Write about Martin Luther using the following headings: The main events of his life The main beliefs of his Church The results of his reforms
Fig 7.9 Martin Luther preaching to a small congregation during his period of voluntary ‘imprisonment’ at Wartburg castle.
C. Other Reformers
There were others across Europe who agreed with Luther’s beliefs. They also wanted to reform the Catholic Church but had slightly different views to Luther. In Switzerland, a French reformer named John Calvin set up a new church in Geneva. Calvin’s teachings were more strict than Luther’s. After his death in 1564 Calvin’s beliefs spread all across Europe. Many people visited Geneva and even studied at the University of Geneva. They were struck by its holiness. Many spread the teachings of Calvin when they returned to their home countries. A Scottish former Catholic priest, John Knox, was so inspired by Geneva that he returned to Scotland and spent the rest of his life ensuring the Church of Scotland adhered to Calvinist teachings.
In parts of France, Huguenots (as Calvinists were known in France) were persecuted by the Catholic French kings and there was an eight-year war beginning in 1562 between the two sides. Eventually the Edict of Nantes in 1598 gave them equality with Catholics in France but many sought safety in Protestant England and some were given land in Ireland. It is their descendants who are buried in the Huguenot cemetery on St. Stephen’s Green in Dublin.
Calvinism is still very strong in the Reformed Church in the Netherlands. In England, Calvinism was known as Puritanism due to its strict rules about lifestyle. The English Puritans were persecuted by the state and by members of the Church of England. Many fled to North America as settlers in the New World.
In England, King Henry VIII broke with the Catholic Church when he wished to divorce his wife Catherine of Aragon and marry another woman, Anne Boleyn. Pope Clement VII refused to permit this and so Henry passed the Act of Supremacy in 1534. This recognised Henry
Fig 7.11 The Huguenot Cemetery just off St. Stephen’s Green in Dublin was established in 1693.
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Fig 7.10 John Calvin also wanted to reform the Catholic Church but some of his ideas were different to Martin Luther’s.