The Protestant Reformation marked a time of great religious,
social and political upheaval. For the first time in history
the Christian church was permanently shattered. The
Reformation originated from a trend in returning to the
biblical days of Christianity and a renewal of morality.
Unfortunately the Catholic religious leaders didn't share in
the renewal of morality. The Renaissance popes were
partially responsible for the decline of the church;however,
it was the Church's past history and changing social,
political and economic factors that lead to the
Reformation's sucess.
Commercialization of the Holy See was common for most
popes, but ,according to Barbra Tuchman, three of these men
took particular advantage of the practice. Innocent VII is
the earliest acknowledged pope during the Renaissance to
have taken liberties with the church's finances. Although he
engaged in the practices of simony and the selling of
indulgences, his most noted mistake was raising donations
for a Crusade that never took place. In 1486 Innocent
announced a crusade, as well as at the same time declaring a
tithe on all churches, benefices and ecclesiastical persons
of all ranks. Military plans were drawn up but, in the end,
no great army ever assembled or departed from Europe's
shores. Instead, in a twist of irony, the Vatican wound up
hosting an infidel in the form of Prince Djem, the sultan's
brother. This arrangement confused the general public and
the papal status fell in the eyes of the public. Papal
status was further weakened by Innocent's successor
Alexander VI. Alexander thrived on simony. He acquired the
office of pope by buying out his chief rivals and openly
boasted about this feat. Alexander went on to sell a total
of 43 cardinalships, including to his own family. After the
murder of his eldest son, Alexander was inspired in a
proposed Bull to try to reform the church by reducing the
incomes of the cardinals as well as mend other wicked ways;
however, provisions caused Alexander to return to normal and
he never issued the Bull. Perhaps if the Church had reformed
during Alexander's reign, Leo X would never have taken
office. Leo is most noted for writing to his brother "God
has given us the papacy-let us enjoy it". Leo took this
credo to heart and was considered the most extravagant pope
and one of the great spenders of his time. He is most known
for commissioning the rebuilding of St. Peter's, as well as
several well known works of art, and for his continuous
festivities during his reign. In order to fund his
expenditures his chancery created 2000 salable offices,
grossing an estimated total of 3 million ducats.
Unfortunately this sum still proved insufficient for Leo's
largesse. He poured countless amounts of money into idle
wars and lavish displays. At his death he left the Papacy
over 800,000 ducats worth of debts. His enormous
expenditures left the Church in the lowest possible state of
repute with the public and gave Martin Luther the right
atmosphere to revolt.
The church's reputation continued to decline because of
the corruption of church institutions. Plural holding of
offices lead to absenteeism and the practice of ad
commendam. The first Renaissance pope, Sixtus IV, took
great advantage of appointing whomever he wanted in the
College of Cardinals in the interest of political favor. He
often chose the younger sons of great families, giving no
thought to whether or not they were qualified to hold the
position. He gave the archiepiscopal see of Lisbon to an
eight year old child and the see of Milan to an eleven year
old boy, both sons of princes. During his 13 years of rule
he "so thoroughly secularized the College that his
successors followed his example as if it were the rule"(74).
The College of Cardinals became a bastion for power hungry
individuals. Most cardinals were of high class families who
bought the rank. Conditions in the College declined during
Innocent VIII's rule. As secularization advanced
appointments were given more frequently to laymen, sons and
brothers of princes or designated agents of secular kings
and monarchs of which none had any sort of ecclesiastical
training. Perhaps the greatest example of buying ones way up
the ladder is Giovanni de Medici, made abbot at age eight
and later to become the fifth Renaissance pope, Leo X.
Absenteeism occurred as cardinals collected many different
bishoprics, abbeys and other benefices as a way to augment
their incomes. In the words of Lorenzo de Medici the College
of Cardinals was a "sink of all iniquity" full of men with
high incomes and low morals.
