What Was the Protestant Reformation and Why Did It Change Europe?

A long time ago, kings and queens had to share their power with other important groups. Some cities had special rights, given by old agreements like the Magna Carta in England. Some rules were based on customs or even believed to come from God. One of the most powerful groups was the Church. The Church owned a lot of land, didn’t usually have to pay taxes, and ran its own courts and important things like marriage.

Even kings didn’t have the same power everywhere. For example, the French king was also a duke in a region called Brittany, and that meant he had less control there.

In the early 1500s, a big change happened in Christianity called the Protestant Reformation. It started because some people questioned the authority of the Pope and the Catholic Church. This was not the first time people wanted changes, but this time it became a huge event that changed religion and politics forever. Many historians say this was the start of the modern world.

Before the Reformation, some people already thought the Church leaders were not doing a good job. There were complaints about the Church being too rich or corrupt, and some people wanted the Church to be simpler and more focused on helping people.

A very important figure in this time was Erasmus, a Dutch scholar. He loved his Christian faith but wanted the Church to be better. He didn’t want to fight the Church, but he challenged some old ideas by using new learning and studying the Bible in the original Greek language. Erasmus helped people think in new ways and question old traditions, but he still stayed loyal to the Church.

Many people shared Erasmus’s ideas, and there was growing unhappiness with the Church and some kings and princes. This created the right conditions for a big religious revolution to happen — one that would change Europe forever.