In the wake of the Reformation (1517) and the subsequent Counter-Reformation, the German Thirty Years War (1618-48) developed as a series of conflicts in several phases. After the Council of Trent (1545-63), the Roman Catholic Church had sought to win back territories lost after 1517 and generally reassert its authority. In France, a “Holy League” tried to suppress the growing ascendancy of the Calvinists during the Huguenot religious wars (1562-98). In England, early confrontations between Catholics and the Church of England under Henry VIII (then under Mary I, and Elisabeth I) broadened into the “Great Rebellion” or English Civil War between Royalist followers of the King and Church of England and the Puritan Parliamentary Party: “These days are days of shaking and this…
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Citation: Hoffmeister, Gerhart. "Thirty Years War". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 22 November 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=1121, accessed 18 April 2024.]
