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Reformation and Counter Reformation
Religious movement against the Catholic Church in the 16th century and a follow-up forceful attempt within the Roman Catholic church in the 16th and 17th centuries that sought to revitalize the church and to oppose Protestantism
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Reformation was a great religious transformation in the 16th century Christian Church that ended the ecclesiastical supremacy of the Pope in Western Christendom and resulted in the establishment of the Protestant Church. With the Renaissance earlier and the French Revolution that followed, the Reformation completely altered the medieval way of life in Western Europe and initiated a new era in history. Although the movement dates back to the early 16th century, when Martin Luther first defied the Church authority, the conditions that led to his stand existed for hundreds of years and had complex doctrinal, political, economic, and cultural elements.
In the Bohemian lands, Reformation had a specific character, coming from an old reformation tradition reaching back all the way to the Hussites and Master Jan Hus. The execution of Hus as a heretic in 1415 led directly
to the Hussite Wars. The Hussite Movement laid the basis for the development of the Reformation, and the Bohemian lands was for a long time the "Kingdom of Two People", the Catholics and the Utraquists. There are two very important milestones, the promulgation of the Bohemian Creed (1575) and the Rudolf's Imperial Charter (1609), which changed religious life in the Bohemian lands significantly. All these circumstances later escalated into the Estate Revolt in 1618 and the subsequent Thirty Year War.
Counter Reformation was a movement within the Roman Catholic church in the 16th and the 17th centuries that sought to revitalize the church and to oppose Protestantism. It culminated in the 17th century and lasted until the 18th century. The most renowned order related to the Counter Reformation was the Order of the Jesuits, which also had an unfavorable reputation.
