The Counter-Reformation: A History and Analysis of the Impact on France

Through out the course of human history, there are things that occur that cause change. Change that incites a movement, change that causes people to rise up, change that lights a fire to the deepest part of the human soul. But as we all know, to any effect there has to be something that caused that cause. Throughout history there have been many events that have occurred that have shaped the way we view our lives, but the impact the people at the period must have felt would be monumental. There is a period in history that incited much change in our world and that is the time period that we have come to know as the Catholic Counter-Reformation. This period of time prior to the Thirty Year’s War was a direct effect of the Protestant Reformation and was a revival of sorts of Roman Catholicism and a huge reform movement from within the Church’s foundation in Rome that spread throughout all of Europe. This impact is one that would ripple throughout the ages, one that would change the course of the Roman Catholic Church’s history. Like I stated up, for every effect there is a cause. The Catholic Reformation is no different to that fact. The almost direct cause of the Counter-Reformation was the Protestant Reformation that swept quickly through Europe. This was caused mainly by a Catholic priest by the name of Martin Luther. In 1517, he nailed the “95 Theses” as they have come to be referred as. This piece of writing pointed out the wrongs the Church had been committing by the selling of indulgences to pay for one’s sins and to also fund a huge construction project that the Roman Church was paying for. Little did this priest know the trouble that he would cause. He was simply looking for a change in the church, but this resulted in Reformers, as they came to be known as, springing up all over Europe with different ideas and beliefs. Martin Luther went on to write his own