Lesson video

Hello and welcome to today's history lesson.

My name is Mr. Merrett and I'll be guiding you through today's lesson.

So let's get started.

Today's lesson is looking at Martin Luther and the Lutheran Reformation, and by the end of today's lesson, we'll be able to explain how Martin Luther began the Reformation.

In order to do that, we need to use some key terms.

And our key terms for today are indulgence, church, excommunicated, and Reformation.

Indulgences were something that medieval Christians could buy from the church in the belief that it would reduce their time in Purgatory.

The church is the organization of the Christian religion.

To be excommunicated means to be banned from church services and the community.

And the Reformation was a 16th century movement calling for the reform of the church.

Today's lesson will consist of two separate learning cycles, and our first learning cycle will be answering the question, who was Martin Luther?

So let's get going.

So to begin with, before we answer the question, who was Martin Luther?

We need to understand the context in which Luther lived.

Now, during the time of of Luther, which is the 16th century, a variety of issues were plaguing the church.

For example, there's the lack of education that many parish priests received and that left them unable to properly understand and explain the lessons that the Bible taught.

Now this was a problem because if people could not follow the Bible's teachings, then they could not be guaranteed a place in heaven.

Some members of the church were also known to act in immoral ways.

For instance, many high ranking priests had multiple children.

And this is partly due to the practice of simony, which means the selling of positions in the church.

And the reason being is that important positions were often sold to the sons of rich nobles who wanted the power and the wealth that these positions bought them rather than joining the church for spiritual reasons.

The Pope himself was also criticized having too much power over the monarchs of Europe.

And another major problem was the selling of indulgences.

And just to put it into context again, the price for an indulgence was roughly half a year's wages for an average peasant.

And this meant that the rich could buy their way into heaven, but the poor could not.

The church religious practices were also a course of complaints.

The cults of saints encouraged people to go on expensive pilgrimages to pray over the reds of saints.

And these were reported to perform miracles or to heal the sick, even though there were frequently multiple relics all claiming to be the same thing.

And then finally, for our examples, there were more problems than this.

But in terms of what we're going to discuss today, the Bible was written in Latin and church services were also spoken in Latin.

And the problem with that is that only very few highly educated people all around Europe could actually read and understand Latin.

The vast majority of people did not know Latin.

And as a result, church services and the Bible were effectively meaningless for them.

Now let's have a quick check for understanding and it's a quick discussion question.

So I'd like you to think, why could it be considered a problem that people could not read or understand the Bible?

So pause the video while you consider that and I'll see you again in just a moment.

Okay, welcome back.

So some of the things that you may have said was that people are unable to form their own opinions and interpretations.

Many people consider that a problem.

People have to rely on priests to interpret the Bible.

And this is especially problematic if the priests don't really fully understand the Bible themselves.

And the reason being is of course, that parish priests were not always educated enough to be able to properly explain the Bible's teachings and their grasp of Latin could be poor at best.

And church services were essentially meaningless to the vast majority of the congregation.

There are other issues as well, which you may come up with, but if you've got some of those on the screen in front of you there, that'd be fantastic.

Now let's get to Martin Luther himself.

So in 1483, Martin Luther was born in a town in Saxony, which was a German province in the Holy Roman Empire.

Martin Luther was a bright student and he decided to become a monk in 1505 after a near death experience.

He was actually trading to be a lawyer.

He was caught out in a thunderstorm and it was so severe he genuinely believed that he was going to die.

And he made a promise that if he survived it then he'd become a monk, and he kept his promise.

Now Luther's education focused on biblical studies.

And in 1512, he became a professor at the University of Wittenberg.

And it was during this time that Luther became increasingly disillusioned with the Roman Catholic Church.

He had been to Rome a year previously in in 1511, and he was disgusted with the behavior of the people there.

He felt that many of the priests were just racing through mass as quickly as they can 'cause they weren't really interested.

He thought that Rome was a city of sin and debauchery.

He was very upset with how people behaved in what should have been one of the holiest places in the Hall of Christianity.

He was also angered by the cult of saints as he believed that many relics were fakes and existed simply to make the church money.

It's somewhat difficult to argue with that if there are multiple relics.

To use the example, we've already got all claiming to be the right hand of Saint Natalia.

They can't all be, one of them might be, but they can't all be the right hand of Saint Natalia.

So Martin Luther potentially was onto something there.

Now in 1517, a priest appears in the area around Wittenberg selling indulgences.

And Martin Luther was absolutely furious with what he believed this priest to be just conning the local people, his people that he was preaching to.

