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(1521)–Holy Roman Empire Imperial Diet Guide

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(1521)–Holy Roman Empire Imperial Diet Guide UPDATED: August 25, 2019 TRIPLE CRISIS PROTESTANT REFORMATION (1521)– HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE IMPERIAL DIET GUIDE TRITONMUN XX – OCTOBER 26TH, 2019 MODEL UNITED NATIONS AT UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO 1 BACKGROUND GUIDE TABLE OF CONTENTS Head Chair Letter…………………………………………………………………………… 2 Position Paper Guidelines …………………………………………………………………. 3 Historical Context………...………………………………………………………………… 4 The Beginning of the Reformation.……...………………………………………………. 6 Martin Luther & The 95 Theses.………………………………………………………… 8 Diet of Worms & The Reformation………...……………………………………………. 11 The Holy Roman Imperial Diet...…………………………………………………………… 13 What is it? & Where does it Fit in?.……………………………………………………. 13 The Holy Roman Empire & The Benelux………….…………………………………….. 15 Conclusion...…………………………………………...…………………………………… 19 Questions to Consider…………....……………………………………………………… 20 Suggested Sites.…………………………………………………………………………. 20 2 LETTER FROM THE HEAD CHAIR Greetings Delegates and welcome to TritonMUN XX! The year is 1521, the Church is all powerful, but everything is about to change. In this committee, you will have the chance to represent one of the great Estates of Europe during the Protestant Reformation. How you handle the great changes sweeping the land is entirely up to you. In this committee you will have a chance to change history. The fate of your Estate relies upon your decision making. My name is Ethan Christensen and I will be your head chair for this conference. I am a third year at UCSD studying Political Science with a focus in public law and minors in Psychology and Law and Society. After college I look to attend law school and then work as a public lawyer somewhere in California. I am a member of student government here at UCSD and currently serve as the VP of Finance and Resources for Associated Students. This is my third year in Model UN and my 6th TritonMUN. I have served as the USG of Logistics in the past, and now consistently chair Crisis Committees. This year I am also the President of our Model UN club at UCSD. I am thrilled to see all the ideas you come up with this year. I keep finding myself drawn back into crisis because of the creativity and fun we can have. Throughout the committee I’ll be looking for creative solutions and effective debate of said ideas. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out and I can answer them. I can’t wait to work with all of you! Thank you, Ethan Christensen Head Chair | Holy Roman Imperial Diet 3 POSITION PAPER GUIDELINES TRIPLE CRISIS – PROTESTANT REFORMATION (1521) HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE IMPERIAL DIET POSITION PAPER GOOGLE FORM LINK: https://tinyurl.com/positionppr-holyromanempire TRITONMUN POSITION PAPER GUIDELINES • Position Papers are due at 11:59 PM on October 14, 2019 o Requests for extensions must be sent by the advisor to TritonMUN by October 7th. • Position Papers can be submitted by one of two ways: 1. The Google Form link listed at the beginning of your Background Guide (The Advisor Logistics Packet has a Google Form link that can be used by advisors) 2. Email to: [email protected] o Note: It is highly preferable that delegates submit their Paper using the Google Form, the email is available in case of technological problems and for those without a Google Account. Additionally, all Position Papers submitted after the deadline (this includes extensions) must be submitted by a Google Form. • For committees with one topic (all Fall Committees) there should be two pages for the topic with an additional page for citations, for a total of 3 pages. • Papers should be single-spaced in Times New Roman 12 pt. font and include no pictures. • Please include the following sections for each committee topic: o Background o Past Actions by the Committee o Position of your Country/Person o Possible Solutions • At the top of each paper, include your country/person, name, committee, and topic. 4 HISTORICAL CONTEXT Before understanding what the Protestant Reformation was, it is first critical to understand the sheer power of the Catholic Church up to that point. The church’s power was far reaching, but highly concentrated in Europe during the Middle Ages. At this time the Catholic Church, a sect of Christianity, was the only church in Western Europe. The relationship between the Church and the people was mostly symbiotic; the people donated money and land to the church, and in turn the church provided services, religious and otherwise, for the people1. As long as the church had the unwavering support of the people, it was near unstoppable. At first glance, the relationship appears to be a fair balance of power. However, when one truly observes what the Catholic Church could do, it becomes clear they held all the cards. In Medieval Europe, religion