“Reformation”

Break with Roman Catholicism and the establishment of Protestant churches in the 16th century. Though reformers such as Jan Hus and John Wycliffe attacked abuses in the Roman Catholic church in the late medieval period, the Reformation is usually dated from 1517, when, according to tradition, Martin Luther posted his Ninety-five Theses on the church door in Wittenberg. Various Protestant denominations were soon founded by more radical reformers, such as Huldrych Zwingli and the Anabaptists. John Calvin established a theocracy in Geneva after his conversion to the Protestant cause. The Reformation spread to other European countries and soon dominated northern Europe. Spain and Italy remained resistant to Protestantism and became centres of the Counter-Reformation. In England, where Henry VIII founded the Church of England in 1534, the Reformation's roots were primarily political rather than religious, motivated by the pope's refusal to grant Henry a divorce. In Scotland the Calvinist John Knox led in the establishment of the Presbyterian church (see Presbyterianism).