Study Questions

Some of these are questions for class discussion, others are simply factual questions to help you focus on key concepts. You don't have to answer any of these; I provide them as fodder for discussion and for your own reference.

A number of the questions overlap each other to a greater or lesser degree: this is to provide you with different ways to think about the period, its people, and the issues.

  1. General, Semester-Long
    1. When did the Reformation begin? Can you identify a year? An event?
    2. When did the Reformation end? Can you identify a year? An event?
    3. Why did the Reformation begin? Your answer should include political, social, economic, and cultural factors, as well as religious factors.
    4. Why did the Reformation end? Your answer should include political, social, economic, and cultural factors, as well as religious factors.
    5. Did the Reformation succeed? You will need to define what you mean by "success."
    6. Where did the Reformation happen? Where did it not happen?
    7. Any course on the Middle Ages will talk about the conflict between Church and State during those centuries. How would you characterize the relationship between Church and State during the Reformation?
  2. Week 1: Medieval Background
    1. In the medieval Catholic Church, what role was played by the priest in the salvation of a Christian?
    2. What events and developments in the later Middle Ages eroded the prestige of the papacy?
    3. What was the relationship between humanism and Christian piety and theology?
    4. What were the sources of religious discontent prior to the Reformation? Can you find variations by country?
  3. Week 2: Luther
    1. What were the key concepts and beliefs of Lutheranism?
    2. What document defines Lutheran beliefs?
    3. Of the principal errors of the Catholic Church, which did the reformers identify as the most significant? Which do you think were the most significant?
    4. Explain what consubstantiation and transubstantion mean. Explain it as if talking to someone who isn't in our course. Also explain why the issue might be important.
    5. Describe Luther's Two Kingdoms teaching. Compare it to the Gelasian Doctrine. What differences, if any, do you see between the two?
    6. What was Luther's view of sola scriptura, what was his view on Christian freedom, and why did Pope Leo X want to excommunicate him?
    7. Identify, describe, and explain the main arguments of On the Freedom of the Christian Man, its organization, and its significance.
    8. Describe the main arguments of The Babylonian Captivity, and explain its significance.
    9. What were the significant differences between Luther and Erasmus?
    10. In what ways was Luther a humanist? In what ways was he not a humanist? What are his debts to humanism?
    11. What could the pope have done to prevent the Reformation? Put another way, was a split in the Church unavoidable?
    12. Leaving aside Luther and Calvin, what five reformers should a person study in order to understand the Reformation?
    13. What were the two central tenets of Luther's beliefs? Now add three others that you think were also important.
    14. Compare Luther's idea of a Christian life with that of Ignatius Loyola's. Would you say Loyola was closer to Luther or to Calvin (or to some other reformer)?
    15. Which monarchy was the strongest? It's possible to have different answers for different periods of time.
  4. Week 3: Calvin
    1. What were the key concepts and beliefs of Calvinism?
    2. Who were the major secondary and/or successor figures to Luther, Calvin and Zwingli?
    3. What were the key points of difference between Luther and Calvin?
    4. What were the key points of difference between Luther and Zwingli?
    5. What were the key points of difference between Calvin and Zwingli?
    6. Why did Calvinism enjoy success in so many different countries, while Lutheranism remained confined mainly to Germany and Scandinavia?
    7. Why there and not elsewhere?
    8. Which was more politically conservative, Lutheranism or Calvinism?
  5. Week 4: Zwingli and the Anabaptists
    1. You are a devout Catholic sincerely interested in reform and about to set out as a delegate to the Council of Trent in 1546. What will be your top proposals for reform?
    2. Where were Anabaptist congregations finally tolerated?
    3. What were the key concepts and beliefs of the Anabaptists?
  6. Week 5: Germany and Italy
    1. Name the Holy Roman Emperors from 1500 to 1700.
    2. Name the ten leading states of the Empire. Why did you pick those ten? Which others might you have chosen?
    3. What was the political configuration of Germany, what was the role of the electoral princes, who defended Luther, and why did the emperor have to use caution with Frederick of Saxony?
    4. The Lollards in England, the Hussites in Bohemia, the Cathars in France ... the Roman Catholic Church had encountered heresies before and had crushed them. Why didn't the Church (or the Empire) crush the Lutherans?
    5. A series of events between 1521 and 1547 prevented the execution of the Edict of Worms and guaranteed the maintenance of the so-called "princely liberties." What happened? Do those events represent a failure on the part of imperial government?
    6. Imagine you are the prince of a small territory in the Rhine Valley in 1560. You have an opportunity to convert to any religion you wish and most of your people will follow suit. Which confession do you choose? Why? Describe the steps you take to introduce the Reformation into your principality.
    7. Who was Charles V's family, what did he inherit from both his paternal and maternal grandparents, what lands did he control? In what ways was Charles the most powerful monarch in Europe and in what respects was he not very powerful?
    8. Do some research and find out about the effects of the Thirty Years War.
    9. Make a case that the 30YW was essentially a civil war. Or make the case that it was the last of the wars of religion. Or make the case that it was a war between Hapbsburgs and Valois. Or make up your own case!
  7. Week 6: France
    1. Name the monarchs of France from 1500 to 1700.
    2. What were the political reasons why Protestantism prospered in France up to 1560? Why did Protestantism not continue to prosper?
    3. Was there such a thing as absolutism in France before Louis XIV? Why or why not?
    4. What were France's interests in Flanders?
