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 (the Electoral Saxony) adopted the confession either in 1525 (elector becomes Lutheran) or 1527 (Lutheranism is made a state religion).

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 (1436/7) and definitively since the Religious peace of Kutná Hora (1485). 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.


 * Lands of the Bohemian Crown (1436/7, 1485)
 * Kingdom of Bohemia
 * Margraviate of Moravia
 * occasionally Silesia and Lusatia

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
 * Hamburg

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

1559

 * County of Schaumburg

1560

 * Scotland

1575

 * Aalen

1579

 * Dutch Republic

1581

 * Aachen

1610

 * County of Mansfeld-Vorderort