The Protestant Reformation is the fourth volume of Henri Daniel-Rops' magnificent History of the Church of Christ and displays the piercing insight into character, vivid descriptions of events, exacting scholarship, and extreme readability that have made this series so justly famous. The period covered in The Protestant Reformation (1350-1564) represents vital and formative years in the history of Europe with far-reaching influences on religion, as well as on culture and the future of mankind. The author discusses the prolonged, dangerous trends of the late Middle Ages-characterized as crises of authority, of unity, and of the Christian soul-foreboding the storm of Protestant revolt which bloke in 1517. The crisis of authority is represented by the Great Schism of the West and the ensuing doubts about papal supremacy. The crisis of unity brought about the dismemberment of Christendom as a result of the Hundred Years' War and the anarchical state of southern Europe and the fall of Constantinople. The crisis of the spirit resulted in the spiritual, moral, and intellectual decline in the Church which paved the way for the heresiarchs Martin Luther and John Calvin. Later chapters examine in detail the development of Protestantism from its beginnings as a doctrinal revolt to its recognition as an established Church.