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Excerpt from "Elizabeth, A Dutch Anabaptist martyr: a letter" (1573)

Reprinted in The Protestant Reformation

Edited by Hans J. Hillerbrand
Published in 1968

In the early 1500s reformers began calling for changes within the Roman Catholic Church, which was the only established Christian religion in Europe at that time. An organized reform movement began after 1517, when the German theology professor (one who teaches religion) Martin Luther (1483–1546; see entry) posted his grievances against the church at Wittenberg, Germany. Support of Luther's ideas gained momentum, eventually resulting in the Protestant Reformation and the establishment of Protestantism as a separate Christian faith. Simultaneously, reform efforts known as the Catholic Reformation (also the Counter Reformation) were taking place within the Roman Catholic Church (see entry). In 1555, following a...