Editing Reformation (section)

==Background==

===Calamities===
{{See also|Little Ice Age|Medieval demography|Black Death|Sweating Sickness}}
[[File:Willem Vrelant (Flemish, died 1481, active 1454 - 1481) - Mass for the Dead - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Funeral Mass with priest, choristers, bearers or mourners, and beggar receiving alms ({{circa|1460–1480}})]]

[[Europe]] experienced a period of dreadful calamities from the early {{nowrap|14th century}}. These culminated in a devastating [[pandemic]] known as the [[Black Death]], which killed about one-third of Europe's  population.{{sfn|Lindberg|2021|pp=21–24}} Around 1500, the population of Europe was about {{nowrap|60–85 million}} people—no more than {{nowrap|75 percent}} of the mid-14th-century demographic maximum.{{sfn|Cameron|2012|p=4}} 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.{{sfn|Cameron|2012|pp=204–205}}

[[File:Hrastovlje Dreifaltigkeitskirche Innen Totentanzzyklus 2.JPG|thumb|right|upright=1.35 |alt=A mural depicting a cardinal, a bishop, a monk and a peasant dancing with skeletons|Detail of the {{lang|fr|[[danse macabre]]}} (1490) by [[John of Kastav]] in the [[Holy Trinity Church (Hrastovlje)|Holy Trinity Church]], [[Hrastovlje]], Slovenia]]
The constant fear of unexpected death was mirrored by popular artistic motifs, such as the allegory of {{lang|fr|[[danse macabre]]}} ('dance of death'). The fear also contributed to the growing popularity of [[Requiem|Masses for the dead]].{{sfn|Lindberg|2021|p=24}} Already detectable among [[Early Christianity|early Christians]], these ceremonies indicated a widespread belief in [[purgatory]]—a transitory state for souls that needed purification before entering [[Heaven in Christianity|heaven]].{{sfn|Hamilton|2003|p=97}} Fear of malevolent magical practice was also growing, and [[witch hunt]]s intensified.{{sfn|Gordon|2022|pp=41, 48}}

At the end of the {{nowrap|15th century}}, the [[sexually transmitted infection]] known as [[syphilis]] spread throughout Europe for the first time. Syphilis destroyed its victims' looks with [[Ulcer (dermatology)|ulcers]] and scabs before killing them. Along with the [[Italian War of 1494–1495|French invasion of Italy]], syphilis contributed to the success of the charismatic preacher [[Girolamo Savonarola]] (d. 1498) who called for a moral renewal in [[Florence]]. He was arrested and executed for [[Heresy in Christianity|heresy]], but his [[Christian meditation|meditations]] remained a popular reading.{{sfn|MacCulloch|2003|pp=90–92}}

===Late Medieval Christianity===
{{Further|Christianity in the 13th century|Christianity in the 14th century|Christianity in the 15th century}}
[[File:Fra Filippo Lippi and Workshop, The Nativity, probably c. 1445, NGA 422.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|alt=A baby with a halo around his head lying on hay with a kneeling woman and man on his both sides|''The Nativity'' (1445) by [[Filippo Lippi]]. When painting [[Nativity of Jesus in art|Nativity scenes]], [[Renaissance]] artists mainly portrayed maternal love instead of depicting an abstract interpretation of the [[Incarnation (Christianity)|Incarnation]] as [[Romanesque art|Romanesque]] and [[Gothic art|Gothic]] artists had done.{{sfn|Hamilton|2003|p=84}}]]
====Lay community====
Historian [[John Bossy]] (as summarized by [[Eamon Duffy]]<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Duffy |first1=Eamon |title=Rites of passage |journal=TLS |date=2017 |volume=5941 |url=https://www.the-tls.co.uk/religion/religious-culture/how-historians-have-refashioned-the-reformation}}</ref>) 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."{{refn|group=note|Bossy's economic argument was that feudalism was largely a zero-sum economy where the advantage of one people or class could only be obtained by disadvantaging some other people or class, frequently using or resulting in violence, in contrast to later mercantile and capitalist economies.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bossy |first1=John |title=Christianity in the West, 1400-1700 |date=1985 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford [Oxfordshire] ; New York |isbn=0192891626}}</ref> }} <ref>{{cite journal |last1=Galpern |first1=A. N. |title=Review of Christianity in the West, 1400-1700 |journal=The American Historical Review |date=1986 |volume=91 |issue=5 |pages=1184–1185 |doi=10.2307/1864415 |jstor=1864415 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1864415 |issn=0002-8762|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

