Church History Around 1500

By Phil Newton

The years leading up to the Reformation demonstrate drastic changes taking place in the world. The feudalistic system of the middle ages began to wane as kings asserted their rule so that noblemen and lords gave loyalty to their kings. Governments became more centralized, still with all under the influence of the Roman See. Corruptions multiplied throughout the Catholic Church, with bishoprics and cardinal's red hats sold to the highest bidder. Money-and the greed associated with it-and power led the day.

The Renaissance affected positively and negatively the thinking and actions of the European world. From a positive standpoint, a revival of classical learning that emphasized languages, philosophy, science, and reason emerged from the ignorance and scholasticism of the middle ages. Negatively, a rise in paganism, moral lasciviousness and attention to man led to spiritual and moral declines. Humanism began as a philosophy of life. It had two implications. There were classical humanists that valued studying what we would call the liberal arts today. They studied language, mathematics, science, and the arts. Education was valued as a necessity for the common man rather than only the clergy and the elite. But there were also humanists that turned from a God-centered world to a man-centered world. Man and his desires became supreme; God only figured in as a support of man's pursuits to satisfy his own cravings.

How do we account for the influence of the Catholic Church in this era? For 600-700 years, the Roman church had sought to dominate the European, North African, and Western Asia world. The crusades asserted Catholic power in the Middle East but with only mixed results-more loss than gain. The image left by the Crusades continues to our own day with any movement by Western countries into the Islamic world considered to be another "crusade" against Islam. Since the Catholic Church wedded military power in that era, the same view of Moslem countries continues today with their inability to distinguish between church and state. Therefore, whenever our nation is involved in conflict with an Islamic nation, it is religious war, like it or not.

 

Reviewing a Few Popes

Luther was correct in calling the papacy of the Renaissance "the Babylonian Captivity of the Church." Emphasis on true spirituality, study of Scripture, soundness of doctrine, and purity of life was virtually non-existent among the papacy, with only a sprinkling of it among the priests. So many had bought their way into the priesthood and bishoprics and abbots that seriousness about faith in Christ was the last thing on their minds. Gaining advantage materially and using position for aggrandizement and lusts were the priorities.

Nicholas V (1447-1455) sought Roman political control over Italian states. He did want Rome to be the world's intellectual capitol, and to this end brought in the best authors and artists. His personal library was considered the best in Europe. But he also held power in an iron hand, executing any that opposed him.

Calixtus III (1455-1458) was the first of the Borgian popes of Spain. He concentrated on military exploits, desiring to be a "great secular prince" to the neglect of priestly responsibilities. "During his reign, nepotism reached new heights," [Gonzalez 371] with one key appointment being a grandson to the cardinal's position, with that grandson later becoming the infamous Alexander VI.

Pius II (1458-1464) has been described as "the last of the Renaissance popes to take his office seriously" (Gonzalez 371). Though he lacked any great achievements of buildings or budgets, he also did not denigrate his position through corruption or nepotism.

Paul II (1464-1471) was nephew of Eugene IV, who decided that the life of a churchman looked better than his own occupation in trade. "His main interest was collecting works of art-particularly jewelry and silver.  His penchant for luxury became proverbial, and his concubines were publicly acknowledged in the papal court" [Gonzalez 371]. He spent much of his papal wealth on restoring the monuments of pagan Rome.

Sixtus IV (1471-1484) promised gifts and privileges to the cardinals in exchange for electing him as pope. He raised the level of corruption and nepotism even above that of Calixtus III. His focus was to elevate his 5 nephews in church life. One later became Pope Julius II. Another, Pietro Riario, was made cardinal of Florence, Italy at age 26 against the wishes of the powerful Lorenzo de Medici. This put the papacy and the Medici family at odds, and Pietro Riario in a position as a Medician enemy. Eventually, Pietro and his brother were involved in a plot to assassinate Lorenzo and his brother, Giovanni. The latter was killed during a mass on Easter Sunday, with Lorenzo escaping though being wounded. After the failure to kill Lorenzo, the Medici machine rounded up the Riario brothers and over 100 others involved in the plot, and put them to death, with some hung out of the city tower, naked and flayed. The pope excommunicated the city of Florence and mounted a military campaign against the city. To fund all of his forays and his greedy nephews, the pope placed a heavy tax on wheat, keeping the best wheat for the papal coffers, and selling the lowest quality for the Roman population to make bread. Ironically, Sixtus, with all of his corruption, is fondly remembered for building the chapel named for him, the Sistine Chapel.

