The Protestant Reformation

A movement that began as a protest against church practices and ended by splitting Western Christianity.

Background

By the early sixteenth century many Europeans criticised the Catholic Church for the sale of indulgences, clerical wealth and worldly rulers. Humanist scholars called for a return to the original texts of the Bible, and the printing press made it possible to spread arguments quickly and cheaply.

Course of events

In 1517 the monk Martin Luther published his Ninety-five Theses in Wittenberg, challenging indulgences. His ideas spread across the German lands, while reformers such as Huldrych Zwingli and John Calvin built movements in Switzerland. Political rulers took sides, leading to conflicts from the Peasants' War to the Thirty Years' War, which ended with the Peace of Westphalia in 1648.

Legacy

Europe became permanently divided between Catholic and Protestant states. Translations of the Bible into everyday languages strengthened literacy and national languages, and debates over conscience and authority shaped later ideas about religious tolerance and individual rights.