The Catholic Church taught that entry into [[Beatific vision|heaven]] required dying in a {{linktext|state of grace}}.{{sfn|Hamilton|2003|p=97}} Based on [[The Sheep and the Goats|Christ's parable on]] the [[Last Judgement]], the Church emphasized the performance of [[good works]] by the baptized faithful, such as feeding the hungry and visiting the sick, as an important co-condition of salvation.{{sfn|Hamilton|2003|p=68}} 

Villagers and urban laypeople were frequently members of  [[confraternities]] (such as the [[Archconfraternity of the Gonfalone]]),<ref>{{cite web |title=Medieval Confraternities: Prayers, Feasts, and Fees |url=https://www.medievalists.net/2021/11/medieval-confraternities-prayers-feasts-and-fees/ |website=Medievalists.net |date=21 November 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Rudy |first1=Kathryn M. |title=Chapter 2: Confraternities of Laypeople |date=12 September 2024 |pages=73–124 |doi=10.11647/obp.0379.02 |doi-access=free}}</ref>{{refn|group=note|According to historian Konrad Eisenbichler, "After the State and the Church, the most well-organised membership system of medieval and early modern Europe was the confraternity—an association of lay persons who gathered regularly to pray and carry out a charitable activity. In cities, towns, and villages it would have been difficult for someone not to be a member of a confraternity, a benefactor of a confraternity's charitable work, or, at the very least, not to be aware of a confraternity's presence in the community."<ref>{{cite book|last1=Eisenbichler |first1=Konrad |title=Introduction: A World of Confraternities, in A Companion to Medieval and Early Modern Confraternities |date=30 January 2019 |pages=1–19 |doi=10.1163/9789004392915_002}}</ref> Another historian notes that confraternities were "the most sweeping and ubiquitous movement of the central and later Middle Ages".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bird |first1=Jessalynn |title=Between Orders and Heresy: Rethinking Medieval Religious Movements, ed. Jennifer Kolpacoff Deane and Anne E. Lester |journal=The English Historical Review |date=14 June 2024 |volume=139 |issue=596 |pages=222–225 |doi=10.1093/ehr/ceae008}}</ref>}} mutual-support [[guilds]] associated with a saint, or religious [[fraternities]] (such as the [[Third Order of Saint Francis]]). The faithful made [[Christian pilgrimage|pilgrimages]] to saints' [[shrine]]s,{{sfn|Cameron|2012|p=14}} but the proliferation in the saints' number undermined their reputation.{{refn|group=note|Saints were often supposed to assist those who faithfully [[supplicated]] and [[Veneration|venerated]] them. There were occurrences where disappointed farmers who thought that an agricultural saint had unjustly failed to assist the weather or harvest dragged down his or her statue or spattered it with mud.{{sfn|Pfaff|2013|pp=196–197}}}}{{sfn|Pfaff|2013|pp=213–214}} There was a strong non-theological Biblical awareness,{{refn|group=note|Historian Frans van Liere asserts that "One cannot understand the medieval world without appreciating the scope of medieval people's engagement with biblical stories, characters, and images.[...]It is a common misconception, especially in Protestant circles, that people (or, at least, the "common" people) in the Middle Ages did not read the Bible." Even in the early Middle Ages, "many people, clergy and laity alike, may have been able to read but not write, and even those who could not were not entirely cut off from the written word, because they could have others read it to them.[...]There was both more illiteracy among the clergy, and more literacy among the laity, than is often supposed.[...]Most medieval Christians came to know the Bible not by reading, but by hearing it."<ref name=introbib>{{cite book |last1=van Liere |first1=Frans |title=An Introduction to the Medieval Bible |publisher=Cambridge University Press|date=31 March 2014 |doi=10.1017/CBO9780511843051.008}}</ref>{{rp|xi,177,179,199,208}}
Historian Eyal Poleg "rejects the Reformers' image of a medieval laity denied access to the Bible. Mediation provided all groups in society, lay and clerical both, with an approach to the Bible, though the understanding of what the Bible was differed for different groups."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=O'Brien |first1=Conor |title=Approaching the Bible in medieval England. By Eyal Poleg. (Manchester Medieval Studies.) Pp. xxi+263 incl. 9 figs, 2 music examples and 2 tables+7 colour plates. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2013. £65. 978 0 7190 8954 1 |journal=The Journal of Ecclesiastical History |date=October 2014 |volume=65 |issue=4 |pages=898–900 |doi=10.1017/S0022046914001067}}</ref> For historian Andrew Gow, "the circulation of vernacular Bibles in late medieval Germany was abundant and ample and thanks to a well-organised manuscript production and the early success of printed press highly accessible to lay people, in particular those living in an urban environment."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Corbellini |first1=Sabrina |last2=van Duijn |first2=Mart |last3=Folkerts |first3=Suzan |last4=Hoogvliet |first4=Margriet |title=Challenging the Paradigms: Holy Writ and Lay Readers in Late Medieval Europe |journal=Church History and Religious Culture |date=2013 |volume=93 |issue=2 |pages=171–188 |doi=10.1163/18712428-13930202 |jstor=23923202 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23923202 |issn=1871-241X|url-access=subscription }}</ref>{{rp|173}}
 }} especially of the Gospels and Psalms.