As corrupt morally as the cardinals were, the popes
proved themselves to be their equals in corruption. The
highest church officials waved away their vows of chastity
and every pope used the office to enrich his family. The
pope to set the stage for nepotism was Sixtus IV. During his
time in office he bestowed the red hat of a cardinal on five
nephews and a grandnephew, made another a Bishop and used
his influences to marry of four of his nephews and two of
his nieces into the ruling families of Italy. Sixtus'
favorite nephew, Pietro Riario, led a movement of
uninhibited licentiousness and extravagance in the College
of Cardinals. This situation was not new : however, whereas
other popes made an effort to retard the moral decline,
Sixtus did nothing. Eight years later one of the most
morally corrupt cardinals in the College became pope
Alexander VI. Alexander "proved as close to the prince of
darkness as human beings are likely to come" (Tuchman,88).
Alexander literally seemed to thrive on sin. Perhaps his
best known and most depraved incident was his participation
in the Ballet of Chestnuts. There, guests danced and crawled
around on the floor of the Vatican naked, then afterwards
were rewarded for coupling most often with courtesans while
Alexander, Cesare and Lucretia Borgia looked on. The Ballet
is but a small part of Alexander's depravity. He loved
committing adultery, and preferred his mistresses marry. He
fathered three children as a cardinal and four others while
he was pope, the most famous of these being Cesare Borgia
and Lucretia Borgia. Alexander used his power in order to
ensure the best marriages for his children and a triumphant
career as a leader for Cesare. The last Renaissance pope
to use his office to advance family fortune was Leo X.
Having no children of his own, Leo focused his efforts on
his first cousin Giulio, bastard son of Giuliano de Medici.
First he legitimized Giulio's birth through an affadavit.
The boy went on to become a Cardinal and ,later on, the last
Renaissance pope, Clement VII. Overall, Leo distributed five
cardinalships among his cousins and nephews. Problems broke
out when Leo decided to obtain the duchy of Urbino for his
nephew Lorenzo. He poured thousands of ducats into an empty
war on Urbino, leaving the Papacy in financial wreck. The
Papacy was too entrenched in its own lack of morality to
provide any sort of spiritual guide for the commoners.
The biggest crime of the Renaissance papacy, according
to Tuchman, was politicization of the Holy See. As a major
landowner in Europe the Church also functioned as a
political power. The popes' greatest mistake was to
entangle themselves in numerous political alliances instead
of tending towards the spiritual concerns of their
followers. The first pope to introduce this "period of
unabashed, unconcealed, relentless pursuit of personal gain
and power politics"(Tuchman,73)was Sixtus IV. He is most
famous for his involvement in the Pazzi conspiracy. In
anger towards the violence of the Medici's punishment of the
Pazzi, he excommunicated Lorenzo de Medici and all of
Florence. This use of spiritual power for secular purposes
blackened Sixtus reputation because of the harm done to the
Florentines and their economy, and because his reaction
raised suspicions about the pope's personal involvement in
the conspiracy. Sixtus reign was so "rancorous" that after
his death Rome exploded into three weeks of riot and
plunder. His successor Innocent VIII did no better in the
political arena than Sixtus did. Innocent was plagued by
the King of Naples constantly harassing the papacy. When
the King's army marched on Rome, Innocent sought help,
arousing France's interest. The King of Naples was
temporarily frightened into a peace agreement, but later on
he scorned the Pope and incited many Papal states into
rebellion. Innocent drew up a Bull to excommunicate the King
but never issued it. The conflict was finally resolved with
a marriage between Innocent's niece and the King's grandson.
