Chaos: The Protestant Reformation was the 16th-century religious, political, intellectual and cultural Europe, setting in place the structures and beliefs that would disruption that separated Catholic define the continent in the modern and central Europe, like Martin Luther, John Calvin and Henry Vill challenged papal authority and questioned the Church 's ability to define Christian practice. They argued for a religious and political redistribution of power into the hands of Bible- and pamphlet-reading pastors and princes. The disruption triggered wars, persecutions and the so-called Counter-Reformation, the Catholic Church 's delayed but forceful response to the Protestants. The main chaos that caused reformation were religious, …show more content…
The middle classes protested against the dominance of the old church because it was largely controlled by the upper classes and administered largely for their benefit. They looked down upon the artisans, merchants, lawyers, doctors etc. who constituted the middle class and were not willing to associate with them. The rise of nation-states and new monarchy who were keen to establish their absolute rule also greatly contributed to the Reformation. People began to assert themselves against blind faith and useless religious rituals and began to feel that they could reach God without the intermediary of a priest. Instead of one Pope, two Popes began to be elected one by the French Cardinals and the other by the Italian Cardinals. Solution: With recognition of the reformers criticism and acceptance of their ideology Protestants were able to put their beliefs on display in art. Artists sympathetic to the movement developed a new repertoire of subjects, or adapted traditional ones, to reflect and emphasize Protestant ideals and teaching more broadly, the balance of power gradually shifted from religious to secular authorities in western Europe initiating a decline of Christian imagery in the protestant Church. Balance: Meanwhile, Church mounted the counter-Reformation, through than which it denounced and reaffirmed Catholic doctrine. Italy and