ABSTRACT
For the country in which the Protestant Reformation broke out – Germany – the Reformation brought religious disunity which helped to perpetuate the political divisions of the country until the nineteenth century. Part of a movement of religious reform that also took in a Catholic and a ‘Radical’ Reformation, the Protestant Reformation can itself be sub-divided into Lutheran, Zwinglian and Calvinist Reformations. The Lutheran Reformation is first in importance and in time among the Protestant Reformations of the sixteenth century. The importance of Luther was particularly acknowledged by Calvin, who recognized Martin Luther as his foremost religious teacher. Luther was concerned to stress the role of divine providence in the great events of his day. The term ‘Lutheran Reformation’ is a fitting recognition of the importance of the man to the movement. This chapter focuses on the condition of religion and piety in late medieval Germany and Europe.
