Background Causes of the Protestant Reformation
On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther, an Augustinian monk, posted a list of Ninety-Five Theses (statements of position) on the door of the castle church in Wittenberg, the capital of the German state of Saxony. Luther, who was also a professor of theology at the University of Wittenberg, was protesting the sale of indulgences by the Catholic Church. Indulgences were spiritual pardons - certificates of forgiveness for one's sins - that were issued by the pope. Pope Leo X had authorized the sale of indulgences in the German states as a means of raising funds for the construction of the new St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. Luther was outraged that the Church presumed to sell pardons for sins. Only God, he argued in his theses, could pardon sins and even then only for those faithful Christians who were truly repentant. When the Church condemned Luther's protest and later excommunicated him, Luther broke with the Church attacking it for its loss of Christianity. Instead of disappearing into obscurity, Luther became the leader of a new Christian movement that would challenge the very heart and soul of the Catholic Church. Those who joined Luther and other reformers in their protest became known as Protestants. The movement to reform Christianity became known as the Reformation.
Martin Luther's criticism of the sale of indulgences and other abuses by the Catholic Church would not have stimulated the Reformation were it not for otherwise existing conditions. Throughout northern Europe many Christians had become disillusioned with the Church's pronouncements and practices. Luther's posting of the Ninety Five Theses was merely the spark that ignited the Reformation and not in itself the cause of the Reformation. The background causes were far deeper than Luther's criticism and break with the Church.
The overall experience of the late Medieval Church likewise contributed to the potential weakening of its spiritual authority. Between 1309 and 1378 the Church experienced the “Babylonian Captivity” of the papacy. A dispute between a French king and the pope resulted in the forced removal of the papacy from Rome to Avignon in southern France. For the next 70 years the popes were largely puppets of the French monarchy. In 1378 Italian cardinals in Rome elected a new pope but his indiscretions led to his deposition and election of another pope. Conflict caused one of the popes to flee to Avignon. The result was a 36-year “Great Schism,” wherein a simultaneous succession of popes in both Rome and France claimed spiritual authority over Christendom. In 1414 a Church Council was summoned to meet at Constance to end the schism. In 1417 the Council would restore a single papacy in Rome. At the same time the Church was experiencing these crises, Europe was swept with the great plague known as the “Black Death.” Millions would die under horrific conditions. To many of the faithful it seemed as if God had abandoned humanity and that the Church was failing in its mission.
On the background of both the “Captivity” and the “Schism,” there occurred disturbing reformist challenges to Catholic faith. In England, a reformist movement led by John Wycliffe (1329-1384) rejected key aspects of Catholic theology. Wycliffe saw the Bible as the sole source of God’s revealed word and translated it into English. In Bohemia (today the Czech Republic), Jan Hus (1369-1415), a theological scholar at the University of Prague, likewise rejected the institutionalization of the Church and urged a return to the Bible. Called before the Council of Constance, Hus was condemned as a heretic and executed by burning at the stake. He immediately became a martyr for a spiritual and patriotic rebellion. The resulting “Hussite Wars” lasted until 1436. Thus, there was precedent for Luther’s criticism of Church practices.
We have already seen the criticism of the northern humanists as a force calling for the reform of the Church. The northern humanists saw the Church as having lost its sense of spiritual direction and responsibility. As devout Christians they were concerned that the Church had become too materialistic and overly involved in worldly matters. They found the Church's extensive body of laws and regulations far exceeding the spiritual guidelines for a life worthy of salvation seen in the example of Christ's life and teaching. They saw the Church's leadership as materialistic and corrupt. They criticized the clergy's lack of Christian education and understanding and saw the Church as promoting ignorance and superstition. Under the spiritual care of a corrupt and ignorant clergy, the Christian faithful were being misled into believing they were following God's truth. Through the gentle humor of their satire or the description of an imaginary perfect society, humanists such as Erasmus and More hoped to call attention to the abuses within the Church. The northern humanists did not seek to destroy the Church. They believed firmly in its spiritual purpose and called upon it to undertake its own reform.
