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Example research essay topic: Roman Catholic Church 16 Th Century - 2,197 words

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... ng church and state in terms of reform created an international following and gave the Reformed churches, as Protestantism was called in Switzerland, France, and Scotland, a thoroughly Calvinistic stamp, both in theology and organization. France The Reformation in France was initiated early in the 16 th century by a group of mystics and humanists that gathered at Means near Paris under the leadership of Lefvre d'table. Like Luther, Lefvre d'table studied the Epistles of St.

Paul and derived from them a belief in justification by individual faith alone; he also denied the doctrine of transubstantiation. In 1523, he translated the entire New Testament into French. At first his writings were well received by church and state officials, but as Luther's radical doctrines began to spread into France, Lefvre d'table's work was seen to be similar, and he and his followers were persecuted. Many leading Protestants fled from France and settled in the republic of Geneva or Switzerland until strengthened in numbers and philosophy by the Calvinistic reformation in Geneva.

More than 120 pastors trained in Geneva by Calvin returned to France before 1567 to proselytize for Protestantism. In 1559, delegates from 66 Protestant churches in France met at a national synod in Paris to draw up a confession of faith and rule of discipline based on those practiced at Geneva. In this way, the first national Protestant church in France was organized; its members were known as Huguenots. Despite all efforts to suppress them, the Huguenots grew into a formidable body, and the division of France into Protestant and Roman Catholic factions led to a generation of civil wars (1652 - 98). One of the notorious incidents of this struggle was the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, in which a large number of Protestants perished.

Under the Protestant Henry IV, king of France, the Huguenots triumphed for a short time, but as Paris and more than nine-tenths of the French people remained Roman Catholic, the king deemed it expedient to become a convert to Roman Catholicism. He protected his Huguenot adherents, however, by issuing in 1598 the Edict of Nantes, which granted Protestants a measure of freedom. The edict was revoked in 1685, and Protestantism was stamped out of the country. The Netherlands Protestantism was welcomed in the Netherlands by the powerful literate bourgeoisie that had developed during the Middle Ages. Militarily more powerful in this territory than in the German states, Emperor Charles V attempted to halt the spread of Protestant doctrines by public burnings of Luther's books and by the establishment in 1522 of the Inquisition. These measures were unsuccessful, however, and by the middle of the 16 th century, Protestantism had a firm hold on the northern provinces, known as Holland; the southern provinces (now Belgium) remained predominantly Roman Catholic.

Most of the Dutch embraced Calvinism, which served as a potent bond in their nationalistic struggle against their Spanish Roman Catholic overlords. They revolted in 1568 and warfare continued until 1648, when Spain relinquished all claims to the country by the terms of the Peace of Westphalia. The former Spanish Netherlands then became an independent Protestant nation. Scotland In Scotland as in other countries, the Reformation originated among elements of the population already hostile to the Roman Catholic Church. The Roman Catholic clergy was held in general disrepute by the people, and remnants of Lollardy, or the doctrines of John Wycliffe, were still prevalent. The merchants and the minor nobility were especially active in furthering the Scottish Reformation as a vehicle for national self-determination and independence from England and France as well as for religious reform.

Consequently, Protestantism spread rapidly despite repressive measures by the pro-Roman Catholic Scottish government. The early religious reform movement, initiated by such leaders as the martyr Patrick Hamilton, was under Lutheran influence. The actual revolution, accomplished under the leadership of the religious reformer John Knox, an ardent disciple of Calvin, established Calvinism as the national religion of Scotland. In 1560, Knox persuaded the Scottish Parliament to adopt a confession of faith and book of discipline modeled on those in use at Geneva.

The Parliament subsequently created the Scottish Presbyterian Church and provided for the government of the church by local kirk (a Scottish church) sessions and by a general assembly representing the local churches of the entire country. The Roman Catholic Mary, queen of Scots, attempted to overthrow the new Protestant church, but after a 7 -year struggle, she herself was forced to leave the country. Calvinism was triumphant in Scotland except for a few districts in the north, in which Roman Catholicism remained strong, particularly among the noble families. England The English revolt from Rome differed from the revolts in Germany, Switzerland, and France in two respects. First, England was a compact nation with a strong central government; therefore, instead of splitting the country into regional factions or parties and ending in civil war, the revolt was national-the king and Parliament acted together in transferring to the king the ecclesiastical jurisdiction previously exercised by the pope.

Second, in the continental countries agitation for religious reform among the people preceded and caused the political break with the papacy; in England, on the other hand, the political break came first, as a result of a decision by King Henry VIII to divorce his first wife, and the change in religious doctrine came afterward in the reigns of King Edward VI and Queen Elizabeth I. Henry VIII wished to divorce his Roman Catholic wife, Catherine of Again, because she had not produced a male heir and he feared disruption of his dynasty. His marriage to Catherine, which normally would have been illegal under ecclesiastical law because she was the widow of his brother, had been allowed only by special dispensation from the pope. Henry claimed that the papal dispensation contravened ecclesiastical law and that the marriage was therefore invalid. The pope upheld the validity of the dispensation and refused to annul the marriage. Henry then requested the opinion of noted reformers and the faculties of the great European universities.

Eight university faculties supported his claim. Zwingli and the German-Swiss theologian Johannes Oecolampadius also considered his marriage null, but Luther and Melanchthon thought it binding. The king followed a course of expediency; he married Anne Boleyn in 1533, and two months later he had the archbishop of Canterbury pronounce his divorce from Catherine. Henry was then excommunicated by the pope, but retaliated in 1534 by having Parliament pass an act appointing the king and his successors supreme head of the Church of England, thus establishing an independent national Anglican Church. Further legislation cut off the pope's English revenues and ended his political and religious authority in England.