Innocent VIII (1484-1492) vowed at his installment not to put more than one family member into high office, but after becoming pope, he decided that the papacy was not bound by an oath since supreme power rested in him. He openly acknowledged his illegitimate children, whom he also "heaped honors and riches" [Gonzalez 372]. He put one of his sons in charge of his shameless sale of indulgences. He also put to death hundreds of innocent women after ordering a "witch hunt" for witches in the Roman territory.

The most corrupt of the popes arguably was Alexander VI (1492-1503), who was a cardinal under his uncle Calixtus III's appointment. He was Rodrigo Borgia of Spanish origin. Gonzales comments, that Alexander VI "was said to commit publicly all the capital sins-except gluttony, for his digestion was not good" [373]. His several concubines were actually, legally the wives of men in his court. He fathered several children and publicly owned up to them. The most famous were Cesare, who murdered his sister's fiance and his daughter, Lucrezia whom he married off to a Sforza warlord at the age of 13, then annulled the marriage so that he could betroth her to the king of Naples' nephew for political expediency. This one Cesare murdered, along with others whom he murdered and maimed. It was Alexander that excommunicated Savonarola after the Florentine preacher accused the papal throne of corruption. "You harlot Church, ou used to be ashamed of pride and lasciviousness," Savonarola rang out. "Now you are ashamed no longer. See how once the priests called their children nephews; now they are called sons, not nephews; sons everywhere." Alexander boasted, "I am an honest man, I frankly admit that my children are not my nephews. I love them dearly" [Brian Monyhan 337]. At least Savonarola was honest when declaring that the pope was not only an illegitimate pope but not a Christian one either [ibid]. Supposedly, his death was caused by drinking by accident a potent he had prepared for another that he wanted to kill. Though Cesare wanted the throne, he died of the same potent or disease, whichever it might have been. The next pope lasted only 26 days before dying and being replaced (Pius III who sought to make reforms).

Julius II (1503-1513) took his name after the mighty Roman general/leader, Julius Caesar. He was more interested in military pursuits and as an art patron than in the spiritual duties of the papacy. He commissioned Michelangelo to paint the Sistine Chapel and Raphael to decorate the Vatican with his renowned frescoes [Gonzales 373]. Julius was more at home with armor and lance than with mitre and prayer missal. "Machiavelli thought him a paragon of princely guile, courage, and ruthlessness" [Monyhan 341]. He was known as il terrible for his violence shown to those displeasing him. He was the one that began building St. Peter's, laying the foundation stone for the largest church in Christendom. Michelangelo offered a poem on Julius to express his own sentiments:

Of chalices they make helmet and sword

And sell by the bucket the blood of the Lord.

His cross, his thorns are blades in poisoned dipped

And even Christ himself is of all patience stripped [Monyhan 343].

Having fathered 3 children as a cardinal, his excesses caught up with him as he suffered from syphilis. His savagery in military exploits and immoral behavior inspired Erasmus to mock his papacy.

Leo X (1513-1521) was a chip off the old block, being the son of Lorenzo de Medici, who had purchased an abbot's position for his son when he was only 7 years old, canon of the church at 8, and by the time he was 13, he donned the red hat of the cardinal's rank, again, by his father's wealth. Leo patronized the arts, just as his father had done. He was unsuccessful in political and military advances that Julius had started. But, after an attempt on his life by the Cardinal of Siena and the papal doctor, he had both men executed rather viciously, and then made 31 new cardinals in one day in 1517. Since these positions were typically bought, it added to his financial base as well as his power base. He controlled the cardinals. He also swelled the ranks of papal pulembatores, who put lead seals on documents, to over three times the number that Sixtus held. Each of them paid for their position, so he used his position for gain-big gain!One theologian and historian wrote, "He would have been a perfect pope if to these accomplishments he had added even the slightest knowledge of religion" [Monyhan 344].

The legacy he sought to leave was completing the basilica of St. Peter's in Rome. But having spent lavishly on art and entertainment of every sort, the papal coffers were running dry and his credit worthless. Attended by nearly 700 courtiers, regular entertainment, and a virtual zoo following him, Leo exhausted Julius' financial reserves in two years. Leo began a campaign of selling papal indulgences to finance his building project and other papal pursuits. Johann Tetzel became his master seller of indulgences in which peasants and others could buy time out of purgatory through purchasing indulgences. He gave parish priests prepared sermons that explained,

That every mortal sin required seven years of penance even after confession and contrition. They were then to ask their parishioners how many sins they committed each day, each week, month, year, how many in a lifetime. The total would be infinite, and infinite would be the penance that must be suffered. The sales pitch followed. "Won't you part with even a farthing to buy this letter? It won't bring you money but rather a divine and immortal soul, whole and secure in the Kingdom of Heaven." [Monyhan 346]

 All was going well on this except for the emergence of a priest in Wittenburg-Martin Luther. Leo is known for his opposition to Luther, and his attempts to silence him through a mock religious trial and having Luther killed. But Frederick the Wise, elector of Saxony, took the position of Luther's protector, and foiled the plans of Leo. Luther said of Leo, " in him who calls himself most holy and most spiritual, there is more worldliness than in the world itself" [Monyhan 344].