New religious movements promoted the deeper involvement of laity in religious practices. The communal fraternities of  the [[Brethren of the Common Life]] did not encourage lay brothers to become priests<ref name=post>{{cite book |last1=Post |first1=R.R. |title=The Modern Devotion: Confrontation with Reformation and Humanism |date=1 January 1968 |doi=10.1163/9789004477155_019}}</ref> and often placed their houses under the protection of urban authorities.{{sfn|MacCulloch|2003|p=22}} They were closely associated with the {{lang|la|[[devotio moderna]]}}, a new method of [[Catholic spirituality]] with a special emphasis on the education of laypeople.{{sfn|McGrath|2004|p=22}} A leader of the movement the Dutch [[Wessel Gansfort]] (d. 1489) attacked abuses of indulgences.{{sfn|MacCulloch|2003|p=119}}

Church buildings were richly decorated with paintings, sculptures, and [[stained glass]] windows. While [[Romanesque art|Romanesque]] and [[Gothic art]] made a clear distinction between the supernatural and the human, Renaissance artists depicted [[God in Christianity|God]] and the saints in a more human way.{{sfn|Hamilton|2003|p=83}}  Historian Caroline Walker Bynum has written of 'a sort of religious materialism' in the period: 'a frenzied conviction that the divine tended to erupt into matter'.<ref name=marshall2015/>

====Sources of authority====

The sources of religious authority included the Bible and its authoritative commentaries, [[sacred tradition|apostolic tradition]], decisions by ecumenical councils, [[scholasticism|scholastic]] theology, and papal authority. Catholics regarded the [[Vulgata|Vulgate]] as the Bible's authentic Latin translation. Commentators applied several methods of interpretations to resolve contradictions within the Bible.{{refn|group=note|For instance, Catholic commentators read the [[Law of Moses]] in a symbolic or mystical sense thinking that the Jewish ceremonies and laws were irrelevant for Christians.{{sfn|Hamilton|2003|p=29}}}} Apostolic tradition verified religious practices with unclear Biblical foundations or which required deduction, such as [[infant baptism]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Grass |first1=Tim |title=Bible, Church and Tradition in the 16th Century Reformation |journal=Journal of European Baptist Studies |date=2003 |volume=3 |issue=2}}</ref>{{rp|22,23,28}} The ecumenical councils' decisions were binding to all Catholics. The crucial elements of mainstream Christianity had been first summarised in the [[Nicene Creed]] in 325. Its western text contained a [[Filioque|unilateral addition]] which contributed to the [[East–West Schism|schism between]] Catholicism and [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Eastern Orthodoxy]].{{sfn|Hamilton|2003|pp=24–31, 140}} The Creed contained the dogma of [[Trinity]] about one God uniting three equal persons: [[God the Father|Father]], [[God the Son|Son]], and [[God the Holy Spirit|Holy Spirit]].{{sfn|MacCulloch|2003|p=180}}{{sfn|Hamilton|2003|p=15}} Church authorities acknowledged that an individual might exceptionally receive direct [[revelation]]s from God but maintained that a genuine revelation could not challenge traditional religious principles.{{refn|group=note|A notable example was the Dominican nun [[Catherine of Siena]] (d. 1380) whose revelations convinced Pope {{nowrap|Gregory XI}} to return his seat from Avignon to Rome.{{sfn|Hamilton|2003|p=32}}}}{{sfn|Hamilton|2003|pp=31–32}} Preaching was an [[Bible_translations_in_the_Middle_Ages#Oral_and_extemporised_translation|important part]] of bishops' and priests' responsibilities.{{refn|group=note|There are over 140,000 sermons, given or transcribed into Latin, still extant just from 1150 to 1350.<ref name=introbib/>{{rp|214}}}}