The reform of the Church, however, was not likely to come from its leadership. The popes of the Renaissance were men of the Renaissance. They were from the wealthy and powerful families of the Italian cities. To them, the papacy was as a prize of business or war to be competed for and won by whatever means worked regardless of morality. Because the papacy commanded such great wealth and respect, to hold the papacy meant tremendous prestige and influence. Men such as Pope Julius II (the patron of both Michelangelo and Raphael) and the Medici pope, Leo X, were more interested in worldly than spiritual matters. Politics, war, diplomacy, finance, and the patronage of the arts and learning were the factors motivating papal thought and action. That the pope was expected to exercise spiritual leadership over all Christians was far from the concerns of the Renaissance popes. The failure of the papacy to provide that leadership was among the background causes of the Reformation.
A fourth factor underlying the Protestant Reformation was the rise of the middle class. The economic change characterized by the rise of towns and trade in the Late Middle Ages led to the revival of a commercial middle class. The middle class consisted of merchants, skilled craftsmen, bankers, and professional men (lawyers, doctors, scholars). Largely engaged in business, the middle class resented the position taken by the Catholic Church on business matters. The Church, for example, traditionally taught that the charging of interest on the lending of money and the making of profit were wrong as these practices took unfair advantage of others. The Church insisted on a "just price" for the sale of goods or credit. The middle class, depending on profit for its livelihood, saw the Church's pronouncements as anachronistic (out of date) in regard to the realities of expanding European commerce. To be a "good Christian" meant one could not make a profit or charge interest on a loan. The middle class greatly resented the Church's position on business practices and strongly supported the Protestant movement once it began. Likewise, the middle class resented the Church's power to tax (the tithe equaled one tenth of one's annual income) and collect fees and fines. In the minds of many members of the middle class, the Church hindered and weakened economic progress.
Lastly, the Late Middle Ages saw a major political change taking place in Western Europe that would have a relationship to the Reformation. The feudal system of weak monarchs and strong nobles was breaking down as kings asserted greater sovereignty over their countries. With the rise of national monarchies in such countries as Spain, France, and England, the old conflict between Church and state became more pronounced. Kings of major countries (e.g., France) and rulers of lesser states (e.g. the princes of the some 300 German states of the Holy Roman Empire) resented the pope's claims to sovereignty over all Christians in all matters. Why is it, they asked, that a petty Italian prince (the pope) should claim such influence over their countries? Likewise, rulers resented the Church's power to tax their peoples. Wealth taken through Church taxes, fees, and fines was wealth lost to the state. Often the wealth collected by the Church went to Rome. As wealth meant power, princes trying to increase their sovereignty were thwarted by this loss of national wealth to the Church. When reformers such as Luther and Calvin claimed that the Church should be responsible for spiritual matters only, many princes saw in Protestantism the opportunity to separate themselves and their states from the Catholic Church. In his appeal to the rulers of the German states, Luther pointed out that a ruler could be sovereign over his people and still be a good Christian. Most of the northern German princes found this concept attractive and broke with the Catholic Church, undertaking the "reform" of Christian worship in their own states.
Thus, several factors account for the widespread acceptance of the Protestant break with the Roman Catholic Church. The spiritual disasters of the 14th century undermined Church’s unity and prestige. The northern humanists laid the foundation for criticism by calling attention to abuses within the Church and calling for its reform. The Renaissance papacy lacked both the interest and ability to exercise needed and responsible spiritual leadership over the Church. The rise of the middle class caused many to see the Church as too set in its ways to accommodate changes in the economic life of Europe. Kings and rulers, wanting to increase their sovereignty, resented the Church's claim to both the loyalty and wealth of their subjects. When Luther defiantly challenged the authority of the Church, much of Europe was ready to seek a Christian alternative.