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CHAPTER XXV MARTIN LUTHER AND THE REVOLT OF GERMANY AGAINST THE PAPACY I. THE QUESTION OF REFORMING THE CHURCH ; ERASMUS 520. Break-up of the Medieval Church into Catholics and Protestants. By far the most important event during the reign of Charles V was the revolt of a considerable portion of western Europe against the popes. The medieval Church, which was described in a previous chapter, was in this way broken up, and Protestant churches appeared in various European countries which declared themselves entirely independent of the Pope and rejected a number of the religious beliefs which the medieval Church had taught. With the exception of England all those countries that lay within the ancient bounds of the Roman Empire Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, as well as southern Germany and Austria continued to be faithful to the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church. On the other hand, the rulers of the northern German states, of England, Holland, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden sooner or later became Protestants. In this way Europe was divided into two great religious parties, and this led to terrible wars and cruel persecutions, which fill the annals of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. 521. Sources of Discontent with the Church. The revolt be- gan in Germany. The Germans were at this time still good Catho- lics and accepted all the beliefs of the Church, but they were seriously troubled by the fact that the popes were so frequently Italians and that the amount of church contributions collected in Germany was so large. Great German prelates, like the arch- bishops of Mayence, Treves, and Cologne, contributed generously 308