Between 1536 and 1539 the monasteries were suppressed and their property seized by the king. Henry had no interest in going beyond these changes, which were motivated principally by political rather than doctrinal considerations. Indeed, to prevent the spread of Lutheranism, he secured from Parliament in 1539 the severe body of edicts called the Act of Six Articles, which made it heretical to deny the main theological tenets of medieval Roman Catholicism. Obedience to the papacy remained a criminal offense. Consequently, many Lutherans were burned as heretics, and Roman Catholics who refused to recognize the ecclesiastical supremacy of the king were executed. Under King Edward VI, the Protestant doctrines and practices abhorred by Henry VIII were introduced into the Anglican Church.

The Act of Six Articles was repealed in 1547, and continental reformers, such as the German Martin Bucer, were invited to preach in England. In 1549, a complete vernacular Book of Common Prayer was issued to provide uniformity of service in the Anglican Church, and law enforced its use. A second Prayer Book was published in 1552, and a new creed in 42 articles was adopted. Mary I attempted, however, to restore Roman Catholicism as the state religion, and during her reign many Protestants were burned at the stake. Others fled to continental countries, where their religious opinions often became more radical by contact with Calvinism. A final settlement was reached under Queen Elizabeth I in 1563.

Protestantism was restored, and Roman Catholics were often persecuted. The 42 articles of the Anglican creed adopted under Edward VI were reduced to the present Thirty-nine Articles. This creed is Protestant and closer to Lutheranism than to Calvinism, but the Episcopal organization and ritual of the Anglican church is substantially the same as that of the Roman Catholic church. Large numbers of people in Elizabeth's time did not consider the Church of England sufficiently reformed and non-Roman. They were known as dissenters or nonconformists and eventually formed or became members of numerous Calvinist sects such as the Brownists, Presbyterians, Puritans, Separatists, and Quakers. Minor Sects Besides the three great churches-Lutheran, Reformed, and Anglican-formed during the Reformation, a large number of small sects also arose as a natural consequence of Protestant repudiation of traditional authority and exaltation of private judgment.

One of the most prominent of the smaller sects, the Anabaptists, found many adherents throughout Europe, particularly in Germany, where they played an important part in the Peasants' War. They were persecuted by Catholics as well as by Lutherans, Zwinglians, and other Protestants, and many of them were put to death. Another prominent denomination, the Unitarians, included a considerable number of followers in Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, and Poland. Results of the Reformation Despite the diversity of revolutionary forces in the 16 th century, the Reformation had largely consistent results throughout Western Europe.

In general, the power and wealth lost by the feudal nobility and the Roman Catholic hierarchy passed to the middle classes and to monarchical rulers. Various regions of Europe gained political, religious, and cultural independence. Even in countries such as France and the region now known as Belgium, where Roman Catholicism continued to prevail, a new individualism and nationalism in culture and politics developed. The Protestant emphasis on personal judgment furthered the development of democratic governments based on the collective choice of individual voters. The destruction of the medieval system of authority removed traditional religious restrictions on trade and banking, and opened the way for the growth of modern capitalism. During the Reformation, national languages and literature were greatly advanced by the wide dissemination of religious literature written in the languages of the people, rather than in Latin.

Popular education was also stimulated through the new schools founded by Colet in England, Calvin in Geneva, and the Protestant princes in Germany. Religion became less the province of a highly privileged clergy and more a direct expression of the beliefs of the people. Religious intolerance, however, raged unabated, and all the sects continued to persecute one another for at least a century. Bibliography 1) Funk & Wagnall's Encyclopedia. 2) Academic American Encyclopedia. 3) Collier's Encyclopedia. 4) "The Rise and Fall of Roman Catholic Supremacy in Europe" (online reference).

AP European History Period 4 The Protestant Reformation The Protestant Reformation changed the course of European history very strongly, and rapidly. This paper will talk about what exactly the reformation did to Europe, in terms of social, political, and philosophical impacts. Before the reformation occurred, the general public was made up of an overall praying people. They accepted all aspects of the church, whether or not they personally believed in the idea or not. These aspects included indulgences. What indulgences basically are is a fee to the church, in exchange for the church to clear any sins one may have committed.

People could even purchase indulgences for their diseased ancestors, saving them from any further punishment in the afterlife. With the reformation, the overall social beliefs changed dramatically. The public now doubted the validity, and truth of indulgences, and they even questioned their moral standing. The general society started thinking for themselves. They didnt believe everything they now heard, no matter who they heard it from. This had a major role in the development of European history from a social standpoint.

The second impact in European history development was political. Throughout the reformation, one religious group was in argument with another. The Christian faith was now being split up at a wayward pace. What once was all Roman Catholic, was now split up in Lutheran, Calvinist, The Church of England, and also the Roman Catholic Church. The Roman Catholic Church was now battle with Martin Luther.

Finally, the philosophical effects of the reformation also had an impact on the development of European history. In the Protestant vision, true Christianity was based on "faith, grace, and Scripture, alone. " This is obviously quite different than the Roman Catholic belief. With the effects of the reformation, ideas and philosophies became more open, and spread out. People changed their views on the world, and Christianity. One of the most fundamental element in the reformation was the spirit of rebellious, self-determining individualism. These three factors were the foundation of the reformation, which eventually shaped the outcome of European history.

Probably for the better, some still argue reformation could have had some negative effects on Europe though. But whether positive or negative, I believe Europe would not be anything like what it is now, without the taking place of the reformation. Bibliography:


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Research essay sample on Roman Catholic Church 16 Th Century

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