Consequences Of The Protestant Reformation

In the first half of the sixteenth century, the protestant reformation contributed to many political and social changes. The protestant reformation began in 1517 and lasted for 131 years, until 1648, but the consequences have lasted to the present. This reformation began with the inevitable conflict in the Christian church coming to light. People had started to believe that the church had problems in the aspects of both theological and secular ideas. Kings resented the power the church held, merchants resented taxes, the poor resented that they had to spend so much to give their loved ones passage to heaven (by buying indulgences) and humanists began to re question the church’s ideas. These thoughts and resentments had been simmering under
In France, The Huguenots, French protestants based on Calvinist ideas, conflicted with the Catholics. One Huguenot, Henry of Navarre, was marrying the sister of the king of England, Margaret of Valois. The teenage king’s mother was ruling for him at the time, and due to fear of a Huguenot having power she set up to massacre the Huguenots at the wedding, later known as the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre. 20,000 were killed but Henry of Navarre became victorious and became Henry IV of France, although after converting to Catholicism because, “Paris is worth a mass.” He did however pass the Edict of Nates, protecting protestant rights. In England, Queen Bloody Mary fought for Catholicism, and her successor, Elizabeth I spent much of her 30-year rule reverting to Protestantism. The result was protestant majority and a taxed catholic minority. Not long after this, in Austria, the HRE wanted to make the empire catholic, and tried to force Prague and Bohemia to convert from Protestantism. The messengers he sent were defenestrated as a way of saying no thank you. This started the 30 years’ war, and resulted in Sweden, Denmark and the Germans joining Prague. 17 years later France joined, although against the Catholics because it was best for the state, showing politique. This was the tipping point, and Prague was victorious. The Peace of Westphalia in 1648 ended this war and marked the end of all religious
This marked the end of Catholic control and control of the church in general. Europe was no longer Catholic or Protestant, but both. The religion extremist ideas faded and minorities of religion were no longer kicked out and prosecuted. Kingdoms, empires and states could decide their beliefs and no one else’s. There were no more wars over religion or belief, which contributed towards some major political changes. As well, one major social change was the extreme growth in literacy rates. Protestants, along with some other branches of Christianity, believed that to be a good Christian you had to read the bible and know god’s word, so you must be literate to be able to be a good Christian. This is a social change that has had a huge impact, and is still in