Well, Protestant ideas did gain a great deal of traction within France resulting in a Calvinist sect called Huguenots. A break with Rome possessed a certain logic given the nature of the French church, which tended to have a degree of autonomy. Protestant tenets such as worship in the vernacular and state control or partnership with religion possessed congruences with the nature of this religious arrangement. Moreover, the were receptive audiences towards Protestantism among both urban dwellers and the nobility. This mixture of politics and religion led to a series of wars called the French Wars of Religion in which the Catholic party ultimately triumphed, albeit on terms that reaffirmed a degree of state control over Catholicism.

It is true that Protestantism did not find root in Spain. The reasons for this are manifold and often overlapped. For one thing, the Spanish monarchy saw it as its mission to combat heresy within Spain itself. The French Valois often played a double game between both Catholics and Protestant parties making both feel the monarch was on their side. The Reconquista also imparted a crusading impulse among Spanish nobles long after such sentiments were passe among their contemporaries. Finally, the Spanish Church was quite successful at implementing Trent's counter-reformation policies on a local level. Popular catechism and education of the lower priesthood meant that the Trentine church was able to insinuate itself into Spanish popular culture.

Sources

Diefendorf, Barbara B. Beneath the Cross: Catholics and Huguenots in Sixteenth-Century Paris. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991.

Nalle, Sara Tilghman. God in La Mancha: Religious Reform and the People of Cuenca, 1500-1650. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992.