The Protestant Reformation
The spread of Protestantism in Europe during the Reformation was brought about by a change in the viewpoints of European nobility, a change toward nationalism and independent statehood. Previous to the Reformation, the power culture of the Catholic Church preached church first, then state. The state and therefore the state's people were subservient to the will of the Pope. The Pope was gifted with heavenly authority; his descension from St. Peter gave him power over the keys of heaven and the realm of the earth. However, the nobilities of Europe from England to Germany wanted that power removed from the Pope and the Catholic Church's assets and power over the people given directly to themselves. Protestantism appeared at a convenient time; the push for religious reform coincided with the aims of the nobility, and was duly adopted in many kingdoms. The fervor and strong charismatic presence of the Protestant movement leaders promoted strong allegiances to the new religions, and as a result, the rulers that controlled these new religions had new sources of state loyalty and nationalism.
As states in the Holy Roman Empire competed for power and name, the loose hold that the Catholic Church had over the HRE prompted a new, rebellious attitude from the German princes. The lands belonging to the Church were numerous, and on top of that, the princes were forced to pay taxes to the papacy to support the corrupt bureaucracy there. Luther, a reformer of Wittenberg, preached reform of the Catholic Church; by doing so, he was able to persuade the princes to shelter him. Even after Luther had gathered a large following among the peasants and commoners, he still won the approval of princes by condemning the Peasants' War and suggesting in an essay that the criminal serfs should be killed. Thus, Lutheranism brought noble patronage and as a result, the country as well. The northern German Protestant princes were encouraged in spreading the Protestant religion among other states by the massive riches that breakage with the church brought them. In 1529, at the Diet of Speyer, the national struggles came to a head when German Protestant princes delivered a "protest" against the Catholic Church for imperial decrees against their religion. The swelling of the Protestant population under these princes changed the power base from Rome to those of the independent German states, like Saxony.
In France, the Catholic heritage of the land ("daughter of the Church") allowed for little change. From 1516, when the Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges was rescinded, to 1562, there was relative peace. However, the Vassy massacre of Huguenot worshippers provoked a raging civil war. The Bourbon Protestant nobility were offended and threatened by the provocation of the Guise family and so aroused patriotism and religious fervor in their various constituents to counter the power of the Guise Catholics. Eventually, the Edict of Nantes was created which allowed Huguenots to worship peacefully. The fact that such national violence and animosity could be provoked under the disguise of religious Protestant versus Catholic wars displayed the impact that Protestantism had had on France. The two French powers, fighting off each other's advances, adopted their respective religions as rallying cries to the nation and so displayed to the world the power that the new religions had over people.
The English king, Henry VIII, in his quest for control over his marital status and his country, had petitioned Pope Clement VII for a divorce from Catherine of Aragon in 1527. Following Clement's vigorous no, King Henry VIII and his advisors decided on "reforming" the Catholic Church, and thus the Protestant Reformation in England began. The Pope's authority, he felt, was unwarranted, and religious power in England would do better under an Englishman. Henry, in the Act of Supremacy of 1534, declared himself the head of the state religion, Anglicanism, and thus he became the guardian of his people's political, economical and spiritual status. This way, his people were always to be loyal to him if they wanted to be saved and go to heaven. The adoption of the Anglican mass and prayer book in 1549 by the British Parliament signified the control that the political bodies representing the people had over the religious process. The effect of this change was a buildup in the people's sense of nationality as they were ushered into a forced version of Protestantism, as Catholicism had been banned and there was no other choice.
Throughout Europe, the drive towards greater control and nationalism by the great powers were found to be conducive to the spread of Protestantism. The main goals of the often violent Protestant movement was reformation and removing sources of greed and politics from religion, which fit in exactly with the desires of the European princes who wanted more control, more followers, and more money. With great effect in England and Germany, the efforts of their power-hungry leaders brought whole new state-mandated religions to their people that changed their loyalties to the new religion and therefore the state. In France, where the movement had less effect, still, nationalists were bred from religious loyalties and civil war erupted, though the uprisings were soon suppressed. Without the spread of nationalism and a growing search for national identity among kings and princes, Protestantism would not have survived; little pockets of religious groups, such as Calvin's Geneva and John of Leyden's Anabaptist Munster, would eventually die out and leave little effect upon the social systems of Europe.