Question

What were 2 of the major reasons for the Protestant Reformation? Why did you choose those 2? Do you think it was inevitable that the Protestant Reformation would also sow the seeds of a series of devastating religious wars? Why or Why not?

Answer 1

• The Protestant Reformation was a series of events that happened in the 16th century in the Christian Church. Because of corruption in the Catholic Church, some people saw a need to change the way it worked.
• The Reformation was a Christian movement of the 1500s. Its followers criticized the Catholic Church for corruption and called for radical reform. These protesters became known as Protestants.
• The major causes of the protestant reformation include that of political, economic, social, and religious background.
• 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.
• Religious causes-In the first place, on the eve of reformation the church suffered from numerous evil practices which greatly undermined the reputation of the church and the churchmen.
• The entire organization of the church right from Pope down to the priest were corrupt and vicious. They neglected their dioceses and took keen interest in politics. Some of the clergy men had amassed huge wealth and were living a luxuri­ous life.
• They often indulged in hunting expeditions and drinking parties and completely neglected their religious duties. In short the church con­sisted of 'unholy men in holy orders'. Often the churchmen used the church as a means of business.
• They had devised a number of practices for this purpose. Thus the church office were openly sold and quite often unsuitable men were appointed as priests.
• These people tried to make as much money as possible and liberally issued indulgences or pardon certifi­cates against payment. This practice of issue of indulgences invited severe criticism and was described as 'sale of licenses to commit sin'.
• The common masses were also unhappy with the Pope and church. They were not only unhappy with the prevailing corrupt practices in church and the flimsy grounds on which the church collected funds from innocent people but also disliked its interference in the secular affairs.
• No wonder they were eagerly looking for someone to provide them a lead for a revolt against the church. Even the rulers were quite unhappy with the Pope and strongly protested against Papal interference in the affairs of their states.
• Hence they were willing to provide support to any movement which was launched against the authority of the Pope.
• Economic Causes:-The emergence of a strong middle classes also greatly contributed to the reformation. The middle classes protested against the dominance of the old church because it was largely controlled by the upper classes and administered largely for their benefit.
• They looked down upon the artisans, merchants, lawyers, doctors etc. who con­stituted the middle class and were not willing to associate with them.
• Further, these middle classes greatly resented the practice of exempting the nobles from taxation, while they had to bear the brunt of taxation. In short the middle classes wanted to free the church from the control of wealthy aristocracy which looked down upon them and cared very little for their interests.
• Further, even the princes of Europe were not quite happy with the Pope who claimed considerable amount of their revenue in the form of annates and other contributions.
• The common people were also quite unhappy with the clergy which made numerous vexatious demands and hardly gave anything in return for their money.
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