Hello and welcome to today's history lesson.

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

So let's get started.

Today's lesson is looking at the English Reformation in its European context, and by the end of the day's lesson, we'll be able to use our knowledge to compare the English reformation to the European reformations.

In order to do that, we need to use some key terms. And our key terms for today are Protestants, reformation and Catholic.

A Protestant is a member of a Western church which does not recognise the Pope as its head.

The Reformation was a 16th century movement calling for the reform of the church, and a Catholic is a Christian who believes that the Pope has authority over the church.

Today's lesson will consist of three separate learning cycles, and our first learning cycle is looking at the reasons for the reformation in Europe and England.

So let's get going.

So the Protestant Reformation is considered to have begun in 1517 when Martin Luther posted his 95 theses onto the church door in Wittenberg.

But the reality is that the concerns that Martin Luther have at the Catholic Church were nothing new.

Luther was concerned about the selling of indulgences, corrupt clergy, the excessive power of the Popes over the monarchs of other of Europe amongst a variety of other things as well.

But more than a century before this other people such as John Wycliffe and Jan Hus had expressed similar concerns without their views getting the large swell of support that Luther received.

If the problems with the church that Luther expressed had not improved for at least a century, then the question needs to be asked why did the Protestant reformation not begin at least a century earlier? Well, one reason and one major reason why the Protestant Reformation began in Europe in 1517 was the invention of the printing press in the 1440s because by the time that Luther wrote his 95 thesis, there were enough printers in Germany to successfully mass produce Luther's works so that his thoughts could be widely shared.

And this meant that the Catholic church was unable to simply silence Luther's challenge to the church's authority as it had done previously with many other people who would express concerns or outright refusal to follow some of the church instructions that generally speaking, the Catholic church's response to that was to to silence them by execution and generally speaking, by burning at the stake.

So they put down and silence any critics really quite forcefully.

Now, Luther's support extended to some of the local nobility as well, which meant that he had powerful friends to shield him from the worst of the church's attacks.

In England, the Protestant reformation is considered to begun in 1534 when King Henry VIII declared himself the supreme head of the church in England, thus removing the authority of the Pope in his country.

The concerns that Luther raised regarding the church certainly extended to England.

John Wycliffe was English so the problems that he had raised with the church, they were not specific to Europe, they were fairly general in that respect.

But Henry VIII specifically, he did not break with Rome for these reasons.

Henry had been a devout Catholic who wrote a defence of the Catholic church against Luther's attacks in 1521.

So therefore, in regards to England and Henry VIII, the question should be asked what happened between 1521 and 1534 to turn Henry from a defender of Catholicism to breaking away from it and Henry VIII reasons for breaking with Rome were far more personal than Luther's general concerns.

Henry desperately wanted a male heir to ensure a smooth transition of power when he dies.

His wife, Catherine of Aragon, was unable to have any more children.

So Henry asked the Pope for an annulment which would've ended his marriage and allowed him to marry somebody else, somebody he was still capable of bearing children and hopefully able to bear a male heir for him.

The Pope at the time though Pope Clement VII refused to grant this request.

And the reason being is that he was at this point the prisoner of Catherine's nephew, the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, Charles V.

After years of arguing his case and trying to pressure the Pope to change his mind, Henry eventually lost patience and arranged for Parliament to pass a series of laws removing the Pope's authority in England and transferring that power to the king, to Henry.

And this then gave Henry the ability to end his own marriage to Catherine and marry someone else.

Therefore, if the Pope had granted Henry's request, there's little reason to believe that a Protestant reformation would've happened in England, certainly in this time and almost certainly under Henry's rule in general.

Well, I have a quick check for understanding now.

So true or false? From the start of his reign, Henry VIII opposed the authority of the Pope.

Is that true or is that false? Okay, if you chose false, then very well done.

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

Now, why is it a false statement? Is it false because Henry invaded some of the German states in 1521 who tried to break from the Pope's authority? Or is it false because Henry defended the Pope by writing a book in 1521 arguing against Luther's teachings? So choose your justification now.

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

That is indeed the correct answer.

Let's have another quick check for understanding now.

