Changes

==Background==

It has been widely stated that Italian society in the Renaissance was largely secular. This has been challenged by Burckhardt among others <ref> Burckhardt, Jakob. The civilization of the Renaissance in Italy (London, Penguin, 1992), p. 34</ref>. The elite was largely secular and the humanist class of scholars was more interested in the classics than the bible. However, the majority of the country was religious. Italians went to mass and took part in religious festivals. The morals and the beliefs of the population were very much influenced by the Catholic Church<ref> Payton James. Getting the Reformation Wrong: Correcting Some Misunderstandings (IVP, 2010), p. 79</ref>. This is remarkable given the corruption and the decadence of the Papacy. The Pope was a powerful secular ruler and controlled much of central Italy. They often appeared to be more interested in their secular power than their role as the Head of the Church. Julius II was more interested in wars than religion. Then there was the corruption of the Popes, best illustrated in the reign of Pope Alexander IV. Many Italians, such as Machiavelli had long been disenchanted with the Papacy and blamed it for the divisions in Italy and for the various invasions since 1494<ref> Machiavelli, N. The Prince (London, Penguin, 1999), pp 15-16</ref>. The clergy and the monastic orders all had become corrupt and worldly. The monks were accused of being lazy and more interested in a life of ease that the souls of the people. Now the reports of clerical corruption were probably exaggerated, especially by humanist writers but there is no doubt to believe that the Church in Italy was corrupt and not providing for the spiritual welfare of the people. Many Italians had long been worried by the failings of the Church and they were especially concerned that the corrupt clergy could not help them achieve salvation and save their ‘immortal souls’ <ref>Patrick, James. Renaissance and Reformation (New York: Marshall Cavendish, 2007), p. 89</ref>. There was a long history in Italy of ‘heresy’. Many Italians especially, in the Northern Cities had joined groups that were not happy with the Catholic Church and had developed their own doctrines and practices. They had all being suppressed. In the 1490s, Girolamo Savonarola (1452–1498), a Friar launched a religious revival in Florence. This included the famous ‘Bonfire of the Vanities’. Savonarola was soon so influential that he was able to expel the de Medici and establish a theocracy in Florence. Later Savonarola was burned at the stake. In the early days of the Protestant Reformation, many expected that Italy would reject the Catholic Church. Yet this did not prove to be the case <ref>Weinstein, Donald "Savonarola the Rise and Fall of a Renaissance Prophet" (New Haven, 2011), pp 45-134</ref>.

==Italian Reformation==