The Impact Of The Reformation And The Protestant Reformation

Protestant Reformation The Protestant Reformation is often referred to simply as the Reformation, was the schism within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin, Huldrych Zwingli and other early Protestant Reformers.The Reformation happened during the 16th century.Although there had been significant earlier attempts to reform the Roman Catholic Church before Luther — such as those of Jan Hus, Peter Waldo, and John Wycliffe — it is Martin Luther who is widely acknowledged to have started the Reformation with his 1517 work The Ninety-Five Theses. Luther began by criticising the selling of indulgences, insisting that the

Although the Reformation is styled as a religious reaction against corruption and abuse within the Catholic Church, it reflected profound changes within European society itself. The Reformation itself was affected by the invention of the Printing Press and the expansion of commerce which characterized the Renaissance. Both Reformations, both Protestant and Catholic affected print culture, education, popular rituals and culture, and the role of women in society. Even a new style of art, the Baroque, was a byproduct.Children were a critical component in the response to this challenge. The reformers were anxious to ensure that the children of their

The reformation significantly changed the political landscape in Germany, France and England, and culminated in the Thirty Years ' War of the 17th century.The most prominent political consequence of the Protestant Reformation was the Thirty Years ' War between Catholics and Protestants, from 1618 to 1648. Involving nearly all major European countries, the war was the worst Europe had seen, with over 8 million dead. The war saw the decline of Catholic influence and Habsburg supremacy, as well as the establishment of the concept of nation-states through the Peace of Westphalia, a treaty that introduced the concept of a balance of power between the nations of Europe in the hopes of preventing future conflicts.Germany at the time of the reformation was not one country but a collection of principalities unified under the Holy Roman Emperor, who maintained limited authority. Soon after Luther 's call for reformation, many German princes converted to Protestantism, and in 1531 formed the Schmalkaldic League in opposition to the Catholic-Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V. After a long