How was life in Catholic Europe back in the 16th century?

Question

How was life in Catholic Europe back in the 16th century?

Answer 1

This was the time of the Renaissance and the beginning of the Reformation.  Upheaval in both social and economic classes was occurring as the Middle Class was born.

Cathedrals were being built by men who we now consider great architects and civil engineers.  Exploration was booming as countries solidified their borders and looked longingly at the neighbors' wealth whilst using new innovations in maritime science to go around the world and open new lands for exploitation.  Religious differences were causing turmoil and would lead to the Great Schism; Humanism was on the rise as well.

Answer 2

Rural, mainly. God was about everywhere. Just like in mohammedan countries today. Art was dedicated to religion. Science was dedicated to religion ('how many angels can dance on the point of a needle?'). Politics were dedicated to religion. Morning prayers, afternoon prayers, lots of holidays (holy - day; that's where holiday comes from). The nobility ruled, the pope ruled and you obeyed both of them.

Don't step out of line: if you were g*y, you got toasted. (F ag-got comes from ..... ??? Yup, something to start a fire with.) If you were a more or less independent woman you'd run a very serious risk of a witch trial and execution.

Answer 3

Well, if you were a Muslim, your life was horrible.  Read about the Spanish Inquisition.  There was a lot of corruption in the Catholic Church.  It made people pay indulgences to earn their salvation.  The rulers of the church lived a life of luxury with that money and their constituents lived like church mice..

Answer 4

That depends on which country you lived in.  England was not Catholic for most of the 16th century.  Catholics in England were martyred left and right after Henry VIII began the dissolution of the monasteries and continued under the rule of Elizabeth and James I.  That would not have been a fun time to live in England as a Catholic.  The protestant reformation was sprouting around everywhere which created a lot of tension and a lot of bloodshed.   However there was a much greater number of good Catholics alive then, and many saints came out of that century.  Such as Ignatius of Loyola, Thomas More, John Fisher, John of God, Francis Xavier, Pope Pius V, Teresa of Avila, Charles Boromeo, Aloysius Gonzaga, and dozens more.  What that would have been like to live in a time where there were dozens of saints walking the earth.  I think I would have liked to live then to see it.  I would have been safe in my home country, Portugal which remains faithfully Catholic even to this day.

As for the inquisition, it had nothing to do with muslims.  If you read about it you would know.  The moors were driven out of Spain and Spain was finally united under the rule of Isabella la Catolica and Fernando of Aragon.  They liberated town after town that had been taken over by the moors, where they found underground prisons full of emaciated Catholics.  The moors took Catholics as slaves and prisoners when they sieged a town.  Thank God for Isabella la Catolica!