This conflict diminished the Papacy's status. Pamphlets
were drawn up calling for an overthrow of the pope and
foreign powers became lax in upholding duties towards the
church. When Innocent's successor Alexander VI took over
the papacy, Italy, constantly warring among its states, was
an attractive place for France and Spain to exert their
power. Upon appointment, Alexander took care of the
papacy's political fences by judiciously marrying two of his
children to politically powerful families and expanding the
college of cardinals to include appointees from all the
powers; however, France still created trouble for the
papacy. The French king, Charle's VII, wanted to act upon
the French claim to Naples. He called a committee to draw
up a plan to make his march through Italy look like a
crusade for reform of the Church with intent to depose
Alexander. The French were triumphant in conquering Florence
and they paraded into Rome. Negotiations insued and
Alexander granted the French passage through papal territory
to Naples. No mention of reform was ever made during
discussions. Alexander's reign was one of extravagance and
immorality, not religion. Alexander's successor, Julius II
was no better at maintaining the religious and moral
standards of the papacy. Julius was known through out his
reign as the "Warrior Pope". His all consuming passion was
the restoration of the "political and territorial integrity"
of the Papal States and embellishment of his See. Julius
began with a campaign to regain the cities of Romagna, in
which he was, through much manipulation, successful. He
continued in his goals by fighting to recover Bologna and
Perugia. Here the pope stunned Europe and scandalized the
Christian community by personally leading his army during
battle. Julius' years as pope were continuously focused on
battle and bloodshed, not the moral safety and guidance of
his flock, and the people were becoming increasingly
dissatisfied as each pope came and went. Under Leo X the
Protestant Break occurred, permanently shattering united
Christianity under the Roman See. Leo was the exact
opposite of his predecessor, Julius. Leo enjoyed peace and
harmony. He hardly noticed Luther's revolt in Germany. His
only response was to issue a Bull in 1518 excommunicating
all who didn't believe and preach the Pope had the right to
sell indulgences. This proclamation was hardly effective,
but the Pope was too busy with his opulent lifestyle to
care. At Leo's death the papacy and the church were left at
the "lowest possible repute because of the Lutheran sect"
according to historian Francesco Vettori. The next pope,
Clement VII, experienced many hardships during his reign.
The German states converted to Lutheranism one by one.
Clement alienated England from the Church by refusing to
grant Henry VIII a divorce from Charles V's aunt. Final
humiliation came on May 6,1527 with the sack of Rome by
Spanish-German forces. Christians terrorized fellow
Christians in a riot of fire, pillage, plunder, murder and
rape. The sack was the visual representation of how far the
image of Rome had sunk and been demeaned by its rulers. It
was viewed as divine punishment for the worldly sins of
those in the church hierarchy. Within approximately 64
years the papacy had disgraced the reputation of the
Catholic Church.
The Catholic Church was in decline before the
Renaissance popes even took power. During the fourteenth
century the popes lived in Avignon, France because of
pressure from Phillip the Fair. This period of time is
referred to as the Babylonian Captivity. The Babylonian
Captivity badly damaged the prestige of the papacy. The
seven popes who lived at Avignon focused mainly on
bureaucratic not spiritual matters. Italy suffered from the
lack of stability the papacy had provided and Rome's economy
became poor from lack of tourists. Many people pleaded for
the papacy to return to Rome. Pope Gregory XI brought the
papacy back to Rome but didn't live to reign. The cardinals
elected Urban VI. Urban had excellent intentions for reform;
however, he went about his goals in a thoroughly distasteful
manner. The cardinals declared Urban excommunicated and
elected Clement VII, who set up his administration in
Avignon. The Great Schism had begun. The powers of Europe
aligned themselves either with Urban or with Clement,
depending solely on political lines. Those countries who
supported France aligned with Clement. The impact of the
Northern Renaissance, especially Christian humanism, aided
the Protestant reformation.. France's enemies sided with
Urban. The Great Schism confused the common people and
weakened the religious faith of many. The Schism was the
great scandal that "rent the seamless garment of Christ" as
the Church was called. This scandal produced cries for
reform. The two colleges of cardinals summoned a council at
Pisa to depose both popes and elect another. The council
ended in disaster because neither pope would resign, causing
a three-way split. Another council met and succeeded in
deposing the Roman pope and the pope at Pisa, limiting the
Avignon pope's influence and electing a new pope, Martin V.
Martin dissolved the council, ending the councilor movement.
Nothing was done about reform as it ought to have been.
Many of the parish priests were uneducated and barely
literate. Christian humanists in the north scoffed at how
ignorant these men were. Further up the church hierarchy
pluralism and, as a result, absenteeism were becoming
permanent problems. Many clerics held many benefices but
rarely visited them. Instead the clerics would pay a parish
priest to fulfill the spiritual duties of a particular
church. Many of the clerics held secular offices as well as
religious benefices and were paid by the church for working
for the state, thus downgrading the importance of tending
the Christian flock. The Catholic Church was in so much
decline that the Renaissance popes were just part of the
downfall.
