Editing Early modern Europe (section)

== Reformation ==
{{Main|Reformation}}
The Protestant Reformation was a reform-oriented [[schism]] from the Roman [[Catholic Church]] initiated by [[Martin Luther]] and continued by [[John Calvin]], [[Huldrych Zwingli]], and other early [[Protestant Reformers]]. It is typically dated from 1517, lasting until the end of the [[Thirty Years' War]] (1618–1648) with the [[Peace of Westphalia]] in 1648. It was launched on 31 October 1517 by [[Martin Luther]], who posted his [[95 Theses]] criticizing the practice of indulgences to the door of the Castle Church in [[Wittenberg]], Germany, commonly used to post notices to the University community. It was very widely publicized across Europe and caught fire. Luther began by criticizing the sale of [[indulgences]], insisting that the Pope had no authority over [[purgatory]] and that the Catholic doctrine of the [[Treasury of Merit|merits of the saints]] had no foundation in the gospel. The Protestant position, however, would come to incorporate doctrinal changes such as ''[[sola scriptura]]'' and ''[[sola fide]]''.

The Reformation ended in division and the establishment of new church movements. The four most important traditions to emerge directly from the Reformation were [[Lutheran]]ism, the [[Reformed tradition|Reformed]] (also called [[Calvinist]] or [[Presbyterian]]) tradition, [[Anglicanism]], and the [[Anabaptist]]s. Subsequent Protestant churches generally trace their roots back to these initial four schools of the Reformation. It also led to the [[Counter-Reformation|Catholic or Counter Reformation]] within the Roman Catholic Church through a variety of new spiritual movements, reforms of religious communities, the founding of seminaries, the clarification of Catholic theology as well as structural changes in the institution of the Church.<ref>Kenneth G. Appold, ''The Reformation: A Brief History'' (2011) [https://www.questia.com/library/120083934/the-reformation-a-brief-history online]</ref>

The largest Protestant groups were the [[Lutheranism|Lutherans]] and [[Calvinism|Calvinists]]. Lutheran churches were founded mostly in Germany, the Baltics and Scandinavia, while the Reformed ones were founded in Switzerland, Hungary, France, the Netherlands and Scotland.<ref>Andrew Johnston, ''The protestant reformation in Europe'' (Routledge, 2014).</ref>

The initial movement within Germany diversified, and other reform impulses arose independently of Luther. The availability of the [[printing press]] provided the means for the rapid dissemination of religious materials in the vernacular.  The core motivation behind the Reformation was [[Christian theology|theological]], though many other factors played a part, including the rise of [[nationalism]], the [[Western Schism]] that eroded faith in the [[Papacy]], the perceived corruption of the [[Roman Curia]], the impact of [[humanism]], and the new learning of the [[Renaissance]] that questioned much traditional thought.<ref>For a wide range of causes see G.R. Elton, ed. ''The New Cambridge Modern History, Vol. 2: The Reformation, 1520–1559'' (1st ed. 1958) [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.111462 online]</ref>

There were also reformation movements throughout continental Europe known as the [[Radical Reformation]], which gave rise to the [[Anabaptist]], [[Moravian Church|Moravian]] and other [[Pietism|Pietistic]] movements.<ref>George Huntston Williams, ''The Radical Reformation'' (3rd ed, 2000).</ref>

The Roman Catholic Church responded with a [[Counter-Reformation]] initiated by the [[Council of Trent]]. Much work in battling Protestantism was done by the well-organised new order of the [[Society of Jesus|Jesuits]]. In general, Northern Europe, with the exception of most of Ireland, came under the influence of Protestantism. Southern Europe remained Roman Catholic, while Central Europe was a site of a fierce conflict, culminating in the [[Thirty Years' War]], which left it devastated.<ref>A.D. Wright, ''The Counter-Reformation: Catholic Europe and the Non-Christian World'' (Ashgate, 2005).</ref>

=== Church of England ===
{{Main article|Church of England|Anglicanism|English Reformation}}
[[File:After Hans Holbein the Younger - Portrait of Henry VIII - Google Art Project.jpg|upright|thumb|[[Henry VIII of England|Henry VIII]] broke England's ties with the Catholic Church, becoming the sole head of the English Church.]]
The Reformation reshaped the [[Church of England]] decisively after 1547. The separation of the [[Church of England]] (or Anglican Church) from Rome under [[Henry VIII of England|Henry VIII]], beginning in 1529 and completed in 1537, brought England alongside this broad Reformation movement; however, religious changes in the English national church proceeded more conservatively than elsewhere in Europe. Reformers in the Church of England alternated, for decades, between sympathies for ancient Catholic tradition and more Reformed principles, gradually developing, within the context of robustly Protestant doctrine, a tradition considered a middle way (''[[via media]]'') between the Roman Catholic and Protestant traditions.<ref>A.G. Dickens, ''The English Reformation'' (1991).</ref>

=== Consequences of the Protestant Reformation ===
The following outcomes of the Protestant Reformation regarding [[human capital]] formation, the [[Protestant work ethic|Protestant ethic]], [[economic development]], [[governance]], and "dark" outcomes have been identified by scholars.<ref>Patrick Collinson, ''The Reformation: A History'' (2006)</ref>

=== Historiography ===
Margaret C. Jacob argues that there has been a dramatic shift in the historiography of the Reformation.  Until the 1960s, historians focused their attention largely on the great leaders and also the theologians of the 16th century, especially Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli.  Their ideas were studied in depth. However, the rise of the [[social history|new social history]] in the 1960s look at history from the bottom up, not from the top down. Historians began to concentrate on the values, beliefs and behavior of the people at large. She finds, "in contemporary scholarship, the Reformation was then seen as a vast cultural upheaval, a social and popular movement and textured and rich because of its diversity."<ref>{{cite book|author=Margaret C. Jacob|title=Living the Enlightenment: Freemasonry and Politics in Eighteenth-Century Europe|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w9y1pF-Na3UC&pg=PA215|year=1991|page=215|publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780199762798}}</ref>