Bachelor of Journalism & Mass communication, Development of Contemporary Media, Renaissance and Rebirth of the art

1. RENAISSANCE AND REFORMATION REBIRTH OF THE AR
T CULTURE, LITERATURE AND MEDIA
DEVELOPMENT OF CONTEMPORARY MEDIA
Greek was even introduced as a subject at schools in northern
Italy. In addition, the study of political science was started by
Niccola Machiavelli (1469-1527), another northern Italian
historian, statesman,and political philosopher, whose most
famous work,
The Prince
(written in 1513 but published in
1532) established him as the father of political science.
GREA
T AR
TISTS OF THE RENAISSANCE
The Renaissance spread to all parts of Europe as the Dark Ages
lifted. While it is impossible to do justice to all the great
thinkers of that time, a partial listing of some the most
prominent artists is well worthwhile:
•
Giotto (1267-1337) was the most important Italian painter
of the 14th Century, whose conception of the human figure
in broad, rounded terms, rather than in the flat, two-
dimensional terms, was a milestone in the development of
Western art.
•
Michelangelo (1475-1564), was one of the most inspired
creators in the history of art. His most famous works
included the frescoes of the Sistine Chapel ceiling, which he
painted whilst lying on his back (a task which took him four
years between 1508 and 1512 to complete). He was also the
chief architect of Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome, where he
altered an original design by Donato Bramante to redo the
exterior and the final form of its dome. His large free
standing nude, David (1504), is another icon of Renaissance
art, and the largest marble statue sculptured since Roman
times.
•
Donatello, whose real name was Donato di Niccola di Betto
Bardi (1386-1466), was a painter and sculptor who set the
standards for all of his contemporaries, is considered one of
the greatest sculptors of all time and the founder of modern
sculpture. Donatello created the first free standing nude
statue since Roman times, David, in 1435 in Florence. This
statue was later to serve as the inspiration for Michelangelo’s
David. The other image for which Donatello is most
remembered is the painting of the Singing Gallery (1448) in
the Florence Cathedral- the images of the naked cherubim
have become synonymous with cupids since then.
•
Sandro Botticelli, whose real name was Alessandro di

2. Mariano Filipepi (1445-1510), was one of the leading
painters of the Florentine Renaissance. Botticelli, who was
sponsored by the Medici family in Florence, was responsible
for one of the most widely recognizable paintings of the
Renaissance:
The Birth of Venus
(1482). The heavily pagan
undertones of this great painting speaks volumes about the
non-Christian spirit of the Renaissance.
•
Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1476), was an architect who broke
with medieval tradition in Florence around 1420 with the
invention of linear style by which enabled three dimensional
images to be projected on a flat surface. Brunelleschi also
won fame as the first Renaissance builder, designing the
enormous dome of the Florence Cathedral, which was built
in 1436 - without any doubt the most impressive
engineering feat since Roman times.
Above left: David, by Michelangelo, 1504, Florence, Italy.
Right: Donatello, Equestrian Monument to Gattamelata,
Padua,1450
.
GREA
T SCIENTISTS OF THE RENAISSANCE
In medicine and anatomy, the ancient works of Hippocrates
and Galen were finally translated in 15th and 16th Centuries.
These works were seized upon by the budding Renaissance era
intellectuals, and advances based on these basic works allowed
scientists such as Nicolaus Copernicus, Tycho Brahe,and
Johannes Kepler to make realadvances in their fields - the first
in hundreds of years.
The study of geography was transformed when the maps of
the Romanized Greek cartographer,Ptolemy, were unearthed -
this led directly to the first great wave of White explorers who
eventually went to the four corners of the earth.
The invention of printing in the 15th Century revolutionized
the accessibility of knowledge to those wishing to acquire it: the
appearance of printed books not only served to broaden the
circle of knowledge, but also changed the solitude of academic
life in the previous era into joint effort which very often
spanned countries.
The invention of gunpowder transformed warfare after 1450.
For the first time city walls could be smashed down with
cannons instead of besieging armies having to rely on catapults
and boulders to do the job. The army of horses, knights,
swords and bows and arrows was quickly outdated by soldiers
with firearms: one of the most striking campaigns where this
inequality became apparent was during a military campaign
against the Ottoman Empire. The non-White Ottomans had
failed to keep up with the technological developments of the
15

