In this famous and surprising book the great Catholic historian Hilaire Belloc gives the true and largely untold story which answers one of the most important historical questions in our civilization How did Christendom suffer shipwreck Showing that this momentous question is invisible to Protestant and secular historians Belloc goes on to demonstrate that the Protestant movement was by no means the culmination of a long natural progress but rather was one of six mortal perils which had threatened to destroy Catholic European civilization and was the only one which tragically failed to be stamped out by the Catholic Church Belloc describes how it was not doctrine but avarice and rebellion against the clergy which originally fueled the Reformation He readily admits that corruption among Churchmen and clerical abuses regarding Church revenues prepared the way for the Flood of Revolt as did Humanism and a growing contempt for authority plus the pere