AP World History: The Counter Reformation

1. AP World History: The Counter Reformation Period 4

2. Religions in Europe 1600 CE

3. I How did the Catholic Church Respond to the Protestant Reformation? A) Recall that in 1517 Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses on the door of Tetzel’s Church. This led to a division in Christianity between the Catholic Church and Protestants. B) The Catholic Church believed that Protestants were heretics, and that they needed to be brought back into the Catholic Church. C) Pope Paul III formed the Council of Trent (1545 – 1563), to decide how to reform the Catholic Church and to encourage Protestants to come back. Results of the Council of Trent: 1. Catholic traditions and rituals are of equal importance to the Bible. 2. The only correct interpretation of the Bible is that of the Catholic Church. 3. Clergy must be celibate.

4. Excerpt from the Council of TrentThe Twenty-Fifth Session “…the images of Christ, of the Virgin Mother of God, and of the other saints, are to be had and retained particularly in temples, and that due honour and veneration are to be given them; not that any divinity, or virtue, is believed to be in them, on account of which they are to be worshipped; or that anything is to be asked of them; or, that trust is to be reposed in images, as was of old done by the Gentiles who placed their hope in idols; but because the honour which is shown them is referred to the prototypes which those images represent; in such wise that by the images which we kiss, and before which we uncover the head, and prostrate ourselves, we adore Christ; and we venerate the saints, whose similitude they bear: as, by the decrees of Councils, and especially of the second Synod of Nicaea, has been defined against the opponents of images.”

5. How did the Catholic Church Respond to the Protestant Reformation? Continued… D) The inquisition’s power was increased, to find and reconvert heretics. E) The Church created the Index of Forbidden Books, a list of works considered blasphemous (writings that goes against the Church) or immoral. Recall that during the Inquisition, inquisitors (investigators) would question people suspected of heresy. If they did not confess and convert to Catholicism, they would then be tortured. What would it mean if our government created its own Index of Forbidden Books?

6. How did the Catholic Church Respond to the Protestant Reformation? Continued… F) 1540 the Pope officially recognized a new religious order, the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). It was founded by Ignatius of Loyola, a wounded crusader knight. The Jesuits mission was to spread Catholicism worldwide. Many Jesuits even traveled to the Americas to convert Native Americans.

7. II The 30 Years War 1618- 1648 A) The Thirty Years War is one of the great conflicts of early modern European history. It consisted of a series of declared and undeclared wars (1618-1648) throughout central Europe. B) During the Thirty Years War the opponents were, on the one hand, the Hapsburgs: the Holy Roman Emperors Ferdinand II and Ferdinand III together with their Spanish cousin Philip IV. The Habsburgs were opposed by the Danish, Dutch, France and Sweden. C) In addition to its international dimensions, the Thirty Years War was a German civil war. The principalities which made up Germany took up arms for or against the Habsburgs. D) The Thirty Years War was also, at least in part, a religious war among Catholics, Lutherans and Calvinists. Ferdinand II and, to a lesser degree, his primary ally Maximillian I represented the re-Catholicizing zeal of the Jesuit Counter-reformation, while Frederick V of the Palatinate represented the equally militant forces of Calvinism. E) The war ended with the Treaty of Westphalia Oct 24, 1648: The treaty gave the Swiss independence of Austria, and the Netherlands independence of Spain. The German principalities secured their autonomy. Sweden gained territory and a payment in cash, Brandenburg and Bavaria made gains too, and France acquired most of Alsace-Lorraine. The prospect of a Roman Catholic reconquest of Europe vanished forever. Protestantism was in the world to stay. *The Treaty of Westphalia emphasized the right of a nation to maintain its sovereignty (the right to rule itself) F) As the war was largely fought on German soil, much of German land was reduced to desolation. G) Due to the fighting and discrimination, many Protestants fled Europe for America… including the Pilgrims and Puritans! www.historytoday.com

8. The 30 Years War (1618 – 1648)

9. The Hapsburgs: Hot or Not? Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor Philip IV of Spain

10. III Witch Hunts • The Catholic Church’s belief in witches predates the Reformation. However, as a result of the Reformation, the fear and suspicion of witches greatly increased. • According to the Malleus Maleficarum “Hammer of the Witches” (1485), witches were believed to worship the Devil and make pacts with him, employed demons to accomplish magical deeds, and desecrated the crucifix and the consecrated bread and wine of the Eucharist (Holy Communion). It was also believed that they rode through the air at night to “sabbats” (secret meetings), where they engaged in orgies; that they changed shapes (from human to animal or from one human form to another); and that they kidnapped and murdered children for horrible rituals. -www.britannica.com “…certain witches, against the instinct of human nature, and indeed against the nature of all beasts, with the possible exception of wolves, are in the habit of devouring and eating infant children. And concerning this, the Inquisitor of Como, who has been mentioned before, has told us the following: that he was summoned by the inhabitants of the County of Barby to hold an inquisition, because a certain man had missed his child from its cradle, and finding a congress of women in the night-time, swore that he saw them kill his child and drink its blood and devour it.” – Malleus Maleficarum Question XI

11. Consequences of the Counter- Reformation Continued… “Women are by nature instruments of Satan -- they are by nature carnal, a structural defect rooted in the original creation." –Malleus Maleficarum “The Hammer of the Witches” 1485

13. Focus Questions • How did the Catholic Church try to stop the spread of Protestantism? Were any of their methods successful? • What were the causes and consequences of the 30 Years War? • Why did witch hunts increase with the Reformation? Do we have witch hunts today? • Were the effects of the Counter Reformation more positive or negative?