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 going.

Today's lesson is looking at Zwingli, Calvin and the Swiss Reformation, and by the end of today's lesson we'll be able to explain how the Church split into different groups and the beliefs that they held.

In order to do that, we need to use some key terms. And our key terms for today are reformer or reformist, Catholic, Protestant, Reformation and transubstantiation.

A reformer or reformist is someone who tries to change and improve something, such as a religion.

A Catholic is a Christian who believes that the Pope has authority over the Church.

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 transubstantiation was the teaching that the bread and wine used in the Eucharist became the body and blood of Christ.

Today's lesson will consist of three separate learning cycles, and our first learning cycle is looking at the impact of the printing press.

So let's get going.

So although he is credited with starting the Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther was not actually the first person to publicly question many of the teachings and practises of the Roman Catholic Church.

In the 14th and early 15th centuries, for example, John Wycliffe and Jan Hus made many of the same points that Luther later made, but without the same impact.

Hus was burned at the stake for his questioning and although Wycliffe died of a stroke, his body was dug up and his remains were burned more than 40 years after his death.

This was a remarkably uncommon practise of executing dead people.

And the purpose of it is really just to kind of make a point, if this person was still alive, this is the punishment they would've faced.

So although arguably it's pointless, the purpose of it is to make a point.

Now, the main difference between Wycliffe and Hus and Luther was the invention and use of the printing press.

So let's have a quick check for understanding now then.

So, which invention helped to spread Luther's ideas around Europe? Was it the internet? Was it the printing press? Or was it the telegram? Make your choice now.

Okay, if you chose B, the printing press, then very well done.

That is indeed the correct answer.

Now the printing press was invented in Germany in the 1450s and it allowed Luther to spread his ideas to a wide audience in a way that Wycliffe and Hus were simply unable to do.

Within a year of writing it, Luther's "95 thesis" became a bestselling pamphlets and Luther followed this with a, quite frankly, a dizzying number of other (indistinct) pamphlets.

And between 1517, when he first wrote these "95 theses" and 1525, Luther published more than half a million copies of his writings.

So there are more than half a million copies of Luther's various pamphlets circulating around Germany and the wider area at this point in time, which is an extraordinary amount of writings.

Luther's works were shared and circulated widely, but as literacy rates were low, Luther understood that more was needed to spread his message.

And as a result, Luther composed pamphlets so that they'd be easy to read aloud to a crowd.

And he also employed an artist to draw witty sketches of the points that he made in the pamphlets.

And on the screen in front of you is an example of one of those pamphlets there.

So this is the title page of one of Luther's translations of the Bible.

And you can see there that it's got the images- I've just shown you some of the stories from the Bible as well.

So the people that are unable to read, they can look at that title page and they'll get a pretty good understanding of what this book actually is.

Now, other early reformers also saw the impact of the printing press and joined Luther in publishing pamphlets.

It wasn't just Luther who was a Protestant writing these and circulating them around Northern Europe.

Even female Protestants such as Katharina Zell and Marie Dentiere were given a voice by the printing press, which again was completely unheard of.

The fact that women could have their own voice and people would listen to it and pay attention to it was extraordinary and it was all thanks to the printing press.

In contrast, the Catholic Church was very slow to take advantage of this new technology.

Between 1518 and 1544, Luther published 2,551 original or rewritten pamphlets.

So over two and a half thousand pamphlets that he either wrote from scratch or he went back to one of his earlier pamphlets and improved upon it.

So this a really, really busy man.

And we'll compare that to the Catholic authors.

All Catholic authors wrote just 514 combined.

So by himself, Luther was outproducing Catholic works at a ratio of five to one.

And Luther wasn't the only Protestant writing pamphlets and books at this point in time.

Quite simply, the Protestant literature just massively outweighed anything the Catholics are producing at this point in time.

These Protestant works were also written in German so that people could read and understand them, whereas Catholic works were generally, although not always, but generally written in Latin, which again, very few people at this point in time could actually read and understand.

The printing press was undoubtedly an invaluable tool in winning over people in the first few decades of the Protestant Reformation.

Well let's have a quick check for understanding now.

And it's a discussion question.

I want you to think why were reformers more successful than Catholics in spreading their ideas during this period? So pause the video whilst you think about this and I'll see you again in just a moment.

Okay, welcome back.

Hopefully you've gotten on okay with that task.

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

So you could have said that reformers published more works.

That they wrote in people's own language rather than in Latin, which very few people can understand.

They also used illustrations to get their reformist message across.

Now if you can think of any other ideas, that's absolutely fine, but hopefully you've got some of the ones that are on the screen there in front of you as well.

All right, let's go for our first task for today.

So I'd like you to read the interpretation from Jacob that's on the screen there, and he says, "Without the printing press, the Protestant Reformation would never have happened." What I would like you to do is explain how far you agree with the interpretation, and I'd like you to use at least one piece of evidence to support your view.

You can use more than one piece of evidence, that'd be absolutely fantastic, but a minimum of at least one piece of evidence is what's required here.

