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The Valduvian Reaction, also known as the Kausian Reaction, was a religious and political movement in the Platavian Union and parts of the Rudolphine Confederation during the 16th century. The movement was part of the broader Amendist Reaction, and culminated in the ongoing break in communion between the Church of Valduvia and the Solarian Catholic Church.
The Valduvian Reaction began in 1515 when Arvīds Kauss, the Archbishop of Matīspils, delivered his Letter of Grave Concern to Pope TBA. In his letter, Kauss expressed consternation over the excommunication and killing of leading reformer Johannes Stearn that had occurred several months prior, and outlined several teachings and practices of the Catholic Church that Kauss argued were "recent inventions rooted in neither scripture nor sacred tradition". Kauss's points included critiques of papal supremacy, clerical celibacy, indulgences, the concept of purgatory, closed communion, and Catholicism's claim to be the one true church. Kauss gained a significant following among the Platavian clergy and was openly supported by King Matīss IX, who promoted the spread of Kausian theology in neighboring Burland with the aim of undermining Rudolphine authority in the region. The Solarian Catholic Church ultimately repudiated Kauss's views at the Council of X in 15XX, and Kauss and his followers were excommunicated. The prelates of the Platavian and Burish churches subsequently established the Church of Valduvia in 15XX, marking the end of the Reaction.
The effects of the Reaction were widespread, with religious, societal, and political ramifications that permanently shaped the course of Valduvian history and that of Euclea as a whole. The status of Kausian Christians in Burland was one of the primary causes of the Amendist Wars several decades later, with the Platavian Union ultimately intervening to support the rights of Amendists to practice in the Rudolphine Confederation. Platavia and the Burish states subsequently formed the Valduvian Confederation, the earliest predecessor of the modern Valduvian state, as a defensive bulwark against future aggression by the Rudolphines. The shared religious identity between Burlanders and ethnic Valduvians would later become central to the emergence of a Valduvian national identity in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.