====Clergy====

[[Western Christianity]] displayed a remarkable unity. This was the outcome of the Gregorian Reform that established [[papal supremacy]] over the [[Catholic Church]], and achieved the legal separation of the [[Priesthood in the Catholic Church|Catholic clergy]] from [[Catholic laity|laity]].{{sfn|MacCulloch|2003|pp=26–27}}{{refn|group=note|
The medieval Church operated its own legal system and Roman-law-derived [[Legal_history_of_the_Catholic_Church#Jus_Novum|laws and procedures]] in parallel with the local secular state's legal system: bishops had courts, officers, guards, prisons, etc. These [[Ecclesiastical_court|ecclesiastical courts]] protected priests and religious in various ways from the reach of the distrusted local secular courts and laws, or dealt with laity on issues relating to sacraments, notably marriage and divorce. As well, the Church claimed, but was not always allowed, jurisdiction "over any dispute that arose because one person allegedly wronged another, jurisdiction to protect the poor and unbefriended, and jurisdiction to compensate for the failure of the civil authorities to do justice,[...]and over hard and doubtful cases."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Rodes |first1=Robert |title=Secular Cases in the Church Courts: A Historical Survey |journal=Journal Articles |date=1 January 1989 |url=https://scholarship.law.nd.edu/law_faculty_scholarship/76}}</ref>  On many issues, appeals could be made to the Pope. In England, a parallel parliament for the clergy even arose, largely to keep their taxes independent, but  distinct from the citizens' Parliament: the [[Convocations of Canterbury and York]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Convocation |url=https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/3cb4163c-fa18-4efc-955e-f774d44b5e87 |website=U.K. National Archives |language=English}}</ref> }} [[Clerical celibacy]] was reinforced through the prohibition of [[clerical marriage]]; [[ecclesiastical court]]s were granted exclusive jurisdiction over clerics, and also over matrimonial causes.{{sfn|Hamilton|2003|pp=34–38}} Priests were [[Holy orders in the Catholic Church|ordained]] by bishops in accordance with the principle of [[apostolic succession]]—a claim to the uninterrupted transmission of their consecrating power from Christ's [[Apostles in the New Testament|Apostles]] through generations of bishops.{{sfn|Hamilton|2003|p=33}} Bishops, [[abbot]]s, [[abbess]]es, and other [[prelate]]s might possess remarkable wealth.{{sfn|Gordon|2022|p=2}} Some of the ecclesiastic leaders also functioned as local secular princes, such as the [[prince-bishop]]s in [[Kingdom of Germany]] and the English [[County Palatine of Durham]], and the [[Grand Masters of the Teutonic Knights]] in their [[Baltic region|Baltic]] {{lang|de|[[Ordensstaat]]}}. Other prelates might be regents or the power behind the throne.{{refn|group=note|Examples of exceptionally influential prelates include the Spanish cardinal [[Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros]] (d. 1517), and the German archbishop [[Matthäus Lang von Wellenburg|Matthäus Lang]] (d. 1540).{{sfn|Cameron|2012|p=29}}}}{{sfn|Cameron|2012|p=29}} Believers were expected to pay the [[tithe]] (one tenth of their income) to the Church.{{sfn|MacCulloch|2003|p=35}} Pluralism—the practice of holding multiple Church offices (or [[benefice]]s)—was not unusual. This led to non-residence, and the absent priests' deputies were often poorly educated and underpaid.{{sfn|Hamilton|2003|p=39}}

