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Page 4 of 5
THE LAST 500 YEARS
The Catholic Church which had dominated Europe for so many years by
religious blackmail and ethnic/religious cleansing, from 1500 onwards
had to overcome or try to suppress the effects from the following.
- The Reformation
- The Printing press
- The French revolution
- The Freemasons
- Scientific and archaeological
discoveries.
The Reformation
This divided Europe in two, with the Northern Territories breaking away
from what they saw as a corrupt Roman Catholic Church to the new, back
to basic faith of the German Luther and his followers called
Protestantism. The effect was dramatic and bloody but less so in
England and especially Ireland which escaped the prolonged wars which
followed the conversion. (The English could never convert the Irish to
Protestantism). The Catholic Church had lost the might of the
Inquisition office as they had nothing too onerous to do for 100 years
or so. (Except in Spain where it was run by the royal family.)
Up to this time, the Inquisition had been successful mainly through
weeding out religious leaders one by one and exterminating them. The
new threat was too large to be dealt with in the same way by the
remaining Inquisition thugs who had over the past 200 years or so
mainly had to deal with a few unsuspecting members of the weaker sex
who they had branded as Witches. The Catholic Church felt a new
grouping of intellectuals trained as Catholic evangelists should be
formed. These were called Jesuits or as Pope Paul 3rd preferred, the
Company of Jesus. The movement was started by a Spaniard Ignatius
Loyola (c.1491-1556) who was much influenced by the ruthless efficiency
of the Spanish Inquisitors. The Catholic Church used the Jesuits
combined with the Inquisitors to spearhead the anti Reformation
movement. However nothing this formidable team did could stop the rapid
spread of the Anti Catholics other than in Catholic strongholds like
Italy, where for some 25 years they turned the locals into cowering
wrecks. Indeed some Universities in Central Italy closed during this
period.
The 30 years war 1618- 1648
This war between the Protestants and Catholics of Europe was inevitable
and was triggered finally in the small eastern European country of
Bohemia (now part of the Czech Republic) where the powerful noblemen
wanted a Protestant King. Ferdinand 2nd of Spain as both King of the
most powerful country in Europe at the time and Holy Roman Emperor sent
an army into Bohemia and trounced the army of the Protestant nobles.
Initially there was no response from the Protestants of Northern Europe
but then fearful that the powerful Spanish armies might succeed in
turning the whole of Europe back to Catholicism the Protestants reacted
and the conflict was to last 30 years.
The Danes, Swedes and Dutch were the main supporters of Protestantism.
The English sent an army but it never entered battle as they died from
the plague en-route. The result was finally settled when to the
surprise of all Catholics the French, “The Darling of the
Catholic Church” joined in on the side of the Protestants.
Their
motive was not religious but military as they saw and took the
opportunity to beat the all powerful Spanish (who were then ruled by
the Habsburgs) and become the most powerful country in Europe. From
this moment on, the French who had been lead into the war against the
Spanish Catholics by none other than their own powerful Catholic
Cardinal Richelieu, were thence forth no longer subservient to Rome and
all the hideous things that went with the Catholic Inquisition office
but were totally and uniquely loyal to their own “Sun
King”, Louis 14th.
The Printing Press and censorship by the Catholic Church.
Together with the Reformation printing provided huge problems for the
Vatican who had up to this time ruled by keeping their flock ignorant
of anything which indicated there might be an alternative theology.
Both printing and the Reformation date from the 15th Century and were
accompanied by a huge increase in literacy across Europe. The Catholic
Church responded by creating a department of the Inquisition Office now
called the Holy Office to produce a list of books and other reading
material which was forbidden to Catholics. This state of affairs lasted
certainly until 50 years ago when for example, for students in Chicago
University were unable to obtain so called forbidden books from the
University Library.
200 YEARS AGO
The French Revolution
For 150 years after the end of the 30 years war, France was ruled
jointly by the Royal Family and the Catholic Church in France. Indeed
France was split into three groups or “Estates”.
The first
being the Royal Family and the Nobility, the second the Catholic Church
and the third was everybody else. The only group that paid taxes were
everybody else. The ruling Estates were not good at managing the
economy and the harvests were poor and France had the most fertile land
in Europe. Finally the common man rebelled, hence the French
Revolution. Both Royalty and the Church were attacked.
The demise of the Royal family is well known. (King Louis 16th and
Queen Marie Antoinette put to death by guillotine in what is now called
Place de la Concorde). The attack by the people on their Catholic
Church is not. At the end of the Revolution 1793/4 17,000 priests and
35,000 nuns had been murdered and all Church Land and wealth had been
snatched by the people. Napoleon who rose from the ashes of the
Revolution went on to Rome and continued this attack on the Church by
imprisoning the Pope, took the Vatican archives back to Paris and
dismantled the Holy Roman Empire. Further he finally removed the
Catholic Knights of St John of Jerusalem from their fortress in Malta.
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