Online Textbook for History 1111

Learning Objectives

(Included in PowerPoint)

Upon successful completion of this lesson, students should be able to:

• Identify the causes of the Protestant Reformation on the European continent and in the British Isles.
• Detail the precursory reformers and writers who influenced the Protestant Reformation before Luther.
• Compare and contrast the religious views of Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli.
• Explain how secular politics, especially the growing tide of nationalism, influenced the Protestant Reformation.
• Describe the major changes in church policy during the Catholic Counter-Reformation, including the work of Loyola and the Jesuits.
• Provide an overview of the major events of the Thirty Years’ War and the terms of the Treaty of Westphalia.

Terms to Know

Thought Questions

1. Compare and contrast the Protestant Reformation in continental Europe with the Reformation in England and Scotland. How were the two movements decidedly different, and what were the end results?
2. Why did the Thirty Years’ War occur? What nations and states were involved, and what were the eventual outcomes for the Holy Roman Empire?
3. Describe the key points of Martin Luther's theology. How did his view of reform differ from that of Calvin?
4. Why did the Reformation begin in the German states? How did the politics of the Holy Roman Empire affect the progress of the Reformation?
5. Describe the renewal of the Catholic church during the Counter-Reformation. Why did it take a long period of time for reforms to begin during the Council of Trent? How did the Jesuits affect the progress of the Counter-Reformation?

Discussion Questions

1. Read the 95 Theses of Martin Luther, link in your syllabus. What was he asking the Church to consider changing? Please be sure to consider the roles of faith, deeds, indulgences, and simony in your answer.
2. Now, read the Jesuits' responses to the Protestant Reformation. How did they seek to reform the Catholic Church and launch a "counter-reformation"? See the link in your syllabus. What was the aim of the Jesuits? 
3. The beginning and end of the Thirty Years War is the last major event we discuss in this course. Consult the "Defenestration of Prague" document listed in your syllabus. Why was the war fought, and what did it resolve? 

A Review: What Happened to Monasticism?

(Information provided in part, with my thanks, by Father Steve Rice and Dr. Phillip Reynolds of Emory University)

You will recall from Lesson 10: The Middle Ages that monasticism played a monumental role in preserving culture and literacy after the fall of the Roman Empire, and that monasticism itself had a long and rich history from its early days in Egypt to the founding of monasteries throughout Europe. The Rule of St. Benedict provided a guide for monasticism, but many other monastic orders developed apart from the Benedictines.

In the Reformation, however, monasteries faced a time of crisis. Many had become corrupt, one of the flaws the Catholic Counter-reformation sought to repair in its revitalization of the faith. Others monasteries were dissolved or destroyed. So what happened to the solitary scholars who had played such a significant part in medieval history?

In the later Middle Ages, some religious men became mendicants, rather than monks. They took holy orders, but were not attached to a particular monastery and did not live cloistered lives. Instead, they traveled the lands, walking and talking to spread their word, many living in poverty. As a group, these men were known as friars, and they included Franciscans, Dominicans, Augustinians, and Carmelites.

Meanwhile, some monasteries opened separate facilities for nuns, who usually took on the same rules and name of the monastic order they entered (i.e. Hildegard von Bingen, as you should recall, was a Benedictine nun). Some nuns did enter the mendicant orders, but they stayed cloistered in the monastery and did not travel.

But from 1536-1540 in England came the official Dissolution of the Monasteries. Thomas Cromwell managed the business of physically destroying or confiscating all monastic houses, nunneries, and priories where monks and nuns lived. Some of the residents received pensions and went to live elsewhere; others protested and ended up jailed or worse. The buildings, if usable, and their physical contents were either sold off for profit or given to loyal friends of the king, Henry VIII. Little protest arose, except in the north of England, where a protest called the Pilgrimage of Grace took place in Yorkshire. Unfortunately, about 200 of the protesters and their supporters were hanged as a warning to others.

Fortunately, monks and nuns survived the trials of the Reformation, and today, we still have active orders throughout the world. One example is the Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Conyers, Georgia. The monks are Trappists, an offshoot of the Cistercians. Although their primary “job” is study, prayer, and meditation, they undertake a variety of physical activities to support their house, such as raising and selling exquisite bonsai trees and offering homemade food items, religious books, and other materials in their on-site store (though the bonsai can be ordered from their website!) Other monastic orders make cheese, wine, and honey; some even raise and train purebred dogs to pay for their own keeping.