By 1500 ce, Western and Central Europe remained integrated within the decaying but still discernible order of Latin Christendom. By the mid-seventeenth century, this order had been swept away, its place taken by an embryonic sovereign international order. The following two chapters chronicle the story of this transformation. In this chapter, I limit my analysis to the period beginning with the Reformation's onset in 1517 and concluding with the Peace of Augsburg in 1555. My purposes here are twofold. First, I aim to demonstrate how the systemic shock of the Reformation, working in conjunction with processes of geopolitical consolidation and institutional decay already evident from the late medieval period, worked to fatally undermine Christendom as an international order. Secondly, I seek to explain why Christendom's rulers were unable to collaborate either to save Christendom from destruction or to contrive a viable alternative once it became clear that the old order was beyond redemption.

Whereas Chapter 4 focuses on the immediate causes of Christendom's collapse, Chapters 5 and 6 explore the consequences of its collapse for Europe's subsequent evolution.