CHAPTER XXIV MARTIN LUTHER AND THE REVOLT OF GERMANY AGAINST THE PAPACY Section ioi. The Question of Reforming the Church : Erasmus Break-up of the Medieval Church Europe divided into CathoUc and Protestant countries Sources of discontent with the Church, especially in Germany it By far the most important event during the reign of Charles V was the revolt of a considerable portion of western Europe against the popes. The Medieval Church, which was described in a previous chapter, was in this way broken up, and Protes- tant churches appeared in various European countries which declared themselves entirely independent of the Pope and re- jected a number of the religious beliefs which the Church had held previously. With the exception of England all those countries that lay within the ancient bounds of the Roman Empire — Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, as well as southern Germany and Austria — continued to be faithful to the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church. On the other hand, the rulers of the northern German states, of England, Holland, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, sooner or later became Protestants. In this way Europe was divided into two great religious parties, and this led to terrible wars and cruel persecutions which fill the annals of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The revolt began in Germany. The Germans, while good Catholics, were suspicious of the popes, whom they regarded as Italians, bent upon getting as much money as possible out of the simple people north of the Alps. The revenue flowing to the popes from Germany was very large. The great German prelates, like the archbishops of Mayence, Treves, and Cologne, • 578
