The protestant Reformation was started in Germany. Then it was included in almost every nation in Europe. The protestant Reformation included five different parts. Known as the 5 Solae. The Five Solae are Latin phrases that are used to sum up the beliefs of the protestant reformers. Sola means “Alone” In English. The Five Solae are: Sola Scrpeturea – “Scripture alone”, Sola Fide – “Fath Alone”, Sola Gratia – “Grace Alone”, Sola Christas – “Through Christ Alone”, Sola Deo Goria – “To God alone be the glory”.

The Catholic Church wasn’t pleased with the new protestant movement. In order to stop the reformation the Catholic Church called the Council of Trent and organized a counter reformation movement. The Council of Trent met three separate time between 1545 and 1563. The counter – Reformation included 4 parts. 1: Ecclesiastical or structural reconfiguration. 2: Religious Orders. 3: Spiritual Movements. 4: Political Dimensions. The council of Trent rejected any compromise with the Protestants or the ideas of the Reformers. Despite the Council of Trent upholding the Catholic Church’s practices the Reformation spread. Several countries in Europe officially became protestant nations throwing off the authority of the Pope and the Catholic Church. The Reformation couldn’t be stopped and it changed the future of Europe and it’s development.

Gerhard Groot

Groot was born in 1340 and lived in a small town in the Netherlands. He lived during the time of the Black Death and both of his parents died when he was ten. He inherited all of his father’s wealth and while he received an amazing education he ended up as a rich, spoiled, brat. He converted to Christianity by an Augustinian monk. The Black Death hit his town for the second time, now that he converted Christianity he helped some orphaned boys. He gave food and water to them, place to live and kept them busy by instructing them in the Gospel. Set up a neighboring house where orphan girls were cared for in a similar manner. Gerhard began traveling and preaching and because of his wealth he made other schools like the first two. His schools went mostly unnoticed, The Black Death, and The 100 Years War, were bigger events that was happening.

Groot’s schools were named “The Brethren of the Common Life”. In 1384 The Black Death hit his town again and killed him. After his death, his students that graduated they turned around and began teaching the new students. Groots schools lasted 150 years after his death.

Cartier

Cartier was born France to a respectable family and improved his position once he got married. He was a mariner and enjoyed exploring South America especially around Brazil. Kings Francis I of France gave Cartier special commission in 1534. Cartier’s mission was to find a sea passage to Asia around the North of America. He set sail with 6 men on two different ships and landed in North America 20 days after leaving France. He discovered Prince Edward Island, he also discovered the Gulf of St. Laurence. The King was happy with the first report that Cartier gave and commissioned a second Mission. The Second adventure had 3 ships and 110 men. They used Native American as guides however, before they could find any gold or silver and harsh winter forced them all to return back to France. In 1541 Cartier’s new mission was to establish a new colony for France. He thought that he’s found riches shortly after his arrival and decide to return to France immediately and abandon the colonists. The riches turned out to be fake and the colonists could not surprised. Cartier completely ruined his reputation by not fining riches and by leaving the colonists. Afterwards France gave up on the New World for a while.

Hernando Cortes

After Columbus’s journey in 1492 there had been a series of explorers who tried to establish colones for Spain. One of these explorers was Hernando Cortes. Cortes was born in 1485. When he was 14 he went to the study Latin at school. Then at 16 he heard about Columbus’ adventures and wanted to become and explorer himself. By 1504 joined his first American expedition traveling to Cuba and working in civil government for a few years. In 1518 he finally led his first expedition to explore Mexico. The expedition was supposed to have been canceled but Cortes was hardheaded ignored the orders and set sail anyway. Cortes found in Mexico many friendly native and made alliances with them. Cortes is known best of conquering the unfriendly and hostile natives. The great Aztec Empire greatly outnumbered Cortes’s and his men however he manged to defect them anyway. After Cortes was made the governor of New Spain by King Charles I. Cortes rebuilt Tenochtitlan and explored others parts of Mexico.

Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer born in 1451. Columbus was born in Genoa and grew up reading the book of Marco Polo and learned different sciences. He went on four different voyages by the catholic Monarchs of Spain. His journey brought a greater awareness of the American continent. Columbus was a religious man and wanted to free Constantinople from the Turks and the gospel to China. He knew that because Constantinople was in the hands of the Muslims that he had to travel East. The Silk Road had also been a difficult place to travel so he proposed sailing around the world to reach China instead. Kings John II of Italy reused to help due to the fact that most people believed that sailing West wasn’t a good idea.

Columbus tried again to fund his expedition by talking with the Catholic Monarchs. The King and the Queen did not want Columbus to make someone else rich so they gave him an annual allowance to fund the journey. Columbus went 4 different voyages from 1492-1503. The first three ships in his first adventurer were named the Nina, The Pinta and the Santa Maria. After he had sailed around the Caribbean he returned to Spain in March of 1493. Columbus went of 3 other adventures in his lifetime.

Leonardo Da Vinci

Da Vinci was born in Florence in 1452. By age 20 Leonardo was a master in the Guild of ST. Luke. His first known work was a pen and ink drawing of the Arno Valley. His most famous painting in the Mona Lisa. It’s not known for certain who the woman was in the painting, but it is known that Da Vinci sought to make the painting perfect and dedicated many years of his life to working on it. He didn’t just paint, Da Vinci worked on several scientific and mathematics projects. He died in 1519 and is remembered as one of the greatest men of the Renaissance period.

Michelangelo

Michelangelo was outside of Tuscany, Italy in 1475. He had an apprenticeship with the man who owned the largest workshop in Florence at the time. The two most famous works of his are the statue of David and the painting on the ceiling of the Sistine chapel. Michelangelo designed St Peter’s Basilica in Rome just before his death in 1564. However he didn’t get to see the finished construction of the building. Which has been very influential in the design of several other buildings

Gutenberg and the Printing Press

Gutenberg was born in Germany as the son of a merchant. His father worked in a mine, so Gutenberg learned the trades of a blacksmith and goldsmith. Little is known about the rest of is early life and education. In 1444 the press was perfected and revealed, by 1450 it was in full operation. Gutenberg’s experience in the field of metalworking allowed him to design a high quality durable type. It was said that his type case had 290 separate slots for letters and special characters. A printing type is the letter or special character that are inked then stamped onto paper. Before each section of print had to be cast for each new project. But with Gutenberg’s printing press the types could be moved around and it made things easier to print. He was also the first person to use an oil based ink instead of water. Which made everything last longer. As a project Gutenberg decided to make copies of the bible. That way everyone had a copy. It was the first big project using the movable printing press type. Once more printing presses were made, ideas could be copied and spread faster than ever before. Literacy rates rose as a result of more access to books.