The Reformation and Counter-Reformation Periods

Paper Summary:

The following paper is a brief review of the religious schism that wracked Europe, principally France and Germany, during the Reformation and Counter-Reformation periods. The paper examines how the various leaders involved responded, and what the long-term consequences of their decisions were for their respective lands. The paper also notes how the period actually strengthened the French while weakening the Holy Roman Empire.

From the Paper:

"The history of modern Europe has seen its share of troubling religious divides and more than its share of religious violence. That being said, the French monarchy was initially repressive towards religious dissent but gradually assumed a more progressive approach as the sixteenth century drew to a close. In the early decades of the Sixteenth century, however, Francis I was notorious in his brutal crack-down of the emerging sixteenth century Protestantism; this persecution was ably pursued by his successor, Henri II who also took it upon himself to contest a variety of territorial holdings with the Holy Roman Empire, England and Spain. As the second half of the sixteenth century proceeded, French efforts to thwart the Protestant upheaval grew in conviction."

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