Reformation

A period in European history marked by efforts to reform the Christian Church

reformation

Articles

Edward VI and the Rule of Northumberland, 1549–1553

Durant on John Dudley's regency, England's economic hardship and religious confusion, Cranmer's second Prayer Book and Forty-Two Articles, the fall of Somerset, Edward VI's death, the nine days of Lady Jane Grey, and Mary Tudor's accession.

/article/edward-vi-and-the-rule-of-northumberland-15491553

Mary Tudor's First Year: The Gentle Queen and the Wyatt Rebellion, 1553–1554

Durant on Mary Tudor's painful youth, her character, her early religious toleration, the restoration of Catholic worship, the plan to marry Philip of Spain, and Wyatt's rebellion of 1554.

/article/mary-tudors-first-year-the-gentle-queen-and-the-wyatt-rebellion-15531554

Mary Tudor and the Burnings: England under Philip and Pole, 1554–1558

Durant on Mary Tudor's later reign: the executions after Wyatt's rising, her marriage to Philip of Spain, the return to Rome under Cardinal Pole, the Protestant martyrs including Cranmer, the loss of Calais, and a measured judgment of her.

/article/mary-tudor-and-the-burnings-england-under-philip-and-pole-15541558

Scotland before the Reformation: The Scots, Their Kings and Their Church

Durant on the land and people of Scotland about 1500, the wealth and decay of its Church, and the story of its kings from Robert Bruce to Mary of Guise, ending with the regency that gave Protestants room to grow.

/article/scotland-before-the-reformation-the-scots-their-kings-and-their-church

John Knox, 1505–1559: The Preacher Who Drove the Scottish Reformation

Durant on the early Scottish martyrs, the rise of John Knox from Wishart's disciple to galley slave and Calvin's Geneva, his harsh theology, his writings against women rulers and Catholic monarchs, and his return to Scotland in 1559.

/article/john-knox-15051559-the-preacher-who-drove-the-scottish-reformation

The Congregation of Jesus Christ: How Scotland Turned Protestant, 1557–1560

Durant on the Scottish revolution of 1557–1560: the Lords of the Congregation, Knox's return, the burning of churches and abbeys, the death of Mary of Guise, the Treaty of Edinburgh, the Confession of Faith, and the lasting settlement that followed.

/article/the-congregation-of-jesus-christ-how-scotland-turned-protestant-15571560

Scandinavia on the Eve of the Reformation: The Church, the Kalmar Union and Gustavus Vasa

Durant on the wealth and landholding of the Scandinavian Church around 1500, the Kalmar Union, the Stockholm Bloodbath of 1520, and the flight, rebellion and election of Gustavus Vasa as king of Sweden in 1523.

/article/scandinavia-on-the-eve-of-the-reformation-the-church-the-kalmar-union-and-gustavus-vasa

The Swedish Reformation: Gustavus Vasa, the Diet of Västerås and the Birth of a National Church

Durant on how Gustavus Vasa, short of money and wary of the bishops, backed the Lutheran reformers Olaus and Laurentius Petri, won the Diet of Västerås in 1527 and made Sweden's Church a national, state-controlled one while rebuilding the kingdom.

/article/the-swedish-reformation-gustavus-vasa-the-diet-of-vsters-and-the-birth-of-a-national-church

The Danish Reformation: From Christian II to the Lutheran Church of 1536

Durant on Christian II's reforms and fall, the early reform preaching of Poul Helgesen and Hans Tausen, Frederick I's tolerance, the Count's Feud, and the Danish national assembly of 1536 that made the Lutheran Church official in Denmark, Norway and Iceland.

/article/the-danish-reformation-from-christian-ii-to-the-lutheran-church-of-1536

Protestantism in Eastern Europe: Poland, Bohemia and Hungary

Durant on the Polish golden age under Sigismund I and II, the spread of Lutheran, Calvinist and Unitarian ideas, the Jesuit return to Poland, and the rise and later retreat of Protestantism in Bohemia and Hungary.

/article/protestantism-in-eastern-europe-poland-bohemia-and-hungary

Charles V and the Netherlands: Antwerp's Wealth, the Edicts and the Abdication of 1555

Durant on Antwerp's rise as Europe's commercial center, Charles V's government of the Low Countries, the spread of Lutheran, Anabaptist and Calvinist ideas, the harsh edicts and Inquisition, and the emperor's failing health and farewell at Brussels in 1555.

/article/charles-v-and-the-netherlands-antwerps-wealth-the-edicts-and-the-abdication-of-1555

The Revolt of the Comuneros in Spain, 1520–1522

Durant on Charles I's unpopular early rule in Spain, the revolt of the Castilian towns under the Holy Junta, the class war it unleashed in Valencia and Majorca, its defeat by the nobles and the king, and Charles's later conciliation of Spain.

/article/the-revolt-of-the-comuneros-in-spain-15201522