Lutheranism: The reform movement or the Protestant sect started by Martin
Luther in Germany. Luther contested the Catholic idea of good works as a means
of salvation and insisted that only through faith the soul could be saved. He
appealed to individualism in religion and also to nationalism by admitting the
supremacy of the state over the church. Out break of war between Catholic and
Protestant German states ending with the peace of Augsburg (1555) which
permitted each German prince to choose between Roman Catholicism and Lutheranism
for his people. Spread of Lutheranism to other countries especially to
Scandinavian states where it had a greater success than even in the German
states.
Calvinism: Started by Zwingli, a Swiss and later renewed by Calvin, a
Frenchman in Switzerland. Its spread to Holland, Germany, France, Scotland,
England, Hungary and Poland etc.
Anglicism: Founded by King Henry VII and Queen Elizabeth I of England
became the faith of established Church of England and the USA.It was more
conservative and evolutionary than the other two Protestant sects and also
highly nationalistic.
Counter Reformation: Reform with in the Roman Catholic Church, removal of some of the glaring abuses from the Church by the Council of Trent and the invigoration of the Church through the establishment of several orders such as the Society of Jesus. Breakdown in the unity of Christendom: Division of the Christians into Catholics and Protestants. Establishment of national churches in place of the Universal Church.
Strengthening of monarchies at the cost of the Papacy. Religious persecution of the followers of the minority sects by those of the majority sects in all the countries of Europe. Religious wars among the European countries such as Anglo-Spanish Wars, the Thirty Years War etc.