Interesting facts about the Reformation

In the course of studying about the Reformation for Sunday's message, I learned many interesting facts. Here are a few.

1. The Reformation was promoted by a new technology, the printing press. Luther's supporters published countless flyers and pamphlets with his writings.
2. Luther's salary was paid in part by income derived from tourists who came to see his employer's extensive collection of relics. Frederick " the Wise" had over 16,000 relics, most of which were fake and incredibly superstitious.
3. Frederick was raised up by God to protect him, without him Luther would have been destroyed by the church and pope early on. Frederick the Wise was just far enough from Rome, strong enough, and smart enough to keep Luther alive.
4. Luther may have been motivated to post his theses by Halloween. The church replaced pagan Halloween with All Saints' Day, which was a huge time for people to come and venerate the saints and the collection of relics. Anticipation of this huge crowd may be why Luther posted when he did.
5. Columbus discovered America only 9 years after Luther's birth. Maybe God prepared America at this time for refugees of the religious persecution coming from the backlash against the Reformation.
6. Jan Hus, often called the Morningstar of the Reformation, gave basically the same message as Luther 100 years earlier in Prague. He was burnt at the stake by the church for heresy, but prepared the way for the Reformation. He is considered the national hero of the Czech Republic. His huge statue in the center of Prague (I was there about 4 years ago) brought tears to my eyes.
7. The Reformation only succeeded in countries which were never controlled by the Roman empire. Ex-Roman countries stayed with Catholicism, which was also tied in with a political commitment to Rome.
8. A century after the Reformation and continuing to today, the new Protestant Reformation countries became more prosperous and prominent than the Catholic countries, due to the teachings of the Reformation.