1003
Europe 3HIST in 1500: A Hierarchical Society
I.
8/25/11
Two people who Made a difference: Katharina von Bora and Charles V
a.
The world of Katharina Von Bora (Katarina Luther) (Religious side)
a.i.
a.ii.
Her life- born c. 1499 grew up as a nun in Germany and married Martin Luther in 1525.
Made a type of revolution in the church. Believed in her own catholic faith before Luther
came along, lived in a world in which parents pushed them into an institution called
convents or monasteries and these were the only ways to get an education unless you hire
a private tutor. She is part of a noble family (you can tell by her name) she was part of the
Saxony family in southern Germany, put & lives in a convent at age of 5 until 1523. She
tells us about the hierarchy of the world, about people coming in with some money and
some standing (she came with the backing of the noble family and maternal aunt). She
Broke her ties with the roman catholic church by breaking her vows to the convent to
marry Martin Luther.
Her church
A hierarchical church
A world church
Late medieval piety
* A lived Religion (for Katarina Von Bora)
Importance of practice
Importance of 7 sacraments (baptism, confirmations, confession,
communion, marriage, anointing of the sick, holy orders)
b.
Importance of Hierarchy
Importance of works and efficacy of prayer
Masses for the dead, purgatory, indulgences
Monastic life
Pilgrimages and relics
Charles V (Political side) Born in 1500, heir to 3 kingdoms. Becomes holy roman emperor in
1519, Condemns Luther as a heretic in 1521. Retires and splits his empire in 1554, in the wake of the
Reformation. He is the Father of Philip II of Spain who marries Mary the 1st. He was then elected
leader of the Holy Roman Empire, think of his empire as a bunch of little kings who dont
necessarily have to listen to the emperor throughout the land of the empire but Charles V is the
overseer of them all the Holy Roman Empire has a relatively weak center but very large
b.i.
b.ii.
b.iii.
His inheritance- born into numerous royal families, inherited the lands of the house of
Hapsburg, and the Spanish thrown with all of its holdings.
What is the HRE?
What did it mean to be a king?
Importance of the hunt displays your kingship by being the biggest and best hunter and kills the stag (?) and when they
do this theyre seeking a symbolic representation of their importance. Friends he wanted to impress would go with him on
this hunt and then after have a huge banquet with them to reinforce the symbolic of the hunt.
King or emperor must be nice/court to nobles in order for them to listen to him and to have things done
Marriage politics
The Importance of Precedents- who got to sit where in the kingdom, the most important people were closest to him at the
table (people that got salt which was very expensive were very important and near the king). Kings had to take this very
seriously, the order in which people were placed in society (ex: getting to be a noble you get to carry a sword which is a
very big deal that the vassal of the arms would be the lord with him (?)).
b.iii..a.
Dynastic and diplomatic alliances creates (or broken!)
by marriages; ex: Mary I of England marries Philip II, king of
Spain
b.iii..b.
Not getting married (ex Elizabeth I) or not having a
male heir poses a problem (some, like Henry VIII, go to extremes
to solve this)
b.iii..c.
In most royal families, the eldest male inherits, but
sometimes women inherit thrones, or at least carry them on or can
carry it over to their male cousins or husbands
b.iii..d.
Intermarriage of royal families makes for tangled web
of houses (Ex: family of Charles V)
II.
Origins of the Reformation
a.
A corrupt Church?
a.i.
a.ii.
a.iii.
The churchs wealth people taking money from church for own gain
The churchs obligations church involved in too worldly of things not just religious
things
The churchs offenses
The renaissance popes
a.iii..a.
a.iii..b.
a.iii..b.i.
Alexander VI (1492-1503)
Leo X (1513-1521)
Leo X Indulgences
-
a.iv.
Leo Desire xs to rebuild St. Peters as a
massive (and hugely expensive) Renaissance
palace; sends out salesmen (including Johan
Tetzel) to raise funds
The Churchs internal conflicts and critics
b.
Definition: an indulgence was the
forgiveness of sins that could be granted to
those who were living or those who were
already dead and could shorten ones time in
purgatory
The Franciscans
Savonarola Italian priest who is fed up with the corruptions of the church
and begins to denounce the church in town square and was eventually burned
at the stake
The church and the Non-Christian World
b.i.
b.ii.
Crusades, and relations with the Ottoman infidel church is typically responsible to
defend the borders from the ottoman
Relations with Jews
c.
The importance of court Jews
Origins of the Ghetto
Expulsion of Muslims from Spain after the Reconquista- pushed out by
Ferdinand and Isabella in 1492 (?)
The Church in the New world- humane and inhumane treatment of indigenous
Americans
The churchs Internal Critics before 1517
c.i.
c.ii.
Heresy: an opinion chosen by human perception, founded on the Scripture, contrary to
the teaching of the Church publicly avowed and obstinately defended.
c.iii.
Heretics were pursued by inquisitors, who made them confess, show, regret and reveal
the name of other heretics
c.iv.
d.
Heretics were Christian who adhered to forms of beliefes that the church refused to
accept
Persecution of heretics had been going on since Christianity was established as a state
Humanism and its Dangers
A hierarchical society
Political framework: King nobles everyone else
At most 5% of population were kings and nobles
A Hierarchical society II:
The Church: Pope and Cardinals Archbishops, bishops priests, nuns and monks (very poor)
There is a little bit more mobility than the political one; on the whole the money/title you come in with is pretty
much where you will stay, like the political one this is pretty much a static system (wont change too much)
The Church before the Reformation: A Worldly Church
Social and economic structures which replicate the hierarchical society at large
Enormous amounts of land owned
Church officials governed by canon law, the law of the church, generally not by the law of the land
Privileges of the church:
o
o
o
o
o
o
Clergy pay no taxes on their land or income (church was no expected to pay taxes themselves)
Right to collect the tithe
Clerical monopoly on conducting services, reading the Bible (theyre the only ones able to interoperate the
bible, and censored publications to try to keep heresy out of Europe)
Right to censor publications
Right to discipline its own members (under ecclesiastical law) (church dealt with them on their own)
Right to punish heretics
Late Medieval Piety
Rituals
Saints -used as a means to placate gods wrath
Imagery - vibrant sculptures used to try to remind people of the glory the god and magnifying it
Magic demons, alchemists terrified by everything they dont understand (like crop failures or random
hailstorms) and interoperates it as works of the devil or black magic, used as ways to explain the things they
dont understand
Fear of Gods judgment, damnation for minor offenses (ridiculed by Erasmus, in In Praise of Folly)
Or, confidence that all can be forgiven
Getting along with the Church
Variable, but conflict is frequent, especially in northern and central Europe
-
Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536) a reading humanist, produced a new testament based on the translation from
the greek, was catholic never fully embraced the reform faith
-
Dutch humanist, objects to Church rituals, condemnations
Conflict after 13th century over Papal Supremacy (in secular as well as religious affairs)
Popes much wealthier and more powerful than most secular rulers
Church has right of excommunication over secular leads
Humanist Critics: Erasmus
1516 New Greek Version of the New testament, and new Latin translation which is critical of St. Jeromes
Vulgate (version used by the Church sine the 4th century)