What was the main reason that Henry VIII broke away from the church in Rome? Was it because he objected to the selling of indulgences? Was it because he thought ornaments in churches were distracting or was it because the Pope refused to grant him an end his marriage? Choose your answer now.

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

That is indeed the correct answer.

Right, let's go for our first task for today now then so.

What I would like you to do is I'd like you to use one or two words to summarise the main reason for the Protestant reformations in Europe, and then do the exact same thing again for the Protestant reformation in England.

So just choose one, maybe two words, kind of the key words that summarise the main reason why the reformation is happening in both Europe and then in England.

Once you've chosen your words, just give me an explanation as to why you've chosen those words.

And I've got some sentence starters on the screen there to help you out with that as well.

So pause the video now, watch if we go at that and I'll see you in just a moment.

Okay, welcome back.

Hope you got okay with that task.

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

So you could have said, my chosen words to summarise the Protestant reformations in Europe are printing press.

I chose these because without the printing press, Luther's ideas would not have spread and gained so much support so quickly, which meant that the Catholic church was unable to stop it.

And my chosen words to summarise the Protestant reformation in England is heir.

I chose this because if Henry had not been so desperate for male heir, then he would not have wanted to end his marriage and find a new wife to provide him with one, and the reformation may not have occurred in England.

If you've got different words to me, then that's absolutely fine, just as long as you've explained why you've got your chosen words.

That's what I'm looking for here.

All right, let's move on to our second learning cycle for the day, which is looking at the beliefs of the reformations in Europe and England.

So the beliefs of the leading reformists in Europe, so that's Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli and John Calvin differed from one another.

And that is due to the fact that they all interpreted the Bible in different ways.

And this became a feature of the Protestant reformation.

The action of translating the Bible into local languages meant that more people could read the Bible for themselves, which is exactly what the reformists wanted, but it also meant that different people interpreted the Bible in different ways, which was not what the reformists had anticipated.

Calvin wrote a book called Institutes in 1536, partly as a way to confirm what it was that Protestants actually believed in but this didn't actually end the disagreements.

It was a wildly popular book, but didn't stop people having their own opinions.

Luther and Zwingli had a public confrontation regarding the bread and wine used in the Eucharist.

So while neither believed the Catholic view of transubstantiation, Luther believed in a process called Consubstantiation and Zwingli believed that it was merely symbolic.

So transubstantiation, just as a reminder, is the belief that during the Eucharist, the bread and the wine used become the actual body and blood of Christ.

Consubstantiation believes that the bread and wine remain bread and wine whilst also becoming the body and blood of Christ.

And Zwingli believed in symbolism, which is that the bread and wine simply remain bread and wine.

They're just there to remind us of the body and blood of Christ.

Now, Luther also believed that there was no need for any kind of church organisations.

So he didn't agree with the authority of the Pope.

He also didn't necessarily believe in the authority of bishops and archbishops.

He thought everybody or what anybody needed was be to read and understand the Bible for themselves.

And that was enough.

That was enough for a Christian faith.

Calvin though felt that Protestantism needed a structure similar to that at the Catholic church to guide belief.

And this is partly as a result of the the differing of opinions amongst Protestants.

The fact that this movement was splintering almost from its very inception, it was breaking away into variety of different churches.

Luther also wrote hymns to be sung during services.

Some of those hymns are still sung in Germany today, but Zwingli banned music entirely despite the fact that he was a talented musician himself.

And Calvin went even further and banned almost all art forms all together.

He only allowed singing, and that was it.

There was a little bit of music but no musical instruments, it was just singing.

It's the only form of art expression that was allowed in Calvin's church.

And the reason being is that he believed that they were a distraction preventing people from worshipping God.

So he had his reasons, whether there were good reasons or not is that to you to decide, but there were reasons for doing this.

England also saw variation in belief just like the reformations on Europe as well and the continents.

Although the differences in belief in England were not for the same reasons.

So whereas variations in belief in Europe stem from reformists interpreting the Bible in different ways, in England, variation have occurred because of who was the monarch at the time.

So for instance, under Henry VIII, the beliefs of the Catholic church were very similar to Catholic beliefs.

