Evaluate the reasons for the spread of Protestant ideas in England or Scotland or France or the Netherlands.

The question requires that candidates make an appraisal of a range of reasons why Protestant ideas spread in one of the above-mentioned countries. Candidates may deal with the reasons discretely or they may order them into groups, for example, religious reasons, political reasons, social reasons or even, perhaps, reasons linked to the geography of the country being evaluated. Political factors could include the influence of nationalism and dislike of the powers of the papacy. Economic factors could include the economic condition of the chosen exemplar or the role of itinerant merchants in spreading Protestant ideas. For example, the declining position of some groups in the Netherlands encouraged them to take up Protestantism. Social factors could include the emphasis on individual faith that was appealing to the more literate or the view that Protestant thought encouraged social change or even revolution.