Prologue
Out of all religious disputes, conflicts, and war, the Protestant Reformation and the varying reactions to the sudden decrease in power of the Roman Catholic Church gave way to about a century of the most violent religious clashes since the Crusades. Following the Renaissance, an era of rebirth of classical knowledge and a stimulus to religious reform in 16th century Europe, Christian scriptures became open to interpretation. Religious philosophers bickered with each other, questioning the legitimacy of indulgences, baptism, and predestination.
15th and 16th century Europe was a time where everyone put their full faith in religion. Europeans relied on beliefs in supernatural and legendary tales to explain the seemingly mysterious occurrences around them. The Pope of the Catholic Church was an incredibly powerful figure, as he was able to exercise dominion over religious matters in all of Europe, and at times, defy the orders of kings. Religion was an integral part of a medieval lifestyle, which made it a legitimate motivation for violence and war.
And yet throughout the Renaissance, ideological and political shifts were able to disrupt the trend of the unwavering loyalty to the Catholic Church. Europe was in the middle of a period of intellectual rebirth. The Renaissance, which kicked off around the 14th century among wealthy and competitive Italian city-states, spread to western Europe, where the focus became religious reform. Philosophers like Erasmus preached the idea of Christian humanism, where the individual’s ability to reach salvation was emphasized, and scientists resorted to Greco-Roman logic instead of the supernatural.
However, the violence wasn’t always on religion and ideology. Reformers, who philosophized and reasoned their different understandings of the Bible, became figures to rally behind not just for religious freedom, but also for revolution and political change. Deviation from Catholicism did not just bring about religious disagreement, but also caused social, political, and cultural shifts throughout all of Europe. Peasants, nobles, and monarchs alike saw opportunity; through the weakening of the Church, they found chances to bolster their social statuses and increase their influence on others.
At this time, Europe witnessed a new wave of rising monarchies, springing up from different kingdoms to challenge the current balance of power. These monarchies, coming from dynasties like the Tudors in England and the Valois in France, would cause and witness both internal and external conflict over religious beliefs and political control. But it was in the Holy Roman Empire - a multi-ethnic stretch of land that encompasses modern-day Germany, and integrated Spain and southern Italy - that the Reformation kicked up.
Luther and the 95 Theses
By the Reformation period, the Holy Roman Empire was already a decentralized European state, shaken by earlier religious schisms throughout its history. The Holy Roman Empire was essentially a confederation of princedoms united under an elected emperor from the house of Habsburg. It was under the Habsburgs, particularly Charles V, that the Holy Roman Empire reached the peak of its power. However, somewhere within the Habsburg power base, among these scattered princedoms, the Protestant Reformation began to unfold.
In 1517, a monk named Martin Luther nailed the 95 Theses to the Wittenberg Church. The 95 Theses was Luther’s attempt at reforming Catholicism and stripping it away from corruption. Luther protested the Catholic Church’s use of indulgences, the sale of pardons from sins. He believed that salvation did not come from indulgences, but from faith and scripture. 1517 could be considered the beginning of the Protestant Reformation.
In 1520, Pope Leo X declared Luther’s propositions heretical and excommunicated him from the Catholic Church. A year later, Luther was tried before the Diet of Worms. Holy Roman Emperor Charles V ordered his writings to be burned. Luther went into hiding, where he began the translation of the New Testament into German. These were quiet years for him, but although he wasn’t out and about preaching, his beliefs spread to the rest of the Holy Roman Empire.
Socially oppressed groups, including poor peasants and low class merchants, saw opportunity for social advancement, and some of these low class movements were supported by Protestant priests. In fact, by 1524, a full uprising known as the German Peasants Revolt emerged in one of the provinces of the Holy Roman Empire. In full support of the Protestant movement, these peasants fought for their freedom against the nobles they served.
The revolt was eventually crushed by the Catholic aristocracy. Two decades later, Martin Luther died of a stroke. But this was just the beginning… His works were now being distributed all throughout Europe with the help of the new Gutenberg printing press, and new reformers, such as John Calvin and Ulrich Zwingli, rose to prominence to challenge Catholic authorities. Additionally, the opportunities of seizing political power opened up, and now beckoned a more dangerous party: the nobles.
