Restorationism

==Middle Ages==
{{Main|Medieval Restorationism}}
Beginning in about 1470 a succession of [[Pope]]s focused on the acquisition of money, their role in Italian politics as rulers of the [[papal states]] and power politics within the [[college of cardinals]].<ref name=folly>{{Cite book |title=The march of folly |first=Barbara W. |last=Tuchman |year=1984 |publisher=Alfred A. Knopf |isbn=9780394527772 |location=New York, U.S.A. |url=https://archive.org/details/marchoffollyfrom00tuch }}</ref> Restorationism<ref name=mirror>{{Cite book|author=Barbara W. Tuchman |year=1978 |title=A Distant Mirror |publisher=Knopf |isbn=0-394-40026-7}}</ref> at the time was centered on movements that wanted to renew the church, such as the [[Lollardy|Lollards]], the [[Brethren of the Common Life]],<ref>{{Cite book|first=Leigh |last=Churchill |year=2004 |title=The Age of Knights & Friars, Popes & Reformers |publisher=Authentic Media |location=Milton Keynes |isbn=978-1-84227-279-4 |page=245}}</ref> the [[Hussite]]s, and [[Girolamo Savonarola]]'s reforms in [[Florence]].<ref>{{Cite book|first=Leigh |last=Churchill |year=2004 |title=The Age of Knights & Friars, Popes & Reformers |publisher=Authentic Media |location=Milton Keynes |isbn=978-1-84227-279-4 |page=281}}</ref>

While these pre-reformation movements did presage and sometimes discussed a break with Rome and papal authority, they also provoked restorationist movements within the church, such as the councils of Constance<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.piar.hu/councils/ecum16.htm |title=Council of Constance |access-date=2008-04-08 |author=Council of Constance |year=1414 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080101090223/http://www.piar.hu/councils/ecum16.htm |archive-date=2008-01-01 }}</ref> and Basle,<ref>{{cite web|title=Council of Basle |url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02334b.htm |access-date=2008-04-08 |date=1431–1449 |author=Council of Basle |publisher=Catholic Encyclopedia 1907}}</ref> which were held in the first half of the 15th century.

Preachers at the time regularly harangued delegates to these conferences regarding [[simony]], [[venality]], lack of [[chastity]] and [[celibacy]], and the holding of multiple [[benefices]].<ref>{{Cite book|author=John M. Todd |title=The Reformation |location=New York |year=1971}}</ref> The lack of success of the restorationist movements led, arguably, to the [[Protestant Reformation]].<ref name="folly"/>