3. DEVELOPMENT OF CONTEMPORARY MEDIA
White nations, and with an old style army had attempted to
ward off a newly armed White army - with predictable results.
The Ottomans also did not pick up on the advantages of the
printing press: they only acquired one in the 1800s, three
centuries after the technology had been developed in Germany.
FAMOUS RENAISSANCE SCIENTISTS
•
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), was a Florentine artist who
achieved fame as a painter, sculptor, architect,engineer, and
scientist. His scientific studies in the fields of anatomy,
optics, and hydraulics, anticipated many of the
developments of modern science. His theories were often
recorded in reverse mirror script out of fear of Christian
persecution. In anatomy he studied the circulation of the
blood and the action of the eye. He made discoveries in
meteorology and geology, learned the effect of the moon on
the tides, foreshadowed modern conceptions of continent
formation, and surmised the nature of fossil shells. He was
among the originators of the science of hydraulics and
devised the hydrometer. He invented a large number of
machines, including an underwater diving suit, the military
tank (finally built during the First World War in 1917), the
glider, the ball bearing and many others.
•
Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543), was a Polish astronomer,
best known for his astronomical theory that the sun is at rest
near the center of the universe, and that the earth,spinning
on its axis once daily, revolves annually around the sun. This
is called the heliocentric, or sun-centered, system. His theory
was suppressed by the church at the trial of Galileo in 1633.
•
Tycho Brahe (1546-1601), was a Danish astronomer, who
made precise, comprehensive astronomical measurements of
the solar system and more than 700 stars.
Above: The astronomer Tycho Brahe pictured plotting the
positions of the planets.
Johannes Kepler (1571-1630), was a German astronomer and
natural philosopher, noted for formulating and verifying the
three laws of planetary motion. These laws are now known as
Kepler’s laws.
•
Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727), was an English mathematician
and physicist, considered one of the greatest scientists in
history, whose discoveries and theories laid the foundation
for much of the progress in science since his time. Newton
was one of the inventors of the branch of mathematics
called calculus (the other was German mathematician
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz). He also solved the mysteries of
light and optics, formulated the three laws of motion, and
derived from them the law of universal gravitation.

4. GALILEO GALILEI AND CHRISTIAN ANTI-
SCIENCE
Galileo Galilei (1564-1642), was an Italian physicist and
astronomer, who, with the German astronomer Johannes
Kepler, initiated the scientific revolution that preceded the work
of the English physicist Sir Isaac Newton.
Galileo developed the telescope, an early model of which he
presented to the rulers of Venice: its value for naval and
maritime operations resulted in the doubling of his salary and
his assurance of lifelong tenure as a professor. In 1609, he built
a powerful telescope with which he became the first person to
see mountains and craters on the moon; the stars of the Milky
Way and the four largest satellites of Jupiter. He published
these findings in March 1610, in a book called “The Starry
Messenger “.
By 1614, his work had been denounced as heretical by the
church. In response, he wrote an open letter on the irrelevance
of Biblical passages in scientific arguments, stating that the
Bible should be adapted to increasing knowledge and that no
scientific position should ever be made an article of Christian
faith.
This resulted in his books being seized by the church in 1661
and burnt. Undeterred,in 1632, he published his most famous
work, The Dialogues, dealing with the fact that the earth
revolves around the sun: the church put him on trial and under
threat of torture compelled him to retract his views. In
addition, the Christians sentenced him to lifelong imprison-
ment, later changed to permanent house arrest.
All copies of The Dialogues were burned, and the sentence
against him was read publicly at every Christian university.
RELIGION
The Catholic Church at first tired to suppress the outpouring
of interest in the pagan civilizations, with one of the Popes
appointing a special inquisition to try and crush the revival in
pagan works. However,the irresistible tide turned even the
majority of the most fanatical Catholics, and society at large
became more secular.
With this, the repression of Classical thought died away,and
the Church instead tried to adjust to the new interests by
positioning itself as the original champion of Classical thought,
pointing to the origins of Rome rather than the Christian
religion. The writings of the Church fathers were then produced
and added to the line up of works to be studied along with the
16
DEVELOPMENT OF CONTEMPORARY MEDIA
pagan works: from this time the humanist approach to society
had its origins, one that was to lay the basis for modern
Christianity.
TURNINGPOINT
The Renaissance,along with the Reformation, marked a turning
point in the direction of European culture. It was the driving