And the reason being is that Henry was still a Catholic at heart, that he wanted the break from Rome purely for the power that would give him, not because of a difference in belief.

So the, the Protestant church in England under Henry VIII was effectively still the Catholic church, but with a different banner.

Under his son, Edward VI though, the Church of England became distinctly more Protestants.

For instance, English churches resembled European Protestant churches in the sense that all decoration was removed and also priests were allowed to marry as well.

However, some Catholic beliefs remained under Edward VI and reason for instance, transubstantiation was a belief that was held under Edward VI.

And the reason for this is that Edward and his ministers were very keen not to upset the large number of Catholics that were still present in England.

Under Henry VIII, there had been religious uprisings due to the changes that he had made to the church, even though there weren't necessarily huge changes in belief.

And Edward VI and his ministers were very keen to try and prevent some of his uprisings from occurring again.

There were still uprisings, but arguably, nowhere near as many as potentially what could have been.

Under Henry VIII daughter Mary I, all the Protestant changes were swept away as she returned England to Catholicism.

So a rule for variety and belief in England during the Protestant Reformation, and it was all due to who was the king or queen at that particular point in time.

Whereas in Europe, it was due to their understanding of the Bible and its teachings.

What's the check for understanding now? So it's a discussion question.

I'd like you to consider how similar were the beliefs of Protestantism in England compared to Protestantism in Europe? So pause the video, what you think about that, and I'll see you again in just a moment.

Okay, welcome back.

Have you got okay with that? Let's think what you could have said then.

So you might have said that the English still believed in some Catholic ideas, especially under Henry VIII and of course definitely under Mary I although even under Edward VI as well, whereas European reformists were eager to move away from Catholic beliefs.

And you could have also said that all three English monarchs held different beliefs from each other, which is actually similar to the main three reformists in Europe as well.

The reasons for the differences might be different, but the fact that they were different is a similarity.

If you've got some other ideas as well, that's absolutely fine.

(indistinct) the quick check for understanding now.

So who was responsible for changing the religion of the English people during the Tudor period? Was it the Monarch, was it the clergy, or was it the people? Make your choice now.

Okay, if you chose A, the Monarch, then very well done.

All right, let's go for our next task now then.

What I would like you to do is to explain two reasons why the Protestant reformation in England had a different set of beliefs compared to the Protestant reformations that took place in Europe.

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

Okay, welcome back.

Hope you've gotten okay with that task.

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

So I've said that one reason that the Protestant reformation in England had a different set of beliefs to the Protestant Reformations that took place in Europe was because of the beliefs of King Henry VIII.

Henry began the Protestant Reformation in England, but he still believed many Catholic ideas.

So his church resembled the Catholic church a great deal.

Another reason is that there were many Catholics in England that the Tudor monarchs did not want to upset.

The European reformists did not have the same concerns because none of them were political leaders of divided nations.

Now, John Calvin actually took over control of the government of Geneva, but that was one city as opposed to a whole country.

So that's the difference there as well.

If you've got a different set of reasons, that's absolutely fine as long as you've explained them, that's the key thing here.

All right, let's move on now then to our third and final learning cycle of today, which is looking at the similarities between the Reformations.

So in both Europe and England, Protestant Reformation saw differences in beliefs from religious leaders, although all reformists were united in their desire to remove the power of the Pope, that there seem to be a key similarity across all reformations, as well as reducing corruption in the church.

That also appears to be another major issue that a lot of the reformers had.

There were also common goals to reduce, if not remove entirely, ornamentation, which is additional decoration in churches.

Almost all the reformation leaders have also objected strongly, very strongly in some cases, to having their beliefs questioned with several actually opting to execute dissenters.

And those are people who didn't agree with their religious choices.

So Henry VIII is a great example of that.

He executed many people because of their religious beliefs.

When Mary I came along and restored Catholicism of England, she also executed a number of Protestants as well for refusing to recant, which means to get rid of their Protestant beliefs.

Edward VI is a little bit different.

He and his ministers didn't actually execute people for their religious beliefs.

Some priests were fined or imprisoned, but they were nowhere near as strict as his father or sister were.