The clergy consisted of two major groups, the [[regular clergy]] and the [[secular clergy]]. Regular clerics lived under a [[Christian monasticism|monastic]] rule within the framework of a [[Religious order (Catholic)|religious order]];{{sfn|Hamilton|2003|pp=33, 42}} secular clerics were responsible for pastoral care. The Church was a hierarchical organisation. The pope was elected by high-ranking clergymen, the [[Cardinal (Catholic Church)|cardinals]], and assisted by the professional staff of the [[Roman Curia]]. Secular clerics were organised into territorial units known as [[diocese]]s, each ruled by a [[Bishops in the Catholic Church|bishop]] or [[archbishop]].{{refn|group=note|The archbishops were also the heads of [[ecclesiastical province]]s that included several dioceses.{{sfn|Hamilton|2003|p=33}}}} Each diocese was divided into [[Parish (Catholic Church)|parishes]] headed by parish priests who administered most [[sacrament]]s to the faithful.{{sfn|MacCulloch|2003|pp=26–30}} These were sacred rites thought to transfer [[Grace in Christianity|divine grace]] to humankind. The [[Council of Florence]] declared [[Baptism#Catholicism|baptism]], [[Confirmation in the Catholic Church|confirmation]], [[Marriage in the Catholic Church|marriage]], [[Anointing of the Sick in the Catholic Church|extreme unction]], [[Sacrament of Penance|penance]], the [[Eucharist in the Catholic Church|Eucharist]], and priestly ordination as the seven [[sacraments of the Catholic Church]].{{sfn|Cameron|2012|p=12}} Women were not ordained priests but could live as [[nun]]s in [[convent]]s after taking the three monastic vows of [[Evangelical counsels|poverty, chastity, and obedience]].{{sfn|Hamilton|2003|pp=41, 48–49, 88, 97}}

====Papacy====

[[File:Richental Konzilssitzung Muenster.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.35|alt=A pope and about a dozen bishops sitting in a large room.|Meeting of cardinals, bishops and theologians with [[Antipope John XXIII]] ({{reign|1410|1415}}) at the [[Council of Constance]] (from the ''Chronicle of the Council of Constance'' by [[Ulrich of Richenthal]])]]

The authority of the papacy was based on a well-organised system of communication and bureaucracy.{{sfn|Wickham|2016|pp=148–149}} The popes claimed the power of [[binding and loosing]] that Christ [[Matthew 16:19|had reportedly]] granted to [[Peter the Apostle]] (d. {{circa}} 66), and offered [[indulgence]]—the reduction of the penalty in both this world ([[penance]]) and in [[Purgatory]] to contrite and pardoned sinners who e.g. gave alms or went on pilgrimages.{{sfn|Hamilton|2003|pp=107–108}} The popes also granted [[Dispensation (Catholic canon law)|dispensations]] to institutions or individuals, exempting them from certain provisions of [[canon law]] (or ecclesiastic law).{{refn|group=note|For instance, religious orders were regularly exempted of the authority of the bishops, or elderly laypeople could be released of the obligation of [[Fasting and abstinence in the Catholic Church|fasting]].{{sfn|Hamilton|2003|p=39}}}}{{sfn|Hamilton|2003|p=39}} 

From 1309 to 1417, the papacy was in turmoil: various election controversies resulted in the [[Western Schism]] (1378-1417) leading to, at the end, three rival claimant Popes. At the [[Council of Constance]], one of the three popes resigned, his two rivals were deposed, and the newly elected [[Pope Martin V|Martin V]] ({{reign|1417|1431}}) was acknowledged as the legitimate pope throughout Catholic Europe.{{sfn|Wickham|2016|p=213}} The relative authority of [[Conciliarism|popes and ecumenical councils]] was in contest.

The [[Renaissance]] popes were also secular rulers: as princes of the [[Papal States]] in Italy, the popes were deeply involved in the power struggles of the peninsula, and the Italian [[List_of_noble_houses#Italy_and_the_Papal_States|noble houses]] vied for election. These popes frequently caused scandal: [[Pope Alexander VI]] ({{reign|1492|1503}}) appointed [[House of Borgia|his relatives]], among them his own [[Legitimacy (family law)|illegitimate]] sons to high offices; [[Pope Julius II]] ({{reign|1503|1513}}) took up arms to recover papal territories lost during his predecessors' reign,{{sfn|MacCulloch|2003|pp=40–41}} prompting the underground satire ''[[Julius Excluded from Heaven]]''.

