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against this decree, and from this circumstance is derived their name of Protestants; which appellation has since been given also to the other Sects into which they have divided. At length the Holy Father convoked a General Council at Trent, in the Tyrol, in the year 1545. The doctrine of the innovators was examined and unanimously condemned; at the same time, many excellent decrees concerning Ecclesiastical institutions and the reformation of abuses were issued; in a word, the vigorous and decisive action of this Council gave fresh beauty and new life to the Catholic Church. The Protestants had been repeatedly invited to the Council, as they had in the beginning expressly wished for it in order to adjust their differences; but they refused to appear at Trent. Consequently, the unfortunate Schism continued, and brought unspeakable misery and endless calamities upon the greater part of Europe. Luther had preached liberty and reviled the Emperor, the princes, and bishops; the peasants lost no time in freeing themselves from their masters. They traversed the country in lawless bands, burnt down the castles and monasteries, and committed the most horrible cruelties against the nobility and clergy. More than one hundred thousand persons were slain during this frightful insurrection (a.d. 1525). Other religious wars ensued, and Germany, which once had been so flourishing, became at last the scene of the most frightful desolation and of the most horrible atrocities during the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648). The other countries which had embraced the new doctrine were likewise devastated by religious and civil wars. In Switzerland, Zwinglius fell in a bloody battle which he fought against his own countrymen. In France, the Calvinists, called Huguenots, with a devastating army, kept the field for many years against the crown and the Church. In their blind fury, they massacred numbers of priests, monks, and nuns; they ravaged villages and towns, and burnt or pulled down many