A Little History of the World

In this chapter, Gombrich lays out the factors that combined to turn the rift of Protestantism into all-out religious war. One such factor was the creation of the Jesuits, or the Society of Jesus, by a devout Spanish knight named Ignatius Loyola. In 1540, the Jesuits began campaigning on behalf of the pope, on a mission to renew the Catholic Church instead of replacing it. This movement became known as the Counter-Reformation, and it emphasized a return to the values of modesty and charity that the Church had once represented. In France, Protestants were known as Huguenots, and the conflict between the Catholics and the Huguenots was as fiery as in Germany. It came to a head in 1572, when the Huguenot nobility were all slaughtered in an event known as the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre.

King Phillip II of Spain was the son of Charles V, and as a Catholic of the Counter-Reformation, he was an austere ruler. He felt that his purpose was to root out heresy. Part of his holdings were made up of the Low Countries, Belgium and Holland. These countries were made up of a great deal of Protestant citizens who would not renounce their faith.