The history of Protestantism began on October 31, 1517, when Martin Luther tacked up his 95 theses on the door of the Roman Catholic Castle Church in Wittenberg. It started as a Christian movement within the Roman Catholic Church. What followed was a succession of scandals, and Luther's theses quickly circulated. Martin Luther was a German Roman Catholic, and a monk following the order of St Augustine of Hippo.

Scotland

A spiritual revival also broke out among Catholics soon after Martin Luther's actions, and led to the Scottish Covenanters' movement, the precursor to Scottish Presbyterianism. This movement spread, and greatly influenced the formation of Puritanism among the Anglican Church in England. The Scottish Covenanters were persecuted by the Roman Catholic Church, who burned some of the leaders at the stake as "heretics". This persecution by the Catholics drove some of the Protestant Covenanter leadership out of Scotland, and into France and later, Switzerland.

Calvinism

In Geneva

Puritans

Later, the English Puritans, under Oliver Cromwell, defeated the more numerous Scottish army, after the Scottish Covenanters appeared at the borders of England with an army and a Catholic king, demanding to seat him upon the English throne. After the defeat of the Scottish army, Cromwell then proceeded to subdue all of Scotland. Later, Cromwell crusaded into Ireland, and the English brought in Scottish Protestants into Northern Ireland to settle a Protestant presence there (which

Geneva

For a time, Protestantism settled uneasily in certain Swiss border-towns, notably Geneva, which became semi-independent city-states. Geneva became the unofficial capital of the Protestant movement, led by the Frenchman, Jean Calvin, until his death (when Calvin's ally, Zwingli, assumed the spiritual leadership of the group). The flag of Switzerland is still a cross.

Huguenots

Protestantism also spread into France, where the Protestant Catholics were nicknamed "Huguenots", and this touched off decades of warfare in France, after initial support by Henry of Navarre was lost due to the "Night of the Placards" affair. Many French Huguenots however, still contributed to the Protestant movement, including many who emigrated to the English colonies. Some of these emigrants were the ancestors of the Revolutionary War patriot and leader, Justice and Secretary of State.

Emigration to America

The most famous and well-known emigration to America was the migration of the Puritan separatists from the Anglican Church of England, who fled first to Holland, and then later to America, to establish the English colonies of New England, which later became the United States.

These Puritan separatists and Anglicans were also known as "the pilgrims". After establishing the first successful English colony at Jamestown (named after King James), the Puritan pilgrims received a charter from the King of England which legitimized their colony, allowing them to do trade and commerce with merchants in England, in accordance with the principles of mercantilism. This successful, though initially quite difficult, colony marked the beginning of the Protestant presence in America (the earlier French, Spanish and Portuguese settlements had been Catholic), and became a kind of oasis of spiritual and economic freedom, to which persecuted Protestants and other minorities from the British Isles and Europe (and later, from all over the world) fled to for peace, freedom and opportunity.

The original intent of the colonists was to establish spiritual "Puritanism", which had been denied to them in England (the Protestants were being hanged in England as "seditionists", by Anglican clergy and officials loyal to the King) and the rest of Europe (where Protestants were burned to death at the stake as "heretics", by the Roman Catholic clergy), to engage in peaceful commerce with England and the native American "Indians" (which Christopher Columbus had mistakenly named the inhabitants of the land) and to Christianize the "Indians".