    5. Why didn't France have a major navy?
    6. France was by far the most populous and richest nation in Europe. Why didn't it simply conquer everyone in sight?
  8. Week 7: The Low Countries
    1. What did the Habsburgs do well in the Low Countries? What did they do badly there?
    2. Explain the differences between the Spanish Netherlands and the United Provinces. With what modern nations do they roughly correspond?
    3. What are Walloons? How does the word relate to the period we are studying? How does it figure in to modern times?
    4. What did the Low Countries have to do with the Spanish Armada?
    5. The Puritans went to the Netherlands as well as to America. What were they doing in the Netherlands?
    6. What flavor of Protestantism is the Dutch Reformed Church?
  9. Week 8: England
    1. In your opinion, how many reformations did England experience? Assign dates, characterize each, and be prepared to defend your position.
    2. Assume you are a Catholic in Elizabethan England. What reasons might you have for staying Catholic? What limitations were placed on the practice of your religion? What consequences were there for you and your family?
    3. Name the monarchs of England from 1500 to 1700. Which were Protestant and which were Catholic?
  10. Week 9: The 17th Century
    1. Compare the civil war in England with the Fronde in France. In what ways were they similar? In what ways were they different? Be sure to consider, causes, course, and consequences.
    2. To what extent was the Thirty Years War a religious conflict? To what extent was it not?
    3. What was the "second" Reformation and what were its watershed events?
    4. What was the nature of the Habsburg-Valois conflict? Why were they fighting and why did the fighting finally come to an end?
    5. What were the important reformers and reform movements of the 17th century?
  11. Week 11: The Balkans, Scandinavia, and political theory
    1. Which monarchy was the weakest?
    2. Which parliamentary assembly was the strongest?
    3. Which parliamentary assembly was the weakest?
    4. Who had the best army?
    5. The Turks were the greatest foreign power that directly threatened Christendom. How did Europeans respond to the threat? What were the key events?
    6. If you were a ruler in 17thc Europe, would you allow religious freedom? If you excluded one or more religions, which would you choose and why? What means of enforcement would you use?
  12. Week 12-13: Society
    1. Draw a picture of the social structure in France. In England. In one other place. Discuss your picture. What sort of image did you use? Do you feel you capture all social roles and positions?
    2. Discuss how family structures and family roles varied across Europe. You should particularly look at variations by social position and by geography. Do you see changes over time?
    3. If you were an aristocrat, which country would you choose to live in? What would be the advantages and disadvantages of your country?
    4. What aspects of social order and social behavior did the reformers seek to influence? Why?
    5. What is it about urban life that might predispose townspeople to be sympathetic towards reform?
    6. Discuss what is a peasant.
    7. Discuss what is a noble.
    8. Discuss what is a burgher.
    9. Who were the marginalized people (the "unrespectable people"—die unehrliche Leute)? What might their relationship or reaction have been to the Reformation?
    10. What was the cause of the Peasants' revolt, and what were its results, both in the religious as well as in the politico-economic spheres?
    11. Imagine yourself a nobleman in southern Germany (or choose another place). Which confession would you adopt and why: Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, Melchior, someone else, or remain Catholic?
    12. Would your answer be different if you were a carpenter in a city?
    13. A rich merchant?
    14. If you were a peasant?
    15. WRT the Declaration of Lawful Sports:
      • What was a "popish recusant"?
      • Who was "our dear father"?
      • Why did Charles feel the need to re-issue the Declaration?
    16. WRT Gregory King's tables: those of you statistically inclined, calculate what percentage of the total population was each class, and what percentage of total yearly income (you'll have to do a bit of calculating to find it) was each class. This will give you an idea of who controlled the wealth. The interesting numbers aren't at the top or bottom; they're in the middling groups.
  13. Week 14-15: Economics
    1. What were the significant changes 1500-1700 in agriculture?
    2. What were the significant changes 1500-1700 in manufacturing?
    3. What were the significant changes 1500-1700 in finance?
    4. What were the significant changes 1500-1700 in trade?
    5. What were the causes and consequences of the price inflation of the 16th century?
    6. For any of the above, did the changes have any sort of relation to the Reformation, directly or indirectly?
    7. If you were a merchant, which country would you choose to live in? What would be the advantages and disadvantages of your country?
    8. In what sense was the Reformation influenced by economic factors? In what sense did the Reformation influence the economy?
  14. Week 16: Conclusion
    1. Take the position of any one of the following: Lutheran, Calvinist, Roman Catholic, Anabaptist. Explain to any one of the other types why they are wrong.
    2. Imagine you are in a village. Describe how the Reformation arrived in your village, how it played out, and how things wound up.
    3. Imagine you are living in a German town in 1560. By what outward signs do you know that one of your neighbors is a Lutheran? A Calvinist? A Catholic?
    4. What is the origin of the word 'protestant', and what did the earlier reformers call themselves?
    5. What did all the reform movements have in common?
    6. Discuss apocalyptic thinking and its relationship to social order.
    7. Why would religious ideas have anything to do with social or political revolution?
    8. What were the key concepts and beliefs of Roman Catholicism?
    9. What were the key steps by which a territory turned Protestant?
    10. Who was Pope Paul III, why did he call the Council of Trent, what was the purpose of the initial debates, which Bible did the Council accept, and what Protestant positions were condemned?
    11. Why were the Jesuits successful?