Protestant Reformation Dbq

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The Protestant Reformation beginning in 1517 was the split from the Catholic Church led by Martin Luther. The English Reformation beginning in the 1530s was the split form the Catholic Church by England, led by its king Henry VIII. Both Martin Luther and Henry VIII’s motives for religious change were similar, they both wanted to separate from the Catholic Church and the Holy Roman Empire. But Martin Luther’s reason for his motives were mostly based on the corruption of the Catholic Church, while Henry VIII’s was a more personal reason, to gain the right to divorce and become an independent king from the Pope. In their actions, they both developed an independent church, free from the Holy Roman Empire, but Henry VIII stuck to some of the Catholic …show more content…

Martin Luther didn't agree with many of the practices and beliefs of the Catholic Church. He didn't agree on some of the practices of the clergy like simony, the sale of church offices, nepotism, the giving away of church offices to family members, and pluralism, the holding of more than one church office at a time. He also was really against the sale of indulgence, documents sold by the Catholic Church lessening penance or time in purgatory. He thought that the church was only selling indulgences to earn more money and that indulgence didn't really do what they promised. He also didn't like the fact that people didn't read the Bible and thought that …show more content…

Martin Luther wrote the 95 theses declaring all of the wrongdoings of the Catholic Church which caused him to get excommunicated from the church. He created the protestant religion which believed that all people should be able to read the Bible, and that faith alone could result in salvation. Martin Luther created Bibles that common people will be able to read and created strict rules for his pastors to prevent corruption in church offices.Henry VIII created the Church of England, independent from the Catholic Church. With parliament, he wrote The Act of Supremacy which declared him the head of the church, ending the authority of the pope. He allowed divorce in his church which allowed him to leave Catherine and get married to Ann. He also took control of land belonging to the Catholic Church and redistributed it to the nobles in England increasing the national treasury. The church of England only had minor differences from the Catholic Church and kept almost all of the Catholic practices. Both Martin Luther and Henry VIII provided new Bibles for their followers and reduce the power of the pope. Both the English Church and the Protestant church allow divorce to be practiced, which appealed to the common