What is Protestant, you ask?
Well in 1517, a German monk named Martin Luthor posted his 95 theses** to the door of a Catholic Church. Over a decade or so these 95 statements challenging the Church of England had spread far and caught the attention of many people. The Church of England then excommunicated*** Martin. This action by the church caused outrage and protests across Western Europe. Now this one man alone did not single-handedly start the greatest reformation of Roman-Catholic Church, but he played an undoubtedly important role. Discontent with the Catholic Church had been rising for a while by the time Martin came around. Lower class citizens and the poor were upset with the wealth of the church because wealthier folk could essentially buy their way into being a 'better' Catholic. Even the rich with their bought titles were unhappy with the church! They were jealous of the wealth of the pope and the clergy men and the power they had over the people. No one was happy with the Catholic Church and something had to be done, thankfully Martin had already began. The seemingly unimportant 95 statements left pinned to the door of a church by a German monk triggered the reformation of the Catholic Churches in Western Europe. King Henry played an important part with all of this in England. King Henry VIII helped lay down the foundation for the reformation of the Church in England for it to be fairer, less greedy and available to all; not only the powerful or wealthy. Henry did not support Martin at first and was even praised by the pope for writing a pamphlet criticizing Martin in 1521. After some short time, the reformations that Martin had spoken about began to happen in England though. Reformations to the church began, starting with the bibles being printed in English, (since not many people at the time could read in Latin). Henry also took a large amount of money and land from the church, but for political gain, not in support for Martin. These seemingly unimportant actions performed by Henry started the reformation of the Church of England. By the year 1603, the reformation of the Church of England to the Reformed and Protestant Churches of England had been complete.
*Reformation: 16th-century movement for the reform of abuses in the Roman Catholic Church ending in the establishment of the Reformed and Protestant Churches
**Theses: A proposition stated or put forward for consideration, especially one to be discussed and proved or to be maintained against objections
***Excommunicated: Having ones membership to a church taken away
****I lied
**Theses: A proposition stated or put forward for consideration, especially one to be discussed and proved or to be maintained against objections
***Excommunicated: Having ones membership to a church taken away
****I lied