Introduction
The Reformation was, in many ways, an outgrowth of the Renaissance. It was also an outgrowth of centuries of general problems in the Catholic Church, dating back to the Babylonian Captivity and the Great Schism that followed. The corruption evident in the Catholic Church during these periods had sparked a great deal of dissent and literature of protest despite the dominance of the Catholic Church in many ways of society other than religion including politics, art, and science. In addition, to the Catholic Church had become immensely wealthy in 1450. Many popes in previous years had come from rich Italian merchant families, and Catholic officials owned many valuable lands throughout Europe, which gave the Catholic Church widespread political power that caused resentment on the part of European kings. The Renaissance helped create more criticism of the papacy and the Catholic Church in general.
The church was the one institution that the people of western Europe had in common. It was a unifying force, an institution believed to be sanctioned by God. With such widely accepted credentials, the church held itself out as not only the undisputed authority on all things otherworldly, by also the ultimate endorsement of all things worldly. With one foot on Earth and the other in heaven, the people acted as an intermediary between man and God. Nearly everyone in Europe understood this clearly: To get to heaven, you had to proceed by the way of the Catholic Church.
The church understood the power it had over the faithful. When it needed to finance its immense building projects plus pay for the huge number of Renaissance artists it kept in its employment, it began to sell indulgence. An indulgence was a pieces of paper that the faithful could purchase to reduce time in purgatory (the place Roman-Catholics believed they would go after death). Selling indulgences was not only a means of generating income but also a way for the church to maintain power over the masses.
The church was the one institution that the people of western Europe had in common. It was a unifying force, an institution believed to be sanctioned by God. With such widely accepted credentials, the church held itself out as not only the undisputed authority on all things otherworldly, by also the ultimate endorsement of all things worldly. With one foot on Earth and the other in heaven, the people acted as an intermediary between man and God. Nearly everyone in Europe understood this clearly: To get to heaven, you had to proceed by the way of the Catholic Church.
The church understood the power it had over the faithful. When it needed to finance its immense building projects plus pay for the huge number of Renaissance artists it kept in its employment, it began to sell indulgence. An indulgence was a pieces of paper that the faithful could purchase to reduce time in purgatory (the place Roman-Catholics believed they would go after death). Selling indulgences was not only a means of generating income but also a way for the church to maintain power over the masses.