Holy Conflicts of Europe and Asia

The map of the continent of Europe and Asia is shaped largely by holy conflicts during the beginning of the modern age. These religious conflicts affected the political aspect of these regions and they were drastically changed due to them. Some of these schisms included the Protestant Reformation and the Thirty Years War, as well as the various conflicts involving the Mughal Empire in India.

While the beginning of these conflicts occurred in Europe during the early 1500s, they were set up because of the Western Schism of Catholicism that happened nearly a century prior. The Western Schism happened after the death of Gregory XI. Pope Urban VI was elected as pope quickly following Gregory's death due to rioting Romans. This decision was regretted, and Pope Clement VII was elected as a rival pope. This mess was eventually settled with the Council of Constance in 1414, but not before it had done major damage to the name of the Roman Catholic Church.

This weakness in the church lead to it corrupting more, which lead to the arising of the new Protestant religion. The religion started with Martin Luther, the founder of the Protestant faith. He had been getting fed up with the Catholic Church for their method of using and selling indulgences to abolish the sins of those who had the money to pay. Luther wrote the Ninety-five Theses, a list of Ninety-five things that he found wrong and corrupt in the church. Philipp Melanchthon wrote a report that stated: Luther posted the Ninety-five Theses on the doors of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany, October 31, 1517. Some scholars have questioned the accuracy of this account, noting that no contemporaneous evidence exists for it. This new idea against the church quickly gathered attention by many people from all social classes. The church asked Martin Luther for a rebuttal on what he said, but he refused to take anything back at the Diet of Worms in 1521. This became the fuse lighting for the Protestant Reformation

The Reformation began with a series of revolts against the Catholic Church, such as the Peasant's War in Germany and the Catholic Pilgrimage of Grace in Henry VIII's England. These lead to the Thirty Years War in the early 1600s. The worst of these happened, however, became known as the St Bartholomew's Day Massacre. This was a string of violence by mobs of Roman Catholics against Huguenots, or French Calvinist Protestants, during the wars of religion in France. It took place six days after the wedding of Protestant Henry II, a time when all of the richest and most powerful Huguenots would have been gathered together. It started on August 24, 1572, which was the feast of Saint Bartholomew the Apostle, with the murder of Coligny. The massacres then spread all throughout Paris, lasting for several months. While it is unknown how many Huguenots were actually killed, it is estimated that 2000 were killed in Paris, with 3000 being killed in France in general.

That is not to say that the Protestants were free from blame during these times. In the latter half of the sixteenth century, Protestants formed their own mobs, vandalizing and stealing from Catholic