Protestant reformers all used ideas and arguments based
on the writings of well known Christian humanists. The
humanist whose writings formed the basis for most reformers
was Erasmus of Rotterdam. Although quite the Anabaptists
were quite radical at times, their views followed some of
what Erasmus taught. Erasmus was a confirmed pacifist. In
his essay Julius II Excluded from Heaven, Erasmus condemned
the warrior pope for his behavior by asking "what kind of
monster wears the garment of a priest over the bristle and
clink of bloody armor". Both Erasmus and the Anabaptists
believed that to be truly holy one must be a pacifist. The
The majority of the Anabaptists were non-violent and made no
attempt at revising the social or political order of the
world around them. Other Protestant reformers favored peace
but could not attain it. Ulrich Zwingli, the Swiss
reformer, originally adopted a pacifist attitude towards the
world. Unfortunately he had to abandon this view in order
to combat the efforts of the Swiss Confederation to resist
the spread of Zwinglism. Zwingli later died on the
battlefield, fighting to defend his views. The life of
Zwingli very much resembled Erasmus' and Zwingli's beliefs
were based heavily on Erasmus' writings. Like Erasmus,
Zwingli was a Christian humanist schooled in Latin, Greek
and Hebrew. Zwingli's interests centered particularly around
the Bible. Erasmus' Greek edition of the New Testament
allowed Zwingli to arrive at the conclusion that much of
what the Catholic church preached had no scriptural basis
and therefore shouldn't be followed. Zwingli was also to
follow Erasmus' example in "The Shipwreck" and preach
against superstition and veneration of saints. Most of
these sermons were aimed at the abuses, not the institution
from which the abuses came. Another great sermonizer was the
most well known Protestant reformer, Martin Luther. Luther
strongly supported "The Shipwreck"'s argument against the
veneration of saints. In Luther's religion all saints days
were abolished and not even the Virgin Mary was venerated as
a saint. Yet another of Erasmus' ideas Luther adopted was
Erasmus' "Philosophy of Christ". Erasmus believed "all can
be Christian, all can be devout and..all can be
theologians." Luther used this philosophy to found one of
the major doctrines of Lutheranism: the church consists of
the entire community of Christian believers. Luther
believed that every man could act as his own preacher. In
order to accomplish this everyone must become literate
enough to read the Bible. Luther also abolished the church
hierarchy. Later on he would add four types of clergy, but
all jobs remained equal in merit. Luther believed that one
didn't have to be a member of the clergy to attain
salvation. G-d was a merciful G-d and salvation was granted
through G-d's action, not good works. Erasmus's beliefs
supported and aided many of the Protestant sects beginnings.
As far back as the fourteenth century church doctrine
was being challenged. One of the earliest reformers was
John Wycliff during the early fourteenth century. Wycliff
identified the Catholic church as "the anti-Christ".
Wycliff and his followers, the Lollards, met an untimely
death for their heresy. John Hus, fifteenth century
Bohemian reformer, was also killed for his preachings
against the church. Both of these men appeared in the wrong
place and at the wrong time to be able to be much of an
influence on the Church. It wasn't until the sixteenth
century, when German reformer Martin Luther appeared, that
any motions towards a reformation occurred. Martin Luther,
much like Hus, was a man of peasant background and great
courage. Luther's conflict with the Catholic church began
with his attack on indulgences. He invited discussion about
indulgences by posting his famous Ninety five Thesis on the
door of Wittenburg Castle. In this document Luther stated
"The pope has no power to remit any guilt except by
declaring it...remitted by G-d" (Thesis 6) In this statement
Luther stated what was to be one of the two pillars of the
Protestant movement: People are saved by the decision of G-d
alone. The other pillar was the idea of solo fide: by faith
alone does G-d send man his grace. Luther rejected the
Catholic notion that salvation relied upon good works, such
as fasting and pilgrimages. Luther argued that such things
"can be done an impious person and only hypocrites are
produced by devotion to these things." Faith was the only
way man could achieve salvation in Luther's view. Luther
also emphasized that, being the word of G-d, Scriptures were
the final authority on religion. In Luther's hymn, "A Mighty
Fortress is Our G-d", he wrote "God's Word forever shall
abide/ No thanks to foes, who fear it". Whereas in
Catholicism the Latin Vulgate is the final authority in
Scripture, Luther argued that every man could interpret
Scripture for himself. To aid in this task Luther had the
Bible translated into German. He rejected the church
hierarchy, as well, in favor of a "priesthood of believers".
