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2C The Reformation in Europe, c1500–1564

  • 12 subtopics
  • 63 things to know
  • Component 2

What 2C The Reformation in Europe, c1500–1564 covers

Option 2C is a depth study of the European Reformation, taken as one of the Component 2 choices. It runs from the condition of the late medieval Church through Luther's challenge and its spread to Calvinism and the Catholic response.

Where it is assessed

Component 2

A depth study, of which a student sits one.

Check the AQA specification ↗

The 12 subtopics

Each one has its own page. AQA AS History students sit this topic in the first year.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

What level of Church administration did archbishops oversee?

Key term

Over what types of matters did Church courts exercise jurisdiction?

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What governmental roles did senior clergy commonly hold across Europe?

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Why was the priest's role considered essential in Catholic religious practice?

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What activities were considered 'good works' that could reduce time in purgatory?

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What was purgatory according to Catholic doctrine?

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Which pope exemplified papal corruption through simony, nepotism, fathering illegitimate children, and using the papacy for family advancement?

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Who wrote Utopia (1516) and what did it implicitly criticise?

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What was one major source of Church wealth derived from property?

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What kind of political structure was the Holy Roman Empire?

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Which ecclesiastical prince from Trier was among the seven Electors of the Holy Roman Empire?

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What powers did princes in the Holy Roman Empire hold within their own territories?

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What was the Imperial Diet (Reichstag)?

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What philosophical tradition influenced Luther's theological education at Erfurt?

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When were the 95 Theses written and where were they traditionally said to have been posted?

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What was the Leipzig Disputation of 1519 and what positions did it push Luther to adopt?

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What does the doctrine of sola fide mean?

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What does sola gratia teach?

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What evidence demonstrates Luther's dominance of the German print market by 1520?

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What happened when Cardinal Cajetan met Luther at Augsburg in 1518?

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What protection was Luther given to attend the Diet of Worms?

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Who was the radical reformer at Wittenberg who implemented rapid changes during Luther's absence at the Wartburg in 1521-1522?

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What prompted Luther to return from the Wartburg to Wittenberg in 1522?

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How did Luther respond to Erasmus's defence of free will?

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How did Zwingli's approach to Protestant doctrine differ from Luther's?

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What was Luther's view of Christ's presence in the Eucharist?

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Who led the Revolt of the Imperial Knights in 1522-1523?

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How did the enclosure of common lands and forests contribute to the German Peasants' War?

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Who drafted the Augsburg Confession and when was it presented?

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What caused the Second Kappel War (1531)?

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How did Melanchthon's approach to Catholic doctrine differ from Luther's?

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Which territories did Lutheranism expand into during the 1530s?

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What happened at Münster in 1534-1535?

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Who were the leaders of the Münster Anabaptist regime?

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What policy regarding property did the Münster regime introduce?

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Who were the two principal leaders of the Schmalkaldic League?

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What was the Diet of Regensburg in 1541?

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On which issues did the Regensburg negotiators fail to reach agreement?

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When did Calvin experience his conversion to Protestantism, and how did he describe it?

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What was the central emphasis of Calvin's theology regarding God's role in the world?

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What other major written works did Calvin produce besides the Institutes?

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According to the Ecclesiastical Ordinances of 1541, what was the role of pastors in the Genevan church?

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What was the Consistory in Geneva?

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Who was Michael Servetus, and what beliefs made him a heretic?

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What role did Geneva play in training Protestant clergy?

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How many Huguenots were there in France by 1562, and how were they organised?

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What happened in the Scottish Reformation of 1560?

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What was the outcome of the Battle of Mühlberg in April 1547?

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How did Protestants respond to the Augsburg Interim?

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Which religious groups were recognised as legal under the Peace of Augsburg?

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Did the Peace of Augsburg grant religious freedom to individuals?

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When did Charles V abdicate as Holy Roman Emperor, and why?

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Where did Charles V retire after his abdication, and when did he die?

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In what year did Paul III establish the Roman Inquisition, and what was its function?

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What was the purpose of the new religious orders that emerged during the Catholic Reformation?

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How did Jesuit beliefs emphasise loyalty to the papacy?

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What kind of training did Jesuits undergo before becoming full members of the order?

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What doctrine concerning the Eucharist did the Council of Trent reaffirm?

Key term

How did some monarchs use Catholic reform to their advantage by 1564?

Process

What were simony and nepotism, and which pope embodied them?

Process

What caused the German Peasants' War of 1524-1525?

Process

How were the Jesuits trained and organised?

Process

How dominant was Luther in print, what did Exsurge Domine demand, and how did he answer it?

Take 2C The Reformation in Europe, c1500–1564 further

The same content, four other ways.

Commonly confused

Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.

  • Justification by faith vs Indulgence

    Justification by faith: teaching that salvation comes through belief rather than merit. Indulgence: remission of temporal punishment granted through ecclesiastical authority.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    What doctrine asserted the Pope's supreme authority over the Catholic Church and his temporal power over secular rulers?

    Model answer

    Papal supremacy

  2. 2

    Who occupied the apex of the clerical hierarchy in the Catholic Church?

    Model answer

    The Pope

  3. 3

    What was the role of cardinals within the Church hierarchy?

    Model answer

    They served as papal advisors and were responsible for electing new popes

  4. 4

    What level of Church administration did archbishops oversee?

    Model answer

    Provinces (groups of dioceses)

  5. 5

    What territorial unit did bishops govern within the Church structure?

    Model answer

    Dioceses

  6. 6

    What was the primary administrative responsibility of priests in the Church hierarchy?

    Model answer

    Administering parishes

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2C The Reformation in Europe, c1500–1564 revision questions

Is 2C The Reformation in Europe, c1500–1564 examined at AS in AQA History?
Yes. It sits in Component 2, which you take in the first year, so it is on the AS paper as well as counting towards the full A level.
What does 2C The Reformation in Europe, c1500–1564 cover in AQA AS-Level History?
12 subtopics: papal supremacy and the church hierarchy, salvation and the seven sacraments, corruption, humanism and demands for reform before 1517, the holy roman empire and its electors, the imperial diet, the young luther and the 95 theses, the disputations, luther's theology and the 1520 treatises, luther in print, excommunication and the diet of worms, karlstadt, the zwickau prophets and luther's return, zwingli, the eucharist and the knights' revolt, the german peasants' war, the swiss reformation, the kappel wars and marburg and the diets of speyer, the augsburg confession and melanchthon. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
How is 2C The Reformation in Europe, c1500–1564 organised?
By the AQA 7042 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.

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