Lightning AP History

Religious Reformation

This chapter focuses on the Protestant Reformation- an event that had a tremendous impact on the religious and political structure of Europe, even to the present day. As the Catholic Church received criticism for its secular politics, economic and ethical scandals, and particularly the sale of indulgences, many religious scholars began to protest against the Church's practices. One of them was Martin Luther, a Catholic monk, who eventually left the Church and established Lutheranism. With differences in religious doctrine and practice, more Protestant religions emerged, such as Zwinglianism, Calvinism, Anabaptism, and finally in England, Anglicanism. These new religions were also a way to achieve political independence from the national monarchies, as well as spiritual independence from the Roman pontiff. The splintering of the Catholic Church, and its close entanglement with European politics, would eventually lead to the violent and chaotic Age of Religious Wars of 

Wars of Religion

This chapter focuses on Europe's religious wars of the 15th and 16th century, that came as the result of the Protestant Reformation. While these wars were fought over religious difference and the desire for religious freedom, in reality, these wars were fought for political reasons. After all, religious freedom IS political freedom as well, and various religious groups sought to leave the Catholc Church as a means to gain political power and independence. We will mainly look at the wars in France, Spain and the Netherlands, England, and the Thirty Years War, which ravaged the Holy Roman Empire, in particular the German states, and ended with the Peace of Westphalia.