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Period: Jan 1, 1300 to
Renaissance
A three hundred year period of increased intellectual thought. Humanism, Art, Technologies and new religions, the Renaissance brought enlightened thought to the forefront of the world. -
Period: Jan 1, 1300 to Nov 19, 1350
Black Plague
During the 1340's, the Black Plauge ravaged its way through Europe, decimating local populations. With death at the door, many people turned their sights to the power and salvation of the Catholic Church. -
Sep 17, 1440
Creation of the printing press(social)
With Johannes Gutenberg's creation of the printing press, books and other forms of information became a more highly available to the general public. Now that books were circulating around, religious texts, and therefore religious dissent, was more easily spread. -
Period: Oct 19, 1465 to Oct 19, 1519
The life of Johann Tetzle
A renowned Catholic priest, John Tetzle was famed for his radical sale of indulgences. In the Catholic faith, indulgences were in essence, tickets to Heaven. Tetzle's life was important as the selling of indulgences was a key point in Martin Luther's 95 theses. Luther was against the herrectical sale of these "sin-free coupons" and openly dejected Tetzle's practice. -
Oct 19, 1480
The Spanish Inquisition
Lead by the Spanish rulers Ferdinand and Izabella, the Spanish Inquisition was a national tribunal to reaffirm the power of the Catholic religion within Spanish ruled countries. Punishing and torturing any non-catholic peoples, the Spanish Inquisition greatly asserted the national power of Catholocism, but in turn it greatly increased the rate of anti-catholic sentiment in non-catholics. -
Oct 31, 1517
Luther nails his Ninety-Five Theses to the Church of Wittenberg
Faced with a corrupted national Catholic Faith, Martin Lauther authors a paper outlining his disapprovals of the Catholic Clergy. Stating his seemingly heretical ideas out loud, Luther effectively kickstarted a full-blown wave of criticism for the Catholic church. -
Oct 19, 1521
Formation of the Anabaptist faith.
Even though Lutheranism was gaining mass prominence, inter-religious arguments held parts of the faith back. One such argument was the purpose, and rights, of baptism. While the Lutheran faith believes that a believer may only be baptised once, the anabaptists hold that baptsim should be by choice, inferring that a secon baptism is needed. With this baptismal schism, the christian sect of Anabaptism(modern baptism) was formed. -
Sep 25, 1555
Peace of Augsburg
With the signiing of the Peace of Augsburg, rulers in the Holy Roman Empire were given the power to dictate their states official religion: Lutheranism or Catholocism. Even though Lutheranism was now an legally acceptable religioin, it's specific -
Period: Oct 16, 1562 to
French Civil War
In a country beset by bitter religious rivalries, the French Civil War was seemingly inevitable. Open conflicts raged between the Gallican and Huguenot factions, each side pushing for religious supremacy. In the end, the Huguenot Calvinists claimed victory, and placed Henry of Navarre on the throne as king of France. -
Aug 24, 1572
St. Bartholomew's Day massacre
Despite it's normal connotation, the marriage of Margaret of Valois and Henry of Navarre was not a union of happines. Taking place in the religiously turbulent France, the two lovers were at opposite ends of the holy spectrum. Margaret was a French Gallican, and Henry was a Southern France Huguenot. The day of the wedding, a Gallican mob decended upon the ceremony, aiming to annihilate their hated Huguenot enemies. At the end of the day, 20,000 Huguenots were slain at the hands of the Gallicans. -
Edict of Nantes
Attemping to end the bloody religious hatreds ravaging through his country, Henry IV signed the Edict of Nantes. Giving religious and political rights back to the French Protestants, the Edict effectively ended the French Civil War. -
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Thirty Years War
With high tensions still flowing between the Catholics and Lutherans (resulting from German Civil war, Peace of Augsburg etc), religious war war emminent. With the Catholic Ferdinand I inheriting the rule of Bohemia, he demanded that catholocism be the only religioin under his rule. This catholic ultimatum kick started thirty years of brutal religious ocnflict. -
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Bohemian phase of Thirty Years War
Inherriting Bohemia in 1618, Ferdinand II was amazingly hated by his subjects. Given the choice over his newly inherrited lands religion, Ferdinand (a staunch catholic) declared an intolerance for the large majority of Protestants in his land. Religious supression eventually climaxed with the Defenestration of Prague. -
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Danish phase of Thirty Years War
From 1625 to 130, Ferdinand II swept across the Holy Roman Empire, supressing and squashing out any non-catholic faiths. Using his secret weapon Albrecht von Wallenstein, Ferdinands religious wrath quickly spread all the way to the far north. After almost five years of mobile onslaught, the Edict of Restitution was signed, effectivlely returning any land lost from 1522 to it's rightful Catholic owener. The edict not only returned Catholic land, but it deprived all Protestants of poltical and re -
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Swedish phase in Thirty Years War
With Protestant supression running rampant across the Holy Roman Empire, Sweden and France decided they could stand idly by no longer. With Sweden leading the charge and France supplying back up, Swedish general Gustavos Adolphus invaded the Holy Roman Empire. -
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French phase in Thirty Years War.
With the death of Gustavos Adolphus and Swedens loss at Luzen, France new that it couldn't play backup for much longer. Seeing the weakening of the Holy Roman Empire and it's Protestant supression, France swept across the HRE, decimating any of their opponents left over in the German states. With eight million corpse spread across the Holy Blood-soaked Empire, France effecively over took spain and the HRE as a superpower.
