Some rulers saw the Reformation as an opportunity to rise up against the pope and to appoint bishops themselves. In the Netherlands, tensions between Catholics and Calvinists led to war with Spain (1568-1648), and the separation between the Calvinist North and the Catholic South.
In the Scandinavian countries, a Lutheran state church was established. Catholics were persecuted and other beliefs were forbidden by law until well into the nineteenth century. In some other European countries, the local situation for Catholics was also grim.
