Dbq Essay On The Protestant Reformation

The Protestant Reformation, a period of change and strife, has significantly influenced the modern world socially, politically and economically. The Protestant Reformation began in the 16th century and was a major movement that aimed to reform the Roman Catholic Church, its beliefs and practices. The idea of Reformation began when people realised the extent of problems within the church. For example: the selling of indulgences, Papal Schism and open political struggles caused problems with Catholic Church’s public image. Martin Luther played a major role in the Reformation, and was responsible for the 1517 release of the 95 Theses. From a social aspect, the Reformation put emphasis on education, leading to more informed and knowledgeable people.

Since the Protestants advocated for secularism, countries either supported the Catholic church or were against it. One Protestant doctrine was Sola Scriptura and Sola Fide, which was Latin for scripture alone and faith alone. This idea can be seen when Martin Luther stated “A Christian is free & independent in every respect, a bondservant to none”. Luther did not see the Catholic church as Christian and wished to return Christianity to its original form. As a result of this, he was denounced by the church as he threatened their economic and political power. Differences in religion and beliefs could be witnessed across Europe. For example, the Spanish were Catholics, where most of the northern countries were Protestant, and between them was the Holy Roman Empire. This was a place of conflict due to it containing both Protestant and Catholic kingdoms (Source 1). One important political event which occurred was the creation of the Church of England. King Henry VIII removed Catholic church power and introduced such bills as the Submission of the Clergy in 1532 and Act of Supremacy in 1534. The Submission of the Clergy made it so Henry had to approve all papal bulls, where the Act of Supremacy granted Henry leadership over the Church of England. England’s Protestant viewpoints influenced events such as the Thirty Years’ War (Hatzifotis, 2017). In the Holy Roman Empire, the king of Bohemia caused conflict by forcing all his subjects to convert to Catholicism. Following this, the Protestants revolted, leading to a rebellion across the empire by 1618. This event started the Thirty Years’ War. Both the Protestants and Holy Roman Emperor sought allies. For example, Bohemia’s Ferdinand II asked Bavaria, Spain and the Papacy for assistance. The Protestants then asked the British, Dutch and Denmark for help in this war. The war resulted in