Protestantism

===Reformation proper===
{{Main|Protestant Reformation}}
[[File:HolyRomanEmpire 1618.png|thumb|upright=1.1|Distribution of Protestantism and [[Catholic Church|Catholicism]] in Central Europe on the eve of the [[Thirty Years' War]] in 1618]]
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|caption1=[[Henry VIII of England]], known for his role in the [[English Reformation|separation]] of the [[Church of England]] from the [[Catholic Church]]
|image2=JohnKnox.jpg
|caption2=[[John Knox]], who led the [[Reformation in Scotland]], founding [[Presbyterianism]]}}
{{Reformation}}
The [[Protestant Reformation]] began as an attempt to reform the [[Catholic Church]].

On 31 October 1517, known as [[Halloween|All Hallows' Eve]], [[Martin Luther]] allegedly nailed his [[Ninety-five Theses]], also known as the Disputation on the Power of Indulgences, on the door of the [[All Saints' Church, Wittenberg|All Saints' Church]] in [[Wittenberg]], Germany, detailing doctrinal and practical abuses of the Catholic Church, especially the selling of [[indulgence]]s. The theses debated and criticized many aspects of the Church and the papacy, including the practice of [[Purgatory#Protestantism|purgatory]], [[Particular judgment#Reformation concepts|particular judgment]], and the authority of the pope. Luther would later write works against the Catholic devotion to [[Virgin Mary]], the intercession of and devotion to the saints, mandatory clerical celibacy, monasticism, the authority of the pope, the ecclesiastical law, censure and [[excommunication]], the role of secular rulers in religious matters, the relationship between Christianity and the law, good works, and the sacraments.<ref name=Schofield122>Schofield ''Martin Luther'' p. 122</ref>

The [[Reformation]] was a triumph of literacy and the new [[printing press]] invented by [[Johannes Gutenberg]].<ref name=Cameron>Cameron ''European Reformation''{{page needed|date=March 2015}}</ref>{{efn|In the end, while the Reformation emphasis on Protestants reading the Scriptures was one factor in the development of literacy, the impact of printing itself, the wider availability of printed works at a cheaper price, and the increasing focus on education and learning as key factors in obtaining a lucrative post, were also significant contributory factors.<ref name=Pettegree543>Pettegree ''Reformation World'' p. 543</ref>}} Luther's translation of the Bible into German was a decisive moment in the spread of literacy, and stimulated as well the printing and distribution of religious books and pamphlets. From 1517 onward, religious pamphlets flooded much of Europe.<ref name=Edwards>Edwards ''Printing, Propaganda, and Martin Luther''{{page needed|date=March 2015}}</ref>{{efn|In the first decade of the Reformation, Luther's message became a movement, and the output of religious pamphlets in Germany was at its height.<ref name=PettegreeHall786>Pettegree and Hall "Reformation and the Book ''Historical Journal'' p. 786</ref>}}

Following the excommunication of Luther and condemnation of the Reformation by the Pope, the work and writings of [[John Calvin]] were influential in establishing a loose consensus among various groups in Switzerland, Scotland, Hungary, Germany and elsewhere. After the expulsion of its Bishop in 1526, and the unsuccessful attempts of the [[Bern]] reformer [[William Farel]], Calvin was asked to use the organizational skill he had gathered as a student of law to discipline the city of [[Geneva]]. His ''Ordinances of 1541'' involved a collaboration of Church affairs with the city council and consistory to bring morality to all areas of life. After the establishment of the Geneva academy in 1559, Geneva became the unofficial capital of the Protestant movement, providing refuge for Protestant exiles from all over Europe and educating them as Calvinist missionaries. The faith continued to spread after Calvin's death in 1563.

Protestantism also spread from the German lands into France, where the Protestants were nicknamed [[Huguenots]] (a term of somewhat inexplicable origin). Calvin continued to take an interest in the French religious affairs from his base in Geneva. He regularly trained pastors to lead congregations there. Despite heavy persecution, the Reformed tradition made steady progress across large sections of the nation, appealing to people alienated by the obduracy and the complacency of the Catholic establishment. French Protestantism came to acquire a distinctly political character, made all the more obvious by the conversions of nobles during the 1550s. This established the preconditions for a series of conflicts, known as the [[French Wars of Religion]]. The civil wars gained impetus with the sudden death of [[Henry II of France]] in 1559. Atrocity and outrage became the defining characteristics of the time, illustrated at their most intense in the [[St. Bartholomew's Day massacre]] of August 1572, when the Catholic party annihilated between 30,000 and 100,000 Huguenots across France. The wars only concluded when [[Henry IV of France]] issued the [[Edict of Nantes]], promising official toleration of the Protestant minority, but under highly restricted conditions. Catholicism remained the official [[state religion]], and the fortunes of French Protestants gradually declined over the next century, culminating in [[Louis XIV of France|Louis XIV's]] [[Edict of Fontainebleau]] which revoked the Edict of Nantes and made Catholicism the sole legal religion once again. In response to the Edict of Fontainebleau, [[Frederick William I, Elector of Brandenburg]] declared the [[Edict of Potsdam]], giving free passage to Huguenot refugees. In the late 17th century, many Huguenots fled to England, the Netherlands, Prussia, Switzerland, and the English and Dutch overseas colonies. A significant community in France remained in the [[Cévennes]] region.

Parallel to events in Germany, a movement began in Switzerland under the leadership of Huldrych Zwingli. Zwingli was a scholar and preacher, who in 1518 moved to Zurich. Although the two movements agreed on many issues of theology, some unresolved differences kept them separate. A long-standing resentment between the German states and the [[Swiss Confederation]] led to heated debate over how much Zwingli owed his ideas to Lutheranism. The German Prince [[Philip of Hesse]] saw potential in creating an alliance between Zwingli and Luther. A meeting was held in his castle in 1529, now known as the [[Colloquy of Marburg]], which has become infamous for its failure. The two men could not come to any agreement due to their disputation over one key doctrine.