5. force behind the quest for new and better knowledge: a quest
which led directly to the period of exploration, of sea voyages
to far off lands and new lands, which in turn saw the Whites
colonize North and South America, Australia, New Zealand,
huge parts of Asia and parts of Africa.
You must be wondering as to whether these are lessons are on
evolutions of media or on refreshment in world history. Well,
the truth is that the present faces of media owe their origin to
the pages of history. Hence it is important to trace some aspects
of history in order to understand the realreasons behind the
rise of various media, and how historical movements were
conducive to development of various media.
The first significant land mark after the early stirrings in
journalism is the movement commonly known as the Renais-
sance or rebirth, which means revival of interest in the human
being, his mind and his interest in art and culture and literature.
The movement started in late 15
th
century in Italy and later
spread to United Kingdom, France and Germany the period
lasted up to the 18
th
century and is marked by severalnew
inventions, new heights that Europe touched in all areas of art,
science and culture due to general political stability, education,
trade and prosperity. The period brought about a revival of
interest in Greek and Roman art, science and literature, which
had vanished during the middle ages.
The main reasons for so many inventions were renewed interest
in ideals of humanism. Man began to question the supremacy
of religion and the Church. The sense of inquiry brought about
interest in discovering new places and inventing new things for
the human comfort.
The question is why did it start in Italy? It is said that after the
fall of Constantinople in the hands of the Turks the Greek
scholars ran away with their books and writing to Italy where
spawned the new of the philosophy of humanism, which
emphasized the importance of individual achievement in a wide
range of fields. The Greeks were humanist who kept man at the
centre of all activities. They also went to the extent of declaring
that religion was made by man and is for the benefit of the
mankind, a revolutionary thought at that time and rather
blasphemous for many.
The early humanists, such as writer Francesco Petrarch,studied
the works of the ancient Greeks and Romans for inspiration
and ideology, mixing the philosophies of Plato and other
ancient thinkers with the teachings of the Roman Catholic
Church. Under the influence of the humanists, literature and
the arts climbed to new levels of importance.
The Italian people, especially the educated middle class, became
interested in individual achievement and emphasized life in this

