Prostent Reformation

1. Calamities

Europe experienced a period of dreadful calamities from the early 14th century. These culminated in a devastating pandemic known as the Black Death which hit Europe, killing about one third of the population. Around 1500, the population of Europe was about 60–85 million people—no more than 75 percent of the mid-14th-century demographic maximum. Due to a shortage of workforce, the landlords began to restrict the rights of their tenants which led to rural revolts that often ended with a compromise. The constant fear of unexpected death was mirrored by popular artistic motifs, such as the allegory of danse macabre ('dance of death'). The fear also contributed to the growing popularity of Masses for the dead. Already detectable among early Christians, these ceremonies indicated a widespread belief in purgatory—a transitory state for souls that needed purification before entering heaven.[28] Fear of malevolent magical practice was also growing, and witch-hunts intensified.

2. Late Medieval Christianity

Historian John Bossy (as summarized by Eamon Duffy) emphasized that "medieval Christianity had been fundamentally concerned with the creation and maintenance of peace in a violent world. “Christianity” in medieval Europe denoted neither an ideology nor an institution, but a community of believers whose religious ideal—constantly aspired to if seldom attained—was peace and mutual love. The Catholic Church taught that entry into heaven required dying in a state of grace.[28] Based on Christ's parable on the Last Judgement, the Church considered the performance of good works by the faithful, such as feeding the hungry and visiting the sick, as an important condition of salvation.[33] Villagers and urban laypeople were frequently members of confraternities (such as the Archconfraternity of the Gonfalone,) mutual-support guilds associated with a saint, or religious fraternities (such as the Third Order of Saint Francis.) The faithful made pilgrimages to saints' shrines,[37] but the proliferation in the saints' number undermined their reputation. Church buildings were richly decorated with paintings, sculptures, and stained glass windows. While Romanesque and Gothic art made a clear distinction between the supernatural and the human, Renaissance artists depicted God and the saints in a more human way.

3. Humanism and lay religion

A new intellectual movement known as Humanism emerged in the Late Middle Ages. The Humanists' slogan ad fontes! ('back to the sources!') demonstrated their enthusiasm for Classical texts and textual criticism. The rise of the Ottoman Empire led to the mass immigration of Byzantine scholars to Western Europe, and many of them brought manuscripts previously unknown to western scholarship. This led to the rediscovery of the Ancient Greek philosopher Plato (347/348 BC). Plato's ideas about an ultimate reality lying beyond visible reality posed a serious challenge to scholastic theologians' rigorous definitions. Textual criticism called into question the reliability of some of the fundamental texts of papal privilege: humanist scholars, like Nicholas of Cusa (d. 1464) proved that one of the basic documents of papal authority, the allegedly 4th-century Donation of Constantine was a medieval forgery. New religious movements promoted the deeper involvement of laity in religious practices. The Brethren of the Common Life dissuaded their members' priestly ordination and often placed their houses under the protection of urban authorities. They were closely associated with the devotio moderna, a new method of Catholic spirituality with a special emphasis on the education of laypeople.[93] A leader of the movement the Dutch Wessel Gansfort (d. 1489) attacked abuses of indulgences. As the manufacturing of paper from rags and the printing machine with movable type were spreading in Europe, books could be bought at a reasonable price from the 15th century.[note 20] Demand for religious literature was especially high. The German inventor Johannes Gutenberg (d. 1468) first published a two-volume printed version of the Vulgata in the early 1450s. High and Low German, Italian, Dutch, Spanish, Czech and Catalan translations of the Bible were published between 1466 and 1492; in France, the Bible's abridged French versions gained popularity.[98] Laypeople who read the Bible could challenge their priests' sermons, as it happened already in 1515.

4. Dissidents

After Arianism—a Christological doctrine condemned as heresy at ecumenical councils—disappeared in the late 7th century, no major disputes menaced the theological unity of the Western Church. Religious enthusiasts could organise their followers into nonconformist groups but they disbanded after their founder died.[note 23] The Waldensians were a notable exception. Due to their efficient organisation, they survived not only the death of their founder Peter Waldo (d. c. 1205), but also a series of anti-heretic crusades. They rejected the clerics' monopoly of public ministry, and allowed all trained members of their community, men and women alike, to preach. The Western Schism reinforced a general desire for church reform. The Oxford theologian John Wycliffe (d. 1384) was one of the most radical critics.[107] He attacked pilgrimages, the veneration of saints, and the doctrine of transubstantiation.[108] He regarded the Church as an exclusive community of those chosen by God to salvation,[109] and argued that the state could seize the corrupt clerics' endowments.[110] Known as Lollards, Wycliffe's followers rejected clerical celibacy and the grant of indulgences. The Parliament of England passed a law against heretics, but Lollard communities survived the purges.