Timeline of the Protestant Reformation
When Martin Luther nailed his "95 Theses" to the church door in Wittenberg, it set in motion a series of events that would radically change Europe. His act officially began the Protestant Reformation. This would shape the way millions of people understood Christianity.
Martin Luther had been a priest for about 10 years when he took the bold step of nailing his "95 Theses" to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg on October 31, 1517.
Luther criticized several practices of the Roman Catholic Church, particularly the sale of indulgences. Indulgences were a promise that the recipient's sins would be forgiven. Luther saw this as corruption and believed that the forgiveness of sins could only come from faith in Jesus Christ.
This belief sparked a movement as many agreed with Luther. Eventually, his followers would become known as Lutherans.
In 1521, Luther was summoned to the Diet of Worms by Emperor Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire. The Diet was an assembly of political and religious leaders held in the city of Worms. It was there that Luther was asked to recant his criticisms of the Roman Catholic Church.
Luther refused, famously stating, "I cannot and will not recant, because acting against one's conscience is neither safe nor sound. Here I stand. I can do no other."
At the end of the Diet, the Emperor issued the Edict of Worms which condemned Luther as a notorious heretic and banned citizens of the Holy Roman Empire from sharing his ideas.
Luther was just the first of many Protestant Reformers. The French theologian John Calvin was the next to play a significant role in the Reformation.
Calvin published his teachings in 1536 in a book titled Institutes of the Christian Religion. In it, he described the concept of predestination, that all events are known by God, including who will be saved.
Calvinism was influenced by his ideas and soon spread across Europe, particularly in Switzerland and the Netherlands, and shaped the beliefs of many Protestant communities.
Around this same time, the King of England was also playing a major role in the Reformation.
Henry VIII was desperate for a male heir but had been unable to have a boy with his wife. He wished for a divorce from his wife Catherine or for his marriage to be annulled, so that he could marry a younger woman and hopefully have a son.
When the Pope refused to grant his divorce or annulment, Henry directed his Parliament to abolish the Pope's authority in England. The Pope responded by excommunicating Henry in 1533. The First Act of Supremacy was passed the next year making Henry the supreme head of the Church of England.
In response to the growing Reformation, the Catholic Church held the Council of Trent from 1545 to 1563. This council aimed to address the criticisms raised by reformers and reaffirm Catholic teachings.
The council had three sessions and 25 total meetings over those years and began what is known as the Counter Reformation.
Catholic leaders hoped to reestablish Church authority through clear rules and definitions of what it meant to be Catholic. The Council upheld most of their policies and traditions but did address corruption and clarified their doctrine.
The Counter Reformation increased the tension between supporters of the Protestant Reformers and the Catholic Church. This was especially true in the large and diverse Holy Roman Empire. In 1555, the Peace of Augsburg was signed by Emperor Charles V and an alliance of Lutheran princes known as the Schmalkaldic League.
The Peace of Augsburg officially recognized the coexistence of Catholicism and Lutheranism within the Holy Roman Empire. It allowed individual rulers to choose the religion of their realms, establishing a principle known as "Cuius regio, eius religio" (whose realm, his religion).
Another prominent reformer was the Scottish clergyman John Knox. While in Geneva, he met John Calvin and was inspired by Calvin's teachings.
In 1560, Knox returned to Scotland and was influential in Scotland's Parliament abolishing the Pope's authority there. Knox then became a founder of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland.
At this time, religious conflict was still raging in France. A group of Protestants there known as the Huguenots were struggling for the right to freely practice their faith. At the time, France was predominantly Catholic. However, France's King Henry IV sought to promote unity and end the long conflict.
In 1598, the Edict of Nantes was issued and granted religious freedom to the Huguenots. This edict allowed them to worship freely and contributed to a period of religious tolerance and relative peace in France.
The Peace of Augsburg had maintained a truce between Protestants and Catholics in the Holy Roman Empire, but conflict would break out again in 1618.
In May 1618, a meeting was held between Protestant and Catholic lords regarding their rights and heirs to local thrones. Following a disagreement, Protestant lords threw two Catholic lords out the window of a 70-foot-high meeting hall.
This became known as the "Defenestration of Prague" (defenestration is the act of throwing someone out of a window) and sparked long-standing tensions between Catholics and Protestants in the Holy Roman Empire.
This tension would become known as the 30 Years' War and evolved into a complex political and territorial struggle involving various European powers.
The war would become one of the most destructive conflicts in European history before it ended with the Peace of Westphalia in 1648.