“What, if anything, was new about church reform in the sixteenth century?”

Diffusion of the word of GodThe power of the ChurchThe territories of the ChurchPolitical issues

Causes:

THE WALDENSIANS (12th c.)

“We have decided to live by the Words of the Gospel, especially that of the sermon on the Mount, and the Commandments, that is, to live in poverty, without concern for tomorrow. But we hold that also those who continue to live their lives in the world doing good will be saved.”

Lutheranism: where did it come from?

(1868) Statue of Peter Waldo at the Luther Memorial in Worms,

Germany

THE LOLLARDS (14th c.)“When the Church of England began to dote in temporality after her stepmother, the great Church of Rome, and churches were slain by appropriation to diverse places. Faith, Hope, and Charity began for to flee out of our Church. For Pride with his sorry genealogy of deadly sins challengeth it by title of heritage. This conclusion is general and proved by experience, custom, and manner, as you shall after hear.”

(”The Twelve Conclusions of the Lollards”, 1395)

Lutheranism: where did it come from?

THE HUSSITES (15th c.)"O God and Lord, now the council condemns even thine own act and thine own law as heresy, since thou thyself didst lay thy cause before thy Father as the just judge, as an example for us, whenever we are sorely oppressed. God is my witness that I have never taught that of which I have been accused by false witnesses. In the truth of the Gospel which I have written, taught, and preached I will die to-day with gladness. Christ, thou Son of the living God, have mercy upon me. In 100 years, God will raise up a man whose calls for reform cannot be suppressed.”

Lutheranism: where did it come from?

(Jan Hus, quote from the final trial. 8 June 1415)

Church Reform in England

Reform moving away from the Roman Catholic Church

Spread of Lutheranism across Europe

Martin Luther (1483-1546)

(1517) Luther publishes his “95 Theses” against the abuses of the Roman Catholic Church

“Sola Fide”

Protested against indulgences

Clerical marriage

Tudor Government

King Henry VIII’s “Great Matter” Legislation- had huge impact on Church reform Leads to Break with Rome Thomas Cromwell (c.1485-1540)

Act in Restraint of Appeals 1533:“This realm of England is an Empire, and so hath been accepted in the world, governed by one Supreme Head and King...”

Act of Supremacy 1534

Valor Ecclesiasticus

Reformation But how much of the church was reformed? Perhaps not reform from within the church but influence from outside. For example in

1535 Miles Coverdale published the first complete English translation of the Bible Cromwell is appointed Vice Gerent in Spirituals (or Vicar General) 1536- Dissolution of the Smaller Monasteries begins 1538- Dissolution of the Greater Monasteries 1541 SCOTTISH REFORMATION begins under John Knox

(“The Ambassadors”Hans Holbein the Younger, 1533)

First Act of Uniformity 1549 First Book of Common Prayer 1552 Cranmer publishes second Book of Common Prayer

After Henry VIII

Setback in church reform and the New Religion-Mary I is Queen of England with the goal of reinstating Roman Catholicism

1st October 1553 the day of her coronation, Parliament declares Henry VIII’s first marriage as good and valid and then abolishes all of Edward VI’s religious laws

Marriage causes further unrest in England

300 heretics

800 exiles

Acts of Supremacy and Uniformity are restored in 1559s

Queen Elizabeth I

Church of England has a new monarch as its Supreme Head

Golden Age

The Reformation is still ongoing during and even after Elizabeth’s reign when the throne is passed on to her cousin James VI of Scotland

Catholicism still out there