how did the protestant change the religious landscape of europe

Question

how did the protestant change the religious landscape of europe

Answer 1

I'll make two assumptions: (1) by "the protestant" you are referring to the Protestant Reformation, that is, the religious movement begun in the sixteenth century, and not to any particular Protestant individual nor denomination; and (2) you are using landscape in "religious landscape" more or less literally, i.e., to refer to geographic distribution and not with a more figurative meaning like 'environment', 'atmosphere' or 'climate' (nor also to characterize the religious and national conflicts that arose as a result of the clash between the established Roman Catholic Church and the upstart Protestant movement).

 

With those assumptions, one general observation that can be made is that Protestantism took hold principally in the northern parts of Western Europe from its roots in what is today central Germany, such that the predominant religion in nations like the Netherlands and the Scandinavian countries became one of the several Protestant denominations, as was also the case in the northern and more centrally located German states. In contrast, most of southern Europe, e.g., what is now Italy along with Spain, Portugal, the southern German states and most of France, never broke with the Roman Catholic Church as did other parts of Europe during the Protestant Reformation, and are still today strongholds of Catholicism (though the French Revolution considerably diminished the influence of the church in French cultural and political life).  Modern Poland, located in the north-central part of Europe, also remains Catholic, holding out against both the tide of Protestantism to the west and the influence of the Eastern Orthodox Church to the east, the predominant form of Christianity in most other Slavic countries.

 

England also experienced its own Reformation resulting in the establishment of the Church of England, a.k.a. the Anglican Church, which though sharing many of the doctrinal tenets of Protestantism retained so many liturgical and organizational similarities to Catholicism that is still a matter of debate whether the English church is truly "Protestant." Protestantism also was eventually adopted in most of Scotland, but Ireland to the west remained staunchly Catholic, except in its northeastern pocket (modern-day Northern Ireland) under the influence of English and Scottish immigration and, some would call it, colonization.