In the first half of the sixteenth century Western Europe experienced a wide range of social, artistic, political changes as the result of a conflict within the Catholic church. This conflict is called the Protestant Reformation, and the Catholic response to it is called the Counter-Reformation.The Reformation began when Martin Luther posted his Ninety-Five theses against the indulgences of the Church. These indulgences included if you did a good dead, this reduced the amount of punishment which you deserved for your bad deeds, and which God would make you suffer after your death before letting you into Heaven. Giving money to the Church was considered a good dead. If you wanted to you could pay for the indulgences of a friend or relative that had already died and is undergoing punishment so he could be let into heaven without suffering as much. Luther believed that God would be merciful to anyone who honestly believed and tried to do his best. Obviously any good Christian would pray, would go to Church, would be kind to other people, and would perform good works, but he would do these deeds because he had faith. The effect of his theses was more than Luther or anyone else expected. The Ninety-Five Theses was copied, taken to printers and sent all over Germany. For years people had been becoming more and more irritated with the Church, with its unceasing demands for money and its claims for privileges. Whether he intended it or not Luther’s challenge make him a champion of Germany.Luther became famous at once. The leaders of the Church decided that he must withdraw his Ninety-Five theses. Luther refused. Luther was summoned to an imperial Diet in Augsburg in 1518. Luther was told to change his ideas, which he refused to do. The Diet declared him an outlaw and told him to go home where he could possibly be arrested and even killed. On his way home he disappeared. What had started as a furious attempt to reform the c...
