Posted: March 8th, 2016

Why did the religious reform in the sixteenth century have such a great impact? Wh

Why did the religious reform in the sixteenth century have such a great
impact? What differed about this movement from earlier movements of religious reform? Were the changes due more to the figure of Luther or the nature of politics and society in the sixteenth century? Can you connect these in some meaningful way?

5. Her Majesty would like to know to what extent the idea of the ‘three orders’ of society reflected the actual social order in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries? The three orders are illustrated in the wood cut of the tree of orders—showing the clergy, the nobility and the peasantry—from lesson two. Discuss what the image of the three orders emphasizes about society (it is a way of imagining society). Then write about the ways in which this mirrors the social order and the ways in which it is misleading. What is missing from the idea of the three orders? Was society changing? Is that reflected in the image of the three orders? What is left out?