 Some northern humanists maintained that the church seemed more interested in income than saving souls  Martin Luther had a major problem with many Church practices  1521, Pope Leo X declared Luther a heretic and excommunicated him from the Church  Holy Roman Emperor Charles V banned the printing and sale of his works

 Charles V tried to wage war on Lutherans, but he was too late to wipe them out  The Peace of Augsburg was reached in 1555  King Henry VIII broke England away from the Catholic Church  Anglicanism paved the way for the Protestant Reformation in England

 John Calvin founded a new Protestant church in Switzerland  Calvinism stressed the importance of predestination  Geneva became a theocracy  By 1600 Calvinist churches were well established in parts of Europe

 As Protestantism continued to spread, the Pope finally realized the church needed to change  Pope Paul III worked to make the church more spiritual  The Index of Forbidden Books was established  The Council of Trent acted to define church doctrines

 Ignatius de Loyola founded the Jesuits in 1534  Jesuits quickly became the most effective agents in spreading Catholicism  Stressed big importance on education  Combined humanist values with Catholic doctrine

 Europeans in the 1500s were extremely superstitious  Many believed in spirits, demons, and witchcraft  Often, villagers would turn to their priest, or their village elder for advice  Enormous outburst of “witch hunting” occurred in the mid 1500s and lasted over 100 years in Europe

 The invention of the printing press allowed news, ideas, and thoughts to spread quickly throughout Europe  Broadsides became very popular in villages  Almanacs quickly became best-sellers  As Protestants and Catholics battled for the loyalties of the common people, leaders of both sides encouraged founding schools in towns and villages

 By the end of the 1400s, more and more peasants were becoming legally free  Many saw their standard of living rise  Many peasants decided to migrate to the cities in search of a better life  With this movement along with the Renaissance spirit, the “disenchantment” of the world began