indulgence

=Indulgence= An indulgence could be granted by the Church. Supposedly, indulgences could be bought to lessen one's time in purgatory. This practice developed during the early 16th century. Lower members of the Church sold them and got to keep half the profits while the other half went to the church. Yohan Tetzl was hired by the Church to sell indulgences. He said that not only could indulgences lessen purgatory time, but if you bought enough of them, you could have no purgatory at all. Martin Luther was against indulgences, and because of them he wrote a list of 95 complaints against the church and nailed it on the door. The complaints were taken to Guttenburg who printed and distributed them over Europe. Martin Luther was excommunicated and later put on trial where he fled. An example of an indulgence is on the right.

Back to Unit 5 & 6 Terms Created by Max Crawford 12/8/08 Edited by Kelly Herring 12.11.08