This priest was conning them out of their hard-earned money.

So a furious Luther took to his study and wrote down all of the issues with the church that had been troubling him.

And it turns out there were quite a few things that had been troubling Martin Luther because he came up with 95 different problems and he called that his "95 Theses," his 95 questions or statements about the church.

First of all, quite simply that he just wanted to discuss.

He didn't necessarily want to cause a fuss, but he wanted these issues discussed.

And ideally, he wanted a solution found to these issues.

That was the point of Luther's "95 Theses.

" He then reportedly nailed this list of problems, his "95 Theses" to the door and the church in Wittenberg.

He may have done that, he may have not.

He almost certainly did post it to the local bishop as well as an initial way to try and get these problems resolved.

We are not too sure if you actually know to the church, but he also sent them out to some of his local friends as well, again, for to to begin a discussion.

That was Luther's purpose at this point in time.

In any case, these "95 Theses" became very widespread very, very quickly.

And he did this in the autumn of 1517.

Now just to reiterate, Luther didn't actually want to break away from the Catholic church at this point in time.

He just wanted a solution to the problems that he identifies.

Having said that, by the end of 1518, after a year or so of heated discussion from many, many people that Luther spoke to, Luther came to believe that the church as it existed, quite simply was wrong and it needed to be reformed.

It needed to be changed for the better.

There was no need for a hierarchy of priests Luther believed and quite alarmingly, he felt there was no need for a Pope.

Instead, the only thing Luther believed people needed was to have an understanding of the Word of God.

They needed to understand the Bible for themselves.

And Luther argued that many of the practices of the Roman Catholic Church, quite simply they were not in the Bible.

And a good example that he came up with was that there was no mention of indulgences in the Bible at all.

And there were also no mention of many of the sacraments, which were the special practices that the church did such as as confirmation ceremonies.

Finally, Luther also believed that nothing humans could do would guarantee salvation.

Nothing that humans could do could stop the sin.

The only thing that could do that would be faith in God alone.

That's the only thing that could reward them with a place in heaven.

So as a result, there's no need to build these fancy churches.

There's no need to go and pilgrimage.

There's no need to listen to the Pope.

The only thing you need to do to guarantee your spot into heaven is have a genuine belief in God.

Now let's have a quick check for understanding.

So I'd like you to complete this sentence.

Martin Luther questioned the teachings of the Catholic church in his something theses.

Was it 10, 40, or 95?

So make your choice now.

Okay, if you chose, C, 95 then very, very well done.

That is the correct answer.

It's another quick check for understanding.

I'd like you to choose two problems that Martin Luther had with the Catholic Church.

Was it that churches were not decorated fondly enough?

That not enough people being excommunicated?

That people could not read or understand the Bible?

Or that there was a selling of indulgences?

So choose two of those issues now.

Alright, if you chose C and D then very well done.

Those are the correct answers.

Right, let's do our first tat of today now then.

So I'd like you first of all to match the events of Martin Luther's early life with the correct dates.

So the events we have were that you were born in Saxony.

He posted his "95 Theses.

" He became professor at Wittenberg.

He became a monk and he made a journey to Rome.

So match those to the dates that are also on the screen next to them.

Pause the video, watch you do that, and I'll see you in just a moment.

Okay, welcome back.

Hopefully you got on okay with that task.

So let's think about what the correct answers are.

So Martin Luther was born in Saxony in 1483.

He became a monk in 1505.

He made his journey to Rome in 1511.

He became a professor at Wittenberg University in 1512, and he posted his "95 Theses" in 1517.

So hopefully you've got those correct answers as well.

Let's look at our next task for today.

I'd like to why Martin Luther considered the following points to be problems within the Roman Catholic Church that needed solving.

And I've got some sentence starters that I'd like you to copy out and complete.

So firstly, the Bible and church services were both in Latin and Luther thought it's a problem because.

.

.

You need to finish that sentence.

Secondly, indulgences were being sold.

Why did Luther consider that to be a problem?

And finally, parish priests were not very well educated.

And why was that an issue according to Luther?

So pause the video now whilst you do that and I'll see you again in just a moment.

Okay, welcome back.

Hopefully you got on fine with that task.

Let's think of what you could have written then.

So firstly, the Bible and church services were both in Latin.

Luther thought this was a problem because most people could not understand Latin, so they did not know what the Bible actually said.

Secondly, indulgences are being sold.

Luther thought this was a problem because it allowed rich people to buy their way into heaven and excluded poor people.

And also there were no mention of indulgences in the Bible.

And finally, parish priests were not very well educated.

