During the late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, humanism spread from Italy, prompting the Northern Renaissance.  This chapter discusses the development of early Northern humanism and the religious Reformation it helped initiate.

As Renaissance ideas took hold in the North, humanism there assumed a distinctly Christian character: what Italian humanists had done for classical antiquity, Northern humanists sought to do for Christian antiquity.  Accordingly, Northern humanists founded schools devoted to critical study of the church fathers, prepared new editions of those thinkers' works, and studied Greek and Hebrew for the purpose of biblical scholarship.  They also published scholarly editions of the Bible and translated it into vernacular languages.  Important Northern humanists include Rudolf Agricola, the first to promote the studia humanitatis in Germany; Lefèvre d'Étaples, who wrote an important commentary on Paul's epistles; Cardinal Ximénez, who advanced Spanish Catholicism as Grand Inquisitor; and Thomas More, whose enigmatic Utopia offers the fist modern exploration of the perfect state.  The most prominent Christian humanist was Erasmus, who wrote the popular satire, The Praise of Folly, edited the Greek New Testament, and wrote on the education of the Christian prince.

Christian humanism inspired many Reformation thinkers, particularly Martin Luther.  His own close study of Scripture led him to formulate the crucial Protestant doctrine of justification by faith.  This idea, and his outrage at the practice of indulgence, prompted Luther to deny the spiritual mediation of the clergy, claim Scripture as the only authority for Christians, and reject all the sacraments except baptism and the Eucharist.  After clashing with both church and imperial officials, Luther lived under the protection of the Elector of Saxony, where he translated the Bible into German.  Though Luther did not oppose the secular state, his ideas spoke to the dissatisfactions of the impoverished classes, who cited some of his writings to justify revolt.  In 1547, war erupted between the Lutheran and Catholic German states and continued until the Peace of Augsburg (1555).

Paralleling Luther's Evangelical Protestantism was the Reformed tradition.  Founded by Zwingli and advanced by Calvin, this tradition broke with Lutheranism in significant ways.  While Luther reinterpreted the Eucharist in terms of consubstantiation, Zwingli argued that Christ was only symbolically present in the Host.  Further, Calvin extended the idea of justification, making predestination his central theological tenet.  Calvin also wrote an influential summary of Protestant theology and advocated state maintenance of public morality through the consistory.

As Calvinism spread through Europe, Catholics responded harshly.  The most violent reaction occurred in France, where Huguenots suffered brutal persecution.  After the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, the Huguenot nobleman Mornay theorized Protestant resistance to secular authority.  Bloody religious warfare continued until the Protestant Henry IV converted to Catholicism and issued the Edict of Nantes protecting Huguenot rights.  In the Netherlands, the Catholic Hapsburgs fought the united Dutch Protestants in a series of wars that continued until 1648.  After Henry VIII detached the Church of England from Rome, England swung between Catholicism and radical Protestantism.  Under Elizabeth I, the Catholic threat ended with the defeat of the Spanish Armada (1588),  and the radical Puritans were temporarily neutralized.

Mainstream Protestantism quickly developed a radical fringe.  Sects including the Anabaptists emerged to demand even greater church reform.  Unlike Luther or Calvin, members of these sects rejected any link between the church and civil government.  Further, they advanced their own interpretations of the Bible and appealed to the poorer classes with radical social doctrines, angering both Catholics and other Protestants.  These doctrines spurred uprisings, most notably the Anabaptist capture of Münster that was crushed by a combined Catholic and Lutheran army.

During this period, Christian attitudes toward Jews grew increasingly complicated.  Both humanists and Reformation leaders vilified Jews.  Luther initially promoted kindness toward Jews but later condemned what he saw as their resistance to Christian truth and advocated civil action against them.  Reformed leaders both denounced Luther's hatred of Jews and believed Jews threatened their religious communities.  Later, as Protestants suffered greater persecution, they began to identify with Jews as an exiled and oppressed people.

The church launched a systematic response to the Protestant challenge through the Catholic Reformation.  Clerical discipline and morality were reformed, and Pope Paul III convened the Council of Trent to formulate condemnations of and theological replies to Protestant teaching.  New religious orders rose to advance church doctrine, most notably the Jesuits.  Founded by Ignatius Loyola, author of the influential Spiritual Exercises, the Jesuits committed themselves to Christian education and serving the papacy.  The church also published the Index of Forbidden Books to restrain the spread of Protestant ideas.

Along with the Renaissance, the Reformation laid the foundation of the modern world.  By undermining church authority, the Reformation supported the rise of the modern centralized state, and by contributing to ideas of political liberty, it advanced the claims of individual freedom against those states.  Further, by promoting concepts of spiritual equality, the Reformation helped undermine medieval class distinctions.  Reformation spiritual individualism reinforced Renaissance intellectual individualism, contributing to the Western ideal of confident, assertive selfhood.  Although many Reformation thinkers denounced capitalism, Protestant self-reliance did contribute to the rise of the sober, disciplined middle-class businessman.  Finally, although Protestants persecuted dissenters within their own ranks, just as Catholics persecuted Protestants, Reformation thinkers also planted the seeds of modern religious tolerance.