Station: [39] Reformation

“After the reformation in 1517, Christianity was divided into Catholics and Protestants with time. This obviously caused a lot of trouble, as anything will that involves belief, power and a lot of money. The pope and the emperor, princes, counts and cities were in conflict for a long time. During that time, there were everyday confrontations but also even religious wars. Lords such as Rutger did best not to get involved in these conflicts. This is something he managed to do skilfully: most likely, he was interested in the new protestant ideas, but being a servant of the powerful catholic archbishop of Cologne, he remained catholic officially. A wise move. He might have also been for a compromise between the two confessions, as were many people during that time.”