The Reformation
Introduction to Section Two
In Section One you learned the basic facts about the Reformation. Here in Section Two we will focus less on what happened and focus more on how and why it happened. The first was the descriptive phase of the course; Section Two is the analytical phase. In addition, we'll be carrying the story forward further, tracing the progress of the Reformation well into the 17th century.
Most of our attention will be on Germany, England, France, and the Low Countries. A number of other regions are also important, including Scotland, Sweden, Poland, Bohemia, Austria, and Spain. We won't be able to cover all these in detail, however, but we'll take note of them at various points. In addition to a plain narrative of events, we'll also take a look at the development of political systems, most notably the development of monarchy and of representative institutions. In addition, we'll be considering the impact of two areas that have always profoundly affected political change: finance and war.