As we look back to a time that we call the Dark Ages, it makes you wonder, why do we call it the dark ages? There are plenty of factors that play into the reason for that name. But there are also events and times that may contradict that name. We see very important and beautiful poetry at this time, for example, the Epic Of Beowulf. Then, we also see terrible, horrid things like the Spanish Inquisition. These are only two of the many things that went on during that time period. The Spanish Inquisition was made for religious and also political reasons. After the crusades and the reconquest of Spain, the leaders searched for a way to bring Spain together. The Spanish Inquisition was made in 1478 by Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile. Ferdinand and Isabella asked permission of the pope to begin the Spanish Inquisition to purify the people of Spain with Catholicism. They made the Jews, Protestants and others who did not believe leave and were not to return or they must convert to Catholicism. In 1483 Tomas de Torquemada became the general for the inquisition for most of Spain. Tomas was the leader for about fifteen years and is believed to be responsible for over 2,000 executions of the people of Spain. In this time there were torture machines used to find out whether someone had truly converted into Catholicism. If they lied and did not truly believe they would be burned at a stake for everyone to see. Even if you truly did believe, they would
While reading the book “God’s Jury: The Inquisition and the Making of the Modern World”, I found a sense that while the book had very interesting and questioning connections with a variety of passed inquisitions and where or how there are similarities to our modern time. Which is explained greatly by Murphy, functioning as a guide to the readers, offering a tour of the Inquisition’s nearly 700-year-old. I also found that Murphy did a great job in defining and explaining in detail the various gruesome instruments and acts of torture through history and showing similarities and same techniques used today. My the one problem I had was I found it an overall amusing to read, but personally until the first 3-4 chapters the book is quite difficult to digest and connect with, but as the inquisitions began to be more modern era I could relate and see the points and connections that were being made. I found that Murphy’s focus was to demonstrate how the mind-set and some machinery of the Inquisitions are unpreventable products of the modern world that later surfaced in Stalin’s Russia,
At the beginning of the seventeenth century central Europe was plagued by a series of unremitting of religious conflicts and which were known as the Thirty Year’s War. The main cause for this was the arrival of Jesuit priests in Germany. Their mission was to convert the vast majority of Protestants to Catholicism. They faced strong opposition, and a revolt began in Bohemia in 1618 by the Protestant Nobility against the Holy Roman Empire. This marked the start of the Thirty Years’ War.
Europe in Dark Age Before you say “Europe was never in a dark age.” think of the middle ages right after the fall of Rome, in The Crusades or The Black Death. These are just examples of why Europe was in a dark age. The phrase dark age means unsightly and dreadful, the term comes from Francesco Petrarch, he was an Italian scholar who compared Europe to Asia. The dark ages lasted 500 AD to 1500 AD.
The Protestant Reformation was the change of the Catholic religion in 1517. Martin Luther was the main person that started the Reformation. He thought the pope was too powerful and too wealthy. He also made a paper with “95 theses”. Protestants believed that the Bible intended for religion to be simple.
Protestant Reformation Protestant Reformation was a European Christian movement. This movement, led by Martin Luther reformed the Roman Catholic Church practices and begin Protestantism. The reformation started because of the corruption of Roman Catholic Church. The corruption that begin the protestant reformation was phony relics and indulgences. The church priests would sell these relics to poor people knowing that they were fake and build on lies only to make money for the church.
The Reformation was a time in Europe in the 1500s in which people questioned the beliefs of the Catholic Church. There were many changes made by the catholic church. The people that were responsible were Martin Luther, John Calvin and King Henry VIII. The Protestant Reformation of 16th century Europe was primarily the result of three men and their disagreements with the Catholic Church; Martin Luther, John Calvin, and King Henry VIII forever changed the religious landscape of Europe.
In the early 1500’s the main religion throughout Europe was Catholicism. As time went on more people started to doubt the religion for numerous reasons. Some of which consisted of corrupt priests, indulgences, or buying a ticket to heaven, punishment for other beliefs, and the church’s interference with the monarch. Because of this, heresies became popular. With disillusion rising a Protestant Reformation began.
