The Sixteenth Century .. from a Christian Perspective
In the sixteenth century there are a number of main power blocks : England enjoying an increase in power and prosperity after the previous century's civil wars; France ; the Italian states expecially Venice, Florence and the Papacy (Italy being the centre of Europes wealth in 1500); and the Hapsburg empire embracing under Charles the 5th ; Spain, the Netherlands, Germany, the new American possessions and variable amounts of Italy. France and the Empire are at war off and on throughout the period , mostly in Italy.
Church
The Refomation started effectively in 1517 when Martin Luther nailed his 95 very moderate theses (too moderate for any modern protestant to agree with, have a read sometime) to the door of the Wittenburg cathedral. This was normal practice to start a debate. The main protest was against the sale of indulgences whereby for a small fee the suplicant might get all or some of his sins forgiven and reduce the time of his stay in purgatory. This system had greatly expanded as a result of a pressing need for funds to finance the rebuilding of St Pauls in Rome. There were other complaints against the church : bishops who took the income from their sees but were never there, priests that were inadequately trained. Mostly though people were happy ( or apathetic) about the existing state of affairs (1).One factor that certainly contributed to the change was the invention of printing . Previously there had been many people who had seen where the medieval church practice differed from the Bible ( Wycliff, Huss) but killing the man was fairly effective at stopping the message. Now with the plethora of books , it was almost impossible to stop people hearing about the new ideas.
The key new idea was justification by faith. This was held in contrast to justification by works but what this meant to the C16 hearer was not so much general doing good as we would think of it today but the specific structured system for doing good that the medieval church had devised ie. Confession, penance, etc.
Also under attack was the idea that the mass was the literal body of Christ ,the idea that a priest was a needed mediator between man and God, and that prayers to the saints and God were efficacious in reducing the time a soul spent in purgatory. This was firmly entrenched in the economic order as many people left funds in their will that would pay for monks to pray for their souls for years to come. Many of the monastries were established as places where monks prayed for the souls of specific dead people. Also under attack was the primacy of Rome, especially as it was becoming increasingly non-moral in its orientation. It was basically an Italian principality and conquered its hinterland and abused its people like any other Renaissance state. The closer one lived to it the less one respected it.
How had the church become this bad? Doctrinally many of the wrong ideas were simply elements of paganism that the church had never thrown off. In the early years many elements of the existing culture had been added to Christianity to win the pagans. Prayers to the saints were a replacement for the profusion of gods in polytheism, worship of Mary was the fertility cult of Athena/ Diana , (2) ; other elements were the effects of Greek philosophy- seeing the body as real derived in Aquinas from Platonic ideas of form and substance. Although the underlying substance didn't change into the body (hence it still looked and tasted like bread) , the form did. This idea is meaningless if we don't allow the distinction in objects between universal form (that exists outside the physical world) and substance (the actual thing). The Bible shows no signs of this distinction.
In many ways until printing came along there was not much of a mechanism for the change of these errors simply because the transmission of ideas was so cumbersome. Printing enabled hundreds of people to study the same subject and publish their debates without too much chance of autocratic elements being able to stamp out everyone with a new idea. It enable every literate person to have a Bible and study it.
The other question to ask is why the church authorities didn't embrace the new truths and why wasn't Martin Luther absorbed in the same way that , say, Francis of Assissi was. Preaching was a new thing, medieval people went to church for a cleansing ritual not to learn.
The Middle Ages
Vast heirarchy, no mobility.
Church
Attempted reformation frequent. Avignon fiasco, one universal church.Vested interests. Why A non-RC church could never be monolithic.
Rural/Cities, Inflation - new gold , not population (Salamanca theologians/ Bodin) . Population growth - act of God. Chronic umemployment and the guilds- number of employees /wages regulated. Note lower wages mean lower prices all benefit. Large blocks of land and clearances leading to greater food production ( less starvation) or more wool ( and mutton) for export meaning more capital, and more workers for the cities.- economic growth, specialisation. Holland 50% urbanised (highest) and very efficient farms. Spain - price controls for peasants nobles sold on higher. Drain of nobles- Swiss abolished them completely. Domestic slavery still existed in Southern Europe. In the power struggle between towns, nobles and monarchy different factions won in different places. Scotland : most nobles had little cash just food and lots of servants.
Lending money no more risky than shipping goods (except to governments- even at 20% -many defaults) 1556, Role of Antwerp.