 

Erasmus

All of the Reformers-Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, Tyndale, Farrell, and others-owed a great debt to Erasmus of Rotterdam. The illegitimate son of a parish priest and physician's daughter, he grew up in Holland and was early on set apart for the monastery. He was taught Latin as a boy, and so loved the language that he virtually abandoned Dutch to embrace the language of scholarship and the printed page. He drank in the Latin books available to him. He gave in to becoming a monk because a relative in the monastery told him of their fine library. He spent his days in study but disliked greatly the habits and extremes of the monks. "He became secretary to a French bishop" when 26, and then entered into the university of Paris [David Bentley-Taylor, My Dear Erasmus, 12]. But he was so educated on his own that he surpassed his teachers at the university. He embraced the new humanism-not one that was anti-Christian-but one that put "emphasis on man rather than God, on earth in preference to heaven, and on secular interests instead of predominantly religious considerations" [Bentley-Taylor 13].

To help with finances, he engaged in tutoring rich children, with one being a young Englishman that was the tutor of the future king, Henry VIII. This led to contacts with England, which led to him eventually being invited to Oxford. Here he was greatly influenced by John Colet, who encouraged his studies but not without accompanying endeavor to live a holy and pure life. Erasmus kept up this pursuit throughout his life, counting the counsel of John Colet to be most valued.

Jerome was his favorite church father, whom he translated throughout his days. Also, since Jerome mastered Greek, Erasmus began that study as well in 1500. By 1502 he could say, "the study of Greek absorbs me completely" [B-T 24]. He even began to translate Greek works into Latin. The Greek satirist, Lucian, held strong appeal for Erasmus, who took up the same practice, writing notable satires that were reprinted often.

His first Christian work was The Handbook of the Christian Soldier (which Tyndale translated into English in his early days). "I wrote it solely to counteract the error of those who make religion consist in rituals and observances but are astonishingly indifferent to matters that have to do with true goodness. What I have tried to do is to teach a method of morals" [B-T 27]. It included 22 rules for living the Christian life consistently, and remedies for 6 common temptations. He criticized Catholic pilgrimages as useless, as well as lighting candles, prostration before statues, having relics of the cross or the bones of Paul, or other relics in one's possession. He also exposed the wearing of religious clothes and special diets as being efforts to win God's favor, though futile. "Being sprinkled with a few drops of holy water is useless unless you clean up the inner defilement of the soul," he wrote [ibid 29]. He even took aim at the hypocrisy of priests, "God will hate your flabby religion. In private you are more pagan than pagans" [ibid].

In 1509, Erasmus wrote, In Praise of Folly, a book that was to be reprinted 40 times in his lifetime. His musings cover a range of subjects, written in satirical fashion. It is a take-off on the personification of wisdom in the Bible, but using folly to unveil human foibles and foolishness. In it he is able, through tongue and cheek, to criticize even the papacy for its many indulgences and worldliness. He proved himself to be "an ecclesiastical rebel" by the book's contents [B-T 47].

In 1514 he completed his most important work, one that he would revise several times as well-the Greek New Testament. He collated a number of Greek manuscripts, putting it together with some critical notes about the manuscripts, and had it published. It created a revolution at Cambridge and a lesser degree at Oxford, and also on the Continent. Students began reading the Word of God for themselves in the original language, and were smitten by its richness and power. Many were converted simply by reading it for themselves. Luther used it in his study, and later in his translation of the New Testament into German. Tyndale used it to translate the New Testament into English. At least among those in the academies of England and Europe, as well as those educated in Greek, Erasmus' Greek NT became the foundation for the Reformation.

Additionally, Erasmus wielded his pen often to criticize the papacy, indulgences, corrupt priests and monks, superstitions, neglect of Scripture, etc. He commended Luther in the early days for his writings against indulgences and the corruptions of the papacy, though in later days, probably fearing for his life, he made sure that he remained Catholic.

Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and you do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For web posting, a link to this document on our website is preferred. Any exceptions to the above must be explicitly approved by South Woods Baptist Church.

Please include the following statement on any distributed copy:

Copyright South Woods Baptist Church. Website: www.southwoodsbc.org. Used by permission as granted on web site. Questions, comments, and suggestions about our site can be sent here.