The Counter-Reformation: a summary of the counter-reformation of the Catholic Church that reformed ecclesiastical institutions following the Protestant Reformation.
As Protestant doctrines spread throughout Europe, Rome responded with condemnations and excommunications, thus giving rise to the Counter-Reformation. The most representative event of the Catholic response to the Protestant Reformation was the Council of Trent in 1545, convened by Pope Paul III.
THE COUNCIL OF TRENT
The Council of Trent aimed to counter the theses of the Protestants through the repression of heretics with the Inquisition, the ecclesiastical tribunal that instituted trials for heresy often on the basis of confessions extorted through torture, or through the Index of Prohibited Books, an instrument of repression in the cultural field. The Index indicated all the books whose content was considered heretical or suspected of heresy. In addition to the books of Luther and Calvin , the writings of Erasmus of Rotterdam were also included , even though he had never adhered to the Reformation, and many editions of the Bible written in the vernacular.
After the Council of Trent , religious wars arose against heretics, Protestants and Huguenots (French Protestants) with the aim of creating religious uniformity. The greatest supporter of these wars was Philip II of Habsburg, son of Charles V. Philip II
‘s internal policy was aimed at consolidating the authority of the Monarchy . The absolutist tendency and the construction of a strong decision-making center in the Spanish capital Madrid were however balanced by a compromise with the local aristocracies to which autonomy was granted.
Another characteristic of Philip II’s policy was to constantly intervene in all the religious wars that were fought in Europe. Since the time of the crusade of the Reconquista , the Pope gave the Spanish kings the power to command the Inquisition, Philip used this power to be able to give religious uniformity to his monarchy, so he began to persecute not only the few Protestants present in Spain but also the Muslims (Moriscos) and the Jews, both forced to renounce their faith by the Catholic kings.
THE SPANISH SITUATION
The Moriscos, however, were suspected of secretly professing their original religion and of being in alliance with the Turks. In 1568 a revolt by the Moriscos broke out which the Spanish were able to suppress with difficulty and deported the Moriscos from Granada to other cities on the Iberian peninsula. However , Spain’s strong political power did not correspond to an equal economic solidity. Already in the 16th century, problems such as insufficient tax revenues emerged. Philip increased the tax burden by also subjecting the church’s possessions to it. Loans from major bankers helped support the sovereign’s finances, but to meet the creditors’ expectations, Philip was forced to fully commit the crown’s American revenues . However, this was not enough to prevent frequent bankruptcies . The economic and financial weakness of the crown was further aggravated by the persecution of Jews and Muslims who constituted the majority of artisans, merchants and farmers.
Upon the death of Henry VIII , the founder of Anglicanism, his son Edward VI, known as the boy king due to his young age, ascended to the throne of England. After his death at the age of 16, there was an attempt to restore Catholicism in which Mary I Tudor, the Catholic daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon , took part. Having married Philip II, she inspired a merciless persecution of English Protestants, so much so that she was called Bloody Mary .
The absolutism and Anglicanism of Henry VIII were revived by Elizabeth I , daughter of the king and Anne Boleyn . During her reign England experienced intense economic and cultural development. Although she was not a religious fanatic, Elizabeth carried forward the Anglican church by reinstating the prayer book, and with the Act of Supremacy reaffirmed the superiority of the crown over the English church. After Mary’s death, the Catholic Philip III tried to marry Elizabeth but she always refused to marry so as not to be influenced by the marriage.
Elizabeth’s Anglican choice, although pursued with a good dose of tolerance, aroused not only the aversion of Catholics but also that of Calvinists who did not want the church to depend on the king. Elizabeth availed herself of the help of a limited number of advisors and resorted to parliament as little as possible; the queen also knew how to gain the consensus of the emerging social classes by implementing a policy of economic development. The establishment of the London stock exchange and colonial expansion with the foundation of Virginia in North America in 1584 and the constitution of the East India Company in 1600 date back to the same period .
THE EDICT OF NANTES
On the night of August 24, 1572, the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre took place, in which the Huguenots were exterminated. In 1598, the Edict of Nantes was issued , an edict which stated that Paris and its surrounding 14 km were Catholic and that religious freedom reigned in the rest of the kingdom.
