Protestant Reformation: Europe's 16th Century Transformation

The Protestant Reformation was the 16th-century religious, political, intellectual and cultural upheaval that splintered Catholic Europe, setting in place the structures and beliefs that would define the continent in the modern era. In northern and central Europe, reformers like Martin Luther, John Calvin and Henry VIII challenged papal authority and questioned the Catholic Church’s ability to define Christian practice. The disruption triggered wars, persecutions and the so-called Counter-Reformation, the Catholic Church’s delayed but forceful response to the Protestants. They argued for a religious and political redistribution of power into the hands of Bible- and pamphlet-reading pastors and princes.

The Reformation was a movement begun

ZWINGLI IN GLARUS After earning his Masters Degree in 1506, Zwingli was ordained by the Bishop in Constance. He then sought a position in the canton of Glarus and was elected the people 's priest and stayed until 1516. That particular position was closest to the people; saying the mass, instruction, baptisms, performing marriages, hearing confessions, counseling, etc. The Pope had sent another priest with letters of recommendation, but the people wanted Zwingli. In his last year at Glarus, Zwingli came under the influence of Erasmus who had arrived in Basel in 1515. He was the most famous northern humanist of the times. With Zwingli 's popularity growing, opposition from the Forest cantons increasing, and the Church on the attack, it was a brilliant strategy for the Zurich Council and Zwingli to initiate a public debate of the issues. In a democratic leaning Switerland, influenced strongly by the vestiges of Ancient Helvetia 's Roman Republicanism and the Renaissance 's classical revival of letters, the people loved this openness. He submitted his topics for discussion to the church authorities but they found too much dangerous heresy and prevented the discourse. Now times were changing and the state was taking a strong hold in the ancient alliance of religion and government. And this was Switzerland, not Germany, Spain, France or Italy. With the vestiges of

Indeed, with the support of his ardently Catholic chancellor, Thomas More, Henry VIII personally wrote (or at least lent his name to) a vehement, often scatological attack on Luther 's character and views, an attack for which the Pope granted him the honorific title "Defender of the Faith." Protestant writings, including translations of the Scriptures into English, were seized by officials of the church and state and burned. Protestants who made their views known were persecuted, driven to flee the country or arrested, put on trial, and burned at the stake. But the situation changed decisively when Henry decided to seek a divorce from his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, in order to marry Anne Boleyn. The greatest insurrection of the Tudor age was not over food, taxation, or land but over religion. Most people conformed, more or less willingly, to the structural and doctrinal changes commanded by the king and his ministers, but there were pockets of resistance, particularly in the north of England, from those who were loyal to the traditional religious order of Roman Catholicism and who resented the attempt to subordinate the church to the authority of the