The Crisis of the 17th Century in 1517

On October 31, 1517, an obscure monk from the backwater German town of Wittenberg sent a letter containing 95 doctrinal quibbles to the Archbishop of Mainz. Nobody could have possibly imagined at that moment, but that simple post would be the beginning of one of the most seismic shifts in thought, society and culture in world history. By the time the crop failures had hyperinflation and military conflicts of the early 1600s began, the notion of Christendom had been irrevocably broken into hostile confessional camps.