Luther thought this was a problem because they would not be able to fully understand and interpret the teachings of the Bible.

You might have different issues, different reasons why Martin Luther consider them problems.

To me, that's absolutely fine as long as you've explained it, that's what I'm looking for there.

Right, let's move on to our second and final learning cycle for today, which is the Lutheran Reformation.

Now Luther's beliefs became to the attention of the Pope and on the 15th of June 1520, Pope Leo X called 41 of Luther's 95 theses heretical.

Now heretical means that it's something that goes against the teachings of the church.

People have made a choice to believe something which they should not according to the Pope in the Roman Catholic Church.

The Pope then ordered Luther to abandon the thesis.

So effectively, Luther's in trouble, but he is not in big trouble at this point in time, as long as he publicly says, "Sorry, I don't mean it.

I'll forget everything I said.

" Luther, however refused.

And not only did he refuse the Pope's order, he actually publicly burnt the Pope's letter telling him to do so.

So this is Luther effectively declaring his intention that he is no longer going to be bound by the authority of the Pope.

This was a big step at this point in time.

People have been killed for much less in Europe up to this point in time.

Now firstly, it led to Luther being excommunicated and it also led to him being named a heretic.

Now this was a problem because the punishment for heretics being burnt at the stake, so this is what should now have happened to Luther.

The Holy Roman Emperor at the time who was Charles V was unwilling to do this though without, first of all, given Luther what he considered to be a fair trial.

And the reason being is that Luther, at this point now had considerable support amongst the German peasants.

And Charles feared that if Luther was burned at the stake, if he was killed as the Pope had ordered, then there'll be a rebellion in the Holy Roman Empire.

And quite simply, Charles couldn't afford for that to happen.

So as a result of that, on the 17th of April, 1521, a trial for Martin Luther was called, amazingly it was named the Diet of Worms.

It's spelt worms but it's pronounced worms.

So the Diet of Worms was Martin Luther's fair trial.

Now Luther refused to renounce his "95 Theses" and once it became clear that he is going to lose this trial and therefore he'll be arrested and he'd be burned at the stake, Luther fled the city.

He was then branded an outlaw, which meant that anyone who killed him would not face punishment.

Effectively Luther, at this point in time, is fair game for anybody who wants to kill him.

Now whilst he was fleeing, and realistically, where is he going to go?

Where is he safe?

He was heading back to Wittenburg at this point in time.

That's where he knew.

Luther was also kidnapped by the elector, the leader of Saxony, a man called Frederick III.

Now, many people at this time thought that Luther was dead.

Quite simply, he just disappeared on his way out of Worms.

However, Frederick was a supporter of Luther and he kidnapped him in order to keep him safe.

Luther spent his captivity translating the Bible into German, which was quite simply transformational for Christianity.

Especially when this translation was copied using the printing press because it allowed thousands of copies to be made.

And for the very first time, German-speaking people could now read the Bible and interpret its teachings for themselves.

This also had the added impact, the quite unforeseen impact of standardizing the German written language.

Many later writers used the style of German writing that Luther used for this translation.

So this style became the German-written language when Luther's German translation of the Bible is then translated into other languages, other European languages that also had a knock-on effect of standardizing their written languages as well.

So not only did Luther allow the Bible to be read by ordinary people, he also effectively created a lot of the written languages around Europe.

At the very least, he standardized them all around Europe as well.

So that was an unforeseen effect, but also a really, really important effect of Luther's Reformation.

But as a result of this, because Luther is now translating the Bible, his Reformation is spreading.

Now, although Luther's ideas gained immense popularity, there were many Roman Catholics who pushed back against the changes that Luther proposed.

In 1521, the king of England who was Henry VIII at that point in time, wrote a counter argument Luther's "95 Theses" that he called "Defense of the Seven Sacraments.

" Pope Leo X was so pleased with Henry that he gave him the title Defender of the Faith, which is actually a title that the kings and queens of England still used to this day, even though they are no longer Catholic.

Having settled that though, Henry's defense was not enough to stop the Lutheran Reformation movement from continuing to gain support in northern Europe in particular.

Now Luther's challenge to the church's authority inspired people to look for change elsewhere as well.

And in 1524, roughly 300,000 peasants in the German states rebelled against the Holy Roman Empire in the Peasants' War.

So that rebellion that Charles V tried so hard to avert, it happened anyway.

Now, surprisingly, Luther actually did not side with the peasants.

He condemned the peasants and he felt that they should indeed be punished, which potentially be a bit of a kick in the teeth for them but also might actually have saved Luther's life because the fact that he actually came out in support of the nobles and the Holy Roman Emperor meant that the desire to have him executed it, it died down.