In the early [[Age of Exploration]], a succession of popes ([[Nicholas V]], [[Sixtus IV]], {{nowrap|Alexander VI}}) successfully arbitrated territorial disputes between Spain and Portugal outside Europe, notably with the [[papal bull]] [[Inter caetera|Inter caetera]] (1493) drawing a line through South America to separate their trade and colonial regions.{{sfn|Kaufmann|2023|pp=14–15}}{{sfn|MacCulloch|2003|pp=64–65}} The Spanish and Portuguese conquests and developing trade networks contributed to the global expansion of Catholicism.{{refn|group=note|The baptism of [[Nzinga a Nkuwu]], [[Kingdom of Kongo|King of Kongo]] ({{reign|1470|1509}}) in 1491 is the earliest example. By the end of the rule of his son [[Afonso I of Kongo|Alfonso I]] ({{reign|1509|1543}}), about {{nowrap|2 million}} people received baptism in Kongo.{{sfn|Ditchfield|2022|p=198}}}}{{sfn|Ditchfield|2022|p=198}} 

The popes were generous patrons of art and architecture. {{nobr|Julius II}} ordered the demolition of the ruined [[Old St. Peter's Basilica|4th-century St. Peter's Basilica]] in preparation for the building of a [[St. Peter's Basilica|new Renaissance basilica]], creating a financial problem.{{sfn|Gordon|2022|p=9}}

====Partial and failed institutional reforms====

The necessity of a church reform {{lang|la|in capite et membris}} ('in head and limbs') was frequently discussed at the ecumenical councils from the late {{nowrap|13th century}}. However, many high stakeholders—popes, prelates, abbots and kings—preferred the {{lang|la|status quo}} because they did not want to lose privileges or revenues.{{sfn|Cameron|2012|pp=44–45}} The system of papal dispensations proved a continual obstacle to the implementation of each revived reform attempt, as the [[Holy See]] had regularly granted privileges or immunities.{{sfn|Hamilton|2003|p=39}}

Within regular clergy, the so-called "[[Congregation (group of houses)|congregations]] of strict observance" spread. These were monastic communities that returned to the strict interpretation of their order's rule.{{refn|group=note|A good example is the Benedictine congregation that began with the reform of monastic life at the [[Abbey of Santa Giustina]] in [[Padua]] under the auspices of the Venetian nobleman [[Ludovico Barbo]] (d. 1443). By 1505, the congregation included nearly 50 abbeys, and had an effect on the reform of further monasteries, such as [[Fontevraud Abbey]] and [[Marmoutier Abbey, Tours|Marmoutier Abbey]] in France.{{sfn|Cameron|2012|pp=47–48}}}} Reformist bishops tried to discipline their clergy through regular [[canonical visitation]]s but their attempts mainly failed due to the resistance of autonomous institutions such as [[cathedral chapter]]s. Neither could they exercise authority over non-resident clerics who had received their benefice from the papacy.{{sfn|Cameron|2012|pp=47–53}} On the eve of the Reformation, the [[Fifth Council of the Lateran]] was the last occasion when efforts to introduce a far-reaching reform from above could have achieved but it was dissolved in 1517 without making decisions on the issues that would soon come to the fore.{{sfn|MacCulloch|2003|pp=84–85}}

===Humanism===
{{Main|Renaissance humanism}}
{{See also|Complutensian Polyglot Bible|Northern Renaissance}}

[[File:Holbein-erasmus.jpg|thumb|right|alt=A middle-aged man with a book in his hands wearing a fur coat and a fur hat|''[[Portrait of Erasmus of Rotterdam]]'' by [[Hans Holbein the Younger]] (d. 1543)]]

A new intellectual movement known as [[Renaissance humanism|Humanism]] emerged in the [[Late Middle Ages]]. The Humanists' slogan {{lang|la|[[ad fontes]]!}} ('back to the sources!') demonstrated their enthusiasm for [[classical antiquity|Classical]] texts and [[textual criticism]].{{sfn|Kaufmann|2023|pp=48–50}} The [[rise of the Ottoman Empire]] led to the mass immigration of [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] scholars to Western Europe, and many of them brought [[manuscript]]s previously unknown to western scholarship. This led to the [[Platonism in the Renaissance|rediscovery of]] the Ancient Greek philosopher [[Plato]] ({{nobr|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.{{sfn|MacCulloch|2003|pp=75–79}}

