Protestant-Catholic conflict had been a feature of the European sociopolitical landscape for over a hundred years before the Piedmont Massacre. Having dominated Europe for several centuries, the Catholic Church met active opposition with the beginning of the Protestant reformation in 1517. However, proto-Protestant factions, such as the Waldensians, have existed from the 12th century.

In the 16th century, critics within and outside the clergy began to argue that Christianity be freed from what they considered the excesses and corruption of Catholic papacy. Protestantism suggested that priestly mediation was unnecessary for approaching God. The powerful Catholic Church resisted the reformation, and between the 16th and 18th centuries, Europe’s political landscape was riddled by wars between Catholic and Protestant factions. The worst of these is considered the Thirty Years’ War, lasting from 1618 to 1648. While the authority of the Holy Roman Empire was being questioned, so was that of monarchy, especially in England. In 1649, the Second Civil War of England ended with the assassination of King Charles I and the mandate that the nation would be ruled by a commonwealth instead of the monarchy. Oliver Cromwell was made Lord Protector of the Commonwealth. Milton, a known Latin and European languages scholar, became Cromwell’s secretary of foreign tongues for the Council of State, a position of great influence.