Now this though was just the beginning.

Over the next few centuries, Luther's Reformation led to enormous religious and political change across Europe and beyond.

Right, let's have a quick check for understanding.

So how did the Roman Catholic Church respond to Luther?

Did it accept his criticisms?

Did it excommunicate to him or did it ignore him?

So make your choice now.

Okay, if you chose B excommunicated him, then very well done.

That is the correct answer.

Let's have another check for understanding now though.

So true or false?

King Henry VIII wrote a book called "Defense of the Seven Sacraments" in 1521.

So make your choice now.

Alright, if you chose true, then very well done.

That is indeed a true statement, but let's justify it.

Now why is it true?

Is it true because Henry's book defended the Roman Catholic Church against Luther's new religious ideas?

Or is it true because Henry's book supported Luther's new religious ideas against the Roman Catholic Church?

So choose your justification now.

Alright, if you chose A, then very well done.

That's the correct answer.

And another check for understanding.

Now a discussion question.

I want to think, what impact did Luther's "95 Theses" have on Europe?

So see what you can come up with.

Pause the video once you do that and I'll see you in just a moment.

Okay, welcome back.

So some of the things that you may have said could be that it led to the Peasants' War in the Holy Roman Empire, that it badly damaged the authority of the church and the Pope and that it led to the creation of new religious movements.

Alright, let's go for our next task today then.

So I have a painting on the screen in front of you, and it's a dramatization, which means that it's not actually a real life thing that that happens.

And it's a dramatization of Luther posting his "95 Theses" on the church door in Wittenburg.

And it was painted in the 19th century by Julius Hubner.

Now it shows some of the problems that Luther argued against as well as some of the responses as well.

So this is why it's a dramatization.

The things we're seeing on the screen didn't actually happen at the same time.

They happened over the course of several years and a number of places.

But Hubner has brought them all together in one picture.

Now, what I would like you to identify is the following, where in the image is Martin Luther?

Where are the "95 Theses"?

Where are the supporters of Luther?

Where is the church's angry response to Luther?

And where are churchmen ignoring the poor?

So just label what you can see on the image in front of you with the correct letter.

Pause the video while you do that and I'll see you in just a moment.

Okay, welcome back.

Hopefully you got okay with that.

So just to make it really clear for you now, so you should have seen that right there in the middle of the image, that is Martin Luther.

Next to him, there's a small child on a ladder who is nailing the "95 Theses" to the church door.

We can see off to the side there waving their hats, those are supporters of Luther.

And down just below them walking away in the church steps is the church's anger response to Luther.

You can see those are churchmen.

Don't look really happy.

And over the other side, well in the middle, I know the other side at the front there are churchmen ignoring the poor.

So you can see the churchman is rather large to indicate the whole idea that the church is corrupt.

And we see the poor in the very middle of the painting there being completely ignored.

Right, let's go for our next task for today, and I'd like you to explain two ways in which Luther began at the Reformation.

So pause the video whilst you do that, and I'll see you in just a moment.

Okay, welcome back.

I hope you've got okay with that task.

So let's think about what you could have written then.

So I've said that Luther did not want to break away from the church, but he did want it to be reformed.

He wanted it to be changed.

In 1517, he posted his "95 Theses" listing 95 changes the church should make.

When he refused to renounce these challenges, the church excommunicated him.

While he was in hiding, Luther translated the Bible into German.

Having the Bible in their own language meant their ordinary Germans could read it for themselves instead of relying on the church to teach them what to believe.

This was key to the Reformation too.

If you've got two different ways that Luther began the Reformation, that's absolutely fine.

Or if you've got the same ways as myself, but you've explained it in different ways, that's okay as well.

The key thing there is that you've attributed to explain how the actions that Luther took actually began the Reformation.

That's what I'm looking for here.

Well, let's summarize today's lesson now then.

So in 1517, Martin Luther challenged the church's authority by posting his "95 Theses.

" A list of concerns he had about the church.

Luther did not want to leave the church, but he did think it should be reformed.

When he refused to back down, Luther was labeled a heretic and excommunicated.

Luther translated the Bible into German, allowing all German-speaking people to read it for themselves.

And Luther's reforms known as the Lutheran Reformation gained a lot of supports but there were also challenges.

One important challenge came from Henry VIII of England.

Thank you very much for joining me today.

Hopefully you've enjoyed yourself.

Hopefully you learned something, and hopefully I'll see you again next time.

Bye-bye.