In 1534, [[Henry VIII of England|King Henry VIII]] put an end to all papal jurisdiction in [[England]], after the Pope failed to [[annul]] his marriage to [[Catherine of Aragon]] (due to political considerations involving the Holy Roman Emperor);<ref>William P. Haugaard "The History of Anglicanism I" in ''The Study of Anglicanism'' Stephen Sykes and John Booty (eds) (SPCK 1987) pp. 6–7</ref> this opened the door to reformational ideas. Reformers in the Church of England alternated between sympathies for ancient Catholic tradition and more Reformed principles, gradually developing into a tradition considered a middle way (''{{lang|la|via media}}'') between the Catholic and Protestant traditions. The English Reformation followed a particular course. The different character of the [[English Reformation]] came primarily from the fact that it was driven initially by the political necessities of Henry VIII. King Henry decided to remove the Church of England from the authority of Rome. In 1534, the Act of Supremacy recognized Henry as ''the only Supreme Head on earth of the Church of England''. Between 1535 and 1540, under [[Thomas Cromwell]], the policy known as the [[Dissolution of the Monasteries]] was put into effect. Following a brief Catholic restoration during the reign of Mary I, a loose consensus developed during the reign of [[Elizabeth I]]. The [[Elizabethan Religious Settlement]] largely formed Anglicanism into a distinctive church tradition. The compromise was uneasy and was capable of veering between extreme Calvinism on the one hand and Catholicism on the other. It was relatively successful until the Puritan Revolution or [[English Civil War]] in the 17th century.

The success of the Counterreformation ("Catholic Reformation") on the Continent and the growth of a [[Puritans|Puritan party]] dedicated to further Protestant reform polarized the [[Elizabethan Age]]. The early Puritan movement was a movement for reform in the Church of England whose proponents desired for the Church of England to resemble more closely the Protestant churches of Europe, especially that of Geneva. The later Puritan movement, often referred to as [[dissenters]] and [[Nonconformist (Protestantism)|nonconformists]], eventually led to the formation of various Reformed denominations.

The [[Scottish Reformation]] of 1560 decisively shaped the [[Church of Scotland]].<ref>Article 1, of the [[Articles Declaratory of the Constitution of the Church of Scotland]] 1921 states 'The Church of Scotland adheres to the Scottish Reformation'.</ref> The Reformation in Scotland culminated ecclesiastically in the establishment of a church along Reformed lines, and politically in the triumph of English influence over that of France. John Knox is regarded as the leader of the Scottish Reformation. The [[Scottish Reformation Parliament]] of 1560 repudiated the pope's authority by the [[Papal Jurisdiction Act 1560]], forbade the celebration of the Mass and approved a Protestant Confession of Faith. It was made possible by a revolution against French hegemony under the regime of the regent [[Mary of Guise]], who had governed Scotland in the name of her absent [[Mary, Queen of Scots|daughter]].

Some of the most important activists of the Protestant Reformation included [[Jacobus Arminius]], [[Theodore Beza]], [[Martin Bucer]], [[Andreas von Carlstadt]], [[Heinrich Bullinger]], [[Balthasar Hubmaier]], [[Thomas Cranmer]], [[William Farel]], [[Thomas Müntzer]], [[Laurentius Petri]], [[Olaus Petri]], [[Philipp Melanchthon]], [[Menno Simons]], [[Louis de Berquin]], [[Primož Trubar]] and [[John Smyth (Baptist minister)|John Smyth]].

In the course of this religious upheaval, the [[German Peasants' War]] of 1524–25 swept through the [[Bavaria]]n, [[Thuringia]]n and [[Swabia]]n principalities. After the [[Eighty Years' War]] in the [[Low Countries]] and the [[French Wars of Religion]], the confessional division of the states of the Holy Roman Empire eventually erupted in the [[Thirty Years' War]] between 1618 and 1648. It devastated much of [[Early Modern history of Germany|Germany]], killing between 25% and 40% of its population.<ref>"[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/195896/history-of-Europe/58335/Demographics#ref=ref310375 History of Europe – Demographics] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130723052625/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/195896/history-of-Europe/58335/Demographics#ref=ref310375 |date=23 July 2013 }}". Encyclopædia Britannica.</ref> The main tenets of the [[Peace of Westphalia]], which ended the Thirty Years' War, were:
* All parties would now recognize the [[Peace of Augsburg]] of 1555, by which each prince would have the right to determine the religion of his own state, the options being Catholicism, Lutheranism, and now Calvinism. (the principle of ''[[cuius regio, eius religio]]'')
* Christians living in principalities where their denomination was ''not'' the established church were guaranteed the right to practice their faith in public during allotted hours and in private at their will.
* The treaty also effectively ended the papacy's pan-European political power. [[Pope Innocent X]] declared the treaty "null, void, invalid, iniquitous, unjust, damnable, reprobate, inane, empty of meaning and effect for all times" in his bull ''{{lang|la|Zelo Domus Dei}}''. European sovereigns, Catholic and Protestant alike, ignored his verdict.<ref name=ODCCWestphalia>Cross, (ed.) "Westphalia, Peace of" ''Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church''</ref>

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 | image1 = The Protestant Reformation.svg
 | caption1 = Peak of the [[Reformation]] and beginning of the Counterreformation ("Catholic Reformation") (1545–1620)

 | image2 = The Counterreformation.svg
 | caption2 = End of the Reformation and Counterreformation ("Catholic Reformation") (1648)

 | footer = Religious situation in Europe, late 16th and early to mid-17th century}}