The German monk Martin Luther

challenged the Pope on the issue of

indulgences and other practices that

he considered corrupt or not

Christian Luther started the

Protestant Reformation

He said salvation could be by faith

alone, that Christian belief could be

based only on the Bible and on

Christian tradition.Luther at age 46,

(1529)

John Tetzel (1465- August 11, 1519) was

a German Dominican friar and

inquisitor who is perhaps

best known for selling

indulgences during the

16th century

An indulgence granted by authority of the Pope by Johann Tetzel in 1517. The text reads: "By the

authority of all the saints, and in mercy towards you, I absolve you from all sins and misdeeds and

remit all punishments for ten days."

• Don't you hear the voices of your wailing dead parents and others who say, 'Have mercy upon me, have mercy upon me, because we are in severe punishment and pain. From this you could redeem us with a small alms and yet you do not want to do so. (sermon)

• "As soon a coin in coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs."

• Even went as far as creating a chart that listed a price for each type of sin.

• Viewing relics and making donations would not shorten one’s time in purgatory - By 1509 Frederick, the Holy Roman Emperor, had over 5,000 relics, purportedly "including vials of the milk of the Virgin Mary, straw from the manger [of Jesus], and the body of one of the innocents massacred by King Herod.“

• Shown are purportedly the chains that held St. Peter in prison in Rome prior to his upside down crucifixion

A Piece of the True Cross

More True Cross examples – John Calvin around

1550 said there was enough True Cross pieces to fill

a ship!(the 1st historical

reference to finding the cross

was around 370ce)

Christians don’t have this market cornered – here is purportedly the footprint of Muhammad impressed by miracle

into stone!

The head of John the Baptist, taken from him

by King Herod

St Francis upper arm bone (humerus)

St Valentine’s skull

Skull of St. Ives in Brittany, France

Mary Magdalene’s Tibia

St. Stephen’s Hand

Santo Nino – a 1 foot high

statue given to the island of

Cebu from the explorer

Magellan – it purportedly has

powers to answer prayers

1

• Luther, bothered by Tetzel’s tactics, Luther wrote down 95 issues and nailed it on the door of the local castle’s church

• Salvation was thru faith in God’s gift of salvation• All church teachings should be clearly based on the Bible• All people with faith were equal and therefore one did not need the church

to interpret for them

Asked to recant, Luther said he was bound by the word of God found in his bible (pictured)

Already excommunicated, Luther was declared a heretic &

outlaw by the Holy Roman Emperor in 1520.

He returned home in 1522 and found followers

waiting for him. These followers were called

Lutherans

Although it was a Christian world, the old

beliefs in folklore, especially magic & spirits

mixed nicely with Christian beliefs in

miracles, saints, and devils

People looked for supernatural explanations

for natural events.

The fear of witches swept across Europe and a wide-scale effort was made to eradicate all witches. Over 3,000 people would be put to death in Germany

between 1560-1670

Notable Actions

• Edict of Worms – HRE Charles V declared Luther an outlaw & heretic

• Lutherans – formed outside Catholic Church – sermons in German & ministers allowed to marry

• Protestants – anyone non-Catholic• Peace of Augsburg – allowed each German

ruler to choose which religion would be followed in their state. Didn’t solve problem because it didn’t recognize Lutherans or Calvinism.

Henry VIII 1491-1547

Because his wife had not produced a male heir, Henry wanted the marriage annulled. Since the church had previously ruled for Henry that her previous marriage to his brother (who died 6 months later) had never been consummated, now they had to say it had and this would be grounds for Henry’s divorce

The pope was in a sticky situation because he had named Henry the “Defender of the Faith” so there was an allegiance there, but Charles V was the Holy Roman Emperor and Catherine’s newphew

• In England, Henry VIII challenged papal authority and declared himself head of the Church of England.

• All images in churches were to be dismantled; stained glass, shrines, statues were defaced or destroyed; lofts and screens were cut down, bells were taken down; vestments were prohibited and either burned or sold; church plate was to be melted down or sold and the requirement of the clergy to be celibate was lifted; processions were banned;

Hampton Court

Catherine of Aragon(Wife # 1) marriage

annulled (to set aside, or to cancel) for not producing a

male heir.Did have daughter

who would later become Queen

Mary Her parents were

Ferdinand & Isabella (of

Columbus fame). Her nephew was Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor

Anne Boleyn(Number II)Beheaded in

1536 for treason (affair plus

incest with her brother (both

lies). Her daughter

was Elizabeth I

Jane Seymour Number III

Died of fever from childbirth 1537

Her son, Edward VI died at the age of 16

after ruling for 6 years (either of tuberculosis, poisoning, or syphilis)

Anne of Cleves (Numero IV)

Their marriage was annulled the

same year (1540) becauseHenry “he had found his bride so unattractive

that he could not bear to sleep

with her”

Catherine Howard

(Number 5)cousin of Anne

BoleynBeheaded 1542

for treason (admitted to an

affair)

Queen Catherine

Parr(Number 6)

Mary I of England ruled 1553-1558

She brought back Catholicism to England and persecuted

Protestants. Known as “Bloody Mary”Her half-sister,

Elizabeth I replaced her

Elizabeth I

• The invasion by the Spanish Armada, and subsequent defeat began the decline of Spain and the rise of England