Age of Exploration and Protestant Reformation - AP World History: Modern

Pogroms were organized attacks on Jewish communities in Russia carried out by the state in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Calvinism was the most effective Protestant faith at penetrating Polish society, and it was the dominant religion in the country for several decades at the height of the Protestant Reformation; however, the Catholic Counter-Reformation was wildly successful, and Calvinism survived only in limited numbers.

Gustavus Adolphus was the commander of the Swedish forces during the Thirty Years' War. Sweden fought on the side of Protestantism and the anti-Hapsburg side.

During the Protestant Reformation, France was still a primarily Catholic kingdom ruled by a Catholic king, but the number of French Protestants (called Huguenots) was growing rapidly. In an attempt to encourage secular unity, King Henry IV issued the Edict of Nantes in 1598 to establish some religious toleration of Protestants in France.

The Edict of Nantes was issued in 1598 by the French King Henry IV. The purpose of the Edict was to bring to an end the French Wars of Religion and provide religious toleration of Protestants in the French kingdom.

The Protestant Reformation made rapid initial gains in both Poland and Hungary. In the century or so that followed the Protestant Reformation, the majority of both countries converted to Protestantism (either Lutheranism or Calvinism); however, both countries were overwhelmed by the Catholic Counter-Reformation, and most of the gains made by Protestants in the sixteenth century were undone in the seventeenth century.

During the Protestant Reformation, the Ottoman Empire invaded Hungary (then under control of the Hapsburg Holy Roman, and Catholic, Empire). The Ottomans conquered the territory and the Hungarian people lost faith in their Catholic rulers, and in Catholicism itself, to protect them. By 1600, the vast majority of the country had converted to Protestantism, although this would be undone by the Catholic Counter-Reformation.

The ruling family of Poland remained Catholic throughout the Protestant Reformation, but the nobles and landed aristocracy were quick to embrace Protestantism. Interestingly, the peasantry generally sided with the King and with not the nobles and remained fiercely Catholic.

The Hussite Church emerged from the teachings of Jan Hus. Hus preached reform in the century before the beginning of the more widely impactful Protestant Reformation, but his reforming movement may be seen as part of the wider European trend. The Hussites were centered in Bohemia, in the modern day Czech Republic.

The Thirty Years' War, fought from 1618 to 1648, was primarily fought as a war of religion between Protestants and Catholics. In Poland and Hungary, it contributed to the declining influence of Protestantism and the resurgence of Catholicism.

Throughout Europe, but especially in Germany, Poland, and Hungary the most important factor in determining the religious beliefs of a region or group of people was the religious beliefs of the prince or ruler of that region. If the prince embraced Lutheranism, then a large number of the people under his control would also do so.

During the sixteenth century, the Hungarian people were overrun by the Ottoman Empire and began to view their Catholic faith as offering inadequate protection. Subsequently, Protestantism gained rapid and almost total popularity, and by the beginning of the seventeenth century, it is estimated that over ninety percent of the population had converted away from Catholicism; however, in the seventeenth century, the Catholic Counter Reformation, led by Hungarian King Ferdinand II, fought back, and by the eighteenth century, the vast majority of Hungarians were Catholic again.

The Battle of Mohacs was fought between the forces of Hungary and the Ottoman Empire in 1526. It ended in an overwhelming victory for the forces of the Ottoman Empire, which led the people of Hungary to abandon their Catholic faith, because they thought that it no longer offered the protection of God's grace. They took up Protestantism in large numbers and would hold the faith for a century or so until the Catholic Counter-Reformation returned Hungary to Catholicism.

In the two centuries before the Protestant Reformation began (in 1517), there were still numerous reform movements going on around Europe. One of the most influential and widely known is the Hussite movement initially inspired by Jan Hus and Jerome of Prague. They were both Czech-speaking people living in the region of Central-Eastern Europe called Bohemia. Their reform was centered around rectifying abuses within the church, and their discourse and correspondence is rife with references to the Pope as the "Antichrist." Not surprisingly, given the atmosphere of this time period, they were also both executed for heresy in the early fifteenth century. It is believed that their writings and martyrdom laid the foundations for the swift rise of Protestantism in Bohemia and Poland.

The Lutheran movement was spread initially through the German-speaking princely states of central Europe and was primarily a German-speaking movement throughout. The German-speaking people of Hungary were influenced by the writings of Luther and his German compatriots more than anyone else, and the religion of Lutheranism took off far more swiftly with them. The Lutheran Confession was adopted in Hungary in 1545. The Magyar people of Hungary (people who speak Hungarian) favored the Reformed Church of Switzerland, of Zwinglianism, and they adopted the Helvetic Confession in 1567. A Confession, to help clarify, is an expression of faith or a definition of what the group believes.

By the beginning of the seventeenth-century Protestantism had taken a tenuous hold of the populations of Poland, Lithuania, and Hungary. The Catholic Counter Reformation started winning back the hearts and minds of the people—primarily by motivating the nobles to withhold funds from Protestant missionaries and by coercing those who still resisted. The Jesuit organization was extremely active in this work. The Jesuits were formed right before the Counter-Reformation began and were extremely active throughout the next few hundred years in "purifying" the church while attempting to eradicate the gains of the Protestant Reformation. They were particularly successful in Eastern Europe, where the majority of each country was reverted back to Catholicism.

The Protestant Church of England was founded in the sixteenth century by Henry VIII after his divorce from Catherine of Aragon and subsequent marriage to Anne Boleyn.

The Ninety-Five Theses was posted in All Saints' Church in Wittenberg, Saxony in the Holy Roman Empire. It is credited for starting the Protestant Reformation.

The Protestant Reformation in England began in earnest in 1535 when King Henry VIII proclaimed himself king and head of the Church of England. The Protestant Reformation in England was motivated less by spiritual concerns and more by the personal desires of Henry and his ministers.

The Act for the Submission of the Clergy was passed in England in 1534, shortly after Henry VIII broke away from the Catholic Church and began the English Reformation. The act was passed to ensure that the clergy understood their new place in Henry's Kingdom—they were unable to pass laws without his assent and were now his subjects, rather than the subjects of the Pope in Rome.