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The Religious Reformation in Europe c.1500-1564

Printing, princes and cities: the spread of Lutheranism

  • 3 things to know
  • AS Unit 2 and A2 Unit 4

Overview

Recall questions on the pamphlet and the vernacular Bible, why the imperial cities converted early, the material and political gains for a prince, and the pace at which the movement spread.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Key term

What was a Flugschrift?

Key term

What use was made of woodcut illustration?

Key term

Why did Luther's German Bible matter beyond religion?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Why was printing so decisive for the Reformation?

    Model answer

    It allowed a single argument to be multiplied in thousands of cheap copies within weeks, faster than any authority could suppress it.

  2. 2

    What was a Flugschrift?

    Model answer

    A short, cheap printed pamphlet in German, often only a few pages, which carried religious argument to a wide and largely urban readership.

  3. 3

    How did Luther's writing style help the message spread?

    Model answer

    He wrote in vigorous, plain German full of proverbs and abuse, so his pamphlets could be read aloud to the illiterate and remembered.

  4. 4

    What use was made of woodcut illustration?

    Model answer

    Artists such as Cranach produced images contrasting Christ with the Pope, or showing the papacy as the Antichrist, which carried the argument to those who could not read.

  5. 5

    Why did Luther's German Bible matter beyond religion?

    Model answer

    It put scripture directly into lay hands and its language did much to standardise written German.

  6. 6

    Give three reasons why so many free imperial cities adopted the Reformation.

    Model answer

    Their councils resented clerical exemption from taxes and civic law, guildsmen and printers were receptive to preaching in German, and the city could take over church property and poor relief.

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1642, at .
NottinghamOxfordYork

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AUniversal male suffrage was kept.
BCandidates were officially sponsored.
CThe press was licensed and warned.

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Wilhelm II succeeded in 1888 and dismissed Bismarck in 1890.
TrueFalse

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