6. world, as opposed to preparation for life in the next world,
which was stressed by religion. They believed strongly in the
potential for individual accomplishment in the arts, literature,
politics, and personal life. Individuals began to be encouraged
to excel in a wide range of fields and showcase their talents.
Renaissance thinkers decried medieval life as primitive and
backwards,and looked further back in history, to the time of
the ancient Greeks and Romans, for inspiration. Italian
merchants and political officials supported and commissioned
the great artists of the day, thus the products of the Renaissance
grew up inside their walls. The most powerful city-states were
Florence, The PapalStates (centered in Rome), Venice, and
Milan. Each of these states grew up with its own distinctive
character,very much due to the different forms of government
that presided over each. Florence, considered the birthplace of
the Renaissance,grew powerful as a wool-trading post, and
remained powerful throughout the Renaissance due to the
leadership of the Medici family, who maintained the city’s
financial strength and were intelligent and generous patrons of
the arts. The Pope,who had the responsibility of running the
Catholic Church as well, ruled Rome. As the power of the
northern city-states grew,the Papacy increasingly became the seat
of an international politician rather than a spiritual leader, and
many pontiffs fell prey to the vices of corruption and nepotism
that often accompanied a position of such power. Nevertheless,
Rome, the victim of a decline that had destroyed the ancient city
during the Middle Ages,flourished once again under papal
leadership during the Renaissance.
Gitto was one of the early Renaissance artist who showed
remarkable influence of Greek art in his works. The apex of
artistic talent and production came later, during what is known
as the High Renaissance,in the form of Leonardo da Vinci,
Raphael, and Michelangelo, who remain the best known artists
of the Renaissance.
The most significant invention during Renaissance from the
point of view of media was the invention of Gutenberg press
by John Gutenberg of Germany in 1452; this was the first press
of its kind and the true predecessor of the modern press in
offering the movable type. Before this of course designs were
printed on textiles but books were written by hand.
Actually, the art of printing is much older. It was first devel-
oped in Eastern Asia, and centuries before Gutenberg’s birth
around 1400 the Chinese knew the system of “movable
characters”. Characters on bones, bronze, ceramic and stone
slabs give evidence of the use of writing in China already in the
5
th
millennium before Christ. Writing became reproducible in
larger quantities when the Chinese succeeded in inventing paper
approximately 2,200 years ago. In the beginning paper consisted
largely of hemp fibers, then of silk rags or mulberry bark and

7. similarly exotic raw materials. But it worked: Suddenly large
writing surfaces were available that could be easily produced.
Soon the question of reproducing the characters also arose.
Chinese abrasions and simple printing of stone inscriptions on
paper are considered to be early forms of printing. They enabled
a direct spreading of texts. In the 2
nd
century AD,at about the
same time when in the western world the Roman emperor Marc
Aurel recorded his philosophical thought on papyrus roles and
for the duplication was dependent on scribes, in China since the
year 175 of our time calculation the main works of the classical
17
DEVELOPMENT OF CONTEMPORARY MEDIA
Chinese literature were cut in stone slabs. Thousands of copies
were made by simple printing: Moistened paper was pressed
onto the inscription stones, and when brushing the paper with
ink the cut characters stood out white against the blackened
paper. The next level was the so-called woodblock printing in
the 7
th
Century: Each character was cut in reverse into a piece of
wood by removing all surrounding wood. These raised lines
were dyed and abraded on paper, thus producing a positive
print of the desired text.
Before this the spread of knowledge was slow. But the
invention of printing press saw the rise of literature as an
important aspect in everyday life. The Italian writers
Boccaccio,
Pico
, and
Niccolo, Dante,Machiavelli
were able to distribute their
works much more easily and cheaply because of the rise of the
printed book.
The later writers and thinkers like Shakespeare,Montaigne, Sir
Thomas More, Cervantes and more also circulated their work
more easily because of printing press. The renaissance produced
literature in all areas – drama,essays,stories, politics, religion,
ethics, history and science and of course this was the time when
first attempts at journalism of some kind were made.
The
earliest attempt at journalism was
Corante, or, Weekely News from
Italy, Germany, Hungarie, Spaine and France.
First published in
September 1621 by Nicholas Bourne (possibly Nathaniel Butter,
because the initials N.B. were used),it was a small single sheet
paper comprising translations from Dutch and German
‘corantos’.
These news sheets soon became known as

