AP European History
AP European History
The Protestant Reformation created social changes, too. The family was highly valued by Protestants – who rejected clerical celibacy – and women were expected to bear children and instill in them Christian values. With the closing of nunneries, women had few alternatives to family life. Although limited basic education for women was encouraged so that they could read the Bible, higher education was not, and Protestant churches did not welcome women into church leadership. Protestant reformers did encourage education for a wider audience and, in some parts of the Holy Roman Empire, established publicly funded schools focusing on humanist ideas and Christian teachings.
Protestant reformers such as Luther believed that education was necessary to allow followers – including women – to read the Bible. But these reformers continued to advocate the traditional role of wife and mother for women – reading the Bible was meant to make women better mothers. Be sure that you do not confuse religious reform with changes in traditional gender roles. Most reformers were actually quite traditional when it came to social issues.
In the first half of the seventeenth century, the economies of Spain and the Mediterranean states faced recessions; imports of precious metals from the Americas had declined, and the center of trade had shifted away from the Italian states. In addition, that was a period of war, famine, and disease. As economic and social tensions festered, people found extreme explanations for these problems, including witches.
Although not new to Europe, witchcraft trials and executions skyrocketed, causing Europeans to live in fear. Among the reasons for this outbreak of witchcraft hysteria were religious concerns, often exacerbated in areas still torn by the Reformation; a changing economic system in which communal values were disintegrating; and growing numbers of poor. As community charity became less available, many people, especially older women, began to sell herbs to survive and were subsequently accused of witchcraft. Because women were viewed as the weaker sex and more prone to temptation, the vast majority of witchcraft victims were women. Only when the Thirty Years’ War was ending and a spirit of religious toleration was renewed did the witchcraft craze diminish.