A Christian religious movement in Western Europe in 16th. and 17th centuries as opposition to Catholicism, the Pope and clergy.
The Reformation, initiated by Martin Luther in 1517, was a political-religious movement opposed to Catholic Church, as "protest", so the group of all denominations resulted during the Reformation is called commonly as "Protestantism". This led to break ties with pope and Catholic Church and thus generating religious wars in western Europe (mainly in Germany and France). Some countries accepted protestantism as a whole (Scandinavia, England, Scotland), some in parts (Germany, France) and some stayed Catholic (mainly Spain, Portugal, Austria and Italian states). The only country in Europe, not devastated be religious wars, was multi-cultured Poland.
The large impact of the Reformation's success was discovery of the printing-press, which allowed common people to read Bible and interpret it without help of preachers.
It is commonly accepted, that the Reformation ended with Treaty of Westphalia in 1648, when wars have finished. However, still there are differences and fights between Catholic and Protestant people, mainly in Northern Ireland.
Creation of new protestant religions in 19-20th centuries (so called Second Great Awakening), mainly in the USA, is not considered as the Reformation. Questions regarding Eastern Church (Orthodox) should not use reformation tags.
Notable events of the Reformation:
- Hussitism, in Bohemia, ca. 1420,
- Ninety Five Theses of Luther, 1517,
- Act of Supremacy in England, 1534,
- council of Trent, Catholic response to Reformation, leading to Counter-Reformation, 1545,
- Treaty of Augsburg, 1555,
- creation of Dutch Reformed Church, in Netherlands as part of independence movement against Spanish, 1570s.,
- Jean Calvin, died 1564,
- St. Bartholomew's Day, in France, 1572,
- Edict of Nantes, guaranteeing freedom for protestants in France, 1598,
- Treaty of Westphalia, ending war in Germany and between Spain and the Netherlands, 1648.
The questions tagged with reformation should be related mainly to the history of this political-religious movement. It is also accepted to ask questions about events that occurred during this era, if the tag is more appropriate than 16th-century or 17th-century tags. Questions regarding Catholic Church during this period, the Council of Trent and Counter-Reformation, are also accepted. For the Catholic Church itself use catholic-church instead.
For the Protestantism as a whole, also after the Reformation, use the protestant-church tag.