The Jesuits were an important part of the Counter-Reformation, by spreading the word of Catholicism across the world gaining new followers for the Church. According to an article in the Harvard University Press and edited by Anthony Grafton, “Jesuits” The Classical Tradition, Ignatius of Loyola founded the Jesuits and received approval from Pope Paul III by 1540. The group of Jesuits were an organized group of priests and lay brothers who spread the word of God around the world. Along with spreading the written word they also followed the vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience. The Jesuits main purpose was to practice and then teach the lessons of God to people who did not know about Christianity, that included Japan, China, Paraguay and North America.
From then until 1834, the Spanish Inquisition conducted more than 100,000 trials that featured of Jews, Muslims, Lutherans and other assorted “heretics". In 1483, Thomas de Torquemada became the inquisition-general for most of Spain; he set tribunals in many cities. He was responsible for creating the rules of inquisitional policy and creating branches of the Inquisition in various cities. The influence of Thomas was essential for the Catholic Monarchs approve the expulsion of the Jews from Spain.
Spain’s empire was vast and held possessions in Europe, the Americas, Asia, and Africa for centuries. Even though the Spanish Empire lasted for many years, there are some important characteristics that defined it; I will name five characteristics that defined the Spanish Empire and what it was like to live there are, these include: the emphasis on religion that the Spanish crowns placed, the incorporation of other races as Spanish subjects, the opportunities for social mobility presented for some despite social stigma, the Hapsburgs’ soft politics and the changes brought by the Bourbons’ ascent to power, and the motives for Spanish Independence. To begin, the Spanish Empire placed a great importance on religion as seen through the creation of the Inquisition, whose primary purpose was to defend the Catholic faith, and further demonstrated by the empire’s justifications for their expansionist ideas. To illustrate, a Needlemaker in Tarragona, Spain was accused by his wife of being a Lutheran since he did not attend mass, cursed God and the church, among other things. Consequently, he had to present himself before the Inquisition, in order to get acquitted or receive an punishment.
Crime and Punishment in the Medieval Period The Middle Ages or Medieval Period lasted from 476 CE to the 1453 CE. It began with the fall of the Roman Empire and merged into the Renaissance and the Age of Discovery. The Middle Ages is divided into three main periods, the Dark Ages, the High Middle Ages and the Late Middle Ages. To a significant extent the nature of crime and punishment, it was very different between social classes during the Medieval Period. This can be seen through the significant groups that were involved in medieval crime and punishment, the effects of a person’s social class on crime and punishment and the punishments given out to different social classes between the Medieval Period and today.
Martin Luther, a German friar helped lead the reformation attacking the Catholic Church. As stated in Document 1, Luther attacks the lords, princes, blind bishops, priests,
Many European explorers wanted to become wealthier in their travels. This is shown in Letter of Christopher Columbus to Luis de Sant Angel, where the text states, “I can give them as much gold, spices, cotton, and as many Indian slaves as they choose to send for.” Christopher Columbus is requesting that King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella fund his journey. He promises to make them rich in return. This demonstrates how explorers, like Columbus, were seeking gold and other treasures when they began exploring.
Corruption in the Catholic Church has been prevalent through out history. Throughout the ages, the church has been able to survive scandals, wars, and corruption and has been able to maintain popularity. But during the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church started to decline in popularity. Catholics started to regard the church with skepticism and suspicion. Although the church was created for the purpose of religious guidance, the corrupt leaders and followers of the Catholic Church changed the morals and ideals the church was founded upon.
The Protestant Reformation took place in the 16th century in Europe. This reformation was led by reformers such as Martin Luther and John Calvin. Martin Luther and John Calvin disputed the Church’s views and what they defined Christianity as. Not only did this reformation lead to changes in religious and spiritual life but it also led to consequences for politics and society. The Protestant Reformation caused outbreak in war, which showed the demand for reform to take place.