8. carantos
or
Courant,
although there was no consistency in the titles, some of them
headed simply
The Continuation of our Former News or More News
for this Present Week.
Much new advancement in science and astronomy were made.
With the discovery of printing press rapid spread of informa-
tion was possible. European sailors were able to develop
interesting machines that helped in navigation and calculations
of nautical miles. The magnetic needle could show the direction
to north. Telescope made travel easier and soon new geographi-
cal discoveries followed. People were interested in the wealth of
the East Vasco
–da- gamma the Portuguese Sailor and explorer
discovered India in 1498 and Christopher Columbus, the Italy
discovered the New world of America..
All these obviously boosted the development of media a s
people were eager to share information about their thoughts
and ideas and of course their discoveries and inventions.
Reformation
This was basically a religious movement, which was contempo-
rary to renaissance,which started in 1550s. The leaders of the
Reformation were sincere and devoted Chirstians who revolted
against the corrupt practices of the priests and particularly
against the Priests.
Before the 16
th
century the Church was religious and political
body. It had had its organization in all states. They were
independent from the government and could not be tried in
the civil court. The King had to bow to the wishes of the Pope.
But by the 16
th
century Monarchs in U.K. Spain and France
revolted against the Church interference, who regarded Pope as a
foreigner.
The other significant reasons for the onset of reformation were
of course the fact that Europe was shifting its economy from
agricultural to trade and communication. Urbanization followed
which led to rise in capitalism. Germany became the leader of
the capitalist world. By 16
th
century with growth of new towns
and increase in trade and craft and the discovery of new routes,
merchants started sending goods to new places. There was a
sudden increase in accumulated wealth besides Trade Germany
also saw the rise of mining industries. All these made people
practical and they stated questioning the wealth of the Church.
To add to these was the renewed interest in learning. People

9. started broadening their attitudes and opening their minds.
Too much of power started to corrupt the priests who
indulged in extravagant lifestyles and corrupt practices including
politics. All on the wealth collected from the people and the
Nobility. This enraged the educated class.
In the Name of God - The Christian Wars
In the New Testament,Jesus Christ is quoted as saying that
he had come to bring the sword, to “set father against son
and mother against daughter” (Luke 12:53) and called on
his followers to “But those mine enemies, which would not
that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them
before me” (Luke 19:27).
These words have, in the history of Christianity, been enacted in
bloody reality many times - starting when an important political
rebellion against the Roman Catholic Church took on a
religious slant - leading to the split in European Christendom
between Catholic and Protestant. This split sparked off a series
of religious wars,which were ultimately to be responsible for
the death of nearly a third of the entire White race.
The Reformation is the name given to this 16th century
religious uprising. Its major outpouring happened in the
middle of the Renaissance,there can be little doubt that the two
events were linked: added to this was a political problem which
the countries in Northern Europe had with the all powerful role
the pope had assumed from Rome.
Emerging European nationalism objected to the fact that the
pope - usually an Italian - had to approve the appointment of
any head of state everywhere else in Europe. The pope’s ability
to even charge tax from foreign countries to support the Church
headquarters in Rome also irked those living thousands of
miles from Rome. It has been estimated that the Church ended
up owning as much as one third of all the land in Europe in
this manner: what the various national states must have secretly
thought of this does not need to be imagined.
THE ANTI-POPE
The Catholic Church, while pretending to serve the Christian
god only, itself betrayed its political agenda when a dispute over
succession to the papal throne erupted between the Italians and
the French. In an event known as the Great Schism of 1378, the
French set up their pope, Clement VII, in Avignon; while the
Italians installed Urban VI in Rome.
18
DEVELOPMENT OF CONTEMPORARY MEDIA
Both popes then proceeded to excommunicate each other from
the church. Finally the dispute was resolved in 1415, when both
popes were thrown out of their jobs and one new pope set up
in Rome. The authority of the Church was severely reduced by
the farcicalproceedings, and many Europeans saw for the first
time that the popes were all too human and lusted after power
more than service to their god.
DISSOLUTION OF THE POPE’S AUTHORITY

