The German Protestant Reformation was one of the most significant events which took Europe from medieval times into the beginning of the Modern Age. By challenging traditional mystical Catholic beliefs and advocating a more humanistic approach to religion, the way for great change in European thinking was opened.
This reformation also led to the formation of a Protestant Church in opposition to the established Catholic Church. The co-existence of the two faiths was never a peaceful one. The Reformation marked a new, more liberal way of academic thought, but also the beginning of hundreds of years of religious wars between Catholics and Protestants in Europe. The Wars of Religion in France was only one period of bloodshed caused by wars between Catholics and Protestants.