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

Okay, welcome back.

Hope you got on okay with that task.

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

So I said one piece of evidence to support Jacob's interpretation is that John Wycliffe and Jan Hus both made the same points as Martin Luther, but before the invention of the printing press.

Without the printing press, their ideas could not gain support.

If they had gained more support, maybe the Catholic church would not have been able to execute them for their reformist beliefs.

So that's quite a strong support of Jacob's interpretation there.

If you've got a different belief, you've got, if you've got a different argument regarding Jacob's interpretation, that's absolutely fine.

As long as you've got the evidence there to support it.

That's the key thing.

Right, let's move on then to our next learning cycle for today, which is looking at the impact of Zwingli.

So Martin Luther was the spark that ignited the fire of the Protestant Reformation, but later reformers were invaluable in adding fuel to keep the flame going.

Huldrych Zwingli was born in 1484 in Switzerland and he was chiefly responsible for making Switzerland a hive of Protestant belief.

He became a priest in 1506 and preached at the Great Minster in Zurich from 1519, which gave him a very large audience.

His message though was unpopular with the church authorities, but it was very popular with the people of Zurich.

And the reason being is that Zwingli preached the reformist message.

Just like Luther he objected to the sale of indulgences, he objected to the worship of relics and icons in churches, and he also objected to corruption within the church.

However, he did differ from Luther in some ways.

So whereas Luther composed hymns to be sung in church, Zwingli actually banned music from his church, despite the fact that Zwingli himself was actually a very talented musician by all accounts.

Zwingli also believed in a concept called predestination, which is the idea that God has already planned out everybody's life and also whether or not they'll enter heaven when they die.

Zwingli's belief also differed from Luther's regarding the Eucharist.

While the Catholic church believed in transubstantiation, Luther believed in something called consubstantiation, which is the idea that the bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ whilst also remaining bread and wine.

Zwingli though believed that the Eucharist was merely a symbolic gesture and that the bread and wine were, quite simply, bread and wine, and that's what they remained at as well.

Now, this sort of disagreement became common amongst reformers.

Zwingli and Luther actually met in person and they spent about three days kind of arguing out through some of their differences.

And although they reached common ground on many areas, this idea of what's goes on during the Eucharist was an area that they just could not find common ground on.

And Luther actually became so incensed with Zwingli's position on this that he considered that Zwingli was not a real Christian.

So that's how strongly some of these reformers actually felt about the differences between their belief systems. Now, unfortunately, once more people can read the Bible for themselves, many then interpreted the Bible in different ways, which meant that the differences between Luther and Zwingli were not one of a kind.

This happened amongst a variety of different groups of reformers.

In July 1522, Zwingli founded the Swiss Reformed Church, and by 1523, he managed to convince the authorities in Zurich to officially convert the city and the surrounding area, what's known as the canton, the region, into the new Protestant religion.

This led to tensions within Switzerland as some cantons also became Reforms, whilst others remained Catholic.

And by the late 1520s, the situation in Switzerland had turned increasingly violent.

In 1531, civil war broke out between Zurich and a collection of Catholic cantons.

Zwingli took to the field of battles.

He went out there as a minister, went out there to fight as well, and unfortunately, he was killed.

Apparently he was killed while shielding a wounded man.

We can't say for certain whether that was true, but we do know that he was killed.

We also then know that his body was chopped up, his remains burnt, and his ashes were scattered into several different rivers.

And this was done by the Catholics to prevent Zwingli's body from being a site of pilgrimage, which ironically Zwingli might not have actually been too upset about as he didn't like the cult of saints.

And this is effectively what the cult of saints was.

It was going on pilgrimage to important holy sites.

So arguably, in some ways, what happens to Zwingli after his death, he may not have been too upset about.

Maybe not.

Right, let's go for a quick check for understanding now.

So which Swiss reformer continued Luther's work in trying to reform the Church? Was it Jan Hus? Was it John Wycliffe or was it Huldrych Zwingli? Make your choice now.

Okay, if you chose C, Huldrych Zwingli, then congratulations, that is indeed the correct answer.

And let's go for another check for understanding now.

Which two features of Roman Catholic church services did Zwingli oppose? Was it Holy Day celebrations, was it icons, was it music, or was it reading from the Bible? So choose two of those now.

Okay, if you chose icons and music, then very well done, those are the correct answers.

Right, let's go for our next task for today.

So I'd like you to complete the table that I've got on the screen in front of you there by identifying similarities and differences between the beliefs of Luther and Zwingli.

And to help you out, I've got you started there.

So I've said that a similarity is that they both objected to corruption in the church, whereas a difference was that Luther composed hymns and Zwingli banned music.

Now there are two spaces for similarities and two for differences, so I'd like to find two for each if you can.

If you can find more than that, then that'd be even better.

But pause the video while you do this and I'll see you again in just a moment.

Okay, welcome back.

Hopefully you got on okay with that task.

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

So in regards to similarities, you could have said that both objected to the sale of indulgences and both believed that people should read the Bible for themselves.

