Henry IV Enters Paris 1589..."Paris is worth a mass"
The attempts by Catholic monarchs to re-establish European religious unity and by both Catholic and Protestant monarchs to establish strong centralized states led to many wars among the European states. Spain's attempt to keep religious and political unity within her empire led to a long war in the Netherlands- a war that pulled England over to the side of the Protestant Dutch. There was bitter civil war in France, which finally came to an end with the reign of Henry of navarre and the Edict of Nantes in 1598. The Thirty Years' War in Germany (1618-1648) had both religious and political roots, and left that area a political and economic shambles.
The sixteenth century also saw a vast increase in witch-hunting and the emergence of modern racism, sexism, and skepticism. Generally, the power and status of women in this period did not change. Protestantism meant a more positive attitude toward marriage, but the revival of the idea that women were the source of evil and the end of the religious orders for women caused them to become increasingly powerless in society. North American slavery and racism had origins in the labor problems in America and in Christian and Muslim racial attitudes. Skepticism was an intellectual reaction to the fanaticism of both Protestants and Catholics and sign of things to come, while the Renaissance tradition was carried on by Shakespeare's work in early-sixteenth-century England.
Religious Division of Europe 1555