To Luther, all work was sacred. One didn't have to become a
monk or priest to serve G-d in his occupation. Luther also
reduced the number of sacraments from seven to two. The only
two sacraments Luther retained were baptism and the
Eucharist; however, Luther favored the idea of
consubstantiation instead of transubstantation during the
Eucharist. Luther's follower, John Calvin, was the second
generation of church reformers. Like Luther, Calvin also
believed in salvation by faith alone; however, Calvin placed
more emphasis on God's omnipotence and man's insignificance.
Calvin also became most well known for his idea of
predestination. Calvin believed that some people, called
the elect, were destined to be saved, where as all others,
the reprobate, were to be damned. Calvin did, however,
identify three indications that one was to be saved: an open
profession of faith, a decent and godly life and
participation in the two sacraments of baptism and
communion. Calvin differed from Luther in believing the
Eucharist to be symbolic of Christ's body and blood. Luther
believed that Christ is present after consecration of the
bread and wine. The difference seems insignificant to the
outsider, but did present a difference between Calvinists
and Lutherans. Several different reformers' doctrinal
challenges to the Catholic Church caused the Protestant
Reformation to succeed and the split between Protestants and
Catholics to be permanent.
Europe's economic, social and political climate
contributed the most to Luther's success. Luther was an
eloquent, charismatic man who appealed to the many classes.
Secular officials resented the privileges the church
claimed. Monks and nuns paid no taxes and were exempt from
civil duties. The monasteries where they lived often
occupied large amounts of land. Protestantism gave civil
officials the right to claim the Church's land and place
clergy under civil law. Intelligent and educated people
were dissatisfied with the quality and irregularity of
church sermons. As a result, many prosperous burghers paid
learned men to deliver about a hundred sermons a year, each
lasting forty-five minutes. Luther's ideas attracted many
of these endowed preachers and in certain cities these
preachers became Protestant leaders. Christian humanists
were attracted to Luther's simpler service and his emphasis
on a return to the early church. Peasants were attracted
by Luther's statement " A Christian man is the most free
lord of all and subject to none". Luther was of peasant
stock and he sympathized with the peasants' plight; however,
Luther abandoned his support of the peasantry after they
used his statement as an invitation to incite a rebellion.
Luther meant that a Christian man only had freedom to obey
the Word of God, instead of the Catholic church. Luther
supported the secular rulers and later in his theology
subordinated the church to the state. Luther's theology
appealed especially to women as well as the social classes.
Luther exalted the home, which he stressed was the domain of
the woman. Luther's argument that all vocations are equal
in the eyes of G-d gave dignity to those who performed
ordinary, everyday tasks. Protestants abolished the practice
of confession and declared sex a natural part of life,
freeing women from the embarrassment and guilt of sharing
their sex lives with a confessor. Luther also stressed
marriage for clergy members, giving priest's concubines and
mistresses the status of legal and honorable wives.
Luther's idea of educating girls, as well as boys, in the
catechism also proved attractive to women. Politically
Luther appealed to the German princes. Luther's
translation of the New Testament into German evoked national
pride, German nationalism and strong anti-Roman sentiment.
This inspired Frederick of Saxony to welcome Luther into
Saxony and inspired other princes, such as Phillip of Hesse,
to tolerate Protestant reformers. Luther urged princes to
seize the Church's property and bring about moral reform in
the church. The Church owned large tracts of land in Germany
and German princes realized the opportunity to gain wealth
by breaking from the church. A steady stream of duchies,
margravites, free cities and bishoprics became followers of
Luther. The Protestant princes allied with one another to
form the Schmalkaldic League in order to fight the efforts
of the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, to return the princes
to Catholicism. The French king, Francis I, supported the
Schmalkaldic League in their resistance against Charles.
Although Charles won every battle he couldn't get rid of
Protestantism in Germany.
The Church's past history and Europe's changing
political, social and economic climate contributed more to
the Reformation's success than the Renaissance popes did.
Had Luther lived in a different time and a different area
his Reformation would have been cut down like its
predecessors.
|