wasn’t treated the same way it is today. In the world of medieval Catholicism everything in the Bible was 100% true. This meant that Jesus, God, the Flood, the Book of Genesis, the Garden of Eden, and most importantly, Heaven, were all real2. Catholic beliefs hold that the mortal life is only a tiny chunk of your existence as the soul lives on for eternity in either Heaven or Hell. Reaching Heaven was the entire point of most people’s existence. However, the priests convinced the people of Europe that the church alone held the ability to control whether you went to Heaven or Hell. 1 https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/schools/ks3/reformation 2 https://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/the-counter-reformation/the-roman-catholic-church-in-1500 5 Figure 1 Modern Image of the Oldest Catholic Church in Northern Europe, Built in the Middle Ages Unfortunately for the people, there was a catch. The Catholic Church not only held the power to “determine” who went to Heaven and who didn’t, but also the ability to interpret the word of God and the criteria for entering Heaven. The Gutenberg Printing Press had only been invented in 1450, and only just begun to print out Bibles. Prior to this point, the only bibles being produced were those painstakingly hand copied by monks3. As such, very few members of the public owned their own copy of the Bible, instead relying on their church to have one. On top of this, literacy in Europe was already incredibly low, but even those Bibles people had access to weren’t even written in the more commonly read German, but rather in Latin4. This way, even if people had personal access to the Bible, they still required a Latin-literate translator to read it to them. Of course, the church often took up this task. In order to increase its power, the church would read and translate the Bible to the people of Europe, changing parts to read however the 3 https://www.history.com/topics/inventions/printing-press 4 https://brewminate.com/the-growth-of-literacy-in-western-europe-from-1500-to-1800/ 6 church leadership wanted5. Catholic priests also told churchgoers that only the priests held a direct connection between mortals and God himself. Furthermore, the church controlled most of the important aspects of one's life. Birth, death, marriage, communion, everything happened at the church. With all of this, the Catholic Church was able to rapidly seize control of every aspect of society6. With their power, the Catholic Church convinced people to donate money, give lands, volunteer service, and fully dedicate their lives to the Church as an institution. People were instructed to pay a “tithe”, or a chunk of their money, equal to one tenth of their annual income. On top of their tithe, churchgoers were also told to give donations to the church at the end of every service. Catholics in Europe were even “asked” to work church lands multiple days during the week. By the early 1500s, the Catholic Church was so rich it owned 1⁄3 of all land in Europe7. On these lands the Catholic church expanded from a religious institution to a political powerhouse. With its wealth the church-built schools, hospitals, libraries, poverty centers, and of course, more parishes. Between the physical wealth and the religious power of the church, it quickly grew to dominate all of Europe until it was far stronger than any government. THE BEGINNING OF THE REFORMATION: The Protestant Reformation wasn’t the first revolt against the church, but it was by far the most successful. The post reformation Church never had the same grasp on society it had held for centuries prior. Although a series of events can be traced back to the beginning of the 5 https://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/the-counter-reformation/the-roman-catholic-church-in-1500 6 https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/schools/ks3/reformation 7 http://www.unamsanctamcatholicam.com/history/historical-apologetics/79-history/501-church-owned-land- middle-ages.html 7 Reformation, one specifically is often cited as the turning point. This was the church’s decision to sell indulgences. Essentially, an indulgence was a way of sending yourself or a loved one to Heaven. The church had decreed that upon death the soul entered purgatory to await a final decision. Either it would go to Heaven and be spared for Figure 2 A Catholic Man Purchasing an Indulgence eternity or be sent straight to Hell. According to the Bible, the only way to reach heaven was to repent for your sins and pray to God for forgiveness. This changed with a man named Friar Tetzel8. Friar Tetzel decided to turn a profit on dead souls and told the Catholics of Europe that they could guarantee their loved ones went to Heaven if they purchased a slip of paper known as an indulgence. The indulgences were absurdly expensive as well, sometimes costing up to half a poor family’s annual wages9. Few questioned the church's actions.
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