Data Bases • Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism? Links • Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com Free Essays • Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • Free Essays • My Term Papers • Essay World • Planet Papers	Search Lots of Essays Back to Subjects - European History How the Reformation Affected 16th Century Civilization How the Reformation Affected 16th Century Civilization When Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of his local monastery in Wittenberg, Germany on October 31, 1517, Europe was plunged in political and social turmoil. With only a few notable exceptions, a wave of political unity and centralization swept across the Western world. Papal power was perhaps not at its height, yet its corruption and increasingly secular values could be seen from St. Peter's in Rome to John Tetzel in Germany. Furthermore, in the economically prospering towns and cities, the middle class was facing an increasing volatile political situation with the growing national monarchies. All of these factors were to only catalyze the reactionary religious movement which would begin to sweep across Europe by the 1520's. The Protestant Reformation, as it would soon be called, set back years of national centralization by strengthening the aristocracy and dividing countries and regions religiously. Moreover, the strict religious and ethical guidelines of the new Protestant sects forever changed the culture of cities and town across Northern Europe; thereby bringing drastic social reform along with widespread religious fervor. In the first half of the sixteenth century, however, these Protestant movements were only beginning to form, yet their impact has had a lasting effect on the politics of Europe and the rest of the world well in the 20th century. The Reformation spurred a wave of political devolution throughout Europe in the early 1500s, the most obvious example being that of the Holy Roman Empire. Although the nobility of the Holy Roman Empire had managed to keep hold of its power throughout a time of political unification, the Reformation further exaggerated a bad situation - at least from the Holy Roman Emperor's point of view. Throughout Europe, the aristocracy increasingly resented losing their power to the royal throne. Furthermore, with so many taxes going to Rome, along with such practices as the immunity of the clergy, the nobility held similar views toward the Church. Hence the Reformation presented an intriguing opportunity to break with the church and to align against the emergent national rulers - particularly in the Holy Roman Empire with the Catholic Charles V in power. It would not be until the Diet of Augsburg and the subsequent formation of the Schmalkaldic League that the nobility of the Holy Roman Empire would formally align against the Catholic emperor. Despite Charles' anti-Protestant proclamation at the meeting, with the Peace of Augsburg in 1555, the division of the Holy Roman Empire was firmly established. These events which transpired in the first years of the reformation will firmly establish the basis for the massive religious wars which are to sweep the continent in the coming years. Furthermore, these new Protestant alliances will come to define international politics in the next century. The impact of these first years of the Reformation perhaps will not be fully realized until the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648, when the Holy Roman Emperor will lose nearly all his power as some 300 German states gain their independence. The Protestant movement will bring much more than scholarly reforms to the churches of Northern Europe, changing the traditional doctrines and customs of their prior Catholic beliefs as well. Before the Reformation, the corruption of the Church was widespread and common. Rome drifted from its original pious doctrine, venturing into more secular and worldly enterprises, as demonstrated with its undertaking with the Fugger banking family and the selling of the 1517 indulgences to finance the building of St. Peter's in Rome. Scandals such the Great Schism and Valla's exposé of the Donation of Constantine had created much mistrust, and abuses of the clergy were apparent from the practice of simony to the frequent violation of clerical celibacy. It is of little wonder then why Martin Luther held such widespread support. The principles of Lutheranism - for instance, justification by faith - were much more appealing to the laity than that of Catholicism by presenting a much more "purer" form of Christianity than its Catholic counterpart. The worshiping of saints and relics was prohibited, as was the selling of indulgences and simony. Clergy were allowed to marry and all but two of the traditional seven sacraments remained -- baptism and the Eucharist. Ulrich Zwingly and John Calvin took the break with the Church even further by denying consubstantiation and, with Calvin's views, a proposal of an "elect" who were predestined for heaven. Other sects such as the Anabaptist and the Unitarians believed such ideas as adult baptism and a denial of the holy trinity. The new Protestant theocratic states which would be established throughout the 1500s, most notably in Geneva and Zurich, did not institute a very liberal society by breaking with the old doctrines of Catholicism. The Reformation was not a leftist movement of new ideas or beliefs, rather, it was a conservative movement in its efforts to live in imitation of Christ and to establish a society emulating that of early Christianity. The somewhat radical beliefs of this far-right political and social movement served to establish especially harsh theocratic governments. This integration of biblical and canon law into the traditional laws of the land provided for new, stricter laws, even somewhat absurd in comparison to the laws of modern society. Drunkenness, gambling, and blasphemy were all severely punished; and the new laws against domestic violence earned Geneva the nickname of a "women's paradise." Max Weber, a 19th century historian, claims these strict, hardworking philosophies of puritanical Protestantism laid the foundations of the capitalist society we have today. In conclusion, the Reformation brought about a wave of political devolution counteracting the surge of political centralization sweeping through post-Medieval Europe. The new religious sects which formed in the first half of the sixteenth century continued to separate themselves from the doctrines and practices of the Catholic Church, effecting not only the spiritual lives of the laity, but the social institutions of Europe for years to come. The war these religions will create will be a major part of European history in the years to come, with the conflict between Catholics, Lutherans, Calvinist, and other protestants defining the political landscape of Western Europe well into the 17th and 18th centuries. Bibliography: Word Count: 1029
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