The Effect of Religion on the Development of Europe

Religion undoubtedly played an immense role in the development of Europe between 700 and 1700 AD. Following the fall of the Roman Empire in the west, the Frankish dynasty of the Merovingians converted to Christianity, and began to conquer other surrounding tribes. As Frankish influence in Europe continued to expand, everything fell apart at once with the death of the leader Charlemagne. With this, the entire Roman Empire fell apart, and the Church took up the responsibilities of the government. With Christianity ruling over Europe, nobody could question the Church’s motives without being accused of heresy. This led to the development of some controversial feelings in Europe, and the killing of numbers of innocent individuals.
Turkish Muslims began to dominate in the Middle East, conquering all of India, and then spreading towards Europe. During the 1000s, the Islamic Saljuq Turks began to attack and conquer parts of the Byzantine Empire. With this, the major powers of Europe, as urged by Pope Urban II, began the Crusades, to regain the Holy Land of Palestine from the Muslims. As in this case, religion led to many Crusades, or Holy Wars, involving the slaughtering of countless numbers of people.
The Renaissance (meaning “rebirth”) was a philosophical and artistic movement that occurred in Italy from about 1300 to 1600. With it, the Renaissance brought humanists, famous writers, and probably most commonly thought of, famous painters, as well as new painting techniques. In northern Italy, the Renaissance brought improvements in literature, and the widespread act of printing. To touch briefly upon the Schism of 1378, the Roman Catholic Church split following the French King’s declaration of his disapproval for the Italian Pope. This led the next 68 years to be full of fighting and controversy, with two popes attempting to claim power over the Catholic Church at one time.
Humanists proclaimed that the Roman Catholic Church had “lost sight of the spiritual mission proclaimed by Jesus.” They decided to split with the Church in western Europe, creating several new churches, thus completing the Reformation. Martin Luther then challenged the Church’s sale of indulgences. He then put many of his ideas into print, and spread them around Europe. Luther parted from the Church and all his followers became partakers in Lutheranism. This began the first protestant church, with Luther at its head. A Protestant Reformation raged in England, and King Henry VIII broke England off from the Roman Catholic Church around 1530. Parliament then made numerous laws, created the Church of England, or Anglican Church, with Henry VIII as its head. In the 1530s, a Counter-Reformation took place, with many European Catholics taking an active stand against Protestantism. Much conflict erupted from this. The Spanish Inquisition later occurred in Spain, with the Church attempting to root out all those not loyal to it, by killing countless numbers of Jews and Protestants. In summary, religion in Europe developed it to what it is today, with unimaginable numbers of people being killed in the process. Religion obviously had a detrimental affect on the development of Europe.