Of Human Rights and Nation-States

From humble beginnings in a few small German kingdoms, the Reformation slowly spilled out beyond the Holy Roman Empire to the surrounding German-speaking kingdoms such as Austria, and then throughout north-central Europe to Scandinavia, Switzerland, and Bohemia. It provided momentum for the separation of the Church of England from the Catholic Church in 1537, and the establishment of Protestant state churches in Scotland. Outside of Central Europe, the Reformation would meet stiff resistance, as large established monarchies fought the rise of the first religious minority groups in their kingdoms. Eventually, these kingdoms, such as France, would form coalitions to attempt to slow the spread of Protestantism.

Understanding the political structure of the Holy Roman Empire is very important in understanding this conflict. It was a complicated political entity, one with no modern equivalent. Think of it as a decentralized, limited elective monarchy consisting of kingdoms, principalities, and other territories with varying degrees of sovereignty, with representation in the “Imperial Diet” of the Empire, essentially its legislative body. The rulers of these territories were technically vassals who owed the emperor their allegiance, but they also possessed privileges that gave them de facto independence within their territories. Because some rulers controlled multiple kingdoms, and some kingdoms were split among multiple rulers, voting rights in the Diet were held individually by each territory. This was how the Empire came to have a Hapsburg on the throne…