the.com/reformation
When Europe rage-quit one church, half the continent went to war over grammar.
means A thorough reshaping or correction of something — especially a person, system, or institution — to improve it, and (when capitalized) the 16th-century movement that split Western Christianity into Catholic and Protestant.
from From Latin 'reformare' — 're-' (again) plus 'formare' (to shape), from 'forma,' a form or mold. So at root it simply means 'to shape again,' as a smith might rework a bent blade. It passed through Old French into English meaning any moral or institutional remaking, long before the capital-R Reformation — the religious upheaval set off by Luther and others — claimed the word as its banner.
- 95 theses
- Luther's complaints possibly never nailed to any door
- printing press
- Made heresy go viral before anyone could stop it
- thirty years war
- Killed up to a third of Germany's population
- side effect
- Mass literacy, because everyone now read scripture themselves
- calendar split
- Protestants refused Pope's calendar for centuries out of spite
martin luther's 95 theses — posted to wittenberg church door in 1517, sparked protestant break from catholic church
peace of westphalia — 1648 treaty ending thirty years' war, legitimized protestant states in europe
english reformation — henry viii broke with rome in 1534 to establish church of england
geneva under john calvin — calvin's theocratic city-state (1541-1564) became model for reformed protestantism