Martin Luther ; Henry VIII

The Catholic Church has begun to sell indulgences, a way to pay off sins to reduce time in purgatory, to raise money. A monk who is outraged by the pope tricking innocent worshipers into falling for his trap writes down a list of 95 reasons why the church has become corrupt by the light of a scroll and furiously hammers them to the door ofa German church. Meanwhile in England, a king is denied an annulment to his marriage.

In a fit of anger, he removes the church's uthority and writes up his own religion for his land and people, with himself as to rule. A monk and a king; Martin Luther and King Henry VIII; two souls of polar opposites who broadened Europe's worldviews of religion with their gifts of Protestantism and the Anglican Church. Martin Luther, born in Germany in 1483, was a man of logic: he studied law, as guided by his father, but longed to learn about religion. One night in 1505, he was caught in a horrid lightning storm. He prayed to God, promising to become a monk if he left this storm alive and unharmed.

He followed his word and taught peacefully. However, in 1 516, one of the catholic pope's commissioners was sent to Germany to sell and collect indulgences. This angered Luther because many of his people stopped attending church services, believing that since they had paid off indulgences, they had no need to ask forgiveness within the pews. He thought that since they would do this that they instead would spend more of an eternity in purgatory. On October 31, 1517, he began to write the 95 Theses, a list of reasons why the Catholic Church was corrupt in their intentions.

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He posted these onto the oor of his church with the intended audience to Just be the priest and a few others. However, because of the invention of the Printing Press, copies of Luther's works were printed and spread across Germany- eventually Europe and into the hands of the pope. People related to Luther's thoughts and this began Protestantism. Luther's journey wasn't over for him yet, though. After numerous warnings from the pope to take back what he had said, Pope Leo X excommunicated him in 1920. In 1521, Luther was called by a council of people, known as the Diet of Worms, for him to be tried as heretic.

When he continued to stand by his word, he was declared an outlaw and went into hiding once returning to Germany. Meanwhile across the pond, Henry VIII had problems of his own. After taking the throne and marrying his brother's wife, he had the dilemma of being unable to have a son produced between them. Henry turned to the Pope for a marriage annulment, but was denied ofa divorce. Henry didn't want to hear 'no' for an answer, so he called forth the Reformation Parliament to declare England to be no longer under the control of the Pope.

The Acts of Parliament closed down the monasteries and put Henry in charge of the church, which was known as the Anglican Church. Out of his took the throne, Protestantism began to take root. It was not until when Henrys daughter, Mary, took the throne that England was returned to the Pope's authority. Luther never wanted to start a war against the church; he Just wanted them to let him and his beliefs in. In contrast, Henry wanted to show the church that he had the power and could do what he wanted.

Henry desired to have a new church to control or his desires while Luther only wanted to help change the church (though this did not go in his favor). The Protestant Reformation combined both Luther and Henry VIII's works as well as other scholars. In the end, Europe, and even the world, would never be the same if it weren't for Martin Luther and Henry VIII making adaptions on their own. Without the Catholic Church putting up the walls for Henry or tainting the public to Luther, we would never have such diffusion between religions and cultures to add variety to our ancestors' everyday lives and ours.

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