{"id":10044,"date":"2024-05-24T14:47:32","date_gmt":"2024-05-24T12:47:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.deutschlandmuseum.de\/history\/the-reformation\/"},"modified":"2026-03-12T12:15:55","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T11:15:55","slug":"the-reformation","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.deutschlandmuseum.de\/en\/history\/the-reformation\/","title":{"rendered":"The Reformation"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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The Reformation<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Church schism and religious wars<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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During the 16th century, many critics accused the Catholic Church of exploiting the faithful for its own riches and wanting to expand its power. Due to the invention of the printing press, this criticiscm spread fast. The protestant reformation led to the division of the Catholic Church and many violent conflicts as a result. <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Martin Luther and the Reformation<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Publishing 95 theses critical of Church practice in 1517, the monk Martin Luther focussed especially on the sale of indulgences, which promised the remission of sins through monetary payments and pious works. Far from seeking to split the Church, Luther hoped to initiate its renewal (lat. reformatio). <\/p>

The new teachings of Luther and his fellow Reformers were disseminated rapidly thanks to the earlier invention of the moveable type printing press by Johannes Gutenberg. This new technology reduced the time and cost involved in producing texts for mass market sale, thereby revolutionizing the dissemination of information and knowledge. The publication of Luther\u2019s translation of the Bible into German also exerted a major influence on the development of standardized German. <\/p>

Dividing European Christianity into Roman Catholicism and Protestantism, the Reformation also sparked a number of armed conflicts, in which the belligerents were moved by a mixture of religious, political and economic motives. One such cataclysm was the Peasants\u2019 War of 1524\/25. A period of peace was not established until 1555, when the Peace of Augsburg established the authority of secular princes to determine the religion of their realm. <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Irreconcilable differences led to a split in society: Luther\u2019s opponents saw him as an instrument of the devil <\/b> Woodcut by Erhard Sch\u00f6n, 1530s (source: Sammlung Schloss Friedenstein Gotha)<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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The Thirty Years\u2019 War<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Simmering religious tensions erupted in a war in 1618, which was fought until 1648. Although beginning as a religious conflict, the Thirty Years\u2019 War soon developed into a general conflagration fought to decide which power would dominate Europe. The consequences of the prolonged conflict were devastating: many German territories were depopulated by destruction and famine. Massacres such as that wreaked in the aftermath of the assault on Magdeburg provoked horror throughout Europe. <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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The conquest of Magdeburg in 1631 established \u201cMagdeburgization\u201d as a synonym for total destruction <\/b> Coloured etching by Jan Luyken, 1701 (source: Rijksmuseum)<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Exhausted by thirty years of bloodshed, the European powers ended the conflict with the Treaty of Westphalia. The former belligerents recognized each other as equal and sovereign states and accepted the equality of the confessions. The Peace of Westphalia thus laid the foundations for modern international law. <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Share article<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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1517<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Martin Luther\u2019s criticism of the practice of selling indulgences, published in 95 theses, acted as the trigger for the Reformation.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tThe German Nation\u2019s Book of Heroes\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/article>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Epochs in the museum<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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