On the consonants, Martin Luther, although didn't execute people for disagreeing with him, he did publicly berate people for not believing the same as him.

He famously believed that Zwingli was not a real Christian because he had different beliefs about the Eucharist to himself.

And Zwingli himself actually even went to war against some of the Swiss cantons, the Swiss regions that were still Catholic as well.

Although it was arguably not his fault, Zurich had, which was Zwingli city was declared war upon as opposed to declaring war on others.

But Zwingli did not have to take the field of battle.

He chose that the field of battle against his people who believed different religious ideas to himself.

And when Calvin was in charge of Geneva, he executed and banished people from the city for having different beliefs from himself as well.

Now, there were several differences in beliefs between the Protestants of Europe and England, such as views regarding the Eucharist.

But one major difference in the Reformation movements was the speed of change.

In Europe, the Reformation movement moves swiftly, partly to a great extent 'cause it's aided by the spread of Protestant literature from the printing press.

In England, though it moved far more slowly, into the influence of the monarchs.

Henry VIII did not really follow the beliefs of the reformists, but instead desired the power of the Pope.

Ed Edward the sixth tried to push protest forward, but as he ran for a short time, they didn't go very far and as soon as his sister Mary came to the throne, she removed one of those changes and reverted England back to Catholicism again.

All right, so a quick check for understanding now.

So I'd like you to identify two similarities between the Protestant Reformation movements in England and Europe.

So was it a belief in transubstantiation? Was it the removal of the Pope's authority? Was it the removal of some ornaments in churches or was it the destruction of monasteries? So choose two of those in the screen now.

Okay, if you chose B and C, then very well done.

Those are the answers.

Let's on the check for understanding.

So a true or false statement here.

The Reformation caused rapid changes to religious belief across all of Europe.

Is that true or is that false? Okay, if you chose false, then well done.

That's the correct answer but let's justify it.

Now, why is that a false statements? Is it false because where it caused any change at all, the reformation was always very slow to make any impacts? Or was it false because in some countries such as England, the monarchy reduced how rapidly change took place? Alright, if you chose B, then well done.

That is the correct answer.

All right, let's go for the next task now then.

So I'd like to read the interpretation below.

So Alex's interpretation says that the English Protestant Reformation was nothing like the Protestant reformations that happened in Europe.

What I would like you to do now is to give one piece of evidence to support that interpretation, one piece of evidence to contradict it, and then finally explain what your own opinion is and why you hold that opinion.

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

Okay, welcome back.

I hope you got okay with that task.

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

So you could have said a piece of evidence to support the interpretation is that the reformation in England happened for a very different reason to the reformations that happened in Europe.

In Europe, the Protestant reformation happened because people had longstanding complaints about the Catholic church.

In England, the reformation happened because King Henry VIII needed the power of the Pope in order to get what he wanted, which was an end to his marriage and a male heir.

A piece of evidence to contradict the interpretation is that Protestant churches in both England and Europe ended up looking very similar.

Neither were decorated like Catholic churches, Protestant churches were very plain by comparison with all decorations removed.

Overall, I think Alex's interpretation is incorrect.

As although the Protestant reformations in England, Europe may have begun for different reasons, the end results were broadly similar in England and across Europe.

If you use different evidence than myself or if you've got a different opinion to me, that's absolutely fine.

There's not really a right or wrong answer to this question.

What I'm looking for though is your ability to justify to explain your opinion.

So as long as you've done that, that's absolutely fine.

All right, let's summarise today's lesson now then.

So King Henry VIII began the Protestant Reformation in England in 1534.

Despite the fact he previously wrote a book defending the Catholic Church, the English reformation did not begin for the same reasons as the European reformation and beliefs also differed.

This was a consequence of people reading the Bible in their own languages and interpreting its teachings in different ways.

In England, religious beliefs also changed based on who was the monarch at the time.

The speed and direction of the Protestant reformations in England and Europe differed from one another, although there were similarities such as the way the Protestant churches looked.

Thank you very much for joining me today.

Hopefully you've enjoyed yourself.

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

Bye-Bye!.