As the [[Paper mill|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 {{nowrap|15th century}}.{{refn|group=note|The price of the books decreased by about 85 per cent after printing machines started to work.{{sfn|Rubin|2014|p=6}}}} Demand for religious literature was especially high.{{sfn|MacCulloch|2003|pp=68–70}} The German inventor [[Johannes Gutenberg]] (d. 1468) first published a [[Gutenberg Bible|two-volume printed version]] of the Vulgata in the early 1450s.{{sfn|Gordon|2022|pp=8, 18, 29}} [[High German languages|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.{{sfn|MacCulloch|2003|pp=70–71}} Laypeople who read the Bible could challenge their priests' sermons, as it happened already in 1515.{{sfn|Gordon|2022|p=30}}

Completed by [[Jerome]] (d. 420), the Vulgate contained the [[Septuagint]] version of the [[Old Testament]].{{sfn|Hamilton|2003|pp=27–28}} The systematic study of Biblical manuscripts revealed that Jerome had sometimes misinterpreted his sources of translation.{{refn|group=note|The Vulgate text of [[Exodus 34]] is a well known case of Jerome's mistranslations: the Hebrew text writes of [[Moses]]'s shining face when narrating the revelation of the [[Ten Commandments]] whereas Jerome describes Moses as wearing a pair of horns as he mistook a Hebrew [[function word]].{{sfn|MacCulloch|2003|p=79}}}}{{sfn|MacCulloch|2003|p=79}} A series of Latin-Greek [[Novum Instrumentum omne|editions of the New Testament]] was completed by the Dutch humanist [[Erasmus]] (d. 1536). These new Latin translations challenged some scriptural [[proof texts]] for some Catholic dogmas.{{refn|group=note|For instance, Erasmus's translations did not support the traditional [[proof text]] for the concepts of [[Infused righteousness|infused grace]]<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Schwarz |first1=W. |title=Examples of Luther's Biblical Translation |journal=The Journal of Theological Studies |date=1955 |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=199–209 |doi=10.1093/jts/VI.2.199 |jstor=23952721 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23952721 |issn=0022-5185|url-access=subscription }}</ref> and the treasury of merit, by choosing the adjective {{lang|la|gratiosa}} ('gracious') instead of the traditional {{lang|la|gratia plena}} ('full of grace') to address the Virgin Mary in the Latin text of the ''[[Hail Mary]]''.{{sfn|MacCulloch|2003|p=96}}}}{{sfn|MacCulloch|2003|pp=95–97}}

===Dissidents===

{{Main|Proto-Protestantism}}

{{see also|List of Christian heresies|Wycliffe's Bible|Compactata}}

[[File:Burning of Jan Hus during the Council of Constance in 1415 (depicted in the Chronik des Konstanzer Konzils; Prague manuscript).png|thumb|right|alt=A man wearing a hat depicting two demonic figures is being burned. He is surrounded by armed people.|Burning of [[Jan Hus]] at [[Bishopric of Constance|Constance]] (from the ''Chronicle of the Council of Constance'' by [[Ulrich of Richenthal]])]]

After [[Arianism]]—a [[Christology|Christological doctrine]] condemned as [[Heresy in Christianity|heresy]] at ecumenical councils—disappeared in the late {{nowrap|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.{{refn|group=note|One of the enthusiasts, [[Henry of Lausanne]] (d. {{circa}} 1148) persuaded French prostitutes to repent their sins, but opposed confessions, and attacked the wealth of the clergy. Although his calls for a church reform attracted many commoners, his movement quickly disintegrated when he died.{{sfn|Hamilton|2003|p=130}}}} The [[Waldensians]] were a notable exception. Due to their efficient organisation, they survived not only the death of their founder [[Peter Waldo]] (d. {{circa}} 1205), but also a series of [[Albigensian Crusades|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.{{sfn|Hamilton|2003|pp=3, 129–135}}

