AP Euro Summer Work: Religion

Rule of Saint Benedict

516

Saint Benedict , "founder" of Christian Monasticism, brought a new philosophy to monks: do good in order to be good (written in "The Rule of St. Benedictine" . Monasteries who followed this philosophy dedicated their time to gathering knowledge from before the Middle Ages. As a result, these monks translated Greek/Latin literature to shed light to lost information. This newfound knowledge was then passed/taught to children who lived near.

Islam

Jun 16, 622

A well respected man and merchant, Muhammad, began to receive visits from the angel Gabriel imploring him to be the next prophet for god. Muhammad developed a new following leading to the creation of Islam. On this date, Muhammad and his new gained followers were kicked out of Mecca to Medina (new sanctuary for muslims). Islam spread fast through trade and created a more inclusive environment. Anyone was welcome to join.

Reign of Charlemagne

814

Charlemagne's creation of the Carolingian Empire lead to the conquest of territories spanning from present day Italy to Germany as well as stretching from France to Austria. He also believed he could fight his way to conversions, and as a result, Christianity began to spread with every new acquired territory. By the time of Charlemagne's death in 814, his empire began to decline and never reached it's previous level of power again.

Henry IV vs Gregory VII

1073

It was in this year that monk Hildebrand became pope Gregory VII. It was also in this year that two men believed they were the rightful and only ruler to the entire Christian world: the pope and the German emperor (and any successor to Charlemagne and his conquests). Henry saw himself excommunicated by Gregory (where his relatives saw this a chance to stop the emperor's power from growing), and after pleading for forgiveness and not wanting to lose his power, Henry succumbed to George.

The First Crusade and Christianity

1096

With the rise of chivalry, knights believed it was their duty to protect the Christian world. The crusades encapsulates these sentiments as thousands of knights embarked on a series of crusades to acquire Jerusalem which was supposedly inhabiting Arab unbelievers. Despite failing in acquiring this "stolen" land, some would call the crusades as a success in terms of spreading Christian faith and power.

Mongols and Buddhism

1241

It was by this year that the Mongols were in their prime of conquest. Seemingly coming out of nowhere, the Mongols managed to create an empire so big that at one point it held around 25 percent of the world's population (nice chunk for religion to spread). The Mongols were similar to the rulers of Islam, tolerant with other religions as long as a tax was paid. Buddhism saw a major increase in its followers when ruler Kublai Khan adopted it as his preferred religion.

Humanism (The Renaissance)

1450

It is now the The Renaissance, a time of change and prosperity. With the countless changes came the revitalization of traditional Roman and Greek values thanks to the invention of the Gutenberg printing press (1450) which spread the ideas of humanist authors Francesco Petrarch and Giovanni Boccaccio. As a result, people also became enamored with pagan mythology once again.

Spreading Religion with the Age of Exploration

1492

When Columbus sailed to the new world in 1492, he introduced Christianity to a whole new continent and it spread as wildfire (not because people were buying into them but became once labor systems were established and the natives were treated like animals, most knew converting was their safest bet for better treatment). Nowadays, the majority of latin america is Christian and it's all a result from these events.

Protestant Reformation

1517

In this year, an Augustinian Monk, Martin Luther, would write his famous 95 Theses which would be nailed to the doors of a church as a form of protests against the institution of indulgences. Luther argued that no form of money should be responsible for safe passage to heaven, instead it should be faith in god. With that, the protestant reformation took charge with efforts to reform the beliefs/practices of the Roman Catholic church.This created a major split in the church (protestant movement).

Supreme Head of the Church of England

1553

It was in this year that England's King Henry VIII was eager to divorce Catherine of Aragon (the spark they once had had seemingly disappeared). Wanting to marry a more attractive person, the pope refused to allow his separation from Catherine. Wasting no time, the King created his own church (the church of england) in which he would be allow to divorce as many times as he pleased. This event added more fuel to the debate between wanting to separate the church and state.