From today's perspective, the Reformation may have been a matter of faith. However, if we consider faith as an essential building block of everyday life and the identity of contemporaries, we realise that it was only one expression of many things that were in a state of upheaval. The religious reformation, which erupted in bloodshed between the 15th and 17th centuries, was a turning point for society as a whole, similar to 1848 or 1968. The majority of people may have remained superficially unaffected by it, but many things changed for everyone as a result of these revolutions. The accompanying social and political change did not stop at the Holy Land of Tyrol.

Around 1500, new discoveries and new ways of thinking began to herald the end of the Middle Ages. Artists, scholars and clerics throughout Europe began to question hierarchies, order and legitimisation. With the theological reformers of the 15th and 16th centuries, the feudal system, which saw the church and nobility above the people and bourgeoisie, began to crumble. In the 15th century, the Bohemian clergyman Jan Hus was one of the first in mainland Europe to question the omnipotence of the Pope and was banished to the stake at the Council of Constance for his actions. In France and Switzerland, it was Jean Calvin (1509 - 1564), in Holy Roman Empire Martin Luther (1483 - 1546) and Thomas Müntzer (1489 - 1525), who challenged the Roman Church in the 16th century.

In Tyrol, the mining towns of Hall and Schwaz were the main centres of the Reformation in the early 16th century. Many miners came from Saxony and brought their ideas about faith and the church with them. The old liturgy with sermons in incomprehensible Latin did not correspond to these ideas. Preachers such as Dr Jacob Strauß stirred up the people with Lutheran ideas, which also included criticism of the clergy and the ruling system.

This religious crisis also led to problems in the secular world outside the churches. Faith and the secular were not separate spheres. If the miners were dissatisfied with the pastoral care, they went on strike. Public order was in danger, and not just because the miners had the right to bear arms. They were well connected with each other. A general strike could trigger an economic crisis. The Fuggers and Habsburgs, capital and political power, were very careful not to let things get that far and granted the miners special rights.

Not only the miners, but also the progressive sections of the bourgeoisie and nobility were interested in the new way of living their faith, which was an important part of their lifestyle. The new teachings were a symbol of the new self-image and social significance that craftsmen, skilled labourers and entrepreneurs in this emerging industry had compared to the old system of feudal lords.

Ferdinand I and his successors were able to successfully push back the Reformation in Tyrol. Although the religious mandates with their numerous prohibitions were one of the reasons for the peasant wars, in the long term and with many coercive measures, the princely strategy bore fruit. Power politics may have been one reason, but in fact the ruling Habsburgs were pious people who, at least to a large extent, favoured Catholicism out of conviction. Ferdinand II described his motives with the words:

"...aus eingebung Gotes und seines Hayligen Geistes Inspiration. Alles zu ehre des aller höchsten aus ainem Rechen inprünstigen zu der heyligen Catholischen Alleinsseligmachenden Religion tragenden eyfer.“

It was primarily priests of the Jesuit order who were to bring apostate parishes and citizens back into the fold of the Catholic Church. They began with reform measures such as better training for the clergy. Concubinage and post haggling were to be abolished. Priests and bishops were to concern themselves less with worldly matters and more with the salvation of their flocks. However, as this measure could not be implemented overnight - capable priests first had to be found and educated - coercive measures were introduced. The possession of Protestant books and pamphlets was punishable by law. The lower the status of the citizen, the more severe the punishment. Nobles, counsellors and key workers were often able to practise their Protestant faith discreetly. Under Ferdinand II, underlings had to confess at Easter. The priest drew up a list with the names of those who fulfilled their duty. Anyone who did not appear in the confessional despite repeated reminders could be expelled from the country.

In the 17th century, Austria used so-called Religious Reformation Commissions in. Did these "Missionare" Protestant-oriented pastors or subjects who possessed forbidden literature were arrested and expelled from the country, and it was not uncommon for their houses to be set on fire along with all their possessions. Protestant civil servants could not practise their profession. They either had to convert or emigrate. Particularly stubborn subjects were publicly chained. Maximilian III had his own Religious agitation The police controlled craftsmen and traders in particular. They had to regularly hand in confession slips to certify their catholicity.

Under Maria Theresia In the 18th century, Tyrolean Protestants were forcibly resettled in remote parts of the Habsburg Empire. However, the resettlements were not only a problem for the citizens concerned. Labour power and the number of subjects were important features of development in modern states. This meant that the problem, which today is known as Braindrain was labelled. Expertise and military power were lost in the name of the Lord.

In 1781, the enlightened Emperor Joseph II issued the Toleranzpatent, das den Bau von protestantischen Kirchen erlaubte, wenn auch an Bedingungen gebunden. So durften diese Bethäuser keine Türme oder sonstigen baulichen Besonderheiten aufweisen. Die Gebäude durften keine straßenseitigen Fenster haben. In Tirol kam es zu Widerständen gegen das Toleranzpatent, man fürchtete um die guten Sitten und wollte fremdartige Religionen, Zwietracht und Unruhen aller Art vermeiden. Konvertierten Untertanen wurden Dinge wie Ehe und ein Begräbnis auf katholischen Friedhöfen verwehrt.

Bis heute gilt Tirol als selbsternanntes „Heiliges Land", whereby holy refers explicitly to the Catholic faith. Protestants were deported from the Zillertal as late as 1837. The descendants of the so-called Zillertaler Inklinantenwho emigrated under pressure from the authorities still live in Germany today. Tolerance gradually found its way into the empire and the provinces, but well into the 20th century, the affiliation between the authorities and the Catholic Church was firmly established in many areas of life, such as school education. When it became known during the constitutional negotiations of 1848 that the free exercise of religion was planned for the entire monarchy, public outrage in Tyrol was enormous. More than 120,000 signatures were collected following media campaigns against this liberalisation of religion. In 1861, Emperor Franz Josef issued the ProtestantenpatentThe Tyrolean government granted the Protestant Church more or less the same rights as the Catholic Church. The Tyrolean population did not allow their perseverance to be undermined by the imperial Protestantenpatent von ihrer Intoleranz abbringen. Das Argument lautete, dass es in Tirol ohnehin keine Andersgläubigen gäbe, es daher auch keiner Toleranz gegenüber Nichtkatholiken bedurfte. Erst 1876 kam es zur Gründung einer evangelischen Pfarrgemeinde in Innsbruck.