Private Defence - Elizabethan
Statists - rare to accumulate more than modest capital without government contracts and monopolies. Frankfurt provided medical treatment on the state. (C15) Selling of offices ( and bishoprics)Capitalism through : replacement of absolute property rights from aristotlean property as obligation also, mobility of capital in England due to not seeing trade as bad (excluding nobility as in France) which Greek idea, opposite in Germany, burghers couldn't buy land -so more money into commerce (but may have been higher rates of return in agriculture sometimes). Through Calvins explicit acceptance of interest and promotion of hard work. Not so much due to predestination as Weber argues, the rest of the Bible's emphasis on responsibility more. Although Calvin condemned waste of wealth on vainglory, luxury and profligacy; comfort was OK.. To some degree the commercialising happened before Protestantism but it must have grown better in a congenial environment. ( Scotland remained poor , a counterexample - but we do have the rise of private banking and the industrial revolution later)
Overseas trade small fraction of total trade , Europes expasion was internal capital formation- not American gold. Most of European GDP was agricultural consumed locally.
Social
Very low rates of illigitimacy, 5-6 children, half became adults, mother died in 1 in 50 births. Less than 30% literate. Moral discipline was very tight spies watched and punished lovers.Festivals common : Mega H8/F1 Golden Fields- Bishop of Rochester said it was an enormous waste of money.
2% of population owned 45% of taxable wealth. Not necesarily bad- depends who and how got. Escatology ; as usual saw tribulation as to usher in the millenium.
Kinship ties were stronger than any feeling of "class" which explains why legislation in Scotland under James 5 favoured the lower classes.
Rebellion
Munster/ Peasants war: keen but wrong social theory.Bucer said rebellion against authority had to be by another authority.
Church and State
In Zwingli fused, in Calvin independent church.
Strategy Interest
Crown imposed the reformation in England on a at that point largely uninterested populous. In Scotland the reformation was gradual and late and polular. It was also popular in Germany early due to greater corruption of the church there.In Germany it was supported by the powers that be in several areas as in England most of the time.due of course to the need for the legitimacy of Henry's divorce and later Elizabeth's legitimacy to be recognized. Luthers calling on the magistrates to supervise the church.
Heresy punishment and debate
Outward forms matter (Illyricus) versus ceremonial non essential (Phil).Explorations: new routes round Africa cut off Venice.
Renaissance
Spains gold spent militarily in Netherlands (indirectly to Genoa etc to pay for loans for previous military)Ideas : William of Occam: Nominalism - ideas have no existence apart from reality, sharp cleavage between knowledge and faith, God can't be understood- inscrutable will. Luthers and Calvins concept of God derived from him.
Mirrors for Princes versus Machieveli.
Renaissance: Fall of Constantinople in 1452 brought an influx of scholars. Greatest century of art in European history especially in Italy.
Other Places
As Russia under Ivan the Fourth took over Ghenghis Khan's C13 empire he imposed serfdom to stop the peasants fleeing so going towards feudalism rather than away from it. No cities developed to rival the monarchy's power.
New World
Colonisation by the sword is not scriptural except in very special judicial circumstances like the execution of the Canaanites. So although good may well have come of it, like the British years later we can't sanction it. However that doesn't mean that the Axtec/Inca civilisations were worth preserving. They were very cruel to each other and the whole system was entirely based on human sacrifice.
Catholic Reformation
Some major abuses corrected: fertility rites abolished, education of priests,no plurality of bishops. Its revival didn't start till c17.The inquisision got 1/3rd of the property of anyone found to be a heretic
Weber Thesis
Calvin saw trade as good.Political situation: C5 ,h8,e1,f1, german princes,. civil wars in France which finally won by Protestant.
France Frances 2nd 's wars against Hapsburgs acheived nothing apart from Burgundy and France was bankrupt ( similar to the downturns in Charles 5th 's fortunes towards the end of his life The French wars of religeon had as much to do with rivalries between the Guise who took regency after death of Henry 2nd and the Bourbons, it also concerned the royal debts. The wifes of the Protestant Antony of Navarre and Conde were strong patrons of missions. Henry of Navarre who promtly became a Catholic to unify France.
The violence of RC againsts Protestant lay people , P vs RC againsts clergy and churches The crowds were mostly artisans and often teenage boys Cities
The Church before and after:unity . relics ,pilgrimages, education , indulgences, tax collection, church operating as a state rather than lawers in court
Taxation and the state, rise of bureaucracy, selling offices, standing armies
Reformation why not before- printing, unity of church
Why not accepted- vested interests of papacy, indulgencies, prayers for the dead, confessional,
New World
What would have happened without the strong state
What would have happened if the papacy had endorsed the Reformation, eg if Charles the 5th had converted to protestatism
Lessons
Don't try to close down the Taverns! (Geneva, Prohibition)Geneva was a centre that trained and sent out . We have the internet and advertising. Peasants came back to RC in large numbers in 1550s ( no social reforms)- always worth looking at improving things for all groups in society in a Biblical direction.
Growing centralism meant very espensive officialdom. The new parliaments were more educated laymen than feudal lords.
English Reformations
Hislop " The Two Babylons"