Notes on Germany:

Germany 1483 - time of desolation and disease

• one forth of population died before they were five
• the Church promised heaven, and Church was the most powerful institution on Earth.
• Martin Luther - The Reluctant Revolutionary
• Martin Luther led Europeans into a rebellion against the Catholic Church.
• He grew up in Northern Germany where the Church dominated every day life. His life at home caused him pain and anguish.
• The fear of being punished and beaten by his parents drove him for the rest of his life
• Martin became a musician, he gained his masters degree and became everything he wished.
• 1505 - a plague struck Germany and the rest of Europe: THE BLACK DEATH
• 3 of Luther's friends were killed and this marked the beginning of his resentment against the Catholic Church
• He took charge of his own life, and stopped doing what his father expected him to do.
• Luther joined the strictest monastery in Europe
• Luther was a Flagellant meaning he whipped himself to feel the same pain Jesus did.
• He decided to leave the order because it was putting him in bad health.
• Martin thought he'd never achieve salvation and never get to heaven. He felt he couldn't please God.
• He then made a journey to Rome, and it was the height of the Renaissance
• When in Rome, he was completely unhappy with the Church.
• The Church was selling indulgences to the people telling them that it would take time off of their purgatory.
• one man named Martin the head of Bible studies at the new university in Yittenburg Germany.