AP European History
AP European History
Martin Luther was a miner’s son from Saxony in central Germany. At the urgings of his father, he studied for a career in law. He underwent a religious experience while traveling, which led him to become an Augustinian friar. Later, he became a professor at the university in Wittenberg, Saxony.
Luther, to his personal distress, could not reconcile the problem of the sinfulness of the individual and the justice of God. How could a sinful person attain the righteousness necessary to obtain salvation? During his studies of the Bible, especially of Romans 1:17, Luther came to believe that personal efforts – good works such as a Christian life and attention to the sacraments of the church – could not “earn” the sinner salvation but that belief and faith were the only way to obtain grace. “Justification by faith alone” was the road to salvation, Luther believed by 1515.
Indulgences, which had originated in connection with the Crusades, involved the cancellation of the penalty given by the church to a confessed sinner. Indulgences had long been a means of raising money for church activities. In 1517, the pope was building the new cathedral of St. Peter in Rome. Also, Albrecht, Archbishop of Mainz, had purchased three church positions (simony and pluralism) by borrowing money from the banking family, the Fuggers. A Dominican friar, Johann Tetzel, was authorized to preach and sell indulgences, with the proceeds going to build the cathedral and repay the loan. The popular belief was that “As soon as a coin in the coffer rings, 26 the soul from purgatory springs,” and Tetzel had much business. On October 31, 1517, Luther, with his belief that no such control or influence could be had over salvation, nailed 95 theses, or statements, about indulgences to the door of the Wittenberg church and challenged the practice of selling indulgences. At this time he was seeking to reform the church, not divide it.
In 1519 Luther debated various criticisms of the church and was driven to say that only the Bible, not religious traditions or papal statements, could determine correct religious practices and beliefs.
In 1521 Pope Leo X excommunicated Luther for his beliefs. In 1521 Luther appeared in the city of Worms before a meeting (Diet) of the important figures of the Holy Roman Empire, including the Emperor, Charles V. He was again condemned. At the Diet of Worms Luther made his famous statement about his writings and the basis for them: “Here I stand. I can do no other.” After this, Luther could not go back; the break with the pope was permanent.
Frederick III of Saxony, the ruler of the territory in which Luther resided, protected Luther in Wartburg Castle for a year. Frederick never accepted Luther’s beliefs but protected him because Luther was his subject. The weak political control of the Holy Roman Emperor contributed to Luther’s success in avoiding the penalties of the pope and the Emperor.
An Address to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation (1520) argued that nobles, as well as clergy, were the leaders of 27 the church and should undertake to reform it.
The Babylonian Captivity (1520) attacked the traditional seven sacraments, replacing them with only two.
The Freedom of the Christian Man (1520) explains Luther’s views on faith, good works, the nature of God, and the supremacy of political authority over believers.
Against the Murderous, Thieving Hordes of the Peasants (1524), written in response to the Peasants’ Revolt, stated Luther’s belief that political leaders, not all people, should control both church and society.
By 1534 Luther translated the Bible into German, making it accessible to many more people as well as greatly influencing the development of the German language. Also, his composition, “A Mighty Fortress is Our God,” was the most popular hymn of the sixteenth century. The printing press enabled Luther’s works to be distributed quickly throughout Germany.
Economic burdens being increased on the peasants by their lords, combined with Luther’s words that a Christian is subject to no one, led the peasants of Germany to revolt in 1524. The ensuing noble repression, supported by Luther, resulted in the deaths of 70,000 to 100,000 peasants.
At a meeting of the Holy Roman Empire’s leading figures in 1529, a group of rulers, influenced by Luther’s teachings “protested” the decision of the majority-hence the term “Protestant.” Protestant originally meant Lutheran but eventually was applied to all Western Christians who did not maintain allegiance to the pope.
After a failure of Protestant and Catholic representatives to find a mutually acceptable statement of faith, the Augsburg Confession of 1530 was written as a comprehensive statement of Lutheran beliefs.
Led by Philipp Melanchthon (1497 - 1560), the “Educator of Germany,” Lutherans undertook much educational reform, including schools for girls.
Denmark became Lutheran in 1523 and Sweden in 1527.
Lutheran rulers, to protect themselves against the efforts of Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, to reestablish Catholicism in Germany, formed a defensive alliance at Schmalkalden, the Schmalkaldenic League, in 1531.
Wherever Lutheranism was adopted, church lands were often seized by the ruler. This made a return to Catholicism more difficult, as the lands would need to be restored to the church.
During the 1540s, Charles V won numerous battles yet was unable to reestablish Catholicism. This was because his treatment of the defeated political rulers of Germany offended the nobility of the Empire. The Peace of Augsburg (1555) ended the years of religious and political warfare and established the permanent religious division of Germany into Lutheran and Catholic churches. The statement “cuius regio, eius religio” (“whose region, his religion”) meant that the religion of any area would be that of the ruling political authority.