Ecumenicity or Orthodoxy: The Dilemma of The Protestants in the Lands of the Austrian Habsburgs

The call for the reform of the life and teachings of the church which emanated from Wittenberg early in the sixteenth century elicited an almost immediate response in southeast central Europe. In the lands which came under the rule of Ferdinand I after the disastrous battle at Mohács, reformation doctrines and practices spread quickly. By the middle of the sixteenth century the majority of the population in the lands ruled by the Austrian Habsburgs adhered to one of the several evangelical reform movements. Hussite, Lutheran, Helvetic, Anabaptist and Anti-Trinitarian theologies all found supporters in the region.