The Protestant Reformation: Returning to Christianity’s Roots

By 50minutes

Keen to learn but short on time? Get to grips with the history of the Protestant Reformation in next to no time with this concise guide.

50Minutes.com provides a clear and engaging analysis of the Protestant Reformation, which began in 1517 with the publication of Martin Luther’s 95 Theses. The rest of the 16th century was defined by the resulting religious schism, which pitted the Catholic Church against an ever-growing movement that demanded far-reaching reforms in almost every area of religious life. Several heads of state converted to Protestantism, bolstering the movement, including Henry VIII, who founded the Anglican Church in 1534. However, the Reformation was also beset by internal dissent, and it quickly splintered into a number of different factions, most notably with the rise of Calvinism in Geneva. Even so, its greatest rival remained the Catholic Church, and the next two centuries were characterised by a series of religious conflicts, wars and massacres which lasted until the emergence of tolerance and secularism during the Age of Enlightenment.

In just 50 minutes you will:

• Discover the Catholic practices that the Reformation sought to abolish
• Learn about the differing beliefs of the most prominent leaders of the Reformation
• Understand the conflicts that broke out across Europe in the wake of this religious upheaval

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• Language: English
• Publisher: 50Minutes.com
• Release date: Mar 5, 2018
• ISBN: 9782808002608

Book preview

THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION

KEY INFORMATION

When: the Protestant Reformation started in 1521 and continued throughout the rest of the 16th century.

Where: Germany, Switzerland, Great Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Scandinavia.

Context: rampant corruption in the Catholic Church and the opportunism displayed by European royalty gave rise to three distinct new branches of Christianity (Lutheranism, Calvinism and Anglicanism), all of which challenged papal authority and sought to reform the faith’s clerical hierarchy and theological foundations.

Key protagonists:

Erasmus of Rotterdam (Dutch theologian and Prince of the Humanists, 1467-1536).

Thomas More (Chancellor of England, 1478-1535).

Martin Luther (German monk and theologian, 1483-1546).

Ulrich Zwingli (Swiss pastor, 1484-1531).

John Calvin (French theologian, 1509-1564).

Impact: as the Protestant Reformation gained strength, it sparked the Counter-Reformation within the Catholic Church. These opposing movements had far-reaching consequences throughout Europe, including the rise of secularism.

INTRODUCTION

The Protestant Reformation is the term used by historians to collectively refer to the emergence of three Christian religious movements (Lutheranism, Calvinism and Anglicanism) in the 16th century. These Protestants, as they came to be known, challenged the legitimacy of papal authority and sought to completely reform the doctrine and hierarchy of the Christian religion. The Reformation quickly spread through Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Great Britain, France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Scandinavia, with dramatic and often bloody consequences: in fact, this period of history is often referred to as the era of the wars of religion, which broke out as a result of the political tensions caused by this religious upheaval.

Faced with what it viewed as unmitigated sedition and heresy, the Catholic Church held the Council of Trent (1545-1563), which led to the rise of the Counter-Reformation movement. However, it was unable to bring the regions which had converted to Protestantism back under its thumb, although several countries, including the principalities of Germany and the Kingdom of France, were riven by internal religious conflict. Eventually, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (1500-1558) and King Henry IV of France (1553-1610) decided to take measures that were unprecedented at the time: they both took steps to allow increased freedom of religion through the Peace of Augsburg (1555) and the Edict of Nantes (1598), respectively. However, their successors did not always continue moving towards increased