10. The first steps towards the breakdown of the power of the
Roman Catholic Church were in fact taken in England: a series
of laws issued in that country from 1279 to 1352, prevented the
church from overriding the local authorities by taking land and
allocating it to the Church. The right of the Church clergy to act
as judges in criminal and civil matters was also removed by
these laws.
ENGLISH REFORMER JOHN WYCLIFFE A
TT
ACKS
CA
THOLICS
In the 14th Century, an English clergyman, John Wycliffe,
openly attacked the sale of indulgences by the Catholic Church
(whereby sinners could buy forgiveness from the Church - a nice
way of earning even more money for the Church’s coffers),
arguing forgiveness could not be bought for a few coins.
Wycliffe also translated the Bible into English and delivered his
sermons in English, rather than the Latin used by the Catholics.
BOHEMIAN JOHN HUSS SP
ARKS MASSACRES
Wycliffe’s ideas attracted a great following in Central Europe. In
Bohemia, a local clergyman by the name of John Huss es-
poused a particularly fiery anti-Catholicism. Huss was duly
executed as a heretic, and his followers than became involved in
a religious war with a Catholic army: ultimately resulting in the
massacre of severalthousand of Huss’ followers during the
time known as the Hussite rebellion of 1415 - a foretaste of
what was to come.
FRANCE,CA
THOLICISM AND THE CONTINENT
A treaty signed between the French king and the pope in 1516,
placed the Catholic Church in France in a subservient role to the
monarchy, while similar treaties with the rulers of other
countries in Europe also slowly ate at the power of the pope,
creating the political conditions under which theologians could
start differing with the Catholic dogma without fear of being
seized by the church police.
Thus although the Reformation is formally classed as having
begun with the rebellion led by the German clergyman Martin
Luther in 1517, the socio-political conditions which caused the
rebellion had been in existence for at least 150 years before
Luther.
Above: A woodcut from Luther’s time shows the Catholic
Church selling indulgences, or “instant forgiveness” in
a German market place.
THE GERMAN REFORMA
TION
Martin Luther (1482-1546), was a German Catholic clergyman
who visited Rome in 1501 and was shocked by what he saw:in
his words, the worldliness of the papal court. Appointed

11. Professor of Scripture at Wittenberg University, Luther rejected
the idea that the pope was infallible and appointed by god - his
own eyes had told him this could not be so.
In 1517, he publicly announced his ideas by writing them down
into the famous 95 Theses and nailing them to the door at the
Wittenberg Church: this act caused alarm throughout Catholic
Germany and to Rome itself, given Luther’s stature in the
theocratic community. Luther was ordered to retract his attacks
on the Catholic Church, but this caused him to become even
more outspoken. The pope then sent him a written threat of
expulsion from the Church (called a bull) - which Luther
publicly burnt in 1520.
This sent the Catholics into a fury: the Holy Roman Emperor,
Charles V and numerous other Catholic clergymen held a
meeting in the town of Worms (called the Diet of Worms) and
ordered Luther to recant. He refused and went underground,
hiding in Wartburg castle, which belonged to a sympathetic
noble. There he wrote pamphlets further espousing his views
and started translating the Bible into German.
Lutheranism was supported by the north German princes,
many lower order clergy and large numbers of ordinary
Germans, who saw it as an opportunity to gain independence
from Rome.
Above: Martin Luther: by objecting to the corrupt
practices of the Catholic Church, he managed to spark
off a massive inter-White war between Catholics and
those who protested, the Protestants.
19
DEVELOPMENT OF CONTEMPORARY MEDIA
THE FIRST CHRISTIAN WAR 1524 -1525
The Catholics did not take the rebellion lying down: the first
Christian war, called the Peasants War,broke out between
Catholic and Lutheran followers in 1524. This uprising was
used as an excuse by many feudal peasants to rise up against
their conditions of servitude, bound as they were to many
nobles and the Church for taxes.
The peasants were defeated in 1525, but this did not end the
Lutheran rebellion. A truce was reached between the followers
of Lutheranism and Catholicism at a meeting in the city of
Speyer (known as the Diet of Speyer) in 1526, when it was
agreed in principle that those who wanted to worship in the
way that Luther espoused, were free to do so.
However,in 1529, the Catholics unilaterally rejected the
agreement. The Lutherans protested the turnaround: and from
then on the anti-Catholic movement became known as protest-
ants, or Protestants.
THE SECOND CHRISTIAN WAR 1546 - 1555
The Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, was then diverted from
the domestic political scene by the march into Central Europe
by the Nonwhite Ottomans: he hurried off to fight in South-
eastern Europe, only returning in 1546. Upon his return, he

