENRY CLOSED ALL THE MONASTERIES IN ENGLAND AND SEIZED ALL LAND BELONGING TO THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. HIS CHURCH CAME TO BE KNOWN AS THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND OR ANGLICAN CHURCH. CONTI BY 1560, THE PROTESTANT MOVEMENT HAD BEEN AFFIRMED. THE UNITY OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH (LATIN CHRISTENDOM) HAD BEEN BROKEN. ALTHOUGH THE PROTESTANTS DIFFERED IN MANY WAYS BUT THEY ALSO HAD MANY THINGS IN COMMON. ALL REJECTED PAPAL AUTHORITY. THE REFORMATION MOVEMENT HAD A PROFOUND EFFECT ON THE EUROPEAN SOCIETY. CONTI RELIGIOUSLY EUROPE WAS DIVIDED INTO 2 BLOCS - CATHOLICS AND PROTESTANTS. RELIGION ALSO DETERMINED POLITICAL BOUNDARIES. ITALY, FRANCE, SPAIN AND PORTUGAL REMAINED STAUNCHLY CATHOLIC STATES. CONTI ALL PROTESTANT CLERGY COULD MARRY. PROTESTANT CHURCHES REPLACED LATIN WITH THE VERNACULAR LANGUAGES. ALL PROTESTANTS GAVE UP THEIR OBLIGATORY CONFESSIONS. ALL DECLARED THE ONE TRUE SOURCE OF THE CHRISTIAN BELIEF WAS THE BIBLE.
(Early Modern History - Society and Culture) Melinda S. Zook (Auth.) - Protestantism, Politics, and Women in Britain, 1660-1714-Palgrave Macmillan UK (2013) PDF