War in France
By the mid-16th century, the Reformation had spread to France, a centralized Catholic kingdom experiencing its last days of medieval prosperity. The Valois dynasty was largely Catholic. Ever since their founding, the Valois kings of France were essentially worshipped religiously (they were seen as God’s representative on Earth), making them an overwhelmingly powerful force to be reckoned with. By the time the Reformation reached their homeland however, the might of the Valois dynasty were put to the test.
Henri II, who became king in 1547, was arguably the last Valois king to maintain a firm grip on his absolute power. He had three sons and one daughter, all of whom were kept under the manipulative and calculating eye of his wife, Catherine de Medici. Some years before Henri II’s reign, a group of French Calvinists, called the Huguenots, began to resist Catholic teachings in France. Henri II laid out harsh policies toward the French Huguenots. As the Huguenots began to resist their persecutions, sporadic periods of civil war plagued France for the next 3 decades (1562-1598).
Among these tensions was the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, which occurred exactly a decade after the start of the wars. By 1572, Henri II and his oldest son Francis were both dead, and Henri’s younger tyrannical son Charles IX assumed the position as king of France. Catholics killed over a thousand Huguenots, weakening their resistance. The massacre took place only a few days after the wedding of the king’s daughter Margot to a French Huguenot noble Henri of Navarre. The massacre was believed to have been instigated by Charles IX and Catherine de Medici, Henri’s ruthless and clever queen.
Two years after the massacre, Charles IX died from tuberculosis and his younger and weaker brother Henri III came to power. In 1587, Henri III outlawed Protestantism completely and denied Henri of Navarre’s right to the throne, even though he was supposed to succeed him (after having married Margot). Henri III’s actions sparked the War of the Three Henris (Henri III, Henri of Navarre, and another Henri of Guise). Ultimately, Guise was assassinated and Henri III was fatally wounded. On his deathbed, Henri III named Henri of Navarre as his heir, imploring him to convert to Catholicism.
Henri of Navarre, now Henri IV and the first Bourbon king of France, continued to fight against the Catholic League. To gain control of the country, Henri had to conquer Paris, and to do so, being the politique that he is, converted to Catholicism. To quell any further religious violence, Henri IV issued the Edict of Nantes in 1598. The Edict formally recognized Catholicism as France’s state religion, but also granted the Huguenots religious freedom and civil rights.
The Tudor Legacy
Known for his six wives, his ruthlessness, and his tyranny, Henry VIII, the second Tudor king of England, saw the Reformation as a chance to secure his dynastic legacy. Surprisingly, Henry VIII was actually a staunch supporter of the Catholic faith when Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses onto the Wittenberg church. Henry denounced Luther, and was recognized by the Pope as the “Defender of the Faith” before the English Reformation.
Henry’s views shifted dramatically when his plans to secure his dynastic legacy were disrupted. When Catherine of Aragon, the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain (and Henry’s first wife), gave birth to a daughter, Mary, Henry demanded an annulment. In doing so, he broke away from the Catholic Church, and in an Act of Supremacy in 1534, declared himself both head of the state and head of the new Anglican church of England.
After Henry’s death, his 9-year-old son Edward. Edward was the child of Henry’s third wife, Jane Seymour, who died in childbirth. Edward had been educated in a Protestant setting. Under Edward’s reign, a new Book of Common Prayer was introduced, its text signalling a radical departure from traditional prayer. Edward’s reign only lasted six years as the king died from tuberculosis, but before his death, he named Lady Jane Grey, a Protestant (and his first cousin once removed) as his successor.
However, as support for Jane Grey faded due to her unpopular father in law, the council proclaimed Mary Tudor (daughter of Henry and his first wife) the new queen. Unlike Edward, Mary was raised in a Catholic setting, and she intended for England to return to the traditional faith. She married Philip II of Spain (a Catholic king) mainly for religious purposes, and outlawed Protestantism. Mary’s persecution of Protestants earned her the nickname “Bloody Mary”.
