5.5: The Context of the Reformation

In the late 15th Century, the Catholic Church was omnipresent in European society. About one person in seventy-five was part of the Church, as priests, monks, nuns, or members of lay orders. Practically every work of art depicted Biblical themes. The Church oversaw births, marriages, contracts, wills, and deaths - all law was, by implication, the law of God Himself. Furthermore, in Catholic doctrine, spiritual salvation was only accessible through the intervention of the Church. Without the rituals (sacraments) performed by priests, the soul was doomed to go to hell. Finally, popes fought to claim the right to intervene in secular affairs as they saw fit. However, they had never had much luck, losing even more ground as new, more powerful, and centralized monarchies rose to power.

Simply put, as of the Renaissance era, all was not well with the Church. The Babylonian Captivity and the Great Western Schism undermined the Church’s authority. The stronger states claimed the right to appoint bishops and priests within their kingdoms. For example, in England and France, laypeople and some priests looked to monarchs, rather than the pope, for patronage and authority.

At the same time, elite churchmen (including the popes) continued to live like princes. Generally, attempts to reform the lifestyles and relative piety of priests generally failed. The papacy was too remote from the everyday life of the priesthood across Europe. Also, since elite churchmen were all nobles, they usually continued to live like nobles. In many cases, these religious leaders openly lived with concubines, had children, and worked to ensure that their children receive lucrative positions in the Church. Laypeople were well aware of the slack morality that pervaded the Church. Medieval and early-modern literature contains many satirical tracts mocking immoral priests, and depictions of hell almost always featured priests, monks, and nuns burning alongside nobles and merchants.

These patterns also affected monasticism, the idea that monastic orders should imitate the life of Christ. Yet, by the early modern period, many monasteries (especially urban ones) ran successful industries, and monks often lived in relative luxury compared to townspeople. Furthermore, the monasteries had been very successful in buying up or receiving land as gifts. Indeed, by the late fifteenth century, a full 20% of the land of the western kingdoms was owned by monasteries. The contrast between the required vow of poverty taken by monks and nuns with the actual wealth and luxury of the same group was obvious to laypeople.

This widespread concern with corruption led to a new focus on the inner spiritual life of the individual, not the priest, monk, or nun. New movements sprung up around Europe, including one called Modern Devotion in the Netherlands, that focused on the moral and spiritual life of laypeople outside of the auspices of the Church. Called The Imitation of Christ, the Modern Devotion handbook was so popular that its sales matched those of the Bible at the time. It promoted the idea of salvation without needing the Church as an intermediary.

Within the Church, there were widespread and persistent calls for reform to better address the needs of the laity and improve the Church’s own moral standards. Numerous devout priests, monks, and nuns abhorred the corruption of their peers and superiors in the Church and called for change. However, almost no one anticipated a permanent break from the Church’s hierarchy itself.