This is a document containing all of the information you should try to go over if you are doing gcse history reformation. I hand wrote this and achieved a grade 9 in my final history exams
Reformation of the Church 1500s
The power of the Church:
-The annual earning of the church was estimated around £400,000 (10 times more than that
of the monarch).
-The vast majority of the population went to weekly or more regular church services.
- There were 45,000 clergy, majority were parish priests.
- The church had its own system for law courts (privileges).
Church and the Monarch
Churchmen were the most highly educated in the country, they were often government
ministers. Bishops and abbots helped to govern the country. There were strong links
between the church and the monarchy. For example some Henry VIII closest advisors were
churchmen.
Wolsey was Henry’s chief minister for 15 years as well as the Archbishop of York and
Cardinal.
Donations
The church taught that the worship of God should be beautiful. Wealthy people would give
money to rebuild and redecorate the churches, in hope that their souls wouldn’t last too long
in purgatory. People left money for the church in their wills, and they might get special
prayers. Wealthier people left money to found a CHANTRY. Also, INDULGENCES were
bought. Most ordinary people donated personal items to be remembered after their death.
People who donated things to the church would have their names read in the ‘requiem for
the dead’ ceremony.
Tithes
Parishioners had to pay 10% of their earnings (money or goods). Churchmen collected this
tax and it went to the local parish church.
The Church and the people
Majority of the English people would never see the Pope, his Archbishop, or his Cardinals so
in most communities the Church was represented by their local parish priest or monk.
The unique status of the clergy was highlighted by their vestments and their vows of
celibacy. The process of ORDINATION (becoming a priest) promotes the idea that priests
were more elevated above the ordinary villages.
, Certainty
Part of the Church’s appeal was that it provided people with certainty. It helped to comfort
them and to understand their religion more.
They were taught to: please God, confess their sins, attend church, believe in sacraments
and submit to the church’s authority to go to heaven and avoid hell. They would pray for
souls to help them in purgatory.
Festivals
The Church celebrated many festivals, associated people with belonging, celebration,
comfort and this was important to their lives.
The Lollards
In the late 1300s there had been calls for reform from a group known as the LOLLARDS led
by John Wycliffe. They wanted ordinary people to read the Bible and questioned
transubstantiation. The movement was suppressed. Henry VIII tried many for heresy who
were following Wycliffe’s teachings.
Reformers during the 1520s
They fiercely attacked Church practices. Martin Luther from Saxony and Huldrych Zwingli
from Zurich had beliefs so radically different that they were known as Protestants.
Beliefs:
- Justification by faith alone.
- Every Christian should be able to read the Bible in their own language and not be told what
to believe by the Church.
- Church services should be in the language of the people and should focus on Bible
readings.
- Praying to Virgin Mary and Saints should stop
- Priests don’t need to be celibate
- Purgatory doesn’t exist
- Religious authority in a country should be the responsibility of the leader of the country not
the Pope in Rome.
Luther also criticised Church practices like pilgrimages, selling of relics and indulgences.
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