The [[Western Schism]] reinforced a general desire for church reform. The [[University of Oxford|Oxford]] theologian [[John Wycliffe]] (d. 1384) was one of the most radical critics.{{sfn|Marshall|2009|p=4}} He attacked pilgrimages, the veneration of saints, and the doctrine of transubstantiation.{{sfn|Hamilton|2003|pp=135–136}} He regarded the Church as an exclusive community of those chosen by God to salvation,{{sfn|Cameron|2012|p=81}} and argued that the state could seize the corrupt clerics' endowments.{{sfn|Lindberg|2021|p=43}} Known as [[Lollards]], Wycliffe's followers rejected images, clerical celibacy and the [[Twelve_Conclusions_of_the_Lollards#Tenth_conclusion:_war,_battle,_and_crusades|purchase of indulgences]] by crusading lords. The [[Parliament of England]] passed a [[De heretico comburendo|law against heretics]], but Lollard communities survived the purges.{{sfn|Cameron|2012|p=81}}{{sfn|Hamilton|2003|p=136}}

Wycliffe's theology had a marked impact on the [[Charles University|Prague]] academic [[Jan Hus]] (d. 1415). He delivered popular sermons against the clerics' wealth and temporal powers, for which he was summoned to the Council of Constance. Although the German king [[Sigismund of Luxemburg]] ({{reign|1410|1437}}) had granted him safe conduct, Hus was sentenced to death for heresy and [[death by burning|burned at the stake]] on 6 July 1415. His execution led to a [[Bohemian Reformation|nationwide religious movement]] in [[Lands of the Bohemian Crown|Bohemia]], and the papacy called for a [[Hussite Wars|series of crusades]] against Hus's followers. The moderate [[Hussitism|Hussites]], mainly [[Czech nobility|Czech aristocrats]] and academics, were known as [[Utraquism|Utraquists]] for they taught that the Eucharist was to be administered {{lang|la|sub utraque specie}} ('in both kinds') to the laity. The most radical Hussites, called [[Taborites]] after their new town of [[Tábor]], held their property in common. Their [[millenarianism]] shocked the Utraquists who destroyed them in the [[Battle of Lipany]] in 1434.{{sfn|Wickham|2016|pp=246–247}}{{sfn|Cameron|2012|pp=76–77}} By this time, the remaining Catholic communities in Bohemia were almost exclusively German-speaking. The lack of a Hussite church hierarchy enabled the Czech aristocrats and urban magistrates to assume control of the Hussite clergy from the 1470s. The radical Hussites set up their own Church known as the [[History of the Moravian Church#15th century|Union of Bohemian Brethren]]. They rejected the separation of clergy and laity, and condemned all forms of violence and oath taking.{{sfn|MacCulloch|2003|pp=36–37}}

Marshall writes that the Lollards, Hussites and conciliarist theologians "collectively give the lie to any suggestion that torpor and complacency were the hallmarks of religious life in the century before Martin Luther."{{sfn|Marshall|2009|p=4}} Historians customarily refer to Wycliffe and Hus as "Forerunners of the Reformation". The two reformers' emphasis on the Bible is often regarded as an early example of one of the basic principles of the Reformation—the idea {{lang|la|[[sola scriptura]]}} ('by the [[Scriptures]] alone'), although prominent scholastic theologians were also convinced that Scripture, interpreted reasonably and in accord with the Church and the [[Church Fathers]],<ref>{{cite web |last1=Minges |first1=Parthenius |title=John Duns Scotus |url=https://www.catholic.com/encyclopedia/john-duns-scotus |website=Catholic Encyclopedia |publisher=Catholic Answers}}</ref> contained all knowledge necessary for salvation.{{refn|group=note|For instance, [[Duns Scotus]] (d. 1308) stated that "theology does not concern anything except what is contained in Scripture, and what may be drawn from this," though this does not equate theology and Bibe study.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bychkov |first1=Oleg |title=The Nature of Theology in Duns Scotus and his Franciscan Predecessors |journal=Franciscan Studies |date=2008 |volume=66 |issue=1 |pages=5–62 |doi=10.1353/frc.0.0007 |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/257394 |issn=1945-9718}}</ref> Theologians associated with the [[Augustinians|Augustinian Order]] such as Gregory of Rimini rarely cited other sources of faith.{{sfn|McGrath|2004|pp=138, 144–145}}}}{{sfn|McGrath|2004|pp=137–138}}