12. decided to deal militarily directly with the Protestants:in alliance
with a papal army, he made formal war against the Protestant
nobles and their supporters.
After a bloody civil war lasting nine years, the two sides finally
made peace in 1555, with the treaty of Augsburg. In terms of
the peace,the rulers of the approximately 300 Germans states
were free to choose if they wanted to be Catholic or Protestant.
Lutheranism was followed by about half of the population,
and finally gained official recognition.
THE REFORMA
TION IN SCANDINA
VIA
In contrast to Germany, the Reformation in Scandinavia was
peaceful. The kings of Denmark and Sweden were,probably for
reasons of political independence more than anything else, early
converts and openly supported the Protestants.
In 1536, a national assembly held in Copenhagen abolished the
authority of the Catholic bishops throughout Denmark,
Norway and Iceland. Sweden officially adopted Protestantism in
1529.
THE THIRD CHRISTIAN WAR 1529 -1531 - THE
REFORMA
TION IN SWITZERLAND
The Reformation in Switzerland was led by the Swiss pastor
Huldreich Zwingli (1484 - 1531) in Zurich. After launching his
campaign against Catholicism in 1518, Zwingli managed to
persuade the town of Zurich to adopt his views and by 1525,
many of the strictures of Roman Catholicism had been rejected
- all with the legal sanction of the town council.
Other Swiss towns, such as Basel and Bern, adopted similar
reforms, but the conservative peasantry of the forest cantons
adhered to Roman Catholicism. Two short Christian Wars
erupted in 1529 and 1531, with Zwingli himself being killed
during the latter. In terms of a peace treaty,each Swiss canton
was allowed to choose between Catholicism and Protestantism.
In 1536, a French Protestant,John Calvin, settled in Geneva
after having been forced to flee his own Catholic country.
Through his teachings and work Calvin managed to take
Protestantism to new extremes:over-compensating for the
worldly excesses of Catholicism, Calvin and his followers
(Calvinists) forbid all forms of entertainment and regulated
even the dress of ordinary people. In a fit of ecclesiastical zeal
(which has only been equaled by later equally fanatic Muslim
nations), dancing, card playing, gambling and other recreations
were forbidden in Geneva; those caught breaking these rules
were routinely put to death.
Calvin organized the diverse thought steams of Protestantism
into a coherent whole: his influence helped create the churches
later be known as the Reformed religions, in Scotland, France
and in the Americas.
THE FOURTH CHRISTIAN WAR 1562 - 1598 - THE

13. REFORMA
TION IN FRANCE
As Luther’s teachings spread into France,the Catholic inclined
monarchy, although nominally independent from Rome
already, cracked down on the Protestant movement - more out
of a fear of political subversion.
Many leading Protestants fled to Switzerland - only to stage a
return around 1567, to launch a full scale evangelical campaign.
This campaign culminated two years later in the formal
organization of the Protestant church - modeled on the
Calvinist line - in Paris in 1569. The followers of this church
became known as Huguenots.
Inevitably, it was not long before the Christian wars spread to
France: a series of violent clashes erupted which lasted 36 years,
from 1562 to 1598. One of the most infamous incidents of
this Christian war was the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre,in
which thousands of unsuspecting Huguenots were massacred
in 1572.
A
bove: St. Bartholomew’s day Massacre in Paris, 1572.
Protestants are killed by Catholics.
Then the French king Henry IV, himself sympathetic to the
Protestants,issued the Edict of Nantes in 1598, officially
tolerating Protestantism in France. This Edict was however
revoked in 1685, and Protestants were either killed or driven out
of the country completely
.
References-
1. Davis, Anthony; Magazine Journalism Today; (1988); Heinemann
2. Baird, Click; Magazine and Production; 4th edition
3. Mogel; The Magazine
4. Anderson, Douglas;
Contemporary Sports Reporting; (1985); Nelson-Hall
5. Melkote, Srinivas; Communication for development in the third world; (1991); Sage
6. Ed. Glasser, Theodore; The idea of Public, Journalism;(1999); Guilford Press