List of states by the date of adoption of the Reformation
This is the list of states by the date of adoption of the Reformation, meaning the date of an official conversion of a ruler or that of making a Protestant confession an official state religion. The list is incomplete due to the persisting feudalistic nature of many states in the early modern Europe.
The Reformation began in 1517 but did not receive formal state support until 1525, although some imperial cities, like Strassburg, introduced it in 1524. The city council of Strassburg eventually came to support the Reformed tradition with reformers like Martin Bucer, Matthew Zell, Wolfgang Capito and Caspar Hedio.
Duchy of Prussia and some other states in the Holy Roman Empire introduced Lutheranism as early as 1525. Depending on the view, Luther's country adopted the confession either in 1525 or 1527.Pre-Reformation
As a result of the Bohemian Reformation, Western Christianity was already compromised in the Lands of the Bohemian Crown for decades before Luther. An Utraquist Hussite confession was dominant since the early 1420s and also formally permitted, alongside the Catholic Church, since the Basel Compacts and definitively since the Religious peace of Kutná Hora. George of Poděbrady was the first non-Roman Catholic ruler in the Catholic part of the early modern Europe. He ruled over Bohemia during 1458–1471.
1524
- Strassburg
- Nuremberg
1525
- Anhalt-Köthen
- Duchy of Prussia
- Principality of Ansbach
- Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg
- County of Mansfeld-Mittelort
- County of Mansfeld-Hinterort
1526
- Landgraviate of Hesse
- Anhalt-Bernburg
1527
- Electoral Saxony
- Principality of Lüneburg
- Sweden
1528
- Bern
1529
- Basel
1530
- Ulm
- Frankfurt am Main
1531
- Lübeck
1534
- England
- Duchy of Württemberg
- Duchy of Pomerania
1536
- Denmark-Norway
- Geneva
- Lausanne
1539
- Margraviate of Brandenburg
1542
- Duchy of Schleswig
- Duchy of Holstein
1549
- Mecklenburg
1556
- Baden-Durlach
1557
- Electoral Palatinate
1560
- Scotland
1575
- Aalen
1581
- Aachen
1610
- County of Mansfeld-Vorderort