336 A BRIEF SURVEY OF HUMAN HISTORY

pression; the resurgence of the individual against the restrict-
ive community; above all the reaction of a moral people
against a practice—the sale of Indulgences—which easily
rent itself to the most scandalous abuses." 1

So far as Germany was concerned a sort of religious
settlement was arrived at in the "Peace of Augsburg" in
1555. By it, 'each German prince and each town and
knight, immediately under the Emperor, was to be at liberty
to make a choice between the beliefs of the venerable Catho-
lic Church and those embodied in the Augsburg Confession.
If, however, an ecclesiastical prince—an archbishop, bishop,
or abbot—declared himself a Protestant, he must surrender
his possessions to the Church. Every German was either to
conform to the,religious practices of his particular state or
emigrate from it. Every one was supposed to be either a
Catholic or a Lutheran, and no provision was made for any
other belief/ Cujus regio ejus religio: the religion of the
ruler was to be the faith of the state. ,

We must rather rapidly sketch the history and influence
of Protestantism in other countries. " For at least a century
after Luther's death," writes Professor Robinson, " the great
issue between Catholics and Protestants dominates the history
of all the countries with which we have to do, except Italy
and Spain, where Protestantism never took permanent root.
In Switzerland, England, France, and Holland the revolt
against the Medieval Church produced discord, wars, and
profound changes, which must be understood in order to
follow the later development of these countries."2

Zwingli (1484-1531) was the leader of this movement in
Switzerland, and Calvin (1509-64) in France. The former

1. A First Book of World History, p. 152.

2. The Ordeal of Civilization, p. 305.