§ 139. The Reformation in Other Lands.The need of reform was so great and widespread, that the movement begun in Germany and Switzerland soon spread to every country in Europe. The Catholic Church opposed the Reformation everywhere with fire and sword, and succeeded in some countries in utterly suppressing it; while in others it was restricted within the limits of a merely tolerated sect. The German Lutheran Confession found acceptance generally among the Scandinavians of the north of Europe, the Swiss Reformed among the Romanic races of the south and west; while in the east, among the Slavs and Magyars, both confessions were received. Calvin’s powerful personal influence had done much to drive the Lutheran Confession out of those Romance countries where it had before obtained a footing. The presence of many refugees from the various western lands for a time in Switzerland, as well as the natural intercourse between it and such countries as Italy and France, contributed to the same result. But deeper grounds than these are required to account for this fact. On the one hand, the Romance people are inclined to extremes, and they found more thorough satisfaction in the radical reformation of Geneva than in the more moderate reformation of Wittenberg; and, on the other hand, they have a love for democratic and republican forms of government which the former, but not the latter, gratified.—Outside of the limits of the German empire the Lutheran Reformation first took root, fromA.D.1525, in Prussia, the seat of the Teutonic Knights (§127, 3); then in the Scandinavian countries. In Sweden it gained ascendency inA.D.1527, and in Denmark and Norway inA.D.1537. Also in the Baltic Provinces the Reformation had found entrance inA.D.1520; byA.D.1539 it had overcome all opposition in Livonia and Esthonia, but in Courland it took other ten years before it was thoroughly organized. The Reformed church got almost exclusive possession of England inA.D.1562, of Scotland inA.D.1560, and of the Netherlands inA.D.1579. The Reformed Confession obtained mere toleration in France inA.D.1598; the Reformed alongside of the Lutheran gained a footing in Poland inA.D.1573, in Bohemia and Moravia inA.D.1609, in Hungary inA.D.1606, and in Transylvania inA.D.1557. Only in Spain and Italy did the Catholic Church succeed in utterly crushing the Reformation. Some attempts to interest the Greek church in the Lutheran Confession were unsuccessful, but the remnants of the Waldensians were completely won over to the Reformed Confession.
The need of reform was so great and widespread, that the movement begun in Germany and Switzerland soon spread to every country in Europe. The Catholic Church opposed the Reformation everywhere with fire and sword, and succeeded in some countries in utterly suppressing it; while in others it was restricted within the limits of a merely tolerated sect. The German Lutheran Confession found acceptance generally among the Scandinavians of the north of Europe, the Swiss Reformed among the Romanic races of the south and west; while in the east, among the Slavs and Magyars, both confessions were received. Calvin’s powerful personal influence had done much to drive the Lutheran Confession out of those Romance countries where it had before obtained a footing. The presence of many refugees from the various western lands for a time in Switzerland, as well as the natural intercourse between it and such countries as Italy and France, contributed to the same result. But deeper grounds than these are required to account for this fact. On the one hand, the Romance people are inclined to extremes, and they found more thorough satisfaction in the radical reformation of Geneva than in the more moderate reformation of Wittenberg; and, on the other hand, they have a love for democratic and republican forms of government which the former, but not the latter, gratified.—Outside of the limits of the German empire the Lutheran Reformation first took root, fromA.D.1525, in Prussia, the seat of the Teutonic Knights (§127, 3); then in the Scandinavian countries. In Sweden it gained ascendency inA.D.1527, and in Denmark and Norway inA.D.1537. Also in the Baltic Provinces the Reformation had found entrance inA.D.1520; byA.D.1539 it had overcome all opposition in Livonia and Esthonia, but in Courland it took other ten years before it was thoroughly organized. The Reformed church got almost exclusive possession of England inA.D.1562, of Scotland inA.D.1560, and of the Netherlands inA.D.1579. The Reformed Confession obtained mere toleration in France inA.D.1598; the Reformed alongside of the Lutheran gained a footing in Poland inA.D.1573, in Bohemia and Moravia inA.D.1609, in Hungary inA.D.1606, and in Transylvania inA.D.1557. Only in Spain and Italy did the Catholic Church succeed in utterly crushing the Reformation. Some attempts to interest the Greek church in the Lutheran Confession were unsuccessful, but the remnants of the Waldensians were completely won over to the Reformed Confession.