In regards to differences, Luther believed in consubstantiation, whereas Zwingli believed that the bread and wine during the Eucharist were merely symbolic.

And Luther also believed that faith alone granted access to heaven, whereas Zwingli believed in predestination.

If you came up with more similarities and differences, that's fantastic.

If you come up with different similarities and differences to me, then that's absolutely fine as well.

Okay, let's go for our next learning cycle for the day then, which is the impact of Calvin.

Now, arguably the most important reformer after Luther, John Calvin, also spread the message of Protestantism.

Calvin was born in Picardy, in France, in 1509, and he studied at a number of different schools throughout France where he was exposed to the ideas of the reformation.

In 1533, Calvin went to Basel in Switzerland where he wrote a book called "Institutes of the Christian Religion," which is considered one of the most important works from this period.

"Institutes" was published in 1536, and it standardised the beliefs of the new Protestant religion.

So it made it clear, "This is what we as Protestants actually believe," which is really, really key because another one of the complaints of the Catholics at this point in time was that for many of them, because they didn't understand Latin, they didn't actually know what it is that they believed and didn't believe.

With "Institutes," because it was written in French and then translated into a number of local languages, people could actually say, "Yes, this is what we as Protestants actually believe." Now, Calvin's book "Institutes" was immensely popular, as were his commentaries on almost all of the books of the New Testament.

I think it was only Revelations, the final book that was, that he didn't actually write a commentary, an explanation for.

So not only is Calvin explaining what we as Protestants actually believe, he's also explaining this is what each book of the New Testament is actually trying to tell you.

So making it really clear to people what it is the Bible is actually trying to teach them.

Now, unlike Luther, Calvin believed in the importance of a church organisation in order to organise beliefs.

So he thought that it is really key that there is some sort of structure telling people, "This is what we believe and this is how we believe it.

This is what we do In order to do that." in September, 1541, Calvin was invited to Geneva in Switzerland.

The citizens of Geneva had become Protestants, and they invited Calvin to organise their government based around Protestantism.

So Calvin had been to Geneva previously, had been run out of the city, he had then turned to Protestantism, and then they invited him back.

Calvin created an incredibly strict set of rules, including laws to limit gambling, dancing and swearing, as well as banning all arts other than music.

And then even within music, musical instruments were also banned.

It was only vocals that were actually allowed, it was the only expression of art form.

From 1541 to 1546, within that five year period, 58 people in Geneva were executed, and 76 more people were exiled.

They were kicked out of the city because their religious beliefs differed from Calvin's.

So not only were the laws strict, the punishments were strict as well.

Despite these strict laws and punishments, Calvin's Geneva became the centre of Protestantism.

Calvinist preachers were sent all over Europe and had a huge influence on the direction of the Protestant faith in countries as Scotland, England and the Netherlands.

Although there were several different versions of Protestantism in Europe at this time, Calvin's version of Protestantism became the dominant one.

Okay, let's have a quick check for understanding now then.

So, who led the Protestant movement in Zurich? Was it Calvin, Luther or Zwingli? Make your choice now.

Okay, if you chose C, Zwingli, then congratulations.

That is indeed correct.

It's another quick check for understanding now.

Which Protestant leader was invited by the citizens of Geneva to organise a Protestant government? Was it Martin Luther, Huldrych Zwingli or John Calvin? Make your choice now.

Okay, if you chose C, John Calvin, then very well done.

That's the correct answer.

Right, let's go for our next task for today now then So I'd like you to explain two key beliefs of the Protestant Reformation movement that differed from Roman Catholic beliefs.

So identify two differences and then explain how they're different.

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

Okay, welcome back.

Hopefully you got on okay with that task.

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

So you could have said one key belief of the Protestant Reformation movement that differed from Roman Catholic beliefs was the idea that people should be able to read the Bible and religious literature in their own language, rather than Latin.

Latin was not widely understood in the 15th century, but the Roman Catholic Church continued to communicate in that language, whereas the Protestants used the language that people spoke, allowing them to communicate religious ideas and teachings much more effectively.

Another key belief that differed is what happens to the bread and wine during the Eucharist.

Roman Catholics believe in transubstantiation, that the bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ, whereas Protestant beliefs differ between consubstantiation, the belief that the bread and wine remain bread and wine, whilst also becoming the body and blood of Christ, and the belief that the bread and wine symbolise the body and blood of Christ without literally becoming it.

So if you've chosen two different beliefs and explained them, then compared to me, that's absolutely fine.

The key there though is you've actually explained the ideas that you've identified.

Right, let's summarise today's lesson now then.

So the printing press was used extensively by early Protestant reformers such as Luther, in order to spread their ideas to a wide audience.

Zwingli helped to bring reformist ideas to Switzerland, although his beliefs differed somewhat from Luther's.

And Calvin emerged as a leading voice in the reformist movement and helped to make Switzerland the centre of Protestantism.

His views shaped the nature of the Protestant religion in many other countries in Europe.

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.