Mary died in 1558, and was succeeded by her half-sister Elizabeth, the daughter of Henry and his second wife, Anne Boleyn. Though Elizabeth was a Protestant, she did not outlaw Catholicism entirely, seeking religious peace. Philip II of Spain, who lost control of England and was outraged at Elizabeth’s pirates, invaded England with the full force of the Spanish Armada. However, he was defeated by the English soldiers, who were inspired to fight for Elizabeth. The rest of Elizabeth’s reign was a golden age of prosperity. Though Elizabeth would be the last Tudor to sit on the English throne, the notorious dynasty shaped England’s religion and political landscape.
Opposition
In history, any major change in politics, society, or religion, is met with opposition. As for the Protestant Reformation, Catholic defenders came to oppose the Protestant faiths through the Counter-Reformation. The Counter-Reformation took on many forms: political challenges, religious revivals, and new art trends. Though the Counter-Reformation had its successes, it wasn’t enough to stop the spread of Protestantism and religious conflict.
An important figure of the Counter-Reformation was Philip II, the Habsburg king of Spain. He was engaged to Mary Tudor; the marriage was mainly for religious reasons - both Philip and Mary were Catholics. After Mary’s death, Philip unsuccessfully tried to invade England, which was under the Protestant Elizabeth I, with the Spanish Armada. Philip had also joined the French Wars of Religion by funding the Catholic League.
In 1534, a Spanish priest named Ignatius of Loyola founded the Jesuit order. Jesuits were servants of the Catholic church and worked to convert Protestants back to Catholicism. Jesuits also traveled abroad to educate non-Europeans on Christianity. A few years later in 1545, Catholic leaders came together in the Council of Trent in Italy. The Council of Trent laid out training for Catholic priests and also carried out condemnations and excommunications of Protestants (or heretics in the eyes of Catholics).
A big part of the Counter-Reformation lay in baroque art. Baroque art was dramatic - it focused on tenebrism, a technique where figures on a canvas are illuminated by light, but surrounded by shadow. Baroque art often portrayed religious scenes, such as David and Goliath. Baroque art was encouraged by the Catholic church, as it would help emphasize religious piety, even to those who couldn’t read religious texts.
The Thirty-Year Showdown
The various disputes between Protestantism and Catholicism, peasants and nobles, nobles and kings, eventually culminated in the Thirty Years War (1618-1648), a bloody confrontation between the Holy Roman Empire (HRE) and Protestant kingdoms in Europe. The war can also be considered as the HRE’s effort to reunite with Spain, and in their effort, making a final attempt at restoring Catholicism to Europe. This war was one of the bloodiest in European history, and some even consider it to be an earlier version of a “World War”.
The Thirty Years War was sparked by the Defenestration of Prague in 1618, the last straw that set the stage for inevitable conflict. The German province of Bohemia had been rebelling against Catholic rule, and the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II sent Catholic messengers to Prague in an attempt to crush the uprising. However, the messengers were pushed out of a window of a council building. They landed in poop and claimed that god saved them.
The Bohemians rallied around a Protestant king, Frederick (Calvinist leader of a new Protestant Union) against the new Holy Roman Emperor, Ferdinand II. Ferdinand II was able to find support from his nephew Philip IV of Spain. In 1620, the Catholic forces defeated the Bohemians during the Battle of White Mountain. This local conflict between a decentralized Catholic kingdom and a rebellious Protestant faction caught the attention of Christian IV of Denmark, who fought against Ferdinand but was decisively defeated.
The war expands to a conflict almost all of Europe had to deal with. Now matters turned political, as European authorities bickered for power and strived to weaken the HRE. In 1630, Sweden joined the war under the leadership of Gustavus Adolphus. The Lutheran Swedish king wins the first Protestant victory at the Battle of Breitenfeld. France, despite being a Catholic nation, allies with the Swedes, to prevent the HRE from upsetting the balance of power in Europe.
After thirty years of fighting, a victor did not emerge, and the war ended in stalemate. However, the war shaped the geopolitical organization of Europe for the next century. In 1648, the conflicting powers signed the Peace of Westphalia, leaving the Holy Roman Empire weak and decentralized more than ever. There were movements of independence from Catholic authority, such as the Swiss and the Dutch. And finally, France would become the dominant European power for the rest of the century.